Pretty much agree with most of this, if not all of it! 1.Once again playing a sub standard team in the FA Cup when we clearly should be respecting this great tournament which has provided so many magic moments and uplift for the clubs..albeit many moons ago 1975, 1978 and 1981 and that rush of adrenalin which lifted not only the club but the town itself. The current manager simply lacks the wisdom, the tactical acumen for do or die matches, be it the play offs and the cups where his record is simply appalling.He simply lacks the bottle and courage..essential qualities to be a top flight manager. I imagine the club could do with the added revenue that the cup run would bring as well. 2 - The general sterile, predictable and boring one dimensional football which is played under McCarthy and too many people kid themselves that they think this brand of football will make us protagonists. It won't. I would recommend anyone to watch MOTD and tell me that we play anything like the swashbuckling soccer played by the likes of the so called small clubs like Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Stoke City. Are you kidding me? With the football played under McCarthy, I would envisage quite a few 0-9 defeats like the one we endured against Man United in March 1995, God forbid if we were to be promoted, which is highly unlikely under him. We play with absolutely no shape or strategy..it's up in the air, kick it anywhere stuff. Under Joe Royle the attitude was "We will score more than you" and under other incumbents like George Burley, it was free flowing and attack minded. Under Sir Bobby, well..you know the story..... 3 - The general contempt that McCarthy seems to have for fans' opinions. Clearly he is the Boss and must make the final decisions but I have the overriding impression of a very stubborn and conceited man who will deliberately do the opposite even at the risk of jeopardizing a victory. 4 - Lack of a clear football philosophy. Every time we get within to touching distance of creating something positive, he falls into the same trap of retreating into the sterile and grey style of football. Witness last season when we were top and played Southampton in the FA Cup with a below par team...from that moment onwards our season collapsed in the league and an underwhelming performance against the Saints. Against teams that we had to win, he would set the stall out to defend and hoofing.He simply lacks the bottle to take this club forward and in this dire moment for the club, he gets rewarded with a contract extension? Beggars belief. I know this might anger some of the " Johnny-Come-Latelies " amongst the Town supporters who were not around to see some of our finer moments but we were a club that generally fought above its weight and had a marvelous football tradition considering their location and size but we punched above however. That is gone and under the present incumbent and hierarchy I feel we can only look forward to general mediocrity and remaining also-rans. I hope I'm proved wrong but there is a feeling of malaise within the structure and i hope it doesn't come tumbling down.
Agree with most of this apart from 2)I can't see us conceding 9 again,Mick would stick 9 men behind the ball and dig in once it got to 6!
I understand the criticisms in the post, but not all of them. Now I'm not McCarthy's biggest fan, and I think the contract extension to, potentially, 2020, is the wrong move, but a couple of these points/allegations need addressing: 1) I think some supporters need to take off their rose-tinted glasses and realise that, for a club in our position and of our stature, winning a trophy is a pipe-dream. Yes, we can try and have a cup run; remember that Keane got us to the semis of the League Cup? But people don't talk about that anymore, because our form in the league was terrible. I like that McCarthy is willing to give our youth a chance in the cup matches, and he included several young players in the matchday squad against Portsmouth. Part of football these days is to use and implement your squad fully. Anyway, what would you rather? Go a couple of rounds further in one of the cups or have a rested team ready for a difficult away game in the league? Granted, the results and tactics did not work against Portsmouth and Birmingham last time, but Mick did exactly the same in the initial FA Cup fixture and we went on to beat Leeds in the following league match, the players clearly benefiting from the rest to get the winner in stoppage time. Sometimes resting your key players work, sometimes it doesn't. Form in the league, and an increased chance of promotion, is fundamentally important for our club. We've been in this division for too long. We need that TV money! In my opinion, a sense of perspective and reality are needed on this one. 2) I think the comparisons to Bournemouth, Palace, and Stoke are disingenuous and misleading. Bournemouth have been bankrolled to the tune of millions in their recent promotion campaigns, and both Palace and Stoke have been in the Premier League for a few years now. Put simply, we don't have their resources. Mick has had to make do with what he's been given, and that, if spending over his tenure here is anything to go by, isn't a lot. I agree the football can be tiresome and negative, we seem to prefer to grind teams down. However, with players like Sears, Fraser, and Bru in the side, I'd argue our style of football is more easy on the eye compared to last season, in general. In the recent draw against Preston, we made much more of an effort to pass the ball around compared to the 'hit it long and hope' tactic we relied on too much in the second half of last season. Hopefully this indicates a slight shift in McCarthy's strategy. Yes, we need to be hard to beat at this level, but there should also be an element of entertainment when watching football. Comparisons to Sir Bobby, and the economy and culture of football back then, are naive. Different time, different culture, different market. Royle is more pertinent, since he got us playing entertaining, attacking football on a budget. 3) I struggle to believe McCarthy has 'contempt' for all the supporters! What an odd allegation. Yes, he probably disagrees and is bemused with one or two of the more consistently critical supporters, but then he has to have confidence in himself and to keep morale high in the dressing room. I think he has a certain personality and sense of humour that can be easily misinterpreted. 4) I generally agree with this. I would certainly not hold McCarthy completely to blame for this model though. Ultimately, the responsibility for long-term planning and favouring a certain style comes from the very top. If Evans wanted us to play attractive football, he would not have handed McCarthy a contract extension. What seems to be the board's outlook is that, under McCarthy, we're making a profit from player sales, opening the chequebook is not a priority, and we're improving season-on-season under Mick. I agree we don't have a philosophy other than 'take each game as it comes' and 'be difficult to beat', which aren't necessarily bad, but having a certain style of play is preferable nowadays. Personally, I had hoped that by 2018, we would've had a younger manager in place, with progressive ideas, who could build on the foundations that Mick and the team have provided. However, and this is my sticking point, if the board are unwilling/unable to give this new manager a competitive budget, so that he could overhaul the squad and change the mentality of the club, then it would be a wasted appointment and we'd likely regress. Recapturing the glories of yesteryear are behind us, certainly for the foreseeable future, that's the world we live in, but achieving promotion should not be beyond us! It is a realistic and attainable goal, but it's one I feel the people at the top of this club are trying to do on a budget and investing as little as possible into the club. Recent history shows that isn't the way to get out of this division and it needs to change, starting this transfer window.
