Beardsley and Beresford talk-in - Kingston Park

[buzza]

I've always said this; peter beardsley was a magnificent player but has got some dissapointing character traits. Wasn't he sacked or asked to leave the NUFC academy for his bad relationship with the kids??

[biggs]

I've always said this; peter beardsley was a magnificent player but has got some dissapointing character traits. Wasn't he sacked or asked to leave the NUFC academy for his bad relationship with the kids??

Someone else will print more information in due course but him and Kenny Wharton were peddled at the same time if memory serves me right .

[Guest alex]

They were both found not guilty ffs.

[Slugsy]

I've always said this; peter beardsley was a magnificent player but has got some dissapointing character traits.

 

I'm assuming you know him personally to comment?

[merlin]

Whatever agenda Beardsley has about SBR , he was, in my opinion , STILL correct in his basic assessment of the situation. SBR should, at his age, have been ASKING the club if he could arrange the managerial succession instead of hanging on without a plan for an orderly change-over ; he could even have brought Mourinho in if this had been done soon enough...

SBR was 66 when he STARTED being the club's manager, and it was the third time Newcastle had asked him to do the job since 1975....did he think he would go on past his 70th birthday? Was he happy with the aggro he was getting from the likes of Dyer ? Surely, he must have realised that things couldn't go on that way..instead, he left himself open to being undermined and eventually sacked, by Shepherd, when he could have either gone with dignity earlier, or moved on to being some sort of Overseas ambassador for the club with his invaluable contacts.

Bobby did a very good job for NUFC in his first 4 years, and should have left it at that - there is NO ROOM FOR SENTIMENTALITY in Football ; ask KK how Shankly used to despatch players from Liverpool when he knew they were reaching the end ; ask SBR himself how he had to ruthlessly sort out the Ipswich dressing room(in one case, physically)when he first took over as  manager...he was past all that kind of stuff when he arrived at SJP.

 

You are fully entitled to your opinion, and have given us a good review of what went on, but the stuff about Shearer being an all-powerful figure - well, this may or may not be true, but all I would say is that IF he one day becomes manager - by no means certain - he can carry this aura around with him as long as he likes PROVIDED he brings success with it..no-one would say that SAF is a nice person, but he WINS THINGS. I couldn't care less how ruthless Shearer is as long as he wins things for NUFC and makes us a feared club ; couldn't care LESS about 'being liked' - if other fans like the way we play, great, if not, tough

s--t, as long as we beat them.

 

We are not in the EPL to win a popularity contest - maybe the Media will realise that one day - we are in it to be successful.

If you don't follow that mantra, you are just there to make up the numbers, and I for one do not want NUFC to be that sort of club.

 

I disagree somewhat with your assessment of SBR final moments at the club, i just think theres a hell of a lot of supposition in what you are saying (i.e the cracks appeared he was old and losing the dressing room, we were bound to fail) and a fair bit of discrimination of his age, i think if he was 20 years younges and was having the same problems but similar success then i cant help but think the crowd would of stuck by the manager more than they did, instead his age was used as a stick to beat him with, despite the fact his record stood at steering us to 4,3 and 5th all in his late 60's.

 

I agree that there may of been an air of stubborness from the man, it seemed clear that he felt he had unfinished business with the club and felt he hadnt taken them as far as he could, and in my opinion, he could of taken us further, he had an incredibly poor season by his standards yet still finihsed 5th, this was after a season where he wasnt backed so after the high of getting a 3rd position finihs the season before to dropping to 5th the following season with the dterimental loss of a CL place he was unceremoniuously shown the door after all he had done.

 

I dont know of another man who i would of trusted to turn it around, he was constantly undermined under his tenureship and had key players like Speed sold without his knowledge, something which effected the team somewhat in hindsight.

 

Maybe theres an argument to say that his stubborness would of meant that he would of held on longer than would of been healthy for the club, but i dont think for one second it was fair, or even clever to sack him after the poorseason he had, there was no footballing reason to sack SBR, losing out on CL for 2 years was a major blow but we had an impressive run in the UEFA cup the season before having failed to qualify for the group stages and had also qualified again for the UEFA cup again, where maybe we would of started as favourites for the entire competition.

