Austere Times

[chinapig]

I agree with you essentially, but would just add that in fairness I haven't seen much evidence to suggest that Millen panders unduly to popularity. I don't know how tough-minded he is, but his personality and manner are completely different to Johnson's (I'm glad to say) and if he does assert his authority then he does it without throwing his weight around and making public references to dishing out bollockings every five minutes - an approach which, in GJ's case, I believe led eventually to the loss of the players' respect and ultimately cost the manager his job.

It has seemed to me, on the whole, that when he has felt the need to make changes Millen's done so, within the limitations imposed by injuries and the inherent weaknesses in the squad. He wasn't afraid to leave Pitman out for a spell, for example, even after he'd become something of a fans' favourite following a good scoring run, and he also withdrew the deservedly popular Albert, albeit briefly, when he felt the player was in need of a rest.

The bottom line is we still haven't seen enough of KM as manager to know for sure and even his critics - well, some of them, anyway - are willing to acknowledge that, because of the particular circumstances surrounding his appointment, it will really only be next season, when he has had more control over the composition of his squad, that we'll be able to judge him. I personally think he'll have learned a lot from having got through a difficult period and will be a better manager for it than if he'd had a relatively smooth ride. Time will tell, but my perspective on it is that he has so far done a very capable job in geting us to the safety of the 50 point mark in ample time and with eight or nine games to spare. Most people would have taken that if offered it last September.

I agree with your last paragraph, which is why I reserve judgement on Keith . Similarly we do not know yet if Keith can make the really tough decisions (leaving out a young inexperienced player like Pitman is on a much lesser scale than not giving Carey a new contract I think). Nevertheless much has been said about how much the players like him. It seems to have been forgotten that the players sang Johnson's praises too when things were going well. With friends like that who needs enemies.

I'm afraid I don't fall in with the general lionisation of Carey. For me he reached his peak in the play off season and has been in decline ever since. I would have replaced him 2 years ago (along with the likes of McAllister, McCombe, Sproule and Johnson). Gary Johnson was too loyal for too long and paid the price. I hope Keith does not fall into the same trap. What should have been a gradual turnover of the squad turned into splurges of rushed and risky transfer activity which left too many players who had done their bit on new contracts and no discernible plan for squad development (for instance Haynes and Nyatanga seemed to be signed simply because they became available and the excellent Henderson was rapidly consigned to permanent no. 3 status).

Keith must build his team with his captain imo and I don't think clinging on to Carey fits the bill.

[havanatopia]

Why are we all using different fonts??

No idea but its just lush... how do you do it?

[havanatopia]

The Louis Carey contract situation will be a good indicator of how serious the club are about reducing the squad.

If they really mean to back up all the fine words with actions then ruthless decisions will be made, both with youngsters and out of contract senior players.

If the squad is to be culled as stated then there's no logical reason why Carey should be immune.

I reckon Carey could do a nice job down at Huish.

[REDOXO]

My thought would be that Carey will be offered a new contract on reduced terms for a year initially. The fact is he can slot in at FB or Centre back as back up and has a huge influence over the team as captain (particularly over young players on loan) and it would make better financial sense to keep a player with experience than buy a player to cover, as it would seem that any 'young premier league player' brought in on loan will have a stipulation about the amount of playing time attached. Thus I expect to see Carey on the bench next season or at least around the 16.

As far as the general idea of bringing in youngsters from top clubs I would say (and have said often) that making Steve wigley #2 was a very good idea as we obviously now have major contacts within the top sides in the country to leverage.

Ivan Sproule is going that has already been stated by KM and I wouldn't expect to may out of contract to be offered new ones.

Maynard is an interesting one as the club is very likely to want to tie up the boy on a new contract and it would make sense for the boy to sign for a number of reasons rather than play Russian Roulette with his career and hold out until the end of this one...How many players have done this and found themselves out of contract with a long-term injury...I can think of two off the top of my head who played for us....None-the-less if a good offer comes in at or around 6M City from a top ten PL club the boy will want to go and the club wont be inclined to stop him. On that note I have heard from a friend connected to Tottenham that Spurs could be interested and its not rocket science to work out what City will want in return, if true....however even if that is true i'm not sure the CB concerned would want to come to us permanently anyway.

On a personal note I like City sides loaded with youth with a smidge of experience Elliot Fontaine and James will provide that and provide the beginings of a spine, combined with Carey in and around the dressing room...However we will all see very soon...COYR

[CliftonCliff]

I agree with your last paragraph, which is why I reserve judgement on Keith . Similarly we do not know yet if Keith can make the really tough decisions (leaving out a young inexperienced player like Pitman is on a much lesser scale than not giving Carey a new contract I think). Nevertheless much has been said about how much the players like him. It seems to have been forgotten that the players sang Johnson's praises too when things were going well. With friends like that who needs enemies.

I'm afraid I don't fall in with the general lionisation of Carey. For me he reached his peak in the play off season and has been in decline ever since. I would have replaced him 2 years ago (along with the likes of McAllister, McCombe, Sproule and Johnson). Gary Johnson was too loyal for too long and paid the price. I hope Keith does not fall into the same trap. What should have been a gradual turnover of the squad turned into splurges of rushed and risky transfer activity which left too many players who had done their bit on new contracts and no discernible plan for squad development (for instance Haynes and Nyatanga seemed to be signed simply because they became available and the excellent Henderson was rapidly consigned to permanent no. 3 status).

Keith must build his team with his captain imo and I don't think clinging on to Carey fits the bill.

As often in the past, singing from the same hymn sheet here. I wouldn't judge a manager by how much his players like him either. In fact, on the contrary, too much popularity in that quarter would worry me... (Then again, what players say publicly about liking the boss and what they say in private among themselves are likely to be two very different things: when did we last hear a serving player say he can't stand the gaffer?)

On the Carey question I'm pretty neutral. A lot depends on summer recruitment. If we can find a strong central defender with some leadership qualities than he becomes superfluous. If not, on balance I'd probably just come down in favour of giving him one year, though not necessarily in the expectation of having him regularly in the starting line-up. What I wouldn't want is for the retention or release of Carey to start being seen as some sort of acid test of Millen's toughness. This is a decision he needs to be free to make purely on football grounds, not in order to convince doubters that he's got balls. It's an interesting one.

[CiderHider]

It comes down to simple logic.

Agree with nibors analysis mostly, but you never know what's going to happen in the future, who will become available, maybe somone we want to keep wants out, perhaps we receive a big bid for a star player? . KM should always be looking to improve the squad and be ruthless about it too, we only want the best, we have no time for journeymen and players seeing out there career.

Of course you cant be too ruthless, you need a nucleus of the team to keep happy and for them to know if they are good enough, they will play. If they are not good enough whats the point in keeping them? I like O'Neils style, play your best players every week and demand 100% from them, rotate for injuries, bring in loan players if needed, or youngsters.

Players need to know the set up, they need to know there place, but we have players from Wilson, Tinnion, Johnson, Coppel and Millys era now. We need to know, they need to know and there needs to be a general understanding of how Milly rotates his team, and that needs to be accepted.

I would like to see us bring in 4 top quality players in the summer and release 6-8. These players MUST be better than what we have in our currant best 11, otherwise wtf is the point?