‘Graeme Jones has lost the dressing room’. If I had £1 for every time I have read that quote over the last three to four months, I could probably pay for Newlands’ Park myself, and still have a decent enough war chest left over to contribute significantly to Power Court as well!
It is a regular quote lashed out on social media, albeit not in the last week or so. I can’t think why but I’m sure there is a reason! I do know why of course, I’m just being pedantic.
It is a comment that serves absolutely no purpose. Very rarely is it true, and on the odd occasion it is, it is obvious to many and the situation immediately gets rectified, often with a sacking.
I have seen every game this season in some capacity, and at no point have I come away from any of them thinking Jones had lost the dressing room. It is no more than a lazy quip.
Of course there have been times where the Town have played badly. There have been other times when actually there have been signs of something but we have faded in the second period. Bristol City would be a case in point of the former, Millwall and Nottingham Forest very much the latter, but neither equates to a losing of the dressing room.
Actually, contrary to popular opinion, I am of the impression that the players could not be more behind their manager, a man who is regarded as an excellent coach, and whose experience of the situation we are in is becoming ever important.
I say this because two men who could have the hump with their boss, George Moncur and Alan Sheehan, have both spoken publicly about him and in a positive light.
Moncur has barely played this season, but rather than sulk and throw his manager to the wolves, after scoring the winner against Wigan he was quoted as saying “I love the manager, I love what he’s done here, he’s been superb and even though I haven’t played, he’s always spoken to me which is good.” Hardly the words of someone in a lost dressing room.
Sheehan left this quote as he departed the club earlier this month. “My final message to you all is to keep behind Graeme (Jones) and the team. There’s an unbelievable spirit at this club and some fantastic boys in that dressing room. Please do everything you can to help them stay up.”
Again, those are not the words of a man who has just come from a dressing room which has been lost by the manager.
They say you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, well you certainly shouldn’t where this quote is concerned, especially at our club, as anyone who witnessed the wonderful scenes after the Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough wins can testify.
Graeme Jones has made mistakes this season, he’s admitted to them himself, but lost the dressing room? No chance.
