the_mighty_bosh

I know this thread is about Stam, but to the people who say Wolfy's had enough time to prove himself coz he's been here 4 years, what are you talking about?? The only reason he made his debut back in 03/04 was because we had absolutely no-one else due to the state we were in! He was only 16 ffs! 04/05 and 05/06 he barely made any of the squads because in 04/05 we had more senior players ahead of him and in 05/06 you'd be kidding yourselves if you would expect someone of his build to be getting in a Ronnie Moore team! He's only had a realistic chance of making the 1st team in the last two seasons, last year he barely got a look in because of Porter and this year (slightly unfairly imo) because of Davies being 1st choice. I'm not saying he's good enough to be in the 1st XI and the fact that Alessandra and Smalley have overtaken him by offering more overall to the team doesn't help his case. But he's only had about a season and a half to prove himself and I think if he had more of a chance to play with Hughes we would have seen the best of him. Back on topic, if we can keep Stam on reasonable back up wage for next season we should, but Gregan and Hazell should be our first choice pairing.

I really don't understand why Shez has made Eardley captain. He really doesn't need it as he is still learning his game, maybe in a couple of years when his game is more assured then he could take it on but at the moment Allott seems the right candidate, experienced, plays in a authoritative position, he sets a good example with his style of play and now, opposite to my previous worry, he is assured a place in the starting XI. Eardley is one of our developing prospects, captaincy at this stage for him will stunt his development.

I never said that it was solely Shez's fault. IMO every one on the playing, managing and coaching staff should take a small portion of the blame for every defeat.

After reaction to recent setbacks, I expect certain people to call for Shez's head.

...why do you tease us? A win tonight would've given us more than a glimmer of hope of reaching the playoffs even after a league campaign of mediocrity, expectations were high before the match and it all comes crashing down after what sounded like a desperate performance. God I love and hate Latics so much! I beg that we don't have yet another pointless 'happy-clappers' Vs 'doom and gloomers' argument again for the next couple of days please, it's really boring. Worst thing about tonight is that unless we play amazingly on Saturday the crowd is going to get even lower for Bournemouth next Tuesday. I believe that this time between now and the start of next season is the time to get behind the young guys and give them a chance to show what they can do under less pressure, then hopefully the atmosphere around the place will be positive for next season if they prove themselves, my guess is they will.

Every game is a must win game because if we don't win, I feel sad.

Time to be selfish. No, absolutely not, never again! I'm fairly certain OASIS would feel the same! EDIT: As for the main question, strippers replacing cheerleaders. Next?

I agree, good points. What I was trying to say was that I wasn't sure whether the way we seem to have distributed the budget has been right or wrong. I also believe that the majority of players we've brought in are good enough but with the lack of depth and the fact that we'd filled our budget at the start of the year shows that we've spend more of the budget on better players than we could've if we had got more squad players. The players we have brought in may be on the same money as the four you mentioned that have left but they are still taking up the budget we have. Theoretically we could have spent the money that we did for Hughes, Allott, Kalala and Davies on 7 players of less quality, solves the depth problem but we lack the quality that we could have got from Hughes, Allott, Kalala and Davies. Which way is better? I honestly don't know. But we could get the best of both worlds if we add to the better quality we have now in the summer window coming up! This is when Shez has the chance to earn his corn.

I would agree with most of that especially putting Taylor on the right, except I would keep Kalala in the squad, even though he's a limited player he breaks up play well against oppo who play their way through the centre. Good backup for Allott. If we get an attacking left winger and Jarrett proves himself worthy I think that a creative central midfielder is a luxury that we don't need. Attacking down the flanks and being solid in the middle will be good enough at this level. I really hope we keep hold of Livermore, from what I've seen of him he looks a decent enough player but more importantly how many experienced left footed players are we going to find who can play centre back, left back, centre mid and left mid? Not many so keeping him in the squad would be essential for next year. Wolfy doesn't seem like he's going to get his chance with too many ahead of him so unfortunately, get rid.

