The Prophet

Aye, very constructive.

After re-reading my post I've just realised I missed a pretty important aspect of it out. I was assuming the fans who boycott the Hull game will continue to boycott matches throughout the season.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Micheal_Laudrup.jpg/300px-Micheal_Laudrup.jpg This bloke fits the bill perfectly for me.

I think even the players aren't stupid enough to know this protest is not aimed at them. Obviously, but I'm unsure how you've infered that from my post. The fact is a stadium full of empty seats is going to offer little encouragement to a team that is potentially low on confidence. Would you really want to play your heart out with no fucker in the stand? At home the crowd can mean everything, we've seen that in the past.

You know people keep talking about writing this season off, but to me the only people who will write it off for us is the fans. If we go to Hull and really give them our full support, it might just give them the lift they need to carry them over the finishing line. Seven points from four games and we're laughing. Confidence would be high and this in turn would give the new manger a much easier transition. How many times have you heard a player like Martins talk about their bond with the fans? That isn't a bond broken by any boardroom crisis. If we get behind those lads I can only see a positive reaction from them. If we go to Hull and Boycott the team will walk out to a stadium of empty seats, can you imagine that feeling. You can just see the "If they can't be bothered, then we can't be bothered" attitude creeping in. So suppose this happens and we don't beat a Hull side that is expected by most to finish in the bottom three, what next? Confidence will be low, the new manager coming in will be expected to pull them out of the shit. If he doesn't then what, another sacking? I know you think a boycott is better for the bigger picture but have to say, I'm not so sure. Is Ashley evil? Has he ever done anything to suggest he doesn't have the best intrests of the club at heart? Well if he has please notify me. If your so determined to drive Ashley out of our club there have got to be other ways around it because personally I can't bare to see another season and potentially another managerial reign in th shitter before it's even begun.

It's a great idea, but I simply don't think it is sustainable. Even in the unlikely event you find enough fans able to generate enough money to buy the club what next? Unless you find a a couple of particularly wealthy fans the bubble is going to burst. Not only do they have to buy the club, they have wages to pay, debts to clear, sponsorships to sort, transfer fees, not to mention all the other little fees that soon mount up. On top of this just look at this forum, there's going to be divided opinion, and where money is involved everyone well went their two pennies worth. It's alright saying we'll appoint a president to represent us, but with so many views what are they representing? The fans who's views aren't aired are quickly going to realise they may as well not bother, especially if the exact opposite of the action they want taking is being put into place. As much as we don't want it I can't help but feel a multi-billionaire willing to splash the cash is the only way forward. It's alright saying I'd rather be an honest mid-table club, but a majority of fans don't, including me. I support this club and want it to acheive all of it's potential, its all very well and good saying the fans could do a better job, but could they? Really? I have serious doubts and you're increadably naive if you think it would run so smoothly.

Why all the petty arguments when there's clearly a happy-medium here. To at least attempt to be successful you have to spend money, which in turn is more than likely to get you into debt. Spending money brings in better players with bigger wages, but without these players it is unlikely you will progress. The idea of breaking even isn't going to work, selling one player for big money to bring in enough is simply taking two steps forward only to take two back, you're back to square one. Whatever gripes you had about fat Freddy you cannot deny he understood this concept. He always backed his managers whether it was for a cut-price purchase or a big money panic buy. Consequently we ended up with debts. Now Freddy wasn't the most popular chap as it was apparent he had more fingers in pies than a leper on a cookery course which only contributed to the debt we'd already accumulated from the stadium and investing in the playing staff. However although I personally didn't agree with this (and I don't particularly want to get drawn into an argument about it either), as a buisnessman it doesn't suprise me he wanted a cut at some stage, he wasn't just going to pour money into a bottomless pit was he? Freddy wasn't a billionaire though. That's why we ended up in debt, he couldn't afford to carry on the way he was without getting into a real financial mess. Now that's what excites me about the prospect of a billionaire really willing to splash the cash. We could afford to this without any of these implications and therefore we could at least attempt to challenge the bigger clubs in the league. Now, when Ashley took over I was hoping for a similar approach to the one mentioned above, unfortunately it doesn't look like Ashley is going to grasp the concept I was talking about. I'm not saying he won't spend money, but I don't think he will be attempting to sign up the bigger names for the bigger bucks. If your wanting to climb into the upper realms of the upper league this isn't the right attitude to take. It's only a matter of time before more and more clubs are owned by these wealthy men who are willing to pump their fortune into their teams providing better playing staff and therefore a better chance of success. If we continue along the road we are we're going to get left behind. What's the point in taking two steps forward when everyone else is taking five? I'm not psychic, for all I know Ashley could begin to spend some real money at a later date, but so far all the indications point to a sensible approach to the recruitment process. He's also shown his inexperience in the game with debacle we're currently in. Now Ashley seems like a genuine bloke and I really hope he begins to see the bigger picture, but if he carries on the way he is we're going to get nothing more other from the odd year in the UEFA cup at best. If we want a real stab at success we need a billionaire who's going to take a gamble, someone with Freddy's attitude but with the bottomless pockets to back it up.

