This cannot go on........

[Boy Genius]

I cannot see any end to this fiasco we are forced to watch week in and week out.
We have a manager who to me seems out of his depth in this league, his tactics, if you can call them that, puzzle me. Last night for instance, he brings O'Gravy on and drops Hume back who in the space of 5 minutes nearly cost us another 2 goals!
But my biggest worry is who is running the club. It has been set up so as no one person can have controlling rule, and cannot hold more than a set number of shares and cannot put money into the club unless it is on a "donation" basis. Therefore any money to strengthen the team has to come from revenue generated by the club or selling players. This is never going to be enough to attract the quality players we need to get us further up this league in a million years. We need someone who is capable of either putting money in or knows where to get funding from. Until then we will just drop further and further down.
We are 7 games in and if the board have any bollux they would show themselves as they are doing something to stop the rot. I am not holding my breath.
My solution............... give RK 3 games and then break the bank to get Curbishley in. He wont get another premiership job at the moment and he wants back in............

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

I cannot see any end to this fiasco we are forced to watch week in and week out.
We have a manager who to me seems out of his depth in this league, his tactics, if you can call them that, puzzle me. Last night for instance, he brings O'Gravy on and drops Hume back who in the space of 5 minutes nearly cost us another 2 goals!
But my biggest worry is who is running the club. It has been set up so as no one person can have controlling rule, and cannot hold more than a set number of shares and cannot put money into the club unless it is on a "donation" basis. Therefore any money to strengthen the team has to come from revenue generated by the club or selling players. This is never going to be enough to attract the quality players we need to get us further up this league in a million years. We need someone who is capable of either putting money in or knows where to get funding from. Until then we will just drop further and further down.
We are 7 games in and if the board have any bollux they would show themselves as they are doing something to stop the rot. I am not holding my breath.
My solution............... give RK 3 games and then break the bank to get Curbishley in. He wont get another premiership job at the moment and he wants back in............

Sounds like I did the right thing, in missing the game last night.

Too be honest a bad defeat on saturday and I can see Kelly leaving of his own accord, he was hardly chomping at the bit too be manager in the first place, I think he as well as the fans and the board all got carried away by the results of last season, and I think now that the enormity of the task he has undertaken is now staring him full on in the face, and I am unconvinced he has the stomach or desire to be a manager long term, especially when things are clearly going against him.

I really do not think the board have the financial muscle to attract a manager of Curbishley's stature, and I think he is more likely to make a return to a club like Leeds or WBA. More likely managerial targets IMO would be the likes of Dave Penney or Brian Little who are both currently out of work and would therefore be attractive propositions to our board.

Brian Little with Walshy as part of his backroom team ????

 

[Boy Genius]

Walsh would never make a good manager IMO, and I also think it is time to stop trying to find the next up and coming manager thats why I suggested Curbishley, who has proved he can work with very little and gets the best out of average players. The other two you mention, Penny has not managed at this level and Little...... well is it a good idea to return to a former club? it never seems to work out.

IMO the board have to show the fans determination and if they can present the club in a good posative way a top man can be appointed but it has to be sooner rather than later when we could be deeper in the shit as like last year when CL left

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

Walsh would never make a good manager IMO, and I also think it is time to stop trying to find the next up and coming manager thats why I suggested Curbishley, who has proved he can work with very little and gets the best out of average players. The other two you mention, Penny has not managed at this level and Little...... well is it a good idea to return to a former club? it never seems to work out.

IMO the board have to show the fans determination and if they can present the club in a good posative way a top man can be appointed but it has to be sooner rather than later when we could be deeper in the shit as like last year when CL left

Curbishley would be a fantastic appointment however I just don't see it being a viable option.

My suggestions are not who I would necessarily like to see come in, but IMO more the type of manager that our current board would target.

As for Walsh I am not suggesting for one minute he should become manager however his passion for the club would IMO make him an asset as a part of the backroom team. Would certainly instill some pride and passion into these useless, jumped up feckers we call players.

 

[Leesoh]

We have no leadership on the pitch, and we have none off it.

The board seem clueless as to how to improve things (asking us how to improve atmosphere), they don't appear capable of making a decision (running votes on whether people want smoking/bands etc). Is this the way a successful business (which is what football is at this level) should be run?

No.

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

Great post Lee H

 

[Nottingham Fox]

I dont know why the manager is being questioned or people are talking about him being replaced.

