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Post by redintheface on Aug 3, 2024 13:16:59 GMT
Being a manager in this division will also be tough. With the pressure on, the toll will be heavy. l reckon you're right, there's a lot of high spending going on which will raise expectations and the likelihood of disappointment. Many a Chairman / Owner will be preparing themselves for the ritual of issuing a statement “ thanking” their ex manager for all his hard work and wishing him well in the future!😀👍 |
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Post by osoldguy on Aug 3, 2024 15:31:29 GMT
l reckon you're right, there's a lot of high spending going on which will raise expectations and the likelihood of disappointment. Many a Chairman / Owner will be preparing themselves for the ritual of issuing a statement “ thanking” their ex manager for all his hard work and wishing him well in the future!😀👍 Why bother cut out the middle man text the manager with on yer bike sunshine, we'll sort out the dismissal package later.🚲 |
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Post by redintheface on Aug 3, 2024 15:57:03 GMT
Many a Chairman / Owner will be preparing themselves for the ritual of issuing a statement “ thanking” their ex manager for all his hard work and wishing him well in the future!😀👍 Why bother cut out the middle man text the manager with on yer bike sunshine, we'll sort out the dismissal package later.🚲 In reality that may well happen often than we know!😆👍 |
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Post by Thor on Aug 3, 2024 23:56:37 GMT
I have it on good authority that a player from the championship wants £20k a week to drop to league 1. The buying club has offered £15k a week.
Either sum is beyond virtually all clubs and it’s madness at our level. Make of that what you will.
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Post by Fisch on Aug 4, 2024 6:29:07 GMT
My nephew is a scout at Palace and tells me the money being spent in the championship is "obscene". He doesn't know enough about EFL1 but suspects "all spending records will have been broken by some distance" over the lower leagues.
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Post by dohnut on Aug 4, 2024 8:15:22 GMT
Unless some billionaire with money to burn fancies owning an historic London club, then the Championship is probably beyond our means. League 1 is our place for the foreseeable future and will be until we have a ground capable of sustaining growth. 20 years, yet a world class stadium a few miles away was within our grasp.
The best we can hope for is a brief flirtation in the Championship followed by the inevitable return to league 1, our priority in my view is establishing ourselves as a solid league 1 team and maintaining current attendance figures. Fair play to the board for doing their best improving Brisbane Road. But it will never be a modern fit place to watch professional sport in any great numbers. Past its best-by date and then some. Romantic notions of it being our home need to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
So we are setting up a structure to stabilise. Develop slowly and within the finances kindly donated by our owners. But that is not a long term solution. Owners pockets have limits and we have probably taken far more from them than is fair already. Some key decisions will need to be taken in the next few years. Right now it is not sustainable even at league 1 level, forget the Championship.
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Post by alfresco on Aug 4, 2024 8:51:01 GMT
I honestly think we will struggle, and a relegation battle looms for us
Firstly, we are weaker than last season, and secondly, the league is harder than last season
Why are we weaker?......well Kelman will not score as many as Sotiriou. I quite like Charlie, but im certain he wont score as many as Ruel.
Shaq Forde was a 'big' player for us last season, and his replacements ( from what ive seen), are not as good as him ( Perkins/DJ)
And lastly, losing El Miz, will be huge. He was our engine, he was different class, and on our budget he was always going to be impossible to replace.
Warrington has come in as El Miz's replacement, but again on what ive seen, he's nowhere near, at this time
Ive also assumed all the players will stay fit, if we get injuries to key players, the squad is too thin, and adequate replacements are not in place
So, as things stand now, we are going to struggle
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Post by redshank on Aug 4, 2024 9:22:45 GMT
I have it on good authority that a player from the championship wants £20k a week to drop to league 1. The buying club has offered £15k a week. Either sum is beyond virtually all clubs and it’s madness at our level. Make of that what you will. As I mentioned in a recent post,probably heard of the TV money coming the way of FL teams.That money and beyond will be wiped out and beyond.One wonders what will happen to the FL in two or three years time. by these excessive demands by agents and players. |
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Post by eca on Aug 4, 2024 9:32:13 GMT
I am optimistic- I think we will do quite well.
