You might have thought...

Well l don't know about you lads and lasses, but you might have thought that our glorious leaders would have taken the opportunity to further extend the olive branch of relegation Sunday and issue some sort of follow up statement, especially as we won and played with some heart and DID NOT GET RELEGATED!

Perhaps l am being a little too optimistic? But it would IMO have been a good time to keep some degree of momentum going with regards to communication.

It seems to me that if the club told us a little more often what it was trying to do and why they were doing it, even if we did not agree with it, the whole situation would be better going forward.

Have to say l am a little disappointed that they have expressed no joy, gratitude or congratulations, especially to thank the fans for the support at SJP which was awesome at times on Sunday.

Thoughts?

 

that's what normal people would do, but then again...................

having said that, it was like a cup match atmosphere, or what I can remember a cup match atmosphere was like

 

I genuinely don't think we have people capable, even to the point where those that are in a position to say something simply don't have the time, such is the woefully understaffed nature of things. We desperately need a football or sporting director, but is it even on the agenda? We are rammed with self publicizing morons who all believe themselves to be infinitely better than the overwhelming evidence suggests.

 

To be fair, if they'd have come out and said 'thanks everybody' after the game, I'm sure you lot would all be saying 'thank us with actions not words, get some players in and prove you're not full of ****'... maybe their actions will be thanks enough in the end.

I had a feeling he was going to snap into action if you stayed up, I think he's going to take any pent-up frustrations he's got, out on your Glaswegian Sports Direct cousins up the road.

 

I think you could have a point Terry. I believe there has definitely been n element of '**** you' in some of his actions with our club. However, he now has a personal reason to invest and go all Jim Bowen on Rangers and say 'let's see what you could have won.' You don't even have to believe he is a transformed figure to believe this.

Personally, although i think there have been elements of spite in his actions, I think his biggest problem with us has been thinking he could transfer his business model to a football club without modification.

 

To me it looks a bit Arsenal-lite if you like, they had to sit tight and win **** all for years whilst they paid for their stadium, now they're seeing the rewards (sort of) in the transfer market.

The trouble is for me, you've got into a strong financial footing by selling your best players, in order to sustain your financial strength you'd have to continue to do this and that's the exact opposite of what's required if he's actually serious about winning something.

I guess the summer will tell you a lot.

Anita was class by the way on Sunday, I watched your match on the red button on Sky later on, the bloke never stopped running. That's the effort required, in every game, from every player to 'win something'.

 

Anita was amazing. I'm even putting his incredible miss down to just his legs being shot. he did so much running (as did Jonas). You are right, thatr is what we ned every game.

As for finances, we don't need to sell our top players to make a profit anymore. It depends what level of investing people are looking for.With the TV money, investing 20-25 million nett on players is doable without breaking the model. Investing 50 million nett isn't. A lot of the financial side has been aimed at correcting what went before. That doesn't need sorting forever.

 

Our problem is that our current squad is woefully deficient. That is going to cost a small fortune to correct. As a one off investment it's worth it though. Build a good squad that can do something, continue to develop the academy for the longer term and should we sell players, replace them. Not exactly rocket science, but the club struggle with that concept.

 

Totally agree. The neglect of recent seasons has left the club in a position where the model needs to be put to one side in favour of essential maintenance.

Another problem has been the total neglect of our kids. NONE have come through and established themselves as first teamers. That is a coaching issue. When Arsenal or Man United have an injury crisis they stick a young left back at left back. We don't trust our kids so stick midfielders there. That is a coaching issue. I love Pedro but his record on the coaching side does not stack up.

 

The coaching set up needs to be reviewed. We simply aren't bringing the kids through and giving them a fair crack. Dummett is the one exception [although the jury is still out on him.]

