Who Is Our Manager?

County went down 3-0 at Accrington Stanley tonight with an absolutely woeful showing in front of over 500 County fans, but the bigger issue was soon to follow.

As we stood in the open terrace at Accrington pre-match, watching the players do their warm-ups, news began to filter through to the away fans that there may have been a change in manager prior to the match.

The team-sheet and match programme at the Crown Ground listed Ray Mathias as the first-team manager as opposed to our current caretaker manager Peter Ward. Ward, Mathias and Alan Lord were all present on the sideline during the match.

The 90 minutes which followed were abysmal and almost confirmed our relegation to non-league, but the more pressing matter soon exploded between the Hatters fans.

It soon became clear what had happened and what was happening during our drubbing at the hands of the home side.

A progress meeting was organised on Monday with the board of directors, Peter Ward, Lord and Mathias.

Pure FM report that at the meeting, two directors took it on themselves to tell Ward that it wasn’t working out – Ward and Lord then point-blank refused to take the team to Accrington on the Tuesday.

It appears that Mathias was then offered the job of caretaker manager there and then, but he turned it down on the spot.

There was then no manager or backroom staff (other than Rodger Wylde) to take the team to the Crown Ground.

The three of them eventually calmed down and agreed to take charge of the side ‘out of loyalty’ to The Gibbons, who are supportive of Ward as manager.

Although they took the side last night, it seems that Ward and Lord will leave Edgeley Park this week, and Mathias will again be offered the job.

Whether he decides to take it or not is a different matter.

If the above story appears hazy and vague, then that’s because it is! I have no clue what the board are doing to our club, but it is downright amateur and unprofessional.