[Ferrite]

inspector wrote:

What exactly did Swann say about the man who’s been supporting the Iron since 1947?

The guy said he was fed up, that this team was the worst he’d seen in his time and that this year’s season ticket would be his last. Swann’s response was “what can you do”, followed up by defending his position and saying something along the lines of “if you don’t want to buy a season ticket then that’s your choice but be grateful there’s still a club to support”.

Now, despite my views about our chairman, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to his position at the moment. It clearly has been very difficult running a football club at the moment and it must really grate to hear complaints from fans when you know how hard you’ve been working behind the scenes.

However, in what other business would you get the CEO being so publicly dismissive of complaints from customers? It just wouldn’t happen or, if it did, the business would end up going the way of Ratner’s.

What I would have liked to hear was some positivity, no matter how hard that is to find at the moment, some hope for the future, some recognition that complaints might be valid even if you don’t agree with them, some engagement and recognition that the fans are going to be crucial to getting us through this crisis. It doesn’t matter if Swann doesn’t believe that, in situations like this the message is crucial. Especially after just telling us how important it is to get fans through the gates next season!

For example, can you imagine Nigel Adkins talking about the fans in this way? Of course not, he’d have talked for 5 minutes about “controlling the controllables”, “little old Scunny” and by the end of it you’d be convinced we were going to win the league next season in front of 8,000 fans every week. That’s the sort of positivity we need right now!

[Ferrite]

Northumbiron wrote:

On the positive side many people will be desperate to get out to some sort of event.

Yes, I think the first one or two games might see a mini-boom, be interesting to see if that settles down after a few matches.

[Ferrite]

It can happen that players don’t score many goals until the rest of the team clicks. It can also be that they don’t score many goals because they’re no good.

I think Loft has done enough to offer some hope but equally I wouldn’t be too sorry if he didn’t stay.

[Ferrite]

Could it be that Loft is not particularly good by normal standards but still stands out as a beacon in the current team?

[Ferrite]

lesgeo wrote:

Delivery – you may have a point but content is more important for ‘an expert’.

In that case, I would really appreciate more insight than just “he’s got to score” or “that’s not good enough”. That’s the sort of thing I could tell you! It would be nice to know why a striker might have missed a chance, why a defender might have left a player unmarked, what the effect of fatigue is on players throughout a game/season, what it’s like to be out of contract in the summer and how that might affect your performances. Newey had a long career with a number of clubs, he must have loads of knowledge of the game to share, so share it!

[Ferrite]

lesgeo wrote:

As ‘resident expert’ – I reckon Tom is, by head and shoulders, the best we’ve ever had. He tells it like it is. I, for one, really appreciate that.

I am astonished to read this, I cannot stand listening to Tom Newey. I’m sure he’s a lovely bloke but behind a mic I find him overly negative, he has a flat delivery which never engages and he seems to go out of his way not to understand refereeing or managerial decisions. Mike White deserves better to work with.

[Ferrite]

alcazar wrote:

You reckon anyone will be allowed in next season, Mick?
They’ve already primed us by saying that the vaccine neither stops you getting it, not passing it on.
And our continental”friends” are entering lockdown 3 today….

Watch for our media, who have run this whole debacle, to start pushing for stricter controls here again.

Why have you put friends in speech marks there Alcy?

For what it’s worth, yes I do think grounds will be open next season.

[Ferrite]

alcazar wrote:

Cue:
“We can’t stand in the lad’s way. He’s going to a bigger club/higher league/ someone who will offer more than 50p and a half sucked toffee”.

What should we offer him? And where should that money come from?

I’d love to know what “monitoring” actually means. Classic tabloid speak!

[Ferrite]

Add in the fact that it’s been an incredibly boring season and one which none of us have been able to see in person. The best thing to come out of this season will be the survival of the club & starting next season.

[Ferrite]

Newport? I was trying to guess which club it might be!

They wouldn’t have been at the top of my list….

[Ferrite]

When was the last time we had something resembling a first team going into the start of the new season?

To be fair, this summer was always going to be a very difficult one for the club given the lack of income this season. If a few players, no matter how important, think they can get more money elsewhere then we’ll have to let them go, this is not a time to be playing games.

[Ferrite]

Awaywego wrote:

Clutching at straws there ferrite, most of us understand the difference between foul play and down right cheating. Over the moon with his ban,didn’t expect it as did many others but more than welcome.

Foul play is trying to win the ball and failing, foul play is being caught offside, foul play is not knowing how to take a throw-in.

