nzlatic

Up in Manchester for a booze up tomorrow so taking the opportunity to get back to BP for the first time in ages. Quite looking forward to it. Miss the place.

Oh of course. Totally agree. They’re doing what they always do - looking after themselves and promising some trickle down for everyone else which either won’t come or won’t touch the sides.

Premier league teams want to reduce the number of fixtures that don’t make them money so they can increase the number that do. It’s not about anything other than that.

The issue with a long term plan is that it may require patience as it takes time to implement and hone. Which could mean more time at this level. I agree with a lot of what you’ve said about plan and structure. My guess is that the board have decided all that may have to wait until we’re a league club again. That short term strategy is the way to go to achieve that initial objective of getting back in the league.

It could be the stats. But it could also be down to either Unsworth or Thompson or how they worked together. How skilled were they at identifying the right characters? It could also be loads of other things or a combination! I have lots more faith in Mellon and Brabin to identify those traits we need than I would in Unsworth.

Correlation just based on the evidence we have. If we had a new data driven system for rehabilitating injured players that all the top clubs were using with varying success, but our rehabilitation rates were not improving. Then it’s more likely an issue as to how that system is being implemented than a fault with the system itself.

Aren’t there members of our board that have had experience in football? I don’t mean played or coached, but had previous involvement in football clubs or administration?

So... We need a young progressive coach. But also... we don't need any new fangled stats tech. Or any new fangled job titles. Or any new fangled departments. We need the chaddy to be the home end. We need to recruit like Joe Royle did. What we actually need is a time machine to take us back to the early 90s when we were last good. Or, if we can't do that, we need to get the recruitment right. We have great owners. We have an experienced board with football people on it. We have much improved infrastructure with much more improvement planned. We have a manager with a track record of success. Get the recruitment right this summer and I'm confident we'll kick on next season.

I feel like I'm screaming into the void here but they already do this!!!!! Stats are used to increase the pool of players that the scouting team go and actually scout! They've told us this. So either you think they're lying or you are just ignoring what they say. I don't for one second believe that we sign players purely off stats without any other checks at all.

But I've not said we don't use them too heavily. I don't know how much we've relied on them. My opinion is that I think they should be an asset but they need to be used more effectively. Every aspect of our recruitment department needs to operate more effectively this summer.

On stats, you both and others keep saying this. But you have absolutely no evidence that we have “used stats too heavily”. It might be the case, but it might not also be the case. You are confusing causation and correlation. On the last point - 100% agree. I think this is what Mellon is referring to when he talks about knowing what a good player is. Most of our signings have looked good on paper and there have been few complaints when signings are made. But the characters and personalities are just wrong in too many cases. This summer may be about moving out players and bringing in players who are on paper of less quality, but who’s character is what the team needs to be successful. Whether stats are to blame for this is up for debate of course, but this isn’t just an issue of the last 12 months. We’ve had very few players of that sort of mental quality for years now.

It’s all on the recruitment. It’s not been good enough so far. If we can get that right over the summer we’ll be in the top few next season. If we can’t then we’ll be floating around the same sort of level.

It was staggering. And this is the thing I’m getting at @yarddog73 - I’m not saying Norwood is faultless. I just think he’s been let down by so many in that team. And as for how he deals with that, it might be wrong and might upset his teammates but at least it shows he cares to some degree. Otherwise he wouldn’t kick off at them. So I don’t get why he gets the boos and the chants about being a waste of money when there are so many others who clearly couldn’t give enough of a fuck. Garner had the same problem - won a lot of battles tonight but so often the midfield was 20 yards behind him so it was futile.

100% this. It’s just wasted breathe/typing for all those crying for him to be sacked. Surely for those who do think he should be sacked, you also think major changes are needed to the team? Or do you think Mellon is the main problem?

I think I heard Norwood get jeered when he held the ball up out wide but then lost it because there was no one within 30 yards. Again, neatly summarising our problem - a total lack of desire from too many in the team. But sure, let’s hound out the top scorer who makes an effort because he’s having a lean spell.

One big positive to take from tonight… only a day and a half before the season is officially over.

We have far more deep rooted problems than just this of course, but it’s a shame Green got injured a few weeks ago. He’s probably the only player on the books who attacks with pace.

Wondering where it all went wrong with our play off bid then see Hogan, Sheron, McGahey and Sutton trying to pass it between them and set up an attack.

Was Norwood just booed on?

We just looked desperate to get to half time. Retreated until the inevitable.

Saved by the flag. How was there no pressure on that cross?

He went off injured on Saturday so I presume not recovered enough. Looked like he jarred his knee or something like that.

What a cracking finish. Get in! Good example of our issues a bit before when Dallas broke away, commentators mentioned the lack of Oldham players joining the break.

Yet again ref lets a wild foul go. He’ll have the card out the first time any of ours do something similar.

We haven’t won in 9. Be interested to hear who should be playing to make us more likely to win.