It will be one of the most frustrating seasons following Barnsley... When we went down under Wilson we seemed ready to drop with journeymen players and loans whondidnt seen to give a damn whereas this time I really feel if we can survive we will improve from the young players getting a championship season under their belts. I'm not saying it will be any easier next season but with a year's experience our squad should improve and hopefully a bit more leeway with transfers we could start to build something special and long term in the championship at least. That all hinges on staying up of course but I do think if we go down we can come back in a year or two given the right backing.
I would say frustrating 18 months. My opinion is that if relegated, it will be self-inflicted, and the past and present ownership regimes will both carry some of the blame for that.
I keep hearing that this group of players will become Championship standard with experience. I have seen absolutely no evidence of this - if anything as a group they have got worse. If they don't take us down this season there is a very good chance they will next.
Do you think , if we stay up , that we would approach next season with near enough the same squad , or would wholesale changes happen ? If it is the latter , then its start again time & hopefully for me , less quantity & more quality brought to the squad
In my opinion - and I know some will disagree - they did insufficient to halt our decline in January. I am also suspicious of the way they dealt with Paul Heckingbottom.
Honestly - and I know people will disagree - I would get rid of the lot. The only two I would like to keep we can't/won't. For me these players have proven week in week out they are not good enough. The results do not lie. Maybe one or two could stay as squad players and play if we have an injury crisis but there is not one of those players I would like to see in the starting eleven next season - if we stay up.
Hecky’s contract was agreed pre-takeover. Announcement was delayed due to the death of PC. Nothing to do with new owners
Think mr Lee etc dodged a bullet not having to sack “ one of our own” my take on it is there was a collective sigh of relief in the boardroom when he walked out . The new owners want to market the club beyond this country hence the new head coach and his staff .
My belief is that the contract was more for the club's benefit than Hecky's. I also believe that the club were not interested in supporting or retaining him.
What is the basis for this? If it is true, so be it. His record was looking atrocious with no signs of improving. I'm pretty sure that he was paid more money under it. I know your hang up is with the 12 month rolling thing but I don't see it as an issue. Could have been worse, could have been offered the same money as he was on as an academy coach to be first team coach.
This is actually a decent shout. I remember the great escape season under Flicker. I thought we would build something good after that but we were woeful the next season and deservedly went down. If we stick to the same squad next season I'm pretty sure we could be in for another horrendous season.