I thought Forde was excellent after his position was changed - as others said in his initial position he was offside a lot and attacks broke down
If you look at the Kelman history he was only a few years ago classified as a “boy wonder” and was transferred from Southend for a very substantial fee. He is stronger now - I have no evidence that he will not match or exceed most people’s expectations in terms of goals and work ethic to the teams tactical plan.
The young new forward if one looks at his cv he played for England at many youth ages and again is no evidence that he cannot be a major contributor by the end of this season.
We got a new goalie that has senior experience in a league similar to ours excluding the two Glasgow clubs which are championship level and he looks very good on the podcast clips
We have four very competent centre backs, and more than adequate players in fullbacks / wingbacks, midfield and the other new players signed are more than adequate.
I really think we as a club are proceeding in an excellent direction.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2024 15:30:31 GMT
The league undoubtedly looks harder than last season but I think it's probably been overstated. Yes, it's difficult to pick out many (or any?) bad teams on paper right now, but there will definitely be some flops.
There are quite a few teams rebuilding more or less their whole squad from scratch (Rotherham, Burton, Crawley, etc). That rarely goes well, no matter how much money you throw at it.
I think Wrexham are massively overrated this season. People have gotten used to them being able to pay over the odds for players who should be playing a level or two higher, but L1 is probably about the level for their best players now, some of whom are in the twilight years of their career and adjusted to a lower standard of football. Bringing a L1-level player to the National League is a different kettle of fish to bringing a PL-level player to League One. After two consecutive promotions, they'd be smart to consolidate for a couple of seasons and invest more in potential. Their transfer activity so far suggests that probably is the plan. (The cynic in me recognises that a terrible season would be great for the Disney+ documentary too.)
You can point out that we don't look any stronger than last season, but neither do a fair few teams that finished below or around us last season, like Cambridge, Shrewsbury and Blackpool. Reading ended last season strongly but have yet to make a signing this window.
There's a lot of concern about squad depth, but we can't compare the number of incomings to outgoings. Of the 12 players gone, four were youth players who had one appearance for the senior team between them. Losing Edwards and Adu-Adjei is equally irrelevant and Thompson had already been replaced in the last window. So we effectively had five players who needed replacing to match the strength of last season's squad. I believe we've done that and we've got till the end of the month still to build on it further.
Also some talk about players not looking good enough in the preseason games so far. Let's not forget that our last preseason was a complete disaster.
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Post by dohnut on Aug 4, 2024 16:19:14 GMT
The league undoubtedly looks harder than last season but I think it's probably been overstated. Yes, it's difficult to pick out many (or any?) bad teams on paper right now, but there will definitely be some flops. There are quite a few teams rebuilding more or less their whole squad from scratch (Rotherham, Burton, Crawley, etc). That rarely goes well, no matter how much money you throw at it. I think Wrexham are massively overrated this season. People have gotten used to them being able to pay over the odds for players who should be playing a level or two higher, but L1 is probably about the level for their best players now, some of whom are in the twilight years of their career and adjusted to a lower standard of football. Bringing a L1-level player to the National League is a different kettle of fish to bringing a PL-level player to League One. After two consecutive promotions, they'd be smart to consolidate for a couple of seasons and invest more in potential. Their transfer activity so far suggests that probably is the plan. (The cynic in me recognises that a terrible season would be great for the Disney+ documentary too.) You can point out that we don't look any stronger than last season, but neither do a fair few teams that finished below or around us last season, like Cambridge, Shrewsbury and Blackpool. Reading ended last season strongly but have yet to make a signing this window. There's a lot of concern about squad depth, but we can't compare the number of incomings to outgoings. Of the 12 players gone, four were youth players who had one appearance for the senior team between them. Losing Edwards and Adu-Adjei is equally irrelevant and Thompson had already been replaced in the last window. So we effectively had five players who needed replacing to match the strength of last season's squad. I believe we've done that and we've got till the end of the month still to build on it further. Also some talk about players not looking good enough in the preseason games so far. Let's not forget that our last preseason was a complete disaster. Fair point about teams rebuilding. Portsmouth did last season as did Stevenage, they didn’t suffer. Rotherham will do well, typical Evans builds with experienced players so reduces risk, I fancy them to do well. Crawley may struggle. No idea about Burton. Reading have so many issues. Wrexham, consolidation about right. But you assessment is fair enough, which is why I don’t believe we will be in a relegation dog fight. Hopefully. I don’t think our issue is quality, we have that, but depth. If our players stay available for most of the season we should be fine. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2024 16:35:32 GMT
Portsmouth did last season as did Stevenage, they didn’t suffer. That's true. In Stevenage you also remind me there was another team I meant to suggest for a likely drop off. |
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Post by redshank on Aug 4, 2024 16:40:41 GMT
If anything could go wrong last season it did,surely it cannot happen this season.Intersesting to hear RW saying the refs will be playing a different game this season and be accountable,Not wishing to be hard on the hardworking officials but some certainly did not favour us at times.
