PeteG

Agree in the main, however, there is no evidence whatsoever we are currently heading in the right direction. I do think Mellon is the right man but as you say there are no guarantees.

Where have the rumours come from regarding these players that have been told they need to find a new club? A couple of the names are no surprise of course but others have featured heavily over the past few weeks or so and I can't imagine the club being very happy with these names being made public on the pod if there is any truth in them of course. As for the players being told to find a new club, if they are under contract they really don't, it's the club that needs to find them a club that's interested and even then, they are well within their rights to say no. Makes me laugh how the pod are now saying we need to be patient (again!) because the recruitment has been poor after previously telling everyone that it would all come good under Unsworth because everything was in place to make us successful including the recruitment department. With the exception of Mellon who I every faith in, what makes everyone so confident we will get the recruitment right this time around if the people handing out contracts are still in situ? Reminds me of Chelsea and United at a much lower level this. Scatter gun approach to recruiting players with no real thought on a system or style of play. Let's hope Mellon is given full control.

Only 7 of the 18 were recruited by the previous regime and 2 of them were goalscorers today. You could also argue the likes of Sheron, Fondop and McGahey have been 3 of the better performers recently which might say more about the new regimes recruitment given the money spent and the amount of resources they have had.

2 of the worst home results and performances in the clubs history in the last 2 games. Thanks Darren, Joe and Unsy.

I think his presser was spot on, i've every confidence we've got the right guy in charge. I did wonder whether his remark (which he must have made 3 or 4 times) about look with your eyes was reference to all this data, stats baloney? I might be a bit of a dinosaur but i've always said, i'm not that interested in stats and this XG bollox, i can see exactly which players are good enough and putting in the required miles and effort by just watching them. Maybe MM is a bit more old school and his recruitment will be based on what he sees and what he knows about players characters etc.

I didn't say he was above critique. However, when people were having a pop at him he was still one of our best performers in my opinion. Expectations were high, rightly so but some of the things being levelled at him were out of order. We had all sorts of accusations going on mostly regarding his body language. We've got one of the best players in the league that could easily slot into a side 2 divisions higher, so let's just enjoy the fact he's wearing a blue shirt and get behind him. If he's firing on all cylinders we definitely won't be far away come May.

It was as plain as the nose on your face that Norwood was miles ahead of anything in the squad from day 1, I didn't need Saturday or last night to convince me. If he stays injury free he scores 25 goals this season minimum. I said when this bollocks all started a few weeks back that we should be building a team around him and was criticised for that opinion because of his age. Well, i stand by it, let him get us back in the EFL and we can worry about replacing him in 2 years time.

Sounds like "Unsy" has done the majority of the budget in.

I hardly think we came in with an offer Stockport couldn't match. Hogan was signed by Sheridan under Abdallah so I don't believe he was throwing massive amounts at him considering he was trying to sell the club. Hogan was surplus to requirements at Stockport and wasn't getting in the side.

We don't need to play Shelton, we've got Lundstram, Sheron, McGahey, Ward plus the wide men. Grant you we need someone else in who is good with the ball and dictate the tempo.

It was Stuart Barlow, he got the nickname whilst at Everton I believe.

He pays Norwood's wage. Let's face it, he wasn't dropping down to the National League to play for peanuts.

More likely Frank tbh

I've just noticed Will Grigg has only 1 more than Norwood playing for a free scoring team at the top of the table, so is 6 a fair return so far? However, for the sake of being impartial Manny whatever his surname is who didn't look the greatest for us on loan from Salford has got 12 for Hartlepool!!

Have they spent a lot? Genuine question, I really don't know. My next door neighbour is friends with the chairman and has been to a few games with him and for a Man United fan he's fairly knowledgeable about the game and he tells me they play some decent stuff.

I've just said telling people they are shit was a slight exaggeration on my part, we don't even know if he's even critical of any of his teammates. As for learning what his teammates are going to do, no point in him going into the stand behind the goal as another aimless punt inevitably ends up there. He needs to keep doing what hes doing and we or Mellon more to the point has to find the right formation/players who can supply him. I'm almost certain Mellon will do and this thread will be something we are all laughing about in a few months. As for recreating his game completely, that was another exaggeration on my part but i stand by the point i was making, with the exception of the goalkeeper, if you played Norwood is every other position in our team he would be an improvement on the player currently playing that position. He's absolutely miles ahead of them all, it stands out like a sore thumb.

