BPAS PODCAST: 4th Sept '23, S4E7: Coming To A Heed?

[League one forever]

26 minutes ago, BPAS said:

We’re actively inviting people on with an opposing view so we can try to offer balance & have sensible debate…..  it’d be a quick listen if we all just agreed and said sack him.

 

We all agree he’s got much to prove, we’re merely saying it’s not all over yet & it could turn - however implausible some feel about that now.

I’ve really enjoyed the last few weeks with the counter view, it really elevates the listen to have a good ol’ debate. It’s also a timely reminder that when people are face to face and listen to each other, we’re often a lot closer in our ‘differing views’ than social media would have you believe. 

[doctor evil]

2 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Aren't the French just highly strung as a default? They don't take kindly to being played by a football club nor a government. Us meanwhile, are just happy to be shat on. Hearty booing is what we're told to do by the class system.

 

Anyway, not listened to the pod but I don't boo until really fucking angry. Like when that shortarse pipsqueak Johnson came back with Barnsley just a few weeks after leaving us. I made sure I got an extra close position in the main stand paddock for that one. At the moment, I'm about Jeff Lebowski in terms of rage. I'll be more like Walter Shobchak if we're still near the bottom four come October.

Currently available isn't he.....

[OAFC Blues]

Enjoyed the pod as always, lots of good points from both sides.

 

I've never been Unsworth out. I came close after the battering from Notts County but decided I'd give him the chance to redeem himself in the return fixture. He did, then he seemed to figure out how to get results in the league and the second half was much better and gave me a lot of optimism. I was happily telling people at work that we are going to have a great season and maybe even win the league. Now I have United fans mockingly asking me if we have won the league yet and Rochdale supporters gleefully comparing our respective league positions. It's not fun.

 

I'm still backing DU but I'm rapidly losing patience. I'm not sure I buy into the infrastructure talk either, I'm not sure what it has to do with his job as manager. He had a budget, built a squad, now trains that squad on the best training surfaces we've had in years. It's not like he's missing time with the players because he's painting steps and filling potholes. 

 

I think that if I'm honest with myself, the reason I'm still DU in is because I want to back Frank to the hilt. He's the best thing that's happened to this club in years and I'm willing to bear some shit football and live in hope that DU will come good for his sake. Am I willing to lose a whole season to it? Hopefully I won't have to find out. 

[GlossopLatic]

2 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Aren't the French just highly strung as a default? They don't take kindly to being played by a football club nor a government. Us meanwhile, are just happy to be shat on. Hearty booing is what we're told to do by the class system.

 

Anyway, not listened to the pod but I don't boo until really fucking angry. Like when that shortarse pipsqueak Johnson came back with Barnsley just a few weeks after leaving us. I made sure I got an extra close position in the main stand paddock for that one. At the moment, I'm about Jeff Lebowski in terms of rage. I'll be more like Walter Shobchak if we're still near the bottom four come October.

 

Well they did have a revolution so you could say its more in their national DNA to get out there and kick up a fuss about authority (Some would say they should have done that more in 1940 but I digress). Having lived there for a year the difference is where we have rules of the road the French just make up there own, and will think nothing of jumping red lights whilst in their cars even in busy cities.

 

Tbh when the dissent was coming down from the stands at the end of the Solihull game I felt pretty relaxed I'm usually either angry and want to join in such as with the Abdallah chants or just feel slightly depressed at the whole situation or even a slight loathing of my fellow fans. I didn't really feel either on that one. I was to borrow the pods phrase zen like calm. If we zoom out and see the bigger picture I know full well this bad run will come to an end with or without Mr Unsworth at the helm.

Edited September 4, 2023 by GlossopLatic

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

16 minutes ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Well they did have a revolution so you could say its more in their national DNA to get out there and kick up a fuss about authority (Some would say they should have done that more in 1940 but I digress).

 

Without wishing to derail this thread, you can look to a confused political state, an antiquated communications system in the field of battle and a total underestimation of their opposition's tactics as the main reasons for their capitulation in 1940. Not their passion and will.

 

It's not too dissimilar to our relegation season in 2021/22 in all fairness.

