grafikhaus
Kraft durch Freude
I think it was last weekend and Clough was on RS being questioned about United's recent poor form. He said something along the lines of 'Look, a year ago we lost 3-0 at Crewe and were second bottom and going down. I'd have settled for where we currently are back then.'
Leaving aside the crassness of what Clough 'would settle for', he was basically implying that he saved United from relegation last season. But did he? I think not.
From Clough's first game in charge to that Crewe game, NC had fourteen games. Points accrued? Fourteen. After the Crewe game, we won seven on the trot but ended patchily. I think that seven-match run (and, of course, the Cup runs) massively deflected from utter ordinariness of our post-Weir period.
Obviously, after Weir, anybody could have pulled a run together to improve on that. Also, 'avoiding relegation' involves being better than piss-poor teams who occupy the lower positions. As we now see, going head-to-head with the best teams in the division is an altogether different proposition.
So, to the title of this thread. I think Clough is basically scrabbling around trying to defend the indefensible. He no more 'saved' United last season that Gordon Brown 'saved the world.' He got the breaks last season (which you must rely on when your entire style is reactive rather than proactive). Now, given a full season and a remarkable level of spending, is his chance to prove his worth. Or not.
No doubt, the atmosphere on here tonight will be pretty toxic. A bloke on RS who'd been to Scunny has said 'Around eight of us were talking and we all agreed that, if Clough walks away tonight, nobody would be bothered.
I'm afraid the time for 'give him time' has been and gone.
Leaving aside the crassness of what Clough 'would settle for', he was basically implying that he saved United from relegation last season. But did he? I think not.
From Clough's first game in charge to that Crewe game, NC had fourteen games. Points accrued? Fourteen. After the Crewe game, we won seven on the trot but ended patchily. I think that seven-match run (and, of course, the Cup runs) massively deflected from utter ordinariness of our post-Weir period.
Obviously, after Weir, anybody could have pulled a run together to improve on that. Also, 'avoiding relegation' involves being better than piss-poor teams who occupy the lower positions. As we now see, going head-to-head with the best teams in the division is an altogether different proposition.
So, to the title of this thread. I think Clough is basically scrabbling around trying to defend the indefensible. He no more 'saved' United last season that Gordon Brown 'saved the world.' He got the breaks last season (which you must rely on when your entire style is reactive rather than proactive). Now, given a full season and a remarkable level of spending, is his chance to prove his worth. Or not.
No doubt, the atmosphere on here tonight will be pretty toxic. A bloke on RS who'd been to Scunny has said 'Around eight of us were talking and we all agreed that, if Clough walks away tonight, nobody would be bothered.
I'm afraid the time for 'give him time' has been and gone.
