The Uneasy Security of the Pre-contract

I'm cautiously optimistic, which is as good as I've felt all season! Signing Nat Knight-Percival is a very positive early move. An established player in the Conference whose energy delivers around ten goals a season from the flanks is going to be a useful addition, and anyone who was a key part of Histon's success in recent years is going to be able to handle the physical side of the division. This feels like a smart move, and the type Saunders has been promising to make recently.

So why the caution? Well, quite apart from the fact that "cautious" is the default setting for all Wrexham fans, this is yet another case of the signing of a pre-contract being made public. That's right, the same ultimately worthless piece of paper signed by Paul Carden. With the Anthony Barry fiasco also fresh in the memory, I'm taking nothing for granted.

So while I applaud the move for the man we'll hopefully soon be calling NKP as he streaks down the wing, I'm conscious of the fact that, until we actually have his signature on a contract, all we've done is advertised his availability to other clubs. By all accounts he's made a very positive impression at the club with his personality and demeanour, so let's hope we can finally sign a bloke without all the attendant dramas for once.

Were We Too Quick to Judge Little?

So did you see who won the Manager of the Month award for March in the Blue Square North? Step forward the boss of Gainsborough Trinity, Brian Little!

When I heard the news my jaw dropped, After all, Little had looked like a seriously discredited busted flush when he left The Racecourse. Having taken a long break from the game before coming to The Racecourse, the impression grew as his tenure wore on that he had been left behind by the game, which had changed a lot since his glory days. Does his recent success suggest it's time for a re-evaluation of his time in charge of us?

I think not. He didn't have enough of an impact on our slide down the table, and he hardly inherited an impossible situation. But have subsequent events suggested that he was fighting against an irresisitible tide?

We've certainly suffered a number of embarrassing defeats since he left-frankly more than we did under him-and Dean Saunders' initial impact on the side, which suggested so strongly that Little had failed, wasn't sustained.

However, that impact was achieved by a couple of basic changes which showed Little to be deficient. Saunders simply imposed a clear style of play on the side-something which Little failed to do as he switched tactics match by match-and made some common sense changes in personnel. The selection of Marc Williams, who incredibly didn't appear under Little last season, is the most obvious example, but not the only one.

Furthermore, Little enjoyed a great deal of financial support from the board, which funded his introduction of a number of players in an attempt to fend off relegation, then a complete overhaul of the squad the following summer. Those funds were clearly weren't invested wisely, although Saunders is about to embark on his third reshuffle of the squad.

I suppose the conclusion to draw from Little's success last month is that it changes nothing. He might have enjoyed four good weeks at a lower level than ours, but he failed at Wrexham where a more savvy manager could have saved us from dropping out of the Football League. However, the number of similarites between his reign and Saunders' raises other questions about out current state.

Gutted

So Mark Guterman has been disqualified as a company director, and many Wrexham fans will feel it came a few years too late.

It's the line about him currently living in Monaco that gives you pause for thought though. It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? How do some people always manage to land on their feet?

A Whole New Ball Game?

So Garside and Colford are gone. I'm not going to comment on the case itself, partly because I think the issue is pretty cut and dried, and partly because I don't enjoy the thought of ending up in court over what I write! However, what the decision means in a broader context is a different matter.

I've felt a certain nervousness about what we're told is the open nature of the new regime. I always like to see substance backing up fine words, and hadn't felt I'd seen anything to put my mind at ease. Perhaps today changes that.

I don't like to jump to conclusions too much, so I'm being cautious about today's announcement. However, I couldn't help feeling that the long delay before action was taken over the duo was just more of the same: Wrexham Football Club stalling for time to hope the fans would be dim enough to forget we were upset about something and move on. Today's announcement suggests I've done the board a disservice.

If so, this leads me onto an issue I've raised previously. I suspected Ian Roberts' elevation to the chair was a genuine regime change, although subsequently plenty of people disagreed with me. Today's events suggest to me that there has indeed been a change at the top of the club. Which, as I speculated earlier, might not be the best of news for Dean Saunders. Looks like Roberts is keen on accountability.

Slumming It

Interesting comments from Saunders at the bottom of this article, when they finally decide to mention his current job!

The Title Decider!

I can't wait for the Grays game. There's nothing more thrilling than a game late in the season between the two sides that have established a runaway lead at the top of the table and stand locked level with just four games left. Only one of them can win it, and their clash might just decide once and for all who wins the title. The title of dirtiest team of the season.

