Leveller

1 hour ago, MyBrotherErnie said:

Pearson's record with signings is so much better than the previous administration. Clear why each signing was made, low expenditure so low risk, and mostly very successful (even the 'failures' you mention haven't performed that badly and could still come good). 

Compare that to the dozens of expensive players LJ brought in with no real idea of how to use them, ultimately making huge losses with 0 impact (Szmodics, Eisa, Engvall, Palmer, Watkins to name a few). 

Recruitment is just one of several areas where Pearson has transformed the club culture for the better. 

Huge losses? I thought we made profits on some of those - Eisa, Szmodics?

9 minutes ago, red panda said:

So much speculation, so few facts.  Had Coventry inflicted the defeat that our performance (and let's face it NP's starting line up) deserved, we would now be 17th, looking over our shoulders with 2nd place Ipswich about to arrive.  I suspect this thread would have been a bit different.  Such a fickle game football .....

Indeed. The much discussed improvement (above) about the rise from 18th to 8th doesn’t bear much scrutiny really. NP has done good job, but I don’t think he’s the saintly miracle worker some are portraying him as.

3 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

It appears that it's only you, Ian and SL that have got cold feet.

I think the majority will agree that for Nige to get us 1 point off the play offs after a quarter of the season, is quite remarkable. For us to take the next step, Nige needs to be given a decent budget. 5-10 million should do it.

He was talking about getting cold feet at the thought of letting NP go, I believe, not keeping him.

It seems to me that NP is being media savvy here isn’t he? I believe it’s six months until his contract is up, so would it be normal to have an offer on the table this far ahead? He’s certainly stirred up a lot of support when he could just have kept his communications private. 
 

And there is a lot of talk about Lansdown not really wanting him, or wanting to keep him, without much tangible evidence that I can see. Lansdown obviously appointed him, and one thing you can say in favour of this regime is that they tend to give managers time, far more than many clubs do. 
 

There is a huge tendency on here to take sides and want to treat every individual as either a hero or a villain. Perhaps it should be more nuanced.

Yes, on an iPhone - it’s never happened before.

Rooney incoming now confirmed.

1 hour ago, Ghost Rider said:

I’ll never be Irish. 

Well you never know. Apparently anybody can change gender now, and it’s easier to change nationality than gender!

I’m not his biggest fan, but it makes me laugh when a guy who was widely insulted as being dim has ended up worth so much! Where did it all go wrong? 

54 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Think @wtf was thinking Mae West there, Dave

The original is actually a poem by Longfellow:

“When she was good she was very good indeed

But when she was bad she was horrid “

(a little girl with a curl on her forehead, pronounced forrid).

 I think Mae West misquoted that as “and when I’m bad I’m better”.

Taunton Town top of NLS - no doubt temporarily - as they managed a win while others were engaged in cup ties. Still notable though, as they are keeping up with Bath and Yeovil.

My first match there was the 1972 FA Cup final - Leeds beat Arsenal 1-0.

59 minutes ago, 22A said:

Broadening the aspect; Panto Villain - Neil Warnock, but suggestions please for Panto Dame.

Larry Grayson. Sorry, Simon Grayson.

I can genuinely claim never to have played any sort of football computer game on any sort of electronic device. So there.

On 27/09/2023 at 10:58, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

Indeed, many ways this can back fire, including the striker not being as quick as Kyle Walker and getting laughed off the pitch.

I would argue that it’s no more likely to backfire than a straightforward penalty. The element of surprise is the biggest advantage though. The defenders tend to switch off.

11 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Personally I despise points deductions. The only people they impact is the fans and certainly not a dodgy owner. 

What I'd suggest is that owners should pay a bond. Let's say 5 million for example. If the owners breach the rules, they lose their bond. If at the end of their ownership they've not breached any rules, they get their bond back. 

But whilst we have club owners making the decisions in football, we'll never see anything like that. 

I think points deductions are perfectly fair. You don’t see fans complaining about the success that reckless overspending can generate. Points deductions simply counter the unfair advantage that club owners seek to gain.

10 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

I don't really know what they are moaning about on a deep level. Frustrating start to the season yes given the amount they have spent.

They had a nice run in the Prem, which we haven't, but ultimately they are a club of similar resources to us, same fanbase, so without parachute payments like us, they need all the stars aligned for a promotion run.

 

Promotion run? In the five seasons since being relegated to the Championship, they haven’t finished in the top half. That’s the issue. Despite having rich owners, they’re not competitive and are showing no signs of improvement. You can’t live on past glories forever.

12 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Neil I get I'm even if I think it's too soon. 17 players, takes time but brings with it its own pressure.

Feels like more of a 2-3 year plan to me, rather than promotion now or here and now..that sort of overhaul. Then you incrementally strengthen and tweak after the big push in the first summer.

Coates family however? I'm a critic of the gambling industry link and the FFP stuff which incidentally I still hope is being investigated!

However free travel, season ticket prices held at something akin do many years ago and they had a fun decade or so, while nobody is above criticism or should be, they are in many respects very good local owners.

Best will in the world, who is going to come into Stoke City FC and invest as much as them with seemingly no great hope or expectation of a financial return.

The parallels with OTIB debates about the Lansdowns are very clear.

Wealthy local owners, well intentioned, spend money on the club, yet the recent track record is abysmal. The choice of managers - a succession of cautious British ones - seems to be the heart of the complaints. Familiar?

Their forum (Oatcake) at the moment is an interesting read. The feeling against both Neil and the Coates is very strong.

You sense it is a good time to play them. Famous last words. Let’s hope he isn’t sacked tomorrow.

Much better, surely, to pass diagonally forward to the right, then shoot diagonally to the left, as the keeper will probably have moved to the right.

A terrible miss but the theory is fine. Surprised it’s not done more often.

2 hours ago, BUTOR said:

and Jamo.

Pretty sure he’ll be a first choice replacement for Bell when we are in need of an attacking sub, not managing a lead.

Just now, Ian M said:

Yep, I went over to read about how we are a terrible footballing side on Pasoti 

To be fair, they all acknowledged how bad they had been too.

I couldn’t get in to OTIB - but just reverted to my normal practice after a win, ie reading the opposition forum and the neutral reports via Newsnow. I avoid those when we lose!

Just now, Jerseybean said:

Half time thoughts….. feels like the next goal will be critical. Both sides are sloppy and full of poor decisions / mistakes. The difference, so far, is that Plymouth have made more costly errors than us - even though we are trying hard to match them! 

As per my earlier post this game has an odd feel to it for me.

Hope I’m flapping unnecessarily but if they make it 3-2 it could get very nervy.  Obviously much prefer for us to get the next goal and go on to really impose ourselves. 

 

 

To be fair, we could have had six and their one came out of the blue. So far, it’s more one sided than the Oxford cup game. Genuinely.