I've got Clyde out here if I fancy it amberman,my mates wife is Secretary so complimentary's are always available.I'll be back down to Hull as soon as is reasonably possible though...
Yep, they might have played L1 / L2 before, but they are still kids. It was so blindingly obvious that we lacked leadership, experience, nous - the 3 things Enob & McCann finally admitted to us lacking and stated would be addressed. So far they've brought in Richie Smallwood. It's nowhere near enough to fix what was lacking (imo). Enob is full of BS, and I continue to believe what I thought from the very first press conference he gave when he joined us that McCann is simply incredibly naive (and/or a total puppet).
They may be younger then you would have liked, but how many games have they played? That's where the experience comes from and not just age. I'd rather have 24yr old with couple of hundred games worth of experience Vs a 28yr old with half that for example I honestly don't know the stats for our new guys of the top of my head Edit... It's approx 752 games worth between Smallwood, coyle, Emmanuel and Doherty
Partly agree. But I’d still like to see an older head or two in the team. I think it’s essential.to have 2-3 players that have age and games under their belts.
Definitely, but we can't just dismiss as no experience because of age. There is 752 games played between our 4 main signings so far ( minus the young Stockport lad )
I'd like to see at least one experienced signing in there Howdentiger..I like the look of the signings so far and up until now we've managed to retain some decent ones from last season but an old head would pull it all together IMO.
I’m not dismissing the experience of younger players that have lots of games experience. I’m saying add a bit of battle hardened experience (age) and you have potentially a winning formula. Like Windass and Campbell on the way to our first stint in the PL.
I agree, hence why I started the previous with definitely ( should have elaborated ) but the windass Campbell example is perfect
TBH, you can talk about a players age & all that, but a lot of the first team are around 24/25, with a few at 28. From what I can tell, Magennis is the oldest player at 30. The 2 keepers are both 26, Ingram the younger of the 2. So age range, from what you’d expect as a peak, is pretty much spot on.
I used to live cumbernauld and saw a good few of their games..used to go with a guy called arbuckle who's nephew played for them. Some dodgy betting too at the time lol
Agree, but 'experience' is meaning as much if not more about older, wiser heads - been there, seen it, done it type of thing. When Smallwood gets injured, suspended, rested or whatever, as things stand we are back to where we were last season (in terms of missing leadership, experience, nous), and leadership & nous rarely comes from young-uns. In fact, as it stands, several of the older players from last season that have gone are being replaced in the first team squad by young uns stepping up, so you could even argue we're in an even worse position in terms of leadership, experience, nous than we were last season. Of course, there's time yet for things to be addressed .... but not as Enob stated, 'we'll do our business early as we need an aggressive start' (or something like that).We've heard the same year after year, but it just doesn't happen (liar and full of BS). Existing players are another year older & we can hope another year wiser from last years experience, and will maybe find it easier being a division lower. But to my mind, we have done nowhere near enough (yet) to set us up for promotion which was Enob's stated aim (... even if McCann saw things a little differently ).
Long - 26 - 218 EFL appearances Ingram - 26 - 177 EFL appearances Eaves - 28 - 256 EFL appearances Tafazolli - 28 - 230 EFL appearances Smallwood - 29 - 281 EFL appearances Magennis - 30 - 163 EFL appearances/ 177 SPL appearances. We'll no doubt add to that, but it's not fair to say we haven't got experience of League football in the squad. In fact, in our first team, only Batty, McLoughlin, Fleming, KLP, Samuelsen, Scott, and Emmanuel have played less than 100 games of senior football and three of those were in our U23s not too long ago.
I think there's enough experience in the squad to make a decent fist of it in L1. First choice team will be age 25+ on average with plenty of game time behind them in Championship as well as lower leagues. The bigger question is whether or not McCann can get a tune out of them...
Most of those listed that played last season played like they had no experience at all. Hopefully they can step up in League One.
Agreed, they just looked lost. But we know they're better than that, we've seen them play miles better than whatever the back end of last season was supposed to be.
There’s enough experience in the players we have at the moment to do ok in this league. We need a bit of cover here and there and another Smallwood type in midfield (older experienced etc.,) would be good. One thing though as Plum says, an interfering owner telling a manager to play one style is a disaster waiting to happen. A manager who accepts that is another. McCant must start developing a plan B. Every team that played us last year knew exactly how the side was set up and how to beat us. We gave them a head start. If we persist it will be our Achilles heel once again. Players need motivating and that’s the managers job. Let’s hope he has learned from last season.
Yep, but honestly, where is the leadership, nous, character in that lot (other than Smallwood by all accounts)? It just wasn't there last season, and I don't see how it will miraculously change .... especially given we still have McCann and Byrne. Maybe, just maybe, there's more to come in that respect from Magennis (who we occasionally heard balling from the stands after he'd been subbed) and Taf who seems to have something more about him. But no comparison to characters, leaders (official or unofficial), street wise players we've had previously and need now. And they would have to be regular starters too! Eaves? Sorry, but what a joke. 28? 256 games - looks for the main part clueless and lost. With a different manager & assistant, it would maybe be different, but they looked as lost, clueless and naive as the players most of the time. But who knows, maybe with a short summer of analysis, reflection, reassessment and with the new inspiring aim for the season from McCann .....
I have no idea why they collapsed so badly after losing two players (as important as those players are), it might have been the lack of ambition reverberated around the squad. Remember, it did miraculously change in January because we were 8th and just outside the playoffs. Things change quickly in football and while we'll never know the true cause of that monumental collapse, surely we aren't naive enough to assume that the list of players I mentioned aren't capable of better? We know they can do better, the question isn't whether they're good enough or experienced enough, it's why their game slipped so horribly and noticeably. They didn't just get beaten with their boots on, there was quite literally no effort whatsoever and with 8 games to go they just didn't look interested in winning. We weren't losing those games through unlucky decisions, the players looked like they didn't want to win or even be on the pitch. I'm not having it that Eaves is a bad player; not only did he have to step up from Gillingham to the Championship, but our playing style was so horribly unsuited to his game that I'm surprised he finished with 8 goals across the season. Magennis managed half that and for me looked the worse player in terms of contribution on the pitch. Eaves was a gamble from a mid table League 1 club on a free transfer. Asking him to suddenly be the answer to our prayers was always asking a lot. I reckon he'll do well this season. You're right, we've had Ashbee, McKenna, Boateng, Koren, Larsson et al in the middle of the park previously and they certainly made an impact on the squad. But it's a squad game, a captain barking at people is only going to do so much when it's a game with 11 players in the team. Was the manager bollocking them at half time/full time or was he giving it the softly softly approach because they were so young? I suspect the latter.
