Neil Cox.

[lesgeo]

Am delighted that he avoided the drop last spring – at the same time as avoiding the chop.
A very sound close season for the manager, IMHO. Shopping on a budget it all seems to have been done as well as could have been hoped for but he can hardly be blamed for the absence of a goal-scorer.
He has not relied too heavily on loans – which is excellent.
(However, we do keep on hoping that someone, not too far down the road, will come in on loan to emulate a Steve MacLean.)
He is setting up to get the ball quickly forward to the top third in a way that seemed impossible to even imagine last season. (We all appreciate two up top besides, lone strikers who are youngsters can seldom cut it.)
We couldn’t hope to replace a Gilliead but Perry should bring in many classy aspects to the side.
Bunn or Eisa? – For me, Eisa was not a team player but Bunn certainly is.

It is great to see that we have brought in grafters; League Two naturals which is what I have been begging us to do. We can already see that there is a team spirit developing. Leadership on the pitch? Phew – that’s been a long time a-coming.

I expect a good dozen from Loft this season but where are the rest of the goals coming from?

If we had a decent poacher, I’d have fancied us for the top ten – without, I’ll say lower mid table.
But then, this is The Iron. Injuries haunt us.

Opportunities for young players will surely come. This may not be a super season but at least the rebuild is now under way.

Let’s give Neil huge support. After what he inherited last season – he really deserves it.

[Ferrite]

I wish Cox all the best, if he does well, the club will do well. However, I cannot share your optimism, with a very thin squad made of unprovens & unknowns. And without a decent goalscorer, as far as we can see.

But it will be interesting to see if we can finally start to see midfielders scoring some goals, which has been a weakness for a couple of seasons, and maybe the adversity of our current situation will galvanise something among the players. The great thing about August is anything seems possible. At least until the end of the first game!

[lesgeo]

Only mildly optimistic.
From this set up, there ought to be distance between us and 23rd place.
A player attitude transplant since May helps enormously.
Generally, there also seems to be a better overall balance to the squad and with youngsters also desperate to make the grade … I reckon there are a number eager to do what Mason has already done.

[DarrynStampGoalMachine]

I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic but if you had offered me this squad 2 months ago I would’ve snapped your hand off. We’ve done much better than I was expecting us to do and even without a goal scorer who is hopefully still on his way I’m not overly worried about relegation atm.

[Ferrite]

lesgeo wrote:

From this set up, there ought to be distance between us and 23rd place.

On what grounds do you base this?

Maybe the defence will be better than last season but for much of the second half of the season our defence wasn’t too bad overall, probably largely because of our negative play.

But what will make the difference at the other to turns draws into wins & defeats into draws? Maybe the apparent upgrades in midfield will make the difference. Better service to the forwards should bring dividends.

But I still don’t see Eisa’s goals or Van Veen’s creativity being replaced and we have new centre back combinations to be tested. Will they be an upgrade on McGahey for example?

[Bartoniron66]

Neil as come into full management at a very difficult time for the club and with the virus making things almost impossible for them make long term plans.

I have spoken to him at speedway which he attends and he seems to know what he wants for the club I hope he can turn things around for his long term future as a manager.

I can’t wait for Saturday and as long as we put in a decent performance and really try as a team to make things happen it should be a good day all round, one that’s taken 18 months to happen.

something no one would have thought on the shit day in March 2020 when we lost to Grimsby in game we just didn’t turn up to and was outplayed.

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Ferrite

[lesgeo]

We got zilch from KVV last season – why we did not sign him on a much reduced contract. Injuries?
I wish him well at Motherwell but …
8 goals from Eisa – but how many conceded because he did not give a rounded performance in umpteen games? Moments which were sublime but long passages of play with a minimal contribution.
Anyway Ferrite – you didn’t rate Gilliead so can’t be too bothered by him being replaced.

[Ironawe]

I see the issue as goals. Defence looks OK and midfield is Ok. We do lack spark/creativity in there. It’s the attack that worries me – as it stands now I see a 4-4-1-1 at best. Loft getting isolated then dropping deep to pick the ball up and not very long after casting a forlorn figure. A la last season.

Without a foil for loft we will lack shots on target – a massive achilles heel for us last season.

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bartonscorpion, alcazar

[Ferrite]

lesgeo wrote:

We got zilch from KVV last season – why we did not sign him on a much reduced contract. Injuries?

He was repeatedly rushed back, it was no surprise that his season panned out the way it did.

lesgeo wrote:

Anyway Ferrite – you didn’t rate Gilliead so can’t be too bothered by him being replaced.

I wouldn’t say I didn’t rate him, I just never understood the fuss. I thought he was fine, nothing special, eminently replaceable. I guess time will tell with that. Personally, I think we may well miss Eisa a lot more, despite your criticisms of his game.

[alcazar]

Now you lot know I’m not usually a pessimist, but on this occasion I’m going to say, I’ll believe in no relegation if we are holding our own come Christmas.
If not, let’s say I’ll be unsurprised.

