ray savino

Been supporting since my dad took me down at beginning of 66-67 season. I suppose it’s become such an integral part of my existence and a bit like with a soundtrack to my life with various music touch points, I can do the same with City matches relating to key bits in my life. Sad or what? Well maybe not. Football, it’s only 22 people kicking a ball around a field, all a bit culturally low brow for some. Not to me, it represents memories with my mates, great times out bonding with my old man as I was growing up and passing that burden onto my son! Gotta say sharing that feeling of pride and joy in beating United with my son, years after the same feelings I had being alongside my dad the night we beat Portsmouth at the Gate for promotion in ‘76 are irreplaceable to me. I have wondered recently though, if it was time to feel a little less emotional about it all, years of dashed hopes gets a bit exhausting. Even if it gets to the time where I can’t be bothered or afford to renew my season card, I know that I’ve invested far too much of my time (and emotional well-being!!!) following the City to give up on them completely. It would be nice to just have at least one more chance to get to experience watching us in the top tier again. There I go again - setting up those hopes to be dashed again!

This whole episode suggests to me that this has come as unexpected. I think that Pearson coming back soon after the last bout of Covid meant he believed he was okay and they ploughed ahead with their plans to change the coaching set up. Sadly, he’s relapsed and probably rightly needs a long period of recovery. NP strikes me the type of character that will battle through things, has a lot of professional pride, but he’s now realised that he needs to rest up properly. Hopefully this period will be only a short one, but if it does seem prolonged, then I do think we will need extra coaching help, or an interim head coach should be appointed, whether that is Fleming or someone else. None of us know and I do think that the RG interview confirmed that they are trying to buy some time to get a clearer picture of the situation. I do think we have a bit of time, despite the poor form. If this was the 10 games to go in this situation, I think they would get someone in to firefight even if only temporary. It would seem to offer some explanation as to why we may feel that this is not the 100% Nigel Pearson we thought we were getting. That”s not saying he hasn’t been 100% committed, more not 100% fighting fit, understanably. I hope this situation is that Nigel recovers good health first and foremost, and in the meantime this might just be the catalyst to galavanise all parts of the club, players, fans, staff, etc, to pull together and produce an ’us against the world‘ mentality and come out battling.

Get well soon, Nige, wishing you a speedy recovery.

Fair play to him for fronting up, but he sounded pretty uncomfortable. Pure PR exercise obviously, but didn’t offer any real insight or answers beyond the obvious corporately delivered customer service style. This ain’t all his fault. He’s just having to do the predictable attempt at allaying the fears and diffusing the growing anger of the fans. Not massively convincing to be honest. Welcome back to the world of football, CEO. Basically we’re in the shit, it sounds like our manager position is in some doubt due to awful bouts of Covid (and above all else his health is the most important), we have less coaching staff now with a squad who are severely short on confidence, and have little money. Basically out of our (fans) control apart from getting behind them as much as possible (like last 10 minutes v Barnsley) and hoping things turn. There didn’t sound much of a plan apart from must work harder, imaginitive recruitment, etc. Hmmmm. Surely that’s always been said to be part of executing of the bigger plan. Will be interested to see how they firefight this present crisis. Let’s hope this all has been in discussion over the past couple of weeks and hope they have an interim plan in Nige’s absence. On the playing side, the biggest slice of fortune that we can hope for is that our injured players get fit asap and stay fit, then we might at least have a chance to keep a consistent line up and maybe just enough to stay up. Williams, Conway, James, Atkinson, Baker, Semenyo at least can add a bit of aggression or physicality (whether they do is down to them and the coaches - Aaarrrggghhh!!!). Whatever the outcome, best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to good health for NP.

