What went wrong for Dev?

After all my words of praise in Part 1, you may wonder why I supported Alan Devonshire’s decision to resign. It is a cliché but ‘all good things must come to an end’ and very few managers last over 4 years at a football club let alone over 9 in their second spell. Things inevitably turn stale, as managers struggle to keep a side motivated, who disengage after hearing the same voice for a long period. Towards the end of Dev’s time in charge he just didn’t appear to be inspiring the side or making any impact with subs. When you consider that Ryan Peters and others appeared to do most of the actual coaching, it left me wondering if we could do better with a new voice and new ideas. 

The beginning of the end

Last summer’s recruitment was patchy at best. Now, I know I defended Dev’s recruitment in Part 1, but that was in the National League when we were competing for signings with full time clubs. However, in Summer 2025 we were recruiting from a position of strength, as one of the title challengers in the National League South. With (allegedly) one of the largest budgets in the league. We should have been looking to change up the playing style and personnel which a proportion of fans had grown tired of. With the drop in division, surely it would have been the perfect time to have a look at some presumably cheaper talent from nearby clubs. Missing out on Wiktor Makowski who had scored over 60 goals in two seasons at Flackwell Heath to Slough really rankled. He went on to score 19 goals for a very poor Slough side before getting a transfer to Worthing where he has scored 4 goals in 7 games. I also think we don’t make the most of our geographical location, surely professional clubs like Wycombe, Reading, Oxford and even Brentford will be releasing young players that would be worth a look? Furthermore, as a flying tricky winger in his playing days I always felt that throughout his second spell at York Road, Dev had some really talented wingers that he never made full use of or trusted. I suppose the argument against this view is that none of them went on to achieve great things for other clubs, but surely Ruben Carvalho, Joseph Ajose, Nana Owusu, Herson Alves or even David Omilabu should have been given a proper run in the team.

After that sidenote, back to last summer's recruitment and retention. Manny O is a good defender but he’s presumably on big money and injury-prone. This is a real issue when your other (albeit excellent) CB’s are Remy Clerima who has other commitments meaning his availability isn’t guaranteed, and Will De Havilland, who also previously tended to miss a fair few games through injury. Ryan Bartley is a decent squad player, and I like Jordan Raguette but the fact he is our only natural left sided defender leaves us horribly exposed. Despite both looking good in pre-season Harry Pritchard was not the player he once was and Asher Yearwood flattered to deceive in midfield. I was excited by the signing of Kai Yearn on loan, but he was never really given a run of games to prove himself. Callum Harriot joined from Ebbsfleet but was injured and gone by December after playing about 4 times. Corey Andrews up front from Oxford City was supposed to bring goals at this level but looked less likely to score than me in a nightclub at Uni (N.B. - this was highly unlikely). Finally, the new keeper JVS started the campaign with a few crucial mistakes although I will concede he has been superb in the second half of the season. In Dev’s defence; Robinson, Dulson, Popoola and Umerah have all proved excellent signings.

Parts of the summer retained list were as bad as the recruitment. Sam Barratt has been a fantastic servant to the club, but his performance last season away to Wealdstone was comically bad and he doesn’t offer enough in open play anymore. JML is another player , presumably on decent money, who started the season very slowly as he was recovering from a nasty injury. Kane Ferdinand is still Kane Ferdinand. 

The middle of the end

It is clear that Dev’s style of football divided the fans. Most of the comments on the Supporters Facebook group after losses, described Dev’s style as “route one” or “hoof ball”. There is an argument that paying £20 at the turnstile to watch long ball football is not conducive to growing the fanbase. I can’t say I particularly buy this opinion because as discussed in Part 1, the larger attendances are because of the success we enjoyed under Dev. That being said, it was without a doubt easier to watch Dev’s style of football when we were winning, or at least challenging established teams with larger budgets in the National League. It’s much harder to swallow this style when you begin your National League South campaign winless in your first four games of the season.

The form did subsequently improve with six league wins in a row including an impressive victory over Worthing at York Road and a 4-0 trouncing of Bath City away. However, a lot of the good will built up during this run was spoiled by a very disappointing home defeat to Faversham Town of the Isthmian League South East Division in the FA Cup 3rd qualifying round. This was a huge missed opportunity for the club and wasn’t the first time the Magpies had gone out embarrassingly in the FA Cup to a lower division club (Cray Valley Paper Mills… I mean, COME ON!!!!!!!)

The end of the end

This series of wins was followed by a number of very disappointing defeats that ultimately convinced the majority of fans, including myself, that Dev’s time at the club had run its course. The final straw for many of the supporters was the 2-0 loss to Leamington in the FA Trophy who were (and still are) rock bottom of the National League North. The diabolical performance by the team and the weak excuses offered afterwards were just not good enough. At this stage, many of the new signings weren’t playing well, the fans were disillusioned and the club just looked like it needed a drastic change to kick start the season. Dev lasted a couple more games, but announced he was to step down after another loss in the league, this time to Dagenham. During the next two games which were Dev’s goodbye the team racked up nine goals and played with a freedom they’d previously been lacking.

Whilst the team haven’t stopped putting in the occasional inexplicably awful performance under Peters, there has been a marked improvement in the side and the style of football which I believe further underlines it was the right time for Dev to leave.

Writing this Dev retrospective… or Devtrospective, if you will, has brought back so many great memories for me. Things didn’t end in the fairytale manner he deserved, but things rarely do in football. We wouldn’t be where we are today without Dev and I just hope he knows how important he was to so many of us, and that he’ll forever be a legend at York Road.

Until next time, see you on The Bell End. Up the Mags!