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cassidystash wrote:

That’s what normally happens, surely you have to support the current manager and, to my mind, that has to mean he has input into signings. (It helps if the manager stays long enough to cover a players 2 year contract of course.)

It’s what has happened in the past but I think football has changed, especially as managers everywhere have become more disposable. Clubs like Brentford & Barnsley, punching well above their weight, work like this. Swansea got to the Premier League doing the same thing: the manager changes but the overall approach doesn’t.

Of course, those clubs appointed managers who clearly bought into this plan and worked with it, managers whose preferred playing style matched the club’s plans. I’m not sure you can say that about some of our recent appointments.

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cassidystash wrote:

I have no problem with a manager being denied a player he would like for reasons probably financial, it’s not unreasonable for the chairman to have the final say in this. I do, however, have a major problem with a manager being given a player he doesn’t want, chosen by somebody else and possibly one he doesn’t even know.

That’s all very well but what happens when you change the manager? Do you have to sign a whole new squad for them? Given how disposable managers are these days, it makes sense to have more consistency in the type of football played and the types of players signed? Which is not to say that the Swann’s committee have been getting it right, by any means! But I think the principle is sound.

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Ironawe wrote:

Swann probably thinks he goes through so many managers he may as well buy who he wants but that has to change and we’ll have to hope Cox gets his targets – but he and Jem are miles away from the Chairman in thinking (funny that – two ex prem footballers v not football)

Far be it for me to side with Swann in these matters but I actually think that having some sort of club strategy for signings is the right way to go. You can’t be overhauling the squad every season when you change the manager, there needs to be some sort of common thread. Of course, these things have to be balanced and managers should feel like they have the tools to do their jobs but they shouldn’t have sole/final say on signings.

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DarrynStampGoalMachine wrote:

Onarise and Taft is a great pairing if they can stay fit. Barks and one other as backup.

Am I the only one who isn’t convinced by Onarise? He’s good in the air but he’s so slow and easy to turn, I’m not sure he’s the player some think he is. Of course, compared with some other options we’ve had in this position, he’s going to stand out! But I prefer Clarke to Onarise at centre back.

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Pretty much exactly my point NI!

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Northumbiron

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It makes so much sense and many of us have been calling for it for weeks.

Of course, chucking in several of them at a time into a struggling & under-motivated side is not necessarily the best way of giving very young players the chance to shine but I would definitely recommend putting in 2 or 3 of the best prospects to see how they get on. After all, isn’t this what the chairman wants us to be all about as a club?

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Northumbiron wrote:

Now I don’t want to tar all football agents with the same brush, but this bigging-up of poor to average players is not doing anyone any good. It is of course in their interest to get their clients the best deal, but their blatant misinformation (aka bullshit) is making life miserable for managers, coaches, fans and ultimately the players themselves. The more a club relies on football agents and scouting agencies the more often this will happen.

Caveat emptor. You can’t blame the fox for acting like a fox.

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B.gray

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And it can’t be easy to take the risky step of cutting prices at times like this but I really believe that next season people will see £25 for a ticket very differently from how they did 18 months ago.

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What does any of this mean?

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Daz – I thought the same, I can only imagine he felt it was the last straw after a series of setbacks and he realises he no longer needs to rely on the players he considers to be a problem?

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SODIron

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One more for you Cass: a proven record of buying unproven players and giving them a chance to shine before moving on (e.g. Keogh, Sharp, Hooper, Patterson, Wallace, Townsend). I reckon that sort of track record really helps sell a club like ours to young players.

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cassidystash

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Yep, which is why it’s been so boring. And you can understand why when you look at how open we were at the back in the early part of this season.

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I know what you mean, I just think it’s easy to forget just how bad we were in the autumn. After that FA Cup game against Solihull, I fully expected us to be in Grimsby’s current position. For me, the bigger issue has been how boring it has been to watch the team. We’re not even averaging a goal a game. Barrow have scored 10 more than us and Oldham have managed 64 despite being crap!

