nzlatic

3 minutes ago, spanishfly said:

Having just listened to MM's post match, I think what I was told might well hold water. He's not a man under pressure. And he's not a man bombing for the play offs is he? It would explain a lot if we have already accepted our fate this season. All seems bizarre but I`m not privy to the full details of the back story. 

I'd be very surprised given we were actually in the play offs that it's just been accepted by everyone that it's ok to not go up this season.

However, if there's an acceptence at board level that the likelihood is we'll still be in this league next season given the players we have, then that'd be understandable.

18 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

That’s probably not far from the truth. I’m not sure it would be as end of days as it’s being made out here. The Rothwell’s are hardened business people and the projects they’ve undertaken in terms of redevelopments don’t marry up with a rhetoric of “if it doesn’t happen next season, we’re all buggered”. They want to leave a legacy behind, for the town to enjoy.

 

if it doesn’t happen next season it’s likely a readjustment of the way the football team is funded happens and we work under a smaller budget with less marquee type signings. Which altogether might not be the worst thing.

The Rothwells are the basis for the bulk of my positivity! I think we're on the way, it just may not happen as quickly as we'd all like. But I feel fully confident we'll be back in the efl soon. So if we have an imbalanced squad now that's not delivering, I'd back them to get the right people in place eventually - coaching and players.

Whereas under previous ownership, it felt that if things were to go wrong the whole future of the club was in jeopardy. Issues like we have now are likely to be a temporary setback, not terminal.

2 minutes ago, BerlinBlue said:

Yes, I agree. 

The main issue for me has been recruitment over the past 18 months. Some signings not working out is ok, it happens. I just don't understand the imbalance in the squad, and the fact that has not been addressed and we seemingly signed players that it did not look like we needed. We need some width and a bloody right back. Hopefully, we can sort that out this summer. 

Yep. Some mistakes last summer definitely. But Thompson and the coaching team from then are gone. It's a big summer ahead of us.

4 minutes ago, League one forever said:

They’re no obvious solutions because we don’t have a settled side. We did before the signings (Not perfect but settled) and results were much better. 
 

The pressure isn’t peak but it’s building. .

 

If we carry on as we are and finish poorly- he may end up on roughly 2/3 Wins in 14. 
 

Start next season poorly and we both know what the calls will be. 

Did we have a settled side? Sheron and Lundstram as a pair in the middle got a lot of stick and I don't remember many saying we've got a good team we don't need to make changes at any point this season!

A poor start to next season is a different story, I fully agree with you there. Mellon's track record gives me cause for optimisim though.

1 minute ago, League one forever said:

Of course- but that works both ways- sometimes we can look too deeply into reasons when the only tangible we have is results. .  

When he were doing well with results but the football wasn’t great, I defended him to the hilt because overall he was doing a good job. 
 

Results are now poor- and he’s under pressure- as he should be- that’s ultimately his Job. 
 

 

He had a long period of good results. He's now had a period of bad results. He's not absolved of blame or of having any pressure on him when we have bad results of course but some of the reactions have been nuclear. The squad still has mostly the same issues it did last summer. I don't think one winter of transfer activity is enough for him to properly fix those issues. 

There are no obvious solutions in our current squad that he's leaving out so is it fair to heap as much pressure as this on him at this point? I don't think it is.

5 minutes ago, League one forever said:

Personally think the Southend cameo and the bench at Aldershot was a show of ‘you can’t walk back in’ rather than him giving the other two a proper run. You said yourself he doesn’t rate Mikey (despite the fact he scores goals)

 

We both have a narrative. 
 

You see things through the lense of - giving it time and letting things build. 
 

I see things as they are, (probably too black and white) which is - managers live and die by their results, when results are poor questions should be rightly be asked. 
 

I could you give countless examples of mistakes I think he’s made, and I’m sure you could counter me. Just the nature of how we see things at the minute. 

There's a difference between asking questions, which you have done and have received answers, and making your mind up - that it's predominantly Mellon's fault. Which a lot of people have done.

You've kind of summed things up a bit by saying you "see things as they are". Fans can only see the surface. We have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Footballing decisions are never as simple as what fans make them out to be.

6 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

Keeping this seasons Captain as a squad player just wouldn't work, he's limited at the best of times and he's done little through this latest spell to lift the squad, we need a new Captain who doesn't feel undermined by the previous one hanging around.

 

My view is any player out of contract should be binned off and probably about a dozen others told they can leave if they can fix themselves up, we need a massive overhaul and I honestly wouldn't be bothered if we payed the lot off and started again from scratch.

He's not out of contract - he played enough to get a new one.

At his age he can't have complaints if a side going for promotion wants to have him as back up rather than start every week. And if that's not good enough for him then I'm sure we'd let him leave if he wanted regular first team football.  

35 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

This is how we are lumbered with the likes of Gardner, Hope, Mcghahey. When we stop being so charitable to players on a downward trajectory is probably the day we start to improve. Saying that with Mellon' penchant for a 30 odd year old all will probably be offered new deals.

 

Hogan needs to go for me, he's just not at the level we need if we are serious about mounting a promotion push and he's largely failed as Captain to maintain any level of performance from his team and at times is the weakest link.

We need a squad. We can't just have starters and youths. What is better - having a back up that is experienced, versatile and knows the club and the squad or getting rid of them and signing someone new as a back up? Or, a 3rd option, signing someone who is a starter then you have potentially 3 CBS fighting over 2 spaces (or 3 starters in a back 3 with little or no back up) so you're paying starter wages for someone who won't be playing regularly?

5 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

Id be very worried if Hammond is in the starting 3 midfielders next season. 
 