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Post by mrb on Aug 4, 2024 16:46:08 GMT
If anything could go wrong last season it did,surely it cannot happen this season.Intersesting to hear RW aying the refs will be playing a different game this season and be accountable,Not wishing to be hard on the hardworking officials but some certainly did not favour us at times. Can’t disagree with this |
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Post by dohnut on Aug 4, 2024 20:59:57 GMT
Portsmouth did last season as did Stevenage, they didn’t suffer. That's true. In Stevenage you also remind me there was another team I meant to suggest for a likely drop off. Absolutely. Not too sure they have fared greatly during the summer break. I like Alec Revell (despite the obvious) but Evans is a hard act to follow and Revells first stint in charge wasn’t great. We will finish above them for sure. |
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Post by dohnut on Aug 4, 2024 21:12:12 GMT
If anything could go wrong last season it did,surely it cannot happen this season.Intersesting to hear RW saying the refs will be playing a different game this season and be accountable,Not wishing to be hard on the hardworking officials but some certainly did not favour us at times. Hear this all too often. “The referee etc… etc…” But despite the odd mistakes, which go both ways, they don’t favour anyone. Fans ignore things that go their way and pick up the stuff that don’t. We got away with plenty. We need to sort our indiscipline, that was poor, and from the top. As for injuries, we had our share but so did others. The difference being some were fortunate enough to have depth to cope. We lacked depth from game 1. De javu. Normal to have issues, routine. What is not normal is to go through a season with few issues. That’s why it is now a squad game. Not about a good first 11 but a good squad. injuries, suspensions, loss of form, fatigue will happen. Not may, will. When it does, let’s not be surprised. |
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Post by redshank on Aug 5, 2024 7:35:34 GMT
You know when the ref has had a bad game,just as you know when a player has.I am never too critical of the officials and most times leave it when the game finishes.They are not beyond criticism is my point.That applies both to the home team and away team
For a newly promoted team starting the hard journey with the best of their players having long term injuries was no ordinary season.That would cause great problems for any team,compounded by our budget being almost spent and waiting until the January window to perhaps recruit.Another such as that could see a return to League 2.
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Post by mujtahido on Aug 5, 2024 10:46:41 GMT
So what if it's the hardest league one ever.What are we supposed to do be scared of everyone we play and just roll over.Get behind RW and the team and enjoy it you never know we might just surprise a few people
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Post by redshank on Aug 5, 2024 11:17:26 GMT
Many underestimated us last season,we did the same to be fair,just look at the dross we lost to.Remember Burton and Fleetwood but beat Bolton and a cocky Charlton crowd.
Looking with the usual matchday angst to doing very well in the coming season.
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Post by dohnut on Aug 5, 2024 12:09:12 GMT
So what if it's the hardest league one ever.What are we supposed to do be scared of everyone we play and just roll over.Get behind RW and the team and enjoy it you never know we might just surprise a few people Our squad character is not of the roll over type. They will fight for sure. But that goes for every team in league 1. They are professionals too and hoping like us to surprise a few people, their fans will be behind them as well. We are not unique. Just one of 24 squads getting ready for a tough season. it’s not about being scared but being prepared. If we are in terms of squad quality, depth and preparation we shall be competitive. So will all the others. What remains to be seen is if our competitiveness is enough. We all hope so. My guess is that there will be lots of competitive teams in league 1. Going to be interesting. |
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