 

It was a ridiculous sacking without the benefit of hindisght and a sacking in ridiculous circumstances. Something that i think this club paid for massively, some say that the apoointment of Souness was what damaged us the most, but i think those people need to ask themselves if there was a manager out there, better than SBR who would of taken the job after the manner of his sacking. Even the fact that he wasnt backed after his 3rd place finish, would of been a major sticking point in many managers eyes.

 

He should of been given at least one more year to prove that the club wasnt about implode, every top manager has a poor season, Fergie has, Wenger has, Benitez has as well, Moyes has, every single one, and yet they are given the benefit why wasnt SBR given the same benfit....because of his age, ridiculous.

 

Like it or not, he WAS too old - which other top EPL(or European) Club employs a manager over 70 years of age..??

Is it true that some of the players were taking advantage of him ? YES.

Even Shearer & Speed made their feelings known about the attitude of some of the younger players, and your point about the crowd etc being more prepared to stick by SBR if he had been 20 years younger is irrelevant, because he WASN'T - he was 70 years old and the majority of fans knew he would soon have to be replaced.

If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did, he would have tried to make this transition as beneficial to NUFC as possible..would YOU try to hang on at that age in a job which was clearly becoming too strenuous for you, because I wouldn't, esp if I had his money..

[johnnypd]

Robson should've been moved upstairs either the summer before he left or the summer after. he could've helped us find a new manager and then we could've used his expertise to set up a global scouting network and revitilise the academy, something SBR did at Barca which produced the likes of Messi, Dos Santos etc.

 

i think part of the reason for the decline was being undermined/not fully backed by shepherd, which irrevocably weakened his hand. young players will test the limits when they know the final say is out of the manager's hands. mind you people criticising him for finishing 5th just shows how good a manager he was to instill such high standards in us. let's remember that large parts of that squad were pretty poor (the likes of o'brien, bramble etc simply no better than teams much further down the league) while key players like Speed and Shearer were aging and needed to be replaced, which is another thing Shepherd fudged.

[NG32]

Whatever agenda Beardsley has about SBR , he was, in my opinion , STILL correct in his basic assessment of the situation. SBR should, at his age, have been ASKING the club if he could arrange the managerial succession instead of hanging on without a plan for an orderly change-over ; he could even have brought Mourinho in if this had been done soon enough...

SBR was 66 when he STARTED being the club's manager, and it was the third time Newcastle had asked him to do the job since 1975....did he think he would go on past his 70th birthday? Was he happy with the aggro he was getting from the likes of Dyer ? Surely, he must have realised that things couldn't go on that way..instead, he left himself open to being undermined and eventually sacked, by Shepherd, when he could have either gone with dignity earlier, or moved on to being some sort of Overseas ambassador for the club with his invaluable contacts.

Bobby did a very good job for NUFC in his first 4 years, and should have left it at that - there is NO ROOM FOR SENTIMENTALITY in Football ; ask KK how Shankly used to despatch players from Liverpool when he knew they were reaching the end ; ask SBR himself how he had to ruthlessly sort out the Ipswich dressing room(in one case, physically)when he first took over as  manager...he was past all that kind of stuff when he arrived at SJP.

 

You are fully entitled to your opinion, and have given us a good review of what went on, but the stuff about Shearer being an all-powerful figure - well, this may or may not be true, but all I would say is that IF he one day becomes manager - by no means certain - he can carry this aura around with him as long as he likes PROVIDED he brings success with it..no-one would say that SAF is a nice person, but he WINS THINGS. I couldn't care less how ruthless Shearer is as long as he wins things for NUFC and makes us a feared club ; couldn't care LESS about 'being liked' - if other fans like the way we play, great, if not, tough

s--t, as long as we beat them.

 

We are not in the EPL to win a popularity contest - maybe the Media will realise that one day - we are in it to be successful.

