Well its felt like the wheels were going to fall off for a while, and they have. Next week likely to see a similar result and scoreline as well. Lots of injuries but also the players who have left without being replaced have caused chaos.
We'll no doubt bring in some more signings, but Smith will start next season in the opposite position to this one, with almost a negative goodwill balance. I hope he learns from his mistakes this year, starting with the messing about in pre season and starting the season way off the pace. He'll be under pressure from the first game, as nobody is going to have any illusions about a mid-season turnaround which probably a fair few of us imagined would happen this year.
I hope that our one or two remaining signings will be big names as well. While accepting this is still a transition (and that Smith wasn't responsible for the previous years of that), we need a sign that the club has drawn a line in the sand. I like Miller, and from now on in will give Frawley a chance, but neither of them or Goudemand move the dial much. Without signings to get excited about I wouldn't be surprised if crowds drop off next year.
While Smith (and others) rightly say that the market is tight etc, the fact is that right now Sts and Wigan have far better players on their books than we do. No doubt some of them (especially at Sts) might be on slight unders as they want to win things, but we are fundamentally playing to the same cap. There is no excuse other than poor cap management to not have a team that has the ability to compete with them. Yet I look at the players they have vs us and its night and day in some positions.
