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If we win home games fans will turn up IMO the unattractive football will be forgotten by the majority, it’s all about winning to most of them.
Disagree entirely and that’s a fairly big IF. I’d rather lose whilst trying to win than win trying not to lose by playing defensive, turgid football.
To quote flat caps’ recent tweet in reference to wether he would be turning up to Chester:
‘I can’t do it. Scarborough away drained me, it was so bad. Told my daughter if we did well there we’d do Chester, but it was bloody awful. It was bad at Newcastle (Town), and even worse at Guiseley. Gone are the days of going no matter what, nowadays need to be entertained.’
Tells you something about the football we are playing when even the die hards can’t bring themselves to watch.
Our current style of play does not lend itself to attracting new fans (or even retaining the fair-weathers) particularly the younger generation. In a world of endless technology and accessibility to unlimited entertainment and sport, paying customers expect a minimum level of entertainment which we are failing to meet.
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That would be Lee Turnbull our head of recruitment. Hasn’t unearthed any decent players in the best part of a decade and seems to be stealing a salary at this point.
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I’m reckoning a sample size in the several hundreds (ie the total comments across the various social media platforms) is probably more representative than the two people sat next to you at the game IA.
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If we had the squad we thought we had (or should have), 5 subs should be a big advantage and give us an edge over teams with smaller budgets (i.e everyone) and smaller squads. However our subs have consistently failed to make an impact and our recruitment this summer has been a major flop so what we actually have is a bench full of new recruits who when given an opportunity look like rabbits in headlights that are scared to make a mistake rather than do anything impactful.
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The SUFC buzzword ‘Sustainability’ by definition means we are only spending the equivalent of what comes in (or less whilst we clear the debts) which ultimately means it’s the fans and sponsors who are paying the wages of the staff and players. I’ve seen a few comments across social media of fans who feel affronted by the somewhat hasty decision to extend Butlers contract and comments that the fans and sponsors will wind up paying for it, presumably by a pay off to the manager or via enduring the turgid football for another 2 seasons.
Maybe it would have been prudent to take a ‘see how it goes’ approach with the manager and staff, much like we have with the players who have in the most part signed 1 year deals. Extending now in light of the reaction to the Guiseley defeat feels like abit of a ‘stuff you’ to the fans and seems that the board will do what they want regardless of fan opinion. Wasn’t the tag line this time last year ‘it’s OUR club’? Doesn’t feel like it at the moment. The only rational explanation for an extension at this point would be to provide some security to Butler in the hope that the vote of confidence improves his performance. Thats a big risk and does have the feel of ‘jobs for the boys’, handing out contracts to people who are liked rather than for their achievements.
The timing was wrong IMO and has divided the fan base and fanned the flames. First big mistake from Michelle and the board. I’m hoping after getting our fingers burned with Dean’s extension last year that we might have had the foresight to have some performance related break clause. I.e if we do not achieve top 4 this year we are able to cancel the contract in the summer without having to pay him off. But I’m no expert in contract matters so not even sure if that would be legal.
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Michelle herself said in an interview that the decision to get rid of Dean and his staff was due to budget so it stands to reason Butler was brought in as a cheap(er) replacement. They must not have heard the saying ‘buy cheap buy twice’.
I’m convinced we could have attracted someone with a far superior CV, but maybe Butler is doing it for peanuts in an attempt to advance his own career?
I think Lee Turnbull likely advised the board and probably wanted a manager with little experience to cement his own position in ‘recruitment’. Most managers worth their salt would tell Turnbull where to go and do their own recruiting but with inexperienced Butler as manager Turnbull is guaranteed to be lingering around like a fart in a taxi for at least another season, to supervise.
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Following a quick twitter search I think AWG is alluding to the appointment of Butterfield onto an interim management team following the departure of Gatesheads coaching staff to MK Dons.
Must be doing something right up there as reading their fans comments they seem to like him.
You might be onto something there AWG as certainly makes more sense than us not being able to financially compete with Gateshead.
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A really poor listen (when I finally managed to get the humberside commentary on via the tele!) sounded like the team didn’t turn up, despite a seemingly strong line up. Results like this make you wonder if a ‘cheap’ management appointment and cutting the wage budget so much could turn out be a false economy. A good cup run and a decent manager would have covered his own wages. If performances persist in the same vein and gates drop have we really saved any money? Ugly football makes for tough watching, but if we’re getting results the fair weathers will still turn up. But ugly football and losing games, that’s another matter.
I expected the football to be defensive under Butler but what’s alarming is how we seem to have lost all ability to pass a football. Perhaps the time spent in the swimming pool and boxing ring during preseason, should have been spent doing some simple passing and shooting drills.
Some Drivel posted online, one suggesting Butterfield had he been retained would swat teams aside on his own, Mbappe style.
Time to cash in on some of the JD/DH Signings?
Whilst he might not be Mbappe we are definitely missing his 20+ goal contributions from last season. How many have we scored from midfield so far this year? His long range screamers and individual moments of quality, he was able to create a goal from nothing, something we could definitely have done with on Saturday.
The trouble is that a footballer like Butterfield makes the players around him look better than they probably are. His calmness and composure on the ball, ability to dictate play and make the intelligent pass made us a better team and flattered his teammates. How many times last season did we fall to bits when he was subbed off? The game at GP vs Boston when he got the concussion springs to mind straight off the bat. This year Clunan, Scales, Robert’s et al all look half the players they were last year, and even then we weren’t good enough.
Speaking of our dearly departed I think Ogle and his charging runs would be doing a much better job down the flank than Barrows currently is and now we’re persisting with playing two upfront not having Elliott in the squad is a massive miss too.
The players we’ve brought in have flopped so far and Butler doesn’t have the confidence to start any of them (bar Nicholson) even when the team is in need of something different. The cameo appearances off the bench haven’t given us any reason to think they can improve the side and only one new recruit nailing down a starting spot begs the question, what is Lee Turnbull adding? Surely his wages could be better spent improving the squad or dare I say, bringing in an experienced manager?
I fear we are stuck with Butlerball for the duration but hold some hope we can turn this around under the guidance of someone who knows what they are doing. If we don’t go up this year we lose Robert’s, Whitehall, Fitz, Clunan and Kougan at a minimum as they are all still on the Hilton wages. Then we could be stuck in this nasty league for a long time to come.
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What I find concerning is, that of all Butler’s summer signings, only one has established himself as a regular starter. (As I’ve said elsewhere, if he didn’t have a long throw it could be none of them) That must call the recruitment questionable at best, effectively we are expecting a first time manager to turn last seasons non-promotion winners into a promotion winning team. Is that realistic or do we need to find and sign two or three guaranteed starters to give us the boost we (possibly) need?
Remember:-
Experience is learning from your mistakes.
Wisdom is learning from somebody elses’ mistakes.
Learn quickly Andy!Spot on Cassidy.
Our recruitment has been subpar for a long time now. If my memory serves we haven’t unearthed any gems in the last decade, when was the last time we sold a player for a decent transfer fee? Think our ‘recruitment department’ could use a long overdue shake up.1 user thanked author for this post.
Glyn Sparks is the man in charge of the sponsorship business. Hilton got rid of him but Michelle and Co brought him back and in fairness he has earned his crust.
Tend to agree we are in danger of looking a tad greedy with our sponsors and fans though. A pal of mine recently asked if he could get a birthday shout out for his daughter and was almost immediately sent a payment requested for £20. Seems we are monetising everything we can.Hopefully there’s enough in our ‘swollen coffers’ to bring in a couple of new players.
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