Cheltenham Town have failed to score in their first 11 games of the season, a Football League record; their woeful run cost head coach Wade Elliott his job; The Robins lost top scorer Alfie May to Charlton in the summer - but their problems run deeper than just his absence...
Friday 6 October 2023 15:21, UK
The last time Cheltenham scored a league goal, the UK was gearing up to host the Eurovision Song Contest, Frank Lampard was Chelsea's interim manager and the Ashes was still over a month away.
Cheltenham fans have felt every day of the five months since. The Robins have already set an unwanted all-time EFL record for the longest run of games at the start of a season without scoring a goal.
Now there's another on the cards - the longest scoreless run in EFL history. They matched that in Tuesday's dire home defeat to then second-bottom Fleetwood Town, and unless they find their shooting boots against Derby on Saturday, will enter the record books again this weekend.
There were clues goals would be hard to come by this season, but not in 11 straight matches. Cheltenham lost 20-goal striker Alfie May to Charlton in July but even adjusting for that, they have created the smallest expected goals tally in League One.
It was only 17 months ago Michael Duff led the Robins to their highest-ever finish, ending 16 points clear of the League One relegation zone in 15th and scoring 66 goals along the way - only four fewer than Rotherham, who were promoted in second place.
Even last season, his replacement Wade Elliott, in his first managerial role, finished only one place lower. The alarming drop-off since cost him his job last month.
"Everyone's going to say losing Alfie in the summer," local radio commentator Mark Halliwell tells Sky Sports of the root of Cheltenham's problems. "That has to be a factor in it, and a lot of fans believe he was sold on the cheap.
"It's a bit of a stretch to say he kept them up on his own but anyone who scores that number of goals in a team which finishes 15th and then 16th is going to be in demand. They haven't been able to find a way to replace him."
Chairman David Bloxham has eluded as such. "It was something we couldn't avoid," he told Gloucestershire Live this week.
Elliott did too, only two games into the season. "It's pretty obvious where we are a little bit deficient at the minute," he said after a 1-0 loss to Northampton even before the transfer window closed.
The Robins may well have the smallest budget in the division. Elliott had joked earlier in the summer he had a vacancy for a new 20-a-season forward, but replacing the man responsible for almost 40 per cent of their goals since promotion was always a tall order.
It was made tougher still without the club's director of football, head of recruitment and first-team analyst, who left for Shrewsbury weeks into the summer window, needing Elliott to juggle extra responsibilities through pre-season.
Cheltenham have been left to rely on Aidan Keena, a club-record signing from Sligo Rovers in January and 21-year-old Rob Street - who scored four in 38 for Shrewsbury last season.
The two have had 36 shots between them across Cheltenham's 11 games but with the weight of expectation falling squarely on their shoulders, it has grown heavier and heavier as the blanks have racked up.
"They've struggled to work out how to get the best out of Aidan without Alfie there," Halliwell says. "The others are still bedding in and when you lose someone like Alfie, you need someone to step up and as yet, no-one has. Not just the strikers, but around the team.
"We only scored two goals last season from corners, so there's not been that to fall back on either. The amount of goals we scored from set-pieces when we came up from League Two, they are so important at this level."
There have been moments. Cheltenham have been denied by the woodwork three times in their last four games. They have attempted more final-third passes than Saturday's opponents Derby, who sit just outside the play-offs.
How many of those passes have connected? Fewer than anyone else. That's where the problems start, as well as the even greater concern of scoring the chances they do create.
"Personally, I think there's enough in the squad to turn it round," adds Halliwell. "There have been spells in most games, bar Bolton (a 3-0 defeat), which have been promising. But it's already very difficult, because there's already an eight-point gap to safety.
"Against Stevenage, they'd hit the bar and had a shot kept out by a great save, but the moment the second goal went in it was like someone had popped a balloon of their confidence. You could see it go.
"You have to hope that when a goal comes, when something goes Cheltenham's way, it builds a bit of momentum."
Former Bristol Rovers manager Darrell Clarke took charge for the first time on Tuesday night, a real six-pointer against Fleetwood at Whaddon Road.
There were chances for the Robins in both halves, but there were few early signs of better luck than his predecessor in avoiding the drop back to League Two. Though few disagreed with the decision to part ways with Elliott after a seventh defeat from eight, Bloxham conceded he had been "very unlucky" with the hand he was dealt.
In addition to losing May in the summer, 13 players have missed game time to injury since the start of the campaign including promising young striker George Lloyd, who enjoyed a strong pre-season and could have been an outside bet to aid their striking woes.
"Wade lost at home to Alvechurch in the FA Cup, lost his second game 7-0 to Exeter in the League Cup, but turned it round and took us to such a good finish when we never really looked in danger of going down," Halliwell says.
"We only missed out on a day at Wembley in the Papa John's Trophy on penalties too, and losing those three backroom staff in the summer wasn't good for the pre-season preparations.
"He was unlucky, but he always said to judge him on results. Eight games, seven defeats, no goals. I'm sure he'll have learned a lot and deserves credit for a lot of what he did, but it was inevitable that the change would come sooner or later."
There will be more attention than normal on the Derby match on Saturday, with the national press already devoting column inches to Cheltenham's one scoreless record this season.
For Clarke and his side, records will be the last thing on their minds if results don't improve to move them towards safety soon.
