League one forever

5 minutes ago, PeteG said:

Was just going to add these but I'd also say handing out expensive and lengthy contracts to all and sundry which is possibly the biggest and most damaging mistake of the lot.

I have some sympathy with that one, there are certain players that need enticing, and they just won’t come for a one year deal. The issue we have is that everybody seems to get two years or more. We need to be much, much more selective in who gets the longer deals. 

Oh.

Agreeing to a B team in division 5. 
 

Canning a B team. 
 

Saying the youth structure is vital to the club, and then overseeing the only player to come through underplayed and sold for peanuts. 

41 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

Other than Darren appointing Mellon and presumably Unsworth too, what footballing decisions have been made by Darren or Joe Royle under the Rothwells so far?

Recruiting ST.
 

Bringing stats bomb. 
 

Both of which have contributed to some awful decision making regarding recruitment. 
 

How many successful signings have we had since they joined? 
 

Norwood? (And I don’t think even he has hit the heights we were expecting) 

Im sure DR does a lot of great things for the club, however his footballing decision and/or oversight has been very poor. 

 

10 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said:

Went to the Halifax game last night. Seen nothing that makes me change my view that we can overtake them. Aldershot have two tricky away games coming up - I expect us to be in the playoffs positions by 10pm next Wednesday...

Ever the optimist Paddy.

For balance- I don’t think we’ll win  more than one of the four remaining games. 
 

Finish 10th on 64 points. 
 

1 hour ago, the_mighty_bosh said:

 

It is unquestionably a disappointment that we look very likely to miss out on the playoffs given where we were 5 or 6 weeks ago, no one should avoid responsibility for it.

 

But I can't see us being a significantly smaller team at this level next season and we almost certainly will have an advantage budget-wise over almost everyone who's in the league, even without parachute payments. 

 

For me the big review should be the strategy for how to use the advantage in the best way possible, which in my mind wouldn't just be focusing the budget on the first team and would be putting more of an emphasis on a conveyor belt from youth team to first team to potentially playing at the highest level.  That will make us a healthy club for years to come, regardless of what division we're in.

I completely agree Bosh, but I’ll be astonished if Mellon brings any youth players through. He wants old heads. 

9 hours 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. 

He a strange one- he has a way of receiving and passing the ball like it’s a photoshoot. A bit like a keeper making a camera save. It’s like he showing off his technique, when the actual pass is usually quite simple.

11 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

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.

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. 

14 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

might be moot anyway next season if rumors to shift him off the wage bill are to be believed.

Yeah, I can see him going to be fair. 

3 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

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.

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. 
 

1 minute ago, Lee Sinnott said:

He started the game against Bromley after the Southend one...

So bench against Southend, start at Bromley, bench against Aldershot? 

2 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

No, that’s not strictly true. He returned to the bench after injury vs Southend, came on and we scored two minutes later. He wasn’t "straight into the side”. He benched him again at Aldershot.

 

Whilst I think you have a point, in that the Fondop / Garner partnership needed exploring more. I think there’s a lot of trying to fit a narrative in here. Ultimately, I don’t think he rates Fondop at all and I’ll be amazed if he’s offered a deal in the summer.

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. 

7 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

10 without a win with Norwood, he has no favourites but the only partnership that's really clicked Garner/Fondop was binned off at the first opportunity. 

 

Piss poor management that.

 

I'm getting to the stage where I feel this group and the club have given up on this season.

I’m not saying Norwood is the reason we aren’t winning by the way , just as an example of poor management where his favourites play and it’s not good for morale if you play well and don’t keep the shirt. 

Managers live and die by their decisions. 

38 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

I get the lack of continuity hampers us, but  he has to change and rotate with how he expects the opposition to form up, the conditions and who performs better at home vs away. It's a difficult balance to get right when you have few pace options and a midfield that generally doesn't like to tackle.

I don’t think he ‘has to’ change or rotate- it’s a choice. 
 

A great example is Garner and Fondop - they come into the side because of injury and score goals together. As soon as Norwood is fit he’s straight back in. . they hadn’t done anything wrong to warrant dropping. It might also of given Nors a kick up the arsed to see he’s not a guaranteed starter. 

