As The Dust Settles - The Sombre Thread

[CountryRoyal]

In fairness to Meite iirc he was never deployed as a winger on the left for any length of time.

[URZZZZ]

Signed on a free transfer and our joint highest top scorer at this level.

Don't agree, but it's not that strange and opinion.

Not a candle to Kitson, Doyle, Sidwell, Shorey, Ingimarsson though.

I think that is fair. Compared to those, not to that level.

But compared to the dross of the last decade, Meite has to be considered one of the best signings we have made.

Do we think Joao was a good signing? Was he good value for money? Excellent on his day, but very expensive & injury-prone.

What really annoyed me was the signing of both Joao & Puscas in 1 go. Completely different styles & no plan of how to utilise them both.

Thing is, if you want to play two up top, you need a bit of nous and graft up there. Someone willing to do the dirty work. Doyle and Kitson were great for that. Ditto Hunt with Long/Roberts. Not applicable for Puscas/Meite/Joao. None of them worked together well so I agree that signing two “star” strikers in the space of days wasn’t a viable plan.

One of those things where IMO if you ask Doyle, Long, Roberts, Le Fondre etc etc, Hunt would have been a dream to play with. We’ve had plenty more “talented” strikers than N.Hunt but few more effective. And it’s part of an underlying message that it doesn’t always matter how much talent there is in the squad, there needs to be cohesion within the squad. Partnerships developed and consistency among the team

Brings me back onto the Baldock drum. He should have been a very effective Championship striker for us. It’s no coincidence (for us or him) Bowen’s initial upturn of form when he took charge coincided with the Baldock/Puscas duo. It was arguably both’s best sustained run in the team

Yet one injury and two months later, and we’re back to 1 up front, lumping it to a 5ft7 striker with no one 30 yards close. We then blame the striker. “Worst striker we’ve ever had”, “L1 quality!” etc etc. Vydra, Pog, Martin, Grabban, Baldock, Sharp. All “flops” here but have flourished mostly everywhere else. Figure that one out

[Sutekh]

Not a candle to Kitson, Doyle, Sidwell, Shorey, Ingimarsson though.

I think that is fair. Compared to those, not to that level.

But compared to the dross of the last decade, Meite has to be considered one of the best signings we have made.

Do we think Joao was a good signing? Was he good value for money? Excellent on his day, but very expensive & injury-prone.

What really annoyed me was the signing of both Joao & Puscas in 1 go. Completely different styles & no plan of how to utilise them both.

Thing is, if you want to play two up top, you need a bit of nous and graft up there. Someone willing to do the dirty work. Doyle and Kitson were great for that. Ditto Hunt with Long/Roberts. Not applicable for Puscas/Meite/Joao. None of them worked together well so I agree that signing two “star” strikers in the space of days wasn’t a viable plan.

One of those things where IMO if you ask Doyle, Long, Roberts, Le Fondre etc etc, Hunt would have been a dream to play with. We’ve had plenty more “talented” strikers than N.Hunt but few more effective. And it’s part of an underlying message that it doesn’t always matter how much talent there is in the squad, there needs to be cohesion within the squad. Partnerships developed and consistency among the team

Brings me back onto the Baldock drum. He should have been a very effective Championship striker for us. It’s no coincidence (for us or him) Bowen’s initial upturn of form when he took charge coincided with the Baldock/Puscas duo. It was arguably both’s best sustained run in the team

Yet one injury and two months later, and we’re back to 1 up front, lumping it to a 5ft7 striker with no one 30 yards close. We then blame the striker. “Worst striker we’ve ever had”, “L1 quality!” etc etc. Vydra, Pog, Martin, Grabban, Baldock, Sharp. All “flops” here but have flourished mostly everywhere else. Figure that one out

All goes back to the biggest day to day problem at the club for a decade. The utterly idiotic management appointments. All the money wasted on dreadful purchases in the transfer market but yet diddly squat spent on the most important element - a manager with a cohesive and flexible plan to weld all the bits together. Probably would have got away with a bit of overspending if someone had got that part right.

