This has been a week, and a half, hasn’t it? But then again with anything that is SAFC related then you would expect nothing less because supporting the Lads has that kind of effect on you. We’re now in a situation where we need to assess as a club what we want to do with this season in the games that remain.
SWANS GIVE THE LADS THE BIRD
After the events of Monday, it was down to business again at the SoL against Swansea City. The Jacks haven’t had the best of season, and like us: were in the Premier League not that long ago. Despite having a much-changed side, you would have fancied the Lads to get back into the winners enclosure and maybe put pressure on those above us to get results themselves whilst pushing our visitors towards a relegation scrap. As it was, that first half was pretty dreadful wasn’t it with is missing Clarke and Ballard. Second half was better and when L09 scored with 13 minutes to go, you sensed a chance that we might go on and grab something out of the proverbial fire. Alas not, and another defeat blemishes the team’s record. Swansea probably thought they had won the lottery and coming away with three points. For us, it’s the latest in a slide down the table which is starting to unravel this season before our very eyes. We have now found ourselves eight points behind the final play off places which equates to three wins basically, but astonishingly enough only twelve points away from the relegation spots and with that being a scrap in itself: we certainly don’t want to be pulled into that. What I did appreciate was Doddsy admitting the first 45 were unacceptable from everyone including him. Under Beale, he would have probably thrown one or two under the proverbial bus and absolved himself from blame such was his personal mentality. We have to roll up those sleeves collectively, and get back on track. Promotion and the play-offs are fading into a distant vision, perhaps finish as high as we can and go again might be the way forward for this season after all now.
A SUMMER OF CHANGE AWAITS
This summer is going to be interesting to say the least. Clarke remains our most saleable asset, and I can see him going somewhere in the Premier League this close season. But he needs to go somewhere where he is going to get first team chances and at a team that will appreciate his abilities, so why go somewhere to play reserve team football for a PL side and regress as a footballer. Or is that what his agent, former Lads player Ian Harte, wants him to do whilst making money from the move. Another player we could expect to move on is Dan Ballard. Ballard has become the Danny Batth type defender in the middle of the back line. He’s certainly come on as a footballer, so much so that he’s also becoming a regular in the same position for the Northern Irish national side. He was never going to get regular football at the Arsenal, so we have definitely improved him for sure. Like Clarke, if he does move on then it needs to be somewhere where regular football is given to him. He’s 24 at the moment, and at that stage in his career where he needs to keep progressing. There will be also interest in others too. Patto has had a few Premier League sides look at him, but he’s got a few tweaks in him to be made before he does a similar Jordan Pickford type move for big bucks whilst I wouldn’t be surprised if someone makes a cheeky enquiry and bid for Dan Neil. Then there’s the managerial role, who takes that? A big summer in every sense of the word.
THE ALEX NEIL RUMOUR
Some of us will have seen or heard about the Alan Nixon piece where he claims that Alex Neil, yes that Alex Neil, has apparently said he would be open to a return here if he gets asked. Really, I mean really? We all know that Neil left under a dark cloud to be fair but I just don’t get it to be honest. We need to move on and find a permanent replacement that has fresh thoughts and not go for sloppy seconds. Then again, this is SAFC and we don’t do things the simple way do we?
