He is a die hard fan and we were talking about our current plight. He said "the start of all this rot was when Bruce let Danny Collins go without a replacement" Looking back it was certainly a turning point, what do you make of that? He didnt think we will go down btw
It was a big shock at the time when we let him go. He was a consistent performer for us and we sold him for peanuts without having a replacement. It's quite surprising how much his careers gone down the pan since he left us!
Poor Bruce still kopping the flack... I would point to the Bent situation a lot more stronger than the Collins.
Yeah that's right, no idea why we let him go? Apart from Sess last year Bardsley won it the year before and Mings got it this year. It speaks for itself how we've performed over the last 5 years when defensive players have been picking up the award !
When I see threads like this, supporting a player like Danny Collins, it makes me realise how much a clue some of you have got.. None. It's no wonder Collins is in the championship, because he is a championship player. It was a good decision made by Bruce, who was a defender himself and obviously saw through Collins straight away.
your missing the point mate, its not that we let him go its the fact we didnt have a replacement lined up, the LB position caused us all sorts of problems after that
Besides, plenty of time has passed between now and when he left for STOKE in the PL. The point he makes doesn't even stand on it incorrect assumptions.
Think Bruce did have a replacement lined up - Figueroa from Wigan... However Whelan moved the goalposts on price and it all fell thru last minute, so we didnt have chance of replacement in that particular window....
I find it hard to believe that we are where we are now because Danny Collins was released. I would still take Figueroa, beast.
Plenty of mistakes have been made, as have correct decisions. I don't think one factor can singularly determine our current plight.
Danny Collins was a solid reliable defender when he was with us End off. Some people on here are frigging mad,
i dont doubt this for a minute, but surely the manager should have mitigated for this outcome. but then i suppose just like the football under bruce and mon for that matter, no plan B
I suppose its a point in time when we should have been kicking on and once again didnt, if I had to choose a singular moment in recent times where we went significantly backwards, i would go along with fu king, and Judas. And i also wish to some degree we hadnt let Rico go this season
Cana's strange departure; Bents wanting to be away after only a year (despite the best form of his career and the outward appearance he was totally settled here) and the likes of Mensah, Muntari and then the spectacle of Gyan's departure all led to Bruce imploding as well. He could find these class players but couldn’t handle them. We have a manager who could handle them but can’t find them now? SAFC became a laughing stock in the 70's, 80's and 90's with relegations and promotions coming in equal measure. Neither Cowie or Murray covered themselves in glory during this time and we began to slip backwards against many of our contemporaries during the 80's but briefly regained some ground under Reid in the late 90's and early 2000's. After Reid we plummeted back to earth with 2 shocking points returns in a matter of a couple of seasons or so and for the last 6, although far from successful, we have spent 6 consecutive years in the top flight for the 1st time since 1958. Our demise isn’t 1 mans fault, any particular sets of players or even one owners. It’s the culmination of 50 years of absolutely woeful, miserable mis-management and custodianship by a succession of woefully under prepared and under achieving rank amateurs. We have chopped and changed managers and players like a man with the trots changes his underwear but unlike that person, we don’t address the symptoms and try to stop the trots; rather we just keep cleaning up the mess decade, after decade, after decade! We now have a classy successful and dynamic owner; a top class proven manager and the best ever paid set of players – and we are still crap, proving you can’t end 50 years of utter failure in a matter of months unless you have Man City’s bankers to fund an overnight £500/£600m investment? That’s why MoN deserves another year at least to keep plugging the gaps and filling in the cracks until he gets his own stamp on the club and builds us his vision of the future and not simply mirrors the past here. Yet another manager and yet another 5 year plan is the last thing we need right now after 5 managers in the last 7 years alone (McCarthy, Keane. Sbragia, Bruce and now Martin) and a period of stable governance is the order of the day. Will we go down? It’s a distinct possibility for sure. If we do then Martin will go for sure. If we don’t then I desperately hope we stick with him for next season. If we don’t improve after that time, then all we will lose is another year and after waiting best part of 40 years now, another one means feck all in the big scheme of things because if I’m right, then we will start to see us change our future for sure.