The sooner people realise the days under O'Neill are long gone, and were just an average championship side the better.

It's clear to see that someone needs 2 or 3 seasons to build some solid foundations. We have a young new squad which will take time to bond together, and it's about time we gave someone a chance, and stop making silly comments about getting the manager out if we dont improve in the next 3 games. It's horrible when we lose, especially to shit like Hull and Burnley at home, but lets please get behind the manager (he's trying, just like CL was) but our pathetic supporters are too impatient, and for some stupid reason expect instant success.

 

[Boy Genius]

I dont know why the manager is being questioned or people are talking about him being replaced.

The sooner people realise the days under O'Neill are long gone, and were just an average championship side the better.

It's clear to see that someone needs 2 or 3 seasons to build some solid foundations. We have a young new squad which will take time to bond together, and it's about time we gave someone a chance, and stop making silly comments about getting the manager out if we dont improve in the next 3 games. It's horrible when we lose, especially to shit like Hull and Burnley at home, but lets please get behind the manager (he's trying, just like CL was) but our pathetic supporters are too impatient, and for some stupid reason expect instant success.

OK build over 2 or 3 seasons but dont get relegated in the process though. I personally have seen no progress recently in fact we are going backwards. Why did we finish strong last season and now we are struggling again?

 

[newtonfox]

I dont know why the manager is being questioned or people are talking about him being replaced.

The sooner people realise the days under O'Neill are long gone, and were just an average championship side the better.

It's clear to see that someone needs 2 or 3 seasons to build some solid foundations. We have a young new squad which will take time to bond together, and it's about time we gave someone a chance, and stop making silly comments about getting the manager out if we dont improve in the next 3 games. It's horrible when we lose, especially to shit like Hull and Burnley at home, but lets please get behind the manager (he's trying, just like CL was) but our pathetic supporters are too impatient, and for some stupid reason expect instant success.

no but we expect to beat teams like hull FFS

RK and MS made some real silly subs last night which didnt help at all COG ok but to bring RS on for low thats just wrong they should have brought weso on IMO and gone 4-3-3

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

I dont know why the manager is being questioned or people are talking about him being replaced.

The sooner people realise the days under O'Neill are long gone, and were just an average championship side the better.

It's clear to see that someone needs 2 or 3 seasons to build some solid foundations. We have a young new squad which will take time to bond together, and it's about time we gave someone a chance, and stop making silly comments about getting the manager out if we dont improve in the next 3 games. It's horrible when we lose, especially to shit like Hull and Burnley at home, but lets please get behind the manager (he's trying, just like CL was) but our pathetic supporters are too impatient, and for some stupid reason expect instant success.

I can see what you are saying, however I do not go along with the new, young squad theory many of these players have been in and around the club and the championship for at least 12 months, and should have acclimatised.

IMO the problem seems to be a lack of motivation, hunger and desire, remarkable really when you consider that the Levein blueprint was to deliver exactly those qualities. Kelly was a key figure in that process and is now responsible for driving the ambitions and targets of the club, and ensuring that is communicated down to the players and that they respond accordingly, at present it appears that the club is treading water and there is a general acceptance of mediocrity running its way from top to bottom.

We need some enthusiasm, ambition and drive injecting into the club and at present I fail to see Kelly getting the right reaction from the players or being able to motivate.

 

[Oxford Fox]

No Passion
No Movement apart from levi and when O'Grady came on.
No real clear cut chances
We went Backwards most of the game
Our central Midfield looks slow and unable to create moves for our attackers.
Hume was shocking last night, his attitute was poor, it seemed like Rob Kelly had told him to try and link with the midfield but that often left fryatt on his own.
fryatt can't make chances for himself he tries but needs decent ball and that never looks like coming.
But C O'Grady looks good he must start instead of Hume at Sunderland.
We can't start calling For Kelly's head just yet but his tactics need looking at.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

OK build over 2 or 3 seasons but dont get relegated in the process though. I personally have seen no progress recently in fact we are going backwards. Why did we finish strong last season and now we are struggling again?

Team towards end of last season:

Henderson, Stearman, Johannson, McCarthy, Maybury, Hughes, Gudjonnson, Williams, Welsh, Hume, Fryatt.

Current team playing:

Henderson, Kenton, McCarthy, Kisnorbo*, Johannson, Low, Huges, Johnson, Porter, Fryatt, O'Grady

The team has changed, and thats why were struggling, but you can only work with what you have. IMO the current squad needs more time to bond, and will get it right, but all this bollocks talk about getting rid of the manager etc needs to stop.

