I feel Danny's business is probably all done.

Unless McLaughlin or Shea leave at the end of their initial loan periods, we have the maximum number of loan players allowed in a match day squad. The board probably does not want to engage players on long term contracts, given the awful truth that we are most probably going down. With this in mind, it is time to consider how he has done.

He has let players leave for no fee, in all cases. There are those who would argue that none of them are any great loss. In many cases, I would agree, but I regret the departure of Wiseman and Perkins, and I would rather have substituted their names with some others. These are opinions of course, but with Wiseman and Perkins you had two players who were able to last the full 90 minutes at the pace needed in the Championship. I look at our outfield squad of outfield players and can find only Cranie, Ramage, Kennedy, Dawson,O'Brien and O'Grady who I am absolutely convinced will still be going as hard at minute 90 as they were at minute one. As poor as Blackpool were, they put us under real pressure for the final 25 minutes, and they did so because we were not fit enough to play at Championship pace for the full distance.

Many will argue that the players will gain fitness by playing, and this is true. It will also cost those players injuries caused by pushing tired bodies beyond the edge. Whilst they struggle, their lack of fitness will cost us points, points that we cannot afford to lose without competing for them. Is an unfit McLaughlin that much better than Wiseman ? We have seen only one game from the young man, but I would suggest on the evidence of that game, he is not. How about Lawrence ? Did his brief appearance suggest that he was an improvement upon Perkins. In my opinion, all he proved was that he might be fit in 10 games, and even then he would be inferior.

So what purpose has been served by the new broom. In my view, we are still doomed. The players who have left had contracts only until the end of the season, but the manager has seemed to be proactive, and that activity has brought the fans on side. When the inevitable does happen, everyone will blame Hillflicker giving Danny the room and time to rebuild, and this is no bad thing. I support this manager, just as I have supported all his predecessors. The real problem is not the current manager, or indeed his predecessors. The real problem is the lack of finance as compared to nearly all the other teams in this division. This difference in finance does not just manifest itself in transfer fees, it is more costly to our performance in the wage structure. It is not just this season, it is also in the seven seasons that preceded it. It is not just that we cannot compete for new players, it is also reflected in our need to sell our better players at a time that is not to our advantage. If we cannot compete off the field, then sure as eggs, we cannot compete on it either.

 

How are we 'most probably' going down?

McLaughlin looked a far better full back than wiseman.

Lawrence will be a much better option than Perkins.

 

I agree with this.

I'm actually more confident of staying up this time than last season - especially with a better manager in place.

And I think both McLaughlin and Lawrence will prove to be much better than Wiseman and Perkins. I just hope we can extend McLaughlin's loan

 

Ryan really impressed me against Blackpool, and just off of that one game I get the impression that he is superior to Wiseman.
Lawrence we'll have to wait and see, but certainly has a decent record at this level. If he gets up to fitness I can see him being a much better option than Perkins.

I'm quietely confident of survival, if we manage to tie up Shea and Mclaughlin for the remainder of the season.

 

Ryan with one leg tied up and hopping would still be an improvement on the Wiseman that has played for Barnsley , Oh and Ryan actually enjoys being here !!
As for your assumption that Lawrence will not be as good as Perkins, who has been rubbish this season for Barnsley ,well all I can say is I am bloody glad you are not the manager !!

 

The initial post made some relevant points about finance but completely undermined by the fact the poster can't see that McLaughlin is a better player than hissy fit Wiseman or that Perkins days here were done and in Lawrence we seem to have got a plater with a better track record.

 

It's probably the case that we can't afford to bring in new players whether we were bottom or in a position of safety.

No, the board decide that, Wilson let's them know who he wants to keep and who he wants to leave.

I'd agree with most of that, but we're not doomed. Given we have a manager who know how to set a team up and give them some real organisation, I think that 6 point gap to safety is very reachable. New players look good and it's unlikely that we will see a repeat of last year with all teams at the bottom suddenly finding form for the rest of the season.

These breaks in the schedule have also done him a favour. Publically he's said, "we are ready to play", but inside im sure he will be more than happy to spend time with the players on the training ground, have more time to see them and work with them and get them clued up on exactly what they should be doing.

 

I enjoy reading your posts Red Rain, I genuinely do.

