sunningdalered

20 hours ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I've never had a problem with parachute payments per se as it was always my understanding that they were designed to ensure that clubs relegated from the PL could meet the contract commitments (not just player contracts) they had entered into in order to compete in the PL. My problem with PP is that many clubs do not use the payments for these continued existing commitments but view PP as an additional pot of money for new commitments. I therefore believe that at the end of the season in which the club has been relegated the PP they receive is to be only that to meet current commitments, which is to be ring fenced in the accounts, and not a penny more. I have no problem with payments being made over the lifetime of the current commitments, obviously to cease if  promoted back to the PL with any unused PP passed back to the FA for redistribution. Any use of PP for new commitments is to deemed illegal and the club will receive a £1 million pound fine and a minimum 12 point deduction. 

I like this approach - although it would need some form of cap, or a club could spend excessively in the prem knowing that they would be covered for the next couple of seasons. Bigger problem is that the people voting for it have nothing but their own interests in mind. 

Not sure that there is any obvious incentive for the PL to change things voluntarily, or where an external pressure to change comes from. Hoping that the government steps in seems a very long shot. 

26 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I don’t know when you last looked at the league table? We’re top half & could finish 10th.

Based on your logic Brighton “could easily” be in the Championship.

Sunderland are in the division above Burton Albion, no one seriously thinks they are similar sized clubs.

4 minutes ago, Swede said:

What a strange comment to make!

Despite the material differences we're still only one division apart from Man City!  

 

I have some sympathy with the concern that the next promotion might be them rather than us. It's not enough to keep me awake at night, but I'm always glad when their chances of smuggling their way into a play off place are extinguished. 

Realistically, we're unlikely to be getting promoted to the prem anytime soon IMO, so for the gap to be maintained we're reliant upon that lot failing to get their sh*t together. Thankfully, they're proving very adept at that. 

Not convinced that even if they did somehow, miraculously, get in the championship they would stay in it too long, without some serious investment though. 

For the time being I'm quite happy pointing out their irrelevance whenever someone at work attempts to engage me in conversation about them. 

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It’s a good question, and to be honest it’s not easy to answer, because as it stands, the no10 we sign has to be flexible to play both centrally (when we play 4213) as a single no10, or “wider” as part of a two-pronged no10 (when we play 3421), or even wide and not as a no10.

I think you’re looking for a bit of a needle in a haystack or flip that around, you’re looking for someone so specific you’re narrowing your pool.

And until you know who your no9 is, do you know what no10 you need?  You can reverse that too.

Looking at how we currently set up and the constant switching of back-3 to back-4 and vice-versa, I just see confusion.  And that will extend into recruitment.  We’ve been here before havent we?

I agree re Knight.

But creativity comes from more than the right player, they still need service, just like our striker.  We’ve seen with Twine, it doesn’t guarantee anything.

As for type, I’d probably sacrifice some true teckers for a bit of robustness.  I’d also put into the melting pot whether it’s really a no10 you need or a striker who’s good at linking up.

Sorry to state the bleeding obvious, but it's going to take more than a single signing to effect the level of change that will propel us into genuine promotion contenders isn't it. We're so far off at the moment. We're really at square one. Don't know what shape we want to be in, what patterns we want to play, whether our head coach has the skills to navigate this league etc etc. 

A playmaker might be a decent start, but probably need 3 or 4 successful signings to get us anywhere near a pound-for-pound comparison with any of the top, say, 7 in this seasons championship over the course of a whole season (and not just the odd stellar performance). 

No doubt that watching a winning team is more enjoyable than watching one that loses consistently, or is completely erratic, but what would a run like that actually mean at this stage of the season? I don't buy into the taking momentum into next season thing personally. The race has been run for this season, and once again we've come up well short. 

Looks like he's trying to force things a bit IMO. Even though he was getting the big one from the PAFC commentators, based on scoring 4 against them for MK Dons(?), there were a number of other players (on both sides) who influenced the game to a greater extent than ST IMO. I'd be interested to see what he can do when he relaxes into playing for city a bit more though. 

1 hour ago, Cole Not Gas said:

wow you have time to digest what our esteemed leader has to say then take it aart.

I guess i didnt see you commenting on what Pearson said post match, even though he could talk for hours, all he ever said was "yeah, it's really frustrating..blah blah - i dont know how we will stop giving away goals when we should have made better decision"; If you could ever bear to listen to the clown for 30 months, you would know exactly what i mean. 

Have to agree with this. Although I think that I probably overly bought into the plain speaking bit, I don't actually remember hearing too much footballing insight in NPs interviews, especially post-match. Having said that, they can say whatever they want, if what they're doing doesn't translate into better performances it's all pretty pointless anyway. 

