I know that I’m very sad but I performed a little arithmetic on our league performances (including today). I compared our league results prior to the Leicester FA Cup game which, of course, included Danny Johnson, and those after the Leicester game (when he had returned to Mansfield). Please feel free to check and, if necessary, correct my hasty calculations.
We had a 51.4% points return with DJ but only a 27.3% points return after he had left. It is worth pointing out that the two relegated clubs, Hartlepool United (31.2%) and Rochdale (27.5%) had better than us comparing our second half-season with their full seasons! If Michael Flynn considers that he has been hard done by, he would do well to consider those figures.
Deducting DJ’s goals suggests that we would only have been 6 points worse off (2 defeats turned to draws and 2 draws turned to victories). This is, I realise, an over-simplistic analysis. Other players might have scored the chances that he put away (yeah, right!) and his presence in the side may have given his team-mates more confidence (more likely).
On a different note, did you all see that Mansfield missed the play-offs by one goal? Shame, eh? Now if only they had a proven goalscorer on their books! We should all write to David Sharpe, the Mansfield Chairman, expressing our sympathies and commiserations.