Jumping on Speakman just became trendy imo and people piled in imo. He was simultaneously blamed for everything between fooling KLD, and working against him, to working with him to asset strip the club. Throw in forcing such wonderful assets as Alex Neil, Pritchard, etc, out of the club not to mention picking every team and he looks a real villain. The mundane reality is probably that he just wants success both for the club as well as him personally and is working with the owner to achieve that without an unsustainable spend or doing 'a Sheff Utd' ... ... grinding our way to the PL with plodders and loans only to be battered out of sight.
Lewis O'brien being made available to Championship clubs, still only 25 and bags of experience better at breaking up play than Norwood Might be on good money though
you’re dead right it got to the point where anything good that he did e.g. made key signing that finally got us out of league one, then improved it and we got playoffs. If you brought them up that apparently had nothing to do with him it was Alex Neil, Mowbray and the players. don't get me started on the same group that are obsessed with Danny Baith who couldn’t get a game in one of the worst defences in the league while we had one of the best. cheers everyone for the warm welcome it’s making me glad I made the decision to make the account during țhe manager hunt
I can just imagine the fury if our first two signings, this week, were 'a Danny Batth' and a transient journeyman midfield player who can't get through ninety minutes and seems to fall out with every club he plays for. Batth and Pritchard aren't the kind of players we need to get us up and definitely not for the PL. The automatic criticism is sad tbh, let's hope the club do enough to quieten them down just a bit.
I think he's fine for what we currently are - a middling championship side looking to develop and sell on youngsters. It's whether he's got enough about him to build a team that can get out of the championship, which is what we want to be, that's in question. The current evidence suggests that he can't - he was unexpectedly handed a very favourable situation here when we finished 6th straight after coming up (for which he rightly gets credit)and didn't take advantage, for example - but there's always this window to change that.
Him or rak saki if the interest is genuine I know we’ve tried for him before, worry is any approach will encourage them to include him in a deal for jobe, mind £20m plus rak saki would be canny
I think the worst thing is when folk are criticised for the way they talk, or the language they use, to be honest. It is almost like some are waiting for some phrases so they can post with joy about it. Having doubts about player signings or sales is ok in my opinion, we have done that for as long as football has been played. But it seems to me criticising for language used is a bit of a trendy modern thing that is irrelevant by fans these days. Speakman has been criticised more than most for this, although Beale ran him close for a while and Johnson before him. It is odd how we judge some folk.
On Speakman; I've said dumb ****e about the bloke. Easy to forget he's learning like anyone else, in this job.
I think much of a criticism of his performance has been valid, if potentially short sighted. As long as people aren't entirely cut off from the possibility of coming around to him, it's reasonable enough.
There are some good discussions to be had when it comes to Speakman but for some reason people would rather focus on nonsense like how he talks. Makes us look stupid. Probably in the minority here but I like when he talks in the same way he would behind closed doors, because thats how everyone talks in football now. I don't need things dumbed down, I want him to talk technicalities. People who complain about it would get a major shock if they were in a meeting at a football club.
How he talks isn’t important but language does matter when you’re in a position of leadership. I think there is valid criticism of some of the phrasing he uses. Not all of it. But some. Mind you I’m a speech writer so I perhaps take it as more important than some. yesterday felt a hell of a lot more authentic