Chesterfield 1 - 0 Cheltenham Town

League Two - Saturday 12th December 2009

On a long drive with my long suffering wife I turned the car radio on for Sports Report. The jolly anachronistic theme tune is from the days of the BBC Light Programme. We know it by heart - Da-Dum-Da-Dum-Da-Dumpety-Dum etc etc. It cheers you up on a chilly winter Saturday when the sun has disappeared so early it really shouldn't have bothered to get up in the first place.

By the time James Alexandra Gordon (or who ever owns that football heritage voice) got to "Football League Two" we were crossing the Hampshire Downs. I was beginning to get in the mood for a mild celebration. A draw would do..... "Chesterfield Town one.........." there was a tantalising pause "Cheltenham Town ........ Nil". And it was gone - sod, sod, sod ......

We are in the bleak mid-winter. The statistics tell it all. Grimsby are crawling their way out of the grave and Lincoln or Cheltenham are ready to roll in with the dead men.

The reports of this match are depressing. Lifeless and unimaginative by all accounts. Lewis had the best and only chance of a goal (for his sake let's hope the scouts were impressed) and that was it. Chesterfield felt they should have scored more and the 115 travelling supporters got no thanks for a thankless journey as the team headed for the tunnel.

What a way to celebrate Martin Allen's departure. The news broke on Friday - "By mutual agreement.... etc etc." Why bother to speculate how it ended. I would imagine he won't need to look for work just yet. The club is back to square one - minus a lot of money and league places (& possibly a few players by the end of January). It would have been preferable to have let Keith Downing take us down and certainly cheaper. A softer landing maybe.

In any organisation the people who manage well are hardly noticeable. They just seem to be there - part of things - and things just seem to roll along with purpose. The new happens and is accepted. It invariably makes sense. They don't demand attention. They give credit to others and don't shout the odds. They aren't threatened by the legacy of their predecessors and keep what's good.

The cult of the 'change-agent' is generated by 4th rate MBA courses. Managers don't think they are managing unless they've turned the world up-side down. The problem is they don't really know what it is they want in its place; other than monuments to themselves – even if it’s just a new office. They'll recognise what they want when they see it but until then they couldn't really tell you what it looks like. They have a vague idea about esprit de corps and make token remarks about people being their greatest assets. But it's empty and ... well it’s too late by then. They've wrecked the joint.

Cheltenham Town are struggling. It’s very bleak. What will it be like by the end of April? I have no idea.


Cheltenham Town: S Brown; D Pipe, A Eastham, A Gallinagh, J Low; B Marshall (K Haynes 53), D Bird (E Hammond 80), J Labadie, B Hayles; J Alsop (J Richards 52), T Lewis. Subs: B Richardson, D Diallo, M Watkins, M Pook.

Referee: O Langford.

Attendance: 3, 145 (115 from Cheltenham).