This was always going to be a challenging season for Garner, a step up a division into unchartered territory. I reckon that Sandgaard told him the transfer budget was lower than Kojak's gut and consequently Garner went back to Swindon for players he knew. Having said this, I do realise things may be difficult if we enter the relegation zone.
For the record I completely disagree Elfs. Though I think he will get time, I don't expect matters to get anything but worse. Frankly I lost faith in Garner when he said a top 6 finish would be an over-achievement. That may be true, but the manager shouldn't be saying it after 7 games. Gaffers all have a tough job to do. The decent ones don't air their self-pity in public when they've been at a Club for 10 minutes. If he won't walk away, BG needs to knuckle down and do his job. OK, I accept he's been short-changed. But does he rise above that now and show his worth in the face of adversity? Or does he throw his toys out of the pram. You learn everything about the character of a man when things are going wrong and the odds are against him. So far I don't like what I'm learning.
I know a lot of people are saying Garner will be gone in a few weeks. For what it's worth I don't think he will. I'd guess he will be around at least until the New Year. And I would like nothing better than to see him turn things around and get us back into the top half of the table at least. I don't like slagging him off. It makes me feel bad. But Charlton Athletic being 16th in the 3rd Division with no wins in 6 games now also makes me feel very bad. OK, Barnsley are a decent team. But we've failed to beat some pretty poor teams lately. Forest Green Rovers for instance. They got a drubbing today and not for the first time. But we couldn't best them
last game i went to was the 5-1 win. seems we've fully charlton'd now. do like garner though - he actually has a style of football. not one inherited, as with jacko. if only we kept washington.. we'd be so much better off
Looks like I may have judged our gaffer too harshly. Back-to-back wins has done wonders for our league position. Blimey, we're almost in touching distance of the top 6! If we win three in a row I'll go into full grovelling mode
About time we got an away win too. Think Garner is doing a decent job, not too much to be critical of so far in my eyes
He seemed to be going through that phase a while back where he played the same system no matter whether it worked or not, but he suddenly changed to 4-4-2 and we have taken off. Always a big plus for me when the manager can shake things up a bit. Some of the signings that were being written off are looking a lot better now, though whether this is a promotion winning squad......