Grays might already be relegated, we might be determinedly drab, but there's still one accolade to claim! We went into Monday's games dead level at the bottom of the fairplay league, with ninety yellow cards and seven reds apiece. Prodigious totals, levels of indiscipline which third-placed Mansfield could only dream of (they also had seven reds, but were a miserable sixteen yellows adrift!)

There was much excitement in commentary on Monday when Luke Holden got himself sent off in comical circumstances. Surely we'd taken a decisive lead? But no: the only booking we picked up was Holden's first yellow; Grays' four yellows at Luton and the fact that you get three points for a red mean we're still level, locked in deadly combat the title. Hopefully not literally!

Is O'Leary The Answer?

If the three new men are undergoing an "Apprentice" style five week job interview, the results so far are fairly straightforward.

Danny Mitchley showed genuine promise at Mansfield, but aprt from that hasn't really suggested he'll convince Dean Saunders to sign him rather than look to splash the cash on a more established player in the Summer.

Aaron Brown is what his pedigree suggested he would be; a sound defender whose qualities are obvious; the question is whether Saunders wants to continue his fetish for collecting left bakcs when he already has Neil Taylor and Mike Williams perfectly capable of playing there.

Kristian O'Leary offers the most interesting conundrum though. He has certainly shown enough quality to suggest he'd be a valuable addition to the squad, although I always get edgy when people assume there'll be more to come from a player when he has got his fitness back; players don't tend to turn into soemthing totally different and O'Leary is never going to turn into a box-to-box midfielder.

What he is is a strong, canny defensive midfielder. His strengths were shown off to their best advantage at Mansfield, when we found ourselves digging in and, able to sit in front of the back four and destroy, O'Leary turned in a fine performance.

He was much less influential against Gateshead though. When we needed to take the game to the opposition, a proficient defensive midfielder wasn't necessarily what we needed, and the circumstances conspired against O'Leary's ability to break out of that role.

Firstly, the bobbly pitch and wind made passing the ball around difficult. Secondly, a player looking to get fit hardly needs to play two games in three days, especially when the first was on a heavy pitch which will have taken a lot out of him.

I like O'Leary, and want to see more of him next season. However, I don't see him as a solution for our biggest problem. We need to somehow convince a playmaker who can unlock defences to make the move down to The Conference. We've had a few over the years: Dave Brammer, Darren Ferguson, Peter Ward, Danny Sonner. They'd all have done! O'Leary is a good midfielder who can make a big impression on The Conference, but he's not that type of player.

Sir Alan's search for an apprentice goes on!

Holden a Minute!

Why was everyone so surprised by Luke Holden's red card against Gateshead? Wasn't it the most predictable thing that's happpened this season? He's certainly a singular character.

It certainly wasn't the first time he made the most of a challenge. There are some people in the press box who call Holden Lazarus for his ability to rise remarkably from the dead soon after he'd hit the deck apparently mortally wounded by a challenge from behind.

Also, my son is a ballboy and he reports with fascination that Holden wanders the pitch swearing to himself and at others throughout the match.

Now I'm not about to turn into a hypocrite over this. He has made a genuine impact in some matches; let's not forget that fine free kick in our previous home match.

Also, I've previously praised the streetwise edge he and Andy Mangan have brought to the side, and I've not changed my mind about that. We need toughening up and to get a bit cuter, and both Scousers contribute to that process.

However, Holden could do worse than learn from his team mate. Mangan took a couple of liberties yesterday, but got away with them with a dollop of cheeky charm; he ought to have been booked for kicking the ball away twice, but made a joke of it with a ref who wasn't looking to whip his card out recklessly, and got away with it.

I guess the question with Holden is whether he can tone down his behaviour without losing something of his feisty style of play. This is the great conundrum asked about Wayne Rooney; can he function so well if he loses the anger. I'm sure Holden can learn from what happened and continue to contribute to the side. I certainly hope so.

Personas Non Grata

There was something Dean Saunders said after the Gateshead match that didn't quite stack up for me.

For only the second time this season he picked an unchanged side, despite the fact that we'd played on a tiring pitch two days earlier. He then explained that part of the reason for our poor performance was the number of players who weren't fully fit: Mangan and Mitchley in attack, plus Holden, Taylor and Smith on the bench. That, he explained, limited his options.

Of course, the obvious question is why he didn't indulge in at least a little reshuffling of the pack, but quite apart from that, a more serious question is raised. What does his selection tell those who weren't chosen? He said he was reluctant to use the injured trio on the bench, so what must the likes of Matty Wolfenden, Hedi Taboubi, Adrian Cieslewicz and Nathan Fairhurst be thinking? Probably that it's time to grab their coats.

...and the result of the test is.....

