A manager resorting to posting a message on his club’s official website addressing the many problems and mistakes that he and his squad have made, as well as apologising for recent results is definitely a good indication that a team has been vastly under-performing. Paul Sturrock was forced to release such a message after a disastrous start to Yeovil Town’s first season back in League Two.
After back-to-back relegations from the Championship and then League One, one begins to wonder how much more misery Yeovil fans can take, but they were dished out more disappointment on the opening day of this season in a derby defeat to Exeter City. While the Glovers did bring the score back to 2-2 after being 2-0 down, nobody could deny that Exeter fully deserved their winner as the Grecians ran out 3-2 victors. A derby day defeat always hurts, and the short train journey home would have seemed a lot longer for the glum green-and-white shirted fans.
The following Tuesday, QPR visited Huish Park and rolled over Yeovil 4-0 without even breaking sweat – the last time Rangers came down to Somerset, they were restricted to a much narrower 1-0 victory – and there was more local humiliation the following Saturday when a late goal sent Bristol Rovers home from Huish Park with three points and bragging rights over their west-country rivals. A defeat away to York City with ex-Yeovil player James Berrett, released at the end of last season, scoring the winning goal was thrown in for good measure. At this point, who could blame the fans for being on the verge of writing off this season completely?
Some respite finally arrived when Yeovil played at home to Luton Town; a fantastic comeback from 2-0 down to 3-2 up, with substitute striker Ryan Bird scoring a brace, lifted Yeovil Town spirits. You’ll often hear pundits saying “it’s amazing what a win can do”, but while they often talk of the benefits to team confidence, what’s more important is the boost it gives to fan morale; Huish Park hasn’t been rocking for a long time, Bird’s third sent the crowd into a euphoric state.
However, just as things were looking up, Yeovil travelled to Oxford United and were humbled, slumping to a 2-0 defeat that could have been a lot worse. It seemed like a massive case of ‘one step forward, two steps back’.
It was this game, or rather the performance from this game, that forced Sturrock into penning his address to the fans. Without even beginning to analyse the contents of the message, it must first be said that you can only have huge respect for Sturrock for facing the fans in these tough times. It shows that he really values them, and when the team is looking so hapless on the pitch, it is important for those fans to be reminded that they do matter and the club do appreciate their support.
After viewing videos of all of this season’s matches so far, Sturrock explains that “it didn’t take long to unmask the key problem; that being the individual mistakes by our young and inexperienced players and the inconsistency of our all round performance.” He has a point; certain players have looked out of their depth and naive. It has quickly become apparent that experience counts more than anything in League Two: Luton’s 31-year-old Craig Mackail-Smith used his against the Glovers, creating space and scoring a wonder goal in the opening minutes. Furthermore, Jamie McAllister – who captained Yeovil Town at Wembley – showed Glovers fans what they are missing when leading Exeter City to the aforementioned 3-2 victory.
Therefore, there is hope that Marc Laird and Ryan Dickson can provide this experience in key positions when they come back from injury. The return of Kevin Dawson is also eagerly awaited, with his experience from the Championship hopefully inspiring the team’s attacking intent. Moreover, after holding his hands up for tactical mistakes made, Sturrock promises a different game plan, so it will be interesting and hopefully refreshing to see how the team shape up in their next game.
All of this positive thinking has been provoked by Sturrock’s message on the club’s website. So many things happen behind closed doors in football that supporters often have to resort to assumptions and rumours. Having explanations for the shortcomings and errors makes them easier to accept, and it will be interesting to see if any other troubled managers will follow Sturrock’s example and contact the fans directly.
