LAST GAME OF THE SEASON, OXFORD VISIT THE DOT COM .

In retrospect, there were 3 or 4 key decisions that shaped the final 1/3 of the season:
  1. Grimes - moving him on removed the robot-in-chief from the team, turning it from X+1 where almost everything seemed to flow through him in pedestrian fashion, to a team of XI. It also heralded a shift from a too quiet captain to one with more attitude and visible determination.
  2. LOB - bringing him complemented the removal of Grimes and starting the expulsion of Madness to into something far more progressive and on the front foot.
  3. Removal of Williams - not a big fan of his appointment to start with (🤦‍♂️god only knows why we went to the lower leagues especially after Duff), Williams was somewhat of a disciple of Madness and continued elements of it. His removal was an absolute necessity as we had not moved forward nor upward one iota from Madness, to Duffer, to Williams. Finding something different was critical.
  4. Sheehan - picked up where he left off from the prior season and improved upon it. Can he continue it into next season? To be determined, but on the numbers so far, the best manager / head coach we have ever had. We still have vestiges of robot play that pop-up from time to time, but we now have a far more progressive style that is entertaining at the very least.
The Championship has a whole are a bunch of mimics. What we started 15 or so years ago has now been adopted by almost every club, but without the flare we had then, replacing it with nothing but hard work. The Championship is a collection of clubs playing largely robotic football. How do we climb out of this pool of madness; we have to reinvent and be different. We have to be more progressive, with fewer robots, and more wizards. Leeds and Burnley are distinctly different from all other clubs. We have shown under Sheehan that what he is trying to morph us into is as competitive as these two clubs and worthy of earning an elite position in the league. Time will tell. Lots of work to do. Better players to acquire. But the trajectory is there and the journey has begun.

Unlike the previous 4 seasons of mediocrity, dullness and madness, we have a different look and style. We do lack some key cogs and hopefully these will be acquired during the close season and contracts renewed as needed. However, we are in a good place, a much better place.

After heaping disrespect on Darling from time to time and suffered through his development, he has become quite a key element of our back line. We have to retain him if possible.

A flat ending to the season. Sheehan is not happy but keeping his disappointment under cover in the spirit of the Allen/Naughton exodus ... but he's taken notes. Pre-season, those players that let focus slip are likely to be reminded.
 
We’re crying out for proper wingers who can chip in with 10 each, plus an attacking mid who actually knows where the goal is. It’s obvious we need better wingers and a proper number ten who can do some damage.

This season, 2024/25, it’s pretty much just been our strikers and Darling who’ve been any good in front of goal — and Darling’s a bloody centre-half! The front four have managed 24 between them: Cullen’s got 11, Vipotnik 7, Bianchini 3, and Peart-Harris another 3. Those numbers’d probably be even better if we had Sheehan in charge instead of Williams.

But the real issue? It’s the wingers and attacking mids — they’ve been useless when it comes to goals. EOM’s managed 3, Ronald’s got 2. And our entire midfield’s only scored 9 goals all season: Franco 2, Grimes 2, Abdulai, Fulton, Allen, O’Brien, and Cooper with 1 each. Not a single attacking mid who looks like they’ll hit double figures, and the wingers don’t cut inside and shoot nearly enough — and when they do, it’s weak as piss. Not a natural goalscorer among them.
 
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