| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club 13:01 - Nov 29 with 936 views | pointofblue |
I get it's completely my problem, and perhaps recognising this will mean I can start trying to re-find my love for the club and team again. But they come across as a bunch of strangers who are failing to hit the height of expectations. Add on that many were here for the utter meltdown of last year, and it doesn't feel like they have a connection to past successes, recent or historical.
Admittedly, we took the same demolition approach only a few years ago but the difference there is something really did need to change. The rebuilding of the squad took us to new heights and, yes, even now the way the squad was dismantled and rebuilt rankles considering we do not appear to have got value for money on so many. It feels like we've had three transfer windows since promotion to the Premier League and have tripped up in every one. The odd thing is, in many ways, I feel.more disconnected from the club than during the darkest days of Evans/Lambert which I acknowledge is absolutely ludicrous.
I think this belief has made me even more annoyed and short-tempered about every setback, even though in the great scheme of things we're still in a decent position. I'm not sure whether others feel this way? Off the pitch we're healthier have been in a while; on it we should still be on a positive journey. Yet I feel like I'm being left behind, and all wins do is cover the cracks. |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:03 - Nov 29 with 873 views | Herbivore |
You're right, it is a you problem. |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:05 - Nov 29 with 865 views | Bobbychase |
I had hoped we would click sooner than this.
But the club is in the best place it has been since the Burley/Sheepshanks era and arguably has better overall financial management than back then. I loved the fairytale of one of the boys of 78/81 coming back as manager and taking us to fifth in the Prem without spending loads, but the innocence of that era came back to haunt us in the second season when we were abject in getting relegated and then went into administration the following year. Feels like we are run by more savvy people now. |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:07 - Nov 29 with 824 views | pointofblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:03 - Nov 29 by Herbivore |
You're right, it is a you problem. |
Thanks for your input.
In all seriousness, the reason why I posted is is I'm wondering if others are struggling with the same thing. Is that why we're getting this kneejerk disaster response after every setback - because some are struggling to connect to the squad and are still harking back to recent successful seasons? On another thread, someone pointed out the difference between expectancy and demand, which seemed pretty relevant. After the rip up and rebuild, demand is now taking over expectancy to probe it's all worth it. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:08 - Nov 29 with 823 views | Chrisd |
When we were on the up from L1 under KM there was a real buzz about the club, lots of positive movement on and off the pitch and things were generally happening for the better. Currently, I don’t get that same vibe. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:10 - Nov 29 with 795 views | pointofblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:05 - Nov 29 by Bobbychase |
I had hoped we would click sooner than this.
But the club is in the best place it has been since the Burley/Sheepshanks era and arguably has better overall financial management than back then. I loved the fairytale of one of the boys of 78/81 coming back as manager and taking us to fifth in the Prem without spending loads, but the innocence of that era came back to haunt us in the second season when we were abject in getting relegated and then went into administration the following year. Feels like we are run by more savvy people now. |
In Sheepshanks defence, we were severely hindered by the collapse of ITV Digital. I believe I'm right in saying all three relegated clubs from 2001/2002 went into administration shortly afterwards because they had spent money they thought they'd have even if they did go down, before finding out that wasn't the case. Ironically we would have probably been better off going down in 2000/2001. Typical of us to choose the worst season to do it! | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:10 - Nov 29 with 790 views | Herbivore |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:07 - Nov 29 by pointofblue |
Thanks for your input.
In all seriousness, the reason why I posted is is I'm wondering if others are struggling with the same thing. Is that why we're getting this kneejerk disaster response after every setback - because some are struggling to connect to the squad and are still harking back to recent successful seasons? On another thread, someone pointed out the difference between expectancy and demand, which seemed pretty relevant. After the rip up and rebuild, demand is now taking over expectancy to probe it's all worth it. |
You've been quite negative for pretty much the entire McKenna era. I can recall you being quite unhappy in our promotion seasons at times when most others were loving life. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:20 - Nov 29 with 720 views | pointofblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:10 - Nov 29 by Herbivore |
You've been quite negative for pretty much the entire McKenna era. I can recall you being quite unhappy in our promotion seasons at times when most others were loving life. |
True, I was thinking that myself, but that came from a different place. My negativity was because I cared, a desperation for something to work, to get us out of the hell of League One and back on track. I suppose a degree of it through 22/23 was because we had outspent our rivals and struggled to see it on the pitch until late February. Even today, I wouldn't judge 22/23 as anywhere near as successful a season as 23/24, even though we finished second both times. Indeed, this season perhaps has echoes of 22/23 so far.
