A message to Silver Fox

[Worthy Nigelton<br><br><br><br><br>Evening News Sports Page Headline 8th August 2007:<br><br>Henderson joins Dereham Town. 0]

Now Silver Fox, me old mucker, last season you repeatedly hammered me for questioning whether a relegation battle was the ideal time to bring Shacks into the first team.

Shackell undoubtedly performed well in the games he was brought in.  However, did we concede any less in the games he played?  Did he prevent relegation?  Has it been the right decision bearing in mind he is now 4th choice centre back?  Would the start of this season have been a better time?  Did his confidence suffer after conceding goal after goal and losing week after week?

I think we both know the answer to all of those questions... Whilst we both agree he has tremendous talent, surely now you can see my sentiments as to why I believed he should have been brought in at the start of this season, and surely you now agree with me....

Now, if only I could convince people about how bad Henderson is...

[Peter Gates 0]

Hendo does his talking on the pitch and proves how inept he is without you stating the obvious.

But because he is a young England player he is expected to be an ace performer, Jarvis also falls into this category.

But in Hendo''s defence he has never been played as a striker purportedly his best position, he certainly ain''t no right winger.

 

[silver fox 0]

[quote]Now Silver Fox, me old mucker, last season you repeatedly hammered me for questioning whether a relegation battle was the ideal time to bring Shacks into the first team. Shackell undoubtedly performe...[/quote]

Dear Worthy I am happy to reply to your post.

Firstly we were always going to concede goals whilst we had Fleming in the centre of our defence, and although we didn''t avoid relegation I still believe Shackell should have had his introduction earlier last season, preferably alongside Charlton who is in my opinion a far better defender than Fleming.  The question is would we have conceded as many goals if we had started with Charlton and Shackell?

I think Shackell is a very confident player and is no different to anyone else who is playing in a team that is conceding plenty of goals.  I think it must have been very frustrating for Shackell having to play alongside a captain who frequently disappeared leaving the other defenders to cover for him.

 It is unfortunate for Shackell that Davenport has arrived and Doherty seems to have improved because they are clearly Worthy''s first choice central pairing now.  I still think Doherty is a bit of a liability outside the box with the amount of free kicks he gives away, but all credit to him that he seems to have benefitted playing alongside Davenport.  I would like to see Worthy play Shackell and Davenport together and see whether it would make a difference to our defence.

The only reason Shackell is fourth choice is because he has struggled when he has played full back and Fleming can play at right back.

I think we are going to have to agree to differ on our opinions because given the choice I would have Shackell in my side every game.  The only thing that will effect his confidence is seeing Fleming being picked on the bench before him when I''m sure he believes himself to be a better defender.

My biggets fear is that he becomes disillusioned and one of the Premiership sides puts a bid in for him and he leaves in order to further his career.