The short answer is not much. Don't expect him to be a regular starter when our new midfield dynamo's come on stream. Brings a bit of energy, that's all IMO. 

Pity he wasn't being asked to explain how they intend to square the circle on playing staff vs the managers preferred playing style without a wholesale change in the squad. 

2 hours ago, Harry said:

I’ll tell you where I am. 
 

Today was the worst performance under Manning so far. 
 

I am someone who originally said on here that I didn’t think Manning’s style would suit our players. 
However, once he was appointed I was happy to see what he could do. 
 

I felt in the early games I did see some signs of progress. He did actually manage to get our players to start to keep the ball much better. Ok, a lot of it was quite slow possession, but that’s where the ‘fit’ comes in. Our players and his style do not fit. 
So whilst they showed some signs of being able to keep the ball a bit better, it was never consistent enough nor anywhere near quick or slick enough. But the early signs were one of “ok, he can at least get them to pass it to each other which I didn’t think was possible”. 
 

The other slight positives I saw in some of the early games was the ability for us to run in behind full backs, and into channels, where ‘sometimes’ someone had the ounce of ability to find the right pass. 
I felt a little positive on some of those early games that he was a) managing to get us to keep the ball better and b) managing to get some decent movement up front. 
 

But…… and it’s a big BUT. It’s REALLY REALLY tailed off. To the point where I am now majorly concerned. 
 

Those early signs were enough for me to say “ok, let’s give him a bit of time and see what he can do”. 
But the last 2 months have been pretty dreadful. 
The only game where I felt really positive was after Watford away. I thought in that game we had found a formula. We were good both on the ball and off of it and we looked really well organised. 
Ever since then I haven’t seen any positives. And things have been sliding backwards quite badly. 
 

To the opening poster - whilst I can understand your points to a certain extent, I actually think the writing is on the wall now and I can’t personally put any faith in Manning any more. 
 

There are a few things to note :

1) We spent 2.5 years signing players who were ‘runners’ ‘counter attackers’ ‘workers’. We then approach and poach a manager (who didn’t apply for the role) who clearly has a CV which displays a totally different philosophy. 
Why?? 
 

2) We have a good stadium and a good base to build from but we continually employ people who are not ‘best in class’. I am still highly critical of our recruitment set up. Even more so now - if we are targeting a manager with a clear body of work that doesn’t align in any way possible with the players we’ve spent 3 years signing. 
If Mannings head has to roll then so does Tinnion’s head and Gilhespy’s head 
 

3) Prior to this week I was still sitting in the camp that says “ok, let’s give him time” but the recent trend has been very much downward and today for me was a low. Very very poor in all aspects both on the pitch and tactically. 
The press conference on Thursday was very telling for me. Manning openly admitted that this squad were not capable of playing his way. 
Mainly, that is a huge fault of Tinnion. But for me Manning shouldn’t have said this and shouldn’t be looking to adapt. He really should stick to his principals. 
I don’t think he should adapt to this group. He should double down on his beliefs. After all; that was why we poached him! 
That for me showed a weak mentality. I’d prefer him to stick to his guns, but he wilted in front of my eyes. 
And then with a performance like today, that was now the final straw for me. 

Always interested in your comments. 

A few weeks back you commented that to achieve anything we needed to develop beyond being a 100% counter attacking team, and being comfortable with a higher level of possession was the way to achieve that, which I agreed with. Now things seem to have become more polarised, and people believe that we can only be one or the other - including the manager! 

Sadly, it seems that LM isn't the man to help us find the happy medium. 

7 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

No, I would hope we can move towards 60-65 pts, maybe have a tilt at top 10 with a fair wind top half though if we can hit say 63 pts by end of May is possible.

Get a genuine style prepared and embedded for next year. Perhaps patterns of play, partnerships.

I just feel that top 6 is unrealistic all in all.

No particular need. The risk is of course Conway. Conway aside no real need, but the lack of new contract poses a dilemma.

IMO the Conway that we have seen to date is eminently replaceable. It's the Conway that he might become that we fear losing. But, then again, we've seen many who never fulfilled their apparent potential. 

I thought we'd got over the rabbits in the headlights syndrome - but maybe I was deluding myself on that. Last night though, I think we were just completely outplayed by a team that moved the ball quickly and accurately. It just wasn't a case of let's get into them more, the ball had been shifted long before Williams could attempt one of his kamikaze tackles. 

1 hour ago, RedRock said:

……….…….…..…..

 

 

Erm .……..

Cam Pring has the patience of a saint. 

Tbf, Cam was way off his recent standard tonight. It might have been the effect of the knock he took early on, but he he was blowing from about 60 mins - evidenced by the fact that he failed to get anywhere near gnotto for their goal.

If Anis had scored when he really should of he would of secured a get out of jail free card, as it is another massively underwhelming performance. 

