| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! 07:20 - Sep 1 with 7216 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 09:03 - Sep 1 with 712 views | portmanking |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:58 - Sep 1 by tractorboy1978 |
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. |
That may be the case, and I'd love nothing more than for that to happen. But if were to just fall short of that target but show real signs of progression, wouldn't it be utterly foolhardy to rip it all up and start again this time next year?! |  | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:04 - Sep 1 with 704 views | Herbivore |
| 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. |
Promoted sides almost never win 30 games, it's usually more like 26 or 27. That should be achievable with the squad we've put together. |  |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:05 - Sep 1 with 699 views | Herbivore |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:02 - Sep 1 by Cheltenham_Blue |
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. |
Disagree. Which of those sides you've listed do you honestly think hand on heart has a better squad than us? | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:07 - Sep 1 with 693 views | Herbivore |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:00 - Sep 1 by textbackup |
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 |
There is a big difference, but it'd still be a failure. Whether it would warrant Cook losing his job is another matter of course, but the target has to be promotion and nothing less. | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:07 - Sep 1 with 688 views | portmanking |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:05 - Sep 1 by Herbivore |
Disagree. Which of those sides you've listed do you honestly think hand on heart has a better squad than us? |
Did Wycombe have a better squad than Ipswich and Sunderland when they got automatics? | | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:08 - Sep 1 with 686 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:00 - Sep 1 by davblue |
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. |
High churn in players is the nature of this league - a lot of sides have 10-15 new players and And we've had the luxury of signing mostly players that are top end L1/Championship players. | | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:08 - Sep 1 with 686 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:05 - Sep 1 by Herbivore |
Disagree. Which of those sides you've listed do you honestly think hand on heart has a better squad than us? |
Thats not what I said. But do you honestly think we'll just turn up and steam roller them?
Of course we won't, and it would be dangerous for us to be that arrogant.
This season will sill have ups and downs, its a question of what three sides have less 'downs'.
There were a vast majority on here saying we had the best squad in L1 last season too, look how that ended up?
All I'm advocating is patience. |  |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:11 - Sep 1 with 675 views | Guthrum |
| 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. |
Thing is, we've only lost two games, the automatics are still well within reach. There's no point in lowering the bar of expectation at this stage of the season. I'm sure Cook isn't.
Even losing another six to eight and drawing eight or nine on top of that would most likely see us in the top two come the end of April. There is a reasonable amount of leeway. We only need to win about 60% of our remaining games, not by any means all of them.
Moreover, our recipe of success-through-stability worked in an era when everything was less frenetic, fewer transfers, managers all given longer, financial pressures less acute. Football has changed (not necessarily for the better).
If we fall just short, 1st May is IMO the time to decide justification, not preemptively now. |  |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:11 - Sep 1 with 669 views | Herbivore |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:07 - Sep 1 by portmanking |
Did Wycombe have a better squad than Ipswich and Sunderland when they got automatics? |
No, they had a better manager whilst we were lumbered with Lambert. I'm assuming you think Cook is a bit more competent than our last manager, no? Excellent squad on paper, top manager for this level on paper, why should we not think promotion is the goal this season? | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:12 - Sep 1 with 662 views | Herbivore |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:08 - Sep 1 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Thats not what I said. But do you honestly think we'll just turn up and steam roller them?
Of course we won't, and it would be dangerous for us to be that arrogant.
This season will sill have ups and downs, its a question of what three sides have less 'downs'.
There were a vast majority on here saying we had the best squad in L1 last season too, look how that ended up?
All I'm advocating is patience. |
No, I don't think we'll turn up and steamroller them. But over the remaining 41 games I expect this squad to be able to pick up enough points to achieve promotion. | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:13 - Sep 1 with 656 views | textbackup |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:07 - Sep 1 by Herbivore |
There is a big difference, but it'd still be a failure. Whether it would warrant Cook losing his job is another matter of course, but the target has to be promotion and nothing less. |
Absolutely, aim for the top.
No doubt PC and his team all view it that way |  |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:16 - Sep 1 with 648 views | Herbivore |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:13 - Sep 1 by textbackup |
Absolutely, aim for the top.
No doubt PC and his team all view it that way |
Agreed. Cook will be gunning for promotion, it's what everyone at the club have been gearing up to push for these past few months. Not sure why some fans are so keen to downplay expectations. | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:18 - Sep 1 with 635 views | itfcsuth |
Firstly a massive well done to Mark Ashton, the board, GC and the investors - a window beyond my expectation, we have recruited real real individual quality.
However, you don't buy this league, regardless of who you acquire, you have to earn it. We will not walk this league by any stretch of the imagination.
It is a difficult league, a frustrating league - I don't want to put parameters on this new formed side, I want to see how we develop and progress. I am still in the mindset this is long term project, and we really are building a new football club, that will take time to mold together.
