What kind of reception will Alan Bennett get?

[trickster]

A good one I suspect, probably an embarrassingly good one, in Yates recent interview before the Wimbledon game he was asked if he’d done the right thing letting Bennett go, he gave a one word answer “yes”, I think that kind of response doesn’t help his cause.

[Malabus]

Got a good reception last season when Wimbledon played at WR, think that will be the same case tomorrow.

[CheltRobin]

I'm sure he'll get a decent reception from the Chelt fans, he deserves to - a lot of fans still puzzled / angry (including me) as to why MY let him go. Yes, he had made some errors in the matches leading upto his departure, but the rest of defence wasn't doing any better - much like the current situation. Yet Yates hasn't singled out Elliott for the mistakes he's been making - The difference being........???

[51/84]

I have said it before and I will say it again
We do not know what was in the contract
Play 35 games and get a new contract.
If a clause like that was in the contract and he was going to let him AB go then he would have been benched

Perhaps Steve Elliot will be allowed to go at some point!

[C.V]

Perhaps Bennnett and Jones stood up to Yates and told him some home truths wouldnt surprise me.

[51/84]

Are you telling us or speculating CV

[C.V]

What did the last three words of my post say WOULDNT SURPRISE ME

[Peter Griffin]

As sad as it was to see a nice bloke and good captain like Bennett go, our defence did vastly improve after his departure. We conceded 17 goals in 18 league games last season after he left. We conceded 24 in the 18 before that-though I can't remember if he missed a couple towards the end.

[CheltRobin]

Trouble was, thou Hector did very well when he replaced Benno, he was not our player and never likely to be. Since the start of the season, the defence has been all at sea, thou not helped by a succession of injuries.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

We need to show Midson he should have been in Ruby this season.

Come on Byron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Malabus]

We need to show Midson he should have been in Ruby this season.

Gornell better.

[Shade]

It's simple really. Bennett wasn't as good as Elliott - one of them needed to be released to bring in Michael Hector, who I think we all agree is a top class player at League 2 level. We were going for promotion and at the time it seemed like the best option. The fans still love Benno because he gave everything for CTFC. Do I wish he was still our player? Yes. Would I exchange him for a better player if I couldn't afford both? Yes. Do we currently have better defenders? Not right now, but with the injury disruption I'm still hopeful Elliott and Brown will prove themselves a good partnership this season.

[Joey]

Hector was a more skillful and had greater pace than Bennett but I don't buy into the idea that Hector was some glorious saviour of our defense. As Peter's stats point out, we did concede 7 less goals in our time with Hector than with Bennett. Looking at the fixtures most of our more challenging away games had already passed. Yet when we had games such as Burton and Port Vale that season, we still managed to let in 3 goals. It's very unfair to put the blame on one individual for poor defending in games unless it's down to individual errors, such as we've seen over the past few games.

I'm not sure if I posted this on another thread but in past cultures a scapegoat would be sent out into the desert with certain items on it, they did this on the hope of eliminating their sins and woes. I believe this is what MY metaphorically did to Bennett. Once he's gone our defense will have no more problems and all will be well. Now the Hector placebo has worn off and we are a circus at the back and we're throwing away our season a game at a time.

As the cliche goes, what done has been done. I wish Bennett all the luck and success and Wimbledon, they're my dark horse for this season. Once our defense gets itself sorted out then we can move away from this conversation. Give players like CBB and Brown time and they'll turn out to be good defenders for us, as for Elliott this season, I'm not so sure.

[Shade]

Hector was a more skillful and had greater pace than Bennett but I don't buy into the idea that Hector was some glorious saviour of our defense.

I'm not saying he was, but more pace and skill than Bennett is what MY saw and he thought it would make a difference because against teams with nippy forwards we had 2 30+ CB's who weren't getting any quicker and weren't as good at distributing the ball from the back. He felt we needed a younger, faster player back there and obviously still does as there has always been a younger CB paired with Elliott since Benno left.

[hepple]

Got a good reception off Whaddney who I noticed gave him a big hug when he followed the CT players down the line for handshakes
Never seen Whaddney walk along the line for handshakes before did make my 6 year old laugh when he almost jumped on Alan Bennet for the hug.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Nice to hear Whadney having fun like that.

[confused.com]

he had about 300 there and went for the more traditional turkey and ham meal, followed by a choice of desserts. Wine served at tables and a subsidised bar