chicago_shearer

I do miss the back flips. 

There have been a few American sports teams that tried a tricky renaming that brought on a corporate sponsor but retained the original ground name.  Like 'Northern Rock Stadium at St James Park'.  Just as bad of course, but something they might try.

Nice effort at brown nosing the new boss there.  When is Nicky Butt going to fuck off?

If he 'sold' the naming rights or shirt sponsorship to Sports Direct, he would essentially be paying for it himself.  He will sell sponsorship to the highest bidder and that isn't going to be him, is it?

I'm not going to worry about whether Hughton is good enough for the Premiership until we actually get there.  It is still a long, long way away at the moment. 

If we do go up and Ashley is still in charge, or decides to put us 'on the market' again (so he doesn't have to spend money on transfers) then I'll be worried.  Until then, I'll be happy enough if we can just get out of this league.

There have been a few American sports teams that tried a tricky renaming that brought on a corporate sponsor but retained the original ground name.  Like 'Northern Rock Stadium at St James Park'.  Just as bad of course, but something they might try.

Why would he sell naming rights to his own company?  Calling it the 'Sports Direct' stadium would defeat the purpose.

I don't like Hughton as a manager because I think he picks on reputation and not on form, I like him as a person and hope that he can develop as a manager.  I think the senior players probably have too much say when it comes to picking the team and because of it we're unbalanced as a team and suffer because of it.

 

Nolan has said that Hughton tells the players to keep the ball on the ground, if that is the case why does he allow them to keep humping it?  If he doesn't want that then why does he not drop the players who are guilty of that?  Why does he not set out a balanced team which would create more space to allow the humpers to find a player in space?

 

We have players who are playing the long ball and we have players who try to bring the ball out of defence, Kadar tried to play the ball but more often than not had nobody to aim at.

 

Hughton isn't the best when it comes to making changes but he got it right yesterday, he still got it wrong with his team selection and our first half was too predictable for so many, it wasn't for him.  This to me is another sign of senior players having too much say and is a sign of somebody who has worked closely with the players and is now struggling to distance himself from them and if he's going to be a manager then he's got to show the players that he's boss.

 

He comes across as a nice bloke and that seems to be his biggest failing, he's got to grow balls and manage the players if he's going to do well.  It’s up to him to make the jump from being a coach, I’m not sure that he’s got what it takes, we’ll know better in a week or two as he has some big decisions to make and I don’t think he’s capable of making them.  If he reacts to outside pressure then the players will sense that and he’ll lose the dressing room, he can’t let players get the better of him and he needs to do something while he’s in a position of strength.

 

Hughton needs to motivate the players and I can see him failing if he lets things go on as they currently are.  Players are like everybody else and are usually motivated by one of two things.  Usually motivation comes from wanting to do well because you want to be a success and gain the rewards, or, you’re worried about failing because failure brings s***.

 

The kids will be motivated by the possibility of playing 1st team football but they’ll lose that if players keep coming into the team on reputation alone.  The local lads will want to get us back into the Premiership and will be motivated by pride.  Players like Alan Smith and Kevin Nolan are probably embarrassed to play in the Championship and will be motivated by wanting to get out of the league.  Motivation will suffer if players think that others are not pulling their weight as they’ll think that they have to carry the dross.  Nothing de-motivates more than people thinking that others are getting special treatment and I can see how some of our players could feel that way.

 

In short, Hughton needs to balance the starting 11 and play the players who are performing, if he does that then we could walk this division and he could become a manager.

 

Good post.  But I would add that in his short time in charge this season Hughton has show some evidence of being able to keep senior players out of the side.  I think he might just be the first manager since Souness to drop Nicky Butt, which is a major accomplishment. 

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Send Harewood back to Villa.

Fucking shit.

Need to really up the tempo by the sound of things.  Or we could just wait til the last 10 minutes to show some urgency.  That might work too.

Driving back tonight I couldn't think of one reason why he could possibly think putting Geremi in the centre of midfield would be a good idea.

 

He's a clueless c*** who doesn't even have a plan A, never mind a plan B.

 

Because there is no one else?

 

Eh?  There's the central midfielder he stuck out of position on the right hand side for a start.

Guthrie hasn't exactly been setting the league on fire this season has he?  And who is next on the list?  We don't have a lot of talent in midfield to begin with.  I've no doubt we'll keep blaming team selection, but that overlooks the fact that the squad has no wingers except the under-performing Jonas, no pace at all, and pensioners like Butt & Geremi were retained and not replaced. 

Driving back tonight I couldn't think of one reason why he could possibly think putting Geremi in the centre of midfield would be a good idea.

 

He's a clueless c*** who doesn't even have a plan A, never mind a plan B.

Because there is no one else?

