Step back....

Really? With the sheer length of time its taken, the amount of due diligence that must surely have taken place on both sides, and the obvious nous and intelligence that the members of the new board must surely have to be in the positions of wealth that they are, I would find it hard to fathom that with us currently tanking and dropping through the league like a stone, it didn't occur to them that relegation was a possibility.

 

I agree 100%. People are naturally pinning their hopes on January being a magic bullet, and that includes me because up to now I have assumed that there are 3 worse teams than us and we will pull it around. We'll put a run together soon enough etc etc. But for the first time today I began to question whether this decline is terminal and this team is simply not good enough. And as you say, January is a tough window to achieve any progess and we look like we need major surgery, not just tinkering, to have a reasonable chance of survival. Multiple players of the right calibre, in a window when doing deals of any kind is difficult, and for these players to come straight in to the team, mid season, and have an immediate positive impact on a side with no confidence. That is a bloody tough ask for any club and any manager and I am not confident that it is do-able.

Right now, this team looks like a league 1 team playing in the wrong division. It is only a reasonable start to the season that is stopping us from being rock bottom and who knows we may have another reasonable run. But since that start all confidence has gone and it looks like Hecky is trying everything possible, swapping and changing every game trying to find a winning formula and nothing is working because the quality isn't there. Its starting to look a bit desperate I am afraid.

What do I know though. We will probably go on a 10 match winning run now. God I hope so!

 

Interesting because I’d say the exact opposite.

Last time it was a nightmare because we didn’t have any players under long contracts so we didn’t get good money for them & most of our better players were knocking on. Barely had a squad left after relegation.

Think Wilson started pre-season with about 2 senior pro’s on the trip to Italy. Think it was Nyatanga & M’Voto with a bunch of kids. We were in a right mess. I think it was 13 players that made their professional debut that season.

We looked like a team who’s whole existence was based on staying in the championship.

If we go down now we’ve got a young squad, mostly under contract who’ve got plenty of games between them & we’d only need to shift 1 or 2 (probably Lindsay in the summer after Yiadom in January) to cover our losses. I’d expect Potts, McGeehan, McCarthy, Pearson, Isgrove, Hedges, Pinnock, Jackson etc to be good in league one.

 

This.

Now we have owners as rich as they are it might prove even more difficult

 

Sounds like our enquiries are going to be addressed to league one and two clubs, which doesn't fill me with confidence considering the current crop.

 

Lot of sense in what you say there. Yes, it would be damaging for us to go down and none of us want it at this stage, just after a take over and the promise of better times. It would feel like a big step backwards at just the wrong time. But like you, I don't think it would be terminal and we could look forward to coming back stronger.

Anyway, we're hoping it doesn't come to that.

 

I think we could do with 3/4 astute loan signings with championship nouse and experience

 

We need quality / midfielder , striker and we will be a lot better team

 

The thing is , its not just us who will be looking to january to turn things around , the likes of Birmingham & Sunderland will no doubt be throwing the cash about , so even with us hopefully strengthening it might not be enough , but hey , what will be will be & at the end of the day , its not life threatening, its just football

 

All this debate is good but futile I'm afraid as we will comfortably stay up.