 | News
Comment | Hurst: Doig Big on Setting Standards
at 22:12:55
For me, the most encouraging comments about Hurst from the fans at his ex clubs was that he'll be consistent with the teams he puts out. Two seasons ago McCarthy, after convincingly beating Newcastle, made 9 changes against struggling Rotherham and lost then last season 6 changes in the losing effort against struggling Hull after an impressive away run before that. What? |
| News
Comment | Chambers: Relegation a Positive? Baffling
at 21:16:10
There's also teams that didn't manage to get enough momentum to get back into the Premier League. Leeds and Forest spring to mind. Their time in League 1 must feel like wasted years. |
| News
Comment | Norwich City 1-1 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 20:04:49
Forget it. The tide is slowly turning for Norwich. Next year they'll be on a budget and let's see how many German players they can buy. With or without MM we'll be at least as good as them. I live and work in Norwich and can't stand (most of) these a55holes. |
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Comment | Free Agent Cotterill Latest Link
at 22:29:22
With Town near the top of the table for goals scored and near the bottom of the table for goals conceded, why should we be interested in any 'links' other than to a quality defender? |
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Comment | Luton 0-2 Town - Match Report
at 21:39:40
Wow. Into the 2nd round. That's almost the final in this cup. Only danger now is nosebleeds. |
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Comment | Pringle Loan Confirmed
at 21:40:58
Yes, as one of those at Rotherham a year ago, I agree that he's a good signing at this level if he mostly performs like that. Nothing too flashy but he stood out in that game. |
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Comment | McCarthy and Connor Extend Town Contracts
at 21:31:15
Under McCarthy Town bought and sold Mings, turned a profit for the first time in years, AND remains a promotion prospect.
We hear this cr*p all the time about long ball, hoof ball, blah blah blah as though Town are a Big Club entitled to win the beautiful passing game every time then cry like Arsene Wenger if they get beaten by a 'direct','physical' team.
McCarthy has turned the Town into a tough bunch of boys who play for each other. Like any half decent manager, he can recognise a good footballer when he sees one but where do you get them for cheap? You don't unless you develop them like he's doing with Teddy Bishop, or you take a chance on loan deals that don't work out as with Williams.
None of that means that Mick hasn't made some weird decisions but at this point in Town's history I don't know who'd do any better with the available resources.
Come on Mick and Terry! Come on Town! |
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Comment | McCarthy: Digby Part of First-Team Squad
at 22:35:29
'Square pegs in round holes' - isn't that what the Dutch call Total Football? Come to think of it, MM's preferred 4-3-3 formation is typical in the Dutch leagues. It all makes sense now. Mick's pool of unknown players will soon be sweeping the ball around like Ajax in their prime. Seriously, however it sometimes looks, McCarthy has the Town competitively respectable again on a budget and that surreal waking nightmare in Peterborough I watched through slits between my fingers is a long time ago.
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Comment | Town Confirm McCarthy Loan
at 21:45:46
This makes us look like chumps. Signing a 3-month loan deal with someone who's still blubbering over how delighted he is with his long-term commitment to Reading. |
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Comment | Jewell: My Fault, Not Clegg's
at 12:37:02
Well Jewell would say that about the guy who employs him. Anyway, I wish we had some 'Blue Knights' riding in to rescue our club. I'm truly fearing for it under these wannabe sports moguls, one of whom is truly faceless. |
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Comment | Town Eyeing Norwich Striker
at 12:25:18
This can't be true. An 'experienced' bargain basement player who couldn't get a game with Norwich when they were in the lower leagues. Taking the p... |
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Comment | Town Eyeing Norwich Striker
at 21:33:55
Town haven't defended well since Burley. We shipped loads under Royle but scored more. Jewell is continuing the recent tradition with bells on.
For me, it's a question of him (PJ) figuring out where he's got it wrong (seems obvious enough, mainly lack of quality coverage at the back) and building on what he's got right. We've played some unbelievable football going forward.