If you don't follow that mantra, you are just there to make up the numbers, and I for one do not want NUFC to be that sort of club.

 

I disagree somewhat with your assessment of SBR final moments at the club, i just think theres a hell of a lot of supposition in what you are saying (i.e the cracks appeared he was old and losing the dressing room, we were bound to fail) and a fair bit of discrimination of his age, i think if he was 20 years younges and was having the same problems but similar success then i cant help but think the crowd would of stuck by the manager more than they did, instead his age was used as a stick to beat him with, despite the fact his record stood at steering us to 4,3 and 5th all in his late 60's.

 

I agree that there may of been an air of stubborness from the man, it seemed clear that he felt he had unfinished business with the club and felt he hadnt taken them as far as he could, and in my opinion, he could of taken us further, he had an incredibly poor season by his standards yet still finihsed 5th, this was after a season where he wasnt backed so after the high of getting a 3rd position finihs the season before to dropping to 5th the following season with the dterimental loss of a CL place he was unceremoniuously shown the door after all he had done.

 

I dont know of another man who i would of trusted to turn it around, he was constantly undermined under his tenureship and had key players like Speed sold without his knowledge, something which effected the team somewhat in hindsight.

 

Maybe theres an argument to say that his stubborness would of meant that he would of held on longer than would of been healthy for the club, but i dont think for one second it was fair, or even clever to sack him after the poorseason he had, there was no footballing reason to sack SBR, losing out on CL for 2 years was a major blow but we had an impressive run in the UEFA cup the season before having failed to qualify for the group stages and had also qualified again for the UEFA cup again, where maybe we would of started as favourites for the entire competition.

 

It was a ridiculous sacking without the benefit of hindisght and a sacking in ridiculous circumstances. Something that i think this club paid for massively, some say that the apoointment of Souness was what damaged us the most, but i think those people need to ask themselves if there was a manager out there, better than SBR who would of taken the job after the manner of his sacking. Even the fact that he wasnt backed after his 3rd place finish, would of been a major sticking point in many managers eyes.

 

He should of been given at least one more year to prove that the club wasnt about implode, every top manager has a poor season, Fergie has, Wenger has, Benitez has as well, Moyes has, every single one, and yet they are given the benefit why wasnt SBR given the same benfit....because of his age, ridiculous.

 

Like it or not, he WAS too old - which other top EPL(or European) Club employs a manager over 70 years of age..??

Is it true that some of the players were taking advantage of him ? YES.

Even Shearer & Speed made their feelings known about the attitude of some of the younger players, and your point about the crowd etc being more prepared to stick by SBR if he had been 20 years younger is irrelevant, because he WASN'T - he was 70 years old and the majority of fans knew he would soon have to be replaced.

If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did, he would have tried to make this transition as beneficial to NUFC as possible..would YOU try to hang on at that age in a job which was clearly becoming too strenuous for you, because I wouldn't, esp if I had his money..

`

 

He loves football and was working for his boyhood team, why would he want to leave and live on the momey he has made.

[fredbob]

 

Like it or not, he WAS too old - which other top EPL(or European) Club employs a manager over 70 years of age..??

Is it true that some of the players were taking advantage of him ? YES.

Even Shearer & Speed made their feelings known about the attitude of some of the younger players, and your point about the crowd etc being more prepared to stick by SBR if he had been 20 years younger is irrelevant, because he WASN'T - he was 70 years old and the majority of fans knew he would soon have to be replaced.

If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did, he would have tried to make this transition as beneficial to NUFC as possible..would YOU try to hang on at that age in a job which was clearly becoming too strenuous for you, because I wouldn't, esp if I had his money..

 

So whether i like it or not, it all comes down to his age? Irrespective of the quality of the manager, or the success of his career or even the success of his career at his current club, he was too old to turn things around and that is a fact for you?

 

So there isnt a single part of you that thinks that maybe, just maybe he would of turned it around the next season and he didnt deserve the chance to do so? He was destined to fail because he was old? I dont buy that im afraid, he was 69 when he got us to 3rd.

