McNulty

[Silent Blade]

That is so kind to the man as I don't think our injuries have been so bad, apart from Wallace and Kennedy and to be fair it took Clough an age to recognise Kennedy's potential. Wallace was a calculated gamble with a big pay off if it works out.


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Howard, Harris, McEveley, Flynn, Steve and Ben Davies, Higdon, Done and more recently Brayford have not been injured at all this season?? Of course this season we have had one of the most injury-hit seasons we have ever had!!

 

[Woodwardfan]

Howard, Harris, McEveley, Flynn, Steve and Ben Davies, Higdon, Done and more recently Brayford have not been injured at all this season?? Of course this season we have had one of the most injury-hit seasons we have ever had!!

What????


I don't think it's right to sign unfit players and then count them as bad luck when they can't play. Higdon and Wallace fit into that category i.e. speculative gambles, not without merit though.

B.Davies is rarely picked when fit and the selection of McEveley is of marginal consequence truthfully; both of these players are of an age when injuries become more frequent and to be expected.

Flynn, Howard, Harris have been out for spells but in a 60 game season what's to be expected? Brayford and S.Davies hardly missing at all.

As for Done, I seriously question whether anybody can deem him unfit when he is on the bench. He has only been missing from the team or bench for three games.

IMO our injuries have been pretty well par for the course, nothing more. Certainly we have had worse, far worse.

 

[NZ Blade in Nelson]

Clough has gambled massively on players returning from serious injuries/injury prone (Wallace, Kennedy, Coutts, Davies) or waiting for the right men and it never happened.......or in COG's case all too briefly
The centre half situation would be laughable if it did not have such a major impact on our season. To finish the season with a back four containing four full backs is not acceptable......especially when if not injured another full back would have played!!
I think he has had a sizeable budget for the league we are in and has underperformed with results, but has dramatically underperformed in terms of performances. As someone else mentions above, if it felt like we had failed but were making progress I would be more inclined to stick with him. I think that even if we had snuck up through the play offs it would have felt a little "cheap" and almost like we did not deserve it.
Whoever is in charge next year I would suggest that we focus on attacking football, with an attacking formation and players playing in thier recognised positions.

 

[Silent Blade]

What????



Brayford and S.Davies hardly missing at all.

As for Done, I seriously question whether anybody can deem him unfit when he is on the bench. He has only been missing from the team or bench for three games.

IMO our injuries have been pretty well par for the course, nothing more. Certainly we have had worse, far worse.

Losing Brayford at half time in the play offs 1st leg was a MASSIVE blow. Done got injured in March and injury prevented him from the squad until the play offs.

You say we have had far worse seasons with injuries, then name these seasons and who were the players please

 

[Revolution]

Losing Brayford at half time in the play offs 1st leg was a MASSIVE blow. Done got injured in March and injury prevented him from the squad until the play offs.

You say we have had far worse seasons with injuries, then name these seasons and who were the players please

Off the top of my head, 1997, 1998, 2010, 2011 and arguably 2012 were all definitely worse for injuries than this season.

 

[Silent Blade]

Off the top of my head, 1997, 1998, 2010, 2011 and arguably 2012 were all definitely worse for injuries than this season.

And who the players that were injured?

 

[Revolution]

And who the players that were injured?

2012 - Evans was not fit at the start of the season. Jean Francois got injured in March and didn't play again. Morgan was on the books but had to retire. Will Hoskins signed as cover but got injured and was not available for the run in. Kevin McDonald missed a third of the season through injury. Mendez-Laing came on loan, injured his back and had to go back. Monty missed all of September and most of October.

2011 - Henderson and Williamson did not play until March due to injury. Andy Taylor was out most of the season due to injury. Morgan was injured in the 8th game and never played again. Jamie Ward was injured for a time before he was sold. Ched Evans missed time due to injuries. Elian Parrino was injured long term shortly after signing. Johannes Ertl was injured on and off throughout the season. Richard Wright was signed to play in goal as cover and wasn't fit enough to complete either game he started.