Sounds like the Ultra's wet dream, someone to finally villanise to draw the idiots over. You really think they're going to listen to a bunch of crusaders and their vain attempt to hit Ashley in the pocket. What good is it going to do? Think about it.

Okay, so we're basing our opinions on speculation, but your statement of fact is based on what exactly? Are you an ITK? It's common sense mate. You really think Ashley put this "system" in place to try and hold the club back and have a laugh at the fans. You really think Keegan wanted nothing more than to take this club back to the heights? If they weren't do you really think they would have bothered? The man who appointed him only 8 months ago? Yeah, I think he made a mistake bringing Keegan in and then introducing this board structure we now have, sooner or later they were always going to be on collision course. However if Keegan really had unfinished buisness, if he really, really wanted to take this club where he thought it so rightly belongs, do you think he'd have just walked out? No, he'd have scrapped tooth and nail to get what he wanted. Instead he didn't, he simply engineered his way out of the situation.

I love all the speculation despite the fact we know nothing. Yes, yes we'd all love to think Ashley and Wise are the Villains of the peice and poor Kevin was hung out-to-dry. What exactly are we basing that on? I know exactly what your basing it on. Kevin Keegan, an icon to our fans has resigned and you want someone to blame. That's the sad thing about this whole mess what you don't realise is both parties had the best intrests of this club at heart. They were both trying to push this club forward, but both had very different ideas about how to do it. All I know is Kevin Keegan has resigned and left us in a complete mess. I'm not saying I blame him, or wouldn't have done the same, but you can't deny his acts were nothing more than selfish. So before you go trying to point the finger of blame, just remember who exactly got us into this s*** hole in the first place.

What's most worrying is that people aren't thinking clearly about this. A walk out, walk in, a boycott, etc is NOT going to help. In these shitty times we need to get behind the lads more than ever, it may just carry them over the finish line.

Singing Keegan Wonderland wouldn't do any harm at all and might lift the players at the same time. id seriously lose faith in the passion of our fans if thats all that is feckin done What do you want a boycott? Aye, cracking idea, it'll really do the lads a lot of good to walk into a stadium full of empty seats. Unfortunately I think most of our fans like yourself are too blind-sighted with with emotion to see it.

Dear me it's like a fucking funeral, strap on a pair lads. It's the end of a great man but our club still lives on, it needs our support more than ever while we try to find a solution to this unfortunate mess. First will come the sadness, then the anger, but at the end of the day we need are cool heads to try and fight a way through the current situation.

What pisses me off more are these two-bit pundits and ex-players who sit on TV and tell the fans what they want to hear. Ashley has made an unforgiveable mistake, but we're all human. He got into to a job and a situation he couldn't handle and made a complete pig's ear of it. Does he really deserve the greif he's getting?

