The Star's Opinion Piece on JTW

[puppet]

Are we seriously expected to believe clubs up the price when its us enquiring about players - and that its the reason we haven't signed two players who are, by the named criteria, already too good for the Championship?

 

[Booker4]

The fans have apparently been fed up with mediocre, average signings - and lots of them.

Adkins said he wanted to trim the squad and get in some quality.

Well, if that quality is not available, what the fuck do you expect Adkins to do? Get someone he doesn't really want? Buy average again just to appease fans?

No, he is waiting for the right players.

Adkins is trimming the squad which will continue in the summer.

Patience is a virtue, sadly, numerous on hear do not possess such attributes.

BTW - Sam Morsy - 1.75M and 79Kg (5' 7 1/2 and 12 Stones in old money) - TOO SMALL !!! Exactly what we already have and the majority agree is not needed in this division.

UTB

I think we do need height in this division, but that doesn't mean everyone needs to be 6ft plus. We've had some amazing players under 6ft to be fair. Billy Sharp is under 6ft for starters and isn't doing to badly. Morsy would have been a great upgrade on what we have in terms of quality and balance.

 

[Fiery Blade]

Someone who is quicker than a sloth would do !
Pace and Guile are key to a proper midfield - Our midfielders do not possess either quality !!

 

[super_pig]

>> As Jim Phipps has pointed out, the squad is already too big. Too many players have been brought in, some on good wages, and are therefore difficult to shift
there you go.. it's mismanagement. i thank you.

 

[spongebobblade]

This club is a graveyard for managers that almost did stuff.

And a graveyard for players that once did stuff

 

[Darthblade]

The fans have apparently been fed up with mediocre, average signings - and lots of them.

Adkins said he wanted to trim the squad and get in some quality.

Well, if that quality is not available, what the fuck do you expect Adkins to do? Get someone he doesn't really want? Buy average again just to appease fans?

No, he is waiting for the right players.

Adkins is trimming the squad which will continue in the summer.

Patience is a virtue, sadly, numerous on hear do not possess such attributes.

BTW - Sam Morsy - 1.75M and 79Kg (5' 7 1/2 and 12 Stones in old money) - TOO SMALL !!! Exactly what we already have and the majority agree is not needed in this division.

UTB

I generally agree with your point, and I don't want us to sign quantity instead of quality like we have done over the last 18 months.

However ...... if our scouting system cannot identify players that are better than the dross we currently have, like Sammon, Collins, McEveley, in the key areas we have been desperately needing quality recruitment for the last 3 / 4 years ....... then we might as well pack in scouting, because it CANNOT be so hard to improve on what we currently have.

UTB & FTP

 

[BeatleBlade]

I hope you're joking.

No, he's not that bad if you look at his record. Cardiff have cut their wage bill massively and since he's been in charge they have done better than they were under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. What is it exactly that makes you think he is a bad manager. I'd rather have Adkins obviously but he's got a decent record in fairness to him.

 

[BushBlade]

No, he's not that bad if you look at his record. Cardiff have cut their wage bill massively and since he's been in charge they have done better than they were under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. What is it exactly that makes you think he is a bad manager. I'd rather have Adkins obviously but he's got a decent record in fairness to him.

He's never won anything. Not a single promotion.
Of course, neither has Appleton and he's doing a good job at Oxford but nevertheless I don't rate Slade and being better than Solksjaer isn't sufficient in my opinion.
I want a manager who has proven he can get promotion, not one who might do. I realise it's not foolproof but it's the only indicator there is.

 

[BeatleBlade]

He's never won anything. Not a single promotion.
Of course, neither has Appleton and he's doing a good job at Oxford but nevertheless I don't rate Slade and being better than Solksjaer isn't sufficient in my opinion.
I want a manager who has proven he can get promotion, not one who might do. I realise it's not foolproof but it's the only indicator there is.

He's never had a great deal of money behind him, at Leyton Orient he never bought a single player with a fee. With management it's all relative. If manager A has the lowest budget in the league but finishes mid table and manager b has the largest budget in the league but finishes 2nd and wins promotion, who is the better manager? Obviously manager A.
He's worked time and time again with little money and surpassed expectations repeatedly.

 

[BushBlade]

He's never had a great deal of money behind him, at Leyton Orient he never bought a single player with a fee. With management it's all relative. If manager A has the lowest budget in the league but finishes mid table and manager b has the largest budget in the league but finishes 2nd and wins promotion, who is the better manager? Obviously manager A.
He's worked time and time again with little money and surpassed expectations repeatedly.