 

Look at Ferguson, how old is he now? Im not comparing the 2 as managers but im just saying that in this case age doesnt even become to be an issue. Maybe that was a poor example.

 

I also dont think it was all about ego, he knew that he had a poor season, despite finihsing 5th, in hindsight he never directly blamed the chairman of no backing after the 3rd place finish if it was all about ego then i cant see why he'd take responsibility, in my opinion, it was all having the poor season and not been given the oppurtunity (which he deserved in my opinion) to turn it around, who's to say that he wouldnt of shipped some of the problem players? Its a moot point but i think that his dismay doesnt come from the fact that he was sacked when he in his eyes and ego had done a great job, but because he was sacked without being given an oppurtunity to turn it around.

 

It seemed we got to a point where people thought that SBR was lucky to have Nufc rather than Nufc being lucky to have SBR. Look at where he found us and where he left us, there is absolutley no way that that point of view is valid when you look at the successful clubs around us.

 

 

[Gallowgate End]

Like it or not, he WAS too old - which other top EPL(or European) Club employs a manager over 70 years of age..??

Is it true that some of the players were taking advantage of him ? YES.

Even Shearer & Speed made their feelings known about the attitude of some of the younger players, and your point about the crowd etc being more prepared to stick by SBR if he had been 20 years younger is irrelevant, because he WASN'T - he was 70 years old and the majority of fans knew he would soon have to be replaced.

If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did, he would have tried to make this transition as beneficial to NUFC as possible..would YOU try to hang on at that age in a job which was clearly becoming too strenuous for you, because I wouldn't, esp if I had his money..

 

Absolutely laughable every bit of it.

 

Finished 3rd, 4th, 5th what a old senile useless fart he was.

 

"If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did"

 

 

[NG32]

Merlin are you Douglas Hall?

[merlin]

Merlin are you Douglas Hall?

 

No - are you really a Gimp ?

 

Those who continue to live in the past about SBR are welcome to their dreamworld fantasies ; As for Ferguson, you can bet that he WON'T be at OT when he is 70 - the Man U Board will ensure that the succession is done WHEN IT SHOULD BE, which is something NUFC are not reknowned for ..

 

Ferguson himself won't want to do that, although I DO expect him to move upstairs at OT.

 

Too many sacred cows held by some fans on this board - just because SBR was from the NE, people think he is above criticism - wrong, and although I am quite prepared to give him credit for a job well done, I am also prepared to acknowledge his faults ; and he DID have them.

As I said before, no room for sentiment in Football - I think you'll find that under Ashley & Mort, this will happen less & less at NUFC so you had better get used to it...

[fredbob]

Merlin are you Douglas Hall?

 

No - are you really a Gimp ?

 

Those who continue to live in the past about SBR are welcome to their dreamworld fantasies ; As for Ferguson, you can bet that he WON'T be at OT when he is 70 - the Man U Board will ensure that the succession is done WHEN IT SHOULD BE, which is something NUFC are not reknowned for ..

 

Ferguson himself won't want to do that, although I DO expect him to move upstairs at OT.

 

Too many sacred cows held by some fans on this board - just because SBR was from the NE, people think he is above criticism - wrong, and although I am quite prepared to give him credit for a job well done, I am also prepared to acknowledge his faults ; and he DID have them.

As I said before, no room for sentiment in Football - I think you'll find that under Ashley & Mort, this will happen less & less at NUFC so you had better get used to it...

 

It's thefact that he was 70 years old that seems to be the sticking point here, i can understand that if he was struggling with the team but he wasnt, he was having a few problems discipline wise, i just cant believe that someone would put so much empthasis on the fact that he's 70 year old. I dont understand where you think theres sentiment in this when he was doing well for us. Sentiment gets thrown right out the window when the person its aimed at has valid reasons for it to be discarded.

 

I dont disgaree with you when you say that we needed to plan for SBR eventual retirement, sacking, resignation but at that point at time there was absolutely no footballing reason to sack him, if the board were worried about his age then why werent they looking for a top class manager a) when he was 69 or b) when they decided to announce to the world before SBR that he wasnt to stay on.

