Nixon says..

We had a brief chat with him at the bar & he seemed genuinely gutted not to get a role back at Barnsley. According to him & McCarthy Ipswich were the fittest side in the championship when he worked there too so it wouldn’t just have been a sentimental appointment.

 

I went to an evening with John Hendrie
And Darren Sheridan.
Hendrie said the best striker at the club was liddle during his time. Stood out a mile in training.

Both him and Nicky had great careers.
And well liked by the fans.

 

One of the things that really stood out for me about Lidds was how good a crosser of the ball he was when he went wide, probably best I can remember.

 

I knew Walshy had left, I was pretty close to him, great bloke. But didn’t Matt Cook go as well? Honestly, the turnover of staff in the last year has been enormous.

I imagine the club must have had their own ideas, because Lidds is certainly more than qualified regardless of his prior connection.

There certainly looks a fitness issue this year, or a ‘looking a***d’ issue.

 

And yet Liddell was sold under Hendrie's reign.

 

I liked Liddell a lot. Loved the partnership he forged with Payton. The dummies to set up their partners to get strikes away.

Recall two goals coming from such a move in the same game. Want to say it was Port Vale at home, but not confident to say for sure.

Shame he's not back in the fold, and a pity we offloaded him so soon back in the day.

 

True. Maybe striker was the wrong word. Finisher seems to ring a bell now you've said that. Hence the in training comment. .
He struggled to make it as a regular starter given the competition for places. Then Dyer was signed at around the time he left.

 

No, you're wrong Andy, just look on the Official Website. Matt Cook is still there, James Bittner is still there, even Darell is still there as Head Coach.
Yet another in the long, long list of things the Club just can't be arsed to do any more.

 

Andy, I dont think we have looked physically fit since Duff ie since Cook joined us. This year they also seem to suffer from a mental apathy.

 

I always felt we looked fit and held good stamina in the last two years, it’s why we did well late in games. Look at Wembley as an example, played for an hour with 10 men and you couldn’t tell we were a man light.

We look tired after an hour this season. Whether that’s physical or mental I’m not sure. But we are the worst team in the country aren’t we in the final quarter of games?

 

Of course the players are fit, it’s not down fitness it’s down to desire and will to succeed late on in games. If the players aren’t fit enough then our new coach Connor Hourihane as stood and watched us being unfit all season too. If we’ve not been fit enough then why hasn’t he noticed, or has he but just let it ride?.....

 

Yes, during Duffs period we were fit. I obviously cant prove it but I thought I noticed a decline about 6 mths into Cooks stint as Head of Performance. Can I assume from his title that he would have been responsible for fitness or is it the calibre of player ?

 

He was in charge from summer 2021 onwards. I don’t even know if he’s left. I just haven’t seen him at games, so I’m just assuming. Checked the who’s who on the website but I don’t think they’re updating that as Walsh is on there, and I know he’s at Port Vale now. Darrell Clarke is still on there. So who knows?!

If you are head of sport science or performance then yeah, it’s your responsibility. But there are loads of variables aren’t there?

We had a guy called Jonny Northeast under Struber and Val and I know he was highly regarded. Dane brought him over from the states. Pretty sure he followed Val around, now with England / the FA.

 

I thought Cook joined later than that but I bow to your greater knowledge. Maybe there was a change of personnel under him. Unless your playing Val ball most should be able to last 90 mins but they certainly dont look as though they could.
Mansfield was probably too early for CH to make an impact so I cant wait for Saturday. I hope I am not disappointed.