The problem for me is not the amount that SL should or should not be putting into the club. It’s been the structuring and decision making of the Board on the football side. As with most things on here, it is mainly pure speculation what goes on at the top table of this club. But the evidence of the decision making comes down to what we have experienced as fans/spectators over the years measured against the implicit or explicit marketing/messaging about BCFC ambition - getting to the Premier League. We haven’t done it, and what’s more, but for a few good seasons worth of performances, it’s mostly been mediocre, pretty low on entertainment and excitement with the occasional good performance. Also “the plan” seems to follow the pattern of build up hope, tear down when hasn’t worked, try something/someone else... and repeat. I think SL, deep down is frustrated and maybe just a tiny bit angry at himself for us being in this position. I must say we are not alone in feeling like this as fans. The fast majority of clubs can moan the same. We can’t all be winners - that’s sport. We have no divine right to win.The frustration for me appears to be a continued repetition of doing the same things with recruitment, policy, team build, etc with the same results whoever the coach or manager. If this was any other business or organisation, we as customers would have long gone by now and given up on it. But were not just normal customers, we’re fans - maybe fickle a lot of the time - but we find it hard to just walk away. Although I must confess, after 55 seasons of following this club, it’s really beginning to test my patience, not so much the lack of real success, but more the lack of exciting football, let alone “good” football.

In very simple terms. We need to treat from now that we’re in a relegation scrap. So we’ve got to scrap for every point. Backs to the wall mentality, full on commitment, make us hard to beat even if we find it hard to beat. Decide on the best system of play to both do this and is the simplest that most of our players can understand or have a chance to execute. Stick to it as much as is possible. Don’t confuse. May not be pretty, but might be better than where we are now. Then in the transfer window at Xmas, get in some effective loans. May not be the greatest, but loan players with the physicality and mentality to attempt the goal of keeping us up. SL is an accountant, so this is where with Richard Gould he has to be creative with his numbers. Lets not kid ourselves we are firefighting at least until Jan Window at the minute. If we stay up then hopefully keep as many of our best players we can. NP will have bought the time and resource to build the team. If not... then SL has to seriously consider what he’s going to do with this football club, because real fresh ideas will be needed. Maybe not sell up, bit drastic and not on his radar yet. But at least get some fresh football knowledge on the Board (sorry no more chancers ala Mr Ashton). I heard that Stuart Webber at Norwich (and previously Huddersfield) may leave soon, maybe to bigger club. Heard some interviews with him, tells board members and owners exactly how it is. Okay, may have a good line in bullshit as well, seems to go with the territory in football and often business, but he’s succeeded with clubs at our level and type - and with all respects to SL, it would appear he needs someone to tell it like it is - at board level. Or he recruits another manager and we all have our fingers crossed that this will be the one this time... again. You never know we might get lucky. It would not surprise me though if the likes of Palmer, has been instructed to have a chat with his agent to get a move and vice versa. Gould and recruitment must be working now to see if we can shift the deadwood and not wanted players in the next window to be able to massage the numbers enough to get a few loans to freshen things up in January - if indeed this is possible. We’ll see...

wasted?

Actually, come to think of it, that’s who Ian of FBC Podcast reckons we need up front.

Gert Massive!

Like all the names bandied about, who knows? We’ve an imbalanced mess of a squad, low on confidence on the back of a 3 year gradual downward spiral, complying to FFP, so little to spend on fees and wages without selling (so we are led to believe). Mammoth job for anybody. Whoever we would get in has a mammoth job to do, and I have a feeling if things did work it would be more to do with luck/law of averages (we might get a good one one day if we try so many ways) than judgement from our present board of directors. I am more concerned about the quality of (lack of?) their football decision making judging by the last 5 years or longer. SL and all may be great at developing the physical infrastructure, buildings etc., but seem so naive, changeable and ill advised in making football structure recruitment. I really think our board is lacking real insightful football knowledge of the modern football world today. Business, no real issue (apart from crap pies and price of a pint - and pay on the day ticket prices perhaps!) What bothers me, he has tried the solid no-nonsense manager types in Cotts and Pearson, the up and coming potential coaches in LJ and Holden, and here we seem to be, back to a rebuild and square one (or league one if we don’t collectively as a club get our fingers out). Despite our obvious problems in the squad which would challenge most, I’m am so disappointed that even the most basic organisation, difficult to beat, etc. seems to be missing and NP is really struggling to address this. Make no bones about it, NP is really struggling. I don’t think he even thought we would be so poor at this stage of his tenure, still not being able to get the basics right in virtually every games. You can tell that his interviews are feeling more and more resigned, his team selections more desperate as he runs out of options and ideas. Time for a change? I’m at a loss to know what’s best. But I have little confidence in the present Board of Directors to make a successful decision, judging how we have seemed to fail to build on any potential signs of success (Cotts team, LJ’s 17/18 first 6 months team) by investing poorly and recruitng badly. Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot.

