Merrick's Marvels

Bloody hell, Bert. There I was - at work! - scrolling through this thread when the boss looks over me shoulder and says - "Misuse of company IT! You're fired!". Cheers then. I'm now at the Labour Exchange seeking new employ. I've already offered to exchange one Harold Wislon for two George Browns and a Roy Jenkins but no dice! Anyhoo - George Brown, you say? Ah yes, the notorious, pie-eyed drunkard who once propositioned a dark eyed, long skirted beauty at a party and got the reply: "How very dare you, sir, I'm the Archbishop of Montevideo!" True story. Anyhoo again, any chance you've got more of this top quality "niche" material? Perhaps we could take to a sub-forum! "In olden days a glimpse of stocking, Was looking on as something shocking, But now god knows, Anything goes" as Cole Skuse once wrote.

Not if you've got Adblocker! And in this day and age, why wouldn't you?

Life is beautiful Sir Col, even when you don't realise it! Truly, the gASS are a beautiful thing.... to laugh at and who provide - consistently, unwaveringly - an endless supply of face palm belly laughs. Long may it continue (it won't forever, so let's pile on while it lasts).

Amen 100%. Totally agree with all of that ? He won't be backed though, will he? Hence this thread, I guess. Crazy when you think about it. He backed a 100-1 chancer like LJ to the hilt. But a manager who's already delivered what the owner says he wants - promotion to Premier League - so in betting odds relative to LJ might be a 10-1 shot, he's decided not to back him!!!!!!! I hope for his sake, the owner isn't partial to a flutter. If he is, the evidence suggests he's a serial loser and Mr William Hill's best friend.

Quite, which is why I can never get behind threads like this. Fingers crossed then, or lucky of the Irish or, yeah, whatever. We've nothing to gain and rather a lot to lose.

He'd have relegated us? No, of course not, you know the answer - Gerry would've kicked the shyte oota him. Gow, not The Sween. The Sweeney wouldae held Gowie's coat, shouting vigorous glaswegian encouragement to our midfield maestro. Oh how we'd laugh. "Box entries, pal? What the foook!". Bosh. ""Measuring the grass, y'bampot? Have some o'this" Twonk. Tw at. Bosh. Etc etc With apologies to Tom Ritchie, who doesn't approve of any such behaviour.

Been excellent last couple of games. Fingers crossed he keeps that level up. A lot to like about him but any time we get into good attacking areas and then pick out the first defender seriously gets on my wick. He's not the only one tbf. And, like I say, has been excellent last 2 games (away games - a co-incidence??). Just needs to be more consistent with that delivery. That's where he's still a bit L1 imo. But if any of our statto geeks have data to prove otherwise - that's cool!

Thank you. I wasn't sure as I typed it - was tempted to go with a ? at the end - but decided to go "all in". And lost! ?

I don't believe the OP's point is about a comparison of resources. We all know they're totally different. What does Nige have to do to recruit the quality necessary for a promotion push? Unearth another Vardy? Sell to buy? Hope Guernsey sees sense and loosens the purse strings? The thread title is misleading.

Red at Swansea also

I stand to be corrected but the title "Nige v LJ" might be a bit misleading as I think the gist of the OP's question might be - now that the owner has turned the taps off, how does Nige recruit the quality necessary to get us promoted? Any comparison to LJ is kind of irrelevant as we're all well aware of the differing circumstances. Perhaps the title should be - "What does Nige do now then?" Nige's own answer might be - the quality's already here, we need to work harder, stay fitter, play better. Simples! And if someone did actually ask him that question, I can just hear him start with "Luton were lucky, apparently... " Mike drop!

Yes. Although the chances of him doing that are - what? Slim, I'd say. Finding a player as good as Vardy for nothing seems like a once-in-a-career thing to me. The well hasn't run dry but, unless Guernsey changes his tune again and loosens the purse strings, our good young uns will continue to be flogged off, not only that, but most of the proceeds will now end up in this "nest egg" rather than with the manager and the little that he is given will only cover the cost of L1 or 2 types or older free agents. So that's what Nige has to do - square that circle! And one other thing - work out how to win at home. I wouldn't put it past him to square the circle (such is the improvement in our scouting/recruitment) but I do worry he's not clever enough to get us winning at home - winning well, convincingly and consistently. Much as I like him, and for all his qualities - qualities we've needed for a very long time - that thought does nag away at me.

Yes, I'm not saying he's rubbish by any means - good engine and workrate, can be a bit narky which is good if channelled the right way, i.e. don't get sent off! Got a goal or two in him - big plus. Good fitness record. His assists against Hull and Swansea were excellent - absolute top drawer zingers - but he needs to be more consistent with this - next week he's as likely to hit the first defender I feel. On a broader point, after the Birmingham game I think they were all told to stop fannying around in wide areas and get the ball into the box as soon as they get the chance - then it's up to others to be in the right place for the finish. That's certainly paid dividends in the last couple of games.