[cassidystash]

The big improvement for me has been the type of player recruited compared to last summer. It would appear (and, yes appearances can be deceptive) that the manager has had significant input into the selection and we’ve ended up with players far better suited to the job in hand. Agree we’re still short of a scorer and maybe one other.

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IRONINTHEBLOOD

[lesgeo]

To be fair to Hurst – he seemed to know how to handle Eisa – and MacAtee, for that matter.
I agree, IA. As I suggested the other day – a one in four scoring forward alongside Loft is a real need if the season is to take us to mid-table.

Yes Cass. Got to agree. Last season the sheer awfulness of the squad in the pre-season left me depressed. I do not feel so terrible having seen a different attitude.

[open hearth iron]

Think sqad alround looks better balanced I think hope goals will come let’s wait and see I am more optimistic than at this stage last year and hope to get some value from my season ticket

[Northumbiron]

lesgeo wrote:

We got zilch from KVV last season – why we did not sign him on a much reduced contract.

It took him just a few minutes to score Motherwell’s opening SPL goal & Alexander was full of praise for him after the game.

Talking with a Carlisle and a Bradford fan and we all agreed Gilliead was great on the ball but lacking on end product.

On that basis I think we’ll miss Kev more than Alex.

Fully agree that we need a goal poacher in the building but I’m happier than I was a month ago.

[Awaywego]

It was Alexander who moved Kvv on to Northampton wasn’t it?. Gary Neville admits he was wrong to let Alexander go last season, would be nice if Swanny admitted the same.

[cassidystash]

Doubt if it was a managerial decision.

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Northumbiron

[Awaywego]

If it wasn’t the manager who was it Cass, certainly wasn’t Swanny he bought and brought him back against McCalls wishes. Ps who is assembling the side this year is it Cox, Swanny, or young Swann, or are we going to wait and see how the side does and then call it?

[Iron-awe]

You would think it was Cox by the way he speaks about the recent signings, knowing about them for a while, seen them playing elsewhere etc etc, unless that’s just “par for the course managerial speak” when a new player signs. I would hope it’s not that and Cox has had the major say on these new players, it’s about time a Scunthorpe manager had his authority backed by the board, he’s the professional in these matters not them.

[cassidystash]

The responsibility for signings is a matter of opinion, mine is above. Regarding KVV did you miss the bit where he came back because Northampton failed to pay up. We have had signings in recent years that a succession of managers didn’t fancy, who was responsible for them?

[Northumbiron]

Awaywego wrote:

Cox, Swanny, or young Swann, or are we going to wait and see how the side does and then call it?

If the club communicated with it’s supporters we might know sooner.

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cassidystash, alcazar

[alcazar]

Definition of an oxymoron:

“any sentence referring to communication from the Iron to their supporters”.

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inspector

[Awaywego]

Kvv retuned to us for an undisclosed fee.

[cassidystash]

Allegedly the amount still outstanding on the original fee, but who knows?

[SODIron]

I’m starting to warm towards Neil Cox, the pre-season has been the best in quite some time and, from all I’ve heard, the squad is better than it was last season (mind you the bar was set so low it wouldn’t be too hard to be better).

I really liked his attitude when we played Wimbledon, getting the squad to tidy up the changing rooms post match was a nice touch of class.

I am actually looking forward to seeing the team play today. Hopefully we see some of the drive and passion that was missing for so much of the last two seasons!

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Cliff Byrne's Right Peg, lesgeo, cassidystash

[Sanfran49]

After that Daz you changed your mind ?

His post match rubbish is consistent !

[WonderGoals]

I’ve mentioned this is another thread but he mentioned post match that it was a bit like last season where the players kind of did what they wanted.

Only problem is that it’s a somewhat fresh squad of players so if that’s a running theme, isn’t that Cox’s fault ?

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Sanfran49, alcazar

[Northumbiron]

We’ve two new coaches, don’t they have any input?

[alcazar]

I think we got them when Daisy Buses went bust.

[Sanfran49]

Northumbiron wrote:

We’ve two new coaches, don’t they have any input?

Are they permitted an input ?

[WonderGoals]

Yes, they certainly do have an input but McMahon is new, so are a few of the others. If this is to be a running theme of the players just doing what they want at times, then the common denominator is Cox.

1 of 2 things will be happening if that is the case, he’ll either not be getting his points across or he will be getting them across but they simply don’t want to follow his instructions.

Very worrying though that we have a somewhat fresh squad of players and Cox has already said that the performance reminded him of last years performances.

I’ve said this before but I’d get rid of Lillis as assistant and get a much more fresher and current assistant who he’s able to bounce ideas off because I’ve never really been sure what he adds to the mix to be honest.

I know the players last season were supposed to have been a bit of a nightmare but Cox is inexperienced and not entirely sure what Lillis added last year to help him along.

I could very well be wrong but not sure what he adds.

[Author]

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