10 years ago today… (3 Viewers)

[Dimi_Konstantflapalot]

We played our last game in the Championship before relegation and ended it with a 4-0 loss at Saints, an absolute whimper of a performance under Thorn

The side that day was:

Murphy
Clarke
Willis
Cranie
Hussey
Baker
Bigi
Norwood
Thomas
McSheffrey
McDonald

It’s been quite the journey since then but glad the club are in a far better place now than our last stint in this division

 

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[HuckerbyDublinWhelan]

The question is how many of that starting 11 would you have in our team now.

Norwood and Cranie maybe

 

[Covkid1968#]

Def Norwood.

I assume Julian Gray was injured

 

[Sick Boy]

They were truly horrific dark days - still can’t believe we actually had him in charge and all the excuses that got peddled out for him.

 

[1ccfc]

And yet worse was to come with another relegation. I know you ultimately end up where you deserve, but to think we ended up in the 4th tier, those were really bad days. Not that I would want a repeat of relegation, I did enjoy the journey back up the leagues.

 

[ajsccfc]

I loved Joe Murphy, either the atmosphere was quieter or he was a foghorn but you could hear him absolutely screaming his head off as Chris Hussey without fail every game

 

[Bad Boy]

And yet worse was to come with another relegation. I know you ultimately end up where you deserve, but to think we ended up in the 4th tier, those were really bad days. Not that I would want a repeat of relegation, I did enjoy the journey back up the leagues.

From the final season in the prem it was woeful management from top to bottom.

 

[rob9872]

It was an awful atmosphere around the place and a club clearly on the decline rather than the upward trajectory that we have now, otherwise I don't think that's too bad a team and not one that should have been relegated.

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

I loved Joe Murphy, either the atmosphere was quieter or he was a foghorn but you could hear him absolutely screaming his head off as Chris Hussey without fail every game

You must have a good ear to pick Murphys voice out over the thousands of others screaming abuse at Hussey.

 

[CovBrummie94]

It was an awful atmosphere around the place and a club clearly on the decline rather than the upward trajectory that we have now, otherwise I don't think that's too bad a team and not one that should have been relegated.

That starting XI is definitely relegation quality

 

[Grendel]

You must have a good ear to pick Murphys voice out over the thousands of others screaming abuse at Hussey.

The next Gareth Bale? surely not

Chris Hussey - LM Sensation?

He seemed to do very well tonight from what i heard. Think Robins will put him in there more often?

www.skybluestalk.co.uk

 

[CovBrummie94]

The next Gareth Bale? surely not

Chris Hussey - LM Sensation?

He seemed to do very well tonight from what i heard. Think Robins will put him in there more often?

www.skybluestalk.co.uk

That thread is awfully similar to the Shipley at LWB comments...

 

[Sick Boy]

It was an awful atmosphere around the place and a club clearly on the decline rather than the upward trajectory that we have now, otherwise I don't think that's too bad a team and not one that should have been relegated.

If we’d brought in Robins, as was being mentioned at the time, rather than going with Thorn I reckon we’d have stayed up.

 

[Sick Boy]

The next Gareth Bale? surely not

Chris Hussey - LM Sensation?

He seemed to do very well tonight from what i heard. Think Robins will put him in there more often?

www.skybluestalk.co.uk

The forum in those years had me wondering if my coffee has been spiked with LSD more than a few times.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

If we’d brought in Robins, as was being mentioned at the time, rather than going with Thorn I reckon we’d have stayed up.

Although Thorn was terrible I'm not so sure we would've stayed up if Robins was in charge.

The Starting XI wasn't awful but the squad on the whole had zero depth so there was no one we could bring on to help change things when we were chasing the game.

Couple that with two terrible windows, the sale of our best chance of staying up in Jutkiewicz and a complete disdain amongst the fanbase and it would've been a minor miracle if we'd stayed up, regardless of who was in charge.

 

[Sick Boy]

Although Thorn was terrible I'm not so sure we would've stayed up if Robins was in charge.

The Starting XI wasn't awful but the squad on the whole had zero depth so there was no one we could bring on to help change things when we were chasing the game.

Couple that with two terrible windows, the sale of our best chance of staying up in Jutkiewicz and a complete disdain amongst the fanbase and it would've been a minor miracle if we'd stayed up, regardless of who was in charge.

