Andy Munro reflects on the season at St Andrews.
It’s time to reflect on last season down at St Andrews and, in school report parlance, it’s probably a ‘B’ given our abysmal start. The nil-eight reverse was, of course, an all time low although our six-nil drubbing of Reading restored some pride.
Gary Rowett and his team certainly stabilised things but with limited resources, the question is how far can they take the Blues. Certainly, they have got the best out of a generally moderate set of players but this is exactly what Chris Hughton did before leaving the club on a high, partly on the basis that he couldn’t expect the players to go to the well twice.
One of the big plusses of the Rowett regime has been both to solidify the defence and strengthen other positions through excellent loans and acquisitions – Morrison the stand out, closely followed by Tesche and latterly Fabrini.
It would be churlish to really criticise the new management but I suppose the nickname given to Gary of the Bromsgrove Mourinho reflects a sometimes dour defensiveness and grinding out of results whilst he also seems reluctant to follow the Lee Clarke habit of blooding promising but relatively untried youngsters on the pitch. Perhaps that’s a wise thing but the likes of Reece Brown are talents that deserve an airing.
We are a long way from the finished article and most Bluenoses would probably settle for another solid mid-table position as we hopefully consolidate for a big push (under new ownership?) the season after next. The additional hope is that we can sign players like Tesche, Fabrini, a new keeper, and another forward without selling our crown jewel that is Demi Gray. Personally, I think that scenario is a pipe dream but swopping Demi Gray for a transfer receipt which can fund the necessary aforementioned injection of quality is probably a decent result.
One way or another, the future is looking far brighter than the Clarke days; he was a decent and passionate man who wore his heart on his sleeve but was sadly inept when it came to tactics.