Interview With Adkins Ahead of Barnsley (H)

[William Henry Foulkes]

I just don't buy in to this Adkins respect and love in . He has done bugger all up to press . 99% of us on this forum knew we required a player clear out to move forward .

He gets paid well to perform , so let's hope the bloke ain't arrogant and goes through his own lessons learnt.

In saying all that I am glad that Sanju fella appears to be wrong about the management change , as we are in such a disarray , Adkins is as good as anybody out there to pull us around , who we could afford.

Not a Adkins happy clapper , still think he is a clever twat and smart arse but can live with that if he pulls us around. He is a diamond .

UTB

99% of the forum knowing something is not necessarily the highest recommendation - or any way to run a football team.

Re the player clear out: many were under contract till the end of the season, there were 40 odd by some counts.

This raises practical issues.

Would 99% have agreed on exactly who to "get rid" of?

I imagine Long and almost certainly McEveley would've been somewhere on most lists.

And Coutts was a crock. He's still not a supreme athlete but the issue now is more mobility than being injured.

All three are now first team first choices.

Those that haven't made it include:

Higdon, Freeman, Bob, Scoogs, Wallace, Collins, Baxter (probably McNulty) and others.

The squad is smaller in numbers and bigger in stature.

 

[Darthblade]

The summary is not the interview.

The map is not the territory.

I expected you to mention something about "seagulls following a trawler " then as well

UTB & FTP

 

[Darthblade]

"processes already in place for the summerwhatever divisionwe're in"


I genuinely don't believe this, history shows we are fucking useless and are still scrambling around on August 31st.

Could we, at long last, have started to learn from our annual mistakes ? ...........

Naaaah ......

UTB & FTP

 

[alcoblade]

I think we should attach an Adkins bullshit bingo bullshit bingo card to theses threads.

"I can't stand listening to his interviews"....

...being top of the list, but seemingly missing in this one. I'll build the list up.

UTB

 

[alcoblade]

If a man trumps in an empty lift, does it smell?

How did he fart in it if he wasn't it it?

UTB

 

[west_yorks_blade]

How did he fart in it if he wasn't it it?

UTB

Exactly. You cracked the code you clever bastard.

The next test will be much harder though and will involve the alchemy of creating precious stones from undiluted verbal diarrhoea.

 

[alcoblade]

Exactly. You cracked the code you clever bastard.

The next test will be much harder though and will involve the alchemy of creating precious stones from undiluted verbal diarrhoea.

Ask McCabe for the answer. Rumour has it he once sat on a piece of coal and got it stuck up his tight arse. When he finally prized it out it was a Diamond.

I think he's been coaching Adkins.

UTB

 

[Snowman]

I think from the Port Vale game when we first changed to 352 the quality of our football improved (as a spectacle). Problem was that we were getting found out at the back and being wasteful in front of goal (Rochdale away a prime example) and when we tried Collins in that formation, it didn't work at all. Baptiste seems to be a catalysyt in helping the system be effective. I wouldn't go as far as saying the final piece of the puzzle but certainly a big piece (think we could still improve on McEveley, Flynn and Coutts though they've done mostly OK recently). Baptiste missed Crewe and Southend and we were porous again but since he came back it's what 1 goal conceded in 4 games scoring 7 and picking up 10 points in the process?

EXACTLY Baptiste- Quality. Kev note. You can't do it without quality unless you do it the Piggies way with Munchers.

 

[Blade58]

What action do you require? The performance on the pitch is improving. He can’t sign anyone right now (except free agents, perhaps a Welsh international striker?). We will see in the summer where we stand on retention, recruitment etc. I don’t get what actions can be undertaken at this stage.

I wasn't being specific. I was talking in general. Too much, too often we are fed bullshit and that has continued season after season

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

99% of the forum knowing something is not necessarily the highest recommendation - or any way to run a football team.

Re the player clear out: many were under contract till the end of the season, there were 40 odd by some counts.

This raises practical issues.

Would 99% have agreed on exactly who to "get rid" of?

I imagine Long and almost certainly McEveley would've been somewhere on most lists.

And Coutts was a crock. He's still not a supreme athlete but the issue now is more mobility than being injured.

All three are now first team first choices.

Those that haven't made it include:

Higdon, Freeman, Bob, Scoogs, Wallace, Collins, Baxter (probably McNulty) and others.

The squad is smaller in numbers and bigger in stature.

WHF perhaps I have become too much of cynic with age , but whatever spin we put on this season , if we do not make the play offs or get promoted IMO it's been a wasted season.

It's no good finishing on a good run , if we do not benefit from it . Finishing strong this season , if we cannot be successful from it , will have no bearing on next season . Different players , different squad , more pressure , expectations for us all again , .