That would be handy, Glyn. Very handy - as a footballer not a drinker, mind!

Forget Beckham. I get where you're coming from now. And you have a higher opinion of Sykes than I, or the OP I suspect. We'll get value from him - he was a free transfer! But I don't believe someone higher up the food chain will pay us money for him. I think he'll stick around here for a few years, then go back the way he came. So, in that sense, he is comparable to Cornick (except, unbelievably, we paid money for the latter).

Funny that you should use the word "waster" as I'd been thinking of that too - that, and "wastage". Pearson is running a tight ship - there's no "wastage" on players we get nothing or precious little from on the pitch - Kasey Palmer's ratio of wages paid .v. end product on the pitch was a disgrace and unsustainable for a club like ours. We aren't Chelsea who can pay Winston Bogarde a fortune for literally doing nothing. "We must get our pounds onto the pitch" said Richard Gould and now we are. There's also no "wasters" in the squad, players with the wrong attitude spreading bad vibes - how's Bakinson doing these days? Other examples are, sadly, too numerous to mention and we won't talk about Liam Walsh in case you have an aneurysm. So all in all, we're pretty lean and mean right now. In fact, this might just be the best shape we've ever been at this level or certainly since the mid 70s under AD.

I think you might have misread the OP. Unless you think Sykes is the next Beckham?

Nige is going to have to sell Conway or Bell or Pring. Maybe Knight or Atkinson. Causing OTIB meltdown in the process. If someone can fix Ayman's knee, he'll surely be worth a bob or two in the future. And given Norwich and West Brom were supposedly in for him, maybe McCrorie has something about him and we could see a profit through trading him. Short term, if we needed to buy in Jamuary? Vyner's value will only depreciate from here. Mind you, Guernsey no longer believes "football can spend what football earns" - it's all about nest eggs now. So Pearson will probably be given very little when we flog the next piece of family silverware.

Yeah, can't think who that might be...

That ain't his job, mate!

Excellent example and a point very well made - subversively! Love it.

My main point really, to avoid getting bogged down about "legacy", is that Pearson has invested considerable time and expertise (imo) in building a culture and values in a way that none of the others either did or were capable of. A culture and values that will sustain our club, this group of players, very well into the future - or at least for as long as we care to sustain that culture and those values.

Are you claiming because Johnson Snr delivered the playoffs and Jnr a couple of top 10 finishes (after blowing the playoffs minimum btw), they're better than Pearson? In what universe, apart from the cloud cuckooland you live in, are the circumstances in which the Johnsons managed us comparable to the situation Pearson has had to deal with? Pearson is an infinitely superior man-manager, culture-builder, mentor. Pearson has rebuilt our club from the ground up, with foundations that can last long after he's gone - the values and culture he's established will serve the young players he brings through for the rest of their careers. Exactly the sort of values and culture a club like ours require. Love them as I do, neither Gary Johnson or Steve Cotterill built a culture or established values in the same way. Gary Johnson squeezed the maximum out of limited players that took us very close ("limited" is unkind to one or two talented players in that team). He was exactly what we needed when he arrived (the pissheads either sobered up or funked off). But what was his legacy? Steve Cotterill gave us the best season we'll ever have in Div 3. To be a footballer in that dressing room must have been quite something - esprit de corps on steroids. Amazing. But what was his legacy? Johnson Jr? His legacy? Let's not derail the thread! Suffice to say, he talked about having emotional intelligence, then demonstrated precious little of it. How very LJ - talk the talk, can't walk the walk. Pearson meanwhile.... All 3 left a team and club going backwards (perhaps stalled tbf, in Gary's case). Pearson's legacy, if he leaves next May, will likely be a team going forward or at least primed to do so - and underpinned by the sort of values and culture that our club need to succeed. If the owner can't understand any of this, it demonstrates how little he understands - again. And if he can't see that, in our current straightened circumstances, Pearson is exactly the type of manager we need, then god help him - and us.

Yep. (My gut feeling - he has to have us top half consistently)

This is the crux of it, I think. He can afford to keep funding us the way he's done in the past. What this calendar year has shown us - (FFP considerations aside) the sale of Semenyo then Scott, 35 million quid transfer income showing in the accounts but less than 25% given to the manager to spend, and the lowered wage budget - is that he's chosen not to, or at least not to the same extent. His perogative. Fair enough. What I would then say to him is - please have the decency to explain why and how that affects us going forward. Don't hide in Guernsey, saying nothing. There's no need for this thread, or multiple others like it, if there was clear, timely communication from the top. And please don't talk about promotion - we're not idiots. Instead, how about a little praise or encouragement for your manager - is that really asking too much? Or are you really that petty?