Another rare post from me, but here goes....first i'll start with a really good post from Centre Stand in the BN comments.
centre stand
8 hrs ago
User ID: 4277195
EVATT says ...
"
We controlled the game tonight and started the better team, had the ball, quietened their crowd, and their goal came out of the blue."
------------------
EVATT is DELUDED - Absolutely DELUDED
He watches a Different game to Everybody Else.
We were HIS usual PAINFUL PEDESTRIAN Possession Obsession OVER-Passing - NON-Productive - WASTE of TIME....
- and Do NOT try and tell me anything else.
" We quietened the crowd" - EVATT says ...
Well if that is HIS Masterplan .... He will get Football Stopped.
He Talks Total Nonsense.various other random thoughts.
loved the Evatt rhetoric in the build up to these 2 legs...1st leg it was all ...we're raring to go.... going to attack etc. didn't happen at all.
very lucky to scrape a draw in 1st leg. bailed out by Trafford...he'll be some loss next season... probably player of season for me.
2nd leg ...it was all...oh actually we're better away from home ..it'll suit us.
listening to Evatt is like that internet meme of a Rhino defecating continually, as so much crap comes out of his gob it's unreal. i know you've got to talk it up to a certain extent, but people like BSA i'm sure used to do that, but base it on realism, not fantasy & wishful thinking.
Rotherham and Wigan fans last year were irked when Evatt said his style was more suited to progressing up the divisions..... Rotherham have since got up & STAYED UP...despite losing their manager, and despite losing key players like Michael Smith and the class centre back , Michael Ihiekwe, (both to sheff wed ) and Ladapo to Ipswich. can't really judge Wigan as financial issues and odd managerial changes scuppered them. Evatt in the meantime, stayed down & stayed down again.... while insisting his team were the best team in the Lge, even before he signed 7 first teamers in Jan 2022. he's since had a summer tfr window, admittedly with relatively low activity by his "spoilt brat standards" , then a further tfr window in Jan 2023, where at least financial reality finally caught up with him....and he had to sell a bit to buy, but still a large number of changes...6 in ( adeboyejo, randell w, shoretire, nlundulu, jerome, mbete, ) and, 5 out i think.
Michael Duff outdoes Evatt again despite being with smaller clubs each time....beat him in Lge 2 despite being in charge of minnows Cheltenham who i'm not sure had ever even played in Lge 1 before. yet still beats Evatt to the Lge 2 title. Cheltenham even without Duff managed to beat us 1-0 at their place even this season, as did Forest Green in 2 of the more eyebrow raising results. yeah you can't win 'em all , but these 2 games were in quick succession and having cocked up one, you expect a reaction in the 2nd ..learn the lessons. did you notice the attendance last night, just 16,000. with 2k from us...deary me...how tiny are Barnsley...this is a big game, you have 23k capacity, and you're team is doing well and this is all you can muster.
the BN can rave about Evatt's win % but a big fish like us will almost certainly have very good win %'s at this level.
www.footballwebpages.co.uk/league-one/attendanceswe're 4th for average attendances... with 19,000. BARNSLEY AVERAGE JUST 12K, AND Peterboro less than 10k !!!
Plymouth too, with a young rookie manager . credit to them but i don't think of them as a team for the top 2 tiers of English football. no history, no nothing. and presumably little budget.
the further up the pyramid you climb the harder it gets to have it all your own way. in the Prem, even a good season for us probably means you lose half of your games.
a majority of our wider fan base seem think just because Evatt win's 50% of our games, he's the Messiah. true achievement is over-achieving like Cheltenham did under Duff. or Plymouth this season. beating the teams you're far worse than on paper, like BSA continually getting one over on Wenger & others. Evatt is barely doing any more than what Phil Neal did, when the club bottomed out from financial issues and rose back up way back then..... and people didn't think he was the Messiah. and didn't he win a tin pot trophy too.
beating a load of U-21 teams and relegated accy stan in the semi is not a cup run. i've said before i never gave it the big'un in the Prem making demands for Champions lge etc, but with our recent history ( drawing with Bayern Munich , high Prem finishes ) it surprises me how quickly expectations have fallen . Ken Anderson was hardly breaking the bank with spending, and he got us up from this Div...and automatic too. and inherited a slippery old downslide himself.
I'd prefer to get up, and face those challenges. you get these fans who'd almost rather stay in a league where you can win most of your games, and have most of the ball. it's more normally thought of as being top end Championship, versus the perils of lower end Prem where you're getting thumped week in week out. but similar applies to top end Lge 1 vs bottom end Ch'ship.
one final point i've thought for a while....has any manager in BWFC history ever had so many strikers / forwards.....
1.Dion.
2. Adeboyejo
3. Bod
4. Jerome.....
5.Nlundulu
6. Kachunga..... trade description rules being stretched here
7. even Shoretire effectively being played in front 2 spots
yet we've still scored less goals than ANY OF THE TOP 7, and considerably less than most... almost 20 fewer than Barnsley and almost 40 less than Ipswich.
no wonder 95% of our Income is being spent on wages. wasn't at all surprised to see the latest Bond issue. financial issues potentially looming.
Sharon is intent on making it happen with Evatt which means she'll have to buy him the 20 best players in the lge...there ain't any other way he'll get 'em up.
never mind when you're grand goes down the swanny, you'll be able to look with pride at your red lapel badge..