The business model needs to be put aside for one season as you say. Just go for broke for one season. Get a good head coach/ manager in, give him the money to build a good side and see where it goes. Ashley mentioned in his strange interview that qualifying for the Champions League is akin to winning a trophy. I'm not naive to think we'll do that, but we are financially sound so why not go for it? Should we actually achieve the impossible then the financial rewards mean that the club could go back to it's business model in a position of strength and everyone would be happy.

 

It's Charnley who looks after football don't forget...

Personally this is what I'd have done if I was Charnley this week:

• Sacked Carver today (but in a nice way.. thanking him etc....)- This would get the fans immediately onside and looking forward.
• Put some really silly price tags on our players and leak this info (hopefully to scare off would be suitors)
• Call an immediate fans forum meeting to begin re-engagement with the fan base - the list EVERY cock up they've made to prove that the recognition is there
• Announced a 5% cut in ALL ST prices with immediate effect (peanuts in the scheme of things)
• Made a formal (and public) bid for Austin.

If he did that I'd start to believe again..

But we have a wall of silence.

It's early doors though so I'm crossing my fingers.

 

I think Terry has a point, but at the same time I see nothing wrong with doing both. Express a bit of gratitude and then back it up with some quickfire action. Money talks, it is easy to get business done early if you mean business. We shall see but forgive me if my faith is little weak on that front.

 

Totally agree with the sentiments here..I am utterly flabbergasted at how atrocious NUFC inc. are at basic communication. (90% of the RE-OCCURRING problems have their root in this fact .. I know sports direct are the equivalent of a feudal system, lords with serfs and peons on ZHC ..but this is NOT how you run a football club ..and surely someone should have told MA (who admits he knows little about the football 'industry') that ..often and loudly if necessary ..its kind of the job/purpose of the board to do this ..ie its known as 'leadership'

I remain unconvinced re the MA interview ..BUT..at least we have this and upto next summer to judge the value of MA's words (it is going to take more than a couple of months to turn the dying horse that is NUFC inc around so I want signs/positive steps this summer...real ongoing improvements next summer etc) .. It is their in black and white AND from the horses mouth ..But the one thing that can so, so, so easily be addressed is the communication side..

We fans aren't daft..we could understand if the money is TOO TOO much for player X ..that player Y is being sold due silly offer (as long as we were confident that he would be replaced by a person of equal if not better possibility etc etc) ...BUT communication relies on building and maintaining trust ...For way too long all the trust has come from the fans ..and it has NEVER been returned ..It is time for NUFC Inc to start building trust with an abused and ignored fan base ..and decent /good communication is the first positive step the organisation can take.

Wether they will or not... we shall see

 

you forgot

item #6 sack myself (Charnley) with extreme prejudice and not in a nice way

...apart from that spot on

 

**** Austin for the time being, a proper manager is more important at this moment. He can spend 60-70 million but if Carver gets the job he may as well have pissed it against the wall.

 

With regards to that bold bit, every time your fans are mentioned they seem to be 'represented' by some ****ing idiot wannabe gangster (that bald chav who seems to get his face about on Sky every time something goes tits up) or that ranting loony off Youtube.

I might be wrong but that's my outsider perspective, who actually represents your fans? Is there a designated group who have people speaking on behalf of you lot who don't just want to cut Mike Ashley's head off?

If I was a seriously wealthy businessman running a successful football club, the last person I'd have to justify myself to is some ex-roid-monster who looks like he's been hit by a bin wagon.

 

please log in to view this image

 

There is an official fans forum, recognised by the club, that those two idiots get nowhere near. It isn't great and usually the minutes just pass on the SD company line, but it's better than nothing.

 

Why do you have to be bald to get in the team?

That's my outsiders perspective mate, why would anybody bother making 10 minutes available in their day to discuss anything with Sloth Fratelli and his mates?

 

I thought that might be the case. Usually when they're represented by people prepared to toe the line, they never ask anything relevant, they are too scared to jeopardise their position at the club in case the club decides to cut the cord and **** them off for good. Same with us, our representative fan group are a bunch of dullards.