Why is this such a god awful league? The squad and the stadium plans are the base to build upon because, like it or not, progression is slow process (painfully so at times) for a club with our financial situation which is trying to get stability at a higher level. Continuous squad turnover year on year hasn't worked. Keeping faith in the current managing and playing staff is the best way to go at present. You know what, it might fail. But it is a risk I am willing to accept because constant change has repeatedly failed.

Although we are making big strides to grow in stature as a club the reality is that we are not one of bigger clubs in this league until the new stadium is built and we can get extra sources of revenue. We are around about the middle so mid table, while not great, is not sending us backwards in the way we are developing. One thing that does disappoint me with Shez is that he didn't give the squad enough depth in the summer. Last year we had some luck with injuries tbh so our backup wasn't exposed a lot. This season we have lost Gregan, Liddell, Hughes and Pogs to injury for a large part of the season all of whom are important experienced players in our squad and we haven't got any replacements to fill in, thus we rely on youth. Even though the youth have done well we shouldn't be relying on them as much as we have done if we want to challenge higher. An argument to this is that we've sacrificed depth to bring in higher quality starters and without these starters we would be lower than we are now with less hope of improvement. But if we are gonna push for the promotion spots next time around (which we have a good opportunity to do) we need to add to what we've got now instead of chopping and changing radically, that is how we are going to get the depth.

Anyone still not convinced that we are heading towards mid-table? Not a travesty IMO but a tad disappointing, however the youngsters seem to be very promising with Alessandra being the pick of the bunch!

Chaddy says it true, so I'm convinced!

Out of interest, what type of cancer does Ernie have?

I'm stunned by this news. Ernie was my favourite player during the survival season, didn't possess a huge amount of ability but he battled for everything all over the pitch! The two things of his which stick out in my mind are at Bristol City with his goal and performance that day and at Plymouth when Calvin Zola and the big Plymouth defender were battling to win the ball and Ernie lept out of nowhere and beat both of them despite being nigh on a foot shorter than both! His heading ability for someone so short was mind boggling! I don't know him personally but one of my former school teachers used to teach him up in London and said that although he was never the brightest he would give everything for everything that he would do. Best of luck Ernie, as said above, our thoughts are with you! Keep The Faith

All the best Les! When confident, he was up there with the best 'keepers in the football league! Lots of great memories from the playoff seasons and survival season and of course the Man City cup game! Does anyone know where the highlights of the Bradford game are? I never saw the saves he made in that game. My guess is that, when fit again, he'll play in the A league and I hope he'll recover to play a few more seasons!

Couldn't have put it much better myself!

He's on £861.53 a week with an appearance bonus of two pukka pies a game. Of course I don't know exactly how much he's on, but he has come through the youth set up so he's certainly not going to be on the same wage as the older 1st team players that we have bought from other clubs. I'd doubt that he's on a grand a week or more. You say that you'd prefer to judge him on ability rather than wage? OK, I know, we should sign Ronaldo! He's got far more ability than Chrissy T so...oh wait, he's on about 100 times more a week than Taylor, darn it. Ability comes first over money but money is a big factor and needs to be taken into account. If there is a better left winger on approx. the same wage as Taylor or someone we can afford then I would be willing to give them a chance. Finally, you say you'd replace Taylor with anyone? If you want a reasoned debate then that's the type of thing to be more specific about. If you want to be stubborn about your point of view then why reply to any other post?

And replace him with? For the wages Taylor's on there's not too many better wingers out there.

I'm very happy having Norm between the sticks for this season. But I feel that we will need a new No 1 next season.

Plymouth - just coz they're the other city down here! Leeds - arrogant fans. Obviously didn't see the Scunny game last year, but I see Adkins as a bit of a role model for me being a physio turned manager!

BBC says that Crossley is a major doubt. With him I could see us winning 2-0 but uncertain about how good Bell is. It would be interesting to see whether Crossley makes a difference to the defence or not.

What's everyone else doing on Tuesday at Brizzle and how many are planning on going?

Great passing move, Davies finishes it off! 2-1!

1-1! Taylor!