 

 

[Guest]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

[fredbob]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

Yep, i agree we shouldnt of been struggling as much as we did, but isnt that the whole beauty of the game, if it was as easy as an equation as that,football wouldnt be as entertaining as it is. Its difficult to make a good comparison from today and then, because during our 2 year stint in the CL we prevented our rival ie liverpool from getting the money to make the advancements they have now, ie 4 years of solid CL qualification.

 

Look at Liverpool now, despite having all the finance from there recent run in the CL competitio, if they spent nothing this summer do you they would still find it easy to attain 4th? Was it only the 32nd game of the season when 4th place looked to be tied up, that isnt dominance to me.

 

I dont deny that it was a poor season, but you have to look at the facts and despite the fact we had such a shitty season (with a good UEFA cup run) we still came 5th. The likes of Villa and Everton would never be able to have a season like ours then and still have 5th places tied up like we did.

 

The crux of my point is that i still believe SBR should of had another season and that we as a club are sufffering from sacking SBR rather than the genreally excepted consensus that we're suffering because of Souness. It was the manner and circumstances of the sacking that lead the job to be unteneable in my opinion.

[Guest Phil K]

Also said KK will only give you a few chances, even if he bought you, if you don't show yourself capable, you'll soon be out.

That didn't apply to Mike Hooper did it ?

Chance after chance after....

 

 

Absolutely laughable every bit of it.

 

Finished 3rd, 4th, 5th what a old senile useless fart he was.

 

"If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did"

 

 

 

Missed the whole point didn't you ?

Great manager that lost it in the end, due to age, nothing else.

Should have been moved upstairs though

And considering what that pillock Shepherd brought in, we should have persevered with him even then !

 

[fredbob]

Also said KK will only give you a few chances, even if he bought you, if you don't show yourself capable, you'll soon be out.

That didn't apply to Mike Hooper did it ?

Chance after chance after....

 

 

Absolutely laughable every bit of it.

 

Finished 3rd, 4th, 5th what a old senile useless fart he was.

 

"If SBR loved the club as much as he says he did"

 

 

 

Missed the whole point didn't you ?

Great manager that lost it in the end, due to age, nothing else.

Should have been moved upstairs though

And considering what that pillock Shepherd brought in, we should have persevered with him even then !

 

 

How come ages wasnt an issue when he got us to 3rd places? We drop 2 places having not been backed and admittedly have a few discplinary problems and all of a sudden he's too old and has "lost it" i dont get that view.

 

Obviosuly we should of been planning ahead and looking for life after SBR but there is no way people should be justifying his sacking with tripe like "he lost it" , he should of been kept on for one more year at least.

[Mick]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

We only needed to turn draws in to wins to have made that a very good season and we almost did finish 4th.  Only bringing in Bowyer shouldn't be under-estimated, especially after the CL disappointment.

 

As for that terrible season, I'd swap it with any we've had since.

[fredbob]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

We only needed to turn draws in to wins to have made that a very good season and we almost did finish 4th.  Only bringing in Bowyer shouldn't be under-estimated, especially after the CL disappointment.

 

As for that terrible season, I'd swap it with any we've had since.

 

Precisely, we played poorly pretty much throughout the entire season and struggled with turning draws into wins, and we only just lost out on 4th places in something like the 35th/36th game at Southampton? Imagine if SBR was given the finance to put in some fresh impetus and some competition for places for the likes of Bellamy or Dyer, would we still of been complaining about discipline if those 2 especially werent our only option?

 

The sad thing, is that our eyes got too big for our stomachs and we we didnt realise that in actual fact we would prbably have started the next season as one of the favourites for the UEFA cup....how times have changed.

 

Too old...... 

[madras]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

We only needed to turn draws in to wins to have made that a very good season and we almost did finish 4th.  Only bringing in Bowyer shouldn't be under-estimated, especially after the CL disappointment.

 

As for that terrible season, I'd swap it with any we've had since.