No good being close , has been , second best . I know it's not over until the fat lady sings , but do feel we have missed a trick and a golden opportunity this season.

Yes Adkins is the right man , but has made fundamental mistakes and is not without blame of failure to date . Still time for redemption.

UTB

 

[Higgo's Belly]

For me the jury is very much still out on Adkins. Three wins and a draw in our last four games does not mean that everything has now suddenly clicked, as some believe. We have won several games in a row before during this season, but then slipped back into inconsistency. We have made up ground, due to other teams like Gillingham been in poor form. For me, four points off the play offs with three games to go in League One, adds up to a terrible season. Adkins can put as much spin on things as he wants, but anything other than making the play offs is unacceptable and should result in Adkins being replaced.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

WHF perhaps I have become too much of cynic with age , but whatever spin we put on this season , if we do not make the play offs or get promoted IMO it's been a wasted season.

It's no good finishing on a good run , if we do not benefit from it . Finishing strong this season , if we cannot be successful from it , will have no bearing on next season . Different players , different squad , more pressure , expectations for us all again , .

No good being close , has been , second best . I know it's not over until the fat lady sings , but do feel we have missed a trick and a golden opportunity this season.

Yes Adkins is the right man , but has made fundamental mistakes and is not without blame of failure to date . Still time for redemption.

UTB

Just don't see that a squad of forty players - many of whom were apparently acquired under a BOGOF or Sold as Seen - recruitment policy is a golden opportunity.

Unless it's Ratner's gold.

 

[Bartleby]

Could you post a warning that tea may be expelled through nostrils in future.

'Pressure makes diamonds'. Brilliant.

Just need to go and change my shirt now.

One of the managers where I used to work allus came out with shite like that in meetings. If there was an argument going on he'd say "and now let's turn this heat into light" - bet Nigel would love that one.

 

[davidpinder]

"Tiny budget" and "expensive loan signings" are contradictory.

not when you just pay a wage instead of both transfer fee and wage.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Pity Adkins the great motivational speaker didn't get us to click earlier . As some say he is not a Magician or crystal ball reader , just a well paid manager plying his trade in league 1.

No he doesn't want the season to end because if we finish 7th , the season has been a failure , and down to Adkins . Buck stops with him. Pressure , diamonds , working together , united together , how can we doubt this guy.

UTB

Paste , Anne , Neil , no real diamonds today . Live to fight next season . Flynn , Coutts , Hammond require a shake up midfield .

Is Adkins tactically astute enough .

Little too late but that's football . Post match interview will be gushing with positive vibes .

Disappointed but not surprised .

Always UTB

 

[Mendi]

I hope he gets the sacked.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Regardless of who the manager is next season the simple economics of the football rewards structure just made getting out of this division harder and the gulf between us and championship also-rans that much bigger. The number of contracts expiring and the failure to at least reach the play-offs make the squad re-building that much harder given few decent players will come on a 1 year contract so I am expecting a few more 1 year extensions than would have been the case had we gone up.

Adkins did some things right and some things wrong in his first season. Personally I don't think he is as bad or good as some think he is, but I think there were more backroom constraints and issues than were apparent when he first took over. The club, however, has been making the same mistakes season upon season and is still left with the same lessons to learn and not much time to learn them or we will be locked in a perpetual spiral staircase downwards.

I live in hope ( well Cyprus really). UTB

 

[Trigger Blade]

It always amazes me just how many supporters seem to forget the vast majority of shit performances because of a tiny minority of good performances straight after. Fickle, you're not kidding.

You have relentlessly told everybody on here that Adkins' past managerial record means nothing and that what he achieved in the past is irrelevant, only the present counts.

Now that our results have improved of late, you say people are being influenced only by the present, not the past and the past counts.

I'd say your stance is inconsistent, you can't have it both ways.

 

[Barney]

You have relentlessly told everybody on here that Adkins' past managerial record means nothing and that what he achieved in the past is irrelevant, only the present counts.

Now that our results have improved of late, you say people are being influenced only by the present, not the past and the past counts.

I'd say your stance is inconsistent, you can't have it both ways.

There's a difference between years and years ago, and his current tenure. Those are the only two time frames I have talked about. I just think the latter is a bit more important than the former. His tenure has been poor so far, and a few decent results unfortunately don't change that.

 

[Wapping Blade]

There's a difference between years and years ago, and his current tenure. Those are the only two time frames I have talked about. I just think the latter is a bit more important than the former. His tenure has been poor so far, and a few decent results unfortunately don't change that.

Now you do sound like Lenners, get some good results and it's meaningless.

 

[Barney]

Now you do sound like Lenners, get some good results and it's meaningless.