Do you trust Denis Wise to do his best for this club? Who do you think will be the next manager and how on earth will he have any support? The best solution is for Ashley to sell. I didn't say I trusted Wise and Ashley to do the best for our club, simply due to the inexperience they have in their current rules. I said they believed their actions were what was best for the club. I've said in another thread I think we're looking at a very small group of managers. Very few will be willing to work within the system we have put in place. If he has no support, well this fan base are possibly more stupid than I thought they were. Who ever takes over the helm I am going to get behind them and get behind my team, regardless of whatever is going on in the boardroom. doing otherwise would be cutting your nose off to spite your face. Without a doubt, but the fact is if he stays we're going to have to live with him. The fans curreny irrational actions aren't helping matters in the slightest.

We're clearly looking at a small pool of managers due to the structure upstairs at the club. Someone who is happy to manage the team and not to have an imput in the transfers of the playing staff.

Ashley isn't chairman but carry on. Howay man it was a typo, you knew what I meant, I mentioned he was owner beforehand.

Your all fucking idiots, well your not, but I knew it would get yout attention. Currently your letting your hearts get in the way of your heads and it isn't helping matters. All I've heard is Ashley is a cunt he needs to sell up, wise is a cunt and he should leave too. Does that sound like the sense of someone who is using their brian? Yeah Ashley fucked up big style, he's new to the game and he's new to our unusual club, but can you honestly say he didn't think what he was doing for the best of the club? same goes for Wise I'm afriad. The chances are Ashley is going to be our owner for the forseeable future and Wise is going to be working under him, so what good are you, the supporters for this club doing with this knee-jerk and frankly child like reaction? Don't get me wrong I'm feeling hurt, real hurt by the actions of our owner and board over the last week or so, but do you really think boycotts and such silliness is going to drive Ashley out of town? It isn't going to help the players on the field and it won't do a lot for any potential take over, who wants to buy a club with such a volatile fan base, they'll be scared to death everytime the shit hits the fan. You also realise Ashley probably knows what a huge error of judgement he's made and is trying to do everything to either rectify it or get the hell out. If he does remain chairman I want answers and I want to know exactly what he's going to do about it. I'll probably get called worse than shite for this but when the dust settles and you start thinking with your head you'll realse the current and potential action of the fans is doing nothing constructive to help the club what-so-ever. Keegan was one of us and we'll probably never recover from this day, but at the same time we seriously need to sit down and consider some sensible options to take other than shout and scream at a man who was doing what he thought was best for our club.

West Ham fans must be so reassured, SSN "understands" there is an initial list of thirty candidates to replace Cubishley. Really putting their neck on the line there.

True it is something new and hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Just seems it's limiting Owen's natural ability, but he didn't do too badly when he was deployed there last year so it's worth keep going with it I guess. What about trickier away games, is it still worth playing the 3 up front in that way? Perhaps Owen playing off Xisco would be an idea in a sort of 4-4-1-1 formation (with Jonas et al supporting)? There was smoething about this in my earlier post: I definetly think we need to look beyond the rigid 4-4-2 away from home, there are far too may teams out there who'll pick you apart with pace and creativity.

This Perhaps, but the gulf between "the big four", particularly Manchester United and Chelsea, has got to the stage where you have to "do a Chelsea" to compete with them. It's a no brianer vast quantities of money increase the chances of success, success brings the world wide popularity and therefore the revenue. Oh I know it would be just skippy if we could carry on the way we are, gathering a team of quality hard working players and eventually after a number of years hope we have the strength to muster up an assault on the larger teams of this league, but lets face it, we're going to get left behind. Just look what's happened at Man City, and it will happen to other teams too. it's alright taking the moral high ground but if your taking two steps forward while everyone else is taking five then your going to get left behind. It will get to the stage where this league is divided into two types of football clubs, the financially elite and the honest also-rans, I know which group I want to be in. I would welcome a investor which is interested in football rather than business... Just hate the Abramovich, Thaksin and Sheik style. Would love a change to the rules. Limiting the number of transfers within the window or something. It's too late, I think a change to the rules now can only widen the distance between the rich and the poor. The bigger clubs already have the big money and the better players, putting in a quota now whether on transfers, wages or takeovers can only stop the chasing pack from catching up.