Disagree, the stuff about miracles is just a continuation of the myth that surrounded him at the time. He was way out his depth and should never have got the job in the first place - to be fair there would have been outrage from most of the fanbase is he hadn’t.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

Disagree, it’s just a continuation of the myth that surrounded him at the time.

It's not really a myth though is it.

Look at who we had on the bench in the 2-1 loss vs Palace in the third game of the season.

Dunn, McPake, Cameron, Ruffles, Jeffers.

Equally, and I sound like CC84 here, but where do you believe the goals were coming from post Jutkiewicz? Our second highest goalscorer that season was McSheffrey with 8 and then following him McDonald and Platt with four a piece.

I fail to understand how you think that qualifies as a squad capable of staying up.

 

[Sick Boy]

It's not really a myth though is it.

Look at who we had on the bench in the 2-1 loss vs Palace in the third game of the season.

Dunn, McPake, Cameron, Ruffles, Jeffers.

Equally, and I sound like CC84 here, but where do you believe the goals were coming from post Jutkiewicz? Our second highest goalscorer that season was McSheffrey with 8 and then following him McDonald and Platt with four a piece.

I fail to understand how you think that qualifies as a squad capable of staying up.

The squad was good enough to stay up, much in the same way our current squad has greatly exceeded expectations this season.

 

[skybluesam66]

remember Alex Nimely - the one game wonder!

 

[MusicDating]

It's not really a myth though is it.

Look at who we had on the bench in the 2-1 loss vs Palace in the third game of the season.

Dunn, McPake, Cameron, Ruffles, Jeffers.

Equally, and I sound like CC84 here, but where do you believe the goals were coming from post Jutkiewicz? Our second highest goalscorer that season was McSheffrey with 8 and then following him McDonald and Platt with four a piece.

I fail to understand how you think that qualifies as a squad capable of staying up.

Tbh, our squad can be weak as piss, as long as there are 3 worse squads, ours is good enough to stay up!

That approach served us well in the top flight for 30+ years

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

The squad was good enough to stay up, much in the same way our current squad has greatly exceeded expectations this season.

I think that's a stretch. The majority of the players we have this season are of far superior quality in comparison to what we had back then.

And we've exceeded expectations this season because the recruitment has been by large successful. Our success this season isn't down to a manager making subpar players look far better than they are. Which would've been the task at hand if Robins had been manager in 2011/12.

I think he would've probably helped plug the sloppy late goals issue but the lack of goals scored would've been borderline impossible to improve when he would've had such few goal threats and very little creativity in the side. So at best needless losses would've perhaps been converted to draws.

Excluding the loans, the fact that only 3 players (including Jutkiewicz) were picked up by Championship clubs the following season pretty much proves that as a squad it was wholly substandard.

 

[Grendel]

I think that's a stretch. The majority of the players we have this season are of far superior quality in comparison to what we had back then.

And we've exceeded expectations this season because the recruitment has been by large successful. Our success this season isn't down to a manager making subpar players look far better than they are. Which would've been the task at hand if Robins had been manager in 2011/12.

I think he would've probably helped plug the sloppy late goals issue but the lack of goals scored would've been borderline impossible to improve when he would've had such few goal threats and very little creativity in the side. So at best needless losses would've perhaps been converted to draws.

Excluding the loans, the fact that only 3 players (including Jutkiewicz) were picked up by Championship clubs the following that season pretty much proves that as a squad it was wholly substandard.

We were 8 points from safety at the point of relegation - a real manager could have achieved those points.

Cranie Christie Wood all played in the championship again from the defence

Norwood was capable

Thorn bragged about scouting Bell so that’s his problem and he signed McDonald

Through Feb and march we only lost 2 games I think and when it came to the big games at the end we collapsed

He was a joke and should have been chucked under the bus in September

 

[fernandopartridge]

We played our last game in the Championship before relegation and ended it with a 4-0 loss at Saints, an absolute whimper of a performance under Thorn

The side that day was:

Murphy
Clarke
Willis
Cranie
Hussey
Baker
Bigi
Norwood
Thomas
McSheffrey
McDonald

It’s been quite the journey since then but glad the club are in a far better place now than our last stint in this division

I went that day, great day out albeit we left the game after about 20 minutes or so

 

[fernandopartridge]

We were 8 points from safety at the point of relegation - a real manager could have achieved those points.