Take your other points though. 

It could go either way with him. I think he's shown glimpses but nothing consistent. He's young though, so what we see now will probably not be reflective of his whole career.

51 minutes ago, BradKnowles1 said:

I know it’s easier said than done but once we knew he was getting close to triggering a contract I would have dropped him completely. 
 

we cant be going into next season with him as our starting centre back. 

I wouldn't start him next season either. But he's an experienced pro who can at a push play anywhere across the back 4. He's an ideal back up/sub.

30 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

If we had not given Mellon such a long contract, I’m not sure he would be safe.

 

And if the rumours are true, he may well walk at the end of the season…

What rumours are these?

31 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

Conlon is an absolute basket case in my view. He does seem to clap sarcastically at the end of the game. He’s so one footed it’s untrue, thinks he’s the bollocks but he gets the run around from national league players and as a dead ball specialist, he’s been hooked off corners and free kicks within about 10 games. 
 

Should be a hair model or something. 

I think a midfield 3 with Conlon playing further forward, Hammond doing a lot of the running and a new addition to pick the ball up from defence could work really well next season.

Edit - granted I'm basing that purely on what he did for Port Vale, he hasn't shown much at all for us.

8 minutes ago, Guy Branston Pickle said:

The problem with mid-season recruitment as well is that unless you're spending the big bucks on someone like McCallum who would probably hit the ground running, you're either getting inexperienced players (Hammond, Sachdev) or players who haven't played much football and are lacking a bit of edge (Conlon and Dallas). Sometimes they work out (Stones) but the fact so many had to be brought in shows how poor the recruitment was last summer in hindsight.

I don’t know the answer to this question as I don’t follow other clubs carefully enough, but did we miss out on anyone mid-season? Were there players that moved clubs that we should have gone for? I’d be surprised if there were many. There’s a world of difference in availability between summer and mid-season as you point out. 

7 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

What throws it into really big doubt for me is the recruitment since Mellon arrived. Absolutely abysmal.

I don’t think you can say that in absolute terms for certain. He’s made 3 permanent signings I think - Garner looked decent initially and Conlon and Hammond could for different reasons be a lot better next season, after more games and a full summer. Loans haven’t gone well but options are more limited mid-season. 
 

If I remember rightly we were told that Brabin has a great eye for a player. So with a bigger pool to choose from and more room in the budget I would expect summer recruitment to be better. 

12 minutes ago, League one forever said:

I honestly don’t know you do it.

 

I feel as far away from success as I ever have at the minute. 

it takes a lot of effort!!

I’m trying to rationalise the situation we’re in. We have a manager with a proven track record and owners and a board who will give him full support and infrastructure. 
 

I don’t think a massive overhaul is needed with the playing squad, over a full summer we should fill the obvious gaps and add pace and quality. And I think we’ll find homes for most if not all the players we don’t want (including those under contract).

Whether it will all gel or not who knows. But I think we’ll feel optimistic going into the first game of next season. 

11 minutes ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

We've no idea right now how the recruitment is going to go this Sumner or how next season is going to pan out so making such a sweeping statement either for or against us going up next year is ludicrous.

 

As for the last 2 seasons it's only wasted time if the owners/board of directors have learned nothing. We are better geared towards challenging for promotion than we were in August 22.  

An important point made about the new board. Yes, they’re tons better then the Lemsagams and their senior club advisor, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make mistakes or learn how to do things better. 
 

Despite the end to this season being a real let down, I feel strangely optimistic about next season. 

I think if you asked all fans what formation we should play or who should definitely play in midfield/wide areas you’d get just about every possible combination offered. 
 

Which would suggest to me where our main problem lies. 

5 minutes ago, latics22 said:

Serious danger? It’s done, not a chance. Even 4 wins won’t be enough.

It probably will. It just won’t happen!

1 minute ago, Sloshed Joe said:

Why what did he say in this interview?

He made a joke about not knowing what his players will do. Jumped on by twitter folk taking it as gospel. 

20 minutes ago, League one forever said:

How utterly and predictably depressing. 
 

Think we all need a few months doing something else. 

100%. The fans need a break from watching these players. The players who are staying probably need a break from the fans. It’ll do everyone the world of good. Improve the squad over the summer and let’s all come back on a sunny August day full of optimism. 

2 minutes ago, Fervid said:

Darren Royle also needs to step up to the plate football wise. 

In what sense?

3 minutes ago, GKing521 said:

I don’t even know what the solution is. Just sick of this football club being shit.

Mellon won’t be sacked. The solution is to get the recruitment working better. So thats the summer’s main job for the coaches/scouts. 
 

Darren Royle’s main summer job should be to be petitioning like mad for it to change to 3 up 3 down. 

3 minutes ago, GKing521 said:

Lock the thread they said.

Crazy they said.

Writing was on the wall after how that Kidderminster game went down.

Watching that game and my main feeling is frustration at the amount of playbreakers we have in our team. When we do play reasonably well we can’t capitalise. When we’re under pressure we buckle. 
 

I have no issue giving Mellon the summer to recruit players to improve us in these areas. I’m 99.9% certain that’s what the board will do as well. 

God that McGahey chance. Just had to pass it into the half of the goal that was empty. Instead he just blasts it across goal into a crowd of players. 

Lacking any sort of creativity - under or overhit key passes, poor set pieces, crosses either too close to keeper or just behind strikers, decent passing moves breaking or slowing down when it goes to certain players. 
 

Add that to buckling under pressure and hoofing randomly like we saw against Fylde and that’s basically our squad deficiencies laid bare for all to see.