Had to write the squad down to get my head round this. And after “sending home” the loans we have: –
Rory Watson
Adam Kelsey
Mark Howard
Tom Collins
Jordan Clarke
Harrison McGahey
Manny Onariase
Lewis Butroid
Jai Rowe
Charlie Barks
Mason O’Malley
Jacob Bedeau
Alex Gilliead
Kevin Van Veen
Abobaker Eisa
Ryan Loft
Aaron Jarvis
Lewis Spence
Kenan Dunnwald-Turan
George Hornshaw
Tom Pugh
Finley Shrimpton
Raynner Silva
Junior Brown
Devarn Green
Myles Hippolyte
Andy Dales
Jordan Hallam
Alfie Beestin
Olufela Olomola
Harry Jessop
John McAtee
The first thing that you notice is the four keepers, none of whom are that great (some would say a liability). However the defence doesn’t look too bad, although the addition of another CB would help.
A real mixed bag of midfielders who blow hot and cold (more cold than hot), but with the noticeable absence of any real leadership.
And the forwards? Tell me if you find two!
Can’t disagree with the OP but take those 7/8 out and you’ve still got two dozen hanging around. Okay so some of these are untested youngsters, but there’s still a whole starting XI that leave you thinking “why are they here?”
Last January we were told that the club would have to cut its wage bill. Out with the old and expensive, in with the new and inexpensive. The trouble with cheap produce is that you tend to buy more because it isn’t as good as the decent stuff. And that’s what seems to have happened to our recruitment.
Our bin is overflowing, but will the refuse collectors arrive in the New Year?
Not a normal season by any means so I won’t be too critical. As MM and AWG say there’s less going on down at the SVS, and what is happening is on the website.
In many ways I don’t want any more updates from our illustrious Chairman. They are invariably the same as the last one.
Sooner see action on the pitch rather than noises from the boardroom.
If you read the post properly Northumbiron the whole point of it was about what you stated in your last line.
Duh! Yes, I know, that’s why I wrote it!
But the title of your thread was “has he gone yet?” Which would suggest that you blame Cox for the current malaise.
What I’m saying is that it won’t make tuppence-worth of difference whether we sack him or not as long as Swann is doing the hiring.
See Ferrite’s post above.
AWG it wasn’t a case of people on here wanting Cox, the popular choices were Ian Evatt and Tim Flowers. More he was accepted as a reasonable appointment because we’d tried just about everything else.
But hey! We could have brought in a well known character with Premier League experience. You know, just like that club down the road. That went well didn’t it?
I wish there was a simple fix but I don’t think there is.
So Cox goes along with Lillis (has he been here anyway, or just a cardboard cutout?) and Mussy. Then what?
We’re back to where we were this time last year. Swann will put Wilcox in temporary charge (again) and do the minimum in the transfer window.
Eisa and McAttee will be on the blower to their agent. Will Cygnet will likewise call up a few to see what’s in the bargain bucket and if we’re lucky we may get another Ike Ugbo or George Miller on loan to solve our striker problems.
This will mean we can’t afford to appoint a new manager (we’ll be paying off Cox & Lillis as well as Hurst & Doig) so Russ will stick it out until summer, then Swann will appoint another cheap option who “shares his vision for the club and will be in it for the long term”.
I’m afraid we’re stuck in Groundhog Day until major changes are implemented.
Casinos are places of entertainment where punters come through the doors high on the expectation of leaving with more than they arrived with, but are ultimately disappointed and end up leaving with nothing.
Amuses me the way people are classing Dunwald-Turan in the same bracket as Loft, Jarvis and Hippolyte.
He’s started just two games. Away at Crawley, where he played the full 90 minutes, and home to Solihull in the FA Cup where he lasted 71.
His only other two appearances have been as a sub. He got 37 minutes away at Tranmere and 3 away at Exeter.
A grand total of 201 minutes, all in games ending in defeat. He hasn’t even made the bench since mid November!
To say this guy did not need to be signed by the club as he is clearly surplus to requirements is an understatement!
He made one appearance for Bristol Rovers. That should have told us something along with his only two goals in English football being on loan at Weston-super-Mare!