[Monty Burns]

11 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Aren't the French just highly strung as a default? They don't take kindly to being played by a football club nor a government. Us meanwhile, are just happy to be shat on. Hearty booing is what we're told to do by the class system.

 

Anyway, not listened to the pod but I don't boo until really fucking angry. Like when that shortarse pipsqueak Johnson came back with Barnsley just a few weeks after leaving us. I made sure I got an extra close position in the main stand paddock for that one. At the moment, I'm about Jeff Lebowski in terms of rage. I'll be more like Walter Shobchak if we're still near the bottom four come October.

but corney sold him for £50k. you misplaced all that anger. what a waste.

[TheBigDog]

9 hours ago, OAFC Blues said:

I'm still backing DU but I'm rapidly losing patience. I'm not sure I buy into the infrastructure talk either, I'm not sure what it has to do with his job as manager. He had a budget, built a squad, now trains that squad on the best training surfaces we've had in years.

This is where I am at the moment.

 

The podcast lads believe that the management team should be given more time and continue to argue that we have come a long way in the past year - which is fair comment. But even their pleas for patience are beginning to sound somewhat laboured and hollow.

 

The bottom line is that Unsworth has been strongly backed by the board but is failing in his principal job which is to coach a winning team.

 

Matt and Dave advocate patience but for how long? I am prepared to wait but I do think that Unsworth, whatever Frank says, has to start delivering soon.

 

Patience has its limits, take it too far and the opportunity is lost.

[Monty Burns]

9 hours ago, OAFC Blues said:

Enjoyed the pod as always, lots of good points from both sides.

 

I've never been Unsworth out. I came close after the battering from Notts County but decided I'd give him the chance to redeem himself in the return fixture. He did, then he seemed to figure out how to get results in the league and the second half was much better and gave me a lot of optimism. I was happily telling people at work that we are going to have a great season and maybe even win the league. Now I have United fans mockingly asking me if we have won the league yet and Rochdale supporters gleefully comparing our respective league positions. It's not fun.

 

I'm still backing DU but I'm rapidly losing patience. I'm not sure I buy into the infrastructure talk either, I'm not sure what it has to do with his job as manager. He had a budget, built a squad, now trains that squad on the best training surfaces we've had in years. It's not like he's missing time with the players because he's painting steps and filling potholes. 

 

I think that if I'm honest with myself, the reason I'm still DU in is because I want to back Frank to the hilt. He's the best thing that's happened to this club in years and I'm willing to bear some shit football and live in hope that DU will come good for his sake. Am I willing to lose a whole season to it? Hopefully I won't have to find out. 

this is also me 100%

the notts away game was a big moment for a lot of us and seemed to be a 'final straw' for the l'll make the mind up and then be a bellend until it manifests itself ladz

[Monty Burns]

3 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

This is where I am at the moment.

 

The podcast lads believe that the management team should be given more time and continue to argue that we have come a long way in the past year - which is fair comment. But even their pleas for patience are beginning to sound somewhat laboured and hollow.

 

The bottom line is that Unsworth has been strongly backed by the board but is failing in his principal job which is to coach a winning team.

 

Matt and Dave advocate patience but for how long? I am prepared to wait but I do think that Unsworth, whatever Frank says, has to start delivering soon.

 

Patience has its limits, take it too far and the opportunity is lost.

for as long as Frank says, out of respect and gratitude.

[Ritchierich]

I have said before that I simply don’t believe Unsworth has the ability or aptitude for this role, nothing personal or acrimonious about it but he is just not the right person.

 

That said, I have decided to be Zen about it and given he is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future I have written this season off as I don’t believe we will challenge for promotion and possibly not even the playoffs, I will still go to all the Southern games (plenty of them in the NL!) and support the team on the pitch as I have through thick and mostly thin for the last 50 years!

 

I sincerely hope DU proves me completely wrong

[Londonboy]

15 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

Matts made a point about the club being in the rebuilding process and is still correcting legacy issues. While that is probably true to a large extent the club is now very much geared to and in a position to challenge for promotion this season so I don't think we can blame previous regimes for that. If we don't mount a promotion push this season then something will have gone seriously wrong.