This is starting to feel so much like the O’Driscoll era. Comes in to get the wages down and rebuild, but doesn’t have the resources to change things quickly. Performances and atmosphere just goes down and down. Having real doubts if NP can change things and at least motivate this lot. Our forwards don’t get the service, but are so truly average at this level. Wells can’t play in this team. Martin is too slow and cumbersome. What does it say about Palmer and O’Dowda if they can’t get in this team. One hope? Still two thirds of the season left to get their fingers out - provided they find a way of getting a few combative loans in January.

Yes, I totally agree here. We need a striker who has enough about them to occupy an opposition. If anything it buys the team some time, papers over the cracks until we get better players in different positions to expand our play. It means when all we can do is lump it forward, at least we have an outlet who might stretch the play, keep possession a bit longer, and add a genuine threat. Look at it this way. Think back to Kodjia. Yes raw when he came, but was unpredictable to play against, had pace, skill, would take on and beat people. A defender had always to keep an eye on him. He wasn’t a target man but was a handful. Bobby Reid, skill, vision and above all energy to press defenders. Not a target man, but could lead the attack (okay in a team set up to press in its most successful times). Tammy Abraham, not a traditional target man, in fact a bit of a finisher, raw, but had positional awareness and an eye for movement. With Akinbiyi, all different sizes and styles, but all had attributes to worry the opposition defence at times on their own. I’d put Assombalonga (when first at Peterborough) in the same category. A fully fit and firing pre- injury Afobe too. The nearest to a traditional big CF that we could have spent money on is probably Keifer Moore, but he’s out of our range now. And I would prefer more mobility to be honest. We are far too static, not always the forwards fault, but with the previous forwards I’ve named, you always thought there was a chance they might just do something special or out of the blue for themselves. We presently have decent forwards (no they’re not totally crap), but not one capable of worrying a defence on their own, being a truly effective focal point for our play. I think Wells would carry the best threat but is so dependent on service and team structure far more than the names listed we’ve had before.

