Right, Paul Cook - over to you! 07:20 - Sep 1 with 7152 views | Vic | Let’s see what you’re made of now. Absolutely no excuses. A brand new squad of your chosen players, a preseason and 6 games to see what they can do. Obvious weak points now addressed with new signings and now 11 days to work with the whole squad, no distractions. Personally I’m expecting an almost immediate upturn in results - I don’t think that unreasonable from the very low base were at. If we now go on the hit auto promotion this is going to be one heck of a ride. Even if we only get into the PO’s I genuinely expect that we should have the strength to go all the way. Anything less will be a failure. [Post edited 1 Sep 2021 7:59]
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 07:38 - Sep 1 with 3049 views | Herbivore | Agreed. No excuses whatsoever if we don't go up this year. We've spent a lot on fees and wages for the level and have signed several players capable of playing in the league above. We can't afford another season of mediocrity. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 07:43 - Sep 1 with 3018 views | Oldboy | There can be and are no excuses. Top 6 a must with this squad. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 07:55 - Sep 1 with 2965 views | SomethingBlue | Correct, he has been given everything he could have wanted - it has been a triumph from the owners and Ashton. Now we have to get in the mix quickly. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:26 - Sep 1 with 2884 views | Churchman | Spot on. I’m really not interested in hearing about gelling, how good the opposition are, injuries or luck. Promotion has to be the target. What is interesting is that there are now no hiding places. There is some structure in the club, Cook has the players he wants. He also has his coaching staff and I don’t care if they are his mates or only qualified to run the bath. The buck stops at his door. He must deliver and so must the players. It’s very exciting and things will improve. With that squad, I suspect once we start winning we may not stop. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:28 - Sep 1 with 2872 views | Keaneish | Agreed. 41 games to win 28 or 29 as Cook cited; that’s now the target. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:31 - Sep 1 with 2857 views | itfcjoe | Yep, a really exciting time to be a town fan - heaps of pressure on Cook to get things going quickly - but with what he has I'm sure he'll be making no excuses and is relishing it | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:33 - Sep 1 with 2847 views | davblue |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 07:38 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | Agreed. No excuses whatsoever if we don't go up this year. We've spent a lot on fees and wages for the level and have signed several players capable of playing in the league above. We can't afford another season of mediocrity. |
There’s a bit more to it than that. I think with all the changes play offs should be the target, if we were a year down the line I would agree we should be getting promoted I just think the automatic places are out of our reach, there’s teams who are better prepared than us for this particular season. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:36 - Sep 1 with 2824 views | portmanking |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:33 - Sep 1 by davblue | There’s a bit more to it than that. I think with all the changes play offs should be the target, if we were a year down the line I would agree we should be getting promoted I just think the automatic places are out of our reach, there’s teams who are better prepared than us for this particular season. |
Absolutely right. Top 6 has to be the aim this year. Mitigating circumstances of such wholesale changes may make the top 2 out of reach, but even if we lose in the playoffs but look to have grown as a collective over the next 9 months, why shouldn't Cook have a chance to go for the title in 2022/23? Money does not guarantee overnight success, but hopefully we're now on a more stable footing with a squad that's largely ours for 3+ years. | | | | Login to get fewer ads
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:40 - Sep 1 with 2788 views | Herbivore |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:33 - Sep 1 by davblue | There’s a bit more to it than that. I think with all the changes play offs should be the target, if we were a year down the line I would agree we should be getting promoted I just think the automatic places are out of our reach, there’s teams who are better prepared than us for this particular season. |
Sorry, but I'm not having that. Most squads at this level undergo a lot of churn year on year, ours has been higher than most but that's mitigated by the fact we've been able to bring in the kind of quality that other sides in this league can only dream of. Nothing short of promotion is good enough. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:41 - Sep 1 with 2786 views | BlueBadger |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:33 - Sep 1 by davblue | There’s a bit more to it than that. I think with all the changes play offs should be the target, if we were a year down the line I would agree we should be getting promoted I just think the automatic places are out of our reach, there’s teams who are better prepared than us for this particular season. |