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Completely agree Mick, definition of a false economy.

I’d have Karacan as the captain for next season, he’s had a huge impact on the team since his arrival.

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IRONINTHEBLOOD, mistertonmick

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cassidystash wrote:

“We’ve done really well this year by sitting in and playing counter-attacking football” – WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!
If he thinks that then we might have a big problem in the future.

I disagree. This is a piss-poor squad and to get us to safety long before the end of the season is a great achievement given what he’s got to work with. It’s not been pretty, it has been effective enough to get the job done.

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Wasn’t White City out west where the BBC TV Centre was?

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Why does anyone think changing the manager will improve anything? Hell, even a “clear out” of players won’t change anything. We were crap last season, released virtually the entire squad and, hey presto, we’re crap again this season.

We all know what really needs to change.

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inspector

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I’d have no problem with Howe playing if we were seriously considering signing him but that remains to be seen.

As for the other youth team players, there are several like Barks, Dawson, Jessop, Pugh & Hornshaw who I’d like to see given the odd opportunity to see what they can do. And given how tired/injured half the team looked on Saturday, this is surely the time?

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Couldn’t give two hoots about the result, I just want to see some young players given a chance (especially given all the injuries) and some attacking intent.

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Short time thinking there Mick – why aren’t we investing in our own players with a view to making more money on them in future?

cassidystash wrote:

Maybe we have been advised that Howe will be available in the summer.

Yeah I wondered that but if that was the case, you’d have thought we’d have got something agreed in advance before giving him the chance to attract other clubs to come in and gazump us. Maybe it’s already agreed behind the scenes? Who knows!

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Sanfran49 wrote:

He can’t leave without some sort of settlement as a contract offer has been made but it will be nowhere what we should be looking forward to.

Thanks to the awful EPPP arrangement, even if he stays in England, we will only get a fixed fee and it won’t be very much.

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More a principle than a major inconvenience for fans but still not ideal for clubs & players.

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Iron-awe

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bartonscorpion wrote:

Fans still peering round support columns in the Cluggy stand.

Be fair, we seem have solved that problem, at least for one season!

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Ironawe wrote:

See Neil Cox’s response today…..

What’s he said?

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Ironawe

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mistertonmick wrote:

6 isn’t unusual for us but it’s been like it all season, all teams get injuries but tell me any team who have had more.

I can’t because I don’t really care about any other club, so I don’t follow their injury situation. But I’d be surprised if we really are consistently the worst club.

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mistertonmick wrote:

Though to be honest I don’t think he said or could say any different to be truthful.

Show some leadership and offer some inspiration, some hope, some reason to look forward to next season.

Yes, it’s been hard, I think most of us understand that. But we’re now hoping to put this period behind us and look forward to next season, so let’s have something to get excited about!

UTI’s clearly a wind-up merchant and he’s entitled to his views but his ideas wouldn’t exactly help to run any business, would they?

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bartonscorpion, alcazar, IRONINTHEBLOOD, Northumbiron

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mistertonmick wrote:

6 of them first team players.
Why is it we seem to have treble the injuries of other clubs.

Seem to or actually have?

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mistertonmick wrote:

when with 14 games to go and in 13th position 10 points would have seen us safe and we managed 6, with all the remaining games all very losable can anyone see us be overtaken by the bottom 3.

Won’t happen. Mainly because there are only 2 relegation places not four, so in League One we only had to fall to 21st position, here we have to fall to 23rd. Plus that League One season was a statistical freak.

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premier iron wrote:

As soon as it is allowed we need a fans forum ASAP and we need Swann and Cox in attendance

Disagree, no point in the manager being dragged along to these things to be berated by the likes of Burney about “tactics”. As for the chairman, that’s a different matter….

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Lot of people presuming ifollow will still be an option next season – I’m not convinced it will be, at least not after the first couple of months.

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Northumbiron

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