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Reply | Aaron Drewe
at 17:36 9 May 2024
Maybe if a big chunk of Academy staff salaries was performance-based, that might be a step in the right direction. At the moment, it seems, it's a monetised/subsidised culture of failure. Mind you, if that happened, I suspect one or two would be out the door before you could say 'Where's Taylor Richards?' |
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Reply | Keeping our loved assets
at 21:21 6 May 2024
Which is part of my whole point in this discussion. We neither have a club culture (as has been widely endorsed) of (i) 'selling high' nor (and more importantly) of (ii) reinvesting wisely. Generally, historically speaking, what happens is that club sales veer between the undesirable and the catastrophic (I've got a great wheeze, chaps - let's sell club legend Les and his potful of goals and see where we go with two rookies in Gallen, plus a crocked mate of Ray's from Scotland) that are then sold back to the fans as 'reinvestment'. With the odd exception (e.g. Sinton for Tricky and the aforementioned trio of Bowles, Givens and Thomas for Rodney), that's been pretty much the shape of things in the near half-century I've been following the club. So what makes people think we're suddenly going to start emulating the Brentford model? It's bloody hard to emulate the Brentford model, and also takes a lot of luck and timing. We'd much better to really scrutinise our Academy and do our research/sink our funds into why e.g. Bristol City have a functioning one and we haven't for years. Hopefully, the new CEO has the wit to realise this.
Are the sales of of Chair and/or JCS warranted on footballing grounds? Almost certainly not. Are they needed on financial grounds? Don't know. Do I have confidence the club will strengthen as a result if they're signed off? Why should I?
The positive news is that we have a a manager and CEO (though an upgrade on the last one - my Siamese cat would have done a better job than late-QPR Lee Hoos) who seem to know what they're about, so, who knows, the culture may be about to change. Either way, this pre-season will tell us a lot. [Post edited 6 May 21:27]
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Reply | Midlands Beach Party - Coventry Versus QPR Match Thread
at 01:08 5 May 2024
Hang on for the incoming fusillade of 'when will you understands'? from the moral/fiscal FFP high ground 'experts' - o no, wait, sorry, forgot, they're just reserved for me . . .
More importantly, a really satisfying end to the season, and can't wait for next one. [Post edited 5 May 1:10]
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Reply | Taarabt - al nasr sc
at 11:15 3 May 2024
However good he still looks, it's hard to feel he's not prostituted himself like Ronaldo in that low-quality, barely spectated, uber-cynically sportswashed league. But now we're losing Uncs, could he not be our Terror Al-bat in 24/25 for purely sentimental reasons?
I'll get me keffiyeh!
*EDIT* Just remembered Ronaldo is in Saudi - same difference! [Post edited 3 May 16:29]
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Reply | Taarabt - al nasr sc
at 03:43 3 May 2024
Not that we could remotely afford him, but I would! |
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Reply | Anton Ferdinand and John Terry
at 03:37 3 May 2024
Unsavoury, unpleasant and almost certainly racist as the episode actually was, I'm not sure what the value is in dredging it up again after all these years. It's pretty clear that Terry used the words he did (which he admits to), so what is sitting down again and watching the coverage back yet again going to do for anyone? If he was a c*nt then, he'll be a c*nt now - end of! He will still, presumably, stick to his ludicrous-looking apology that he was just bouncing AF's words back to him as part of a peculiar scene in which he played (a lumpen, pigshit-thick) Echo to Anton's tender Narcissus. What's weird, if true, is that he and the Ferdinands had all got along fine till that day.
Were there ever any racial accusations against Terry for racism in footballing context prior to what happened at HQ, or are we to assume he just had some kind of aberration and/or had been disguising it his whole career? [Post edited 3 May 3:41]
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Reply | Good bye Unc,s
at 23:16 2 May 2024
Talented, super-committed, and, as Marti made clear, a vital part of the squad this season, albeit more off than on the field. I didn't get, and didn't like, the barbs from one or two on here that his fitness and form were some shade of embarrassment this campaign when he appeared - if anything, I'm sure he could have played more. As a winger, even now, he's probably still at least as skilled and able as Smyth, and quite possibly more so - or do I have my blue and white specs on?
Hats off to you, Uncs, and hope you find a really nice club for your final year or so. |
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Reply | Ipswich
at 18:06 1 May 2024
Weirdly contradictory post - your whole argument seems to be AGAINST the idea that it's better to stay up! |
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Reply | Better than Crystal Palace 6-0
at 17:53 30 Apr 2024
I'd say it exceeds it, given the oppo.
The Palace game was balloon-filled joy, of course, but I've always felt there was more than a whiff of corruption about it, given everything that happened that day. |
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Reply | Are we capable of going up next season.
at 17:41 30 Apr 2024
I certainly wouldn't bet against it based on Marti's incoming performance, and I'm going against the grain, but I still think, unless we strengthen, we're capable of going down next season - especially if we get off to a bad start. We don't score nearly enough goals, the squad is still too small/carrying dead and/or dubious quality wood (Richards, Cannon, Armstrong, Drew etc.), including players who the jury is still out on (e.g. Frey), and the likes of Hayden and Hodge will be going back to their parent clubs. By common consent, Bergovic (though I think he's done a lot better overall than the haters here make out) and Dykes need to be shipped out and replaced.
