 | Forum
Reply | Had a couple of interesting messages about academy players let go...
at 15:48 17 Jan 2022
He wanted out the year before. I think his going was inevitable and it could be argued that selling him a year earlier would have been more beneficial - but maybe not.
I’m not surprised he’s doing well. He looked excellent when he broke into the team and while it took a while to get over his injury problems, he was far too good for this level. Bishop? Always liked him as a player, but oh those injury problems robbed him of so much. Dozzell? Release clause. He was another for whom time here was up.
Of the three I wonder if Bishop and Dozzell might have stayed if KM had been here and not Cook, but this is all idle, baseless speculation and I suspect you are more in the know on that than me. [Post edited 17 Jan 15:54]
|
| Forum
Reply | Peter Reid
at 09:33 17 Jan 2022
Went out of the door withCook and the gang, didn’t he? |
| Forum
Reply | Arsenal v Spurs yesterday was postponed due to Arsenal....
at 09:32 17 Jan 2022
Nothing against Arsenal but that’s ridiculous. Any club - if they can field 11 players and 2 subs they should play. They have youth players. They can play them. If they chose to loan out players (over 50 by Man City and Chelsea) that’s their choice. Those players count on their roster as far as I’m concerned. If it hammers the loan market, good. |
| Forum
Reply | McKenna-Ball
at 09:01 17 Jan 2022
Durham is a boring bag of wind. If he said it was Monday today I’d check the calendar. |
| Forum
Reply | Macerator toilets are the work of the devil incarnate, pt 749,329
at 08:24 17 Jan 2022
I am reminded of the scene in Blackadder 2 when he is selling his house:
“What about the privies?"
"Well, what we're talking about in, erm, privy terms is the very latest in front-wall, fresh-air orifices, combined with a wide-capacity gutter installation below"
"You mean you crap out of the window!?"
"Yes!"
If it’s good enough for Edmund….. |
| Forum
Reply | Congratulations Gavin Williamson.
at 08:04 17 Jan 2022
All aboard the gravy train for this lot. I’ve no doubt they believe it’s their god given right as the born to rule class to fill their boots. Competence? Nope. No need to worry about silly stuff like that. |
| Forum
Reply | Pitch & Dugout work
at 22:52 16 Jan 2022
It’s nothing to do with money. It’s everything to to with planning, planning permission, logistics, sequence, pre-season and time. |
| Forum
Reply | At least you get the feeling...
at 13:38 16 Jan 2022
I think it’s different this time. The majority of players are better than the last two seasons and with the exception of Rotherham, we have competed with the better teams, which we rarely did under PL. we have much of a good team for this level and I don’t think there is anywhere near the work required this time last year, despite the league position.
The club is ‘growing’ again off the field, the support remains good and if the foundations are there we will go up the pyramid and quite quickly too.
I watched the Luton game yesterday. Yes, those teams are much better than us at the moment but the gap is not insurmountable.
The gloomy hat is in the cupboard and the happy hat is back on today. |
| Forum
Reply | Trevor Philips close to tears interviewing Oliver Dowden
at 12:13 16 Jan 2022
He had no need whatsoever to apologise for anything. I’m pleased he told his story, because that story will resonate with 10s of 1000s.
Before my mum died in 2018, she suffered terribly in the month or two before. Throughout that time she had brilliant love and support from the people in the home trying to turn things around for her, but the support and presence of her husband, my sister and even me at times was beyond price. I cannot imagine how especially my dad would have coped if he’d not been able to see her and hold her the morning she died.
I know a couple of people that lost relatives during the last couple of years. The both understood the need for the rules and to abide by them. It would seem that Johnson and his lowlife chums didn’t. If he in the least bit cared, he’d resign, but we all know he doesn’t. Not a jot.
My heartfelt sympathy goes to Mr Phillips and what he has to live with. The last thing he needs to do is apologise to anybody. If he’d have stood up and punched that pompous disinterested berk in the face, I wouldn’t have blamed him in the least. [Post edited 16 Jan 12:18]
|
| Forum
Reply | A pretty chastening afternoon really
at 11:47 16 Jan 2022
I am not blaming the players at all. They’re doing their best, seen from a massive distance a good bunch of lads and we are what we are. In terms of mix of characters is it right? There are far better people than me to answer that. Do we have good enough players in certain areas? Possibly not.
Not all of Cook’s recruits were going to be a success there’s of course work to be done on the team. McKenna was appointed 16th Dec. With Christmas in the way that’s not a huge amount of time to assess what the team needs and it could be argued that yesterday’s game will tell him more than the previous two or three games or the videos come to that.
