Five vital factors

Jonathan Forte’s goals


Athletic’s best 45 minutes of the season were at home to Bradford and Forte and Jabo Ibehre were irresistible. When Forte scored in the seventh minute with a razor-sharp finish from an Ibehre assist, it was his 11th goal in 13 matches.

Since then, only four have followed for the ex-Scunthorpe and Sheffield United man, as a host of injuries old and new have bitten.

Athletic’s other strikers haven’t filled the scoring gap. Mentally-brittle loan striker Conor Wilkinson didn’t perform as hoped, Rhys Murphy struggled to get up to speed at League One level and hasn’t netted yet, while Danny Philliskirk’s goals tally should be higher than six — it was 14 last season — but that cause has not been helped by often playing deep in midfield.


Ched Evans furore


The world, his wife and his dental hygienist had an opinion on a thorny employment issue concerning Athletic.

I spent one Monday morning - at 5.30am - on a national radio interview out of a car boot at the club .

Leaving the club to buy lunchtime sandwiches, cars driven by office staff pushed through gathered news crews and were tailed in the hope of a lead to Ched Evans himself. Minor sponsors pontificated and for the first time ever, the club’s affairs were discussed on ‘Loose Women’.

All because Athletic wanted to sign Evans, a prolific goal scorer who also happened to be a

convicted rapist, out on license.

Was it a lack of judgment? The club felt it was in the right, and didn’t expect the scale of the backlash.

Threats to staff and sponsors led to chairman Simon Corney telling friends he would throw in the towel immediately after the Evans chase was ended.

It may not have had too much impact on the field, but significant damage was done to the club’s image.


Lee Johnson’s departure

There was poison in the air as the man who left Athletic returned quickly with new club Barnsley, and with assistant Tommy Wright also in tow.

Fans felt they had been taken for a ride by a manager who professed loyalty and affinity, only to bail out for one of South Yorkshire’s smaller clubs.

Johnson argued the club did well financially out of the deal and stressed he had never been anything less than 100 per cent committed in his time at SportsDirect.com Park.

Would things have been better had he stayed? Nobody will ever know for sure.


Dean Holden’s 14 games


Too nice to succeed? Holden was more carrot than the stick of his former boss Johnson, but when confronted with sticky situations — away from the public gaze — he dealt with them decisively.

Two players were left out of one matchday squad due to indiscretions for example, and there was talk of bad apples in the dressing room.

Holden could have complained about his lot and hung individuals out to dry but to his credit, he simply got his head down to crack on with a tough job.

Barely able to name a fit starting XI at times, results weren’t great. But the loan signing of Anthony Gerrard, in particular, firmed up a leaky defence.

Handing on the reins to Darren Kelly, Holden leaves a solid base.


Colchester at home and other failures


Athletic regularly failed to find a way to breach lowly opponents content to smash and grab their way to points.

Yeovil picked up six of their dire season’s total of 40 points with 4-0 and 2-1 victories and of the four sides relegated, only Notts County succumbed.

Four days after Swindon had been sent packing in a performance full of vigour and determination, fifth-placed Athletic were leg-weary against Colchester in losing 1-0. The slide down the table started here.