Originally Posted by
daveemiller
Vaulks, Ajayi, Smith all improved immeasurably under Warne. Vaulks wasn't up to the pace of the championship when he first arrived, looked far too leggy from playing the slower, ****ter, Scottish game. He has improved season upon season, to become our leader. Ajayi, though he is still capable of gaffs, is another who has became a saleable asset. Smith was branded a lower league donkey coming off the bench for bloody Bury, but he has got leaner and stronger. Warne always said he was a championship player in waiting, with little prior evidence to add credence to his views, so he deserves credit there too.
Forde was up there with Fisher as our worst player under Stubbs. Now he is not everyone's cup of tea but he contributes and his eight assists last season were valuable. Taylor couldn't hit a barn door and his crosses couldn't beat the first man before Warne arrived. He's still absolutely ****e on his day but his crossing and goal return have improved. Williams has had the most sustained spell of form of his career under Warne. Personal problems and injuries have dictated he has never really done it for long elsewhere. Wood was brought back from the dead, rarely made the squad before Warne arrived. Ihiekwe we plucked from the conference and he was many peoples MOTM on Saturday. Proctor, though he looks knackered now, has looked a better player for us then he managed at Bolton, Bradford and Fleetwood. Mattock is playing his best football for years. In fact, this season has probably been his best for us. Robertson, I don't think anyone had heard of before Warne signed him. He's been brave in slotting Wiles in all season too. Even Kieffer Moore had scarcely scored a football league goal before he joined us. Warne has a proven track record of improving lesser known players for us. His job of keeping us in the championship this season, with a threadbare, league one squad, is one of the hardest jobs in all the leagues.
If the players were not taking responsibility for results, we wouldn't have the seen the high press and tempo we had against Leeds, Wednesday etc. Lack of quality is obvious for all to see but definitely they haven't downed tools. If you plopped us in League one now we wouldn't even have the best squad in the division. Warne has done and continues to do a remarkable job with the poorest squad on paper I think we have ever had in this division. With only Smith up front, if we stay up this season, it will be a remarkable achievement.
The daft thing is if we had a striker who'd got another 5-6 goals, be it of the bench or starting, and turned some of them draws in to wins, then we'd be home and hose by now. Now that is the board's fault for not backing us in our last 3 championship transfer windows. Or perhaps it is the towns fault for not filling the ground and convincing Tony Stewart to dip into his pockets. It would be almost deranged to suggest it's Warne's fault. I'm not suggesting you are saying that all but lack of financial ambition is what will send us down. Any other quibbles with tactics, formations etc, are wholey irrelevant when you look at every other team in this division and then you look at our squad of misfits. Mind you, Let's see if Reading's trillion January signings take responsibility for results....We're certainly not dead and buried yet.
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