April 10 2021, Walsall 2-1 Forest Green Rovers. Defeat at The Banks’s Stadium to Brian Dutton’s out-of-form Saddlers, left Forest Green Rovers sixth in League Two, after four consecutive losses and six games without a win.
Despite remaining in the play-off positions in the league table and being just five points shy of the automatic promotion places, Rovers seemed to be in an uncontrollable spiral of despair, with poor results and underwhelming performances against out of sorts opposition.
FGR had looked likely to achieve automatic promotion, certainly the play-offs for the majority of the campaign, with a 2-0 victory against fellow promotion hopefuls Newport at the end of February putting Rovers up to second in the league, yet just 12 games later and the team were looking dangerously likely to drop out of the play-off spots.
After a similar almighty collapse in the previous 19/20 season, with Rovers eventually finishing 10th in the league on points per game (PPG), despite being league leaders back in November, FGR fans were worried that history had repeated itself and the campaign would result in nothing being achieved.
Despite the disappointing run and the disheartening defeat at Walsall, Mark Cooper insisted he felt no pressure, still believing that automatic promotion could be achieved.
Less than 24 hours later, news broke that Cooper had indeed been sacked from Forest Green after almost five years with the Gloucestershire outfit.
The news sent shockwaves around the footballing community, after the departure of the man who spearheaded Rovers’ emergence as an established League Two side, winning promotion to the English Football League in his first season at the club in 2017.
Forest Green chairman Dale Vince justified the decision though by claiming he wanted to Rovers “the best chance of securing promotion with six games left.”
Fast forward just four weeks and Rovers are now preparing to face Newport County in the League Two play-off semi finals after three wins and two draws in their final six games.
Jimmy Ball was the man brought in following Cooper’s sacking and the relatively unknown at the time Under-18s manager has been a breath of fresh air at The innocent New Lawn; transforming the atmosphere and morale within the squad, while turning results around on the pitch and securing a finish in the play-offs, with Vince’s decision to let Cooper go seemingly paying off.
In just six games, Ball has taken Rovers from bottom to sixth of the League Two form table, with only one loss and an impressive run of results and momentum to take into the play-off fixtures.
Regardless of how the season ends, Ball has certainly exceeded expectations from his time in charge at the club, providing the team the team with a great chance to win promotion to League One – which was the task set of him by Vince back in March.
Son of 1966 World Cup winner Alan Ball, Jimmy lead a reinvigorated Rovers side to a 3-2 victory over Scunthorpe in his first game at the helm, before back-to-back draws with Exeter and Crawley, an unexpected defeat to Barrow and consecutive victories against Tranmere and Oldham rounded off the regular season.
Despite the set of players involved in proceedings remaining similar to those who regularly featured for Cooper up until his departure, results have improved drastically.
This is how Ball has managed to transform Rovers’ fortunes so significantly in just six games at the helm.
Injected positivity
Following four consecutive defeats in the league, the Rovers squad was extremely low on confidence and morale, with a negative, toxic atmosphere around the club. Cooper had tried everything to halt the miserable slide in form, but the poor results continued and the players self-esteem continued to fall.
While a portion of responsibility for performances lies with the players of course, the manager of a club is the person who is expected to take the majority of the blame. However, a common theme of Cooper’s post-match press conferences would see the manager fail to take liability for disappointing performances and shift accountability onto his players. Whether deserved criticism or not, this public reapproval left a bitter taste in Rovers’ fans mouths and would’ve diminished players’ confidence even more.
Since Ball’s appointment as interim manager though, the squad has been reinvigorated with belief, faith and positivity in their own abilities, and this has shown on the pitch, with performances taking an upturn and players breeding confidence in each game.
The former Swindon manager had a prickly relationship with Rovers supporters throughout his tenure in Gloucestershire, with several questionable incidents in the past causing the bond between manager and fans to strain, including Cooper, labelling FGR fans “deluded” after a clash with Mansfield in the 19/20 season.
Ball has been a complete contrast, with sheer positivity towards both his players and Rovers supporters in every media interview. The fanbase has grown to believe again with the team about to enter a play-off campaign full of confidence, under a manager who has only shown support and trust to the squad while appreciating the fans at the same time.
While a few experienced, older heads feature in FGR’s line-up, the majority of the squad is of a youthful nature, with many players younger than 23, including several loanees.
The trust shown by Ball in his group of players has been immense, with little changes made to the starting XI each game creating continuity and younger, players such as Odin Bailey, Aaron Collins, Jayden Richardson and Udoka Godwin-Malife revitalised in recent weeks, and consistently performing to high standards as the team pushes for promotion.
When there is any changes in terms of managerial personnel at a club, results, performances and team spirit always seem to generally improve, but the impact Ball has had at Forest Green has gone beyond a simple, generic new manager bounce.
Enforced an attractive playing style
During the latter stages of Cooper’s tenure at FGR, there seemed to be a lack of identity within the team, with the players low on confidence and unsure on what approach they should take to games. A key theme throughout Cooper’s time in charge, was the 52-year-old’s emphasis on patient possession based football, with the team dominating the ball, gradually carving out opportunities, whilst recycling possession.
Following on from the signing of Jamille Matt in the summer, Rovers had the option to adopt a more direct approach at times this season, with the adaptability of the squad meaning that when the passing style of play wasn’t working, Matt’s physical presence up top ensured the team always had a plan B to mix proceedings up.
Following the former Newport man’s season-ending hand injury against Bolton though, Cooper had lost his side’s top scorer, meaning the versatility to go long and direct was no longer an option and the side had lost their 17-goal talisman.
The loss of Matt was a massive blow, with goals starting to dry up in the team following his injury, with the defeat to Bolton the first of what would be a torrid run of four consecutive losses, leading to Cooper’s sacking in April.
Upon Ball’s arrival at the helm it was clear to see what identity and style he wants to team to have. In past interviews from his time in charge of the Under-18s, the 45-year-old emphasised his preference of attractive, pleasing on the eye football, while not keeping possession for the sake of it.
Under Cooper, there were times that maybe the team became too slow and passive on the ball, with predictable sideways and backwards passes struggling to break teams down.
Just 21 minutes into Ball’s first game at FGR, a 3-2 win against Scunthorpe, and Rovers were 1-0 up dominating proceedings, with high tempo, intense, attacking football – a refreshing sight for FGR fans after a recent period of stagnant performances.
The visible first half supremacy showed by the hosts at The innocent New Lawn, was reinforced by the half-time statistics, with Ball’s men creating 11 chances and 12 corners in 45 minutes including a spell of one corner every two minutes, with eight in the first 16 minutes of the clash.
These fast, aggressive starts to games, is something FGR fans have become acclimatised to under Ball, with the Crawley fixture another prime example of early dominance – 12 shots and nine corners in the first-half.
Rovers fans have voiced their pleasure in the style of play Ball has implemented in recent weeks and it certainly seems to be earning results on the pitch.