Promotion, whatever the way should be the target. I personally, don't give a toss how we get there, we just need out of this division. We're in our third season in it now, FFS. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:42 - Sep 1 with 2769 views | Herbivore |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:36 - Sep 1 by portmanking | Absolutely right. Top 6 has to be the aim this year. Mitigating circumstances of such wholesale changes may make the top 2 out of reach, but even if we lose in the playoffs but look to have grown as a collective over the next 9 months, why shouldn't Cook have a chance to go for the title in 2022/23? Money does not guarantee overnight success, but hopefully we're now on a more stable footing with a squad that's largely ours for 3+ years. |
If Cook doesn't take us up this season then he's failed, that's the long and the short of it. All of these excuses just don't fly I'm afraid. [Post edited 1 Sep 2021 8:57]
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:45 - Sep 1 with 2732 views | portmanking |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:42 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | If Cook doesn't take us up this season then he's failed, that's the long and the short of it. All of these excuses just don't fly I'm afraid. [Post edited 1 Sep 2021 8:57]
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ANY success this club has ever had has been founded on stability and giving managers time. If Cook and the new-look squad regroup and finish 4th, narrowly 3-4 points off the autos, and lose in the playoff final for example, why shouldn't he and the players be given a shot at going one better the following year? There's a reason Cook's foot soldiers have signed 3+ year deals - it's because the owners understand this is not an instant fix and so should you. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:51 - Sep 1 with 2703 views | davblue |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:42 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | If Cook doesn't take us up this season then he's failed, that's the long and the short of it. All of these excuses just don't fly I'm afraid. [Post edited 1 Sep 2021 8:57]
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Over expectations can be dangerous, I’m not playing it down we should be in the play offs at a minimum. But signing 19 players, unless we get very lucky and most of them work out it’s very, very rare that a team will steam roller a league with that amount of change. I hope I’m wrong and we do but I don’t see it this year. Play offs with all the change will be a good season. Then hopefully our talent can win the play offs but it will be tough as we all know. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:52 - Sep 1 with 2695 views | textbackup | Providing we don’t get 5/6 terrible injuries to key players! | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:53 - Sep 1 with 2679 views | Herbivore |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:45 - Sep 1 by portmanking | ANY success this club has ever had has been founded on stability and giving managers time. If Cook and the new-look squad regroup and finish 4th, narrowly 3-4 points off the autos, and lose in the playoff final for example, why shouldn't he and the players be given a shot at going one better the following year? There's a reason Cook's foot soldiers have signed 3+ year deals - it's because the owners understand this is not an instant fix and so should you. |
Regroup? We're 5 games in, ffs. There's 123 points left to play for. With the squad we've assembled anything other than promotion is not good enough. It's amazing how the club settling for mediocrity has infected the mindset of some of our fans. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:54 - Sep 1 with 2666 views | davblue |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:45 - Sep 1 by portmanking | ANY success this club has ever had has been founded on stability and giving managers time. If Cook and the new-look squad regroup and finish 4th, narrowly 3-4 points off the autos, and lose in the playoff final for example, why shouldn't he and the players be given a shot at going one better the following year? There's a reason Cook's foot soldiers have signed 3+ year deals - it's because the owners understand this is not an instant fix and so should you. |
I’m with you on this. Chopping and changing managers every year won’t do us any good long term, we will then have a squad of players with different managers players and that can be tricky. Cook shouldn’t get a free pass but if he gets us in the play offs he will deserve another season as we shouldn’t need to overhaul the squad again. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:55 - Sep 1 with 2659 views | Herbivore |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:51 - Sep 1 by davblue | Over expectations can be dangerous, I’m not playing it down we should be in the play offs at a minimum. But signing 19 players, unless we get very lucky and most of them work out it’s very, very rare that a team will steam roller a league with that amount of change. I hope I’m wrong and we do but I don’t see it this year. Play offs with all the change will be a good season. Then hopefully our talent can win the play offs but it will be tough as we all know. |