Coyb. |  | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:20 - Sep 1 with 633 views | textbackup |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:16 - Sep 1 by Herbivore |
Agreed. Cook will be gunning for promotion, it's what everyone at the club have been gearing up to push for these past few months. Not sure why some fans are so keen to downplay expectations. |
The season started as a feared it would, I think too many went into it thinking we’d win 4-0 weekly.
But as you say above, 41 games to go, I think we should be picking up enough points to be up there come the end.
Be a few more poor results chucked in there I’m sure | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:20 - Sep 1 with 635 views | portmanking |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:16 - Sep 1 by Herbivore |
Agreed. Cook will be gunning for promotion, it's what everyone at the club have been gearing up to push for these past few months. Not sure why some fans are so keen to downplay expectations. |
We're all gunning for promotion. I'm far from downplaying expectations. I think this squad, once its found its stride, can be a major force in League One. But success may not come overnight. | | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:22 - Sep 1 with 635 views | timothyeo |
| 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. |
Playoffs? Pull the other one.
We should be winning the title. Of course we'd take 2nd place, but I'd be disappointed if Cook didn't win us the title from here. | | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:22 - Sep 1 with 634 views | homer_123 |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:26 - Sep 1 with 622 views | Churchman |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:08 - Sep 1 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Thats not what I said. But do you honestly think we'll just turn up and steam roller them?
Of course we won't, and it would be dangerous for us to be that arrogant.
This season will sill have ups and downs, its a question of what three sides have less 'downs'.
There were a vast majority on here saying we had the best squad in L1 last season too, look how that ended up?
All I'm advocating is patience. |
No, I seriously doubt we will steamroller them all, but that should be the objective. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of arrogance either, if you have the stuff to back it up and it’s used in the right way.
For too long we’ve endured poor little Ipswich trying to punch above it’s weight, looking for hidden gems amongst the rubbish on the floor, celebrating a tin of paint for the turnstiles, worrying about facing the big boys like Wycombe and Rotherham, excuses. No more. I want us to be better than that; to be building something.
Ashton and co have talked about standards and expectations and rightly so. You get nowhere in life without them. If people accept losing in the play offs as anything other than best failure, we are not setting those standards.
Yes, patience is required, but with that we should see progress. Off the field we are seeing it. We now need to see that reflected on the field. Over to you Mr Cook. |  | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:26 - Sep 1 with 623 views | BlueBadger |
| 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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I love the fact that this is getting downvoted.
Mid-table in the Championship is 'accepting mediocrity' but failure to get promoted from League One with a Championship-standard budget and playing squad isn't. |  |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:26 - Sep 1 with 620 views | bobbyramsey |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 08:55 - Sep 1 by Herbivore |
Losing in the play offs would not constitute a good season. |
I wonder what would have happened if we'd binned Burley after one play-off failure.......
The rest is history. |  | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:29 - Sep 1 with 609 views | BlueBadger |
| 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. |
Mate, we're in the third division. Us being here is failure. Remaining here is failure. | |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:33 - Sep 1 with 601 views | JammyDodgerrr |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:26 - Sep 1 by bobbyramsey |
I wonder what would have happened if we'd binned Burley after one play-off failure.......
The rest is history. |
Except football is a totally different game now, so you can hardly compare. This squad is easily a mid table championship team. Anything other than top 2 is a failure. |  |
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| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:35 - Sep 1 with 596 views | dirtyboy |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:20 - Sep 1 by textbackup |
The season started as a feared it would, I think too many went into it thinking we’d win 4-0 weekly.
But as you say above, 41 games to go, I think we should be picking up enough points to be up there come the end.
Be a few more poor results chucked in there I’m sure |
I'd never judge a season by the first half a dozen games, hell, who thinks Spurs will win the league after their start?
Promotion is definitely the target, and is achieveable, but spending money doesn't 'guarantee' anything, but it certainly helps.
Herbs, I understand your sentiments, but what if it's us and say Wigan and Sunderland all within a point of the top two, way ahead of anyone else and we end up in playoffs and losing? That's not faiure, it's progression and we need to be mindful that after years of regression, turning that around is just as slow as the steady decline we endured.
Look for positives (although granted the start - in terms of points, isn't great) but, we're scoring goals....they're nice too see given the lack of last season right? |  | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:35 - Sep 1 with 595 views | bobbyramsey |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:33 - Sep 1 by JammyDodgerrr |
Except football is a totally different game now, so you can hardly compare. This squad is easily a mid table championship team. Anything other than top 2 is a failure. |
Explain what's different.... | | | |
| Right, Paul Cook - over to you! on 09:40 - Sep 1 with 588 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| 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. |
As I've tried to explain before, it's not settling for mediocrity. It's being realistic given the turnover of players, and not wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater because you're too impatient.
You, Badger and a few others are acting like kids at the checkout screaming because they want sweets. I can forgive you because I think you're around 10 years younger than me... and in situations like this it shows. Good things come to those who wait. That's not to say Cook is definitely the right manager, but even the best need time.
You'll no doubt come back with some belittling riposte but I hope you can see this is a genuine, and reasonable, train of thought. |  |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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