Hand on heart, who was underwhelmed when the appointment was made?
Me.
He has clearly performed a minor miracle in the twelve months and much of this must be due to his personality in the dressing room.
He had one big bonus waiting for him in that the number of high salary non performing members of the playing staff was significantly lower than it was when SOD arrived.
But he still had to organise us into a team/squad that did not have a losing mentality, one that would pull together at all times. The recruitment on loan of Wade Elliott was extremely significant.
His summer recruitment has proved to be spectacular - Smith, Ayling, Freeman, Wilbraham, Agard. Very significant that all except Wilbs and Wade are under 24.
He has moulded defenders already brought in by SOD, into a pretty mean bunch; Flint, Williams, Fielding.
Just one less than successful signing but there isn't a good manager in history who has not fallen flat from time to time (SAF with Ralph Milne?)
I genuinely believe that the player recruitment has been aided and abetted by Keith Burt making him a very unsung hero during this recovery year.
I have been convinced since end of July, that City will go up as champions and at present see little to change my mind.
There are half a dozen other clubs who can be considered as genuine top six contenders and finishing in the top two can be a bit of a lottery. Three of the teams have accrued more than 2 points per game, City Swindon and MK and the top two will be those that to continue to exceed this for the remaining five months.
A tall order but with our squad and the January recruits, we should be good enough to finish top of the tree!