1. God, what a dreadful display that was at Middlesbrough. The negativity that has surrounded City as a club of late took full hold of the team, with the first shot on target coming in injury time, a multitude of misplaced passes, a single goal conceded from a set-piece and a general absence of interest that bordered on the unprofessional. 2. Why does Mike Phelan persist with the 4-4-2 that evidently does not work? He has two attack-minded wide players who simply cannot make the contributions they are geared to make when playing deep and whose defensive frailties are exposed in the current formation. He has enough centre backs and central midfielders to account for the spaces in the middle of the park, and Robert Snodgrass can play behind whoever our fit striker happens to be. 3. That we lost to a hopelessly marked header from a corner was disgraceful. That the header in question was butted in by the foppish-haired, knuckle-kissing showpony Gastón Ramírez was beyond words. There was more wrong that just conceding from a set piece (again!) of course, Middlesbrough, with just a point more than us before kick off, looked superior in every way, their possession was purposeful, their movement quick and insightful, their creation of shooting chances was clinical even if the final effort on goal was not. This is Middlesbrough we’re talking about by the way, not Real frigging Madrid, but the way we stand and watch in a servile manner as teams enjoy long periods of unchallenged possession is really, really dispiriting. 4. We’re at peace with blaming everything on the Allams as, ultimately, they are culpable for everything that is cancerous within our club. They appointed Phelan (eventually) and starved him of proper support, both emotionally and financially, and their bullying, cowardly, oppressive, spiteful, selfish ways have seeped into all crucial aspects of the club. We can now imagine them allowing the situation to fester even more, especially if the takeover deadline of January passes without a sale agreed. There is nothing, literally nothing, within the club that says we have any kind of future worth looking forward to. 5. However. Pointing a finger at the ultimate cause for the toxic miasma emanating from the shambling zombie of a football club does not mean that Mike Phelan is himself exempt from blame. His stubborn persistence with woeful tactical choices, and then saying he thought it was all going to plan before conceding, when it clearly wasn’t, is rapidly depleting any good goodwill he gained when earning the (caretaker) manager of the month award. 6. The FA Cup draw proves that. Swansea, the only team in the Premier League currently worse than us, at home? An unfathomably crap tie, that. The first four-figure crowd at the Circle in aeons awaits. And yet, having popped out of the hat just under an hour before kick off at the Riverside, it was still the highlight of City’s day. That’s how bad it was. It’s why we firmly believe it must be boycotted, because a message must be sent out that what’s been done to this football club is wrong, and will be fought. It could easily be arranged – after all, just who on earth is going to want to go and see it? We’ll probably take a lead from the Supporters’ Trust – but talk of match boycotts won’t go away, and if we’re going to do it, this is the match. 7. The received wisdom is that a fish rots from its head. We shan’t be bestowing upon the Allam family the honour of cranial analogy, and beside which, as good little Biology students we recall that piscine decomposition begins in the guts. That’s more satisfyingly appropriate. Think of that hateful family more as a foul, vestigial organ of the viscera, whose only purpose is to spread decay and rottenness. Then think carefully about how to extract that organ without killing the host. 8. Yes, there’s progress into the last four of the League Cup. This is to be celebrated for what it is – a club first. It was done in the hardest way possible, of course, on penalties, with ten men, against a side who were evidently better than us despite being a division lower, in front of a crowd suspiciously totted up by the faulty abacus in the accounts office. Yes, celebrate it. Then look at the semi-final draw – Manchester United, two legs, the first at Old Trafford. Whatever noises we may have initially made about its minimal but actual winnability, more recent events on Teesside suggest otherwise. 9. Kudos to the Supporters’ Trust for their forensic analysis of Ehabian malfeasance with ticket price proclamations and actions with the billboard that defiantly displays his venality on Anlaby Road. Ask yourself this: if you were a businessman thinking of entering into an arrangement with Allam Marine, given their record of untrustworthiness connected to Hull City AFC, can you be sure they won’t act similarly with you? Well, can you? 10. So, in summary, just **** off, both of you. While there’s still a Hull City left. http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2016/12/things-we-think-we-think-237/
So the Trust want someone to come and buy the club ? Don't we all. Do they think having a bill board displayed on one of the main roads into Hull claiming the current owners to be not exactly 'men of their word' will fill any potential buyers with confidence in wanting to deal with these two ?
I suspect it's aimed more at (a) informing the general public of the situation: and (b) embarrassing the Allams.
There really isn't an issue with buyers. There's been several interested since the summer. Presumably they can see what potential this club has whilst in the Premier League. The problem is the Allams don't seem to want to sell. They're comfortable killing the club slowly because they're getting away with it by and large. The billboard is about making sure they don't get away with it, and reminding Assem that his son is destroying their reputation, which is very important to him.
First time I've seen that written down, and I couldn't agree more. Then some wonder why Dio struggles to get into the game.
Dio struggles to get into a game because every time anyone passes the ball to him he's so heavy footed he can't control the ball, hits it too hard and he's lost it - poor signing - about as much use as Prozzy, Danny Graham and Sagbo
Does anybody enjoy watching this brand of football ? Is it entertaining ? Is it value for Money ? I know I don't and I have stopped going. I thought it was poor under Brucey but its got worse and I am not paying over £100 a month for Premier Club to watch that rubbish and waste my time. Palace on Saturday is a Grade 2 game FFS ! I can only see crowds dropping to under 10k in the very near future.
That effort on goal in the 92nd minute at Middesbrough didn't look too bad to me, one of the very few chances he had in the game, and only after the subs had come on and the defensive set up had been altered. The way that the team's being set up at the moment is giving him very limited opportunities, if we we had any of the top four strikers playing for us at the moment they'd struggle with such a negative set up.
it didn't look too bad to me either - however we would have had a few more chances on goal if he could manage to control the ball and if he'd have shot earlier rather than delay things when he was one on one with the keeper in the first half or if he'd have got across on time for Elmos flick on at the end - very poor waste of a couple of good chances
I think we all know Diomande is a pretty limited player , he's there because we haven't got anybody else
I know you're not hugely bothered about presenting all the facts, just the ones that suit you, but that is a load of bollocks. There have been plenty of issues with the buyers queuing up to buy us. Not least of which was the most likely ones managed to fail the fit and proper tests. I'm not even going to bother going into who actually had money, and wasn't dodgy. Yes Ehab is a disaster, but he wasn't responsible for failing that test. In any case, if someone REALLY wanted the club, they'd buy it regardless of Ehab if they had the funds to do so.