Well at least I picked the sponsors' man of the match out with my caption! Okay, so if the Gateshead game representes a crucial test of our credentials, we failed pretty comprehensively.

Yes, the pitch and the wind weren't helpful, but the fact of the matter was that the quality of the mathc was abysmal. A few people have suggested it was the worst home game of the season; the depressing thing is that, despite the total lack of anything to recommend it, it certainly wasn't the only contender for that epithet.

Remember the Hayes game? How horrendous was that? The fact is there've been worse performances by Wrexham this season, but the Gateshead match was indeed probably the worst game we've witnessed. The truth is that the visitors lived up to their billing: they were a part-time team struggling to stay in the Conference whose away form is grim. And we were no better than them. There can be no grimmer indictment of us than that.

Gateshead Podcast

The Gateshead podcast is now available at www.wrexhamfan.co.uk featuring Dean Saunders, Chris Maxwell and Kristian O'Leary.

Litmus Paper

Today will be an interesting test of how much progress we've made lately. There can be no doubt that, with three new men making an impression, the results have picked up over the last couple of weeks, with a 3-0 home win, a hard-fought victory at Mansfield and a draw at AFC Wimbledon which ought to have been a win. Performances have perked up too, but today we face the sort of challenge which had consistently troubled us this season.

Gateshead are fighting for their lives, are part-timers and have a dreadful away record: since October they've played 15, won 2 (and one of those was against a lower league side), drawn 3 and lost 10. One of the three away games they've lost in a row was an 8-0 too! Sounds like a typical Wrexham banana skin!

That's not the whole story, of course. Gateshead have enjoyed some impressive home wins lately, including one against us, of course. Today we might see if the new men bring enough nous to help us overwhelm a determined rearguard action. If not let's see how we fare next Saturday: Grays are already relegated, have won just three games all season and scored a mere thirty goals. I'm dreading the humiliation already!

Baby Steps

Dean Saunders continues his learning curve as coach, and I'm hopeful that he's making more correct calls than he used to. He certainly appeared to have learned from a recent mistake yesterday when he made a crafty, match-winning substitution.

Gareth Taylor's introduction with Adrian Cieslewicz was a departure for Dean Saunders. The obvious comparison was the Cambridge match; indeed, Saunders said it was a similar scenario after the game at Field Mill. However, his reaction to the situation was completely different, and much more astute.

I'd argue the Cambridge game wasn't particularly similar to yesterday's. Frankly they weren't as threatening as Mansfield despite having plenty of second half possession, but despite a lack of real threat on our goal, Saunders withdrew one of his strikers, putting on a defensive midfielder. The result? We left poor Andy Mangan horribly isolated up front and a side which was used to throwing the advantage away took the lead from their manager, surrendered the initiative totally, and nearly lost despite being 2-0 up late on.

Saunders was very unhappy when the BBC's Ian Beddow questioned the substitution afterwards, calling it a "clever dick question" and complaining that any point could be made with the benefit of hindsight. He was wrong; it was absolutely the key question to ask after a match that had turned on the change, and as for the charge of abusing hindsight, well what else can we use to analyse a match? I must say that in commentary, Steve Edwards and I were both making the same point as the substitution took place, as I'm sure Ian did.

Saunders, a cornered, wounded animal, defended himself by coming out fighting, but yesterday suggested that privately he'd taken the point on board. We were under a great deal more pressure and only defending a one goal lead, albeit defending it admirably, Mansfield chances coming rarely. The spectacular implosion at Wimbledon four days earlier meant Saunders might have been even more inclined to draw further into a defensive shell. Instead he made an excellent call.

We were defending grittily but unable to keep the ball higher up the pitch, so Mansfield were able to pile pressure on us constantly. This time, instead of bringing another defensive player on, he kept two up front and introduced Taylor with immediate results. He gave a fine cameo performance, holding the ball up superbly, winning headers, and relieving the pressure in textbook manner. The result was a surprisingly comfortable last fifteen minutes, apart from an injury time volley from Luke Foster which drew a superb injury time save by Chris Maxwell (and incidentally should have resulted in a red card for Foster, already on a yellow, who took his frustration out on the keeper when the ball was crossed back in with a brutal foul).

We might have forgotten what qualities Taylor brings to the side as a result of his enforced absence through injury, but he reminded us of what he can bring to the side with that canny performance. Clearly Saunders hadn't forgotten Taylor's attributes, and his positive use of them earned us a hard-fought three points.

Mansfield Podcast

The Mansfield podcast is now up at www.wrexhamfan.co.uk featuring Dean Saunders, Mani Assoumani and Andy Mangan.