TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive blogs about Paul Wotton’s latest presser

PRESS CALL- OCTOBER 23rd 2025: “YOU CAN’T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME”

That is the quote which stuck out a mile for me at this afternoon’s manager’s Press Conference. Paul Watton seems to have decided that a certain amount of criticism is par for the course for any football manager, and perhaps he is coming to terms with it as a high-pressure season moves deeper into Autumn.

I think he is spot-on. There was a bit of unrest as we went down to a 1-0 defeat at Chesham last Saturday, and some have described the Plainmoor atmosphere on Tuesday- as strugglers Chippenham were put to the sword- as being flat. I’m not sure it was, but there was certainly some online criticism that we failed to add to the 3-0 lead we had taken early in the second half. Personally, I feel that was way wide of the mark. Wotton, though, acknowledged that he may have expected too much of centre forward Sonny Fish as he continues his return to fitness and that he probably should have let Matt Jay have more time to help jus add to our tally.

His acceptance that he didn’t get it absolutely right is refreshing, but it’s also worth remembering that we now have 19 points out of 21 at Plainmoor and that we head to Saturday’s much anticipated clash with Dorking sitting third in the table with 24 points from 13 games.

FORWARD OPTIONS

Paul’s answer about options when Cian Dillon’s 28 day loan expires after Saturday was revealing and confirmed my thought that we look a bit light given Cody Cooke’s likely absence for several more weeks and Sonny Fish clearly still being far from fully match fit.

He explained that there are definitely further conversations to be had with QPR about Dillon, and acknowledged that Louis Dennis’ minutes need to be carefully managed. He confirmed that this was the rationale for not starting “LD” at Chesham and for bringing him off with 20 minutes to go on Tuesday.

He described us as having a “small squad”, and said we are still “only a couple of injuries away from being quite depleted.”

DORKING

The boss was quite downbeat about what many see as a growing rivalry with Marc White’s social media stars. He explained that he only starts to think about next opponents shortly after the final whistle in the previous fixture. He paid them due respect, citing their wealth of football league experience and their pace on the flanks. His opinion that Dorking will be there or thereabouts in April despite a sketchy start to the season is widely shared. He did, however, say that we will going up there to try to win the game.

For a football manager, that makes a lot of sense. For us fans at the moment, trying and failing to work up any appetite for local derbies with Weston or Bath, the trip to Meadowbank on Saturday is a great opportunity to renew “hostilities” with the Surrey team. They have built a decent, well-run club from tiny beginnings. It’s a fun place to go, and a pantomime villain or two always adds to the merriment.