TRon

lets hope we stay up first Maybe Kev just looked at what players we had, and what the teams below us had about them, and decided we had good enough players to stay up quite easily. So he decided to do a clear out in summer, and buy players then when they aren't at an extra premium. Not very exciting, and very frustrating for us as we chug along to 14th or 15th, but sensible. Honestly the relegation hysteria compared to the results we have had is ridiculous. If he had good players available in jan but decided to wait for really good players in summer all power to him. If he had of signed a couple, climbed up to tenth and then stayed tenth next year he'd probably get the sack. If he comes 15th this year and comes 6th or 7th next year it'll be far better for all concerned. Dear God...that's just far too boring and sensible. What the hell are you thinking man? Let's work ourselves into a lather about hypothetical stuff we can't substantiate instead. Like Keegan possibly being denied funds. Or Ashley selling up to Tesco's perhaps. With Wise being appointed surely Keegan's days are numbered!! I hope we don't hear you moaning on about the clubs plight if we lose a few more games and are staring straight at the bottom places in time to come ........ As you are clearly happy with the decision to go with what we have. I am happy to leave these decisions to our Board and Manager yes. It obviously escapes you that we are talking about their judgement here [and maybe lack of football savvy in the case of the owners] As I said, I don't expect to see you complaining if we continue to slide down towards a relegation scrap, as you are happy with the decision. We are already in a relegation scrap of sorts, my only concern is that we get through this season as it was written off long ago. I am happy to back the judgement of Ashley, Mort and Keegan - if it goes tits up I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong. If we end up spending big next summer and we start heading in the right direction then I hope you'll do the same. I'm backing my gut instinct - what's yours?

lets hope we stay up first Maybe Kev just looked at what players we had, and what the teams below us had about them, and decided we had good enough players to stay up quite easily. So he decided to do a clear out in summer, and buy players then when they aren't at an extra premium. Not very exciting, and very frustrating for us as we chug along to 14th or 15th, but sensible. Honestly the relegation hysteria compared to the results we have had is ridiculous. If he had good players available in jan but decided to wait for really good players in summer all power to him. If he had of signed a couple, climbed up to tenth and then stayed tenth next year he'd probably get the sack. If he comes 15th this year and comes 6th or 7th next year it'll be far better for all concerned. Dear God...that's just far too boring and sensible. What the hell are you thinking man? Let's work ourselves into a lather about hypothetical stuff we can't substantiate instead. Like Keegan possibly being denied funds. Or Ashley selling up to Tesco's perhaps. With Wise being appointed surely Keegan's days are numbered!! I hope we don't hear you moaning on about the clubs plight if we lose a few more games and are staring straight at the bottom places in time to come ........ As you are clearly happy with the decision to go with what we have. I am happy to leave these decisions to our Board and Manager yes.

lets hope we stay up first Maybe Kev just looked at what players we had, and what the teams below us had about them, and decided we had good enough players to stay up quite easily. So he decided to do a clear out in summer, and buy players then when they aren't at an extra premium. Not very exciting, and very frustrating for us as we chug along to 14th or 15th, but sensible. Honestly the relegation hysteria compared to the results we have had is ridiculous. If he had good players available in jan but decided to wait for really good players in summer all power to him. If he had of signed a couple, climbed up to tenth and then stayed tenth next year he'd probably get the sack. If he comes 15th this year and comes 6th or 7th next year it'll be far better for all concerned. Dear God...that's just far too boring and sensible. What the hell are you thinking man? Let's work ourselves into a lather about hypothetical stuff we can't substantiate instead. Like Keegan possibly being denied funds. Or Ashley selling up to Tesco's perhaps. With Wise being appointed surely Keegan's days are numbered!!

Perhaps he would have bought MF targets in the Jan window...No one can really know. What became pretty obvious was that Allardyce simply did not have the confidence of Ashley/Mort. For a man who built his career on results football, the results started indifferently and were headed south at an alarming rate. He may have had targets but he didn't have the backing to buy them, and he can only blame himself for that. He tried to impose a tactical system with players it clearly didn't work with. Unless he was going to buy 11 new players it was irrelevant. A couple of midfielders would not have changed the fact our entire strikeforce was utterly unsuited to Allardyce's tactics. It would not have changed the fact that our midfielders were by ability, fitness and temperament all unsuitable to his defensive flooding tactics. All we can know is that Allardyce simply failed to come to grips with the players he had to use. So all we were left with was Bolton. The prospect, that given time, and money, he may well turn us into another Bolton, with perhaps slightly better results. No-one here wants to become Bolton. We certainely don't want to risk being relegated trying. So he got booted, and rightly so. At the time I thought 'may as well give him til summer' but in retrospect it was the right thing to do. Allardyce never showed he could adapt tactics, or change in any way to suit far higher expectations and far different playing staff. In short, we do know. We know he wasn't good enough. How would they know shit from shat? in fairness, they got that one right - Allardyce was crap. I'm only really arguing the timing anyway. What were the alternatives? When do you think was the best time to get rid? Summer or straight away as I've said earlier. But in all honesty these things are always problematic and hard to judge. Sacking Sam straight away would have been political dynamite and just the sort of rash decision you are now accusing the board of. In the summer would have meant another season wasted which Mort has already said, hence my remark that the timing was 'perfect' which you ridiculed at the time but when you think about it wasn't as stupid as you made out.

as good a reason as any to leave him out the starting line up

I think the fact he's taking the Ireland job tells it's own story - obviously not in demand at club level any more, at least not for the big jobs.

