Thirteen days have passed since that shocking home defeat to Walsall and with the abandonment of the game at Yeovil it has given us all some time to reflect and think about the Deepdale situation. Hemmings must be thinking to himself “here we go again” regarding the managerial merry go round but maybe he doesn`t have the appetite to blow another 300k on paying Westley up. I`ve said before that if you aren`t going to give the new man any significant funds when he comes in then it`s pointless to make a change for changings sake. Having said all that, I was honestly expecting Westley to get the boot after the Walsall game, particularly with his behaviour to the fans after the game.
Interestingly enough, I think I detect a certain softening of the managers attitude this week in the fact that he has openly admitted to having discussions with the team and then making the statement on the official website that the fans have been “brilliant” to him since he came to Deepdale. Maybe it was from the heart or maybe the Chairman of Football has had a small word in his ear with regard to his communication skills. It`s clear to me, though, that Westley is very tormented by the current situation at Deepdale because the man is clearly not used to failure and perhaps he is finding it difficult to come to terms with at the moment. No doubt he will be stronger for the experience but whether that will be at Deepdale remains to be seen.
Nevertheless Graham lives to fight another day and the next seven days see a home game against Coventry and a trip to Crawley next Tuesday evening. Four points from these two games will help the managers cause and with plenty of time to blow the Walsall game out of the system I expect North End to end this home voodoo and collect the points on Saturday against an average Coventry side. Next Tuesday will no doubt be a degree tougher and I was very impressed by the way Crawley came to Deepdale earlier in the season and effectively played us at our own game. The managers nous and tactical ability will certainly be tested to the full down on the Gatwick Airport flight path and I think we should have a higher than usually Tuesday night following to roar the boys on with it being a new ground for most fans. Time to once again take a deep breath at Deepdale and hope once more that the tide is about to turn.
Interestingly enough, I think I detect a certain softening of the managers attitude this week in the fact that he has openly admitted to having discussions with the team and then making the statement on the official website that the fans have been “brilliant” to him since he came to Deepdale. Maybe it was from the heart or maybe the Chairman of Football has had a small word in his ear with regard to his communication skills. It`s clear to me, though, that Westley is very tormented by the current situation at Deepdale because the man is clearly not used to failure and perhaps he is finding it difficult to come to terms with at the moment. No doubt he will be stronger for the experience but whether that will be at Deepdale remains to be seen.
Nevertheless Graham lives to fight another day and the next seven days see a home game against Coventry and a trip to Crawley next Tuesday evening. Four points from these two games will help the managers cause and with plenty of time to blow the Walsall game out of the system I expect North End to end this home voodoo and collect the points on Saturday against an average Coventry side. Next Tuesday will no doubt be a degree tougher and I was very impressed by the way Crawley came to Deepdale earlier in the season and effectively played us at our own game. The managers nous and tactical ability will certainly be tested to the full down on the Gatwick Airport flight path and I think we should have a higher than usually Tuesday night following to roar the boys on with it being a new ground for most fans. Time to once again take a deep breath at Deepdale and hope once more that the tide is about to turn.
