It was Ekwah that Mowbray said needed a slap if I recall correctly. When he was on about needing firing up
I recently looked at the squad from 2020/21 and most of the shuddering names in there are reminders of how far we have come under KLD's stewardship. Before that there was no plan, and a couple of chancers trying to flip the club for a few quid. Before the chancers there was a distant owner and a culture throughout the club of waste and incompetence. So, I think we are heading in the right direction. The playing side of things (along with the horrible farmers field of a pitch at SOL) have been prioritised and we are now in a position where we have players actually worth something, and the culture within the club (at least amongst the players and coaches) seems to be much improved. The next stage really has to be the operations off the field (stadium infrastructure and facilities, club shop, ticketing, comms etc), which I think everyone agrees has fallen behind. Some people think all of this should have been fixed yesterday as a priority. Another hypothetical question - if we sold one first team player (eg Clarke) and used that money to improve the stadium/off field ops but it weakened the squad, would that make those fans demanding immediate off field improvements happy?
If that's the case that's great news. He's looked good despite presumably feeling a bit lost and isolated, he seems a tough character. There's only so long you can keep that up for though, it'd be great if his breakthrough into the first team coincided with him being happy off the pitch. I like the cut of his jib he looks a proper player to me.
His family were all granted Visas and arrived a few days before the mags game. That’s obviously going to be a huge benefit (and relief) to the lad.
Superb. I've felt for the lad since I found out he was separated from his family and they were left behind in the Ukraine. Brutal situation for him but you have to give him a lot of credit for how he's handled it. He's a strong character.
The most important thing the money from a player sale should be spent on is the first team and squad. Only surplus should be be user to help assist improving things off the field. I would be stunned if anyone said different to be honest
This is exactly the reason why “managers” don’t fit our model and we hire a “head coach”. This is why I think MB may be a good fit for our club rather than a manager who moans about their lack of control. The continental clubs run like this with no issues. It’s about bringing in people happy to work within that model and in future I can see us going foreign with our head coach choices as this “new model” is just normal to them.
'Managers' come with staff/coaches/mates, even favoured players, like Rooney did at Birmingham ... ... when they leave the whole club has to change again. I'd urge people, opposed to Beale, to see him as an interim guinea pig for the system. That's how the club want things to work so it's not going to change, like it or lump it. Seeing Beale as a pioneer might make it easier, for those who don't like him, to accept the situation. It's all very well managers 'having control' but, as with Moyes, etc, they fail, go and leave us with a bunch of players no one wants, especially not the club who are paying their wages. We've tried all that and it was worse than what we're trying now imo.
When he scored against Preston he'd have known his family would see it. I know O'Nien meant well, when he pushed him towards the crowd, but you could tell the lad didn't want to be seen as laughing it up while his family are in peril. It would make a great headline for the Chronicle
When KLD took over he said it would be a long term process to get us where he thought we should be. We are not going to deviate from that process. Last season was some of the best football I've experienced supporting our great club. This season's been harder as I thought it might. But we are still competing at the top, in a much tougher league. There is still loads to do especially off field. But we'll get there eventually, we just need to keep backing this exciting young team.
The plan didn't include Neil walking out, Stewart's 'career ending injury' or long term absences of key players like Evans, Alese, Huggin, etc. These things happen but they've certainly not helped. I don't think we've ever really had a plan before so it's hard to come to terms with all this
I have to say i find the attacks on Beale because of his accent and his looks quite bizarre. Last time i checked a Head Coach has to train players to play football better not give the elocution and make up lessons
Not sure bizarre is the word I’d use. It’s pathetic, ridiculous and down right nasty. Unwarranted too. He’s been receiving abuse from our ‘supporters’ before he was even appointed, let alone done anything wrong by us.
the green eyed monster maybe? Mugs see Saudi splashing cash and expect us to do the same I’m very happy with how things are going personally.
I think it’s in part to do with the Old Firm affiliations within our fanbase spreading their poison. If he was coming in with exactly the same record from, say, the Belgian or Austrian leagues then I think he’d be greeted with enthusiasm.
Yeah he looks like he wants to keep a low profile, as much as you can while scoring in front of 40,000 people with millions watching on tv He's not looked happy since he signed and I don't blame him considering the circumstances, still done his best on the pitch though. Hopefully now we see him enjoying himself.