It's not his reputation, it's the fact he's a stupid cunt with no self control.

Exactly. I'm just glad Ashley timed the sacking of Big Sam so perfectly. Now Keegan will know exactly which players need replacing by the summer instead of finding out next season. Great work by our board. That's got to be the dumbest statement in this thread. No I think he got it just right for the reasons mentioned. You could always put an alternative view to enlighten me though. Try reading the thread. It was in light of the thread I put the view it was perfect timing.

Can de Oirish?

Exactly. I'm just glad Ashley timed the sacking of Big Sam so perfectly. Now Keegan will know exactly which players need replacing by the summer instead of finding out next season. Great work by our board. That's got to be the dumbest statement in this thread. No I think he got it just right for the reasons mentioned. You could always put an alternative view to enlighten me though.

Strange one, but a good catch for Ireland. Not sure what he'll do with such limited resources though.

Exactly. I'm just glad Ashley timed the sacking of Big Sam so perfectly. Now Keegan will know exactly which players need replacing by the summer instead of finding out next season. Great work by our board.

:clap: I fear that your voice of reason will be drowned out by the clamour for kneejerk reaction, but it doesn't stop your contribution being one of the most sensible I've seen here for quite a while. :clap: agreed.

Putting aside all his off-field problems, I was never really convinced he was that good when he came here but I was hoping other people knew better than me as I hadn't really seen much of him. To say he's been a disappointment is putting it mildly. His passing is wayward, his shooting has been poor but I've been shocked how slow he is. There is no way a top side would buy him on playing ability alone. The only reason this prick has got noticed is his mouth and his fists not his feet. A waste of time.

Jenas still has weaknesses to his game, just like he did when he was with us BUT what he brings to a team is exactly what we are now missing. Pace, good close control, great running and movement with and without the ball and a superb engine, not a clapped out motor which starts rattling and creaking when forced above it's limited capacity. Anyway, some good posts here although it's telling that everyone is struggling to come up with a convincing short term solution - a good indicator of how little quality we've got in midfield. We just need to get to the summer intact and hopefully KK will show his mettle in the transfer market to put it right.

I was watching yesterday's matches closely for precisely this reason. I wanted to see if other teams gave up the ball when being pressed and the answer is they don't. Chelsea and Man U in particular either passed the ball before anyone got near them (often one touch) or they shielded the ball until an option became available, which they quckly did as there was so much movement off the ball. Our players, in contrast, pass it then stand still, only too relieved to have got rid of the ball. A more sorry bunch of losers it would be hard to assemble.

and I'd just like to add: fuck Fat Fred and all his minions.

The timelines are crossed. The past and the future make the present. There is a song in the forest the same you remember as a child.....Dreams within dreams... ..there is another between consciousness and illusion...Darkness lies ahead. At the moment I'm still pleased they are on board. Stay clear of relegation and I'm certain there will be big investment in the summer. If that doesn't happen I'll hold my hands up but until then no knee-jerking from me. Behind Ashley 100%

Would agree with that, but he needs to make some hard choices pretty quickly regarding some of the players he's picking currently. Next season is fine but we need to pick a side which will keep us up in the short term.

He won't have any choice but to drop them if they keep waving the white flag.

A couple of interesting things from that game: firstly injuries meant that experienced pros who had been performing like leadweights (does this strike a chord?) were replaced by youthful, energetic midielders who were prepared to have a go. secondly, we went with a 5 man midfield according to that report, which is something suggested earlier. Might be worth considering. although Ameobi was one of the 'midfielders'.

Found it. It was Ambrose who scored.

Portsmouth have still made some canny signings so it's not like the top 4 can buy everyone

I can remember one match against Man U in recent seasons where due to injuries Darren Ambrose and Zog played as central midfielders and they more that held their own against the Mancs. It's not like any of the alternatives are exactly picking themselves. The best one would probably be Emre, but I don't think he has the mobility to get up and down the pitch, and in matches I've watched, he doesn't get into the final third enough.

Twice the player, 5 times the potential, even at £15m its low when you think about Downing for £10m. Downing is worth no more than £5m, even with him being English and at a rival club, true worth is more like £3m. £15m for the Zog then starts to make sense if we could get Downing for £3m. Under current market price Downing is worth about 5. Apply the "Young, English" multiplier, and he's a fair deal for 10. Would be stunned if Southgate let him go for anything less. Here's a simple rule of thumb. If ANYONE is under 24 and has five or more England caps, he'll not go for anything under 10 mil. That's the world we live in. Zog is worth about 7~8, but he's not English so that's about what we'll get Not saying that I agree with the inflation on English players, that's just the reality. So we'd be getting a worse player and effectively losing about £5m. I think I'll pass on that one.