Any criticism during 23/24 was my pessimism and frustration reaching stupid levels, and I acknowledge that and am trying to learn from it. It is (very) gradual progress if at all. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:26 - Nov 29 with 678 views | billlm |
I think it's a good post tbf,
I know exactly where your coming from,
You see the improvements the videos all granular and encouraging but if you don't see it on the pitch you get your feelings,
Hopefully at the end of the season it falls out way,
Teams like Oxford with our team we should be blowing away so I'm not so sure it will be a happy ending and a huge opportunity lost, |  | | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:33 - Nov 29 with 629 views | trncbluearmy |
There's nothing complicated about being a fan of a football club.
You follow your team always, you enjoy the good times, endure and moan about the bad times in the hope the good times will return.
Sometimes your team needs a reset and perhaps the result last night was it.
Far to similar to the charlton game.
The football has become slow, tedious and frustrating.
Hopefully KM is sitting down with his coaching staff to make sure lessons have been learnt and the same mistakes, which are happening to often now, are sorted out.
ITFC pay him a big old wedge,
he has all the tools he needs.
We need to see big improvements from now on. [Post edited 29 Nov 13:34]
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:35 - Nov 29 with 607 views | Ryorry |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:20 - Nov 29 by pointofblue |
True, I was thinking that myself, but that came from a different place. My negativity was because I cared, a desperation for something to work, to get us out of the hell of League One and back on track. I suppose a degree of it through 22/23 was because we had outspent our rivals and struggled to see it on the pitch until late February. Even today, I wouldn't judge 22/23 as anywhere near as successful a season as 23/24, even though we finished second both times. Indeed, this season perhaps has echoes of 22/23 so far.
Any criticism during 23/24 was my pessimism and frustration reaching stupid levels, and I acknowledge that and am trying to learn from it. It is (very) gradual progress if at all. |
Your honesty and self-awareness are admirable - if only a few others were willing to go down that route.
I think many of us are just frustrated - we can see some kernals of a team that would sparkle more consistently in the squad, but the essential tweaking there needs to be just ain't happening.
Maybe a fresh pair of eyes coming in on a consultancy basis to take an objective, 'aerial' look at the squad might help? |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:36 - Nov 29 with 602 views | TresBonne |
Incredible overreaction really, at least you've acknowledged it's ludicrous.
We just lost our first game in 6 after a good run, and we are in a position where we can spend millions on the team. I got excited once when we signed Carayol on a free transfer.
You wouldn't have posted this if we had scored a winner. |  | | |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:37 - Nov 29 with 588 views | homer_123 |
I would merely pose the fact that "You have to take the rough with the smooth.".
Football provides frustration and enjoyment in equal measure.
You can be constructively critical without being uber negative or positive. In terms of connection with the Club, the reality is 'we are business first and foremost' without that we can't be a successful football Club. And whilst I can can see why, there are aspects that don't sit right (but that's more modern football than anything). |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:37 - Nov 29 with 576 views | pointofblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:36 - Nov 29 by TresBonne |
Incredible overreaction really, at least you've acknowledged it's ludicrous.
We just lost our first game in 6 after a good run, and we are in a position where we can spend millions on the team. I got excited once when we signed Carayol on a free transfer.
You wouldn't have posted this if we had scored a winner. |
Maybe, maybe not, but the feelings would have still be there. They were after West Brom, Swansea, QPR, Hull. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:38 - Nov 29 with 551 views | Scuzzer |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:08 - Nov 29 by Chrisd |
When we were on the up from L1 under KM there was a real buzz about the club, lots of positive movement on and off the pitch and things were generally happening for the better. Currently, I don’t get that same vibe. |
The journey can often be better than arriving at the destination.