Cranie Christie Wood all played in the championship again from the defence

Norwood was capable

Thorn bragged about scouting Bell so that’s his problem and he signed McDonald

Through Feb and march we only lost 2 games I think and when it came to the big games at the end we collapsed

He was a joke and should have been chucked under the bus in September

Keogh was a mainstay of the back 4 as well

 

[Grendel]

Keogh was a mainstay of the back 4 as well

yes forgot him!

 

[robbiekeane]

Weird that I only really recognise half of that lineup. I finished Uni in 2012…3 years of truly having given up and not given a shit about ccfc. Feels so strange…seems I only really got fully back into it post relegation to league 1

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

We were 8 points from safety at the point of relegation - a real manager could have achieved those points.

Cranie Christie Wood all played in the championship again from the defence

Norwood was capable

Thorn bragged about scouting Bell so that’s his problem and he signed McDonald

Through Feb and march we only lost 2 games I think and when it came to the big games at the end we collapsed

He was a joke and should have been chucked under the bus in September

Wood has been relegated from the Championship three times with Rotherham (didn't sign for Charlton until the season after we were relegated) and Christie didn't play for Derby for a further two years. Cranie was the one of the three I mentioned in my post.

Norwood was the obvious one from the loans.

To be fair were on the cusp of signing Le Fondre, but that fell through at the last hurdle. McDonald was an appalling Plan B though.

There was far too many glaringly concerning gaps with the squad for a capable manager to succeed. We would've undoubtedly conceded fewer goals and the relegation fight would've been closer, but like I said I fail to see how we would improved our form in front of goal when there was simply no one available to fill that role.

Perhaps Robins would've fared better in the windows but that's a complete intangible.

 

[Dimi_Konstantflapalot]

Although Thorn was terrible I'm not so sure we would've stayed up if Robins was in charge.

The Starting XI wasn't awful but the squad on the whole had zero depth so there was no one we could bring on to help change things when we were chasing the game.

Couple that with two terrible windows, the sale of our best chance of staying up in Jutkiewicz and a complete disdain amongst the fanbase and it would've been a minor miracle if we'd stayed up, regardless of who was in charge.

Agreed. I think if we'd have kept Jutkiewicz we might have had a sniff of staying up. But on the whole there was absolutely no depth outside the first XI

 

[Sick Boy]

Weird that I only really recognise half of that lineup. I finished Uni in 2012…3 years of truly having given up and not given a shit about ccfc. Feels so strange…seems I only really got fully back into it post relegation to league 1

I had enough of the Thorn season after the 2-1 defeat away at Palace, he should have gone around that time as it was clear he was going to get us relegated.

 

[Grendel]

Agreed. I think if we'd have kept Jutkiewicz we might have had a sniff of staying up. But on the whole there was absolutely no depth outside the first XI

Our ppg improved once he was sold

 

[Dimi_Konstantflapalot]

Our ppg improved once he was sold

Yeah interesting that. We definitely picked up a bit in Feb/March time, then shat it at the end

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

As mentioned elsewhere that side lost nearly 30 points from winning positions, and a lot of times it was just by the odd goal. A manager with half a brain would have kept us in it-but I think more a stay of execution as the whole operation was a shambles

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

As mentioned elsewhere that side lost nearly 30 points from winning positions, and a lot of times it was just by the odd goal. A manager with half a brain would have kept us in it-but I think more a stay of execution as the whole operation was a shambles

No capable manager would've stayed under those conditions.

If Thorn had any integrity and or self-awareness he would've resigned at the very latest in November.

 

[skybluegod]

We were 8 points from safety at the point of relegation - a real manager could have achieved those points.

Cranie Christie Wood all played in the championship again from the defence

Norwood was capable

Thorn bragged about scouting Bell so that’s his problem and he signed McDonald

Through Feb and march we only lost 2 games I think and when it came to the big games at the end we collapsed

He was a joke and should have been chucked under the bus in September

From memory it was the Millwall game
at home on a Tuesday night that really screwed us. Think we lost 1 nil, Mcsheffery missing a penalty and then he had a pass back from their defence where he just had to go round the keeper and tamely shot at him.
Then obviously the Doncaster game mentioned. Awful.

 

[mmttww]

Bristol City away at the end of that season was the worst thing I'd watched involving City up to that point. Never threatened once, lumped balls to Platt to have them skip off the rain-soaked pitch for goal kicks all game long. At least at Villa Park we had a f*cking go. This was just a team that couldn't play football showing exactly why we deserved to be relegated. Horrible.