Spot on ITFCCOYB, players have come and gone, as have managers but luck has eluded us for many a season now. Keep wondering when we will catch our break.

This has confused me a little!
You put your efforts it to slating someone who is actually putting a tackle and wanting to win the ball and defending! You should be concentrating your efforts on telling certain defenders on how to tackle and how to defend! Jewell you have got this one totally wrong!

I think PJ is spot on about his disciplinary record although I also think its the sort of thing that should be between manager and player and kept within the club. My biggest gripe with Martin though is that he is just not very good. I think in all the games I have seen him I only recall him once going past a player, getting to the byeline and actually delivering a decent cross. A winger should be doing that several times in every game. The goal we conceded against Hull was after he came inside (again) and tried to beat 3 players, lost the ball and a few seconds later its in our net. I'm actually pleased he is suspended so somebody else can have a go. Rather see Shane Oconnor and Carson on the wings with JET upfront with Chopra.

Martins suspension is no loss. He is a league one player at best. He can not cross and hardly ever worries the opposition. To this day I can not believe we paid over 1m for him

If training with the first team results in letting in 12 goals in 2 games, please PJ make all of them train with the reserves - they're bound to improve as a result.

If training with the first team results in letting in 12 goals in 2 games, please PJ make all of them train with the reserves - they're bound to improve as a result.

Wheels are beginning to well and truly fall off. Rash tackle yes, but forcing him to train with the reserves is a bit harsh. And slagging him in public is also out of order.

Garv you are not allowed to go in studs up whether you win the ball or not ,the rule is not a new rule it has been around for a long time . The tackle was also not needed there it would have been better to just stand up and make the player beat him ,and wouldnt have been needed at all if he had tracked his player in the first place . As Jewell stated it is poor decisions that is costing Martin needless bookings and suspensions that he didnt need to do . Also there is no way the decision would be overturned by appeal which is probably why the club have chosen not to do so,so lets stop defending a player who will pick up his wages for the next 3 weeks whilst not helping the team in the slightest

Sorry PJ I don't agree with you on this one. Discipline should be done behind closed doors not in the press arena, you're beginning to lose the plot after 2 bad results, calm down and carry on quietly Mr Jewell, we want to see results on the pitch not just talk!

Jewell sounds like he's had just about enough of some of our players...and I don't blame him.

The splits are starting.
Should never criticise your own in public.
You never hear the TOP managers doing it.

NW10 Tractor

I was just thinking on that on saturday things have to get better ........


And then you told me our ref was ANDY DURSO.....

Not sure if it can get better now

A lot of people seem to be missing the fact that this is an accumulation of poor decisions and consequent bookings. Jewell isn't punishing him for Saturday, he's punishing him for 8 months worth of poor discipline.

Remarkable! I remember the outpour of condemnation when Roy Keane did this; 'a bully', 'hot-headed', 'disgraceful' was the call by many posters on this very board - many of whom (PJ lovers) who now seem to think it's more than acceptable for PJ to do EXACTLY the same thing! Hypocritical.

Let's make it clear - RK was WRONG (and before anyone says anything - he was RIGHTLY sacked) and thus PJ is also WRONG. Worrying signs that things are progressing the same way as they did for PJ at Derby. Heavy defeats, boring negaive tactics, fans desserting the club in their droves and now PJ picking on just one player. Furthermore, not talking to the player is childish and what I would expect from a 5 year old in the play-ground ... not the manager of ITFC.

As others have pointed out - perhaps PJ should look at some of the awful signings he has brought in. Injury prone, ageing journeymen. Yes Chopra is good - but PJ has failed him by mainly playing him as an isolated striker.

Hopefully people are now finally realising what PJ is all about.