*Kisnorbo was suspended at end of season.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

no but we expect to beat teams like hull FFS

Agree 100%, however they were under more pressure than us, they hadn't won a game all season.

 

[lazzer]

I take NF's point that we should expect no more than a mid table championship place.However based on last nights performance we are no more than a division two side. The goalkeeper doesnt come for crosses and cant kick (ive seen far better at Blaby and Whetsone)
A team with no direction and no leadership on or off the pitch.And a tactical naevity from the manager.I couldnt even talk when i left the ground, im still gutted this morning, it will probably be saturday before i come round just in time for an arse kicking from the macams.
Ive been a season ticket holder for 16 years and have been watching the team from 1972. I always said I would support them through thick and thin last night i questioned my sanity as to why.The board doesnt care the team certainly have no spirit why the feck should i bother
The season has only just begun and im shell shocked already with the prospect of more humiliation to come...........gutted

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

Team towards end of last season:

Henderson, Stearman, Johannson, McCarthy, Maybury, Hughes, Gudjonnson, Williams, Welsh, Hume, Fryatt.

Current team playing:

Henderson, Kenton, McCarthy, Kisnorbo*, Johannson, Low, Huges, Johnson, Porter, Fryatt, O'Grady

The team has changed, and thats why were struggling, but you can only work with what you have. IMO the current squad needs more time to bond, and will get it right, but all this bollocks talk about getting rid of the manager etc needs to stop.

*Kisnorbo was suspended at end of season.

The trouble is we used the same excuses last season as well, in truth we bought in a minimal number of players this summer and the foundations were there to build on last season's finish, we are not in the process of restructure, the squad is fairly settled compared to the last 2 seasons.

IMO the problems lie in the lack of motivation, hunger, desire, and the negativity of the current tactics, all aspects that are the responsibility of the manager.

 

[Dunc]

as posted on another thread...

Agreed, another day we'd have won 4/5-1.

They had two shots of note all game and we created loads of chances. Fryatt missed or didn't get himself ready to finish most of them. The first 3 corners we had we should have scored from, McCarthy had a brilliant header well saved, Hume had a good shot brilliantly saved, Fryatt is a yard short at the moment and missed 2 chances at the near post and also should have got on the end of a couple of through balls as well. Porter should have scored from 6 yards as well in the first half. Thats 10 good chances to score that we created off the top of my head.

I honestly thought that for the first 50 minutes or so we passed it well, switched the play well, created chances against a team with 10 men behind the ball which we've not been able to do for years. Low and Porter put in enough quality crosses for the forwards and although people were saying our centre midfield are slow and poor, we weren't outplayed in midfield at any point in the game, Hughes had a good game IMO apart from a shocking free kick towards the end and Johnson started poorly and then did what he should be doing and picking up loose balls and passing it simply.

I'd give most of the players a 6 but Hume would get a 4, Fryatt would get a 5 (he kept trying and putting himself into the right positions) and Stearman would get a 4.

On nissa, 1st half he did ok, got the ball and fed Porter quickly. Whether this was due to the fact RK and MS were near him and told him what to do I don't know but in the 2nd half he stopped doing it for some reason.

Incidentally, another point I'd make is the fans. Is it me or is that no matter how we play, no matter how many chances we create and whether we play ok (granted the last 15-20 mins were poor but we still had chances) if we lose then the team get booed?!

And then we wonder why young players never really come through our system. Its because as soon as they make mistakes they are castigated by their own fans for being shite and then get told by our 'supporters' that a player who was being billed as our best player about 3-4 weeks ago isn't going to score all season.

The lad is 19, if luck was with him he'd have scored 3/4 last night but don't ruin him, he's going to be good. One reason why Crewe manage to produce so many young players is that they are allowed to develop in the 1st team and make mistakes and go 10 games without scoring because their fans don't boo them and shatter their confidence by booing the team every time they lose no matter how they play.

No wonder our home form is patchy to say the least because as soon as they concede a goal they know they are going to be booed and start panicking.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

The trouble is we used the same excuses last season as well, in truth we bought in a minimal number of players this summer and the foundations were there to build on last season's finish, we are not in the process of restructure, the squad is fairly settled compared to the last 2 seasons.

IMO the problems lie in the lack of motivation, hunger, desire, and the negativity of the current tactics, all aspects that are the responsibility of the manager.