2 hours ago, Harry said:

I don’t think that sort of plan will get you promoted from this league.
A counter attacking team will get you some great results away from home but it won’t make your home form any sort of fortress (and its home form that will carry you the most points and be the base from which a promotion push is built). As I’ve always said, the home form needs to improve and without that we won’t go anywhere. So that plan doesn’t work.
Yes, it’s great that under Pearson’s tenure he established a gritty, determined team ethic. But if that was the only plan then it won’t work without increased confidence in possession and the sprinkling of some stardust too. And I firmly believe that Manning is in the process of creating that extra something that we’d need to marry up with the grit and determination. 

This all day long.

I'm very excited to see what this lad can do. I'm glad that Manning has got the courage of his convictions to bring in the players that he wants. Onwards.... 

Sorry if this was raised 40 pages ago, but why would Burnley recall Scott from a season long loan, where he and the team are doing pretty well, to immediately send him out on another loan to a club that are mid-table at best? The most obvious reason is the greater prospect of a permanent deal at the end of the loan period with us, although this seems to be being played down by both parties. 

Millwall in good shape out of possession, but we've effectively decided not to have a right sided option going forward - bizarre. 

Multiple threads full of praise for his performances to date, after an, arguably, underwhelming start at AG. Anyone else feel as though he has become more passive in his movement, and less ambitious with his passing in recent weeks? I think there's a lot more in him than we have seen so far, just wonder what the spark will be to bring that out in his game? Maybe when (if) we have Knighty.v2 in the side this will increase the forward passing options, and suit TGH's game. 

Probably shown enough already to warrant the sort of money being asked for, but if we don't need to commit now I don't think we should. 

I'd be interested in other's opinion on whether you think players can be coached in the technique of receiving the ball whilst on the half-turn, so that their momentum is naturally forward, or whether it's in the DNA, and players either have it or not. 

Watching the Ipswich v Norwich game yesterday, the difference between the two teams in this respect was very noticeable. Ipswich, admittedly, are a talented side, and have a bunch of technically sound players, so they probably fancied it against a horrible Norwich team - which might have been a factor. 

Any prospect that LM can get our lot doing more than play it the way they are facing when receiving the ball? IMO this would be a big step in moving towards a more progressive style of play for us, and getting us on the front foot. Haven't really seen much of it since Alex left (which might be answering my own question!) 

7 hours ago, Mayes86 said:

The WBA game in Feb 99 was another huge blow to our survival, two bad injuries to key players in Bell and Testetimanu (both leg breaks iirc) and then to add insult to the injuries they equalised in something like the 98th min for a 2-2 draw.
 

I was 13 at the time in that stand and I haven’t liked WBA since and still haven’t seen us win up there.

I remember getting the coach to that game (I don't know why either), got there so early they hadn't even opened the turnstiles, coach parked up miles away, so we stood there and got p*ss wet through before we even got in the ground. 

So not only has SL gambled the whole BS thing on City getting into the premier league, but he's now just gambled the City getting into the premier league things on a relatively rookie coach. Just Wow.

A neat and thoughtful analysis. Thanks for sharing. Lansdown Snr is not commercially stupid, and can afford decent advice. If he gambled the whole BS venture on city getting into the Premier league that would be astonishing. You have to think that there is a buyer for BS out there, and it is the price attached to it that SL will have to compromise on. 

1 hour ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Possibly but he wouldn’t take two colleagues down with him

I'm with this. 

Like a few others, I did wonder whether the club was taking the flack over removing NP to distract the focus from his ill-health, having come to a mutual acceptance with NP that he wasn't able to continue in the role for health reasons. It seems from the likes of the CF pre-match interview that I was seriously wrong in thinking the owners were anywhere near as noble as that!

4 hours ago, Elmore James said:

Watching that was a bit of a shocker, I almost felt sorry for the bloke.  There is no way Jon should be fronting-up a football club, he doesn't have the inner strength for the job, you can hear it in his voice.  I blame his old man for putting him in this situation.

I can't help agreeing with you. Very uncomfortable watch. I'm imagining someone, stood just outside of shot, who has pushed him in front of the camera! And it's not like it's live, so could have had a few go's at it.

Not sure that I would have expected a full blow-by-blow account of what's been going on, but blimey, that adds nothing.

28 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

That six pointer under Benny against Birmingham, still have nightmares about that game, 

For me, it was away at Wolves. Pitch like a sandpit, John Ward getting the full love-in from the city fans (couldn't understand why - he had openly admitted that he didn't know what to do next to fix city's problems at the time), our centre-half, Sebok, cantering up the left wing, Flapper let one roll in under his boot, think we were 3 down and the Wolves fans moaning that it wasn't more!