| [Blog] Jewell's Set for Achievement Written by AndrewPC on Monday, 4th Jul 2011 06:04 It is a high risk strategy to let the core members of your first team all leave, isn’t it? Yet this is precisely what Town management have allowed to happen since the end of the season: exit stage left David Norris, Gareth McAuley, Jimmy Bullard, Brian Murphy and Connor Wickham. It is a high risk strategy – at least for clubs like Town on Championship-scale revenues and budgets - not to encourage actively home-grown talent by blooding, and then promoting, them into the senior squad. Yet this is precisely what Town management have allowed to happen since the end of the season: exit also stage left Tom Eastman, Troy Brown, Billy Clark and Reggie Lambe. Or is it indeed high risk? Let’s take another look. First, what is the strategy? It is to get Town promoted into the Premiership, within the next two years under the managership of Paul Jewell. But the near-term goal for season 2011/12 is to be competitive enough also to have a realistic shot at the play-offs. So how should the club go about this; evolving from 'as is' (13th position season 2010/11, 62 points) to 'to be' by May 2012 (third to sixth position, minimum 74 points) ? The writing was on the wall in my view when Paul Jewell made the statement towards the end of last season (the core squad had by then already avoided relegation) that the first team squad simply was not good enough to be Championship play-off contenders. That meant, I think, that Jewell had already made up his mind that core players from the 2010/11 season squad could leave because they did not carry the 'DNA' that he knows the team needs to compete at this level. Secondly, what about financing? Jewell took the Town management position having, amongst other things, assurances from the owner Marcus Evans that funds would be available to buy players. I think we can safely assume though that a condition was that the vast majority of such funds would be forthcoming only once relegation had been avoided. Further, given that Evans is a canny private businessman who expects value for money, and Jewell is an astute and deeply knowledgeable operator in the world of dealings with professional footballers, it would be not unreasonable to conclude that they also put together a financing plan for re-building the team that would be both fully funded and capable of uplifting the overall squad quality by an order of magnitude. Why else did they put into place a new contract until 2014 with Connor Wickham, other than to maximise his value to the club when a Premiership club would come calling (as inevitably they would, given Connor’s presence in the England U21 squad: the youngest player in the squad and the only one not already at a Premiership side)? Thirdly, what is required in terms of players and team capability to enable a new-look Town side to hit the ground running and make a meaningful challenge for a top six place? This is where, in my view, Jewell’s previous management successes in gaining promotions from this league starts to count. He states that he wants more resilience right across the team and also a 20+ goal a season striker who will even knock his granny out of the way to score. He is acting upon that understanding. It is teams playing as teams that get themselves promoted if even they may have within them one or two particularly outstanding players (QPR had Taraabt, but also a Shaun Derry). You cannot amass 75 points or more without consistency right across the park and over the full 90 minutes of every game. Jewell himself, together with his management team, have the experience and capability to quickly mould a set of individuals into a winning team. We know this from the way they quickly and effectively addressed the shortcomings of the Roy Keane era last season by identifying the best 11 players and five or six substitutes and sticking with them till season’s end. That is why, in my view, the 'high risk' mentioned above is not in fact the case given the abilities of those operationally in charge of team performances. Now look at the acquisitions, which at the time of writing is a work in progress, with Jewell promising perhaps another three or four signings. So far, Town have for certain Michael Chopra, Ivar Ingimarsson, Nathan Ellington and Aaron Cresswell. Jewell promised that new additions to the squad will be better additions. The combined goal-scoring track records of Chopra and Ellington are superior to those of Scotland and Priskin. Ingimarsson has at least as good a record in defence for Reading as McAuley. Cresswell cannot yet be compared with Kennedy, but his trajectory of development to date at 21 years old, plus his potential for rapid further improvement, indicate that he may quickly adapt to Championship level football; possibly taking the left back position if Jewell sees Kennedy as possibly sitting in front of the back four. In the next few days we can expect a new midfielder to arrive. Without speculating on specific names, it is probable that this person will also bring a wealth of (Premiership?) experience with them and be closer to 30, rather than 20-years-old. Jewell knows that you can only mould an effective fighting force quickly if they have already 'worn the T-shirt'. All of this has been achieved with the outlay of very little money indeed. Given the promise to the public by Simon Clegg that funds from the Wickham sale will be re-invested in the club, then Jewell has more options. None of which guarantees success. The manager will be carefully calibrating the performance potential of his new squad against the opposition. The names that fill the frames of the three or four new arrivals hopefully before the season starts, will offer supporters a clear view of whether or not the promise of “improvements right across the team†are being realised or not.
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