Out of all of them points, the McCarfy having contempt for the supporters is the most correct statement of them all!!!!!!!!!!! This is a man, who said 'The more the fans call for someone, the less chance there is of them getting on' and that he doesn't give a flying one what armchair fans say!! Not the wisest of things to say when you are trying to bring fans back.
If McCarthy genuinely had 'contempt' for us all, then why the hell did he sign a new contract for us? With the achievements he has had in his career, he could walk into most of the Championship clubs and be considered a decent appointment. Not to mention the good work he has done recently at Ipswich, which has been acknowledged across the media.
I think you've got that about right Nuggets, people complain about negative football myself included but would Murphy have scored 27 goals last season with negative tactics? Ive been banging on for ages about getting in some quality players to give our run in a boost but it appears its not going to happen which I find strange because the riches The Prem provides would see ME get his money back and more, that's good business isn't it? Im not completely happy with the standard we play at or of some of the players that we have but is it better than it was? You bet it is and if we can stop bringing in players that nobody else wants and get some quality instead then we can continue to improve.
Yes probably wasn't the wisest thing for him to say but so many fans with so many opinions isn't something he can really take too much notice of. I know I come across and mostly am pro Mick but I do agree about the lack of entertainment factor at times although we have been better than last season I think. In the last few games we've created plenty of chances, more possession etc. We totally dominated Leeds playing some nice football at times and were unlucky against Brum having had more chances, 3-0 was clearly overly flattering to them. I think this is just one of those blips. Tough league going down to 8th after a draw and a loss especially as we were 4 points clear in 5th.
Agreed Castro, so don't say anything rather than shoot ya gob off! There was no need to say what he did, surely it was easier to say 'everybody is entitled to their opinion' far better thing to say imo! Nuggets, if he was that great he wouldn't still be here, nobody has tried to prise him away from us, which speaks volumes!!
Interesting thread. We all want to see a good team put together and banging in goals and taking the division by storm on our way to maturing into a prem side a la Stoke and palace. Mick has proved he can do step 1 with Wolves. He has no prem pedigree at all though, not that that means he couldn't do it but you'd hope we might evolve like soton and find a new progressive manager to take us forward at that level rather than sticking with a guy out of his depth. So, are we stuck with a no hoper as Spanish suggests? The football is generally poor, we aren't fun to watch and some of our selections leave you banging your head against the sky box. But r,ember what happened when we gave Jewell and Keane money. **** all. Worse we were plummeting out of this division and fast. Derby have invested and results are really going against them big time recently: 4-1 at Burnley tonight last I checked and clement is that sort of young, progressive manager one might hope we could have who could spend well and win stuff. Clearly it's not that easy. Their team should be romping it with him in charge and that squad, on paper. Better the devil we know I think. As nuggets said we are improving year on year and ME doesn't want to buy players after Jewell and Keane wasted so much on so little. I can't believe he wants us to languish in this division any longer than necessary though as there's a killing to be made with promotion but I expect he's playing a long, steady progress game. Interesting ref to that Man U game. It haunts us all huh? I was in my teens and listened to every minute on the radio and later watched it on motd that night. It's what fans do isn't it even when the chips are down? Every time a cricket score starts accumulating I hope someone will take the trophy for heaviest defeat away from us. Maybe a thread on 'where were u when...'? Someone must have been at old Trafford that horrible day. I don't see MM leting a side go down by that margin but then things are very different from the malaise that beset us back in those days when everyone moved forward and we stuck with that limited bunch of players in a fast changing Divison. If. Mick kept the headless chicken brigade top of his wants list it could happen only instead of a super club like Man U it would be the likes of Leicester or palace doing it to us.....theres a certain irony about that, sadly. On the up side, Leicester, palace, so ton, Stoke all show that it can be done fly clubs our size. The question is how do we do it? Getting rid of mick isn't the answer until you get a owner prepared to throw money at the team and have a stroke of luck with a good new manager, plenty of luck in the transfer market and on the pitch. Simples?
