12 days left to avoid the drop ?

There are 12 days left in this transfer window and let us all be clear if we do not get at least 3 or 4 quality new signings in during the period we are very likely to be relegated. I am not a doomsayer, I am expressing a rational position. Our odds on being relegated have shortened to 7/4 and our odds on finishing bottom given our recent run have also shortened to 12-1. The bookies do not work on emotion or sentiment, they price up on statistics and form.

Everyone in football, including us fans, know that acquiring quality players in this window is very difficult but ESI would have known that when they bought the club and I’m sure ( at least I hope) that they would have built in an extra contingency fund for paying over the odds for players in this window. It doesn’t mean that they would have to continue paying over the odds in the summer. I have to say it is a bit worrying when Matt Southall ( who has so far played a PR blinder) told CAST that we didn’t do a deal for a player because he wanted an extra £1k a week. If the bloke had been identified to improve the team it seems like a ‘fiddling at the margin’ decision when the ship’s on fire.

I know we still have Cullen, Taylor and Bonne to return, but injuries are a part of football and you can guarantee that when they come back someone else will be out. Imagine an injury to Phillips, Pratley or Lockyer at the moment. It would be one step forward and one step back. We cant rely on the teams below us continuing to lose.

We all recognise that the club was left in a poor state by Roland and the new owners are universally welcomed but ESI paid a lot of money for the club and if they want to stay in the Championship they are going to have to dig deep financially over the next 12 days or ( God forbid) we will be planning for a return trip to Rochdale next season.

Perpetual Pratley

I don’t know how many Shredded Wheat Darren Pratley tucks away every morning but on the basis of his performance yesterday its got be in double figures.

He was immense yesterday, leadership at its finest. Football, it seems to me, is increasingly a younger and younger mans game. Inevitably our team has been peppered with kids, but its a wider trend too. However, a few like Darren buck the trend and thank  God he does.

The overall performance yesterday was full of fight and resilience, the kids all played their part, Davison in particular bulldozed his way through the Goliath WBA defence. The result felt like a win at full time.

But Darren was my hero- he was absolutely magnificent.

Dynamic Determined Devastating Darren – Take a bow son…

The game no one wants to win

Firstly it would be remiss of me not to at least reference the long awaited departure of the mad Belgian. If Dominic Cummings is really looking for misfits and weirdos, the mad old duffer has now got at least 2% of his time available to do something else. Great credit is due to those who ran and organised CARD, WAR and those committed individuals who took the campaign to Belgium.

Anyway, let’s move on now and a big SE London welcome to the ESI team, in particular to His Excellency Tahnoon Nimer from Abu Dhabi who is providing the funding.

January is a vital month for the club if relegation is to be avoided. The team has to be strengthened with quality players. Although the general mood now is overwhelmingly positive and Bow is managing to get blood out of water, our current form is terrible.

Tomorrow’s game against WBA is going to be a competition to see who can rest the most players ( one we will surely win) and a further competition to try and lose the game  (another one we will surely win)

Neither clubs really want another fixture but I fancy us to be more highly motivated and debilitated in order to avoid Round 4 of the FA Cup.