A dozen peronis and all seems clear. Had we come back to draw 2-2 with Liverpool and then got a draw today we'd probably have felt happy with 2 points. As it is we have 3! The bigger issue is the sending off of Cisse because he is class and I'd go so far as to say our best player which is why we feel so despondent. He has let us down and we all feel it. The reality is that the season is not over. I would not accept the players giving up and I wont until it's mathematically impossible. I expect them to fight to the end and i will do the same. We push on and the survival quest starts with a beating of Arsenal next week. The survival party will be all the better and sweeter because it was so unlikely and I'll be able to hold my head up high as I party into the small hours.......because I can say I was behind the team and retained belief throughout..... can you?? All hail the clear thinking remedial qualities of Peroni and come on you rrrrrr's!!!
I too shall believe we can do it 74. Until the table tells me otherwise. After the latest performance it would be typical of us to do Arsenal. Come on!
We could still get 8th Everton were too good yesterday but I thought we would win ... Even QPR got 4 points against them ... Think about it
I love my team and will support them like I have for most of my life thru thick and thin but we have all seen this sort of football before and it means relegation.Of all our relegated teams we have seen ,this one is the worst with the talent we have available.I occasionally go to watch Wealdstone FC and some of the young lads in that level of football would show more desire than the overated overpaid pri madonnas we have at this club at the moment.I want my Rangers back,full of players who are not playing just for there money.Dont know if those players exist at the level anymore but if they do we should scout them and bring them in for next season. Based on present performances, next season is going to be very similar to this season.
Trouble is when the effects of the Peroni wear off reality dawns, the reality is this lot would struggle to finish in the top six of the Championship. There is no youth structure of note in place and the team is disjointed because so many of the new signings were panic buys. That means when we do go down we will have to rebuild from scratch and with no young players of quality to supplement the team we will be ripe for the mercenaries to have a field day. The sacking of Warnock is beginning to look the most short-sighted decision TF could have made...
Warnock had two years to at least start improving the youth set up and scouting network, but didn't bother. He recruited a load of aging championship level mercenaries who actually turned into a championship winning team. Hughes has had a few weeks, hardly his fault. I get your point mate but don't think keeping Warnock would have magically created a strong youth set up.
I don’t often disagree with you Soop, but I do here, in part at least. I was always a big Warnock fan and was very disappointed when he was sacked, but, with hindsight, it not only was the right decision, but should have been made sooner to give Hughes more time to assess to squad before the transfer window. We were sinking with Warnock in charge, it now seems to be confirmed that he had lost the dressing room, there was no way back. Hughes has been given the job of building a proper club, this will include the youth policy you correctly state in missing. This task may actually be easy in the Championship, we are more likely to be able to gamble on young and hungry players, like Jordan Rhodes, out of the intense scrutinisation of the Premier League. It promises to be an interesting summer, regardless of which division we will be playing in next season.
I know it's always easy looking back to say we should have done this and we should have done that, but if we were going to get rid of Warnock earlier I don't understand why a greater effort wasn't made to get Martin O Neill in. He was available for quite a while before finally being bagged by Sunderland. Maybe he wasn't interested in coming to London but in hindsight a very good signing for them.
Roller - The problem with the youth set-up goes back over ten years to when our academy was closed, THAT was the most short-sighted decision in the club's history. My beef about Warnock was that he was stiffed by the Goons in the summer and when money eventually was available it was panic buys that were brought in. The odds were stacked against him and, in reality, the fragilities of our squad were exposed, particularly when Faurlin was injured. If Warnock had been left in charge and given unequivocal backing by TF instead of pandering to the players moans it may not have kept us up but would have kept in place one man who knows what is required to get us back up and with some confidence to do whatever was necessary. I have my doubts as to whether MH will be able to do that...
A most bizarre riposte from a usually level-headed Roller. 2 wins in 11 games and almost certainties for relegation despite Hughes being given up to 20m in the January Window. The sacking has back-fired catastrophically and if that's your hindsight talking, God help us when you start dishing out your foresight. The true implications of Tony's gamble will only become clear in the close season when an attempt is being made to re-assemble our squad for the NPC. The amount of money that has been and will have to be spent will be staggering.
I believed we'd stay up before the Liverpool game, two games and three points later there's nothing that has changed my belief. Though Cisse's stupid four match ban makes things more complicated, but I'll reserve my judgement until his replacement has been given a shot. You must be careful 74 so that you don't confuse belief with support. I have no reason to believe that anyone on here (except the wums) don't support the team just because they believe we'll get relegated.
That's a very important point and I'm glad you made it Norway. We're all die-hard fans whether or not we believe we'll stay up or not. We'll all be there nest season come what may.
I knew it was unusual for me to disagree with you, I think I misunderstood your original post. I think that you have now made it clear that, accepting that we are going to be relegated, you are saying that we would be better off with Warnock than Hughes. I certainly wouldnât dispute that. As for the panic buys, what choice did he have? This is all been discussed to death, but time was against him, the good players had all been snapped up and no one here thought out current squad was good enough to stay up. Iâll have to stop blaming the Goons eventually, but not quite yet!
Swords, it would appear that even hindsight is open to confusion. I said that sacking Warnock was the right decision, I did not say that employing Hughes was. However firmly interlinked, these are two separate events, at least in my mind. Warnock had lost the dressing room, we were dropping like a stone and heading for relegation. To do nothing would have been a crime. Unfortunately we are no better off, possibly we are worse off, but Fernandes had try something.
If we got Jordan Rhodes, I would be over the moon, but we'd have massive competition. He's got 32 goals in 30 games in the league
Good point Norway / Swords and agree. In my heart I probably believe we'll go down but I wont give up. I suppose what i'm saying is that I hope any negativity is left outside the ground come match day and we fully get behind the team to play our part in at least trying to secure premiership survival. If the players think we have all given up it can't help their approach.