I just get the vibe that we are now overstreching our boundaries as a club. |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:39 - Nov 29 with 546 views | Illinoisblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:37 - Nov 29 by pointofblue |
Maybe, maybe not, but the feelings would have still be there. They were after West Brom, Swansea, QPR, Hull. |
So the question is, what would make you happy? |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:40 - Nov 29 with 542 views | TresBonne |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:37 - Nov 29 by pointofblue |
Maybe, maybe not, but the feelings would have still be there. They were after West Brom, Swansea, QPR, Hull. |
After the games we won? Really? So what makes you happy with the team? All they can do to impress is win, surely! | | | |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:45 - Nov 29 with 513 views | Kieran_Knows |
That therein lies the problem. People don’t want to give this group of players a chance. O’Shea isn’t Woolfie, Greaves isn’t Burgess, Philogene isn’t Hutchinson etc etc. It’s painful hearing some peoples opinions on this lot. Said it the other week, but this lot have no chance. They had already been written off before a ball had been kicked last summer.
I really hope come May this group can stand on the Cornhill after promotion and flick the v’s to the fan base, that’d please me to be honest. |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:47 - Nov 29 with 493 views | Nutkins_Return |
If course it's difficult because we are very up and down and we aren't a side that can put a 90 minute performance in. Love Azor but I think a dominant midfield is what gives you that confidence and belief in a team. We just don't have that at the moment and it does look like we are going to have to go and buy that into the building in Jan. He needs a dynamic partner.
We are really frustrating and you can't trust us to turn up right now.
I'm still confident we will get there but it's going to be a frustrating ride for. Awhile longer.
Right now I don't hate the idea of us additionally bringing Morsy back. I know it's not a long term thing but 6 months of him setting standards for some of this lot would be no bad thing. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:49 - Nov 29 with 479 views | pointofblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:39 - Nov 29 by Illinoisblue |
So the question is, what would make you happy? |
That's the entire point of the OP. My honest answer at this point is I don't know.
I guess the closest I got, the moment this season where I felt the connection grow, was the Norwich game. If we had built of that rather than lose the next two then return to inconsistent performances perhaps it would have continued to grow in turn. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 14:05 - Nov 29 with 385 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
Although I generally disagree, I can see where you're coming from, and it's refreshing to read a considered and intelligent negative post rather than childish wailing that pervades these pages! |  |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 14:06 - Nov 29 with 377 views | Illinoisblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:49 - Nov 29 by pointofblue |
That's the entire point of the OP. My honest answer at this point is I don't know.
I guess the closest I got, the moment this season where I felt the connection grow, was the Norwich game. If we had built of that rather than lose the next two then return to inconsistent performances perhaps it would have continued to grow in turn. |
But if you base your mood and outlook on specific games you’re always likely to have moments of unhappiness. If you take the wide-angle view of a club, a stadium and squad that’s been monumentally overhauled and improved in five years then it’s surely hard to be unhappy with the general state of ITFC. But, I woke up this morning still raging about Oxford. Still baffled about some of our recruitment. Maybe it’s just what football is: default unhappiness and frustration with occasional good days. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 14:13 - Nov 29 with 333 views | pointofblue |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:45 - Nov 29 by Kieran_Knows |
That therein lies the problem. People don’t want to give this group of players a chance. O’Shea isn’t Woolfie, Greaves isn’t Burgess, Philogene isn’t Hutchinson etc etc. It’s painful hearing some peoples opinions on this lot. Said it the other week, but this lot have no chance. They had already been written off before a ball had been kicked last summer.
