Big test yet to come for McCall

4:47pm Tuesday 6th May 2008

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Stuart McCall is not one for soft-soaping City's end-of-term report.

The manager's verdict on his first season in the hot-seat was typically blunt and straight to the point.

Asked to mark his performance out of ten, McCall left nobody in any doubt about his feelings.

"It would be a massive four without a doubt. We must do better," he said.

"The bottom line is that we've got to win more football games, got to win more points, got to be higher in the table and got to give the magnificent support some success. But take it from me, we will be striving to do that."

To borrow that dreaded football cliché, McCall's debut year as a gaffer was the classic game of two halves - but at least the halves were the right way round.

Up to Christmas, it seemed that everything was unravelling at a depressing rate of knots. In typical McCall fashion, he announced his dramatic return last summer by declaring that anything less than instant promotion would rate as failure.

It was a bullish remark that would inevitably bite him on the bottom; but typical for anyone who knows the man and knows what a winner he wants to be on and off the field.

McCall was not dealt the best of hands to play with. The critics will say that he signed up a lot of the squad who did not ultimately prove good enough to go straight back up.

But, as he has admitted many times since, the newly-installed boss was left shopping for what was left on the shelf. The best players had been long since snapped up or earmarked by other clubs while City were still waiting impatiently for definite news from Sheffield United.

McCall's self-confessed ignorance of League Two did not help either. It was a whole new ball game in more ways than one. He learned fast - but that eager swatting up came at a cost as City stumbled down the table.

The euphoria of opening day in front of a vibrant Valley Parade was punctured by a stubborn Macclesfield; the highlight of edging favourites Peterborough, which lifted City to a season-high seventh spot, was followed by the abject misery of five straight defeats.

City went six weeks and eight games without a win, claiming just two points from a possible 24 on offer and dropping to third from bottom.

There must have been dark moments during that wretched autumn when McCall, such a proud ambassador for his club, will have wondered whether it was all worth it.

His reputation in the eyes of the fans as the all-time City hero was in danger of being forever tarnished by one horrible year. Legends have fallen in the same way at other clubs - think Glenn Hoddle and Spurs; Graeme Souness at Liverpool - and the danger signs were there as City staggered from week to week unable to buy a point.

The turning point came in a home double-header against Chester to begin November. The visitors boasted the best away record in the country at the time but City saw them off in both league and FA Cup.

More importantly, the cup tie saw a first City goal for Peter Thorne, the big-name summer capture whose first three months at the club had been dogged by nagging injuries.

Finally fit and firing, City now had the goal poacher they craved since the controversial departure of Dean Windass ten months earlier.

The fact that Thorne went on to rattle up 15 goals at a ratio of one every two games left both manager and supporters wondering what might have been if his season had begun in August.

Thorne's goals were a significant factor in the second-half revival from the turn of the year. Suddenly results started to come together, particularly away from home where the huge travelling support enjoyed some trips to savour.

There were memorable days out at Accrington, Notts County and Darlington where City relished the type of boisterous backing usually reserved for table-topping teams.

McCall beefed up the midfield with the addition of Lee Bullock from Hartlepool, adding some much-needed height and muscle before succumbing to a hernia operation.

But the City engine room, where McCall had forged his own magnificent career, stuttered all too often with nobody able to nail down a serious claim for regular action.

The best candidate would have seemed the unlikeliest before a ball had been kicked. Kyle Nix only sneaked in on a month's contract after catching the eye in a pre-season friendly against Burnley.

But he beavered his way to another short-term deal until January and then another for the rest of the season. His attitude and work ethic impressed the boss and the eight goals that Nix weighed in with from midfield did not hurt either.

As McCall pointed out, he proved more prolific than many of the division's more high-profile players in the same position and he showed the sort of spirit that the boss wants to engender right through the team.

If Nix was one real bright spot, Joe Colbeck was definitely another. The dramatic transformation in his fortunes mirrored the club perfectly.

Having looked to be on his way out when loaned to Darlington in October, Colbeck re-emerged hungry and desperate to succeed. He has been the undoubted star of 2008 for City - and has the player of the season trophy to proudly show for it.

Omar Daley, on the other hand, went the other way. Seen as a lethal weapon in the basement league, his campaign nosedived and he became the latest butt for the boo boys.

Daley can bounce back - he showed the old verve against MK Dons in the final home game - but must start to deliver the goods consistently. A 27-year-old established international can hardly be talked about as showing potential.

There are others with plenty to prove such as Willy Topp, City's first paid-for signing for six years, and Barry Conlon - but McCall's recent cull of 13 players has given him the room to manoeuvre.

The pulling power of Valley Parade's staggering attendances - which will hopefully be repeated next season thanks to the two-for-one ticket offer - may prove a powerful magnet for the signings he will try to make over the coming weeks.

His biggest call will be the new skipper now that David Wetherall has swapped his boots for a tracksuit. Wetherall was the only player to appear in every league game - he was on the pitch for every minute - and will be a tough act to follow.

But no doubt the boss will have done his homework already. The season may be gone but the studies continue. McCall will keep on cramming until he gets it right. In his eyes, there is no way he will fail the test next time.