Looking forward to the first game next season.

[The Crab]

Well, just have another look at the OP and be glad you've not entered that kind of dream land.



I had to take two minutes time out after reading that.

Barney I wish I had the faith that things would turn out better, to be fair I don't think it's for me to critisice anyone who does. But for me we just seem to be making the same rinse & repeat mistakes year after year. And little by little we get a bit worse, until we're just another League 1 side.

The great frustration for me is that it doesn't have to be like that.

 

[Barney]

But for me we just seem to be making the same rinse & repeat mistakes year after year. And little by little we get a bit worse, until we're just another League 1 side.

The great frustration for me is that it doesn't have to be like that.

Exactly, that is unfortunately how it is. I posted this the other day and it pretty much outlines why it's rather daft to be saying some of the things in the OP. Get it wrong in the summer and it's another 4 years in this division and the one below. Every single bit of evidence suggests we are going to do just that.

To be successful and go up we would need two factors, especially for next season being as a mass recruitment exercise should be taking place.

- Owner(s) willing to spend the money to do it.
- Manager capable of locating and identifying the right players.

All the evidence suggests we have neither to any degree. It will take extreme changes of all pattern, trend and circumstance for us to be in the possession of either of those factors next season.

Therefore, we almost certainly won't go up. And we'll have a number of new players not good enough, the ramifications for which potentially being disastrous i.e. a good few more years in this division or the one below while they're all still under contract.

 

[Wapping Blade]

Exactly, that is unfortunately how it is. I posted this the other day and it pretty much outlines why it's rather daft to be saying some of the things in the OP. Get it wrong in the summer and it's another 4 years in this division and the one below. Every single bit of evidence suggests we are going to do just that.

What, you have evidence from the future? Wow!

 

[Barney]

What, you have evidence from the future? Wow!

Take any part of my post and explain how any of it suggests that.

 

[The Crab]

The evidence we see, yes quite possibly. But you would hope (yes I know I'm taking a real leap of faith here) that it's stuff we don't see that will be the difference maker, and I say that more in hope than expectation.

In my scenario, I'd be asking N.A about his planned signings for the close season. If that list is close to the demographics of his signings up to now, he'd be quickly looking for another job. If that list strikes the right balance between youth and experience then we press on and assess at Christmas.

 

[Wapping Blade]

Take any part of my post and explain how any of it suggests that.

Er, that last line of your post.

 

[Barney]

Er, that last line of your post.

What? "Every single bit of evidence suggests we are going to do just that"? How is that thinking I have evidence from the future? That's actually quite funny.

 

[Esablade]

In the Championship?

 

[Kenilworth]

Isn't it about 30 years since our iconic brown and yellow kit came out? I wouldn't mind seeing that since we're in the habit of commemorating stuff these days.

I dunno - Whenever I've seen them this season I've noticed the brown stuff come out

 

[Kenilworth]

Have another read of the O.P. there is nothing optimistic about it from my point of view!! In fact I expect the team to be inconsistent because of all the youth and all the new players settling in. However I do believe it's the right way to go because we may as well be bringing on younger hopefuls than hardened non-achievers some of whom have just been getting over big injuries.. By all means bring in older players who have achieved things in their careers and yes Hammond fits that profile, but not non-achievers; we may as well play eager kids instead and the dressing room will be a much friendlier place for Adkins to do his gushing! Far less baggage to worry about, far less cynicism and much more hope and expectation.

So, we have completely metamorphosed into the modern day Crewe, after all

 

[BushBlade]

So, we have completely metamorphosed into the modern day Crewe, after all

You can say Crewe or you can say Southampton. Depends on your agenda.

 

[Kenilworth]

You can say Crewe or you can say Southampton. Depends on your agenda.

No, it depends on what division you remain in and whether you sell (after much persuasion) your best players at £10m or give them away at the first sign of cash coming out of the prospectors wallet.
It depends if you remain a feeder club to those teams in higher divisions or whether you galvanise into a tight unit and bludgeon your way or out football your way into the top division.
The fact that we regularly play Crewe, year in, year out (and lose to them) and not play Southampton shines a light on reality and does not support any assumed agenda.
6 seasons in Division Three tell their own story - and, yes, it will be 6, of that I have no doubt given our pretty pathetic attempts to "put a run together" to date.