Exactly, it's certainly a strange one that none of the 3 managers has give him a run yet although Mellon has only had 2 games and both were away from home. Whatever he's doing in training isn't impressing anyone right now so he needs to pick it up. Let's hope he does get a run and i'm sure a goal or two would do him the world of good.

Not listened myself but I only remember one player with the nickname the judge and it wasn't a Latics player. Alan Knight at Portsmouth was known as The Judge if i remember correctly, a keeper who always seemed to excel against us.

Yes, a slight exaggeration on my part. We don't even know that he's digging anyone out or if his attitude is like some are saying. People are reading body language and putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5. I actually think he's probably very popular in the dressing room and it's just his way. We are in danger of making up an issue that doesn't actually exist. There's been loads of players over the years who looked a bit disinterested or as if they thought their teammates weren't good enough. We only need to look closer to home, Roger Palmer barely celebrated a goal, just put his arm aloft, was the first out of the ground most weeks, didn't mix with players and nobody even knew where he lived. Willie Donachie used to pick him up on a street corner because he didn't drive but he would never tell Willie where he actually lived. Scholesy was another like that at United and you'd get the impression he thought some of his teammates weren't good enough. Didn't stop him performing though.

That's exactly how it works. You don't get your best players to adapt thus diminishing their strengths. Many people have the misconception that in sport you should work on your weaknesses in order to become better. I once had an in depth conversation with a sports psychologist who had worked with the top tennis players in the world, the top golfers in the world as well as many footballers at the very top level and he was strongly of the belief that you should work on your strengths to the extent that they completely outweigh any weaknesses. The thought process behind this was that you can only improve a weakness by a very small percentage but a strength you can improve by a much greater margin. In our case we need to improve Norwoods return by playing to his strengths. I'm almost certain, Norwood would currently do a better job than Sutton at RB and even the vast majority of the midfield if you played him there but that would be plain stupid wouldn't it?

He doesn't need to adapt his game to our level, he's proved he does it at this level. I'm happy if he thinking you're all shit and i'm even happier if he's telling them that. They need to hear it and then prove him wrong.

We should be doing, he's got at least 2 good years left in him at this level. I'm happy to build a side around him for the next 2 years if it means he gets us back in the football league. From League 1 down to the National League it's difficult to build a team around anyone regardless of age because if they are above that level it's likely they will get bought. That's not the case with Norwood, he's dropped down to get the club back up. Simple, build the team around him!

First home game under Mellon, players will have a rocket up them from Tuesday night, comfortable 4-0 home win with a Norwood hatrick. I sound like @Lee Sinnottnow!

No I agree, I've said I thought he would be on about 10 plus by now. However, I did think as a team we'd have been much better than we have. How many decent chances has he missed? I can only really think of the one at Chesterfield but i'm sure he's probably missed another couple. When he gets a chance I think goal, we just need to find a way of getting him more chances. I've never really watched him and thought he's not interested. Look at the 3rd goal from Tuesday, Norwood comes short to get a ball into feet from Shelton, who does a 360 degree turn, mis controls it and then falls over resulting in their lad firing a great shot into the top corner. Norwood looks proper pissed off despite it being the 90th minute already 2 down with 10 men. The game was over but he was still pissed off, that's not a player who is disinterested or can't be arsed.

Just re-read what i've wrote and given we all thought what a stellar attack we had, i've got question marks over 5 of the 6 forwards!?!? Hope i'm completely wrong but it's not quite as good as we thought but we do all think it's the midfield that is restricting the forwards plus the fact that Unsworth was so negative. With that in mind, they are all worth a new chance under Mellon but he needs to come up with a partner and formation for Norwood asap. Given he knows all about Norwood I'm confident he will do but it would be nice to see the same partnership up front for at least half a dozen games to give them some time to gel. My initial thoughts are to give Willoughby a run of games with Norwood, with Fondop and Reid options from the bench unless Nuttall suddenly has a change of attitude and puts in a performance like he did against Aldershot which is 1 in about 12 months now.