Vice President wrote:I have never seen a Stags goal keeper criticised as much as Logan.
Looking back at previous Mansfield promotion winning sides (at a similar level) we have had the likes of: Alan Marriott, Kevin Pilkington, Kevin Hitchcock, and Rod Arnold. It is all very well people saying "well this is league 2 - we can't expect great keepers" ... but the afore-mentioned keepers are the standard that we should realistically expect if we are going for promotion. Having seen Conrad Logan over the last two years, I don't think that he is anywhere near as reliable as any of the above - and that is the standard that we need.
John Dempster missed a trick over the summer regarding the all important goal keeper position. I don't know what Logan's contract situation was - but we should have been looking for a top (Number 1) keeper over the summer, with Conrad and Bobby (who might not be the same when he comes back) fighting for the number 2 spot. Instead JD has gone for a youth back-up .... which has significantly weakened our GK/defence this season.
Unfortunately, this has also coincided with the fact that our previously strong defence suddenly appears to have imploded.
If we are still complaining about the GK situation later in the season - the accountability rests with the manager - who has actually had 2 years to assess what was needed.
What utter drivel, Pilko was castigated almost weekly, Ward was criticised non-stop for his sliced kicks, Bowling (twice our player of the year) was called Dracula, Brain Cox, don't get me started, Paddy Gamble, Jason White, Jason Pearcey ..... you are clearly talking right out of your arris. I saw my first game in 1972, in the 47 years subsequent only really two keepers have avoided the pathetic insults of some of our, er, fans, they are Sir Rod and Alan Marriott. It's easy to be a keeper when you are a fat 50 year old sat in the stands.