Losing in the play offs would not constitute a good season. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:55 - Sep 1 with 2659 views | portmanking |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:53 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | Regroup? We're 5 games in, ffs. There's 123 points left to play for. With the squad we've assembled anything other than promotion is not good enough. It's amazing how the club settling for mediocrity has infected the mindset of some of our fans. |
Mediocrity? It's just a sense of realism... 30 wins from 41 games is a tall order for any side, no matter how good they are. Fingers crossed they achieve it, but I'm prepared to allow the team to grow over time. There's lots of attributes to like about this squad now. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:57 - Sep 1 with 2635 views | davblue |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:55 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | Losing in the play offs would not constitute a good season. |
We aren't Real fookin Madrid! | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:58 - Sep 1 with 2620 views | tractorboy1978 |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:55 - Sep 1 by portmanking | Mediocrity? It's just a sense of realism... 30 wins from 41 games is a tall order for any side, no matter how good they are. Fingers crossed they achieve it, but I'm prepared to allow the team to grow over time. There's lots of attributes to like about this squad now. |
Probably need more like 26/27 wins and 6/7 draws from 41 games. That's what good sides do though and we've assembled probably the best side in L1 history. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:59 - Sep 1 with 2618 views | Herbivore |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:57 - Sep 1 by davblue | We aren't Real fookin Madrid! |
You don't need to be Real Madrid to get out of this toss league, mate. I don't think the likes of Hull, Peterborough, and Blackpool were comparable to Real Madrid. | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:59 - Sep 1 with 2616 views | Churchman |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:33 - Sep 1 by davblue | There’s a bit more to it than that. I think with all the changes play offs should be the target, if we were a year down the line I would agree we should be getting promoted I just think the automatic places are out of our reach, there’s teams who are better prepared than us for this particular season. |
I’m sorry, I have to disagree. There are no hiding places now. They are his players and it’s time to deliver. Every club has the same amount of time in pre-season but not every club has the opportunity and resources we have. Lots of changes, granted, but so have the others. He has 41 games. I don’t care how far behind the top teams we are. Apart from Burton, we’ve got to play them all twice and if we are serious about getting out of this dross league we should be aiming to beat them all twice. With that squad most of the other teams should be turning out to play us knowing they’ve got no chance, not relishing the prospect as the first five teams have. It has to be promotion by auto or play offs. Anything less is failure. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:00 - Sep 1 with 2612 views | davblue |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:53 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | Regroup? We're 5 games in, ffs. There's 123 points left to play for. With the squad we've assembled anything other than promotion is not good enough. It's amazing how the club settling for mediocrity has infected the mindset of some of our fans. |
Play offs is now mediocrity is it? Come on get some sense of perspective. Yes we have a large wage bill but that doesn't mean we are automatically going to steam roller the league. There's much more to it than that, we haven't had a full pre season together, players will need to settle down it will take time. That doesn't mean we should settle for mid table, we need to go for promotion but plaf off's would be acceptable. | | | |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:00 - Sep 1 with 2610 views | textbackup |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:55 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | Losing in the play offs would not constitute a good season. |
Finish 1 point off 2nd, lose in final to a freak goal... some things happen. Don’t want them to obviously. Big difference in the above, scrapping 6th and losing over 2 legs | |
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Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:02 - Sep 1 with 2596 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:53 - Sep 1 by Herbivore | Regroup? We're 5 games in, ffs. There's 123 points left to play for. With the squad we've assembled anything other than promotion is not good enough. It's amazing how the club settling for mediocrity has infected the mindset of some of our fans. |
Equally amazing the effect our apparent new found wealth has had on some of our fans. Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Wigan, Wycombe and Rotherham are all going for those 3 promotion places too, no matter how you cut it, 50% will miss out on promotion. I hope its not us that miss out, but I certainly don't see missing out as 'failure' if we are in that mix, to not even be in the mix would be. I await the down arrow. | |
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