Analysis – Adam Johnson, BBC Radio Cumbria Barrow commentator
The summer started with a lot of departures to the squad and a lot of wholesale changes.
The club has admitted that they took a lot of gambles in terms of the players bought in and sadly those gambles have not paid off.
At the same time they haven’t been helped with a long injury list – and a lot of long-term injuries which meant a lot of chopping and changing and never being able to play a settled side.
The managerial merry go-round certainly hasn’t helped things – the departures have all probably been warranted in terms of the points-per-game stats for each manager, but like with the player recruitment, similar gambles on the managerial side have also hindered things.
The decision to sack Andy Whing without a clear plan was bad – then to eventually replace him with an unproven head coach – and to give that unproven boss the January transfer window has also proved a concern. The board again has admitted to this as being something they regret.
Dino Maamria was probably the right appointment but sadly came in too late, as with not having a window to bring players in, left him having to use a squad which three previous head coaches struggled to get a tune out of – and so comes Sam Foley the hopeful saviour.
The change of shape (to a back four) is something that the fan base were calling for and does look to have made slight improvements – the 5-0 collapse at Grimsby aside.
The win over Bromley has given hope where there certainly wasn’t any prior to that game.
Any chance of survival rests firmly on the players being able to replicate the desire and intensity shown in that victory.
If they do that over the course of the seven games, then they certainly have a fighting chance – whether they can remains to be seen.