I really hope come May this group can stand on the Cornhill after promotion and flick the v’s to the fan base, that’d please me to be honest. |
I think it's easy to forget the criticism directed at the original squad - especially in 21/22 and parts of 22/23. Burgess got thrown into the pot with Donacien and Jackson as poor signings who helped fund Accrington's clubhouse. Woolfenden was never fully accepted by some. Hutchinson had a lot of criticism after a slow start. This is nothing new. The original squad had every right to flick the Vs after 22/23 and especially 23/24. Despite my OP I hope the same will be said of the current group. | |
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| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 14:52 - Nov 29 with 186 views | Churchman |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 14:13 - Nov 29 by pointofblue |
I think it's easy to forget the criticism directed at the original squad - especially in 21/22 and parts of 22/23. Burgess got thrown into the pot with Donacien and Jackson as poor signings who helped fund Accrington's clubhouse. Woolfenden was never fully accepted by some. Hutchinson had a lot of criticism after a slow start. This is nothing new. The original squad had every right to flick the Vs after 22/23 and especially 23/24. Despite my OP I hope the same will be said of the current group. |
It’s far worse now than the time you point to. Including when the team literally gave up in two successive games and after that at Charlton before McKenna was appointed.
The criticism of Burgess and co is nothing compared to the treatment being dished out now. Many of the supporters hate the players and don’t connect because they cost money. People could connect with Nouble because he looked like a puppy bounding round the park, was cheap and one of Mick’s punts. How could you lay into the bloke? You couldn’t so people didn’t.
Now the current players are a different story. Egeli for example cost money. So he’s 19, who cares. He cost money and should be delivering like Pele in 1958. He’s not so boom, in goes the boot. Same with the rest. Let’s face plenty of people love dishing up abuse. It’s human nature for a lot of blokes.
Some people hate the management because we are not winning 5-0 every week because 2025 = entitlement right here right now. As with life, as with football. McKenna? Some are bored with him so label him a failure and get rid. There must be somebody with a foreign name or some old hasbeen like Warnock who can ‘do a job’. Ashton? The stigma of the Bristol City monobrow mob hangs over him. Forget anything he might of done, he’s a character from The Office with a welded coffee cup who didn’t do this and did that.
That is my simplistic cartoon summary of many of our so called fanbase. Inaccurate, subjective, but there’s elements there I believe are true.
Personally, I don’t see it that way. I don’t see short term and I think people all too easily forget how close this club was to going under. The work going into it now is mind blowing to my eyes from academy to the training ground to the football ground. Anyone yearning for the 80s time of Ferguson through to now bar the GB, Royle, Lyall years needs to have a re-think. Most of those times were hopeless. Literally.
No, the club will never be the same again. Good. Nothing stays the same and the owners are giving this club a chance to recover from the years of aching incompetence (from Kerr to Evans) and fulfil its potential. So in a sense, while last nights performance is desperately disappointing, it’s not important. If we are not promoted this year, it’s not important because we will hopefully be far better geared in all aspects next season.
Do you believe what the owners and Ashton have been saying recently? If not, get the crayons and placards out. If you do, just chill and let things pan out. We will be fine. Since when was football purely a numbers game? If it was we’d never have turned Chelsea over last Christmas.
Lastly, am I as connected to the club as days gone by? Yes and more so than ever. I was watching the club rot away after Administration.
Winning and losing? It’s what sport is. If you cannot accept it, then Man C, Arsenal and co await your pleasure. |  | | |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 15:00 - Nov 29 with 151 views | blueoutlook |
The truth is we have spent a fortune on very mediocre players. |  | | |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 15:09 - Nov 29 with 127 views | Reuser_is_God |
| Struggling to connect with the current guise of the club on 13:45 - Nov 29 by Kieran_Knows |
That therein lies the problem. People don’t want to give this group of players a chance. O’Shea isn’t Woolfie, Greaves isn’t Burgess, Philogene isn’t Hutchinson etc etc. It’s painful hearing some peoples opinions on this lot. Said it the other week, but this lot have no chance. They had already been written off before a ball had been kicked last summer.
I really hope come May this group can stand on the Cornhill after promotion and flick the v’s to the fan base, that’d please me to be honest. |
Worth remembering that the likes of Burgess, Chaplin etc weren’t loved instantly by the fanbase.
Cameron Burgess was a laughing stock his first 6 months here & Chaplin couldn’t get a game ahead of a 36 year old Sone Aluko.
Even in the league 1 promotion season there was a lot of anger vented towards the team, think back to the 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers in February. |  |
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