WHAT did we do to deserve the happenings of this week?

It started with the grim reality of relegation, and continued with the loss of Kevin Keen, a manager that most of us had instinctively warmed to. No, it was definitely not the best of weeks.

The precise circumstances of Keen’s abrupt departure are not known, and may never be.

No great problem in that, management changes happen all the time without much explanation. However it does mean that every bar-room hero that the tide washes up has their own speculative explanation of the departure. All are pointless as there were no flies on that particular wall.

In every sense, Keen’s departure is history and all that matters is that we find a strong replacement to move the club forward at a difficult time.

It’s a time to sit back with fingers crossed, and see what happens next. It is a time of high risk, high levels of stress and high emotion.

Now that we are destined to spend next season in League Two we might as well reflect on the misfortunes that have taken us there.

Call it an end of season review if you like. If you are looking for reasons for relegation I will offer you five from my own list, in no particular order:

1. A tendency to concede not just poor goals, but goals in two's. This weakness has been in the head of players. It's to do with being knocked back by the first goal and allowing the opposition to come at you again on the front foot.

We needed toughness and experience at those times, and it wasn't there.

Look at the final five or six minutes at Walsall to see the worst example. That was the afternoon when our survival hopes received a mortal blow as 1-0 up turned to 1-2 down in a five-minute onslaught which encapsulated the problem.

Southend away was horribly similar, when a valuable point dissolved in front of our eyes.

2. Playing well but not getting the results we deserved. This was so true when Kevin Keen first took over, both games against Southend, Gillingham and Walsall away etc, etc.

Loss of those points proved fatal in the end. It came down to what happened in both penalty boxes.

3. Budget, plain and simple. Think what Karl Robinson achieved when his chairman funded marquee loan signings such as Afobe and Bamford in League One. Or Scunthorpe being able to hang on to Paddy Madden.

Size of budget is usually the dividing line between success and failure.

4. Unwillingness to tactically flex the shape of the side early in the season as the Tony Humes/Richard Hall combo lost its mojo.

We ran the risk of being predictable and even stereotyped. We became more flexible as the season progressed even though it was too late to save us, and in any case much of our confidence had gone.

5. Penalty area frailties at both ends of the pitch. This meant that most of our good work in midfield went to waste.

In truth, we matched most sides in the middle of the pitch. Had we been more clinical at both ends, the season would have not ended in failure. Easy to identify; costly to address.

We all hope for an early and exciting appointment as the new manager, as League Two could be enjoyable if we have a wining side to follow.

That is not an unreasonable expectation as we will for once be a slightly bigger fish in a slightly smaller pool.