By Thomas Blane
After eight months in charge of St. Mirren, many fans have already made up their mind on manager Danny Lennon. Some see him as too inexperienced and not good enough for the manager's role at Greenhill Road. These opinions have been vented rather loudly in the past few games by disgruntled supporters but I think we all need to ask ourselves, are we giving Danny a fair chance?
When Danny joined the club at the start of June, there was a lot of optimism about the appointment. Many believed he was the fresh, young manager we needed to progress in the SPL and even have a possibility of finishing in the top six.
I remember going to the training open day at St. Mirren Park where around 1000 Saints fans went to see a completely unrecognisable side from the previous season go through their paces. Danny came over to the West Stand to explain exactly what type of training the side were doing through the session and he received a rapturous applause when he was finished. It was at this time where I felt, and I'm sure many others felt, that the only way was up for the club.
Eight months later and there are supporters that believe the only way is down, even though we have a seven point cushion over Hamilton. In all honesty, we are lucky that Hamilton are having such a poor season so far. The worry is however, that they will start picking up points. There is no doubt that in the next 10 games, Hamilton will get seven points so we must make sure that we continue to focus on our own games and not rely on Hamilton to continue their dire form.
When Danny took over the reins, he promised the one thing that all Saints fans want to see; a side that plays open attacking football. This was a naïve statement in Danny's case simply because this was always going to go backfire. It has been one of the key arguments made against him as it's very obvious for anyone to see that we are not playing open attacking football.
One reason why this is not possible is that Danny has simply realised that he does not have the players at his disposal to play that brand of football. Another reason is that Danny had simply underestimated the SPL. He came to the club with a certain philosophy and bought players who he believed could make St. Mirren a top six team.
It is no coincidence that after he realised the hardships of the SPL, he brought in two extremely defensive midfielders in Jim Goodwin and Paddy Cregg. This is a situation in where I believe Danny deserves some credit. He realised that the system he first implemented was not going to work in the long haul and decided that a more defensive outlook would be the best option.
It's at this stage where many fans will go back to the sacking of Gus MacPherson. The "reason" that we were told for MacPherson's dismissal was that the club needed "a change in direction". In all honesty, there has not been much of a change in direction. We are still stuck in the same old relegation fight that we have been involved in since we have been promoted and the same worries continue with the lack of goals and continuous late goals conceded.
Danny however, has not done a terrible job. He has pulled some great results out of the hat, such as victories at Tannadice, Inverness and Fir Park. There is no denying that results at home have been extremely disappointing and that must be addressed sooner rather than later but there is some promise there.
Fans have every right to vent their frustration at Danny Lennon but to say he is a failure at this stage is unfair. The supporters may believe that he makes some baffling decisions at times but put simply, which manager doesn't? It's all about taking a gamble, especially when substitutions are being made, and some pay off and some don't.
In the home game against Hibs a couple of weeks ago, Danny brought Goodwin off for Cregg which seemed to change the flow of the game against us and therefore Hibs scored a late winner. Three days later at Fir Park, Michael Higdon replaces Dargo and scores with his first involvement of the game. It's simple, some pay off and some cost you.
The initial optimism that surrounded the arrival of Danny Lennon has seemed to evaporate in the last few months but there are still some supporters who believe he is the man for the job. He has made mistakes and sometimes his interviews with the press can cause a tinge of embarrassment, but he still deserves to be the manager of St. Mirren Football Club.
My opinion will be completely different however if Hamilton Accies are an SPL side next season.
Follow Mirren Mad on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mirren-Mad/177833938918587
Follow Mirren Mad on Twitter @mirren_mad or http://www.twitter.com/mirren_mad