Penney’s black reign
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 07 May 2010
DAVE Penney’s short stay as Athletic boss was a wearying experience for all concerned.
Supporters failed to ever take to the 45-year-old, with his now-infamous “don’t give a monkey’s” comment — referring to a distinct lack of interest in supporters’ views over a controversial substitution in February — serving to highlight the gap that existed between paying customer and custodian of the football team.
The vitriol directed towards the former Doncaster and Darlington boss by frustrated fans was down to the dross served up at times by the club on the pitch, both home and away.
Athletic huffed and puffed towards safety from the bottom four in Coca-Cola League One and the football on show was far from pretty.
Only relegated Stockport County have scored fewer times than Athletic, with the horrible statistic of 39 goals in 45 games explaining everything about the primary difficulty this campaign — locating the back of the net at the right end of the pitch.
The problem of finding goals outside the shape of Pawel Abbott, who has 13 to his name, is shown by the fact that the next top scorer is stoic centre-back Reuben Hazell, who along with loan man Lewis Guy, Deane Smalley and Danny Whitaker, is on three.
Oh for former favourite Lee Hughes, League Two’s top scorer, who is reportedly earning big bucks at Notts County. Or indeed Chris O’Grady, a player Penney let go, who is now banging in goals for fun at Rochdale.
The two have 52 goals between them, a baker’s dozen more than Athletic’s whole squad has managed.
Defensively, Penney had his side well-organised with captain Sean Gregan outstanding all season alongside Hazell.
And players like Dale Stephens and Kieran Lee have progressed to become leading lights.
But this season has never really started for Athletic.
When Abbott scooted off to Germany for a hernia operation in early November, Penney’s side were mooching around mid-table, occupying 13th spot.
Abbott made a scoring return as a substitute at Hartlepool at the start of January. In the intervening period, Athletic won one in eight matches and slipped to a perilous 19th in the standings.
Things didn’t get an awful lot better from there on in.
Penney — a former bricklayer who never gave much away to the press — often pointed to his having to cope with a crippling injury list, club physio Marc Czuczman working overtime on treating crocked players.
Budgetary concerns were also a frustration to him when it came to getting players into the club.
The hope was that matters would improve when important figures like Chris Taylor and Abbott, both of whom missed big chunks of the season through injury, returned to the team.
In fairness, the run of three wins and three draws in April’s seven matches was achieved with a squad that was relatively intact, containing plenty of options.
On the flip side, by that stage Athletic were so dire entertainment-wise that in the previous month the club had recorded a home gate of only 2,833 fans for the Brentford match at Boundary Park, the worst figure for more than two decades.
It must have sent a powerful message to the club’s owners that fans simply didn’t want to watch Penney’s brand of football.
And with season tickets up for sale in a tough financial climate, now is certainly the time to get lapsed supporters back on board.
Yeovil last week was just about as bad as it gets. Never can traditional end-of-season fancy dress have felt so inappropriate for the travelling fans, who watched the team collapse to a comprehensive and at-times shambolic 3-0 defeat at Huish Park.
Before that game, promising striker Tom Eaves was banned from playing as Penney took a dim view on his contract dispute.
It was a tough line on an player who wouldn’t have been old enough to vote had the general election been held last year.
How ironic that at a time when one player hangs over committing himself to the club, the manager gets his marching orders just as he was about to start planning for next term.
Recent Latics managerial records
(in all competitions, at May 6, 2010)
Dave Penney (2009-10)
Played: 48
Won: 13
Drawn: 13
Lost: 22
Goals for: 40
Goals against: 60
Win ratio: 27-per-cent
Joe Royle (2009)
Played: 9
Won: 1
Drawn: 4
Lost: 4
Goals for: 9
Goals against: 14
Win ratio: 11-per-cent
John Sheridan (2006-2009)
Played: 152
Won: 61
Drawn: 43
Lost: 47
Goals for: 211
Goals against: 180
Win ratio: 40-per-cent
Ronnie Moore (2005-06):
Played: 65
Won: 23
Drawn: 18
Lost: 24
Goals for: 79
Goals against: 80
Win ratio: 35-per-cent
