I haven't made a blog post since December, perhaps I
should blame that for our complete and utter collapse.
At the time of writing I have just seen Tranmere battle
to a final day 0-0 draw against Bournemouth. Had somebody read my previous blog
but heard nothing at all about Tranmere Rovers until today you may look at that
as a respectable result and one which would confirm promotion - after all we
were so brilliant earlier in the season surely we must at least have finished
in the top six, something which would have illustrated a brilliant season for
Ronnie Moore's side.
Unfortunately that has not come to fruition. Instead we
have endured a quite horrible run of form which has ultimately left the side in
11th place, only one higher than the horrible season that was 2011-12. The
truth was we achieved 11 more points than last season but given the start we
had seeing Bournemouth celebrate promotion on our pitch left a sour taste.
Having not lost a league game all season until Bournemouth on 20th October spirits
were high, since the beginning of February that high feeling has been replaced
by one of extreme frustration and annoyance. A run of 12 defeats in 17
(featuring an embarrassing 2 wins in last period) and no goals in any of our
final six league games (5 1-0 defeats and a 0-0 draw) the season has ended in
miserable fashion. The result today against Bournemouth was actually a good one
and the players did pretty well, especially goalkeeper Jason Mooney who after
one slippery moment early on looked very composed.
The fact that we finished 7 points away from the
play-offs is incredible, earlier in the season people spoke about where failing
to achieve automatic promotion would equate to a bad season given our start,
finishing so badly that we didn't even end up close to the play-off spots
simply defies belief. What went wrong? Well injuries can be blamed in a way -
the loss of Wallace, Akpa Akpro, Gibson and Bell-Baggie in particular at
important parts of the season undoubtedly weakened our side, however blaming
injuries alone wouldn't be fair - every team has injuries. Personally I believe
the drop in performance levels of certain players (namely Danny Holmes, Ash
Taylor and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro on his return from injury) have to be looked
at as largely why we failed so badly. Ronnie Moore signed a new 2-and-a-half
year deal to widespread joy in Wirral on January 24th, since then we have won
two from twelve matches, while that shouldn't be a factor perhaps complacency
did come into it as players like Danny Holmes and Abdulai Bell-Baggie signed
contract extensions around that time.
Ultimately this season will be looked back on with some
fond memories but a overall feeling of "it should have been us" after
watching Bournemouth fill the away stand at Prenton Park and sing about the
promotion they had achieved, whether they "bought" the promotion or
not the fact that we finished the season without even a shot at promotion
through the play-offs meant disappointment.
It is looking like Bristol City, Wolves, Barnsley,
Gillingham, Rotherham, Port Vale and one of Burton, Cheltenham, Northampton and
Bradford will be the teams to join us
next season. In Wolves we see a team with a great history and massive budget -
if they can sell or release players to free up some of that budget they should
be major players, Rotherham also have a big budget by league one/two standard
and so could cause problems, however aside from those two I don't see too much
for us to worry about - I remember seeing Bristol City and Gillingham face us
in League One in recent years and none of the others are clubs on par with the
likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Leicester and Nottingham Forest who have graced
our league (I say our league because we will be heading into our 13th season in
it next campaign!) with their presence in recent years. One of Brentford,
Sheffield United, Yeovil and Swindon will be promoted as well next season
meaning should that side be Sheffield United or Brentford another side with a
budget far too big for League One will be moving on to pastures new.
At this time optimism comes into play - should we avoid
injuries next year and improve our squad we could well finish in the top six -
but it has to be recognised that every team in League One will be thinking the
same thing. Can we really improve on what we have? and can we actually score
goals from the start of next season? are
questions that face Tranmere fans tonight.
Whatever happens we will start next season with new
players - the likes of Black, Harrison and Kay look to be certainties to leave
Prenton Park which will of course mean replacements. Perhaps we peaked too
early this year, perhaps the conspiracy theories which stated owner Peter
Johnson didn't want us to get promoted are actually true or perhaps a lack of
investment in January ultimately cost us a place in the Championship.
Whichever it is this season has seen more ups and downs
than a impressive rollercoaster, football is a funny old sport - despite the
hurt it sometimes offers we all know we will be back for more.
Ronnie Moore's Super White Army!
