Cod Almighty | Article
by Alistair Wilkinson
4 May 2010
He's won a few, he's lost a few and he's drawn a shedload. The arguments for and against him staying are compelling - in my eyes even more so than the game this Saturday. And so now, as we stand on the brink of the biggest game in our history (since the last one), the question in my mind isn't 'Will we stay up?': it's 'Woods: should he stay or should he go?'
Our position next season will almost certainly be a deciding factor and that has now come down to the last game - something we could only dream about two weeks ago. A rescue against the odds guarantees him a job 'til at least November. The level of miracle required would grant him a sainthood that would just about see out the Cleethorpes ice creams. But is that uphill struggle an elephant in the room of his own creation? Had his team held on to a 2-0 lead against Chesterfield and turned up against Torquay we would, arguably, be safe, or at least have our destiny in our own hands.
First I'll look at the positives: he doesn't lose many. When he took over we were terrible; we couldn't attack, we couldn't defend and we had a midfield as useful and popular as a pair of rats in a bakery. We'd had a disastrous loan keeper, a young centre-half in midfield and a forward with the long-term commitment of a holiday waiter - when he wasn't suspended. Mike Newell's side, with a summer's worth of building only a couple of months before, was blemished by the likes of Josh Magennis and Arnaud Mendy, two panic loan signings which highlighted our lack of direction. 'Rudderless' was the adjective of choice for our floundering side.
Woods took over after a home defeat to Rochdale. The team's captain and best defender was sold from under him. His first match on 24 October was another defeat, 3-1 away to Bournemouth. This was our fifth straight loss in the league.
"Woods has been mostly successful in the loan market. He's also been ruthless: Magennis and Mendy were shown the door straight away"
The new manager had found himself in charge of a losing team, sitting second bottom with 10 points from 13 games. Despite that, he didn't lose two league games in succession until Rochdale away and Northampton at home on 27 March and 2 April. That's five months, or 24 league games, without consecutive defeats; given our confidence and performances up until late October, that's nothing short of miraculous. Newell had overseen three 4-0 defeats in 15 league and cup games. Woods has seen none, and only three three-goal defeats in 34 games. Newell lost nine of his 14 league and cup games. Woods has only lost 12 games in total, and in the league it's just 10 defeats in 32.
He's also clearly a coach - something we lacked after Newell allowed Stuart Watkiss to leave. We're a better side now, and pretty much immediately after Woods took over the players were playing to a plan, a system, a shape. Players have improved, Peter Bore the obvious example, but also Joe Widdowson, Michael Leary and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro. We can defend, we can attack and our midfield has at least risen to a little above anonymous.
Woods has been mostly successful in the loan market, and he signed Peacock in January - a decision that may prove to be our saving. He's also been ruthless: Magennis and Mendy were shown the door straight away, Conlon and North went in January, Jarman found himself out in the cold after a couple of rash performances and eventually Sweeney was out of the side. I can forgive Woods his hesitation over the latter given the player's obvious talent and Woods' success with Bore.
So I'm saying that he should stay? In the unlikely event that any readers are not familiar with the story of our season, you might ask why I'm considering Woods' future at all given the evidence shown. The other side to Woods' (limited?) success is the failure: he was the man in charge for most of Town's worst ever sequence of results: 25 league games without a win. A run that lasted five and a half months, from 19 September, an away win at Torquay, to 6 March, a home win against Shrewsbury. Six of those games were Newell's, including four of those five straight defeats, but nevertheless Woods has to be held responsible for such a poor run of results.
And when I mentioned that he went five months without consecutive defeats, that didn't include cup games. Woods saw two defeats in a row in November. The second was in the Football League Trophy away to Leeds: no shame there. But the first was at home to Bath City in the FA Cup first round. It was assumed after that game that Woods had no chance of the job. Chairman Fenty continued to surprise us all.
Woods' decisions have been strange at times: sticking with Nicky Featherstone ahead of Jammal Shahin was a popular puzzler in the Pontoon. I can understand not wanting to 'spoil' young players, Bradley Wood being an example of that, but Shahin is 21 years old, showed some true quality in a miserable team and is surely desperate to prove himself as a professional. Ben Wright and Wes Fletcher were signed to sit on the bench when we had Adam Proudlock and Danny North to do that. Has that snub ruined Proudlock as a Town player for good? Where is Nick Hegarty? There is surely at least a place on the bench for such a reliable player.
And then there's Tommy Wright, the player signed with Peacock. The two of them were going to sort out our 'spine'. It hasn't turned out that way for Tommy, but Woods sticks with him. He hasn't been dropped since he signed, only missing games through injury even though he has looked unfit and incapable in just about his every moment on the pitch.
"When we look back at the managers we've cast aside without thought - Laws, Groves and Buckley twice - I believe we've lost out"
Important home games have come and gone under Woods, and in each one victory became more and more essential, yet we failed to win them. Port Vale was a Christmas game sandwiched between two excellent and very promising performances against Morecambe and Bury. It was also the second of four home games in the festive period - the ideal opportunity to save our season. Woods tinkered with the side, pushing Bore on to the right wing and dropping Akpro for Conlon. We lost 2-1 and then finished those four games with draws against Bury and Cheltenham. Just three points from a possible 12, and Cheltenham was an important six-pointer.
We haven't done well at home in most of the six-pointers. Darlington, still under Newell, was a draw; Bradford one of those three-goal defeats, Lincoln another draw and the same for Macclesfield. Torquay rounds off a shameful list with another 3-0 defeat. Against bottom-six sides we've only managed wins at home against Hereford (Newell's last home win back in September), and Barnet last Saturday.
And last but not least, six months after Woods' appointment we're still second bottom.
But I'm saying keep him. I want Woods to lead us in the Football League or the Conference, whichever we find ourselves in next year. He's shown enough to suggest he's learning (Featherstone out, Devitt in), and when we look back at the managers we've cast aside - Laws and Groves in particular and Buckley twice - without thought for whether or not we can use what they have learned, I believe we've lost out. Woods has (mostly) used the loan system well and has built a new team during the season, a new team that seems to have a spirit. Whether they are Grimsby Town players or not, they have a fighting quality that has carried them through the worst run in the club's history. Twenty-five games without a win and yet they still kicked off nearly every game with belief. He's built a team that was all but relegated two weeks ago, yet when it came to crunch matches, matches that had to be won or Town were relegated, his team answered with victories.
It's true that this season we've reached new lows and it's also true that we can still go lower. Under Woods we've been truly dreadful; I've screamed and I've cried at the detritus on the pitch. But more often I've seen us play and I've seen enough to believe that we can grow no matter how much we fall. The result of the game against Burton can't be as important as our decision over a new manager and I'm sure of what that decision should be. I've seen a beginning and I want to see it continue.