Banana
29th August 2004, 19:47
"It was a good win. The players were very disappointed with the performance last Saturday and after a lot of thought and consideration I played the same team and they did very well.
"I said that yesterday morning actually (to show the supporters what you really can do), but today I said nothing. I arrived at 2pm and watched them warm up, wished them good luck. And the work was done on Thursday and Friday in preparation. There were a few players who could feel hard done by today, after good performances on Tuesday night. I respect that. I have called them in to inform them that I found it not easy to leave them out. But that team won the previous two home matches. They don’t become bad players over night because of one bad performance at Peterborough. We have all seen this week that Peterborough lost 3-0 on Tuesday after looking very good against us. Things can change around very quickly for the players and I have faith in them.
"The second half in particular (Burton and Rankin) came alive and they did look a lively pairing. The first half they worked harder than hard to get on balls and help the team defend. Those 50/50 balls that were going over the top Isaiah has got to one ball that should never have been his and Deon Burton has got to another ball which shouldn’t have been his and won a corner. You could say those two players won balls that shouldn’t have been theirs and created two of our goals.
"It was poor last week. There is no doubt about it. But before that we won 2 matches. People started talking about a crisis – people telling me this player can't do it and that one can't do it. It gets on my blinking nerves to be fair. There have been a lot of changes at this place and a lot of people have come in. A lot of the young lads that have been here for a while haven’t played that much. Frampton has hardly played before, Tabb has hardly played before, Nelson has hardly played before, Jay Smith hasn’t played for ages. There have been a lot of changes and all of a sudden everyone expects us to win every match by 3 or 4 nil. I can understand the criticism when its lacklustre and poor. But there can be criticism and that can be overboard. take a bottle of tablets and let's all be depressed and see a shrink. You can’t be like that. These players don’t mean to play like it – they have showed they can play well and they will play well. It’s like a child. If he does something wrong you can’t beat him black and blue and lock him in his bedroom for a week. You have a chat with it, and hope to get the best out of it and hopefully it will be over. You can’t keep bashing the kid over the head as after a while it will probably strangle you.
Were you disappointed it was only 3-0?
"No. I was happy as we kept a clean sheet. I thought the attitude of the players in the second half was exceptional. It's very easy to be complacent. The players stuck to their game and did their jobs and kept going right to the very end. They were a bit unlucky not to get more goals, but it was important to keep a clean sheet and it was a job well done.
"We have a hard away game coming next. In our last 2 games away we have been tonked - big time. Although everyone is probably expecting me to be jumping here with joy because it was a good win. I must tell you that with 5 minutes to go, my thoughts were with the journey down the M4 thinking about Bristol and what will happen next. The players have not come into that dressing room to a rapturous applause. They have come into that dressing room and I have left a sheet of paper with numbers 1-18. I have asked each individual person whether they would like to travel on that coach to Bristol with me, or whether they would like not to travel with me. The question is "Do you want to travel with me, or would you prefer to stay here". I took 18 to Peterborough, but they really didn’t come with me. They were there, but they weren’t there. Its an option – do you want to play or not? It’s one of the strange things I have done before. I’ll find out tomorrow at 9.15am who is coming as I am going home now.
"I’ll probably go home and fall asleep. Watch the video and have something to eat, and spend some time with my wife for a change. The pheasant has disappeared, but at the minute I have rabbits. I do not like rabbits as they keep eating my bedding plants. I chase them, I kick footballs and smash golf balls but I can't hit them and have never been able to. They keep eating my bedding plants and I don’t like them. They are there every morning. But this morning I slept well. I was happy with the team I picked, even though some people might say it’s a gamble. Some people might expect massive changes. But this team won the previous two games. And I know they can play well and are good players. But most importantly I know they are good people. I was critical of them last week, but they do not need to be hung and judged as awful crap signings. I have had letters about players being rubbish. We have won 3 out 5 of games and we are doing OK. "
"I said that yesterday morning actually (to show the supporters what you really can do), but today I said nothing. I arrived at 2pm and watched them warm up, wished them good luck. And the work was done on Thursday and Friday in preparation. There were a few players who could feel hard done by today, after good performances on Tuesday night. I respect that. I have called them in to inform them that I found it not easy to leave them out. But that team won the previous two home matches. They don’t become bad players over night because of one bad performance at Peterborough. We have all seen this week that Peterborough lost 3-0 on Tuesday after looking very good against us. Things can change around very quickly for the players and I have faith in them.
"The second half in particular (Burton and Rankin) came alive and they did look a lively pairing. The first half they worked harder than hard to get on balls and help the team defend. Those 50/50 balls that were going over the top Isaiah has got to one ball that should never have been his and Deon Burton has got to another ball which shouldn’t have been his and won a corner. You could say those two players won balls that shouldn’t have been theirs and created two of our goals.
"It was poor last week. There is no doubt about it. But before that we won 2 matches. People started talking about a crisis – people telling me this player can't do it and that one can't do it. It gets on my blinking nerves to be fair. There have been a lot of changes at this place and a lot of people have come in. A lot of the young lads that have been here for a while haven’t played that much. Frampton has hardly played before, Tabb has hardly played before, Nelson has hardly played before, Jay Smith hasn’t played for ages. There have been a lot of changes and all of a sudden everyone expects us to win every match by 3 or 4 nil. I can understand the criticism when its lacklustre and poor. But there can be criticism and that can be overboard. take a bottle of tablets and let's all be depressed and see a shrink. You can’t be like that. These players don’t mean to play like it – they have showed they can play well and they will play well. It’s like a child. If he does something wrong you can’t beat him black and blue and lock him in his bedroom for a week. You have a chat with it, and hope to get the best out of it and hopefully it will be over. You can’t keep bashing the kid over the head as after a while it will probably strangle you.
Were you disappointed it was only 3-0?
"No. I was happy as we kept a clean sheet. I thought the attitude of the players in the second half was exceptional. It's very easy to be complacent. The players stuck to their game and did their jobs and kept going right to the very end. They were a bit unlucky not to get more goals, but it was important to keep a clean sheet and it was a job well done.
"We have a hard away game coming next. In our last 2 games away we have been tonked - big time. Although everyone is probably expecting me to be jumping here with joy because it was a good win. I must tell you that with 5 minutes to go, my thoughts were with the journey down the M4 thinking about Bristol and what will happen next. The players have not come into that dressing room to a rapturous applause. They have come into that dressing room and I have left a sheet of paper with numbers 1-18. I have asked each individual person whether they would like to travel on that coach to Bristol with me, or whether they would like not to travel with me. The question is "Do you want to travel with me, or would you prefer to stay here". I took 18 to Peterborough, but they really didn’t come with me. They were there, but they weren’t there. Its an option – do you want to play or not? It’s one of the strange things I have done before. I’ll find out tomorrow at 9.15am who is coming as I am going home now.
"I’ll probably go home and fall asleep. Watch the video and have something to eat, and spend some time with my wife for a change. The pheasant has disappeared, but at the minute I have rabbits. I do not like rabbits as they keep eating my bedding plants. I chase them, I kick footballs and smash golf balls but I can't hit them and have never been able to. They keep eating my bedding plants and I don’t like them. They are there every morning. But this morning I slept well. I was happy with the team I picked, even though some people might say it’s a gamble. Some people might expect massive changes. But this team won the previous two games. And I know they can play well and are good players. But most importantly I know they are good people. I was critical of them last week, but they do not need to be hung and judged as awful crap signings. I have had letters about players being rubbish. We have won 3 out 5 of games and we are doing OK. "