I also think PJ is being rather harsh on Martin here. Yes getting needless bookings and giving away needless fouls is not good but Martins tackle was barely a foul let alone a red card.
He should be much more annoyed at the players who gave up once Posh equalised.
PJ states he's fed up of Martin doing it over and over again, yet Leadbitter, Edwards, Smith and Delaney to name a few are continuing to make the same defensive errors match after match but they dont have to train with the youths.
Whilst, in hindsight, Martin's tackle was naive at least he showed fight and passion which is more than lots of the others did, that's I would gusee why he was clapped off

This is a management issue

A key quote was missed out of this article BTW: this is what PJ actually said at the PC: “I'm not speaking to him,” snapped Jewell when the winger's name was brought up at this morning's press conference with the local media, before solemnly adding “seriously".

casanovacrow. the law doesnt just apply to when both feet off the floor, im a ref, & that is not the case. it applies to ne tackle the referee deems to be reckless. while i would agree it may have been a bit harsh on this occasion the fact is, what wasnt shown on tv( im guessing commenting were watching on tv), was the manner in which he ran half the length of the field to make the challenge. he looked to be clearly wound up, & while he made contact with the ball, he wasnt in control of the tackle & could easily have injured the boro player. that why i think the ref showed red. clearly the management have viewed the incident again, & thus have come to the same conclusion so not appealing. also, my guess is, that having been sent off, hed have been training with the reserves neway, as he out 4 three games, thus not part of the squad til suspension over. my bet is he'll be back soon as hes available again.

Casting the net wider to look for scapegoats to distract us from realising who's REALLY to blame eh Paul?

garv, the fact he won the ball is totally beside the point. the fact he also made contact with the player with his studs up(albeit one footed), gives the ref the opportunity to see the challenge as reckless, putting an opponents safety in danger. as i said in my other post, the fact hed run back in an aggressive manner, would also have influenced the refs decision also. the fact is that martin is an accident waiting to happen when it comes to tackling, & while i feel it may have been a little harsh on this occasion, he could have been shown red on many more occasions than he has. maybe pj should have kept this inhouse but dont think he should be slated by ne1 on here, feel his only crime is to be too open to us fans about this. rather that, than not know whats going on at club.

Why was LM singled out and publically slagged of by PJ yet not a word as far as we know has been said to TS his challenge was inexcusable when he knew we were up against it playing at the time with 10 men?

Keep your opnions to yourself PJ Done yourself no favours. Lee Martin was very unlucky for me his tackle on Saturday was a yellow card only for me. Even the pboro player got up and didn't complain at all. Concentrate on picking the team up rather than slagging them off.

Seems I'm fighting a losing battle here. Aggression is a huge part of football, don't you want our players to be aggressive? Whoever said "I'd rather he stood the player up and stopped him beating him" or something along those lines, what are you on? By tackling the player and winning the ball Martin did just this. The player got straight up, the lino gave nothing and he was a metre away, doesn't that tell you something? Literally cannot believe some of the reactions on here. 'He wouldn't have had to make the tackle if he was tracking his man in the first place', what? The fact that he WAS tracking his man allowed him to make the tackle and stop the attack. PJ should be sticking up for his player, not dumping him in the reserves for showing some commitment, completely unbelievable!

A suspended player is of no use to the team whatsoever, plus cover then needs to be found for the next game(s). Not surprising the manager's frustrated.

I think Martin has been harshly treated all round here. Don't get me wrong : I don't rate him as a player and don't much care if he is in the team or not, but his tackle was not even a foul and the fact that the club is not appealing amazes me. Lots of people here saying you can't tackle 'studs-up' : well, unless you're a contortionist, ALL tackles are 'studs-up' unless you tackle from behind, which generally IS (wrongly) deemed illegal these days. It is interesting the way that even qualified refs (of which I am one) have very different views on the rules : I did the course in 1994/5 and was clearly told that the tackle from behind was perfectly ok as long as the player got the ball first, yet an acquaintance who did the course the year before was adamant that she (yes, women do become referees) would always deema tackle from behind a foul. The same seems to apply to vigorous challenges like that by Martin : if I were in charge of that game I'd have happily played on and not even thought about a yellow card, let alone a red one.
As to Jewell excommunicating Martin, well ... it just shows how little time Jewell has left when he has his fingers so firmly dug in like that. I would rather see our players clout the opposition at every opportunity and risk getting sent off than surrender the way that the likes of Delaney and Lead-belly do every game.