This is why the next appointment is possibly the most important in the club's history, another Pauno, Gomes (or perhaps even Ince) type and I think much of the support might well finally lose what little faith it has left. Hope the club can understand that.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not a candle to Kitson, Doyle, Sidwell, Shorey, Ingimarsson though.

I think that is fair. Compared to those, not to that level.

But compared to the dross of the last decade, Meite has to be considered one of the best signings we have made.

Do we think Joao was a good signing? Was he good value for money? Excellent on his day, but very expensive & injury-prone.

What really annoyed me was the signing of both Joao & Puscas in 1 go. Completely different styles & no plan of how to utilise them both.

Thing is, if you want to play two up top, you need a bit of nous and graft up there. Someone willing to do the dirty work. Doyle and Kitson were great for that. Ditto Hunt with Long/Roberts. Not applicable for Puscas/Meite/Joao. None of them worked together well so I agree that signing two “star” strikers in the space of days wasn’t a viable plan.

One of those things where IMO if you ask Doyle, Long, Roberts, Le Fondre etc etc, Hunt would have been a dream to play with. We’ve had plenty more “talented” strikers than N.Hunt but few more effective. And it’s part of an underlying message that it doesn’t always matter how much talent there is in the squad, there needs to be cohesion within the squad. Partnerships developed and consistency among the team

Brings me back onto the Baldock drum. He should have been a very effective Championship striker for us. It’s no coincidence (for us or him) Bowen’s initial upturn of form when he took charge coincided with the Baldock/Puscas duo. It was arguably both’s best sustained run in the team

Yet one injury and two months later, and we’re back to 1 up front, lumping it to a 5ft7 striker with no one 30 yards close. We then blame the striker. “Worst striker we’ve ever had”, “L1 quality!” etc etc. Vydra, Pog, Martin, Grabban, Baldock, Sharp. All “flops” here but have flourished mostly everywhere else. Figure that one out

Been banging the team over individual talent and partnership drum for years. Completely agree.

Look at Millwall and Luton. Just very organised very effective TEAMs who know how to play with each other.

[From Despair To Where?]

I think we have to have a big reset in expectation. We have a fanbase weaned on 20 years of relative success. We have to look at getting back into the Championship as a 3 year objective and build appropriately. We have to be patient and not call for the manager's head if we're not top 6 at Christmas.

Its how both Coppell and McDermott achieved success, and to a lesser extent how Evans, Branfoot and McGhee achieved success as well.

[Jerry St Clair]

We have to be patient and not call for the manager's head if we're not top 6 at Christmas.

Its how both Coppell and McDermott achieved success, and to a lesser extent how Evans, Branfoot and McGhee achieved success as well.

Boxing Day 2003. We lost 3-0 at home to Wimbledon (our third successive 3-0 loss, I think?) and the fans turned on Coppell. If he'd gone that night I think most would have been pretty happy.

But earlier in the day we'd signed Dave Kitson. And we had a calm, resolute Chairman and CEO who knew we were onto a good thing, were looking long term and knew we were building something.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm struggling to see 10 years of fighting relegation relative success, but it is at a higher level than mid-table tier 3.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think that is fair. Compared to those, not to that level.

But compared to the dross of the last decade, Meite has to be considered one of the best signings we have made.

Do we think Joao was a good signing? Was he good value for money? Excellent on his day, but very expensive & injury-prone.

What really annoyed me was the signing of both Joao & Puscas in 1 go. Completely different styles & no plan of how to utilise them both.

Thing is, if you want to play two up top, you need a bit of nous and graft up there. Someone willing to do the dirty work. Doyle and Kitson were great for that. Ditto Hunt with Long/Roberts. Not applicable for Puscas/Meite/Joao. None of them worked together well so I agree that signing two “star” strikers in the space of days wasn’t a viable plan.