January is not the best time to find players either and I firmly believe it’ll be Sept/ Oct next year before we know if he’s going to be successful. I would love to see us make a push in the last 20 games, but as a team we are not good enough currently to get results week in week out. Maybe McKenna will tweak it a bit, maybe strengthen a place or two to improve us because I don’t think we are a million miles off being a good team. The talent is there.
My wish for the rest of the season is that we improve on and off the field. That is no free hit; it’s not demolition man bomb squad rubbish either - just continuous, relentless improvement.
I’m disappointed with yesterday, pessimistic about our final league position but optimistic about the club’s future in a way I couldn’t have imagined a year ago. |
| Forum
Reply | Moaning Town Fans
at 11:08 16 Jan 2022
It amuses me that early last night the team was knackered after 30 min. By snooze time it was knackered after 20 mins, this morning 15 mins and now you are saying 10 mins. I reckon by first afternoon beer we’ll be down to 5 mins, 1 min by teatime and never got out of bed before 8pm.
For the record, these players have played more than 3 games this season. Fitness wise, there was no reset when KM pitched up.
This is ridiculous. You’ve now wheeled in the Performance team and I’ve no doubt Ashton will be wheeled out for a post loss bashing by Monday lunchtime with the Bristol bloke chiming in..
If KM and the team cannot objectively work out what’s required, then we probably need somebody in to check up on how we’ve offended the gods.
We lost a game. Bolton were due a win and we were not at our best. We have no devine right and a long way to go. Do try and exercise a little more patience than three games. [Post edited 16 Jan 11:09]
|
| Forum
Reply | Didn't think we were that bad today.
at 08:55 16 Jan 2022
No team can play well every week. The sign of a good one is team that takes a point or scrapes a win when we are not playing well. We are unable to do that at the moment.
With more of the dead wood and one or two for whom it’s not worked out gone and one or two with not just ability but the right temperament in, we will improve.
I know it was disappointing yesterday and is likely to be mixed until the seasons end, but I’m hoping KM tries to evolve the team rather than ravages it, Cook style. I don’t think they’re a million miles off. |
| Forum
Reply | A pretty chastening afternoon really
at 23:02 15 Jan 2022
The squad isn’t there. It’s in the middle of L1 and has been all season.
I take then you think, possibly because you don’t like the look of the bloke, that he should have us immediately hammering everyone. I didn’t realise KM was meant to arrive with his own magic wand. |
| Forum
Reply | At least you get the feeling...
at 21:45 15 Jan 2022
When you cut out the peripheral stuff like managers, coaches, tictacs, tactics, you name it, it comes down to the players. Lesser teams and lesser players are inconsistent, especially lower league ones.
3 managers and a bus load of coaches? Well Lambert picked up player after player to leave a poor, unfit, bloated squad. Cook replaced most of them but did it by hurling players together and hoping for the best. He didn’t do it very well. Did he put a balanced side together? Nope. Should he have done better? Yep. As I’ve said in another post, 5 pathetic managers in the last 6.
The new owners have been trying to put some structure in the club and KM now has a lot to do and a lot to learn in a short time. I don’t expect inconsistency to disappear any time soon.
Yes, it’s the hope that kills you. Fingers crossed KM knows what he’s doing. It’d make a change. In the long term I’m still hopeful. |
| Forum
Reply | Disappointing that
at 19:21 15 Jan 2022
Why do you think it’s pathetic? We belong in this division. We are established L1 trying to reverse decades of decline. We have no divine right to be better than what we are. Bolton are 7-2 better than us. Hopefully next season they won’t be.
There are very few clubs that have been worse run than this and very few that have recruited 5 utterly abject managers out of the last 6. I hope KM proves to be a good manager, but we are not going to know that for a long time. What we do know is that the new owners are striving to improve the club in a way the previous owner just wasn’t interested in.
A number of the players are on three year contracts, others on loan. There will be changes next year, but I hope that personnel wise they are kept to a minimum. |
| Forum
Reply | You learn more from defeat than you do victory
at 18:13 15 Jan 2022
Of course they matter. Nobody is saying they don’t. But like everything in life you learn more from the tough times than you do when things are going well. Same applies to football team performances.
Sorry, you cannot compare Cook to McKenna yet. In 40 or 50 matches time you can make some sort of comparison, but until then the bloke needs to be cut some slack.
The games under McGreal shouldn’t be included either, but to be fair to JM, he steadied things with the performances at Wigan and against Sunderland. |
| Forum
Reply | The curse of Ipswich strikes again… 6 players turn in a 5/10
at 18:06 15 Jan 2022
I thought she’d long since gone. Sorry Salome…
Funnily enough, my Sunderland supporting buddy won’t have a word said against La Lansbury or MSW either. Oh, the fun I’ve had.
Edit: I see she’s 96. Not a bad innings. [Post edited 15 Jan 18:14]
|
| | Churchman
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 3304 | | Comment Votes: | 251 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 3555 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.