We took a chance on Clough using that logic.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

He's never had a great deal of money behind him, at Leyton Orient he never bought a single player with a fee. With management it's all relative. If manager A has the lowest budget in the league but finishes mid table and manager b has the largest budget in the league but finishes 2nd and wins promotion, who is the better manager? Obviously manager A.
He's worked time and time again with little money and surpassed expectations repeatedly.

Spade did a first class job at Leyton Orient . It was politics that got him the boot , not being a bad / poor manage . Bad decision at board level got them into league 2.

He also has a thankless task at Cardiff .

Expectations at the Lane are a one off , and it will take a special kind of manager to pull us around . Adkins has the qualities . It's the board and associated advisors who worry me . It's when they start treating him with contempt like they do with us fans , will be the time we have to worry .

A win Saturday , as Adkins instruction will be fuck the board , let's win this one . Will be a nice way of putting two fingers up , but then we cannot win , whichever way you look at it.

Nobody knows what they are doing , and it will get worst . It will be us fans , Adkins v the board .

UTB

 

[BeatleBlade]

We took a chance on Clough using that logic.

Yeah, didn't quite pay off (despite the cup runs) but that doesn't mean Slade would be a failure. Doing pretty well at Cardiff.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

"...BTW - Sam Morsy - 1.75M and 79Kg (5' 7 1/2 and 12 Stones in old money) - TOO SMALL..."

Almost five foot nine, I agree not tall enough, but that extra inch always helps.......

I was thinking there was something wrong with those figures. If he's 79kg at 5ft 7 then the lad needs to get on a diet

 

[BushBlade]

Yeah, didn't quite pay off (despite the cup runs) but that doesn't mean Slade would be a failure. Doing pretty well at Cardiff.

I wish he'd do a bit better and knock the piggies further down the league.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

"...BTW - Sam Morsy - 1.75M and 79Kg (5' 7 1/2 and 12 Stones in old money) - TOO SMALL..."

Almost five foot nine, I agree not tall enough, but that extra inch always helps.......

sorry, Mr pedantic here.......almost 5' 6 1/2 - really too small

UTB
....

 

[Fulwood Blade]

I expected him and Turnbull to have identified some realistic and affordable targets and for the board to have managed to bring one or two of those in.
I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation.

but it is unreasonable in January if the ones he WANTS are not available.

Making enquiries is one thing, getting them released is another.

I have not really followed Sam Morsy, and some says he is half decent - can accept that, but if he really was that good, why no offers from Championship clubs? Bradley Dack comes to mind - £2M turned down from Bristol.

Sam Morsy et al would be a decent gamble, but a gamble all the same and if it failed all we would end up with is another like Scooggal - on too good a wage to get rid of at this level.

The club has tried this way and failed (miserably), we cannot afford to do it again.

One of the biggest dangers we face is if Adkins fails - of course we will always attract a manager, but we need to stay patient (I know it's hard) and let Adkins bring in some quality as and when. If that's the summer and we are still in L1 then so be it.

UTB

 

[Grappler]

sorry, Mr pedantic here.......almost 5' 6 1/2 - really too small

UTB
....View attachment 15863

No mate, think about it, have a look at what you have cut and paste above. You have converted metre's into feet.........

 

[Fulwood Blade]

You're really pushing the line that there are no quality players available and it's simply down to fan impatience that we've signed ZERO players into a squad the manager admitted wasn't good enough?

Time to wake up.

It is not that there aren't players about - it is getting their parent clubs to release them.

You and others just think we turn up, offer a wedge and sign a player.

Not so.

There are plenty of quality players - Champ players on lost of dosh - and we are at present overloaded with that type of player we cannot easily get rid of.
There are quality players in L1 - Bradley Dack - Gills turned down £2m from Bristol.
Walsall have hung onto 3 of their best players.

If no one is interested in selling - even with a large wedge of cash (which we do not have) what do you expect Adkins goes and gets - 5 more average players? Come on.............there is zero realism on this site at present.

UTB

 

[Fulwood Blade]

No mate, think about it, have a look at what you have cut and paste above. You have converted metre's into feet.........

ok - Thursday numpty award accepted

UTB

 

[Grappler]

sorry, Mr pedantic here.......almost 5' 6 1/2 - really too small

UTB
....View attachment 15863

Let me do it here to save time......

