Harry

The sooner the ridiculously names High Performance Centre is renamed the better. It was an absolute embarrassment from the moment it was announced.

Well, currently he hasn’t got the luxury of one of the best squads in the division put together with a lot of money. With 12+ players brought in for more than £1m, given big wages and ended up breaking FFP and having to pay a £3.1m fine. Right now he’s in a situation where he’s got a shitshow of a squad in a slump of form with relegation a very real possibility, and he needs to earn his wage by being in the dugout and motivating and organising his team of misfits.

Tell me a manager who has had success doing this? He came to this club with a reputation of being an organiser, a motivator etc. He needs to show us this down on the pitch.

Exactly Dave. That’s why I don’t blame Pearson for the recruitment. As I alluded to in my post last week, he’s obviously gonna go with what he knows if he’s got an anaemic recruitment department.

Oh. I forgot one thing to add to my earlier post. One thing that absolutely MUST happen and is the easiest thing to fix. Pearson needs to get in the bloody dugout and earn his money as the motivator and organiser he’s supposed to be. I can’t ever remember Pep, Klopp, Jose etc sitting in the stands with their mate on a laptop. The best managers are prowling the technical area, shouting instructions, giving empathy, attempting to persuade the ref etc. Get in the ******* dugout and give your players the support/cajoling/organisation/coaching they need.

The personnel for the sub was right, but the shape needed to change once he’d done it. Leaving TB & HNM as a midfield 2 is, as The Bard says, playing a donut formation. You know, the one with a hole in the middle.

Pearson doesn’t strike me as a man who is up for a fight any more. He’s just shrugging his shoulders and laughing at our situation in most interviews.

Yep. I’d obviously already said to you that I was concerned about being overrun with James & Bakinson, due to Baks propensity to not track brilliantly, but in fairness to him, for the first half he made me eat my words. But as soon as it was Baks & HNM, the concern was obvious. Putting those 2 in a central midfield pairing was suicidal. That’s on Pearson again. His substitutions are a little bizarre sometimes. edit - by the way, it was great to see you after 18 months mate!

Amongst other things, there have been a few people who know me as that, yes. Indeed sir. Ashton’s paws get everywhere. But I’ve done that one to death ?

The "better management" is currently debatable.

I did say back in May that Pring was better than JD - and some laughed, ha ha.

I hope you are right. But the way we've thrown in the towel in a few games of late has me very concerned of a deja-vue. They need to get some fight back in them.

Let's start with what we shouldn't have done. Given the finances, we shouldn't have given Weimann another 3 years, we shouldn't have re-signed Baker and we certainly shouldn't have signed King & Simpson. But that's the fault of the total lack of a recruitment team with any savvy. Onto what we possibly ought to do. We need a system and players which create width, keep the ball and get down the channels. I'd play a 4-2-3-1 Bentley Tanner - Kalas - Atkinson - Pring Williams - James Semenyo - Massengo - Scott Wells Allow James & Williams to keep a solid base, allow the full back to push on, keep Wells central and making darts in behind rather than coming deep for the ball, allow the 3 AM's (Sem, HNM, Scott) to be fluid and switch positions regularly - and have Benarous/Pearson backing them up. Have Conway backing up Wells in the 'last shoulder' role. We'll still lose plenty of games (but we're going to already anyway) but at least we might have something interesting to watch up front.

Relegation Season? Mmmm....very possibly. When were we last relegated - 2012/13 season. There are soooo many similarities. It's actually very concerning. 2012/13 were an overpaid, aging squad, with very little quality in possession and were gutless and spineless with a lack of leaders. 2021/22 - Yeah, pretty much the same. For Heaton see Bentley - the experienced, well paid keeper, who's a decent shotstopper but can't command his box. For Foster see Simpson - the full back trusted by the manager from their old days, but who is a waste of a squad place. For Maloney see Tanner - the young fullback brought in during the season who wasn't ever ready but you had to stick him in anyway because the alternative was awful. For Dasilva see Cunningham - the young attacking full back with international caps, but who ultimately was a bit weak really. For Fontaine see Vyner - the academy graduate who gets torn apart by any decent opposition. For Nyatanga see Kalas - the well paid experienced international who you were hoping could be a leader but ultimately needs better players alongside them to thrive. For Stephen Pearson see James - the old injury-prone pro who you were hoping would give you quality and leadership but ends up being dragged down to the poor level of those around them. For Kilkenny see King - the well-paid never-was-been who you expected to bring some kind of organisation to the team. For Marvin Elliot see Joe Williams - the tough tackling one who's hardly ever fit. For Skuse see Bakinson - the one from the youth team who occasionally looks decent on the ball but jogs about and doesn't understand the meaning of the words 'track your runner'. For Baldock see Wells - the well-paid striker who's notched a good number of goals in the past but seems to miss a host of chances. For Stephen Davies see Martin - the well-paid ex Derby man who never looks fit. For Weimann see - jeez, Weimann is in a league of his own - I can't even think of someone from that 2012 squad who is so braindead on the ball and lacks so much quality in a final pass. So many similarities. That 2012/13 team quite literally gave up in most games and showed zero interest in fighting for the cause. I hope some of this current crop can at least make an attempt to sow some fight - otherwise it's quite literally 2012/13 again.

