What a bunch of raving
optimists we would all appear to be. I was astonished to see two pro-Mullen offerings in
the last issue of the magazine. Here's my response: a right of reply, if you will, on
behalf of those who've had enough of Mullen.
Both writers made the mistake of putting bogus
arguments into the mouths of those with whom they disagree, only to set about disproving
them. It's easy to do, but unfortunately, the anti-Mullen arguments they demolished
contained little of substance. No-one seriously claims that Mullen's heart isn't in it, or
accuses him of not trying his best. Sadly, whether his heart is in it has nothing to do
with whether he can actually do the job. He may try his hardest, but what if that isn't
good enough? No-one claims that Mullen didn't make a difference in the past; it's absurd
to suggest that anyone thinks we would have got out of the fourth without him, as we all
recall how many times we failed. I'll always be grateful to him for doing that, but I
believe that, just as then all the credit was his, now he must carry the can for
relegation. To believe otherwise is inconsistent. His past record has no bearing on the
question of whether he is the best person to get us out of this division now. If he isn't
the best man available to get us back up then we should get whoever is, and Mullen should
go.
In any case, emotional bonds between manager and
club are far less important than things like professionalism and tactical astuteness.
Which would you rather have, a manager committed to the club who isn't up to scratch, or
an ambitious professional with no particular attachment to the club and with an eye on
impressing and making it big? What was Rioch's commitment to, or connection with, Bolton?
For this reason, I'd like the next manager to continue the start made with Mullen, and to
be someone who has never played for us.
It's misleading to hark back to Mullen's glory
days, although as a club we are of course notorious for living in the past. Just because
Mullen could do it then doesn't mean he still can. Managers do lose it, like Kendall or
Clough. Mullen seems less up to the demands of this division now than the last time; just
as players lose form never to regain it (and we've had a few), so managers can become a
spent force. As with players the only thing to do then is get rid of them, because a sense
of defeat is contagious. Perhaps there are lower division managers in the same way there
are lower division players. As we came up two divisions we saw players who had been
successful lower down fail to make the grade higher up, although we usually hung on to
them regardless. Mullen, one could say, is a lower division manager who isn't up to the
standard of the higher division, as last season proved.
The motivational talents that played such a big
part in making Casper's also rans champions look to have dried up. There's only so many
times you can work the same tricks, and the emotional school of management only gets you
so far; it's a long time since those dressing room lock ins had any effect. I've heard it
suggested that whoever the next manager is, any change would shake the players out of
their apparent lethargy and restore some of their lost confidence. Even that initial short
term good run that changes so often bring could have made a difference last season, as
with Fenwick at Portsmouth and Pe'eree at Su'lan.
Mullen has lost it, and I'm surprised that this
is not yet evident to all. Never his biggest fan, I used to get myself into rows with
people who supported him. A shout of `Mullen out' would cause arguments, like those at
Fulham and Wrexham the other year. Try shouting it now and you'll rarely find anyone who
objects. When was the last time you heard `Jimmy Mullen's Claret and Blue Army?' Everybody
has their own breaking point beyond which they can stand no more, and it appears that most
of us have reached ours.
Your correspondents rightly bemoan the shocking
away form, but somehow fail to make the connection between this and Mullen. The last 3
seasons have seen us picking up 11 away wins. The last season we looked convincing away
was 1991/92. What has changed since then? In short, in those days, we used to try to win.
For a long time, old style centre half that he is, Mullen has adopted the `win at home,
draw away' approach (although this often became `draw at home, lose away.') The wrong
players get picked, are sent out with their heads full of nonsense, and not surprisingly,
play badly. Mullen seems torn between two styles, forever unable to make up his mind; he'd
like to attack, but always gives the defensive option one more try, even though we never
look comfortable defending. Taken alongside his transfer `policy' his overall `strategy'
boils down to this: buying strikers and picking defenders.
The man who once inspired his team to great
heights like that night at York now sends them out to try for 0-0 draws away, even at
struggling sides like Notts County last season and Carlisle this. Yet we can still do it
when the big occasion demands, having only gone up in the first place because when things
were looking particularly grim we produced two splendid wins away. Is it that Mullen
himself can only wind up his motivational skills on these one off occasions, or is it that
we see what happens when finally we can't get away with leaving it till next week? How
could Ed Touhey think that after Derby whatever team had been picked would have lost at
Port Vale? Most of us there were frustrated and disheartened to find Tin Man, so
inspirational on the Saturday, left out for the extra defender, who stayed on even when it
was slipping away. I'll always remember that just when it seemed he had a chance of
turning things round his nerve failed Mullen, and he sent out a side to scrap naively for
0-0. Of course Port Vale also needed the points, but how come other sides can do it and we
can't? If this is what passes for tactics, Mullen deserves never to work again.
Optimism already seems misplaced. To win this
division we'll need at least 85 points, which means nearly 2 wins every 3 games. Assuming
we're to win the usual 3-4 away games and draw 8 (last season was W3, D7), we could expect
to take around 20 points away, leaving us a massive 65 to pick up at home. We'd need to
win all of them. In the absence of bonus points, to go up as champions we'd really have to
win 8-10 away games. Would anyone care to point to the fixtures list and suggest where
those wins might be? Remember, it is almost a year since we last won away in the league.
At least Mullen ensures our celebrations after such wins are memorable. We never know when
we might next get the chance.
I simply can't see how things might change
without a change at the top. As for the `give him a chance' argument, I feel he's already
wasted enough. We were the only struggling side last season to stick with our manager. Are
we going to be the same this season as well? Do we need to go over the same tired
arguments about lack of resources when we have just gone down from a division in which
colossi like Southend and Barnsley thrive on a fraction of our turnover? What
distinguishes these clubs from us? Perhaps it's simply that they have good managers.
Should we accept that any side that wins the play offs is bound to come straight back
down? Huddersfield seem to be putting up a bit more of a fight, don't they?
The case against Mullen consists of a few simple
facts. There is his appalling record in the transfer market. There is his personal
indiscipline which rubs off on the team and causes continual clashes with players, who
then get dropped. There is the frustrating naivety, tactical ineptitude, caution and
muddled thinking that characterise away games. There is the indecision, seen in the
strange style of game we play, which is best described (borrowing from elsewhere) as
`playing good football badly.' And to compound all this, there is the endless repetition
of past mistakes. I would love to see a manager who can learn.
I'm sorry to disappoint Andy Waterworth, but I
don't have a particularly short memory; in fact, I'm trying to forget the multiple awayday
horrors of the last few years beside which Scarborough '91 pales. And no, I don't talk in
a nasal whine or use clichés. It's odd that those who find attacks on Mullen distasteful
are so quick to rubbish the people who make them. I've tried to avoid that here. It's
purely for football reasons that I now think Mullen should resign and leave us what few
shreds of fond memory we still have.
