Should we really be surprised by the start to the season that Northampton Town have made? If you look at the situation without the claret tinted glasses on then a few things flash up and point to us being woefully under prepared for the season.
1. Cobblers went on a pre season trip to Croatia as part of a bonding/fitness exercise. Half of today's starting eleven weren't even on that trip. Seems a waste of money and doesn't seem to have helped in any shape or form.
2. The team last season made the play off final, granted a lot of results last season were lucky, they must have had something about them as a squad though. Boothroyd chose to break up most of that team which was a mistake.
3. Offering Luke Guttridge an insulting amount of money to stay at the club lacked respect and was a token gesture to appease fans. Boothroyd already knew he didn't want to keep Guttridge.
4. I understand why Bayo was released and it makes sense for the style of football Boothroyd wants to play. Not replacing Bayo is a major error, Clive Platt is not the answer. I actually don't mind Platt - I'd only want him as a bit part player though and not the main man - Aidy needs to realise that Platt is not Jesus.
5. Trying to change the style of play is not going to work. Boothroyd did the exact same thing at Watford and it cost him his job, the same thing will happen here. Play the one way that is a success for you, fuck entertainment, just win games. He is stubborn enough with his team selections and love for players but seems to want to please people by changing style - why? Stick by your guns and grow some bollocks.
6. Stating we have a list of 15 strikers we want to replace Bayo has quite frankly turned out to be an embarrassing statement, we've signed a young loanee from Leicester, was he on that list!?
7. Cardoza saying we will be making some exciting signings. Well we haven't made any! I appreciate everything he has done for the club but fucking hell he doesn't half spin some bollocks to fans.
8. Last season should have been a springboard and a real boost - however the opposite has happened. We should have invested in the squad and built on last year - instead we've spent no money, cut the budget in half and signed cast offs.
9. We have no squad. 22 decent players are needed, we don't have anywhere near that.
10. The love of Ben Tozer is odd - he can throw it further than I can sprint but apart from that he doesn't bring anything to the table.
11. He started Amankwaah at left back today, Tozer right back and Collins centre back. Wrong wrong wrong.
12. Coventry money + play off money = lower budget. Eh.
13. Last season was lucky.
I could go on as there are loads of things to pick holes in, can't really be bothered at the moment though.
The open forum is coming up soon and Cardoza will be there, I'd suggest going along and asking some questions - probably get 'spin' but its worth a try.
We've gone from a team of leaders to a team without one leader! It's utterly infuriating. How do we solve this? I'm not sure but a start would be to sign a striker to replace Bayo and sign a no nonsense centre back who's a leader - or try playing David fucking Artell who fits that mould.
Should we support Boothroyd for longer due to him saving us from relegation and leading us to the play off final? Probably. Am I going to? No. I'd be happy for him to leave now. There are too many warning signs for me and too many mistakes have been made in recruitment. Look at Darren Carter for instance - Cheltenham didn't want him, we sign him on a two year deal! The bloke can clearly pick a decent pass but fucking hell it's so obvious he is going through the motions as a footballer and living on his past 'glory'.
I'm fucked off and I don't really bother with away games anymore, god knows how those that still do must feel? The mental bastards.
Boothroyd is a trouble shooter, that's what people should employ him for. He isn't the man to lead us long term. Lots of people will slate me for suggesting this and harp back to his success last season but stop for a moment and think about last season and remember back to individual games - we were actually poor for a large amount of them and rarely looked like a team deserving of reaching a play off final, let alone promotion.
Unless some signings are made before 11pm on Monday - and all signs point to nobody coming in - then we are fucked
Boothroyd Out.
(Sorry, kind of)
