Here we go – Again.

I get a feeling of déjà vu here. Cheltenham are struggling in the league, and have just been knocked out of the FA Cup by a team a division below us.

Much of the pattern seems to follow the events of two years ago. A good win the first round of the FA Cup, two really bad results in the league and then cup defeat.

In 2014, we panicked, changing the manager before the cup defeat and bringing in a new man who never became a Cheltenham man. The results over the rest of the season were disastrous, and further changes in management did not stop to rot as much as showing how much rot there was. While I am pleased that we are not instantly repeating the mistakes of two seasons ago. I was surprised by news reports saying that Johnson was having talks over a renewed contract in the midst of the worst run since he has become manager.

The other thing that happened as 2014 came to an end was that we were all waiting for the transfer window to open, causing a listlessness to settle into both the team and support during December. I can already see a similar thing happening again now. The press, the supporters and most importantly the manager have now been continually on about the changes we will have to make in January. This must have an effect on the morale of the team.

Last season, the team prevailed over teams with higher budgets and arguably better players. This was because all the players could think they were all in it together. Even loan players bought into the atmosphere, so it was not uncommon to see someone who was out of the team for some reason travelling to away grounds and standing with the supporters. We have lost the unity, even though we have kept the group together.

This is now the challenge for Gary Johnson, as we cannot afford to wait for January and the opening of the transfer window. He needs to make the players believe in themselves now and to react to the last few results in the five games before the window opens. Both publicly and privately, it must be made clear that no one has been shelved yet and that they are all in it together, fighting to maintain their football league careers beyond January.

For the board, the talk of contracts should be put on hold – it should be out there, but not signed until the day we are guaranteed to finish in the top 22 places in this division.

The supporters too have the part to play. Less whinging about what the manager has done wrong. Maybe the summer recruitment was not up to scratch, but none of us knew that at the time, and we all supported the decisions to keep all of last season’s squad intact. (Our best run of results this season came from a series of games when all the outfield players had been here last season). The truth is that this season has not been a complete disaster, we are still more than capable of turning things around and at least being in a safe position by the first week of May. Until the last three games, the margins have been small. It has been clear that the team has not quite been sharp enough, but the football has been quite entertaining and we have held our own against sides such as Portsmouth.

I do not believe that any of our players has failed every time he has come onto the field. Everyone has shown that they can step up to the grade, but too many have failed to do it consistently. It has to be remembered that while Saturday’s result is a blow to morale and pride, the three home games before the end of the year are far more important. The fixture gods have not been kind to us in this respect. Unless the weather intervenes, we will have played exactly half our league programme in 2015, but we will have played 13 home games and only 10 away. We cannot afford to tread water in the hope of making a change in the transfer window. We need to come back strongly before then, or it may already be too late before reinforcements can added to the squad.