Manager watch.....

Substitutions during Football League matches were first permitted in the 1965/6 season – one per game and to replace an injured player.

Aldershot’s first use of a substitute was on November 6th 1965 when Richard Walden came on in a 1v0 win over Stockport County, at the ‘Rec’. And then from the 1967/8 season the replacement rule was relaxed to allow for tactical substitutions – the ‘super-sub’ was born.

Harry Bennett was probably our ‘greatest ever sub’, coming on in 9 of our final 11 games in the 1972/3 promotion winning season. Manager, Tommy McAnearney would quickly look at his watch to confirm that there were twenty minutes to go, and the tough tackling Bennett would be introduced to deny the opposition time and space. Tired legs and a playing surface that always created images in my mind of the beach at Weston-super-Mare……a grey overcast sky, the tide out leaving miles of exposed clinging mud…..yes life was made pretty easy for the cumbersome but clinical ‘super-sub’.

Now it’s a pity that our current manager, Gary Waddock, has still to learn the science of substitutions.

Today, the bench is full to bursting with replacements who are presumably both fit and useful – but time and time again Gary leaves it until the opposition has scored before making a change. So, this small piece of advice is targeted at you Gary, consider the momentum of the game and act before the crisis makes a change inevitable.

By the time John Grant had got his socks fully pulled up to cover his knees, at Lincoln last Saturday, just 3 minutes of normal time and 4 minutes of stoppage time were left for him to get the Shots back into the game. Somewhat frustrating when quite clearly Hudson, Soares and Chalmers were all failing to make an impact…..were the players sitting on the bench really that bad?

And at Torquay earlier in the week....another frustrating performance………


So spend the next few days thinking about it Gary and I look forward to seeing a revitalised approach on Saturday, when we entertain Morecambe at the Recreation Ground.