Welcome back to the Hearle World following my very own international break! It’s been very nice to enjoy some time away, but the world of football never breaks for anything or anyone, it seems and whilst I’ve been on foreign soil (and seas), much has happened in the game we all love and enjoy.
So with suitcases and suncream put away again, it’s time to get back into football mode.
There is no sentiment in football, as we all know and while I was away, it came as little surprise when Nuno Espirito Santo was relieved of his managerial duties by Nottingham Forest chairman Evangelos Marinakis, despite Nuno leading Forest to an overachieving previous season, which saw European qualification for the first time in many seasons.
Marinakis’ very public spat with his manager on the pitch following a match last season was headline news and was, I’m sure, the beginning of the end for the relationship with the pair no longer to work together, which was only made worse by the Forest manager’s thinly veiled criticism of the club’s summer recruitment.
Forest supporters have been, as you would expect, upset by the episode that has seen the man who has turned their fortunes around in quick time dismissed from the club, for which he clearly had a lot of respect and love for.
It emphasises perfectly the need for a harmonious relationship between a football club’s top table and the man charged with leading the team’s fortunes on the field.
Without that in place, you have little chance of success, be that on or off the pitch.
Marinakis is a controversial character who is never far away from his next back-page headline, whilst Nuno mostly comes across as a cool-headed individual, so on the surface you would think that that particular chairman-manager relationship wouldn’t have worked in the first place – but it did – at least initially.
Whilst I was away, I noted that locally Peterborough Sports have parted company with joint management duo Luke Steele and former Linnet favourite Michael Gash following the National League North’s side’s difficult start to the season.
The pair had only just signed a new two-year deal in the summer, again after a successful previous season which had seen the club finish in a comfortable league position.
I will agree that Sports’ current league position (bottom of the table with just four points) doesn’t make good reading, but there are still a mountain of games to play and a couple of wins would have painted a different picture in a short space of time.
I don’t know the circumstances of the pair’s dismissal, but from the outside, surely their past efforts would have given them a little more time in the bank to attempt to turn things around?
Being a football club chairman isn’t an easy job, as I guess you’re mostly feeling you can never win, whatever you may decide.
I’ve given two examples of what could be described as knee-jerk dismissals, but I remember well former Lynn chairman Stephen Cleeve giving manager at the time Ian Culverhouse a chance to turn around a particularly difficult spell of his second tenure when some were calling for Ian’s head.
Eventually, Cleeve made the decision to fire his manager but ultimately it was too late and the club were relegated that season.
I remember later Cleeve saying that he should have dispensed with Ian’s services earlier than he did and regretted it then that he hadn’t. Who would be a football manager, or chairman, for that matter?
The Linnets have had a busy spell since my last notes, playing three National League North fixtures and an FA Cup tie.
The league games have seen two draws and a defeat with a win achieved in the cup at National Southern side Chesham.
In my previous column, I reflected on the big win that had been achieved over Merthyr Town and the hope that James Rowe’s squad could move on and begin to collect a few more league victories in what, on paper, looked like a decent run of games.
However, games of football are played on grass (mostly) and not paper as was proved with the single goal home reverse to a very streetwise Kidderminster outfit on the following Tuesday evening.
In both of the following league encounters at Alfreton Town and Marine, Lynn have taken the lead in each fixture, only to be pegged back on both occasions by the home team, something that has frustrated Rowe greatly.
His disappointment at conceding late from a set piece was evident for all to see in the post-match Marine interview put out by the club at the weekend and it’s something that he and his coaches will continue to work on in training without doubt.
The Linnets had a good amount of control in both of those away games but they do need to convert the chances created at the other end of the pitch when on top in games then conceding late at the other end of the pitch late in a game won’t matter as much if, at that stage, the team are three or so goals to the good.
I still feel that the squad is bedding in and, with a couple of players departing the club last week, I do wonder if Rowe is planning on moving in the opposite direction in the coming days, which could bring a different balance to things?
As I mentioned last time, supporters do have to be patient at present, however frustrating that may be for some of them.
A run of results will come along at some point, just as some of the debatable decisions that seem to be going against Lynn at the moment will turn into positive ones over the full course of a season.
This weekend sees yet another away Saturday for the team with the visit to Royston Town in the FA Cup third qualifying round, where a win would see the Linnets only 90 minutes away from another first round proper appearance in the famous cup knockout competition.
The visitors will be strong favourites for a win over their lower league opposition, who have struggled badly in the league this season.
We all know the pitfalls of cup football but in truth anything but a good win will be very disappointing for all concerned with Linnets connections.
