Concerns over the club's direction...... (3 Viewers)

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
When @clint van damme predicts things to not improve alarm bells should be ringing

We need to start getting results quickly as things are already starting a bit tense

I'm a bit more optimistic after Saturday.
Torp is getting better each game.
I think the attack will click.
We still have issues in midfield, some of which Sheaf will address but I still think not getting another midfielder in be an ongoing issue.

We still look a bit frail at the back, another poor goal to concede Saturday with several players culpable.
 

Fergusons_Beard

Well-Known Member
You speak for yourself, I'm definitely not entitled, my bar for what will constitute a good season is far lower than most.

But that song was always going to end up soliciting that reaction at some point,admittedly its come a lot quicker than I thought.

And if those booing are entitled twats then those singing it are grinning, happy chappy simpletons.

Not really arguing about this Clint just completely exasperated because for the life of me I still can’t see what King has done to merit booing that song.

I most definitely am not a happy clappy simpleton more of a realist.

Maybe fan apathy is dialled right up to 10 after the shit show of the last 23 years and we can’t trust anyone now-even though they look to be going in the right direction.


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shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Not really arguing about this Clint just completely exasperated because for the life of me I still can’t see what King has done to merit booing that song.

I most definitely am not a happy clappy simpleton more of a realist.

Maybe fan apathy is dialled right up to 10 after the shit show of the last 23 years and we can’t trust anyone now-even though they look to be going in the right direction.


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Not everyone thinks we’ve gone in the right direction the last couple of years.

In fact on the pitch we’ve gone backwards and that’s all that matters to most.
 

Fergusons_Beard

Well-Known Member
Not everyone thinks we’ve gone in the right direction the last couple of years.

In fact on the pitch we’ve gone backwards and that’s all that matters to most.

Really? Be interested to hear your thoughts on why we’ve gone backwards on the pitch.

My take is that we were fortunate to reach the play off final (no denying that we did) and that this has made us look like underachievers since.

Yes we’ve had poor starts-as we did in the playoff year.

Although since we’ve got to within a toe of an Fa cup final should be regarded as successful.

We are a high end championship side and we will continue to challenge for promotion.

I’d rather we keep adding to the quality of the squad and not look for instant success.

It’s nice actually challenging every year instead of fighting for survival and battling relegation.

Like I said like to hear your justification on how we’ve gone backwards on the pitch?


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jto123

Well-Known Member
I think Doug has earned the right for some patience with the investment he has made. At the very least till the end of the season. My two caveats with this are the decision to not get a midfielder, which was clearly a massive and costly misjudgment. The second is we can’t use the argument that he is an improvement on SISU. It is true, but that is a ridiculously low bar and we can’t be so scarred by that experience that anybody who is an improvement is seen as a good owner.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Really? Be interested to hear your thoughts on why we’ve gone backwards on the pitch.

My take is that we were fortunate to reach the play off final (no denying that we did) and that this has made us look like underachievers since.

Yes we’ve had poor starts-as we did in the playoff year.

Although since we’ve got to within a toe of an Fa cup final should be regarded as successful.

We are a high end championship side and we will continue to challenge for promotion.

I’d rather we keep adding to the quality of the squad and not look for instant success.

It’s nice actually challenging every year instead of fighting for survival and battling relegation.

Like I said like to hear your justification on how we’ve gone backwards on the pitch?


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Vibes mostly. Team don’t seem as together. Quality hasn’t improved that much in terms of patterns of play and we’ve lost the specialness we had with a few flair players. Results aren’t as good as well but generally it feels like the PO final was the peak.
 

Hobo

Well-Known Member
Vibes mostly. Team don’t seem as together. Quality hasn’t improved that much in terms of patterns of play and we’ve lost the specialness we had with a few flair players. Results aren’t as good as well but generally it feels like the PO final was the peak.

So most of those two years you talk about was under AV's coaching. Perhaps it is right that the coaching department has been restructured? I think it is only fair that new structure is given time to bed in and take effect.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
So most of those two years you talk about was under AV's coaching. Perhaps it is right that the coaching department has been restructured? I think it is only fair that new structure is given time to bed in and take effect.

Its been one year and a bit, and Lawrence left halfway through that. But the fact is most people aren’t arsed about what’s happening behind the scenes, if the product on the day gets worse they won’t be happy regardless of anything else.

They may well turn it around and I’d expect the fans to be happier if they do 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Pezza

Well-Known Member
I think in general the club is going in the right direction, without doubt. You only have to look at then investments that have been made on and off the pitch.

However, in terms of the direction of the team, then yes I agree this is a concern. Investing in trying to find the next Vik is fine but not when the balance of the side looks off and we don't prioritize CM/Hamer replacement for example. I've also said before that we have not replaced big characters like Fadz, Kelly and the like. I appreciate that Robins is looking for others to step up but other teams have been able to go and get that type of player who can come in with the required experience to help further develop the rest of the group.

I've a feeling that if we get to 10 games and are still languishing in 14th/15th then there will be serious conversations going on at the club. I love Robins but we are all passing through and his time will come and I just have a feeling he won't see out the season.

Just my opinion, everyone is entitled to agree/disagree of course.
 

ms639

Well-Known Member
5 year deal on the ground, record ticket sales, record shirt sales, amazing training facilities, £40 million invested, Tier 1 sponsor, shrewd business on our outgoing assets, financially sustainable, ground looking better than it ever has...

Yep definitely going in the wrong direction. CLOWNS.
 

Hincha

Well-Known Member
Brentford finished 5th in 14/15 and proceeded to spend 4 seasons finishing between 9th-11th.