This Perhaps, but the gulf between "the big four", particularly Manchester United and Chelsea, has got to the stage where you have to "do a Chelsea" to compete with them. It's a no brianer vast quantities of money increase the chances of success, success brings the world wide popularity and therefore the revenue. Oh I know it would be just skippy if we could carry on the way we are, gathering a team of quality hard working players and eventually after a number of years hope we have the strength to muster up an assault on the larger teams of this league, but lets face it, we're going to get left behind. Just look what's happened at Man City, and it will happen to other teams too. it's alright taking the moral high ground but if your taking two steps forward while everyone else is taking five then your going to get left behind. It will get to the stage where this league is divided into two types of football clubs, the financially elite and the honest also-rans, I know which group I want to be in.

Baisically I think we need to utilise the strength and depth we have in the squad. We don't have the quality of a Manchester United or a Chelsea so I don't think we can be as rigid with our formations as they are. I still wouldn't feel comfortable with us going to somewhere like Villa or City with two banks of four, we'd get picked apart by their pace and quality. Same goes for the personnel who play in those formations. I think we can afford to try something different at home like a Coloccini-Bassong centre back pairing or Guthrie in defensive midfield.

Personally I'd ease Gonzales in, any old muppet can see Butt's best days are behind him now, but particularly away from home I think it would be foolish to assume the new boy is going to come in and be the playmaker we so desperately need. I think Hull at home would be a prime time for him to show his credentials. He'll get plenty of time and space on the ball and they aren't the greatest presence physically. It's important if he isn't brilliant against Hull we don't write him off and similarly if he has a particularly good game we praise him as the man we've been looking for. I'd continue in this fashion playing him against teams that will attack us at home but aren't anything to fear in terms of stature. Hopefully this will help him grow in confidence and eventually I'd consider playing him away from home. It's important to remember he's an unknown, just because he's an attacking midfielder, a position we've begged to be filled it doesn't mean he's going to come into our game and set it al alight. I think if he's decent I'd even consider taking him on loan for a second season before we think about a purchase. In either scenario at home I'd go with the 4-3-1-2 with either Owen or Gonzales in the "hole". The new role for Owen reminds of how much I love KK as a manger. His timing and arrival in the box on cue has increased ten-fold since he was deplyed in the attacking midfield role. Alternatively if Gonzales is played his service can only help Owen in a centre forward role. The problem there is if the playmaker role is filled who do you play up top. Do you go big man little man with Viduka or Xisco knocking balls down and laying passes off to either Martins or Owen, or do you go with two little men streching the opposition back line (I have considered two big men for obvious reasons). It depends on the opposition for me. Those with a high back line or slower centre backs can be expolited by the latter, while against better back lines it may be better to mix it up a bit. That of course poses a very nice selection dilema to have. Away from home as much as I'd love to go all guns blazing I'd like to take a sightly more cautious approach. Now I'm not saying we go ten men behind the ball Allerdyce style, but perhaps try something like 3-5-3. This dissolves the boundries somewhat between defence and counter attack. Under pressure the wing backs come back and provide cover and when going forward they provide supposrt. I'd seriously consider someone like Jonas in that kind of role. It may even benafit Beye in terms of confidence, being able to venture forward a bit more. Alternatively there's a 4-2-3-1 which is a bit narrow but you hve two men ala Butt and Guthrie protecting the back four and three midfielders in more attacking roles. I think this could work with Zoggy and Jonas in the more attacking wide roles. Also I would't worry about Butt too much. I see Guthrie as a natural replacement. I think his distribution and ability to create a yard for himself on the ball means he should be able to do well in that role, maybe not at this moment in time but he will grow in stature as his career develops.

You taking the piss with Ronaldo? I'd have taken him 13 years ago. Kluivert MKII but 1000000000 times worse. See I didn't have a major problem with Kluivert. He stayed fit for a majority of the time and weighed in with some key goals. Everyone could see it should of been Bellamy and Kluivert who were the primary strikeforce but no one had the bottle to drop Big Al, I guess that's another topic for another thread though.