RED4LIFE

Surely it should be conc-horse?

No need to apologise Dave, I know what you meant. The point i was trying to make (possibly not well) was after a complete reversal of playing styles from counter attacking to possession based with the exact same players and expecting it to go smoothly isn't realistic in my opinion. The fact that highly paid professionals in the upper management used this as an excuse to bring in Manning is bordering on the ludicrous. To then spout the bollocks of top 6 as a minimum to the fans isn't just stupid, it's taking the piss. The vast majority of us aren't stupid. We've been through this mill countless times over the years but for the board to expect us to lap up their excuses like the good customers they think we are they can **** right off.

Yep, that's exactly it in a nutshell. The board took the fans for mugs and because of that I can't bring myself to blame Manning for what's happened. Could he have done better? Undoubtedly, but he was dealt a pretty poor hand to start with.

Yeah, can't really remember myself, but then I do take all their ramblings with a pinch of salt. Let's face it, we sold our best creative player and bought McCrorie, a right back and they expected miracles.

I respect your opinion more than most on here mate, but I would be astonished if they honestly thought that a young, fairly inexperienced manager would immediately make a huge difference to our promotion chances. That's like catching lightning in a bottle and history tells us it rarely happens. With regards to the Pearson sacking, if he would've had 2 or 3 more points it would've only prolonged the inevitable. Besides, we had so many injuries we could barely field a decent starting 11 and that should've surely factored into their thinking but it seems they chose to ignore it.

Why should we be doing better? We lost 2 of our best players without properly replacing them, reduced the wage bill at the same time, then replaced a manager and completely changed the playing style. With all that happening why do you think we should be doing better?

Strong language? Not in my opinion and trying to be helpful wasn't the point of my post. The point I wa trying, unsuccessfully as is happens, to make was your pre-season expectations mean nothing to anybody at the club. They are based only on your opinion or hopes for how things should pan out. They are literally pointless without all the facts to hand. You are more than welcome to have any opinion you want but it means nothing. That isn't a slur on you personally either as everyone can have their own opinions. Not everyone can have their own facts though and you are basing your points on your thoughts alone with no basis around them. Essentially a straw man's argument.

You've answered your own question there. 'As a fan' your pre-season expectations are seen through eyes that don't, and will never, have all the information at hand about the club, players and manager to make a fully informed opinion with all the facts laid out in front of you. For that reason alone, how the hell can you think any argument you make about the way things have gone relating to your pre-season thoughts have any relevance? The club, for whatever reason, have decided half way through the season to go for a different plan, manager and style of playing, yet you still think that your (personal) pre-season expectations should be met. That to me is utterly insane. To expect the same or better results with such turmoil is idiotic. That isn't just aimed at you but the board too, although I don't think the board believed a word they said either which is reprehensible l. Forget all the bullshit spouted by JL and Tinnion about top 6. It was blatantly obvious the issue was the boards relationship with Pearson had deteriorated to a point of no return which is why he got sacked. A blind man could see that and, admittedly, I was fuming over it but, to use the top 6 excuse to bolster your opinion about how we should do is naive at best.

Without getting into the whole racism argument (which I find abhorrent btw), I am good mates with a City fan who was banned from all football matches for 3 years by the club/courts and also had to hand his passport whenever England played. His offence was for standing up in, what was then, the Grandstand and telling the Millwall fans who had been giving it loads all game to, "**** off you cockney c*nts". A steward decided he was inciting violence, threw him out and reported him to the Old Bill who immediately arrested him, took him to the station and chatged him. It went to court and he hence got the above ban and a criminal record. The whole point of the above post is only to show that when it comes to incidents involving football fans, things can be completely blown out of all proportion. Again, I'm not, and wouldn't ever condone racism against anybody, but I do think if the bloke who got a very light punishment for this did it anywhere but in/near a football ground, it wouldn't have ever been reported in the press. Let's face it, as footy fans we have to put up with being treated as scum. Whether that's by the Old Bill or the press it makes no difference. Edit: Before anybody posts the usual, if it wasn't for the hooligans years ago, this wouldn't be happening argument, do you honestly believe that a phenomenon that happened 30/40 years ago is relevant today is right? To tar every football fan with that brush in 2024 is ludicrous. We all know that what was prevalent back then has been marginalised now and the vast majority of fans are being subjected to draconian situations ONLY because it makes the Old Bill's lives easier, not because of the potential of serious disorder.

The link posted earlier is working fine for me via a VPN

The standard of football tonight is so poor I wouldnt be surprised if it ends up with both teams losing

I usually watch from the Atlanta mountains but it didn't show as available on RTV, so I will watch it on Sport 10 which was great on Saturday after the shambles of the City feed.

Yep, agree with that Fevs. 'My' position was CM. Thats where I thought I was most effective and where I would play my best football, but in my mid 20's I was probably 11 stone. Depending on what team we were playing against, if I was up against 14 stone, 6'4" bruisers, I would often either play as a full back or one of the wide positions to negate the opposition nullifying my comparative lack of size and strength.. I could still do a good job in either of those roles, and as captain of most sides I played for, I could still lead by example. I didn't care where I played as long as I felt I was helping the team. There is more ways than one to skin a cat, but in football you need to sacrifice personal gain for team achievement. Not every player is willing to do that, and not every fan is able to see that. That's probably why I relate to Cornick so much, as he's essentially doing the same thing I used to do, albeit at a much higher standard than I ever did.

They? The only person who mentioned that was NP, unless I've missed something. My point still stands. If we knew Scott was going, which we damn well should've, why haven't we actioned Plan B yet and strengthened the squad? The deals should've been lined up to be completed as soon Scott had gone. As it stands, we are playing with a weakened team. That's not taking into account the Conway injury as well. A blind man can see that Bell isn't ready to be our main striker for the.next 4-5 months if we're serious about a playoff push

I see your point, but Scott was always going to leave us this summer. The club should've been prepared for this and had a plan to reinvest a chunk of that income in other players as soon as his sale went through to strengthen the team. We don't even need to spend 1/4 of that to make us better, yet all we hear is that we are at our wage limit so incoming players are unlikely. Poor planning in my opinion, especially considering we have a squad bulked out with Academy players no matter how good they might become in the future.