 

Precisely, we played poorly pretty much throughout the entire season and struggled with turning draws into wins, and we only just lost out on 4th places in something like the 35th/36th game at Southampton? Imagine if SBR was given the finance to put in some fresh impetus and some competition for places for the likes of Bellamy or Dyer, would we still of been complaining about discipline if those 2 especially werent our only option?

 

The sad thing, is that our eyes got too big for our stomachs and we we didnt realise that in actual fact we would prbably have started the next season as one of the favourites for the UEFA cup....how times have changed.

 

Too old...... 

it scares me that some can't see the difference in how we palyed that season and the season before.

[Guest]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

We only needed to turn draws in to wins to have made that a very good season and we almost did finish 4th.  Only bringing in Bowyer shouldn't be under-estimated, especially after the CL disappointment.

 

As for that terrible season, I'd swap it with any we've had since.

 

Precisely, we played poorly pretty much throughout the entire season and struggled with turning draws into wins, and we only just lost out on 4th places in something like the 35th/36th game at Southampton? Imagine if SBR was given the finance to put in some fresh impetus and some competition for places for the likes of Bellamy or Dyer, would we still of been complaining about discipline if those 2 especially werent our only option?

 

The sad thing, is that our eyes got too big for our stomachs and we we didnt realise that in actual fact we would prbably have started the next season as one of the favourites for the UEFA cup....how times have changed.

 

Too old...... 

it scares me that some can't see the difference in how we palyed that season and the season before.

 

And again, that 56 points this season like we got that year would have struggled to finish 9th. We had absolutely no excuse whatsoever for getting 13 fewer points. And Mick, you mention that we only had to turn those draws into wins to have had a good season, well I can remember crappy 1-0s against the likes of Leeds & Southampton at home which could have easily been draws, the 2-1 home to Boro where we were lucky, the 4-2 versus Everton where for 70 minutes there was nothing in it. Also, selling Solano, or rotating him with Bowyer and eventually replacing him in the team with Ambrose...inspiring.

 

I know people go on about how we conceded quite a few last minute goals in away games, yet these same people seem to forget the last minute equalisers against Leeds & Southampton, or the first-half injury-time goal which got us a draw with Villa, etc.

[Mick]

 

And again, that 56 points this season like we got that year would have struggled to finish 9th. We had absolutely no excuse whatsoever for getting 13 fewer points. And Mick, you mention that we only had to turn those draws into wins to have had a good season, well I can remember crappy 1-0s against the likes of Leeds & Southampton at home which could have easily been draws, the 2-1 home to Boro where we were lucky, the 4-2 versus Everton where for 70 minutes there was nothing in it. Also, selling Solano, or rotating him with Bowyer and eventually replacing him in the team with Ambrose...inspiring.

 

I know people go on about how we conceded quite a few last minute goals in away games, yet these same people seem to forget the last minute equalisers against Leeds & Southampton, or the first-half injury-time goal which got us a draw with Villa, etc.

 

I'm not trying to build that season up to something which it clearly wasn't and yes, Bobby had his faults.  I thought his treatment of Solano was crazy and I thought Jenas was getting games when he was miles off the player he had been in his first season but I think the poor season when compared to the one before was partly down to only bringing in Bowyer and not getting over the Belgrade defeat.

 

I'm confident that with financial support, Bobby could have turned things around, I also know it could have gone the other way.  When he was supported financially we did well, even when his transfers didn’t work out.

 

[fredbob]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

We only needed to turn draws in to wins to have made that a very good season and we almost did finish 4th. Only bringing in Bowyer shouldn't be under-estimated, especially after the CL disappointment.

 

As for that terrible season, I'd swap it with any we've had since.

 

Precisely, we played poorly pretty much throughout the entire season and struggled with turning draws into wins, and we only just lost out on 4th places in something like the 35th/36th game at Southampton? Imagine if SBR was given the finance to put in some fresh impetus and some competition for places for the likes of Bellamy or Dyer, would we still of been complaining about discipline if those 2 especially werent our only option?