But to say you didn't see more from McLaughlin than Wiseman has ever offered in that first game then I think you're becoming blinkered and doing exactly what you tell other people not to.

He showed more heart, bravery, attacking threat and positional sense in 90 minutes than we saw from Wiseman in that position in two years.

 

Red Rain.....you only make one point tag I agree with, and that is our tentative low financial muscle.

I am convinced that getting shut of Perkins and Wiseman was exactly the right thing to do. We have brought in Lawrence and McLaughlin, both are far better players than what we have allowed to leave.

DW has identified the weak spots and strengthened.

I think we have a good chance of staying up.....it'll be close, but I'm confident we will do it.

 

Only one relegation to the third tier in my 26 years at Oakwell. So I'd suggest we probably aren't.

He doesn't regret it.

Really?

Wiseman switched off that often during games it's no wonder he was still running around in the 90th minute. But as with Perkins, that running around often amounted to nothing positive anyway.

On the evidence of that game he looked a lot fitter, a lot more confident, used his pace effectively, was key to the second goal, cleared his lines, got stuck in, beat his opposing full back regularly and actually jumped to head the ball, often winning the aerial duels.
He might turn out to be awful in the long run, but based on just that one game, he's done more than Wiseman did in 30 months here. Unfit as well you say? Can't wait to see him when he's fit then. And I don't see Liverpool giving him a four year deal if he's no better than a player Preston signed up for 18 months.

It was too brief to be making a judgment in my opinion. But looking at his pedigree, his career thus far, there's summat wrong if he isn't better than Perkins. He only needs to run around a lot to be on a par with him.
Lawrence is a fit lad. He's also a winner, someone with positivity running through him, like his good friend Bobby. I think that's a big reason Danny brought him in. The likes of Wiseman/Perkins were losers. They'd suffered that much over the last couple of years that they'd practically surrendered.

No we're not.

Yawn.

Some good points there. I'll certainly agree in terms of Keith's tenure. But Flitcroft was backed substantially. We've a loanee striker costing us nearly 8k a week. A £250,000 signing that he discarded in favour of playing a central midfielder out wide. A £350,000 striker up top, who ended up playing wide left as well. Not to forget the many players he retained, on improved deals. Kennedy, Etuhu and Cranie in particular. Only one of them is worth his salary. Then there's the lads he retained but never played. One of them teamed back up with him the other day, and then suggested he wasn't backed.
We haven't had to sell anyone this season. And we'd be struggling if we had to, because DF filled our team with short term players, or players not good enough. He refused to give RNL or Digby a run in the side. They cannot possibly have done any worse than the players selected ahead of them. And they're the sort of players we'd make a lot of money from, should they flourish. Clubs will see John Stones' development and take a keen interest in our youngsters now. Flitcroft dropped a bollock there. He recruited Fox, or stuck with Etuhu, Perkins, Dawson etc. He should have given Digby a run.

But you're half right in that even when substantially backing a manager, we're still not spending the kind of money that most others are in this division. But we've very rarely had that privilege, because we're a small town club. So whilst we're swimming against the tide financially, you need a proper manager to best utilize what funds there are available. Unfortunately, we backed the wrong horse based on his tubthumping of last season. Can't fault the board for doing so, because everyone to a man wanted Flitcroft as manager. But hindsight is lovely.



Enjoy your posts, RedRain, despite rarely agreeing.

 

Dunt talk ***** he'd lost his football intelligence!!

 

Think we'll bring 1 more in, replacement for Pederson

 

Opinions, Eh.

I look forward to someone remembering this thread and throwing it back in my face come May. It will be an absolute pleasure to be proven wrong. I hope to whatever deity that you pray to to be reading my words then with derision ringing in my ears and my reputation in tatters.

 

We 'could' go down. It wouldn't be a huge shock if we did. But I don't see us as doomed, or waiting for the inevitable. I'm probably barmy, but I've never said we are down or whatever in all the years on here. Even last season. I may have thought it looked bad, but until the fat lady is singing and all that...

 

We're obviously one of the favourites for the drop and rightly so at this present time but there's no way are we doomed yet.

 

I suspect we will go down. Financial inability to cope with level coupled with the legacy of Hillcroft makes Danny's job very difficult.

I also hope we sign a forward as whatever league we are in next season I don't think it's a good idea to only have 1 senior striker on the books.