One of those things where IMO if you ask Doyle, Long, Roberts, Le Fondre etc etc, Hunt would have been a dream to play with. We’ve had plenty more “talented” strikers than N.Hunt but few more effective. And it’s part of an underlying message that it doesn’t always matter how much talent there is in the squad, there needs to be cohesion within the squad. Partnerships developed and consistency among the team

Brings me back onto the Baldock drum. He should have been a very effective Championship striker for us. It’s no coincidence (for us or him) Bowen’s initial upturn of form when he took charge coincided with the Baldock/Puscas duo. It was arguably both’s best sustained run in the team

Yet one injury and two months later, and we’re back to 1 up front, lumping it to a 5ft7 striker with no one 30 yards close. We then blame the striker. “Worst striker we’ve ever had”, “L1 quality!” etc etc. Vydra, Pog, Martin, Grabban, Baldock, Sharp. All “flops” here but have flourished mostly everywhere else. Figure that one out

Been banging the team over individual talent and partnership drum for years. Completely agree.

Look at Millwall and Luton. Just very organised very effective TEAMs who know how to play with each other.

I don't disagree, but you could argue that those individuals have kept us in the Championship previously when you think of the likes of Joao, Swift, Martinez etc. Definitely not advocating for that though or anything, but this season was the season where we seemed to have a more rounded team, with less individual quality with some players departing and others not being used to their full strengths, and we went down.

[From Despair To Where?]

I'm struggling to see 10 years of fighting relegation relative success, but it is at a higher level than mid-table tier 3.

I mean in a relative sense. When I started supporting, becoming Tier 2 mainstays was the Holy Grail.

Expectations are wildly different these days and I think we need to temper them for the long-term good.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm struggling to see 10 years of fighting relegation relative success, but it is at a higher level than mid-table tier 3.

I mean in a relative sense. When I started supporting, becoming Tier 2 mainstays was the Holy Grail.

Expectations are wildly different these days and I think we need to temper them for the long-term good.

Yeah, wasn’t trying to disagree.

[Lower West]

We have a fanbase weaned on 20 years of relative success.

The club I remember built on the motto of Tenacity, Spirit, Flair died some years ago. Been a dreary existence for far too long. Where any optimism has very rapidly has been extinguished. Too many attempted short term fixes rather than a cohesive long term plan. Which bought us the success.

[Loafer]

the club i remember and love died a long time ago

[Sutekh]

the club i remember and love died a long time ago

Third Lanark?

[Orion1871]

Forest Green wasn't it? He should've kept watering them.

[Hound]

The Brian Tevreden podcast is quite a good listen. No real suprises but he comes across well. Again not unexpected but blames Gourlay for a lot of the decline and stupid decisions

[Sutekh]

The Brian Tevreden podcast is quite a good listen. No real suprises but he comes across well. Again not unexpected but blames Gourlay for a lot of the decline and stupid decisions

Yes, RG certainly left his mark on the club, signed lots of players on high wages (none of which Tevreden would have done) and though the owner could afford it (which was probably an issue in itself), given the ffp rules it's amazing he lasted 16 months before the owners "took notice" and called an end to it. Did that "notice" only happen when Howe came back as chief executive as seem to recall his return led to Clement going almost immediately but had RG gone by then?

[maffff]

As the dust settles, STAR have today issued a message to the owner:

https://star-reading.org/news/our-messa ... dai-yongge

[AthleticoSpizz]

Assuming he speaks English and/or has Babel-fish.

Seriously, a bit grovelling and over respectful, but if that doesn’t flush him out, then we will at least know where we stand…..reliant on luck and the ‘law of averages’ buying us some kind of success.

Not sure that he will even read it, mind.

[Millsy]

As the dust settles, STAR have today issued a message to the owner:

https://star-reading.org/news/our-messa ... dai-yongge

I like it. Quite direct, well said. My only fear is it is quite ballsy and I'm not sure how well it will be taken by a Chinese businessman who detests losing face.

As stated above though, he probably won't even read it.

[Sutekh]

As the dust settles, STAR have today issued a message to the owner:

https://star-reading.org/news/our-messa ... dai-yongge

I like it. Quite direct, well said. My only fear is it is quite ballsy and I'm not sure how well it will be taken by a Chinese businessman who detests losing face.

As stated above though, he probably won't even read it.

Didn't STAR put out a Chinese version?