 

[eric_oulthwaite]

Nigel Adkins will have been with us for just over a year.

The squad will have been changed beyond recognition. We will have a younger, more mobile and generally quicker first team. We will have a new captain and a defined system of playing with players signed to fit into that system. There will be fewer seasoned, hardened older pros around. We will have spent a 'sensible budget' on a mixture of experienced and young recruits. The 'pathway' to the first team squad will be well worn with five former Academy players featuring strongly in all the pre-season friendlies. New signings will be a mixture of permanent and season long loan deals. We will have sold at least one of our two most expensive players partly because they wanted to leave, partly to create more budget and partly to help further create a new culture of youth and optimism.

Adkins will be as enthusiastic as ever and even more positive because he will have all his own men and boys around him. His positive interviews will have more credibility because his enthusiasm will be carried on to the pitch by the players and he excels at building on strengths and re-inforcing positives. He will talk of keeping the bulk of the squad together so that every player knows his role in the system and develops understandings with fellow players over a period when he intends the club to start it's gradual rise to the Premier League where he expects most of the current players to perform together in due course.

Season ticket sales will be down less than 5% and we will be third or fourth favourites for promotion because we have such a young squad and so many new players to integrate into the squad.

Then again we might win the play-offs this season and we'll be all over the place.

How do you know?

 

[Woodwardfan]

How do you know?

Am I ever wrong?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Form an orderly queue people

 

[Bladesway]

It's just a case of cross your fingers and hope for the best where next season's squad is concerned. There are no guarantees at all, it could be anything. It could be even worse than this season's squad - it is a possibility, at least in terms of ability. There's a chance it could be what we've been wanting, but only blind faith could lead you to say that will be the case because unfortunately all the evidence suggests that we're far more likely to fail if we have to recruit players on a large scale.

Some things in life are bad........

 

[Harry's Game]

Next season is the trickiest one yet to predict, the only two things I am reasonably confident about are that we won't be good enough to finish top two and not bad enough to finish bottom four.

Apart from that we could finish anywhere from 5th to 15th,

 

[Blade56]

I can't wait for the last game of this season TBH

 

[Woodwardfan]

I can't wait for the last game of this season TBH

Wembley?

 

[pommpey]

Wembley?

Again. Show your working out.

It's like having our own board evangelist, isn't it?

"Jesus cured the blind man! Praise de Lawd!"

"Erm. Why didn't he cure all blind people? Then everyone would have a reason to Praise de Lawd and you'd be out of a job."

"Um ... "

pommpey

 

[Woodwardfan]

No, it depends on what division you remain in and whether you sell (after much persuasion) your best players at £10m or give them away at the first sign of cash coming out of the prospectors wallet.
It depends if you remain a feeder club to those teams in higher divisions or whether you galvanise into a tight unit and bludgeon your way or out football your way into the top division.
The fact that we regularly play Crewe, year in, year out (and lose to them) and not play Southampton shines a light on reality and does not support any assumed agenda.
6 seasons in Division Three tell their own story - and, yes, it will be 6, of that I have no doubt given our pretty pathetic attempts to "put a run together" to date.

Like it or not and none of us like the fact that if a Premier League club want to sign a League1 player and help him realise his ambition to play in the top tier and increase his salary to a multiple of 4 then the club has nowhere to go. Not until any club is established in the top half of the Premier League can it resist bids from the top clubs.A League 1 club holding out for £10m is unrealsitic. MKD only got £5m for the exceptional Deli Alli but managed to keep him for an extra half a season in which they got promoted. Deli Alli would not have tolerated MKD holding out for £10m which might have taken another year or more. What's he on now £50k a week or more? Seriously a sell-on clause can be a good outcome. Even Maguire is on £14k a week and he's not in the first team of a Championship club. Jordan Slew is at Chesterfield on a short term contract but he's had a few years at maybe £10k a week. Our intended full wage budget is probably less than £4m in total.

We've spent 5 years in League 1 with an approach of signing experience and as much 'quality' as our budget allowed. We started with some good players and the quality has dwindled seriously over the 5 years as the third tier lower income streams have taken their toll and we've been losing £1m a month at times.

Something has to change from the 'same ow'd' way of signing experienced non-achieving journeymen. We even failed with some expensive recruits so logic says cheaper choices will fare no better. Developing Academy players and young recruits from elsewhere ( like Barnsley are doing) will make it harder to succeed in the short term as there will be inconsistency but surely it's better to man your squad with players who are grateful for the opportunity to be here rather than disappointed things didn't turn out better elsewhere.