Clarke wasn’t trying & failing to play the game, he just shoved a bloke over.

[Ferrite]

Interesting that noone on here has described Clarke’s actions as “cheating”, even though what he did is against the laws of the game?

[Ferrite]

Rudyboy wrote:

‘The cheating involved in being shoved to the ground’ is when you writhe around on the ground holding your face as though you have been punched!

The referee will give what he sees, not how a player reacts. If Clarke hadn’t shoved him for no reason, there would have been no decision to make.

[Ferrite]

10bobnote wrote:

Dieng should have at least a 3 match ban otherwise the Chet’s will continue to flourish!

What cheating is involved in “being shoved to the ground”?

[Ferrite]

Northumbiron wrote:

Still mathematically possible to go down.

10-11 games to go, 11 points clear of the drop, 5 teams would have to come past us. Not going to happen.

[Ferrite]

BORING!

The sooner this season is over the better. Well done to Cox & the players for keeping us up, not much more we can say.

1 user thanked author for this post.

open hearth iron

[Ferrite]

We’re already safe. The only thing to play for now is next season.

[Ferrite]

I think our fans are really harsh on our own young players. Look at the way McCombe was treated for a great example. We’re far too quick to get on their back during games and then to demand new, more expensive signings to replace them.

I’m sorry to say, I think that some of the hosts of the Iron Bru podcast are guilty of this. Just listening to the recent one, they were arguing in favour of picking someone called Teddy Howe (who apparently is on loan from Blackpool – who knew?) over Jai Rowe. Why would it make any sense to select a loanee over a youth prospect at this stage of the season, now we’re safe?

[Ferrite]

Personally, I don’t agree with life bans for anything or anyone, least not for first offences.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Awaywego

[Ferrite]

Awaywego wrote:

Sutton and So Wootton ferrite?

To an extent, yes, though neither really became a first-choice selection unless other players were injured. Same as Jai Rowe at the moment too.

[Ferrite]

Fans aren’t deprived of their livelihood if they’re banned though, are they?

[Ferrite]

No he hasn’t been banned for life, no idea what the OP is on about.

BTW, usually FIFA will extend any domestic ban worldwide.

[Ferrite]

Lord Kitchener wrote:

I’d love to see some more home grown talent breaking into the first team.

I think a lot of us would but it’s been a while since anyone came through the youth team to become a regular, or even semi-regular, first teamer. Who would be the last one? Hakeeb?

[Ferrite]

lesgeo wrote:

Two things that worry me about Neil’s approach are:
1) Eisa and McAtee are two of our best half dozen players and we saw them side-lined at the start of the season and apparently poor relationships developing. With Hammill it was obvious who was wrong. In this instance – I simply do not know.

We do seem to have a poor track record in recent years with what you might describe as “flair” players. It’s all very well having a team of “disciplined” meat & potatoes footballers like Spence & Gilliead but you do need that special something to make a team really sing.

4 users thanked author for this post.

StainlessIron, bartonscorpion, lesgeo, cassidystash

[Ferrite]

I think Cox has worked wonders, getting us comfortably into lower midtable with such a poor squad, credit to him. I also think this is the sort of progress Hurst was showing (with a better square) before he was sacked. Cox has sorted out the defence – remember when we were conceding penalties every week? As I said on another thread, the only thing we can ask from Cox now is some more exciting football because we really struggle to score goals.

[Ferrite]

Bucksiron wrote:

I must have missed something, Ferrite, which of course is entirely possible, because the numbers you provided show a 10% increase in L1 vs the last promotion.

Yep, 10%, which isn’t much really, when you consider that a large part of that increase will have been down to bigger away followings.

[Ferrite]

Bucksiron wrote:

The point is that gates are going to be significantly higher challenging for promotion from L1 than from L2.

Even though I’ve just proven that this wasn’t the case in the last few examples?

[Ferrite]

cassidystash wrote:

No way to prove that of course, we might have won anyway but we haven’t won away anywhere else after being behind.

You’ve hit on one of my bug-bears in football: when managers/pundits/commentators say “we’d have won if that goal had been allowed/if we’d been given a penalty/etc.” which just isn’t true because, as you say, you have no idea how the game would have panned out if that decision had been different. Sure, you’re more likely to win if you score a goal but it’s not a guarantee.

Anyway, I’d forgotten about the Walsall penalty save, I’ll give you that one!

[Ferrite]

I wonder if Bucks ran a shop and some of his customers complained that they weren’t getting the level of service they were used to receiving, he would just write them off as moaning and groaning?

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