I think Di Canio instantly spotted the problem and mentioned it .......... that obviously didn't help his cause. Will Poyet have the courage to challenge the clique?
I can see where your coming with on that bit and, just my opinion again, I think any manager coming in should have been told that making Ball his No2 was part of the deal. With a few years more experience, preferably in the EPL, Ball could then have been given his chance.
He's going to have to or it's good night premiership. Part of me is telling myself that yesterday's team selection was Poyet saying, 'right, you got your own way, now is your chance to show you were right or except massive changes.' They failed and now Poyet will put his foot down. Here's to hoping.
And that's where Di Canio went wrong I hope you're right mate but he'll need to have his wits about him. I think it'll be easier for him because most supporters can now see what Di Canio was up against.
That's the underlying problem isn't it? This club is probably unmanageable at the moment. Put his foot down and be ousted as manager, let the clique thrive, we go down and he loses his job anyway.
The players brought in by Bruce and MON have put a weight around this club that might drag it under ..... but let Di Canio take the rap and everyone's happy.
That's the problem with human nature. We believe what we want to believe, we're pack animals who latch onto what we want to hear and follow it like sheep until there's an overwhelming majority. Then there's folk like us who try to put our brain before instinct, logical minds that evaluate a situation and draw our own conclusions. Makes us the type of people who you either love or hate but we care for neither unless from our nearest and dearest. Thankfully there's quite a few like us on here which helps instal a bit of balance and keeps the forum from becoming an arse licking contest. Blaming Paolo for all this is the easy, more convenient option, so subscribed to overwhelmingly.
Not sure I agree about Ball. But! Hahaha There's always a but with me. Just got off the phone with a mate (a reader on here but doesn't post.) to arrange our session on the lash tomorrow. He is a staunch anti Catts fan. Read my post on Catts and commented he had actually seen what I meant previously on Cattermole and watched him without his anti glasses on and was impressed by his passing and moving. We have had arguments about most of the players at one time or another. (The only one we both agree on is Larsson being **** for ages.) The convo turned to Gardner where he accused me of standing up for him no matter what happened. He pointed something out to me that has bearing on your OP. I was ****ing chuffed that Gardner was "one of the lads" going to matches with the away lads, turning up to watch local boxers training and fighting etc. My love for his passion for my club and City. This was colouring my view on his all round play, yes he has scored some great goals for us. But bloody hell now when I think back, he has been more ****e than he has been good for us. And his giving away fouls has cost us both yesterday and in the past. I had a pop at him a couple of weeks ago for that stupid tackle where it was easier to win the ball than take the player, he decided to take the player. He was woeful yesterday and topped it off with that pointlessly given away penalty, totally indefensible. I would still like to think that my love of Ball the player isn't colouring my thoughts on him in the background. But I think he is professional enough to not want nor endorse this clear player clique that is holding back our club. But! There is that niggling.................
"How is it possible that a club with the location, history & support of Swansea, no offence, be doing so much better?" Hmm...where to start? Location: Why is South Wales different to the NE of England? Don't get that one. Football has always been well represented in these parts. History:We have a long, proud history but I accept it's not as trophy-ridden as some. History counts for little anyway. Look at Leeds/Pompey/Forest etc. Support: Smaller than most clubs due to demographics. Size of support matters little anyway. Again look at Leeds. Your assertion seems to be that bigger clubs (and you are a bigger club) should always do better than smaller clubs. Some of the examples I've given, as well as recent history in The Premiership proves that isn't the case. Thank goodness. The reason we are currently doing better than you is down to a number of factors - bad managerial appointments; poor team management; wrong tactics; poor players - take your pick.
You have a point, smug, but Bally isn't the problem. It's the "beer culture" of some of the players, who probably thought Bardsley was hard done by for getting bollocked for going on the lash. That sort of unprofessional crap is clearly ingrained in some of the players and wants knocking on the head pronto. KB might buy into the drinking culture, but I hope not as he's in charge of the youngsters, but we don't know that he does either, so boot JOS, Larsson, etc first!
Other than Bally potentially influencing Poyet's team selection yesterday I do not believe you can blame Ball for the malaise at the club and its failure to embrace a continental structure. The damage was done under Murray's stewardship, he took his eye of the first team and thought if we had a top stadium and academy then stability would follow. In my mind being away from the top table too often in the Premiership's development years has left us playing catch up, it is one step forward and two back with us casting envious glances at Southampton and Swansea, clubs with smaller fan bases making the correct appointments and signings at crucial times. When we have been relegated it is normally due to a mistake being made and a player allowed to leave, Don Hutchison was allowed to leave as we would not re-negotiate his contract as promised - he was the lifeblood of the team at that point, he left and Phillips lost his supply of through balls and we were relegated. If Bruce could have found a way to keep Bent then imho it would have been better for the club, the manager and the player. when we get relegated it will be because the club sold Bent, Gyan, Henderson and Mignolet plus it made a bad situation worse by not backing PDC fully in the transfer market. Sorry Smug, I disagree with you 100% on this.
Your question seems to be based on the premise that smaller clubs shouldn't do as well as bigger clubs. So no, I don't agree. If your point was something other than that perhaps you should have made yourself clearer. If your point is that other factors have contributed to your current demise then yes I agree.
when we have posters on here ,not so long ago saying that smoking makes no difference to a players performance ,how is it possible to move forward in a debate about the clubs ethos.
