Its a 5/10 for me.
The football up until Christmas was good, some real excitement but it masked the defensive frailties that were never properly addressed all season. Had Wilson & Clarke not clicked then we would have been in real trouble. Good to see some goals from the likes of Moussa too but at this level you would expect more goals from the defence & midfield wouldn't you? The League wasn't that strong in my opinion and we ended up with less points than the previous year when we also had 10 points deducted.
The Sixfield location, the youngsters, the off field stuff, the loans etc all come in to the mix but we are not the only club with some of those factors (Obviously not so public for others) in the end nearly all clubs struggle with their finances although hardly any (none?) struggle with their location
Its hard to assess SP. Somehow you expect an ex centre back to be able to get a defence organised. By that I mean the team as a defence not just the back four. Yes we played good attacking football that was at times really good to watch but I still come back to the amount of goals conceded in an average 3rd Division. An attitude of we will score more goals than you is fine but in the end over the season we didn't. Never going to be easy with a lot of young lads in the squad for sure but some of the decisions made left me wondering why? The loan signings were a bit hit and miss too and left an overall impression that they were not in general good enough or perhaps not the right players to play the SP system. Yes there were injuries and suspensions but that's the same for all teams. The last couple of months just seemed a little muddled. Given better financial support it would be interesting to see where he could take us but that rests on solving the dispute.
"change the culture ...... bring a winning mentality" not sure that has happened because like so many other seasons the team has faded after Xmas in a big way. There doesn't seem to have been the change touted. Just seems to be more of the same to be honest - but change takes time I guess
Young players run out of steam (more mentally rather than physical) and need periodic rests. Young players are not so conditioned to the rigours of L1 football, and are still developing physically. Yet we were able to operate in the loan market to ease that with a disappointing level of success.
Of course the 10 point deduction has an effect ..... to begin with it seemed to galvanise and make the group battle on .......... but by March it had started to become a millstone and over emphasised in my opinion. The transfer embargo didn't help and left us playing catch up at the start of the season, the same excuse couldn't be used for January and the subsequent loan period however.
Next season could be harder still because of the finances available to SP. Which ever way they dress it the budget has to have been reduced from the budget set last summer. The crowds are very low, that knocks on to sponsorship, F&B, other income, cant budget for Arsenal every year, and there might not be the player sales (only significant sale could only be Wilson and we are assured it wont happen), there are no add ons from previous sales that we know of to come in next season etc etc ......
Am trying not to let the off field stuff colour my judgement of this year (like many others I feel ground down by the dispute and bickering going on) but I just don't see this season gone as a success. We survived, that was the target and we achieved it - well done but ......
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