I just think changing the manager again so soon isn;t the answer. Lets say we get in a new guy, he wins 5 or 6 out of his first 10 matches, great !! The he only wins 1 out of the next 10, and were in the same boat again. The impatient feckers will be on his back and they'l want yet another new manager.

 

[Hazzman]

We can say that we wait for the team to progress but its evident that after 3 season in this division with a core which have been here for a while, you thought the team would have got to grips with playing teams for the lower reaches of the Championship.

I think 1966 mentioned on here the fact that the 'group' and spirit between the players is not there like it was at the end of the last year. One of the first rules of Football (regardless of level) is to be organised and work together and most of all, play for each other. You do that you have done 20% of your job at this level. To me despite McCarthy's 'heroics' in defence, he's too inexperienced to be a leader. You need someone in the middle who can communiciate to both defence and attack.

 

[Dunc]

We can say that we wait for the team to progress but its evident that after 3 season in this division with a core which have been here for a while, you thought the team would have got to grips with playing teams for the lower reaches of the Championship.

I think 1966 mentioned on here the fact that the 'group' and spirit between the players is not there like it was at the end of the last year. One of the first rules of Football (regardless of level) is to be organised and work together and most of all, play for each other. You do that you have done 20% of your job at this level. To me despite McCarthy's 'heroics' in defence, he's too inexperienced to be a leader. You need someone in the middle who can communiciate to both defence and attack.

I honestly think I must either watch a different game or i'm just blinkered, cause I thought we were organised and were the better team, we just couldn't score.

I thought that the team did play for each other, we conceded a 25 yards curler into the top corner and missed a hatfull of chances as a summary.

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

as posted on another thread...

Agreed, another day we'd have won 4/5-1.

They had two shots of note all game and we created loads of chances. Fryatt missed or didn't get himself ready to finish most of them. The first 3 corners we had we should have scored from, McCarthy had a brilliant header well saved, Hume had a good shot brilliantly saved, Fryatt is a yard short at the moment and missed 2 chances at the near post and also should have got on the end of a couple of through balls as well. Porter should have scored from 6 yards as well in the first half. Thats 10 good chances to score that we created off the top of my head.

I honestly thought that for the first 50 minutes or so we passed it well, switched the play well, created chances against a team with 10 men behind the ball which we've not been able to do for years. Low and Porter put in enough quality crosses for the forwards and although people were saying our centre midfield are slow and poor, we weren't outplayed in midfield at any point in the game, Hughes had a good game IMO apart from a shocking free kick towards the end and Johnson started poorly and then did what he should be doing and picking up loose balls and passing it simply.

I'd give most of the players a 6 but Hume would get a 4, Fryatt would get a 5 (he kept trying and putting himself into the right positions) and Stearman would get a 4.

On nissa, 1st half he did ok, got the ball and fed Porter quickly. Whether this was due to the fact RK and MS were near him and told him what to do I don't know but in the 2nd half he stopped doing it for some reason.

Incidentally, another point I'd make is the fans. Is it me or is that no matter how we play, no matter how many chances we create and whether we play ok (granted the last 15-20 mins were poor but we still had chances) if we lose then the team get booed?!

And then we wonder why young players never really come through our system. Its because as soon as they make mistakes they are castigated by their own fans for being shite and then get told by our 'supporters' that a player who was being billed as our best player about 3-4 weeks ago isn't going to score all season.

The lad is 19, if luck was with him he'd have scored 3/4 last night but don't ruin him, he's going to be good. One reason why Crewe manage to produce so many young players is that they are allowed to develop in the 1st team and make mistakes and go 10 games without scoring because their fans don't boo them and shatter their confidence by booing the team every time they lose no matter how they play.

No wonder our home form is patchy to say the least because as soon as they concede a goal they know they are going to be booed and start panicking.

Dunc, I normally respect your opinion but that last paragraph is absolute rubbish, if the crowd reaction had such as negative impact on the players then why is our away form so bad this season and was also as poor last season, 1 point and no goals scored so far suggests the problems are far more deep rooted.

These players are well paid, especially when you see the cars parked in the Walkers car park, we pay decent money to support this team and as paying customers we are entitled to complain when performances are far from satisfactory as long as it is saved until the end of the game. The problem is there are far too many willing to offer excuses and protect these overpaid, under performing prima donnas and whilst this continues, we will continue to go backwards.

When are the management and players going to hold their hands up and start accepting responsibility ??