 

Macca made a good point really about the fact that we haven't seen anything on the pitch in terms of performances to suggest we are promotion challenging team yet. We need something to hang our hats on to suggest that this team will start to improve. We probably all know on paper we have a good squad but we want to see evidence we can hang our hats on to suggest that this is a promotion challenging team.

 

The narrative is always driven mostly by results. 

 

Finally I don't think we are as divided as some people like to think. The majority of those who are in the "out" camp will happily soften their stance if we go on a run of wins. I'd imagine alot of people who are on the "in" side like myself currently have very healthy doubts about the direction the team management are taking us at the moment I think another defeat could and probably should seal his fate. I also believe the majority of us are sick to death of changing manager and want some consistency. You will always get the vociferous extremities on any arguements particularly on social media, but sometimes you've got to look at what people agree on too and not lose sight of what we have in common.

Some very valid and measured points here.

It's pretty much were I am appart from being on the Unsworth out side of the camp, however as Glossop says string 3/4 wins together and see a group of players playing as a Team with belief and a more positive approach, and I'll happily let him carry on, until we get to a position where promotion looks impossible.

I truly hope he succeeds, I think there is little chance though, and even if we do I expect it will be because we do actually have a group of players which should be on paper top 4 in this league and not because Unsworth is a tactical genius.

[Monty Burns]

l really love this board yano

not sure where both myself and the club would be without it if l'm honest.

[Bobledgersheart]

11 hours ago, OAFC Blues said:

Enjoyed the pod as always, lots of good points from both sides.

 

I've never been Unsworth out. I came close after the battering from Notts County but decided I'd give him the chance to redeem himself in the return fixture. He did, then he seemed to figure out how to get results in the league and the second half was much better and gave me a lot of optimism. I was happily telling people at work that we are going to have a great season and maybe even win the league. Now I have United fans mockingly asking me if we have won the league yet and Rochdale supporters gleefully comparing our respective league positions. It's not fun.

 

I'm still backing DU but I'm rapidly losing patience. I'm not sure I buy into the infrastructure talk either, I'm not sure what it has to do with his job as manager. He had a budget, built a squad, now trains that squad on the best training surfaces we've had in years. It's not like he's missing time with the players because he's painting steps and filling potholes. 

 

I think that if I'm honest with myself, the reason I'm still DU in is because I want to back Frank to the hilt. He's the best thing that's happened to this club in years and I'm willing to bear some shit football and live in hope that DU will come good for his sake. Am I willing to lose a whole season to it? Hopefully I won't have to find out. 

Pretty much where I am but find any Man U fans attempting to give you stick laughable witnessing the state of their club !!!  

[Monty Burns]

12 hours ago, Littlemoor Lad said:

We also can't just sleepwalk into being left so far behind in the table

by waiting up to 15 game's to see where we are,

That's what's bothering me.

why not?

[Littlemoor Lad]

9 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

why not?

We're already 10 point's adrift and that could be as much as 25 to 30 by the time we start winning 

[Monty Burns]

18 minutes ago, Littlemoor Lad said:

We're already 10 point's adrift and that could be as much as 25 to 30 by the time we start winning 

and the world explodes if we dont win the league? too many OutnProudz got this binary disease, don't catch it!

if he cant make the play offs in div5 with this squad then he's gone. the club wil not fold, it is not boom or bust those days are gone.

its not binary.

[ottantuno]

34 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

why not?

What do you mean "why not". I'm staggered by the acceptance of some fans of the dross that's been served up so far this season. It's not like we've just been promoted to League One and we're trying to find our feet again against superior opposition. This is the conference, playing teams that many fans wouldn't have believed a few years back.

 

As a fan base we've been bereft of any success for nearly three decades and now we find ourselves scratching around the mid/lower level of non league! For me, with the resources we seem to now have since the takeover, I think it's we should be dominating this division and I simply don't understand the attitude of 'give it XX amount of games, it might come good'.

 

I think we've been patient enough waiting for our time to have some success and to see us still stumbling along at this level saddens me greatly.

[Monty Burns]

22 minutes ago, ottantuno said:

What do you mean "why not". I'm staggered by the acceptance of some fans of the dross that's been served up so far this season. It's not like we've just been promoted to League One and we're trying to find our feet again against superior opposition. This is the conference, playing teams that many fans wouldn't have believed a few years back.