 

The sad thing, is that our eyes got too big for our stomachs and we we didnt realise that in actual fact we would prbably have started the next season as one of the favourites for the UEFA cup....how times have changed.

 

Too old......

it scares me that some can't see the difference in how we palyed that season and the season before.

 

It scares me that some people still see a 5th place finish as reasonable justification for a sacking. Yet happily accept that if Allardyce achieved the same feat with even worse football he'd be very well recieved. Theres a bit of a contradiction there somewhere....

 

No one is saying the football was good, but its a measure of how good we were as a team that our football was so poor yet we still comfortably achieved a top 5 finish, Manu U, Liverpool even Arsenal have had poor seasons, Liverpool especially who have been perennial underachievers for a good part of a decade yet have only had 2 mangers in the same time we've had 6. If Villa or Everton or Porstmouth had a season the same standard as our do you think they'd have 5th place comfortably tied up like we did?

 

Agree to disagree i suppose...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Decky]

On anothre note, when they talk about Oliver leaking the Modric deal, who the fuck sends him the info, Oliver needs to be silenced.

 

Even if Oliver did know about Modric he should have held the story. Why would he run a story that is wholly detrimental to the signing of a major player for the Club he;'s charged with reporting on?

 

He is a reporter, his job is to report, he isnt an ambassador for the club ffs he works for a newspaper and this was an opportunity for a story regardless of where it left the Modric deal. He is a cunt for alot of things, but as far as the Modric thing is concerned he was just doing what he gets paid to do.

[Guest]

Thing is though, we WERE struggling that season in comparison to where we should have been. Yes, we only signed Bowyer, but do you think if say Arsenal or Liverpool don't buy anybody this season, then they'll struggle to finish 5th? Course they won't. I don't care what anybody says, we had the 4th best set of players that season. It was only the fact that clubs just below us like Charlton, Fulham, Villa & Bolton were so poor, and that Liverpool stuttered badly for so long that even kept us in the top 4 hunt for so long that season. That was still a terrible season no matter what anyone tries telling us.

 

We only needed to turn draws in to wins to have made that a very good season and we almost did finish 4th.  Only bringing in Bowyer shouldn't be under-estimated, especially after the CL disappointment.

 

As for that terrible season, I'd swap it with any we've had since.

 

Precisely, we played poorly pretty much throughout the entire season and struggled with turning draws into wins, and we only just lost out on 4th places in something like the 35th/36th game at Southampton? Imagine if SBR was given the finance to put in some fresh impetus and some competition for places for the likes of Bellamy or Dyer, would we still of been complaining about discipline if those 2 especially werent our only option?

 

The sad thing, is that our eyes got too big for our stomachs and we we didnt realise that in actual fact we would prbably have started the next season as one of the favourites for the UEFA cup....how times have changed.

 

Too old...... 

it scares me that some can't see the difference in how we palyed that season and the season before.

 

It scares me that some people still see a 5th place finish as reasonable justification for a sacking. Yet happily accept that if Allardyce achieved the same feat with even worse football he'd be very well recieved. Theres a bit of a contradiction there somewhere....

 

No one is saying the football was good, but its a measure of how good we were as a team that our football was so poor yet we still comfortably achieved a top 5 finish, Manu U, Liverpool even Arsenal have had poor seasons, Liverpool especially who have been perennial underachievers for a good part of a decade yet have only had 2 mangers in the same time we've had 6. If Villa or Everton or Porstmouth had a season the same standard as our do you think they'd have 5th place comfortably tied up like we did?

 

Agree to disagree i suppose...

 

IIRC, it was only a 93rd minute equaliser in the 37th game of the season that got us 5th spot that season...so I'd hardly say we had it comfortably tied up would you?

[Mick]

 

He is a reporter, his job is to report, he isnt an ambassador for the club ffs he works for a newspaper and this was an opportunity for a story regardless of where it left the Modric deal. He is a c*** for alot of things, but as far as the Modric thing is concerned he was just doing what he gets paid to do.

 

Sometimes knowledge brings responsibility, if Oliver broke the Modric story then he's a shitbag but we knew the answer to that one anyway.