Crucial that we score first and score early.  We seem to start brightly in most games, but haven't made it count.  Make sure it is Doncaster that are feeling the pressure (as they should be) and we will win this comfortably. 

I can already predict the post match interview with Hughton.

 

"You can't fault the team for effort" and "We've got a game on Saturday where we can put things right"

Didn't he basically say we were shit on Saturday against Forest?  I can't imagine he will be too complimentary this time around.

Goalkeepers, fine.  A.

Adequate in defence, but woefully short in numbers.  B.

Poor up front, but adequate for this level.  The idea & myth of Carroll & Ranger seems to be a lot more productive than the actual football players, but with Harewood, Lovenkrands (in the correct position) and a fit Ameobi it should be good enough as a unit.  B-, C+

Shockingly, horrendously, and laughably terrible in midfield.  Geremi and Butt wouldn't make it in most of the teams in this league.  Smith is still shit.  Jonas has checked out.  No talent at all.  F.

Not sure whether anyone has mentioned this conspiricy theory yet or not, having not read the full thread!

 

Maybe Ashley / Llambias are using Hughton as a patsy in their attempt to hurry Moat along with his finances, a few days ago they declared that Moat had deposited £40m into Ashley's account already and Ashley wanted the balance of £40m more to complete the deal, Moat was supposed to be talking to his backers to get the money.  Then all of a sudden they are engaging with Hughton with a view to make him full time official manager.......  it doesn't stack up.  I don't doubt for a second that they have spoken to Hughton and offered him a contract, whether they would intend to actually follow it through is another matter entirely!!

 

I can't help but, think that everything that we hear that is supposed to come from Ashley or Llambias is just a disgusting lie or at the very least a spin of truth. 

 

 

Aye I thought this, good to know I'm not the only cynic. I just don't believe a word they utter. I think everything is done for a reason for them and their ends.

 

On the other hand giving Hughton the job would be typical, he's cheap, he won't argue and he'll say all the right things when Enrique, Taylor and Jonas are sold in January with another Harewood or Raylor coming in (or even worse) for three months.

Even on a temporary contract, Hughton complained about the squad size.  Calling him a 'yes' man is slightly unfair at this point.  No one in his position is going to start mouthing off about the chairman.  If you were a temp, on a month-to-month deal, are you going to start complaining loudly about your fat, incompetent boss?  Or are you going to wait until you have a permanent contract and more security before you disagree with bad decisions?

And let's say you're right, and Ashley and Llambas sell Enrique, Jonas, Barton and anyone else of any value.  What should he do at that point?  What is in the best interest of the club?  Tell Ashley he's a cunt and resign?  Leave the club at the mercy of Ashley, Kinnear, or whatever bad idea he appoints in the interim?

I'm also assuming this is a one year deal btw, and that we aren't tying him down to 3 years or something ridiculous.

I don't think the appoint of Jones, Curbishley or anyone else from the 'b' list of football managers is going to make us play any better.  I don't think either of those two, or anyone on the realistic shortlist would make any sort of impact in the Premiership.  And we know that nobody - including Hughton - is going to be given any control in the transfer market. 

So you either string on Hughton until we have a takeover, sack him and appointed an experienced 'b' lister who will work under Ashley.

The argument that we should retain him on a temporary basis so we can sack him easily in the unlikely even that we get taken over soon is just stupid.  Call me old fashioned, but he should at least be given the opportunity to fail before we sack him as a failure.

What is the realistic alternative, since Ashley isn't going?  Names please.

Given the absence of a reasonable alternative and Ashley staying put, it makes sense.  Decent results, so no surprise is it? I don't understand all the face palming, unless some people are really excited about the possibility of Kinnear, Dave Jones, Curbishley or the other alternatives.  I don't see much improvement there personally.  Nothing to get so wound up about.

After 660 pages of nothing, some people might want to consider the possibility that nobody with any serious interest or money wants to buy us.  This isn't a case of Ashley fending off interest from wealthy Arabs hoping to appoint Mourinho.  And even if Moat & his American friends did take over, it is very unlikely they would sack Hughton and re-appoint Keegan, which seems like the only thing that will make some people happy.

How many of the managers in this division would you swap Hughton for? 

Adkins · Blackwell · Clough · Coleman · Davies · Di Matteo · Ferguson · Holloway · Irvine · Johnson · Jones · Keane · Laws · Mackay · Magilton · O'Driscoll · Pearson · Robins · Rodgers · Sousa · Southgate · Sturrock · Warnock

If I had to put money on it, I would say playoffs is realistic.  You don't need a super computer to tell you that Newcastle are unlikely to go up the easy way.

¿Quién es Simon Bell?  Even looks like Joe Kinnear these days.