Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker
Coley has worked miracles from nothing.
Any manager working under his circumstances (for Eric Whalley) is worth his weight in gold.
If you cannot see that then you need to take off the rose tinted spectacles that view ASFC as the well oiled club of years gone by.
We need to move on and quickly - if new investment is the way (most likely it) then it has to be done.
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So, I wear rose tinted spectacles, do I? I take it you haven't seen my recent posts criticising the club for lack of progress on the Clayton End and Coppice End bars? Or my posts in which I take the club to task for not exploiting the potential of their merchandising operation to the full? I even wrote an article on the latter subject for the last issue of "There's No F In Roof". Other gripes from me over the last few months have included criticism of directors who make premature promises about the imminent construction of the Clayton End roof and the occurence of silly typographical errors in the programme.
However, unlike you, I do not seek to minimise Eric's role in the club's recent success story. Eric was the one who had the vision and determination to achieve a return to the league. He was the one who hired Coley and Jimmy and the one who has backed them and worked with them. Your comment, "Any manager working under his circumstances (Eric Whalley) is worth his weight in gold" makes it sound like Coley has achieved his success in spite of Eric Whalley, not working in harmony with him. OK, Eric is no Jack Walker and doesn't have untold riches to pour into the club. And, furthermore, he insists that that the club doesn't spend money it hasn't got, but, as far as I'm concerned, that's to his credit.
The circumstances that Coley (and Eric) are working over is the overwhelming indifference towards the club by the local public. A headline in The League Paper summed it up perfectly. "Accrington Gripped By Apathy". Eric and Coley have given the town a football league club, the town has turned its back on them. So, the club can't offer the wages that other clubs can and, so, misses out on the players it wants.
And what's all this "new investment" you talk about? Where's it coming from? I haven't seen a queue forming. Not surprising really, because as Tin Monkey says, who wants to put money into a business that just scrapes by?
This club wouldn't be where it is today without Coley and Jimmy. But it also wouldn't be where it is today without Eric. And I don't see anybody else stepping forward to take up the reins...do you?
And, by the way, Merry Christmas, Shakey (and everyone else, of course).