2010 - Williamson and Ward and Henderson injured for long periods again. Ryan France had an injury record like James Wallace's. Gary Naysmith was injured for all but the final 2 weeks of the season. Paddy Kenny wasn't injured but was suspended for nearly all the season. Evans was not fully fit. Derek Geary was injured for long periods. Tony Kallio and Marcel Seip came in on loan and both got injured. Andy Taylor had extended layoffs.

And that's just off the top of my head.

And you of all people should remember the walking wounded in 1997 and 1998. McGrath, Whitehouse, White and Walker all had to retire, and that's just 1998!

 

[Silent Blade]

2012 - Evans was not fit at the start of the season. Jean Francois got injured in March and didn't play again. Morgan was on the books but had to retire. Will Hoskins signed as cover but got injured and was not available for the run in. Kevin McDonald missed a third of the season through injury. Mendez-Laing came on loan, injured his back and had to go back. Monty missed all of September and most of October.

2011 - Henderson and Williamson did not play until March due to injury. Andy Taylor was out most of the season due to injury. Morgan was injured in the 8th game and never played again. Jamie Ward was injured for a time before he was sold. Ched Evans missed time due to injuries. Elian Parrino was injured long term shortly after signing. Johannes Ertl was injured on and off throughout the season. Richard Wright was signed to play in goal as cover and wasn't fit enough to complete either game he started.

2010 - Williamson and Ward and Henderson injured for long periods again. Ryan France had an injury record like James Wallace's. Gary Naysmith was injured for all but the final 2 weeks of the season. Paddy Kenny wasn't injured but was suspended for nearly all the season. Evans was not fully fit. Derek Geary was injured for long periods. Tony Kallio and Marcel Seip came in on loan and both got injured. Andy Taylor had extended layoffs.

And that's just off the top of my head.

And you of all people should remember the walking wounded in 1997 and 1998. McGrath, Whitehouse, White and Walker all had to retire, and that's just 1998!

Andy Walker carried on playing until 2000. Later today I will make a lit of our players that were injured this season and for how long. I am sure that it ranks as one of the worst seasons we have had. I never said it was the worst

 

[Revolution]

Andy Walker carried on playing until 2000. Later today I will make a lit of our players that were injured this season and for how long. I am sure that it ranks as one of the worst seasons we have had. I never said it was the worst

You're right re Walker, but the idea that we've had it as bad as any of the 5 seasons I've mentioned simply does not hold any water.

Plus our most injury prone player this season was known to be a crock when we signed him, so I have no sympathy for Clough on that front.

 

[AlBlade]

Howard, Harris, McEveley, Flynn, Steve and Ben Davies, Higdon, Done and more recently Brayford have not been injured at all this season?? Of course this season we have had one of the most injury-hit seasons we have ever had!!

I agree with Woodwardfan, Clough cannot cite injuries as being a contributing factor to our demise this season.

S Davies, Higdon and Wallace were all signed with a known history of medical problems. Flynn has had a number of injury problems this season, which why it made no sense for Clough to allow JCR, our only other right winger to go on loan to Notts County.

Clough has amassed a squad of 41 players, so why do we not have cover for what has been an average number of injuries after a long season?

Losing Brayford to injury on the first leg of the play off was only a massive blow because it further highlighted NC's abject failure to address our centre half problems. Losing the Brayford of last season would in itself have been a massive blow, but for me this season Brayford has been decidedly average.

 

[sheffielder]

I think people are forgetting Collins. He's been injured all season

 

[Woodwardfan]

Losing Brayford at half time in the play offs 1st leg was a MASSIVE blow. Done got injured in March and injury prevented him from the squad until the play offs.

You say we have had far worse seasons with injuries, then name these seasons and who were the players please

Silent, it's been an average season for injuries. Losing Brayford at half time two matches from the end of the season is just one of those things.

Done has missed three games from the squad on just three occasions and one was by choice pr pre-agreement with Rochdale presumably. He's been sub on 7 occasions.

