Its not a case of having blind faith in DF, as I've said quiet clearly I don't think he's got everything right. I disagree that before the summer transfer window we had a squad that was capable of challenging for promotion, what I do know is we had a squad which was overloaded with dead wood and wananbes and certainly one we couldn't afford. I agree we were poor against Hull, but was our defensive frailties because we attacked more or because of a forced change of shape or due to lack of fitness through injuries to key players. Some of you should look back at some of the post at the start of the season. The general consensus on this board was that this year would be a transition season. Webber, Stone & Farke are trying to sort out others mess without any real money to work with. Who do you think would do a better job on the peanuts we'd pay. DF hasn't got everything right and he hasn't solved all of our issue, but the direction of travel is in the right direction.
but the direction of travel is in the right direction. Really? We're sliding down the table and if it wasn't for Maddison we would likely be relegation candidates. Our points haul is significantly worse than last year and any year since we got relegated to lge1! Bah!
Exciting isn't it. Imagine when Madders leaves! Even more exciting. Relegation fight is more exciting than a mid-table nothingness. Imagine the progress then! Will be beyond exciting! Doesn't even matter if we get relegated again, at least we are making progress. That's all that matters. Lose more money and players, but at least it is more progress. Imagine when we lose more players in league 1. The progress then will make me spunk in my pants! So happy with the progress.
The darkest hour is just before dawn! I had a girlfriend called Dawn many moons ago. I enjoyed getting up at the crack of Dawn.
Well I'm fairly confident coming the end of the season we will have more points & a better goal difference from the second half of the season than the first. Was our performance at Milwall so long ago that you've forgotten just how bad we were.
Why is it so difficult for people to understand that transition, and even progress if you want to use that word, refers to matters off the pitch even more than matters on the pitch. Last season we lost £30m. Had we just carried on as before then we would have lost another £30m this season. To a Club of our size a debt of £60m plus loss of the parachute payments would have meant going into administration. In reality the new structure had to bring in a transition period to make progress under specific headings - What progress has been made? a) Get rid of the high earners. Most have gone and others will go at the end of this season. Progress? - Tick b) Replace the high earners with freebies, cheapies and youngsters. Progress? - Tick c) Use profits on transfers to financially stabilise the Club. Only the next set of accounts will set this out but progress? - Tick d) Despite the restrictions forced by the above keep us relatively safe in the Championship. Progress? - Tick That is why I, and others, dare to suggest that the period of transition is working and that progress is being made. If you thought that we would have been able to mount a promotion challenge this year then, in my opinion, it was ignoring the reality of the situation at our Club and the fact that we would be competing against many bigger better funded Clubs. I genuinely feel and hope for improvements on the pitch next year but that cannot be guaranteed. What can be guaranteed is that any money raised from the sale of Maddison and others will be used to deal with the loss of parachute payments and not spent on replacements. It might well be that matters on the pitch could get worse before they get better but what would I rather see - a fight against relegation or a fight against administration? I'll take the former any day of the week.
Hull was something of a reminder! But will we score more goals in the second half to the first? After 23 games, we were 16th on 27pts -8 g.d. and 22 scored. We look odds on to be better second half currently, 36 played, 14th on 48pts -4 and 37 scored With 10 to play I can't be certain we will score 8 more, win 7 more points to hit 55pts and be net -4 or better. We ain't playing like we will. And remember if we drew the line after binners away our points per game will definitely have dropped! Bah!
Your points about off the field progress and evolution of the wage bill are valid, but we were discussing the progress of the team, with particular reference to Farke. None of those positives can really be attributed to him. a) We actually just released players, bravo, that was tough to do. b) You'll see that in general we all think Webber has done ok on a shoe string. c) not sure how that is seen as progress? A necessity that culminates in a wheeler team. d) Bull, as RBF highlights, Balls stated loftier targets, taking a squad, with enough talent to finish 8th getting rid of the out of contract dead wood that none of us wanted to stay (Ruddy only possble exception) and turning it into a lower half side with every probability we will need to sell the only player that has kept us from a proper relegation battle. That's progress!?! That's a managed decline. Webber as said is doing his part and i hope he gets the academy producing (he's done nothing tangible yet) I think he will be better than most at recruiting cheapies, but Farke still feels the weakest link. I' like him to prove me wrong because I don't think he's going anywhere, anytime soon. Bah!
a) Howson, Murphy, Jerome. Just released? b) Agreed c) Necessity that has meant progress towards getting the debt under control which was the point I made. d) We all had hopes and targets but surely the reality is that in view of the action that had to be taken we are doing as well as could be expected. I cannot guarantee that Farke will succeed but, like you, I hope he does because getting rid of him and his team will mean spending more money that we cannot afford to spend and, if nothing else, this season has shown that replacing your Manager does not automatically mean an improvement in fortunes.
