Mark Cooper says the players feel the discontent amongst supporters and called for a united club amidst takeover rumours at Huish Park.
The BBC’s Sheridan Robins asked him about the last 24 hours after it was reported a takeover was to be announced today.
He said: “It’s exciting isn’t it? Listen, at the minute, I can’t say too much. Expect me to say that until there’s a statement. If there is exciting news this afternoon, then hopefully everyone gets behind it and we get a big crowd in for New Years Day.”
The manager added that certainty would provide a boost for the club: “While there’s discontent and people are not together, the players feel that. What we want is to have a club that’s united and going in the right direction.”
Ahead of the visit of Torquay on New Year’s Day, the manager said he was puzzled with his side’s first half performance at Plainmoor.
“The first half puzzled me because we’d worked all week on it and how we were going to play and we didn’t follow instructions. We didn’t stick to what we’d done and it looked a mess and I had to change it quickly. I probably should have changed it quicker, but I wanted to give people the chance to change it on the pitch. I could have brought anyone off but I had to pick two that helped us with the system.
“In the second half we just got the ball forward and played on the front foot and that caused them problems, so more of the same [on Sunday].”
Chiori Johnson and Charlie Wakefield were the two players who were replaced at half and Cooper admitted that he has a fine balance to strike with the squad in order to get results.
“It’s a delicate situation. It’s a fine balance between trying to give them too much information about how I want to play, what they can deal with at the moment and what gives them the best chance of getting a result. So I have to find a formula that gives them comfort and that they’re happy with and gives them a platform to really get on the front foot because that’s when we’re best.”
“The commitment, the effort, which I always speak about, has been top drawer. But you start to see a pattern – we don’t look like we’re ever going to be out of a game or lose a game. But, crossing that bridge to actually keep consistently winning is the hardest thing to doo. You’ve either got to go and buy and the best players like Wrexham, Chesterfield, Notts County do, which we cant do at the minute. Or we have to hope that we get one or two right and our coaching is really good and we give the players loads of confidence and they’re the ones that fire us on and take the chances that we create.”
Owen Bevan, who missed the Boxing Day match, has recovered from an ankle injury and took part in training this week. Other loanees, Jamie Andrews, Ewan Clarke and Andrew Oluwabori see their deals end in January and Cooper wasn’t able to commit on their futures just yet.
“There’s a lot of things moving at the moment, so we’re in a bit of limbo at the minute so we can’t really decide what we’re going to to do,” he said.