<blueink >Don’t be silly. He hasn’t managed a top side or played football to a high level. How could he be any good </blueink>
We tried to sign Luis Sinisterra. He opted to join Leeds. We tried to sign Goncalo Ramos. Had a fee agreed, apparently. He turned us down to remain at Porto. We tried to sign Cody Gakpo. Had a fee agreed, he turned us down in the hopes of getting a move to Man Utd in January. There were other strong rumours as well, but I cannot remember exactly because my brain is made of day-old mashed potato. We heavily pursued, and made club-record-by-a-mile offers, for a number of attacking players. They didn't work out. We could have thrown 15m at whatever was left on the market to say that we did something. We chose instead to keep our powder dry. You can argue that was a mistake, but there is considerable documented evidence that we made big plays in order to get a high-quality attacker.
The counter argument to this is that the long term plan goes out the window to some extent if we go down. Or more precisely the plan would have to reset somewhat as we would lose players. Putting the long term plan ahead of making the priority safety this season is a big risk. Not saying we are definitely going down but the managerial appointment is a risky one if staying up this season is the priority, then we can go back to the long term plan in the summer
It's easy to say "survive now, revisit the plan later", but harder to accomplish. Resources devoted to staunching the bleeding are resources that are not available later to execute the plan, and the past few years have demonstrated pretty thoroughly how one can get caught in the trap of merely trying to survive (and how expensive that can get when you're just trying to bail water at all times). Even after a bit of an overhaul, our squad is still littered with the mediocrities we brought in because we needed to sign someone, anyone, to try to creep over the drop line.
Yeah I've never got the hatred for Sturrock. He was actually pretty decent, just not very fashionable but I liked him and he did get some good results. I'm a bit of a Dundee United fan, especially in the 80s and 90s and Sturrock was a one club legend up there so I knew all about him. I recall reading somewhere the players weren't keen on him so went to Lowe and he was sacked(maybe mutual consent). Then replaced by Wigley, then Redknapp!
Broja and Delap Also stories about Semmens nickel and diming which I doubt SR expected and would allow to happen again (rumours are he will be on his way as well) Just throwing money at what is left is how you get Carrillo
We were not going to be able to get a manager to come in and be guaranteed to keep us up by any means but only on a 6 month contract. Not an option Also many critics are saying this appointment is one for the championship. Perhaps it could be both? One for the long term with the contingency of being a good option in the championship?
Well how much harder would it be to execute the plan in the Championship with no guarantee we would come back up? I would suggest that a large part of the plan succeeding is dependant on PL money, and of course the (I assume) ultimate aim of moving up the PL table as much as possible
Definitely a significant risk, though I don't think going down is as much of a concern as it once would have been...we certainly wouldn't go broke if we dipped into the Championship, whereas previously that was a very real possibility. The question is the marginal effect of Ben Brereton Diaz or some such for an extra 40% of our season would have. After all, we have strikers. The problem is that we don't have good strikers. And good strikers are hard things to source, as we discovered this summer. Maybe it'd have made a significant difference, but there's also every possibility that our seventh choice striker acquisition wouldn't be an great leaps above what we already have.
Someone who (apparently) watches a lot of Luton has posted this on another forum. Luton are my second team. I watch them as much as I watch Saints. There's no doubt that Jones has done a great job at Luton, but this is his level. His football is poor. He's a Dave Bassett, Neil Warnock kind of manager. Luton work hard but they're not great to watch. Despite his relative success, I really don't like him at all. He's a badge kissing, chest thumping moron with a bit of an ego. He jumped ship at the first opportunity when he went to Stoke and then came back with his tail between his legs. A lot of Luton fans still dislike him for that. I'd say a lot of his success is actually down to the fans being the 12th man and making Kenilworth Road a bit intimidating. It's a small noisy ground, the fans get behind the team and he plays up to that. Tactically, he's nothing special and I don't see him being able to hack it at Premiership level with a big ground full of fans who don't really get behind the team. No disrespect, but our fans aren't exactly the noisiest bunch and St. Mary's isn't somewhere that intimidates opposing teams. This is a bizarre decision as spit and sawdust managers like Jones never last in the top flight. They're not about playing nice attractive football. It's about all being physical and let's be honest, Saint's aren't exactly a physical team. I think he'll be out of his depth and is in for a massive shock. I think our players are in for a bigger shock, and I think our fans are already in shock.
Ok then, so ignoring the comments from fans hoping he doesn't leave Luton, who know they have a good manager. We were always gonna go for someone like this and not a Poch etc. If it helps to give him a chance, just call him Nathaniel Jonesinho!
I have no doubt that this person knows far more about Luton than I do (not a difficult bar to cross, really) but I would point out that Luton had the 9th-best record in the Championship last year at home, and the 5th-best away. This year? 17th-best at home, 3rd-best away. Hard to ascribe results to playing to the Kenilworth Road atmosphere. Edit: they were also a very high-scoring team last season, at the cost of giving up quite a lot of goals (the most in the top 10). I can't speak to the aesthetic qualities of their play, but I doubt it was boring, heh.
Yeah was gonna say something similar. Lincoln's mate sounds biased, and he loses credibility for me by claiming that Luton's success is due to their fans more than Jones. Lol. In all seriousness, what he describes could be just what we need. We've been trying to play pretty football for years now and it just hasn't worked (on the whole). Maybe we need a more no-nonsense approach to the game (for a while at least).
Looking at the stats suggests a fair bit of nonsense for those who like such. Lowest possession rate in the Championship last season, but the fifth-most goals. One of the lowest shots/match rates, but joint-third for most shots registered from within the six-yard box, and an above-average xG. Very few long shots taken. Most opponent offsides of any team. Doesn't take much to work out how they set up: high line, try to take the ball away, prioritize gambling on risky balls to create high-quality chances early in possession rather than trying to walk through the defense. A risk/reward setup that benefits from having fast, decisive players who maybe aren't the best at taking half-chances. You can see why that'd be a desirable setup at a club like Luton that can't compete on talent with their division rivals, but you can also see how that could be adapted to something a bit more aesthetic if you have the right players.
There's a lot of hyperbole being spouted on here and bugger all info. Have a read of this - this is what SR are buying. https://totalfootballanalysis.com/t...-jones-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics For all those that bemoan the lack of a pressing/aggressive 4222 setup from Ralph (like me) SR are looking at a manager with a preference for a back 3. Could be that the changes we've seen haven't even been Ralph's decision.
I'm finding it very hard to get excited about Jones. And it doesn't help that it wasn't a cut and dry decision to get rid of Ralph. The board have gone for a 'forget about face value, trust us it will work' signing which I feel like I don't have the patience or heart for. Especially as we'll have to wait really until the new year to cast judgment.
I'm all for this. Slightly concerned about the style of play but we'll have to see how it goes for the rest of the season. My only concern is that due to our post WC fixtures he'll need to hit the ground running or else he will come under fan pressure pretty quickly.