IMO it's not about the big stars we produce because they'll only be with us a short while anyway, it's about say 70% of our 24 man squad and there's no reason why we can't produce our own or prise them away from smaller clubs further down the food chain. There'll be a few stars in amongst those as well. For the past 5 years that 70% of the squad has been costing us an arm and a leg for absolutely no return in quality and sometimes even effort.

Save our money for the players we need to complement the youngsters. It's a better way forward.

 

[pommpey]

Like it or not and none of us like the fact that if a Premier League club want to sign a League1 player and help him realise his ambition to play in the top tier and increase his salary to a multiple of 4 then the club has nowhere to go. Not until any club is established in the top half of the Premier League can it resist bids from the top clubs.A League 1 club holding out for £10m is unrealsitic. MKD only got £5m for the exceptional Deli Alli but managed to keep him for an extra half a season in which they got promoted. Deli Alli would not have tolerated MKD holding out for £10m which might have taken another year or more. What's he on now £50k a week or more? Seriously a sell-on clause can be a good outcome. Even Maguire is on £14k a week and he's not in the first team of a Championship club. Jordan Slew is at Chesterfield on a short term contract but he's had a few years at maybe £10k a week. Our intended full wage budget is probably less than £4m in total.

Let's take Murphy, for example. You say 'there is nothing we could do to stop him going'.

He'd signed a contract renewal fifteen or so months previous. So, given your ridiculous justification of McCabe's forked-tongue lies above, how do you square that with two years of that contract to go, and his worth as a player, we seem to be powerless to stop him leaving? If Brighton's offer was so cocktand superb, why were we not in on the disclosure of how much? And please, stop 'smoke and mirrorsing the Franchies/Spurs thing with Dele Alli. MKD got a disclosed sum. We got fuck all. We must have done, because McCabe says he has spunked £8m on the club this season and the Murphy money. You tell me ... on what?

We've spent 5 years in League 1 with an approach of signing experience and as much 'quality' as our budget allowed. We started with some good players and the quality has dwindled seriously over the 5 years as the third tier lower income streams have taken their toll and we've been losing £1m a month at times.

Bullshit. Tell me what we are losing a million per month on WWF. We have betwen 17-20k coming through the gates three, maybe four times a month. Even at a conservative estimate that is £1.5m in cash at £25 a ticket. Even at the lower end it is a million plus bits. That is about eight to ten million a year in turnstiles alone. We are buying by as much as McCabe allows, full stop. He's happy to spunk a million on a playing surface we serially get trunked on mind. Explain that. Tell me how much impact on our finances last years playing surface had and justify the Desso pitch, why don't you? Fuck being your financial director for your company.

Something has to change from the 'same ow'd' way of signing experienced non-achieving journeymen. We even failed with some expensive recruits so logic says cheaper choices will fare no better. Developing Academy players and young recruits from elsewhere ( like Barnsley are doing) will make it harder to succeed in the short term as there will be inconsistency but surely it's better to man your squad with players who are grateful for the opportunity to be here rather than disappointed things didn't turn out better elsewhere.

No. Better to shop in the higher divisions for target players who have proven ability, and cost money rather than manager's ex-players from former clubs who are only here on a favour.

Keep chanting. The LAWD can hear ya!

pommpey

 

[BushBlade]

No. Better to shop in the higher divisions for target players who have proven ability, and cost money rather than manager's ex-players from former clubs who are only here on a favour.

Of the twelve clubs I've seen promoted whilst we've been down here which of those have successfully implemented that policy? I'm struggling to think of one.

 

[pommpey]

Of the twelve clubs I've seen promoted whilst we've been down here which of those have successfully implemented that policy? I'm struggling to think of one.

Well, when you look at it like that ... you have a point.

Tell you what. Let's carry on signing ex-Blackpool and Derby rejects, well-out-of-favour shite (like Hammond) and trawling the Scottish Leagues for sub-Div-One-standard makeweights.

Occasionally we'll buy someone like Brayford (injured), Done (played out of position) and Sharp (without whose goals we'd be in shit-street) but don't ask how much they cost, eh?