On the pitch they seemingly went backwards but they moved forward as a club to create the conditions to build the squad that finished 3rd in the following 2 seasons.

Think we’ve maybe got ahead of ourselves in where we expect to be in the league (myself included) and how quickly we can be on par with parachute payment teams. But each window the squad improves and each year the club improves.

I won’t sing his song because I find it a bit weird, but booing it is just as strange.
 

Matt smith

Well-Known Member
5 year deal on the ground, record ticket sales, record shirt sales, amazing training facilities, £40 million invested, Tier 1 sponsor, shrewd business on our outgoing assets, financially sustainable, ground looking better than it ever has...

Yep definitely going in the wrong direction. CLOWNS.
All these things are a positive, however it all becomes pretty much irrelevant if the football on the pitch is getting worse

it shouldn’t, but football is driven by whether the team gets 3 points on a Saturday
 

Pezza

Well-Known Member
All these things are a positive, however it all becomes pretty much irrelevant if the football on the pitch is getting worse

it shouldn’t, but football is driven by whether the team gets 3 points on a Saturday
I tend to agree, look at Blues last season as an example. They spent a lot of money on the team, new management staff, invested into training ground and St.Andrews. They now play in league one, albeit they are very well placed to come back up but perhaps a slightly poor comparison as their owners have more money than most clubs in European football.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
Brentford finished 5th in 14/15 and proceeded to spend 4 seasons finishing between 9th-11th.

On the pitch they seemingly went backwards but they moved forward as a club to create the conditions to build the squad that finished 3rd in the following 2 seasons.

Think we’ve maybe got ahead of ourselves in where we expect to be in the league (myself included) and how quickly we can be on par with parachute payment teams. But each window the squad improves and each year the club improves.

I won’t sing his song because I find it a bit weird, but booing it is just as strange.

They had a wage bill of £45 million and an owner who bunged money everywhere
 

Skybluecol

Well-Known Member
I tend to agree, look at Blues last season as an example. They spent a lot of money on the team, new management staff, invested into training ground and St.Andrews. They now play in league one, albeit they are very well placed to come back up but perhaps a slightly poor comparison as their owners have more money than most clubs in European football.
Blues mistake last year was to get rid of Eustace and employ Rooney......if that hadn't happened they'd have finished mid-tablelast season imo
 

Pezza

Well-Known Member
It's always polarized, the club is either seen as on the rise or on the brink of a crisis, I think there is a balanced view that we all need to try and adopt which is difficult when you're as emotionally invested as we all are.
In reality, the club is where it is and trying to improve like every other club. To a large extent, what Doug has been doing in recent months is dragging the club up to a standard it should have already been at in terms of facilities, infrastructure, recruitment, etc. He said himself, the training ground was a disgrace when he first took over. The key is to avoid getting ahead of ourselves just because we've invested some money into the training facilities and spent a few million, which by the way only happens due to Viktor Gykores and Gus Hamer. At the same time, we shouldn’t overreact to having only 5 points from the first 5 games. We are trying to improve as a club and that isn't for the want of trying but the team needs to perform or there will be more changes. I hope we do the Robins thing and turn it on soon and grow in the season and have a real go.
 

The Philosopher

Well-Known Member
A (hopefully) unrealistic worry is that Hedge Fund guy Doug is doing some kind of 90’s style “player investment hedge fund” for individual players where investors get a return on individual transfer profits.

It sounds mad but we did something like this before in the 90’s IIRC.

Some of our transfer dealings lean in to that model rather than what is best for the squad, and, it could explain the change of back room staff that is aimed towards player development maybe more so than pitch strategy.

Just a crazy thought that I hope is just that
 
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clint van damme

Well-Known Member
A (hopefully) unrealistic worry is that Hedge Fund guy Doug is doing some kind of 90’s style “player investment hedge fund” for individual players where investors get a return on individual transfer profits.

It sounds mad but we did something like this before in the 90’s IIRC.

Some of our transfer dealings lean in to that model rather than what is best for the squad and it could explain the change of back room staff that is aimed towards player development maybe more so than pitch strategy.

Just a crazy thought that I hope is just that

Fairly sure that's now against the rules, though also fairly sure that we've operated that model even when it was prohibited.
 

Fergusons_Beard

Well-Known Member
They had a wage bill of £45 million and an owner who bunged money everywhere

Hate to disagree but last season in the Premiership they had a wage bill of 38m so I doubt that would’ve been higher in the championship.

In the 19/20 season they had a wage bill of around 17m and they finished third.
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Interesting to compare with last seasons championship.

1. Leicester City – £60,190,000

2. Southampton – £40,014,000

3. Leeds United – £39,513,000

4. Norwich City – £24,196,000

5. West Bromwich Albion – £23,060,000

6. Cardiff City – £19,444,000

7. Stoke City – £18,340,000

8. Watford – £14,952,000

9. Sheffield Wednesday – £14,584,000

10. Middlesbrough – £13,582,000

11. Birmingham City – £13,228,000

12. Bristol City – £12,894,000

13. Hull City – £12,333,200

14. Swansea City – £12,276,000

15. Queens Park Rangers – £12,020,000

16. Ipswich Town – £11,378,000

17. Preston North End – £10,942,200

18. Coventry City – £10,008,000

19. Millwall – £9,856,000

20. Huddersfield Town – £9,258,000

21. Sunderland – £9,150,000

22. Blackburn Rovers – £7,678,000

23. Rotherham United – £6,674,000

24. Plymouth Argyle – £6,060,000


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