To me the forward line has huge question marks, the core of a group of players that massively underperformed is still here, it doesn't look like any of the youngsters will be the next messiah, and SOD doesn't seem to have the complete support of the fans. Still say mid table finish and I still think that is reasonable IF the lumps of waste that relegated us are gradually moved on over the next 12 months.
Mate, you feel the same way I do, there are still players there I don't trust, SOD is waffling like the new messiah when he is the guy that took us down without any attempt to maintain our status, rumours are telling us our best striker will be sold (Davies), some of our youngsters I think will be our salvation (Bryant and Reid) but I am not going to walk like a blindman into the next season believing all the waffle that is being pumped out at us. I'll wait for 10 because then SOD would have had 7 months and 10 games to demonstrate our new direction.
Look guys SoD has a massive job on his hands turning a club that got relegated with a bunch of underperforming players around - this against a backdrop of solving the financial problem. I think SoD is a good manager, but there is no silver bullet here - it will take time for our club to get on the right footing. I'm actually optimistic for the future - the board/owners have a plan, and they have a manger who wants to work in that environment.
I think Sean O'Driscoll is doing well so far with getting in new younger and better players to replace the ones who were so dismal last year the problem he has is we lost a few of the better players Heaton, Stead and Skuse all out of contract but still have Wilson, Kilkenny and Fontaine under contract had it been the other way round I think most fans would feel more optimistic. Also we have not gotten off to a great start in the preseason games but it will take time for all the new players to bed into the team and to get all the players reading from the same page, If we manage to get a good start to the season then the sky is the limit as to where we will finish but what worries me is if we start off slowly will some of the more impatient fans be able to realize that to bed in six or more new players into a team sometimes takes a while another problem we have is although there is continual talk about certain players leaving nothing has happened yet so there is still a level of unease as to who will still be here who is going who will the replacements if any be, S O'D had hoped that some of this would have been sorted out in the last week but so far nothing has happened. The squad is somewhat in limbo at the moment as other teams are waiting and hoping that the price will drop on certain players but it looks like the board will not back down this time they have prices that they will sell at but that's it.
I am reserving judgement on SOD and the new arrivals for the first 10-15 games. By then we will have a good idea as to where our season is or isn't going, but given the size of the club and the relative indifference of most of the other teams in this division bar a few, anything other than a top 6 finish will still constitute total and abject failure at this level.
I think SOD was an inspired appointment and the new pillars that Jon L & co have implemented bode well for the future. This time last year we were all talking about signings and potential signings and we were always linked with journeymen. Now we are linked with youth that can be developed which will benefit us on the pitch and also in the bank if we have to sell. It amazes me all the youngsters that are snapped up by bigger clubs from some of the minnow clubs and why we don't seem to have the young ones coming thru? IMO the playoffs should be our aim this year.
All this rhetoric regarding SOD is somewhat pointless because the only way we can judge him is by the results that he can achieve. Forget the past and what led us to this place, the future is the only thing that matters right now and putting the blame on any one individual would be wrong. I don't think we are in quite the right place at the moment but am prepared to let things happen as they will, but when it comes down to judgement the first 10 games will prove, or disprove, whether we are on the right track to redemption. Currently I am firmly in the skeptical column.
Come on guys, all this talk of 10-15 games is silly. We have been in a downward spiral for probably 4 years now and IMHO, we only stayed up for at least 2 of those thanks to the much maligned Nicky Maynard who could at least score goals of his own making. Once we lost him and bought forwards who relied on normal teamwork to score, the writing was on the wall... I was livid wih SoD after the pivotal game at Wolves last year but now I have had time to reflect, I really don't think that Ferguson, Mouriniho, Wenger or anyone else you care to name could have kept us up so I am not going to hang that yoke around SoD's neck. What happens next is all that matters and SoD is doing his best to freshen up the place and dispel the bad kharma that has pervaded this club but, HE CAN'T SHIP THEM ALL OUT IN ONE GO so some will remain. To completely reverse the culture that has lingered for years is frankly unrealistic, what I would hope for is that we start off playing decent football and build from there Its a bit like Paul Lambert at Villa, he went there to try and reverse a prolonged period of stagnation. He did so by clearing out and bringing in youth and to be fair to the Villa fans, they could see what he was doing and stuck solidly behind him all season despite the close scrape that they had because they could see that he was trying to take the club forward. I think he did all the hard work last year and Villa will do better this season, especially with Benteke signing a new deal today.. I don't expect us to struggle like that but I do think that it will take some time as in the turning of an oil tanker to arrest the culture, atmosphere and rot and hopefully, seeing young and hungry team mates around them might reinvigorate some of our better players who may have become disenchanted with what was happennig here. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day...
I said this before it depends on the start we make if we gel quickly(and we have 3 games to start the process) then the sky is the limit but if we make a slow start then it will be October/November before we see the team pulling together and come January there will be several players on their way through the exit doors at AG. I still think that the Playoffs are a realistic target but until we see the team perform it is going to be hard to judge them, on paper we have the second or third best squad in the league but paper footballers never won anything.
Said it before countless times, we need to be patient this is going to be bumpy for a bit but if everyone stays patient we will see the rewards. I don't think we will go up, think Rovers will and we have a season with derbies then we make our move. But if we get restless and drive the management out, then we will be taking 2-3 steps back. I don't like his drivel, and I think he talked bollocks saying he don't look at the table, he should of kept that comment to himself not the best way to get the fans on side. But I do think he could be the the making of us.
Whether we like it or not if we are struggling after 10-15 games we could be in trouble. The games run out quicker than expected and if you are off the pace by Christmas it is considerably more difficult to move up the table, and those with doubts I refer you back to last season.
I could say look what happened when GJ joined us 9 straight defeats rock bottom of the table but in the second half of the season we played like champions elect and didn't miss the play offs by much we just ran out of juice in the last 3 weeks or so.
You just got to look at the Blue Fools, to see that you can be rock bottom at Christmas only to narrowly miss out on play offs at the end of the season. If we get off to a bad start is not a bad thing, we have a young team that will take a while to gel, as long as I see more entertaining football then I will be happy. We all say no one could of kept us up last season but that's talking after the event we were only 4 points of safety at one point could of been closer but just didn't happen. Saying we didn't have the players for the fight, we did the season before that and the one before that made a significant improvement in the second part of the season.
I kept hoping that the players would show some fight and pride last season but it was as though far too many of them had decided they just couldn't be bothered, 'we are off at the end of the season why bother'. The only player I exclude from that was Stead who when he played seemed to put everything into the games even if most of his team mates were just going through the motions, most of the games I saw last season I would say that out of the 14 players that were on the pitch during a match,(11starters + 3 subs) we were lucky if 6 were trying, part of it was just rank bad team selection by DM who seemed to lose focus on what he was employed to do and part of it was the attitude of if we go down I'm ****ing off anyway so who gives a ****. Unless and until we can eradicate that sort of Rot/Malaise call it what you will from the club we could struggle. Winning promotion and avoiding relegation both have one thing in common you have to fight for what you want, half heartedly wandering about the pitch isn't going to get you anywhere. I really rate Sean O'Driscoll as a manager but he does have one failing in my eyes he always tries to build the players up instead of sometimes what they need is a kick up the arse or to be kicked out of the club if as he appears to be saying there is something rotten at BS3 why doesn't he just say who the problem players are? Suddenly a thought occurs S O'D hasn't said who is causing the rot as he would like to move them on and letting other teams know that these players are would prevent most of them from being saleable. I just hope that sooner rather than later we can get rid of those who are dragging the club down.