Probably a good time to share the true story behind the appointment of Simpson & Downing. Obviously the talented Mr Ashton was looking for someone to assist his project Holden. He approached the FA about Simpson & Downing. With the intention of appointing ONE of them. When the FA confirmed they could both go, and both had been spoken to and were happy to come, Ashton found himself in a quandary. He’d approached TWO coaches to fill ONE position, expecting only one of them to be available and accept. When both accepted, he did the only thing that Ashton knows to do - make shit up and create two positions and just ******* wing it. The man is a total ******* dweeb - but of course, you all know that now.

Not trying to score internet points Triple T. I’m simply very concerned at the way the summer recruitment was handled and it needs to change asap. I’m allowed to be concerned for the state of my football club, am I not? You’ve clearly spoken to Sean, who has clearly acknowledged to you that things haven’t been working fantastically. So I am right to be concerned then, yes? As for the naming of the individual - he works at a professional football club with Premier League ambition, in a major role within that organisation and has conducted public interviews with the press - are you suggesting that because he’s your mate he should be exempt from public scrutiny - the scrutiny of paying supporters of 40 years. Is it any different to calling out a manager, coach, player, owner, etc? Sounds very much like he doesn’t want the role he’s been ‘stuck’ in, as you say. Even more reason why my post carries more relevance. It’s clearly an issue. As I said in the opening post - I have no personal issue with Sean, and I’m sure he’s a nice guy and is a good data analyst. I hope he returns to the role he enjoys and has the skill set for as soon as possible. He obviously doesn’t want to be in the role he’s had to fulfil, which 100% backs up the main point of this thread - we need an experienced head of recruitment asap so that Sean can go back to what he’s comfortable doing. Your replies on this clearly suggest that both you, and Sean himself, know this to be true and I wish him all the best back in the role he is good at.

Don’t worry lads. I don’t really know who Robbored is either. I’ve heard he’s a gashead bus driver who got slammed back in his box once by GJ, but that’s just hearsay. I’m sure he’s just an average fan like the rest of us. ?

You misunderstand Robbo. I’m suggesting that there are some fans out there who do take an interest in such things and regularly attend other games and they should be utilised. I’m not talking about an average Joe rocking up to any random game, having a few beers with their mates and then saying “yeah, I watched x and they were good”. But more nuanced than that, but I’m sure you knew that already. You may not know very much about football yourself but there are plenty of City fans who do grasp the intricacies of the game. I’m not suggesting this is the solution to many problems but it’s a resource that is currently untapped and could be useful if organised well.

If you know him personally Tony, then you’ll know that he’s actually a Leeds fan.

Believe what you like sir. Hear no evil, See no evil …..

My reply wasn’t lazy. I laid out plenty in my initial post and multiple subsequent replies. Yours was just one that was for me, defending the indefensible. It’s quite clear to me that recruitment was being run by an amateur during the summer. I’m not trying to find “some poor sap to blame”. This person is in the public eye, working as a senior figure in the recruitment dept of a football club with premier league ambition. If he doesn’t like the criticism then get out of the public eye. I care for one thing - the health of this football club. I know exactly what’s been going on in the summer window and it stinks. Our recruitment department are an absolute laughing stock. Write that off as “someone trying to pin the blame on a poor sap” if you want, but it’s the truth. That’s verbatim from a large number of people established in the football recruitment industry. We are a laughing stock. SL needs to get Mr Gilhespy back behind the computer screen and get a HOR in as a matter of urgency. I’m not calling for anyone to lose their job. Just to get back to their own skill set and bring someone in with some competence and actual experience. I’m not intentionally looking for a fall guy. It’s a simple matter of caring for the welfare of our club and I know exactly how we are currently viewed and exactly what the problem is. You can keep your eyes closed on that matter and defend your friend if you like, that’s fine and admirable, but it doesn’t stop it being true.

You’re right - it’s hardly news. But as I specifically mention in the opening post, the fact that we had a data slicer as our focal point of contact in the last window is for me the missing piece which hadn’t featured in any of the Nige in/Nige Out/SL in/SL out debates. This was the single biggest problem of the summer 21 transfer window. We need to get a Head of Recruitment in situ as a matter of urgency. So whilst that’s not ‘new’ news, it seems to have been overlooked in every single thread about our current situation.

This isn’t to suggest that the club sign a player on the say so of John who watched him once at Guiseley. It’s to act as an initial ‘eyes-on’ report which, if interesting, can be backed up by the data analysis and further by physical scouting by someone fully employed by the club and with experience at talent ID. It’s just a suggestion that could be the first phase of getting a player onto the club list as a potential option. I’m certainly not suggesting that we sign a player ONLY on the say-so of a random fan.

Fair enough finker. Everything is ok and we have a recruitment team absolutely fit for purpose. I was clearly wrong.

And my point is exactly this. We probably have plenty of fans across the country who might get to National League/other games when they can’t make it to City. Why shouldn’t we have a fan be able to enter a Chesterfield fixture under an official scout badge and write a full report on the chap. We need to expand the scouting network. What better than having fans, with a huge personal interest in our clubs well-being, to be out there providing reports at zero cost to the club. You personally should be encouraged to go to the next Chesterfield match and report on this lad. There should be a facility for you to be able to contact our Head of Recruitment and say “I’m going to the Torquay Chesterfield match on Saturday, I’ll provide a report on Tshimanga”.