There was more player loss by fall outs than injury: Collins ( 3/4 season), Butler (all season), Campbell-Ryce ( three months) presumably a fall out because the move was bizarre. McGahey was trumpeted as a star in the making and yet was noticeably only on the bench last Monday. Alcock seemed to be out of favour for weeks and weeks, a seasoned pro who started the season at centre half.

We have hardly had to use young untried lads in the team even for ten minutes as sub, more's the pity, that shows we have had loads of choices. Adams has been kept out in the cold until the last three games so that is a luxury for the manager. Our bench has invariably been populated with five or six players who could have switched with the first eleven without any detriment to the team, now that is a luxury for the manager. Silent, our fit squad week in week out has been the stuff that dreams are made of for all but a couple of our rival managers in League 1. Maybe a dearth of central defenders and strikers before February but who's fault is that. Not caused by loads of injuries that's a fact.

As for the really serious seasons, we have gone to Play-off finals on three occasions without our main strikers. For various reasons we have had to make do once with Craig Beattie and once with Creswell as lone strikers with no cover. On the other occasion Windass disgraced himself in the lead up to the final. If the loss of a full back playing centre half is so vital then those three occasions are tragedy. I was actually talking about long term injuries not just three halves of a game but strikers are usually the star men and big money signings not full backs so I cant agree that's massive.

 

[Silent Blade]

Done has missed three games from the squad on just three occasions and one was by choice pr pre-agreement with Rochdale presumably. He's been sub on 7 occasions.

There was more player loss by fall outs than injury: Collins ( 3/4 season), Butler (all season), Campbell-Ryce ( three months) presumably a fall out .

Done was unavailable for selection on more than 3 occasions. What is this about pre-agreement with Rochdale??? He played and scored in that 2-1 win at Rochdale

You saw James Shields twitter on Campbell-Ryce's reason for his move to Notts County. It was for personal reasons, NOT a fall out with Clough!!

 

[Silent Blade]

Plus our most injury prone player this season was known to be a crock when we signed him, so I have no sympathy for Clough on that front.

I agree with you on this and it is a puzzle to me. My theory is that he prefers to sign players who dont have pesky agents. Last season Blackpool were signing players who do not have agents. Clough had problems with Harry's agent also Diego's advisers. I could be wrong about Clough's reason for signing players from Derby, Blackpool and Scotland but I have always disliked football agents

 

[Silent Blade]

which why it made no sense for Clough to allow JCR, our only other right winger to go on loan to Notts County.

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Jamal's move to Notts County was for personal reasons as stated in James Shields twitter some weeks ago

 

[Woodwardfan]

Done was unavailable for selection on more than 3 occasions. What is this about pre-agreement with Rochdale??? He played and scored in that 2-1 win at Rochdale

You saw James Shields twitter on Campbell-Ryce's reason for his move to Notts County. It was for personal reasons, NOT a fall out with Clough!!

I was working from memory, the Rochdale must have been the first game he was used as a sub. As for being unavailable for selection on more than three occasions I did that research a while ago and as far as i know they were the only games he was either not in the team or sub, I hope that's right but if it's four i wouldn't be surprised. I'm sure you agree that any man chosen on the bench cannot be unfit.

I think you will accept the thrust of my argument that such trivial absences for one man in a big squad really are not unexpected and just run of the mill at any club. We are lucky we have the funds to run a much bigger, more expensive squad than our rivals and should not quibble if we get a few injuries which affect us so much less than smaller clubs' injuries.

As for Campbell-Ryce, the "personal reasons" must have been of such a magnitude that he had to go and play at a club just down the motorway. It also coincided with us signing 5 players in January including Freeman and Coutts who were both supposedly able to play in that position. Whatever, it left us with one less creative player who can beat a man going forwards and left us with a sum total of Murphy plus Adams who was never picked hardly anyway.

Anyway, we are distracted by minutia from your point which was that we had suffered an extreme number of injuries this season and that had been a significant factor in our failure. Sorry, that was not the case.

 

[robbiez666]

I'm loving how some people will slag off a 22 year old in his first season in England, who has never been given a run of starts, and who has scored 13 goals despite getting little service.