I get this. I also get how Hampshire Red feels. I will be fed up, have doubts, start to feel there should be a change, etc, etc, etc. We all genuinely love City and I think if we’re all honest with ourselves we are all totally frustrated, particularly having to enjoy very few periods of real promise only to endure subsequent longer periods of dashed hopes. After and still supporting this club (now my 55th season), it is not about simply accepting second best, more a case of expecting second best. This has been the pattern of supporting the team on the playing wise during this time. Some great, proud moments, some awful lows, but generally pretty mediocre stuff in second or third tier over these years. However, for all this, I still get this often emotional, irrational hope that we will get there. It’s what makes me still go to watch, read this forum, etc. Supporting football is emotional. That’s why we love it and at the same time can resent it! If we get poor results over the next few games but worse shit performances, then people will start to get more than twitchy. A larger number of the fanbase will start to want a change in manager. I will be frustrated, impatient (after 55 seasons - ha), and I will want a change. But if I try to logically look at the overall picture, I would have to say that at the moment it is too early to get rid. I believe we are still in the process of tearing down and looking at foundations, to that point we have to have courage to stick with it at the moment. If results get even worse by half way in the season and we’re in the bottom 3 with no improvement of performances then Nige probably knows he will be gone. He knows the score and scale of the mess the club is in football wise. What I would be interested in from all the fellow fans on here is: 1) Do you trust the current Board to appoint a successor to Pearson, given their relative lack of success over the years, particularly not recruiting one to get us to the desired target of the Prem or play-offs (apart from 2008)? 2) Do you think that the plan to get to the Prem is muddy, flawed, needs clarity, should change? Do you think the board needs more Football World/streetwise expertise represented on it at Director level above the management team, who can help implement and guide the plan for the club? Should the plan be revised, torn up, or actually be communicated a bit better to the fans? Does the boardroom need a shakeup and change in dynamic before the team management? 3) In the event of NP going, who or what type of manager should we go for and why? It would be good to get a picture of how people here think we can go forward and who with? So, I confess to thinking NP has to have more time at the moment. But I have to admit being at a bit of a loss to see where we go if this happens soon - haha you can tell by this long-winded post. Whatever happens, I know that I’ll be full of hope again before tomorrow’s match - whether false or otherwise, and hope against all form we bloody well batter Barnsley - 1-0 will do!

What now indeed? To be honest this just feels like groundhog day. Hasn’t this been our reaction for the last 10 years. I keep saying we’ve had 2 very decent spells of consistent signs of real promise since in this period. Cotts prom season and the LJ first half os 17/18. And then from a position of promise we seem to shoot ourselves in the foot, whether that’s sacking managers and replacing them with not much better or worse, or selling key players and replacing them with no better or a lot worse. My take is that whoever is in charge of football affairs has been appointed by “the board”, basically SL who sanctions the advice. Now we can all agree that SL has rebuilt a good stadium and great training facilities as well as funding not unsubstantial amounts of dosh on players. But I really think that it would appear his seeming reluctance to expand the board to at least getting some extra opinion and vision (i.e. seeking a real football director/football world person) at board level has proven to be a prohibitive factor in us implementing and developing a truly successful plan and philosophy, whether that’s style of play (the famous identity cliche), type of coach and manager. I think Pearson could turn it around, but he has got to stay up in this league first, and in so doing needs to quickly get some results to buy him time with the fan base crucially. I do think we may have got Pearson in 3 or 5 years too late. Like any of our fan base, I feel so pissed off that we seem to repeat this cycle so much, even when there are signs of recovery or progress. I think the philosophy/mentality has got to come from the top. With that I mean the board and SL. (That isn’t just about SL putting his hand in his pocket all the time - some of the time maybe, but wisely.) Swansea, Brentford, Norwich, to name 3 obvious recent clubs over those last 10 years, have seemed to have a whole club football plan that have resulted in getting the right type of coach and players to fit that. They’ve had a few unsuccessful recruits (particularly Swansea), but in the main they’ve kept and built on their reputation and have had a damn site more success than us. The board needs to seek real expertise at that level, otherwise SL and JL will be prey to charlatans like Ashton in their decision making. We need a board with a breadth of football and business knowledge, who appear a bit more streetwise in the modern football world and not just business to have a real plan to carry out. I blame Pearson for the selection and tactical decisions he may make, but I don’t blame him (yet) for the absolute shitshow and blend of a squad that show that many don’t appear to suit a pressing game, or others don’t suit a possession based game, others don’t suit a long ball game. I also don’t blame him for having no money (Club policy towards FFP regs) and so many players in a crap contract situation. It’s the culmination of years without sticking to a plan that shows promise, tearing it all up when a player leaves (i.e. not replacing similar style of player) or some poor results. Blimey both Brentford and Norwich had some poor and slow starts to seasons in the Champ, but had courage to stick at it, maybe tweak things, but they came good. To be honest all I want is a bit of hope, with or without Pearson, but I’m afraid for all of SL’s undoubted investment in gthe football club, I have little confidence at the moment that the current board show few signs and lack the right astute knowledge to make the correct recruitment decisions on a footballing level. Please someone make some sensible suggestions of a plan, direction and personnel that might do this - I’m totally out of any ideas!!!

