Home truths

And to think conway said they wouldnt do anything crazy when they came in....

 

That’s easy to do though when you’ve written all your old debts off with administration, found a rich new owner and pull in 25k crowds.

 

To be honest, while the equivalent thread from the OP had stories of ill-discipline, poor coaching etc, this year's version actually reads a bit more positive, in terms of noises out of the playing side. I.e. early signs are that we have a competent coach.

The rest is stuff that we already knew, being;

• We've no money, so relying on frees and loans. Directors have said as much. Some will be good, some won't work out.
• We need to sell players. Directors have also said as much. Unfortunately, the lack of offers for Styles and Helik may have forced our hand when it comes to Morris and Brittain
• The jury is out on Khaled. But I won't be judging him on mistakes such as the timing of the Norwood sketch.

If we end up with a squad that competes for the top 6, having gone down with 30 points and a budget of minus 7m, then frankly the CEO and recruitment team would deserve statues outside the ground. Not sure how there can be any expectation beyond mid table next season.

 

My biggest concern is that the unknown investors who appointed Conway did nothing and said nothing. If Conway was acting on their behalf and things were happening, like when he appointed himself ceo and the lead upto that. If I were the investor I would be watching my investment closely and step in when things started going wrong. Something is really wrong behind closed doors and that is the really worrying part.

 

Conway was removed at the first opportunity. PMG were appointed nominee by the investors for a fixed period after the initial takeover. Because that agreement expired in May the investors were able to get shut.

 

The thread starter makes a lot of good points but the criticism of pranks bit is nonsense.

Pranks are part & parcel of a dressing room full of young males.

Winning teams have them, average teams have them & poor teams have them. It doesn’t effect on field performance negatively in my opinion.

Far bigger issues were a huge turnover of off field staff, shocking fitness levels & poor recruitment.

 

Been watching YouTube league 1 prediction for this season and most YouTubers have us in top 6 and I felt myself believing it,
But until we sign the correct players for the correct position we'll be mid table.
Centre mid field x2, striker x2 now right back is what's needed.
It started off OK with signings but now feels like we are sleep walking into the new season and at the moment I see us losing at Plymouth and the bad feelings will start again and if we lost to Cheltenham then that'll be scary.
We need new signings pronto and not get off to a bad start.

 

This in a nutshell. As I've said all along this will be a consolidation season. I'd expect more signings in & Helik & Styles out & maybe Thomas if he wants away to Bristol, which I would understand if his mental health dictates. Losing Oduor & Iseka too would be a bonus, if there are any takers. No rose coloured specs for me, but we should be able to end up mid table with a few decent signings in the key positions everyone has identified.

 

They got rid of him to try & save their investment. I think Conway had an 8% holding from that group. There is **** all chance of them putting more in IMO, as far as I see it. Why would you throw good money after bad as an investor?

 

Yes... we wouldnt want that

 

I don’t see how anyone can think we’ll finish top 6 right now.

Even if people think we have a team capable of playing good football it’s a completely different thing doing it consistently twice a week over a season.

You go through our squad & there’s hardly any battle hardened outfield players. Excluding Helik & Styles who I think we all expect to leave there’s only Anderson, Cadden, Kane (but recent injury issues), Kitching & Thomas (once at Coventry) who’ve ever put together full, 40 game plus seasons without any injuries of note.

It’s a huge ask for several of Cole, Iseka, Norwood, Jalo, Marsh, Benson, Wolfe, Connell, Williams, Cundy, McCarthy, Moon etc to get through a 51-60 game season when they never have before.

Your playing in a league full of battle hardened pro’s playing for teams who probably only have 2 or 3 who aren’t experienced whilst we will have 7 or 8 inexperienced.

 

Yeh, our midfield is shocking I just don't see many attacking open play goals coming upto now, it really needs addressing and the strike force just won't be firing because of it.

 

No, in all seriousness absolutely not. But perhaps he knows something we don't. He painted a very accurate picture 12 months ago.

 

I just feel we’re really lacking players who’ve proven they can cope with the demands of a full season.

If you had one solid reliable work horse forward who you could trust to be available 80% plus of the time alongside one or two of our young forwards & the same in midfield with a Scowen type alongside one or two of Kane, Benson, Wolfe etc then I’d be a lot more confident.

I think we’re going to get bullied in so many games this season by players who aren’t much better ability wise but are fitter, stronger & more streetwise than us.

 

He's hardly going to answer that one when he's *allegedly* taken a nice kickback for the Oulare deal to happen! Simailar scenario with Iseka. When you se who Conway is supposedly involved with and the moving players between clubs, it's absolutely disgusting.
Conway is a horrible individual who shouldn't be allowed near any football club.

 

Kane, too injury prone because we haven't seen him for more than 5 minutes I've just automatically dismissed him playing for us,
Benson I just don't rate him what so ever not a midfielder that going to get us top 6 or be a playoff player, really happy to be proved wrong.
Wolfe still too raw.
It really does need better heads in our midfield and times ticking,
I'm afraid the club believes they've got enough for the job, maybe styles might stay ?.

 

Interesting read, it will also be interesting to see how things go. The squad looks a mess at the moment for sure. Our CEO has done nothing to inspire me and our whole ownership model is shrouded in mystery and uncertainty.
Aside from replacing a sign on the ponty the stadium continues to suffer from no investment since the Dennis era.

 

I'm unconvinced by Khaled, and the OP deserves credit for last year's version, but this one definitely reads a lot more like somebody who just really doesn't like their boss.

I suppose that has to be a positive!