When we went up, ourselves, Stoke and West Brom were very fancied to go down (so much so, Paddy Power paid out on Stoke going down after the first game of the season ). Ayala's non arrival is disappointing, but I think most of us expected the deal to be dead as we've heard nothing over the past couple of days. When there are PL teams sniffing around there's nothing you can do. Obviously we'll have to look elsewhere - who ever mentioned Kilgallon, great shout - he transferred to Sunderland in 2009 for about £3m, he was very highly regarded at Sheff Utd before he went there. He's been out on loan a fair bit in the Championship, so isn't short of experience in this league either. It'll be a worry if Dele and McLean aren't available for Saturday, you feel Simpson & Fryatt might perform better under the pressure of having their places under threat. Rosenior should be OK by the sounds of it, but at least now we're safe in the knowledge we have more than capable cover at right back in Danny East
I hate this attitude at the club at the moment that it's such an inconvenience for them to answer questions about certain topics. Nobody is asking them to enjoy answering questions, but to sit and moan every time they are asked about the most important issues surrounding the club is almost insulting to the fans. They think we're more of an annoyance than anything else. They told us he was suspended for two weeks, I think to ask for an update four weeks later (the day after when the disciplinary hearing was thought to have been held) is fairly reasonable.
Maybe not but it's fairly obvious that the question is going to be asked so why not make a statement? Surely that's not to much to ask? Or is it a case that we're suppose to only ask questions that suit the club?
They could come out and clarify the situation as it is, whether it's that processes are still ongoing or whatever, just keep people informed, it would only take someone 10 minutes to draw up and put on the club website, and prevent Nigel from getting pissed off again!
'Following Jimmy Bullards two week suspension for breaching club rules and discipline, the club has announced that he has been suspended indefinitely pending further investigation. This investigation may take several weeks and fans are asked to be patient while this procedure is instigated. The club has no further comment to make at this stage and will not be taking any further questions on the matter. Once the issue has been resolved the club will make a further announcement' Doesn't exactly give us any new information but does give Nigel Pearson a bit of backing for his press conferences and has every right to start getting pissed off if the club have already announced what is happening.
In defence of Nigel I feel that although he is far from comfortable with press conferences, and would prefer not to do them, he does not shirk his responsibilities and handles them by telling it as it is. He gives no excuses and the only explanation being that 'we weren't good enough' and that 'we will have to improve'. Management can please themselves what they tell us and at least our current Management are more transparent than the previous one. We all know where we are short in the team but finances are still governing the war-chest but, and this is the big BUT, if Mr Allam is prepared to expand the Stadium to 30-odd thousand then he must know that he will need far better quality players than we have now (if he is going to come close to filling it) so he will have plans in the future to give Management funds and a wage budget to acquire such quality players. Not going to happen this season as we still have a few players to get rid of, but I believe it will start to happen next season. Most on the boards are coming up with very similar selections to what Nigel is and don't forget that his staff will be advising on what are the best tactics against whichever team we are playing in an effort to put the best possible, and most competitive, team on the pitch each week. Not easy with what he's got, whereas our team seems to be lacking a lot in pace and we appear to be easy to handle by the opposition. Early doors yet though so I am still hoping that we can 'click' and get the run-of-the-ball as well as a fair share of luck.
I have never understood why we demand information from the club. Last time they discussed the topic, Bullard was suspended pending a further investigation. That investigation is still going on, there is nothing to update us with. NP knows nothing on the subject and its not down to him, AP will not want to talk about it in case he says something that Jimmy could use against him.