Meanwhile, Murphy, Maguire, Blackman, Macdonald ... etc ...

pommpey

ps: I know WWF has me on ignore. It's the pinnacle of blind ignorance.

 

[BushBlade]

Well, when you look at it like that ... you have a point.

Tell you what. Let's carry on signing ex-Blackpool and Derby rejects, well-out-of-favour shite (like Hammond) and trawling the Scottish Leagues for sub-Div-One-standard makeweights.

Occasionally we'll buy someone like Brayford (injured), Done (played out of position) and Sharp (without whose goals we'd be in shit-street) but don't ask how much they cost, eh?

Meanwhile, Murphy, Maguire, Blackman, Macdonald ... etc ...

pommpey

ps: I know WWF has me on ignore. It's the pinnacle of blind ignorance.

I don't think those are the only options. We know the latter doesn't work and I'm not suggesting we continue to follow that strategy but I think the likelihood of us being able to sign players from higher leagues, isn't great. We may get the odd one from a promoted side who are looking to improve their squad, like Bristol City did with Agard and we tried to do with Burn but I'd be surprised if we can find more than one or two of those.
Then, after a close season of bidding for championship players and seeing them go to other championship clubs they'll be the usual cliched posts on 'we tried but...' and 'why don't we go for realistic targets?'

 

[mattbianco1]

These green shoots of optimism don't sit right with me - I'd rather we retained the unremitting misery a bit longer

I blame the daffodils, the baby sheep in the fields and the orange thing in the sky.

 

[georgebernardshaw]

I blame the daffodils, the baby sheep in the fields and the orange thing in the sky.

.....or to quote P.G.Wodehouse "I missed short putts because of the uproar of the butterflies in the adjoining meadows"

 

[derryblade]

The O/P is a tale of what we hope will happen, actually a tale of what we thought would happen the last two seasons, optimism after the Hull game, optimism with a new manager with his great CV. The retained list will be the first indicator of NA and his plans, decisions on the loans will be another and the speed of any new signings will be another as will NA claims to be identifying young, athletic and hungry footballers. We can guarantee there will he a hell of a lot to discuss and probably disagree about, what NA and the owners decide to do before the first game of the season.

 

[pommpey]

The O/P is a tale of what we hope will happen, actually a tale of what we thought would happen the last two seasons, optimism after the Hull game, optimism with a new manager with his great CV. The retained list will be the first indicator of NA and his plans, decisions on the loans will be another and the speed of any new signings will be another as will NA claims to be identifying young, athletic and hungry footballers. We can guarantee there will he a hell of a lot to discuss and probably disagree about, what NA and the owners decide to do before the first game of the season.

Money talks in this game, at whatever level you have the team. McCabe can talk about how much cash he expects us to believe he has put into the club, but that pales into insignificance compared with the collective investment the fans have put in which, season upon season, is considerable. All of this finds its way back into the clubs revenue stream one way or another, so I am unconvinced and unimpressed with his mewling about how much he has put in.

Players of ability and worth won't come to the club for fuck all but a smile. Murphy and Maguire didn't go elsewhere for nowt either. It is an unfortunate fact that the players we see, regardless of their Twitter feeds, do it for cash and who can blame them?

So consequently it is up to those who administer and manage the club's finances as to which way this football club goes. We are far more likely to keep hold of a player who cost us considerably and is kicking goals in for us (like Sharp) than we are who came here for a song who we can flog for a quick profit (like Murphy and Maguire)

I don't see or hear any intent from the executive over teh next twelve months but to reduce the playing staff quota and square off costs. I do think that this is a canny business move but for the club it is disastrous. UNless we improve our skill level on the pitch (and that can't be coached to these numpties)then standby for another season stuck in this league.

Nice pitch, though ...

pommpey

 

[Woodwardfan]

The O/P is a tale of what we hope will happen, actually a tale of what we thought would happen the last two seasons, optimism after the Hull game, optimism with a new manager with his great CV. The retained list will be the first indicator of NA and his plans, decisions on the loans will be another and the speed of any new signings will be another as will NA claims to be identifying young, athletic and hungry footballers. We can guarantee there will he a hell of a lot to discuss and probably disagree about, what NA and the owners decide to do before the first game of the season.

I actually think the O.P. reflects a different approach with more accent on youth and value. I'm not sure many summer signings will instant hits with fans who will not know most of the new recruits.