 

As a fan base we've been bereft of any success for nearly three decades and now we find ourselves scratching around the mid/lower level of non league! For me, with the resources we seem to now have since the takeover, I think it's we should be dominating this division and I simply don't understand the attitude of 'give it XX amount of games, it might come good'.

 

I think we've been patient enough waiting for our time to have some success and to see us still stumbling along at this level saddens me greatly.

covered it all above, scroll up.

[deyres42]

31 minutes ago, ottantuno said:

What do you mean "why not". I'm staggered by the acceptance of some fans of the dross that's been served up so far this season. It's not like we've just been promoted to League One and we're trying to find our feet again against superior opposition. This is the conference, playing teams that many fans wouldn't have believed a few years back.

 

As a fan base we've been bereft of any success for nearly three decades and now we find ourselves scratching around the mid/lower level of non league! For me, with the resources we seem to now have since the takeover, I think it's we should be dominating this division and I simply don't understand the attitude of 'give it XX amount of games, it might come good'.

 

I think we've been patient enough waiting for our time to have some success and to see us still stumbling along at this level saddens me greatly.

People haven't been patient at all, they are expecting it to happen straight away.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

38 minutes ago, ottantuno said:

I'm staggered by the acceptance of some fans of the dross that's been served up so far this season.

 

From my perspective it's not acceptance. It's faith in an ownership who deserve time to see how their decision unfolds. Last season was a total write off with the majority of a poor squad to move on.

 

This season we had a lot of incomings which require time to bed-in. I accept the performances aren't there, and nor are results but I'm willing to wait until late autumn to see if these can be improved. If not, and it turns out they backed the wrong horse then fine. Mistakes happen, but I'm satisfied they employed DU for the good of the club rather than 'helping a mate out'.

 

Of course, if it is wrong, we could see crowds dip. But crowds will be restored once we're in the thick of a promotion battle. We had over a decade of treading water to leave us with only a hardcore. They'll always return when results and performances are consistently decent.

[ottantuno]

1 hour ago, deyres42 said:

People haven't been patient at all, they are expecting it to happen straight away.

I think it's more than reasonable to expect more than what has been served up so far by this management team.

[Littlemoor Lad]

1 hour ago, deyres42 said:

People haven't been patient at all, they are expecting it to happen straight away.

I bet you've got a beard as long as Santa's 

[Monty Burns]

saying you have been patient doesnt make it true!!!!

 

 

[Monty Burns]

2 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

From my perspective it's not acceptance. It's faith in an ownership who deserve time to see how their decision unfolds. Last season was a total write off with the majority of a poor squad to move on.

 

This season we had a lot of incomings which require time to bed-in. I accept the performances aren't there, and nor are results but I'm willing to wait until late autumn to see if these can be improved. If not, and it turns out they backed the wrong horse then fine. Mistakes happen, but I'm satisfied they employed DU for the good of the club rather than 'helping a mate out'.

 

Of course, if it is wrong, we could see crowds dip. But crowds will be restored once we're in the thick of a promotion battle. We had over a decade of treading water to leave us with only a hardcore. They'll always return when results and performances are consistently decent.

was bad days them when even the hardcore got planed down to 2000

[Sparkleking]

19 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Gardner Hope and Mgahey are the players here from the previous regime. I imagine we had to pay out for the likes of Leutweiller and Rooney. Also while we are ahead of other club's at our level interms of infrastructure. We are way behind other club's for things such as training facilities and the overall state of Boundary Park.

 

Yes booing definitely makes a difference. You can argue its important to shut the noise out and yes they just concentrate on their game and they should but they are only human and they will hear things.

 

As supporter for the last 30 years I do things that try and make me not fallout of love with the club. Going to every single away game is one of them. If I get to a stage where I'm regularly hurling abuse at the players and or the manager of the team that I support if it gets to that stage I'm just going to stop going because it's not worth me spending time and money on stuff that's going to make me angry it achieves nothing.

Plus Norman, Couto, Sutton, Sheron, Tollit & Fondop