At least we will always have that 6-0 result over Man U to pull out the bag if needed! I think it's a good point, it's a gamble whatever we do whether we invest in talented players, bring in an exciting young manager or stick with Mick, there's no guarantees. As long as we make steady progress year on year I'm ok with that. I've read Leeds fans talking about getting someone with the calibre of MM to manage them, so maybe the grass is always greener..... Mind you compared to Steve Evans....
Fulham were linked to McCarthy on a few occasions since their relegation. I imagine Mick would have been given a sizeable transfer budget there too. I just don't think he wanted to make that switch, and I can't really blame him for that. Bucky makes some good points, particularly regarding the hypothetical situation regarding what we do if we get promoted under Mick. Do we stick with him, despite his outdated football and awful Premier League record? For the fans who harp on about our 'traditions', then it's an obvious 'yes', as we traditionally place faith in our managers and give them time. In this situation, I think harshly dismissing McCarthy, despite his achievement in getting us promoted, would be the wrong move. The squad would likely get unsettled, particularly as they seem very supportive and passionate about McCarthy's regime. However, I will concede that, with the TV riches and the media spotlight turned upon us more fully, it would provide us with the best opportunity to overhaul the playing squad and change the footballing philosophy. I certainly feel Evans should press a point that he'll back McCarthy in the transfer market if he adapts the playing style to something more attractive, particularly as long-ball, technically limited sides in the Premier League tend to get punished with relegation. I think the point about investment, and how it doesn't always work out, is valid. Of course, just because you spend money, doesn't guarantee you promotion. But it certainly doesn't harm your chances. Derby are struggling recently, true, but they're still anchored in the play-offs and what they're going through may be a blip compared to a more permanent downturn in form. Not to mention the fact that over the past several years, a common factor with all the promoted sides from the Championship is that they have invested in their squad and spent money in the transfer windows (even Burnley, who spent almost £1m in their promotion campaign, the lowest spending promoted side in recent years). This implies you need to bring in that extra bit of class. We don't seem to be making any effort to do so and, just like last season, I think that may ensure we hit another glass ceiling and fail to make the cut.
Any talk of McCarthy managing us in the Premiership is pie in the sky,he just isn't going to take us there.We scraped into the Playoffs by the narrowest margin last year and I predict the best we can hope for this year is very slight improvement(ie Playoff place on points not goal difference)but at the end of the day we are just not good enough to go up.
Sometimes you play a side that's better than you are on the day this is what happens in football, but lets say MM left tomorrow who out of everyone that's available would we have? Who could we tempt from another Club with huge lumps of cash and on top of that pay another wedge in compensation? Who would come here knowing theres no money for the quality players we need to achieve promotion? Derby spent £20M in the Summer and another £5M this month and still managed to give away two pens and two OGs in a 4 1 defeat at Burnley last night, could anyone else top what MM has achieved with us bearing in mind the relegation bound shambles he inherited? Im not saying everythings perfect but compared to the dross we were watching not so long ago, I never will forget that day at Peterborough when if Id had a shovel Id have dug a hole and got in it when we lost 7 1, how many of the MM out brigade were with us at London Rd that day? Is it perfect? no it isn't, have we improved? Christ yes.
1 - While I love the cup, times have changed. The draw is on a Monday. There are bucket loads of games televised over the weekend. Friday night games. Sunday games. Hell even the odd Monday ones. The " Magic " of this went for me the day Man Utd were bigger than the fa cup. In yesteryear the fa cup was worth LOADS of ££££, but now with the tv deal in the prem, the bottom side get £90 mill for playing in the damn thing and parachute payments should you go down! Then, I get told by many people on forums this player/ that player should get a game. Some do, don't take their chance I'm afraid to say. 2 - This is about the biggest bag of crap I've read for ages. Stoke played horrific footy under Pulis, who got them Prem, kept them prem, and they swapped managers and now play superb sexy footy - who is to say we would not do the same, under a different manager? Ludicrous post. 3 - Can get why people would come to that decision about Mick stubborn he is. 4 - " Against teams that we had to win, he would set the stall out to defend and hoofing " Well we beat Watford x 2 last season, drew H and A v Bournemouth and from memory played Boro off the park at Portman Road. That isn't always true, though I get what the poster was trying to say.
I'd love to see us play better football, sign good footballers not just workhorses and Mick frustrates the hell out of me, as I've said before he seems to take the fun out of football. Whilst I thought he was a decent manager at his previous clubs, he even annoyed me back then. Whilst I say all this we would be ridiculous to sack him, in terms of points and stability he's done a great job here, we need to back him. All these teams who've spent millions we're not far off!!..... But if we're talking about other managers the Portsmouth one has impressed me...