1 minute ago, mcfluff1985 said:

You stated it as fact. You can say anything has merit. Doesn't make it true though does it.

Never said it was true. . hence it’s a rumour. . one that looks like it has merit. 
 

Equally it’s not bollocks - because he hasn’t lost form he has become a completely different player. . 
 

And to go back to the original point, the pre Christmas Kitch is a top player who I would have no hesitation in keeping. The post Christmas Kitch (whatever has happened) can leave. 

2 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

With Fondop suspended, think it's clear his options were limited.

The regular switching of midfielders mainy speaks to me about how little he rates the crop he's inherited.

I don’t know mate, I don’t think he helps himself. 
 

I said on the other thread- in first few months you could pick the same 9/10 starters and results overall were good. He did much better with a smaller squad. . . 
 

Since Christmas (and the new signings) it’s been like a raffle. 
 

How can players get any rhythm if a lot of them are in and out, playing multiple positions, or playing unnatural positions??

In many ways, I wish we had saved the money in Jan and went with what we had, then had a big clear out.

17 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

The only surprise was Garner not even being on the bench unless he's ill or picked a knock up on Friday (possible).

Comms said he was Injured. 

1 minute ago, mcfluff1985 said:

If it gets you off trying to wind people up, then fair enough. Just makes u a sad cunt. I'll let you crack on

I wasn’t trying to wing you up at all, you do that all by yourself.
 

You said the rumour was bollocks, several people have explained why it blatantly has merit. You’ve then made up stuff up in your head and resorted to calling people you don’t know a C**t. 
 

Stay classy.

6 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

Rightly or wrongly, the Reid situation has impacted him, I have no doubt. 
 

If my close mate was axed and left out the squad, I’d be pretty disappointed and annoyed with the manager. Regardless if it was for the correct reasons. They travelled together and spent / spend a lot of time together, it defo has impacted Kitch. 
 

Considering he was the only one able to create chances for us for the first 6 months, it’s no surprise we are shite now. 

Yep. Everyone can see it - well, nearly everyone. 

3 minutes ago, mcfluff1985 said:

As expected. Nowt to offer. Chances of you making me angry are zero

Can’t let it go though. .

Just now, Lee Sinnott said:

It's been a very bad run of form for a sustained period of time. All since his mate was ostracised. It could just be a huge coincidence, but there was no sign of this dip in form before then when Kitching had been excellent pretty much every week...

Spot on. 

4 minutes ago, oafc1955 said:

Kitching like the rest, cannot beat a man to save his life. As soon as he gets a defender on him he turns around and passes backwards.

We have no one who can pick a forward pass or carry the ball with any intent!

We are far too slow and predictable and so easy to play against.

Since Christmas - I agree with you. 
 

Before Christmas - he was our most consistent player by a country mile, and did all those things. He passed inside to the midfield and carried his run on - or provided the overlap to the midfield. He regularly carried the ball to the 18 yard box or byline and always looked for the forward pass. 
 

7 minutes ago, mcfluff1985 said:

Not what I said. I said who do you expect him to overlap, himself. As you can't tell me who the wide left player is he should be overlapping with.

 

You also spouted he's spat his dummy out. I said maybe he's just out of form, like a lot of the others.

 

I imagine none of them are loving how we're dropping at the moment.

 

So don't chat shite

You’re getting angry again. .

18 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

We played a wide 2, but our bench consisted of Sheron, Lundy and Ward. Yet we kept Walker out the squad ? We also kept Hammond out the squad who could do a better job than the other 3 out wide. Very very strange decisions. Killed us from making and impact subs. 

In-out-shake them all about. It’s been scatter gun for a good while. There was a time you could pick the same 9/10 every week and results were much better. . . 

5 minutes ago, Bobledgersheart said:

Perhaps he's just knackered after chugging up and down the touchline all year. He certainly isn't the player he was earlier this season and seems to have lost a bit of motivation.

One thing I've noticed, and he's not the only one, is he constantly gives the 10 yard pass back to Hogan onto his wrong foot, thus slowing the game down.

It's basics, really lazy and just slows our already ponderous attacks.

 

I wouldn’t worry Bob, Fluffy think players overlap themselves and he’s just been ‘playing bad’ for three months. I’m sure he’s loving his football deep down.