Countdown to Daggers: The Need for Change

There’s been plenty of tinkering with the team, but what about real change? Change within the management structure, or change within the coaching staff or change in the team?

Paul Tisdale appeared on Sky Sports the Footballers Football Show earlier this week to talk about stability for the management of a football team thus enabling long-term planning rather than planning on the basis of not getting relegated by the end of the season. It was also discussed that you mustn’t get stale, that you need to reinvent yourself so that players get a new voice and new ideas.

The show also discussed expectations. Quite often those expectations can relate to how a club’s budget relates to those in their division. If yours is the 12th in the benchmark supplied by the Football League, then the football club should reasonably expect you to finish about 12th. That does lead you to wonder what expectations have been placed upon Paul Tisdale by the Board of Directors. Has anyone asked that direct question and got a direct answer? Maybe those expectations are nothing more than Exeter City mustn’t be relegated to the Conference.

Problem is the fans, the paying customers, have different expectations. Watching lacklustre performances at St James Park, an all too often defeat in front of ever decreasing crowds and as the team continues its decline towards the relegation zone means that a frustrated fan base results. Declining crowds increase the pressure on an already tight budget.

So what should change? We know that it is not going to happen at the manager level. That also includes the coaching staff as well. The success of the under 21s will have confirmed to the BoD that the direction of the Club is broadly correct. There is no dissenting voice in the set-up. A change of idea is though needed, a change of voice, a change of direction. Why should short-termism be a bad idea if it helps us to meet our long-term aims? A long-term aim of home-grown players and a genuine challenge at promotion.

Saturday’s game against Dagenham & Redbridge is far from being a ‘must’ win game, but it is a ‘need to’ win game, to restore confidence both with players and the fans. Are those in charge capable of delivering change that will alter the course of this season? There’s been no evidence so far that anyone in charge is willing to rock the boat. An Exeweb poll has already identified as much frustration with the management of the Club as with Paul Tisdale.

Time to pull something out of the bag!