I'm living in Norwich at the moment, working for that Big Insurance Company so I'm feeling that much more footballing misery most weeks. And add to that the fact that I live in the same building as this Paul Lambert guy, who seems to be able to make Ryman's Leaguers play out of their skins very week. I see him from time to time and that's enough to further rub my nose in it, as if my work colleagues weren't doing enough.
It's tempting to think a new manager will quickly turn it around, but we thought that after Magilton and Keane. It seems like most fans want to see Jewell out but, if so, how can they avoid the conclusion that there's something wrong with judgment of the person who hired Keane and now Jewell?
Give Jewell a chance to work it out. No manager, including the great Sir Bob, got through his Town career without some spells of vociferous fans calling for his head. It all depresses the hell out of me but I don't think getting rid of Jewell right now is the answer. |
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Comment | Town Charged By FA
at 21:29:12
Who isn't been amazed at how consistently wrong the FA gets it? This 'disciplinary' cr#p was all for the benefit of the Sky TV paymasters and audience and only got out of hand because of a referee who wanted to make examples out of players rather than keep it in perspective. We make bad decisions and we get punished. They make bad decisions and .... we get punished. |
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Comment | Town Charged By FA
at 21:45:46
Yeah, good blog.I always thought of the Keane appointment as a sort of experiment. I never really knew how he got the results at Sunderland but it was worth giving him a crack, I guess. I detested his arrogance at the Japan/Korea World Cup. I think he'll go the way of another ex-Man U toughguy midfielder, Bryan Robson. Just won't really get the hang of top-level management.
Paul Jewell, on the other hand, seems to have some humility like he's still got plenty to learn despite his past successes. One Town blogger said he read that PJ was studying coaching in Europe somewhere before he came here. Great. If we can become comfortable passers of the ball again, I'll just love it. |
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Comment | Town Topic: Who Should Replace Keane?
at 16:28:42
Is Hodgson in the mix now? Anyway, I liked how Doncaster played under O'Driscoll. Curbishley of course. These 3 guys would need a little time but they'd build attractive sides. Maybe Jewell, Allardyce, and Hughton would get us up quicker with a team of 8-foot tall robo-players. Don't know. What do we want? Paul Lambert is starting to look like the complete manager and will sooner or later be snatched off the Cacknaries by somebody - why not us? |
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Comment | Town Topic: Who Should Replace Keane?
at 23:34:49
We're not a laughing stock. We've got a manager lacking in tactical and motivational skill (2 serious flaws!) and a lot of fans with no patience. Unless we get into really serious relegation trouble, let's try and honor his contract then next summer find a manager able to build a successful footballing side over time. |
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Comment | Keane Targeting Two Loan Signings
at 13:55:48
Ok, let's assume we can't attract big players. Let's follow the logic. That means if we want to get promoted then young players have to get bigger at this club and we keep them for some years before selling them on. It also means that we have to build a team over years, as did Robson and Burley under very patient chairmen.
Marcus Evans, Roy Keane, Simon Clegg, and loads of fans want Town to be big club sooner rather than later and no one wants to wait.
The irony seems to me that all the team needed when Magilton came in and then when Keane came in was a stronger defense. Instead, they reshuffled the midfield pack yet again, signed a bunch of journeymen no better than the ones there to start with, then they scratched their heads and wondered why the team continued to leak goals with the added handicap that the midfield didn't know what to expect from each other.
The big money short-termism we're all caught up means that no manager is ever going to have time enough to do anything except produce a one-off promotion chaser that (luckily) goes up, collects the Premier League bounty to pay off all the investors, then slides back down into the laps of us working folk who just want to see a competitive side playing attractive football, and not necessarily a team completely littered with overpaid megastars.
I worry about this stuff but will continue to come because I love this team and only want to see the same commitment to it from everyone involved. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 0 | | Comment Votes: | 21 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 21 |
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