Just spotted this from Exiled Red.

Of course Bentley would be missed. I said I’d love to keep him. But if we got to generate funds I think there are so many gaps to fill in our outfield players then I think that is more of a priority. Yep he’s gained us points in many games no doubt. But in the end I’d rather have the outfield team that can get us up the other end of the field and play in the opposition box and make the opposition keeper work harder than our own keeper in a match. If we can build a side that without having to sell Bents then great, he is a top keeper. I’d rather build a team though that involves Bentley having little to do most games. As for Max, he might be raw, but i don’t share your view that he’ll scare anybody to death. He has to learn still but can be adequate. I will say however that we have found other adequate keepers, i.e. Maenpaa, Steele. Also we should look at the loan market when it comes to goalkeepers. Other Champ clubs have done this over the last few seasons. Strange thing is, as much as I think Bentley is a good goalkeeper and particularly a great shot stopper, I often felt Maenpaa felt a safer keeper in his general handling, physical presence and command of his box. Bently is brilliant at one on one’s, great agility, but I’m not so confident in his overall ability to command his area and defend crosses (although in fairness to him, he sometimes hasn’t had loads of help in front of him).

To be fair, I think you may be right. My thinking comes from the fact that despite the flak that Kalas gets at times (on occasions with a few mistakes may be valid), he seems to carry the most authority and experience amongst our defenders. He wasn’t a captain, but I still think he is a leader. He is willing to put his body on the line and I get the firm impression that he really hurts when we mess up or lose. I do think he’s good enough to play at a higher level (lower prem, decent Champ or European team. If we did get rid, then I think we would have to get that centre back with real backbone, passion and know how, that will cost but we’d need it. With goalies they are important. Cloughie said he rated signing Shilton as or more important than a top outfield player. I get what he meant, but in our case I do think we would get by for the moment with a good steady Eddie type keeper. Think and hope that Max could develop into the answer soon, too. Agree though that Kalas would probably command more interest and bigger fee. Also you’re right, final year and he won’t want to drop his wage too much if at all - not to what we might want him to take. Also think professionally he may need a lot of convincing about the project here - he’s still an international, getting to his prime and a decent offer from the Bundesliga or of the like and I’d understand a desire to move, particularly after the last few years here. The key to it to me is back to the recruitment policy. Not just selling all the best assets after one good season, but having a strategy to build. So that means having contract lengths right so players can be kept to have the time to grow together and we don’t have to say yes all the time. We inevitably will have to sell along the way, as long as we replace with players that don’t significantly weaken the team build, i.e. Brentford. Invest more wisely, etc. If we end up getting rid of a core of best players each year then we aren’t going to grow. I think that whole recruitment thing is so bloody obvious that maybe the penny has dropped with Lansdown now as well. For me the hope is how our young players performed with real attitude, some real skill, know-how and courage although obviously raw. But for the first time since the Dicks era, it looks to me that there seems a decent group of young talents that are coming through together that look like they may just have the hunger to make it to the first team at this level and maybe beyond. Add some decent recruitment like Tanner and Atkinson, and add a touch of experience as well, it may start to feel like a proper plan.