An awful lot depends on the pre-season for me in terms of retention, recruitment and club business. I hope for the best, but the Champ is a very fluctuating league, and pretty much anything can happen, however well we ended. *
* Hopefully, this season we can actually have a successful and just properly organised pre-season tour as well, now Les and Hoos are making room for people who are competent and have standards. That'll tell us plenty too. [Post edited 30 Apr 17:44]
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Reply | Marti on tomorrow
at 17:35 30 Apr 2024
You tell me I'm talking 'absolute rubbish', then claim you're interested to know what I think!
Yeah, right!
What do they call you: Mr Ambivalence?  |
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Reply | Are we capable of going up next season.
at 16:59 30 Apr 2024
Completely agree with this, and, fortunately/hopefully, he doesn't seem to be a slimy customer like Beale. Mind you, if an offer comes in from, say, a 'bigger' Champ club, his loyalty, and the club's resolve, are likely to be tested. Interestingly, though, managers seem as a rule to be much less often 'poached' and/or have their heads turned mid-contract than players - the situation with Beale was unusual in leaving the bad taste it did. (When was the last time it happened to us - TV going to Barcelona?) [Post edited 30 Apr 17:23]
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Reply | Are we capable of going up next season.
at 16:55 30 Apr 2024
Agree with you about his coaching, but, and a bit worryingly, he's (hopefully) been getting that at QPR for a season or two already. He also needs to play regularly, not just these turbo-charged cameos off the bench. Marti will, I'm sure, have his views and recommendations here, and it'll be interesting to see how things percolate with him and one or two others now. [Post edited 30 Apr 17:22]
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Reply | Are we capable of going up next season.
at 14:52 30 Apr 2024
Agree with your basic sketch of our recruitment needs, though I think your menu is minimal. The squad, for me, is still 5-6 quality players short of mounting an assault on the playoffs. Armstrong needs to go on loan, Dykes (despite his two welcome goals at the end) just needs to go, and Kolli, though promising, really is a kid in footballing terms, and won't come good, I don't think, for some time, assuming he does - he needs a loan too. That means, I think, we need two quality strikers at a minimum, plus an understudy or two.
In midfield, if anything happens to Field, we lose our shield - and, it now happily seems, a goal or two along the way. Colback is very important for how we play, both in terms of breaking up play and getting us moving through the lines, but I would expect injuries and suspension would take him out for 10+ games next year. As has been said, a lot hinges in attacking midfield on whether we retain Chair and/or Willock.
At the back, I'm very happy with JCS, Cook and Dunne, and we should keep them all if we can, but Cannon doesn't seem to have had a very convincing season at this level, fitness-wise or playing-wise, and Paal for me blows hot and cold. Ideally, we will strengthen at least one full-back berth, therefore.
Out wide, I think Smyth is a useful outlet off the bench, but isn't good enough to start at this level for me, and I suspect won't improve (that) much, though perhaps I'm wrong.
In Marti I trust, but a lot depends on our resources, of course, and how much the Board trusts/backs the manager. MC has worked a minor, if not major, miracle with what he's had to work with, but, as he said post-Leeds, and despite that fabulous curtain-closer (and perhaps curtain-raiser for next year), we have some way to go to get to where we want. For that reason alone, and given our traumatic recent history, I agree that a top half finish, with plenty of green shoots (and shots) along the way, would probably satisfy me next campaign. [Post edited 30 Apr 16:53]
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Reply | Andre Dozzell
at 14:34 30 Apr 2024
'People are strange' - Jim Morrison.
Has it ever occurred to you that (not least because you're literally a stranger) you might be as strange to me as you claim I am to you?
Don't see what your issue is, tbh. I picked up on a disturbing piece of systemic misuse of language in the field (echoed by you), you actually acknowledged the point (so it clearly isn't 'completely irrelevant' - neither to you nor to me), so no problem - for me at least. It doesn't make me guilty of underlying 'aggression', 'bizarre' or anything else, fairly self-evidently. I think it's more likely that I just struck a nerve with you, that's all.
As I try to say what I mean, I used the word 'sinister' because, in the wider context, to me it is, in terms of contributing to a professional climate in which adults are misnamed as sub-adults in a way that has disturbing cultural reverberations re excusing their failings and wrapping them in cotton wool etc. No other industry, other than football, does this, as far as I'm aware, which was the rationale for my post.
I hope things work out well with/for your son, and, sure, tempus fugit and all that. [Post edited 30 Apr 14:40]
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Reply | Andre Dozzell
at 01:37 30 Apr 2024
What is this weird thing about football that men well into their twenties get routinely referred to as 'boys' and 'kids'? It's all part and parcel of this Alice-in-Wonderland infantilisation of its participants. It's both pathetic and faintly sinister.
Dozzell is 24 years old (actually 25 this week), has been playing men's (that's right, men's football) for EIGHT years, and racked up, somehow, nearly 200 mostly inconsequential appearances in that time. If he doesn't man up as a professional now, he never will, but the truth is, surely, this is as good as it'll ever get for him. |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 21:05 28 Apr 2024
Throw Dykes into the deal, and that's a good bit of outgoing business done right there, sir! |
| | stainrods_elbow
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