You could argue they are meaningless as they're highly unlikely to see us promotion. I don't think the results are entirely meaningless, but at the same time they definitely don't do anything to change the fact that it has been a terrible season.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

For me the jury is very much still out on Adkins. Three wins and a draw in our last four games does not mean that everything has now suddenly clicked, as some believe. We have won several games in a row before during this season, but then slipped back into inconsistency. We have made up ground, due to other teams like Gillingham been in poor form. For me, four points off the play offs with three games to go in League One, adds up to a terrible season. Adkins can put as much spin on things as he wants, but anything other than making the play offs is unacceptable and should result in Adkins being replaced.

Who would you replace him with? Do you really believe we would have a better chance next season with a new man with a smaller budget (after paying Adkins off and paying to get the new man and his team on board) who hasn’t worked with the players, hasn’t had the chance to strike pre-contract deals to get players in early and who will almost certainly have a worse track record? What makes you think the suggested replacement would do any better? Can you point to any manager who came to a club after the retained list had been dealt with and managed to turn the squad around significantly to get them promoted that season with limited backing?


I say stick with the man who’s been there and done it and who is gradually addressing our issues and actually give him the tools to do the job he has proven in the past that he can do.

 

[Trigger Blade]

There's a difference between years and years ago, and his current tenure. Those are the only two time frames I have talked about. I just think the latter is a bit more important than the former. His tenure has been poor so far, and a few decent results unfortunately don't change that.

Ah, I get it, we can look back, but not very far, presumably just to the point where things started to go wrong for Adkins, so you can handily ignore anything good he did (four promotions in six seasons). Not that you even give him credit for those, it was luck, other people's foundations. Using your logic, the most recent past is most relevant but apparently good results don't count either, because we won't get promoted.

Personally, I hope that the fact we're playing our best football of the season now means he's sorting things out and we can start next season with the same optimism we started this season, but with a more positive outcome (ie promotion).

 

[Barney]

Ah, I get it, we can look back, but not very far, presumably just to the point where things started to go wrong for Adkins, so you can handily ignore anything good he did (four promotions in six seasons). Not that you even give him credit for those, it was luck, other people's foundations. Using your logic, the most recent past is most relevant but apparently good results don't count either, because we won't get promoted.

Personally, I hope that the fact we're playing our best football of the season now means he's sorting things out and we can start next season with the same optimism we started this season, but with a more positive outcome (ie promotion).

As I said, I believe his current tenure is more important than what he did years and years ago with a ready made set of premier league academy players. Then to assess that current tenure, on the whole it has been very poor. A tiny minority of acceptable or even decent performances don't do anything to change that.

 

[blade too long]

Ah, I get it, we can look back, but not very far, presumably just to the point where things started to go wrong for Adkins, so you can handily ignore anything good he did (four promotions in six seasons). Not that you even give him credit for those, it was luck, other people's foundations. Using your logic, the most recent past is most relevant but apparently good results don't count either, because we won't get promoted.

Personally, I hope that the fact we're playing our best football of the season now means he's sorting things out and we can start next season with the same optimism we started this season, but with a more positive outcome (ie promotion).

we are marginally better of late , but still not really doing anything great as 2 0=0 draws at home in must win games shows
The assessment has to be hes been too staid , and conservative, hes taken zero risks , in bringing in any players , on loan who could have given us other dimensions
too many games have fizzled disappointingly , we are like a wet firework,, if detonated properly could be spectacular but the blue touch paper is made of wet asbestos

Adkins cudda shudda gambled more on a few mavericks, but he went safe and dull

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Adkins cudda shudda gambled more on a few mavericks, but he went safe and dull

Baxter?

 

[blade too long]

Baxter?

Iwas on about bringing players in , not the addicts we already had

 

[Rodders]

Iwas on about bringing players in , not the addicts we already had

Given he inherited a squad of 40 how many more should he have been allowed to bring in?

 

[blade too long]

Given he inherited a squad of 40 how many more should he have been allowed to bring in?

well he outed over 10 so maybe 5

can anyone show me this list of 40 players that arent under 21 s thats never figured
Ive looked on sky bbc soccer base and struggle to get it over 32

and the first team squad on the official site only offers 24 profiles

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Iwas on about bringing players in , not the addicts we already had

Point is he has been prepared to gamble on at least one maverick, repeatedly - till he totally self-destructed/reached the point of no return.

How many mavericks do you want in a team/squad?

Should transfers on a tight budget be any more of a gamble than they need to be?

I can't see that "gambling" on "maverick"s makes any sense at all.

It's not like we can chuck £1m at some mercurial egomaniac, and then have another go if it doesn't work.