Should Andy go?
In my opinion, I do not believe that he has lost the dressing room and that is, in my opinion, one of the key factors in deciding whether he should go or not. We all have experience of the drop and what a team looks like when it is doomed to relegation, and whilst a few will argue that a few players might be unhappy, that has almost never not been the case with Scotty. Most of the squad seem happy to play under him, and whilst it may well be true that some players have fallen out of favour with him, most of the team appear to play for him, hence the fact that at times during this season, we have ground out results. Had the team have no faith in the manager, we all know that capitulation is by far the easier option for the players, but we not look like that type of team.
However, there are other key factors in assessing whether he is the right man for the job.
Is he the right man for the job?
In my opinion, Andy will only be the right man for the job in our eyes if he improved and progressed to a style that us fans crave for. By and large, we want results, but preferably playing with some kind of neat, passing style, with pace and flair, with a strong, quick defence. We, as fans, are perfectly entitled to have an expectation as to what we want to see from the matches that we pay good money to watch. So, over the last three years, have we seen an improvement in the way that we play under Scotty? What has he developed into the squad over the past three years? In my personal opinion, not a lot. Playing midfielders who cannot create is not a step forward. Having a lack of pace in attack, or rather, being one-dimensional in our attacking play is not a step forward either. Instead, we are relying a little heavily on the team playing hard and fighting for every point, which I believe is where our current situation is.
The team is too one-dimensional and too direct, lacking movement and pacey energy, and stems from the manager's tactical instructions. If the players cannot get it right on the pitch, it is down to the manager failing to get his point across effectively. If Scotty feels that he has improved tactically, then he has certainly failed to get this across to the team and whilst I believe they respect him and will play for him, it is not enough to sustain a challenge for promotion. I do not believe that we will be relegated, but to think that we are anywhere near getting promoted is delusional. Sure, one-off games where fight, hunger and determination is paramount, and this current team is capable of pulling off a result. But over the season, we have not and cannot open up opposition defences on a regular basis. In fact, under Scotty, we have hardly been free-scoring and ground out alot of wins through teamwork, good organisation and by making less mistakes. Whilst this is a good foundation for a team to progress, it is time that the team displays signs of pushing on, or he is not the right man to take the club forward.
I believe that we will finish mid-table this season, having done so by doing what I can only describe as the bare minimum, and that is having a team who will fight, be well-organised and grind out results. But if that is the basis of which Scotty's vision is for the team, bearing in mind that the board very publicly backed him when he was appointed as the man for the long-term, then I am concerned. To have such backing, Scotty must show the club that we are progressing. I do not believe for a second that we do not appreciate what he did in his first season. In his second season, we wanted to see consolidation in League One and Scotty delivered. However, I do not really believe that we expected promotion, and that Brentford fans would settle for mid-table if the team was undergoing a secondary transition where the style of football was designed to force opposition defences open.
From the board's point of view, I believe that their job is to maximise the revenue for the club. On matchdays, with attendances on the decline, there is not much time before they will have to act. In my opinion, Scotty needs to be able to demonstrate to those who will make the decision for him to stay or not, whether he has really taken the club forward or not. His style of football is not attractive, but results would keep the crowds coming. With indifferent results, a more attractive style of football would also keep the crowds coming. He is, frankly, on the cusp of achieving neither. Poor results and performances that give fans little hope of watching us tear opposition apart mean that the revenue coming into the club could also be on the decline.
On this basis, if there is no improvement in the style of football over the course of this season, then I hope that we can find a manager who has a suitable vision for the team that shows progression.
For me, Scotty could avoid alot of this. If he genuinely has a vision, then do any of us know what it is? And I don't mean promotion. I mean, what is the style of the team play that he is trying to achieve? Where does he see future personnel coming from? How has he ever intended for us to be a united club? I do not believe that he has ever communicated this to us, the fans. When has anyone seen him talk about a united club, and market it to the fans? Martin Allen was a master of that when he was with us and whilst I don't expect Scotty to be MA, he really ought to be self-critical enough to acknowledge (privately, at least) that he really needs to work on this area, as part of being a manager is to get fans through the turnstiles. By communicating a vision to the fans, we can then understand what he is trying to do and keep coming to see if he and the team is, at least, trying to achieve this, and therefore back him to achieve it.
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