you’ve pretty much got what you wanted.
Martin Jol is dead man walking as the current cliche goes.
You undermined him so much that his position is untenable, as was seen with the likes of Ferguson’s retirement and Robson not having his contract renewed, once it’s known a manager isn’t going to be round long the players don’t much bother playing for him. They also stop playing for the club and the fans, which they seem to have no problem with and neither do those that excuse them for not playing for the soon to be gone boss.
That was shown in the all round well for lack of a better word performance against the Toon on Monday night.
And amongst the detritus that was trying to pass for footballers one shone out like a beacon, that one player could be head and shoulders below the rubbish on show is amazing but yes Jermaine Jenas stood out by being by far the worst player on the pitch, so bad he couldn’t be classed as rubbish, so bad that even the completely out of it Dawson wasn’t as bad. This useless article spent most of his time being booed by the locals and no doubt the visitors as he continuously tried to pass the ball to a barcoder in the front row of the crowd.
This was ineptness of a new dimension, the only thing he did well all night was hide for a major part of it, playing with 10 is far more preferable than playing with an 11 that includes Jenas at the heart, the locals should have been cheering him, he was one of their best players on the night.
So now the dressing room isn’t with the manager, neither is the board no matter what their witterings to the contrary, Dimtar showed his petulance refusing to warm up when told and stalling on a new deal, which may be understandable when you are dropped for the likes of Bent and I can’t think Defoe was that happy sitting back home.
The whole thing has unhappy ending written all over it even with Martin still thinking he can salvage this, it is the worst start to a Premiership campaign and the worst start in the league since ’88 when they again only managed 7 points from the first 10 games but went on to finish 6th, Jol’s stats show him to have the best winning percentage of any non-caretaker manager they’ve had since the league reconstruction but that was under happier times, just feel the clock can’t be turned back down, decisions were made actions taken.
So onto a home tie with Getafe in the UEFA Cup on Thursday, what chances a moral boosting victory when the players don’t seem at all bothered and when they’ll lack the only bright spot for the season Gareth Bale for who knows how long.