And lo and behold, we have a new manager. One Dave Anderson, ex-Hendon guy. Not Nicky English, who has steadied the ship pretty damn well since TE’s enforced departure. When I first heard the news (and I heard it well after most people had), I was a little bit stunned. After all, NE hadn’t actually done much wrong. We could have slumped tremendously after TE left, but we didn’t and indeed probably improved. NE’s signings like SSK were pretty good, and the way he was mentioning to the press about his planned signings made me think he’d got the job
Mind you, as the Wallingford game showed, TE is still loved by most of the playing staff. Perhaps the known antagonism between TE and NE was a major factor in getting a new guy in? New broom, and all that. We shall never know.
Whether NE will stick around for the U18 level we won’t know yet, he didn’t exactly jump at the chance. Think he’ll go meself, unless he wants to continue in his Palace youth team style role, winning the double in relatively trying circumstances can’t have done his CV much harm. And I bet he’ll think he can try management at another club. It does prove that football, even at this level, is a far more vicious game than many want to believe.
On more reasoned reflection (ie after a night’s sleep), it probably is the best appointment. DA’s record is pretty good at Hendon, and he only left because they couldn’t get promoted or something. Having Ryman experience probably swung it for the AFCW Board, there were some people wondering aloud if NE had the right experience for a higher level (complete with a retort of “Dave Bassett”). Obviously, these doubts were shared by those in charge.
Let’s be under no illusions over this. This is a massive appointment. Line of logic suggests that DA is the right guy for the job. But this is a high pressure situation, without wishing to sound like my name is William and my testicles are abnormally sizeable, being AFCW manager is one of non-league’s biggest jobs. At least outside the Conference.
We are no longer a small fry CCL club, if we ever were one. The AFCW board have made a business decision (for at the end of the day, that’s what it is), and it has to be lived with. DA’s track record is pretty impressive, I don’t think we’ve employed somebody like that ever, at least with that level of achievement (OK, you could argue Drillo, but I will always maintain that he was let down by the most disinterested and petulant bunch of players ever to be associated with Wimbledon). We really will have to wait and see over this. Things CAN go wrong, and if it does it’ll be the AFCW board’s neck on the line as well as DA’s. That’s probably how big a decision it is.
But I do now expect a serious push for promotion next season. You don’t employ somebody like DA to finish mid-table. Whether we’ll do it or not is up to the football Gods, and while I will still maintain that this current squad is good enough for a top eight finish, I am fully aware that we will have to get used to some new faces by the time our first league game kicks off in August. I think it’s safe to say that it’s best to keep your attachment to the current squad in check, it could hurt otherwise. We seem to be entering a new era at AFCW, where sentimentality is going out quicker than games against NGU, Southall and Reading Town.
I think DA might be trying to get to the Family Fun Day at das Volkstadion on Sunday (he’s in Portugal on his holidays, so at least it shows he understands the non-league scene), so if he does, it might be worth picking his brain.
We shall, as they say, see….