I see the following groups at the moment and for next season/the next step: PLAYERS TO KEEP TO DEVELOP SQUAD (Please try to get Massengo contract sorted though!!!) 1) Good/Effective Core: O’Leary, Tanner, Kalas, Atkinson, Baker, Dasilva, Pring, Williams, James, Massengo, Scott, Semenyo, Weiman. 2) Good/Potential Youngsters to integrate more into first team match day squad: Cundy, Benarous (think he may have ability to expose to 1st team squad soon - fast track his progress if possible, but carefully of course), Conway, Janneh (has had lots of loan time so make or break, bit of a wild card but while we lack pace should give more of a chance even if only as an impact sub). 3) May need some loan time (part or full season): Wiles-Richards, Towler, Pearson, Britton, Bell. PLAYER TO MOVE ON Players to move on for possible profit: Bentley (Would love to keep him if we were financially in a better position, but think if we could get a decent fee to use wisely (Hahahaha!!!) then think we could get adequate cover with an experienced loan or perm and O’Leary - think type like Maenpaa or Steele.) Players to move on at a loss: Wells (Age/inconsistent), Palmer (inconsistent), O’Dowda (inconsistent), Moore (inconsistent), Vyner(inconsistent - maybe get decent sell on clause), Bakinson(inconsistent - maybe get decent sell on clause) Players to move on for free: Simpson (Age), King (Age), Martin (Age). That’s 13 players in the squad, add 4 youngsters makes 17. Get rid of 9 (if at all possible - contracts permitting of course). Replace with minimum of the following positions to start with: 1 x Goalie, 1 x Right side defender (poss adaptable to full back or centre back cover), 1 x Right sided Forward/Winger (or left, but think between Pring and Dasilva we could cover the left side adequately with these two seeing that money is tight), 1 x attacking midfielder/playmaker, 1 x powerful, more physical centre forward but with stamina, speed and movement, 1 x finisher preferably with some pace, stamina and movement. Who, where from I don’t know, but that’s all about our scouting, recruitment. To be fair, one or two with experience and proven would be nice, but costs - so as long as we look at Tanner/Atkinson types to grow but will compete straight away would be good.

Bang on. Totally agree.

Yep, pretty much what I thought for a very long time. We’ve been going down this path of dropping too deep for the last 3 or 4 years. It’s nothing new. Also lack of movement in the team’s play has been a consistent problem since the “golden 6 month era” of August 2017 to December 31st 2018!!! We’ve had these issues and the managers Johnson, Holden and Pearson plus their coaching teams appear to have been unable to resolve it with the squad of players at their disposal. Listen, I’m not totally convinced with a lot of Pearson’s decisions at times, But he knows this is a shitshow of a mess and squad. He’s struggling. He can see the good and bad in this squad. He has no money to play with (wages and fees) because of the clubs compliance with FFP. We all seem to temporarily forget this. We all thought we’ve got a decent squad. In fact it seems with the evidence of performance of the last 3 seasons and 3 management teams, guess what? We ain’t. We’ve got a half decent squad, the other half appear weaker in terms of their application. Some are technically decent, but their football intelligence seems sadly lacking. Some might come good in other teams, but at the moment we’re collectively crap. I thought we competed better yesterday, should have at least deserved a draw. Forest did look to get frustrated and start taken random pot shots from distance. But we caved in with a lack of confidence and type of player movement and game intelligence to move us up the field. Instead we desperately resort to a hoof up the field to the opposition and then run back to the edge of our own box to try some last ditch defending. Interestingly, O’Driscoll mantra was to coach the players to a point where they didn’t have to be coached on every bit of the game - they took responsibility, read the game, adapted accordingly, make good decisions. Pearson has stated the same. The players taking ownership. I actually think Pearson may end up doing the dirty work that on reflection O’Driscoll had to do with the end of the McGuiness era. (Or should we say it was really the end of the Gary Johnson era. Yes GJ did a great job with this club, but for me lost way ending up with a bloated squad of journeymen and the club with no plan.) O’Driscoll games were often dull (City home defeat to Sheff U horror show springs to mind?) but in hindsight he got rid of a load of deadwood, integrated more young players, and supplied players who played a key role in our rising again like Pack, Fielding, Flint, JET, got the wage bill down and the decks were cleared for the club to recruit again with a focus - even though it was with a different gaffer, Cotts. I would have liked to have seen Pearson here 3 or 4 years earlier. Is he going to succeed? Who knows? But I think his task is to strip out the mess that the club is at the moment. He knows that we have a squad without the character to be competing consistently. Judging by his main young signings at this time, Atkinson and Tanner, they seem promising and are showing more character, courage and passion in the short few games here this season than the likes of Palmer and O’Dowda have in all the time they’ve been here. True, on their day, Palmer and O’Dowda have ability and can do some great things. Except they don’t often have many “on their days”. Steve Lansdown has been great at investing in the infrastructure of the club. But he has made poor decisions in recruiting and entrusting people with the footballing direction of the club. I genuinely hope that getting Nige in will at least get us to turn the corner. I am genuinely concerned that although a leftfield progressive up and coming type of coach is an attractive proposition for the future (i.e. Cooper, Martin, etc.), the present situation is not ideal with the lack of funds and playing personnel currently with this squad. Swansea’s philosophy has been set up to take such coaches for the last 12 years or so, Forest generally has a better balanced group of players that were underperforming. It’s going to be a painful ride at times, and although I worry about the task Nige is facing, I do still think he is the right type of figure to get things changed for the better. However... if things still look alarmingly bleak by Xmas and a need change was looking increasingly likely, what do people think should happen and who would you see as a realistic name/type of manager to take over the reigns? This isn’t knocking Nige, who I’ve stated I want to turn it around, but genuinely interested to hear peoples opinions.

