History ensuring Cox will stay calm as Kettering Town drop to the bottom

Paul Cox is determined to use his past experiences to ensure he doesn’t lose focus on the job at hand at Kettering Town.

In some quarters, the alarm bells might have started ringing after the Poppies suffered a third defeat in a row when they were beaten 2-1 at home by Curzon Ashton at Latimer Park last weekend.

And that ringing might have gone up in volume on Tuesday night when results from elsewhere left Kettering rooted to the foot of the Vanarama National League North table with just one win to show for their efforts in the first five matches.

For the time being, there isn’t much Cox and his players can do about it either.

They were supposed to be playing at Boston United on Tuesday evening but that game was postponed due to a positive Covid-19 test in the Pilgrims’ camp.

And further frustration followed with this weekend’s scheduled home clash with Blyth Spartans also falling foul of the pandemic following confirmation of a positive test in Spartans’ squad.

Not for the first time this season, the Poppies have been left kicking their heels. They will be hoping to be back in action next Tuesday night when Guiseley are due to be the visitors to Latimer Park.

Cox believes his team are yet to get into any sort of rhythm following a stop-start beginning to the campaign.

But he has stopped short of making any excuses for the disappointing start, although he feels history has shown him not to get too carried away by it all.

“I like to look at things from a wider point of view and everyone is having to deal with this pandemic, just because we play football it doesn’t make us any different,” the Poppies boss said.

“When it comes down to the nitty gritty, there is the finer line that can sometimes affect performances and, in turn, results.

“I have talked about consistency of performance and consistency of results and, at the moment, the question is: is that not happening because we aren’t able to get in a rhythm?

“I have looked through the whole of football and the erraticness of results and performances is strange and I think our league will be wide open for sometime and it will be the more consistent teams who will be the most successful.

“I thought that during pre-season, when we had continuous games, we were looking resolute and strong, we were in a rhythm.

“It’s really early days but what I don’t want to do is make any excuses whatsoever.

“I saw the results on Tuesday and it meant we finished the night bottom of the table and I can understand how that would affect some people’s psychology.

“I am concerned about where we are at the minute but not worried.

“We have got three, maybe four, games on some teams and my main concern at the moment is getting that run of consistent games and getting the performances back to where they were when we were beating the likes of Chelmsford City (in the FA Cup) and Bradford Park Avenue.

“I always look at the table after about 30 games and, if you look at my history, for whatever reason I have never got off to a good start in 13 or 14 years in management.

“I can remember after about seven games at Mansfield Town coming back from a game at Cambridge having been beaten 3-1 and there was a big sign by where my car was parked which said ‘Cox out’. That season we went on to reach the semi-finals of the play-offs.

“And then the season we won it, I think we were lying in 10th and 12 points off the top at one stage.

“So my experience tells me not to be concerned about where we are at the minute.

“We want to be winning matches consistently but in the overall scheme of things, what I need to do is solve the problems as quickly as possible and get a run of games where we are not being interrupted and that, in itself, is going to be hard this season.

“We have to deal with the problems we have got and try to rectify them.

“I am not one to panic and lose my head, I believe in a process and looking at where things are not going right and making sure things are put in place to make us better.”

In his post-match interview soon after the final whistle last Saturday, Cox made a strong hint that changes may need to be made to his squad to solve the issues they are facing at the moment.

And while his stance on that hasn’t changed, he was also quick to acknowledge the ‘five-year plan’ which has only just got under way which the Poppies hope will result in delivering National League football.

“There will be things happening,” Cox said when asked about potential changes to his squad.

“I am probably the worst person to talk to immediately after a game, especially a loss because I always wear my heart on my sleeve.

“I always try to tell the players the truth whether it’s good or bad. I love to love them when they have been brilliant but I do believe humans like to be told the truth.

“Things aren’t where I want them to be at the minute and with that being the case, I am going to have to try to act on it.

“If that means putting more pressure on those currently in the squad or bringing people in and moving people on then I will do it. We are in a ruthless business.

“Our goal before the beginning of the season was to improve on last season.

“The board have a five-year plan to try to get the club into the National League and it’s sometimes very easy to lose your head and bite off more than you can chew as a football club.

“People have stopped being patient now and everyone wants success yesterday and I am guilty of that myself.

“But I don’t think that at Kettering Town instant success would be particularly healthy if I am honest.

“We need to plan accordingly and build it right. It’s not me being defeatist. I have to be realistic. The league is strong, there are ex-Football League clubs spending a lot of money.

“Things will always go wrong at times in football and when that happens I just try to look at the picture as a whole with the aim of achieving our goals at the end of the season.

“I am 100 per cent certain we will do that. It’s always concerning when you look at a league table and you’re sat at the bottom but that can also change over a period of 10-14 days.

“My main concern is getting the consistency of performance out of the squad and, to get that, I may have to be ruthless.

“We keep raising the bar with the players and we will see what response we get.”