The Elephant In The Room

I have disagreed with you massively for years. Can you not remember the Keith Hill era? I was all for it, you weren’t. Guess you got that one right.

I’m never, ever saying I’m right, that my opinion holds any more weight than the next. It’s merely that - an opinion.

 

Centre midfield, mate.

Anyway, I’m done for the afternoon. Xmas trimmings to put up. Oh the joys.

 

I think most will understand and accept the plan.

I do and did. If we don't have to replace an entire team. Which we have done more or less.

Losing one maybe 2 each window we will be able to adapt much easier than the transitions we keep seeing.

 

He's got the talent just needs the scowen work ethic and hourihanes confidence in his own ability.

 

Jesus, only 26!? Must admit i thought he was older than that! What a waste of talent he was.

 

He had depression I believe. I’m sure I read an article a while back.

We just signed him at the wrong time. He’d fell out of love with the game & was home sick.

Back playing in Ireland for peanuts & loving it

 

My advice, don’t hold your breath

 

I don’t see what the alternative to the plan is?

You might say we shouldn’t have sold the players when we did, but we were never going to get promoted last season regardless of who we sold. We’d then have been left in a far worse position than we are currently as our best players left for free or significantly less. Players go in and out of form and we had a bunch of players who were all in form, but we could still have had the poor second half of the season that we did even if we kept them, and they would all have been worth significantly less than in January. Watkins, Roberts and Scowen havent pulled up any trees since they left?
It’s a hell of a risk to hold onto players when we're being offered substantial amounts of money. Instead, we now have a healthy bank balance, are a much more attractive investment opportunity (for the takeover that you so crave) and have young players such as Lindsay who is worth 10x more than we paid for him.

We’re now in the second cycle of the plan, and it will take a lot of the new players a couple of seasons to get fully up to speed, just as it did with Hourihane et al. You might say that we’re never going to sell Potts, Thiam etc for millions, but then how many people expected us to sell Mawson and Roberts for what we did? What I do know is that we’re in a far better position now than we were when we started the first cycle of the plan. We’re not losing to Altrincham and at the bottom of league 1 are we?

 

How much do you think Lindsey is worth?

 

Only speak from my point of view. I'm unhappy because it depressing watching the dross we have been serving up since January. I love going to oakwell and to away games. But what is on offer is very poor And I want it to be so much better. Maybe we were spoiled before I take that point. But at the moment it looks and feels very much like a relegation season ok the making. Hopefully 3 will be worse and we can try to build again. Hopefully these players will improve. I want them to do well I really do. I support them every time I go, I take no pleasure in us losing and hope to be proved massively wrong.

 

Nobody does!

 

Potts at this moment in time is nowhere near the ability of scowen.... What scowen brought most of all was energy and passion, he loved a 50/50 tackle... He was a perfect fit to our style. And to me he is probably just as bigger miss as hourihane. Potts v scowen is an absolute no contest.... All it does is ask further questions of the summer transfers.... How or why did we fail to recruit a strong enough midfield and strikeforce considering we were probably in the best position in years to strengthen the team?

 

If you offered me playing with 10 men but having scowen and Watkins and Roberts on the pitch I would take it.

 

Nobody does, mate. We all care. So defeats are sh*te.

Not sure we need such an inquest whenever it happens, though.

A couple of weeks back, many were going the other way. No matter what folk say, results are the be all and end all. And the only time these 'off-field' incidents are referred to is during runs like this. Nobody called it dross when we beat Birmingham and Burton back-to-back. Nor did folk bring up the sale of Robbo/Scowen.

Results are king.

 

Disappointed with the quality of your spin today. Why would anyone complain after a victory or mention players who have been sold?

The reality is we have dismantled an entire squad and replaced it with inferior quality. This is the reason we have won four home games this year and are now in a relegation battle. If we are relegated it is due to the strategy. Beating Burton or Sunderland not winning at all are either aberrations or irrelevancies.

 

I did we have been awful all season. We have managed to beat some of the teams who have been as poor or worse than us. Can't remember the last time we played really well though. Is say maybe Leeds at home last Jan? Maybe the sheff we'd and Huddersfield draws at home last season weren't too bad. 45 mins v Ipswich. It's been slim pickings.
Now I suppose this is where we are and we have to accept it. It's hard to be jealous of teams like Burnley.

 

Can we just clear up that very rarely do players make transfers & immediately hit the ground running.

Look at our new signings, what do you think Luton, Blackpool, Forest Green & St Mirren fans are saying about McGeehan, Potts, Pinnock & Mallan? It’s normal.

Pogba was bang average last season & he’s flying now. It happens to £90m players so it’s going to happen to the lads that leave us.

Just because Roberts, Watkins & Bree haven’t hit the ground running doesn’t mean they’ve made bad moves.

 

You have clearly have not been watching the Reds very long.

Paul Wilkinson (without his experience we wouldn't have made the Premier League)
John Hendrie
Kevin Richardson
Ray McHale
Jan Molby
Ian Evans
Paul Futcher
Neil Shipperley.

 

If we aren’t relegated it’s because of the strategy.

 

Great point.

Patience is key.