Every week, Sky Sports experts will review the Football League drama on FL72 Review. Check out Andy Hinchcliffe's thoughts on the latest action...
Monday 29 September 2014 17:07, UK
ANDY SAYS: He’s such a talented coach - he took Brighton very close to the Premier League and at Watford, it had been a good start for them. It’s the last thing he would have wanted but you obviously can’t risk your health. As a manager of a football club, you’re under huge stress and if you do have a problem, you simply can’t carry on. But it’s a major shame - I’m sure everyone will wish him well. Will he be back? We’ll have to wait and see. Billy McKinlay’s now taken over and the gamble - if it is one - for Watford is whether they give him a chance. We’ve seen it at other clubs; Neil Redfearn at Leeds had a good response from his players, Kit Symons is doing OK at Fulham as well. It’s just whether you’re tempted to bring in a bigger name, or whether you give it to someone who knows the club inside out.
ANDY SAYS: I don’t think anyone’s underestimating what Kenny’s done, stopping the rot in League One and getting them promoted playing the way they did. He’s managed to keep hold of his key players, like Nouha Dicko and Bakary Sako, and they’ve got a solid spine there with Danny Batth, Richard Stearman and they’ve got Carl Ikeme - a very good goalkeeper - as well, so they’ve got what it takes to go up. I thought it would take another season before they really did challenge for promotion in the Championship. It was always going to happen because Kenny’s a good manager, but it’s happening very quickly. Defensively, apart from the Reading game, they’ve been very strong. I’m not sure what the managers said at half time - it was only 1-0 and the defending in the second half was diabolical. But it was great entertainment, although I don’t think either manager will be happy. They’ll be happy with a point but the defensive performances in the second half weren’t great.
ANDY SAYS: There’s a lot of pressure on them - they’re tipped to win League One and it’s a really competitive league this season. They’ve started to find their feet and they showed a lot of character in that game more than anything else. They’ve got quality but they go behind against Gillingham so it’s about digging in. The home fans are getting a bit restless, the clock’s running down, have they got the character and quality to get back in the game? Nigel Clough will be absolutely delighted with it. It was a very late winner but it doesn’t matter; in this league, it’s just about picking up the points no matter how you do it.
ANDY SAYS: They finally got there in the end. I think Keith was saying after the game ‘all it is is a boost’ because they’ve been on a terrible run - something like one win in 16 games and bottom of the league. You just think 'are we ever going to win a game again', but it’s amazing because football can be like this. It’s a great goal from David Amoo, a brilliant header, so it gets them started. They’re not off the bottom of the table, there’s still a long way to go, but there are signs of encouragement there for Carlisle. Apparently when he was going through his desk, Keith Curle found a training plan from 1974, so whether he’s going to go back that far to get it right for Carlisle, we’ll have to wait and see!