1.75 meters is 175 centimetres, 175 centimetres is 68.8976 inches. Round that to 69 inches.

12 inches in a foot, therefore 5 foot is (5 x 12) 60 inches. So 69 minus 60 is 5 feet and nine inches.

What you did above is convert metres into feet. So 1.75 metres became 5.74147 and of course the ".74147" is .74 of a foot, so .74 of 12 inches and NOT 7.4 inches.

.74147 of a foot is 8.8 inches, so call that 9 inches (as I did say he was almost 5 feet 9 inches).

 

[Grappler]

ok - Thursday numpty award accepted

UTB

Wish you had typed that a bit quicker mate, would have saved me a hold load of typing as well!

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Wish you had typed that a bit quicker mate, would have saved me a hold load of typing as well!

Think wood and trees come to mind - A levels maths (donkeys years ago too) - FFS !!

duh......

UTB

 

[PeteBlade]

It is not that there aren't players about - it is getting their parent clubs to release them.

You and others just think we turn up, offer a wedge and sign a player.

Not so.

There are plenty of quality players - Champ players on lost of dosh - and we are at present overloaded with that type of player we cannot easily get rid of.
There are quality players in L1 - Bradley Dack - Gills turned down £2m from Bristol.
Walsall have hung onto 3 of their best players.

If no one is interested in selling - even with a large wedge of cash (which we do not have) what do you expect Adkins goes and gets - 5 more average players? Come on.............there is zero realism on this site at present.

UTB

You're assuming that we have tried to sign players when all signs point to the suggestion that we haven't.

It's incredibly niave to name a couple of players worth a few million and use this to say we've made bids fir players who are out of our range.

 

[Reynoldo]

Think wood and trees come to mind - A levels maths (donkeys years ago too) - FFS !!

duh......

UTB

Both result in the same answer! = not big enough for Adkins.

Utb's

 

[Fulwood Blade]

You're assuming that we have tried to sign players when all signs point to the suggestion that we haven't.

It's incredibly niave to name a couple of players worth a few million and use this to say we've made bids fir players who are out of our range.

I have absolutely no idea if we made any bids. Do you?
Some fans seem to think all we have to do is click our fingers or rub a genie lamp and out pops a decent footballer begging us to sign him

I take it that Adkins said he was busy in the run up - I take that as he was trying, and failed.

I quoted Bradley Dack purely as an example of what quality costs at L1 level.
Same with the Walsall players - purely as examples.

I very much doubt Utd can afford that sort of bid, never mind the salary they would want.

All it is called is realism - a realism that is lost on so many.

UTB

 

[PeteBlade]

I have absolutely no idea if we made any bids. Do you?
Some fans seem to think all we have to do is click our fingers or rub a genie lamp and out pops a decent footballer begging us to sign him

I take it that Adkins said he was busy in the run up - I take that as he was trying, and failed.

I quoted Bradley Dack purely as an example of what quality costs at L1 level.
Same with the Walsall players - purely as examples.

I very much doubt Utd can afford that sort of bid, never mind the salary they would want.

All it is called is realism - a realism that is lost on so many.

UTB

What makes your view of our transfer more realistic than mine or anyone elses?

Going on all the talk about squad resizing, mistakes of the past, Adkins clear frustrations, your view is far more pie in the sky than mine.

And also suggests there are no players available better than what we have whom we could afford. It's almost like we need a better scouting network.

 

[Grappler]

I don't doubt that NA put some bids out there, for players, because one thing I always think is that Adkins is not a liar, he just seems to too straight of a bloke for that.

Now they could have been ridiculous bids, way too low for the people we went after, and I guess that is something we will never know.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

What makes your view of our transfer more realistic than mine or anyone elses?

Going on all the talk about squad resizing, mistakes of the past, Adkins clear frustrations, your view is far more pie in the sky than mine.

And also suggests there are no players available better than what we have whom we could afford. It's almost like we need a better scouting network.

"updates from Adkins" says it all

UTB

 

[PeteBlade]

"updates from Adkins" says it all

UTB

Hardly.
What "says it all" was our complete inactivity during the transfer window, despite the glaring squad deficiencies and the embarrassing and misleading statements that have come from the club since.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Interesting that one of the so-called achievements of the JTW was not selling any "key" players. Celebrating our success in this laudable aim was, however, put on hold in our household when we learned that this was because nobody bid for any of them.