Great result and sounded like a real gutsy performance in crap conditions. We are no way near the finished article yet, but at least we don’t give up and fight to stay in games. If we could get James, Williams and Massengo in midfield fully fit that could develop into a hell of an engine room at this level. Certainly exceeded my expectations where we are at this stage and although not always pretty we look more competitive. Let’s get into Bournemouth’s faces in two weeks time!

Gotta get our crosses beating the first defender and putting them under pressure. If we are playing Martin with O’dowda then then he’s got to try getting behind the defence to whip the ball in. We struggle doing this, and its frustrating when we see other teams keep doing it to us. Our movement needs to be so much better and smarter.

Hope Semenyo, Massengo and Williams all fit soon. We need energy and pace. Shame Conway injured, yes he’s raw but his energy would have offered so much more than anything else up front. Front players need service but the movement was statue like at times. Christ Britton is not fit enough but surely he could do half an hour in a game when Martin is dead on his feet? We were in no real danger against a poor Millwall side, but it was like last season after the pen and when Williams went off. We just lost any shape and drive. Lets hope we can get our act together for Peterborough on Saturday!

Martin seems well off the pace. Good squad bloke but too slow, even his hold up play looks ponderous tonight. True he does take stick, but we are crying out for someone up front to carry a threat or at least have some pace to stretch the play. Bakinson at fault for losing the ball. We looked to be getting the better of the game till the pen.

I think this is exactly the case at the moment. Don’t think it was a particularly good game or performance, just pretty average but that is exactly where we are. We were much better against Swansea. But Pearson has put the brakes on a disasterous downward trajectory over the last 18 months and is very slowly turning it around. What we are seeing now is at least some commitment, some shape to the team to make it at least have more competitiveness about it and some individually good progression amongst the young players. I think Martin, King and possibly Vyner wouldn’t be the ideal candidates for their positions that Nige would choose. Decent squad members, but lacking that little bit of something to get to the top 6 or 8 in the division over a whole season. Bottom line is we blew any substantial budget we had on too many average players over the last few seasons and totally mismanaged the contracts. But that is where we are. As much as its frustrating, I rather we build steadily as we seem to be doing than risk going shit or bust. As I say, I actually think we aint got much choice at this stage. Nige has to turn it around and gradually get in those other players that will offer more threat within the team structure. So until the finances get back to a steadier position, we’re going to experience a few more huff n puff performances this season amongst one or two really good ones. But at least the team looks like it cares now though.