Someone we definitely need to ask Godders and Swanners about!
But like you, not happy with the way things are and have been since Alexander’s departure. I don’t know PS personally so I won’t slag him or any of his family off, but I can make critical observations.
Swann always talks a good game when he comes on the radio or on an IB podcast. He tells us he cares about the club and the town and is doing all he can to build success. However we are used to politicians speaking to us in a similar manner. “We’ve a world beating track and trace programme in place!” “Brexit will be of benefit to all of us!” PS does often sound like a politician on Question Time.
I won’t repeat the list of promises. They’re there in the OP. But were they promises, or pipe dreams? Swann cannot be criticised for having a vision for the club.
The vision however appeared to put the stadium (new, rebuilt, refurbished or whatever) ahead of the football. To me it was always cart before horse. Surely the emphasis on developing youth should have been one of the first of the new owner’s actions, not one of the latter.
Of course when things are going okay football wise then it’s relatively easy to get fans on board with these visions. A promotion in his first season in charge. Three seasons flirting with the L1 playoffs. Not the heady days of Adkins and the Championship, but not too bad. After all we were still two divisions higher than Grimsby and Lincoln!
However, if you scratched off the veneer then the cheap chipboard beneath was clear to see. The promotion under the record breaking Russ Wilcox was particularly turgid. So much in fact that it didn’t really feel like one. Being in the upper reaches of L1 should have been joyous, yet there was always some mischief going on in the background. Players falling out with management and ownership over contracts or being played out of position. We then stated to hire and fire our managers at the drop of a hat. This despite PS telling us each time that (insert name) was the best man for the job and that he was here for the long term. One day we may learn what happened with Paul Hurst a year ago.
Around the same time news of the much talked about “transfer committee” emerged. There then followed a list of players signed but never featuring in matches, other than the odd cameo appearance. You know their names, Vose, Margetts, Lewis, El Mhanni, Olomola, Dales, Hallam. Now we have the likes of Mooney and Dunwald-Turan to add.
Many of us have questioned whether these signings have anything to do with the manager and coaches. Particularly as recent managers have been appointed after the squad has been put together.
Recently we’ve been told that the club has to cut its wage bill. This is fair enough of course, all clubs are in the same boat. But what do we do? Sign a lot of poor, inexperienced youngsters when surely a smaller number of new additions a mix of youth and experience would have been better. Then to cap it off we hear that the new chief scout is the Chairman’s son!
But to me it’s the whole atmosphere surrounding the club that seems to have died. Players don’t seem bothered whether they win or lose. No urgency, no pride in the shirt.
Change has to start at the top. I don’t know whether a new owner would be the catalyst or whether the Swann family can turn it around. Maybe they have reached the limit of what they can do. Who knows?
These are difficult times, sure enough. Would anyone want to buy a football club in the lower reaches of L2 at the moment?
Shows (we probably knew anyway) that Onariase + McGahey = above par. Any other combination = below par!
And that without Kev we don’t have a striker worthy of the name.
The one thing that these stats don’t show is the inconsistency. As Samways1 says, Gilliead can be a match winner on game and anonymous the next. The same can be said of Eisa and to a lesser extent the CMFs.
With those four blowing hot and cold and a donkey up front goals are always going to be hard to come by.
just look at the past 20 players brought into the club, andname one that is of any use!!!,
Onariase and Spence in summer and Beestin last January.
But I get your drift. The poor ones pretty much cancel the decent ones out.
The worst thing is that we have not signed anyone we can call a leader. KvV apart we have no one who can grab a game by the scruff of the neck and turn it around.
Reality is we need to offload Olomola, Turan, Jarvis and release/flog Mooney…we need 3 new strikers.
You may be right WG, but it would be interesting to tot up the number of minutes each of them have spent on the pitch in a league game. Not many I’ll wager.
Seen enough of Jarvis to realise he’s not league standard. Yeovil and Carlisle have seen more of Fela since he signed for us and as for Mooney and Turan – no bloody idea!
Dales pretty much permanently on loan for eighteen months. Hallam seldom featuring. Swann has said we need to cut our cloth accordingly yet he continues to sign players who rarely pull on the shirt.
