Whatthefuckisgoingon?

Quoted from The Old Codger

7th highest average attendance in the league so far this season together with a trip to Chelsea. Bit disappointing if we have the 18th highest budget.

(1) Some clubs have more non-matchday income than us.
(2) Some clubs are overspending.
(3) We have games in hand.
(4) It's not even the halfway point of the season, so you can't expect us to be always where we 'should' be given our budget. After 15 games last season we were on 15 points, 4 less than now. Not a massive difference, but we have >25% more now than the same point last year.

So all things considered, Rob's right, we're probably about where we could be expected to be. He might be on to something about the style of play too. That point was well made by Forza about Hurst with whom Jolley has been compared recently for his negative tactics.

The trip to Chelsea won't have brought in that much money 45% of net receipts, and we all saw how well staffed they were (numbers and quality, and that doesn't come cheap in London), and it was only £10 a ticket. Besides, there hasn't been the opportunity to use it to boost the squad as we haven't had a transfer window since then.

It's frustrating being where we are and playing boring football. I get that. But it's no good blaming the stoker. It's the company that needs sorting out, and what can you do about that?

I don't accept that our style of football is down to budget. It seems to me that some on here are trying to pin the god awful style on Fenty. I'm afraid that it is the manager that dictates the way we play, not the directors. Macclesfield for instance, came here and at least had a go, and played decent football. Are you trying to tell me that they have more money than us which allows them buy better footballers compared to us?

It is a nonsense to claim that lack of money is why we’re playing such a horrendous brand of non-football. Even at the start of the season we were top of the league for expected goals but for some reason Jolley now instructs them to get 10 men behind the ball and just launch it long and straight to an isolated Hanson. There is only one man who has decided on this change of tact and it’s not Fenty.

Quoted from mimma

I don't accept that our style of football is down to budget. It seems to me that some on here are trying to pin the god awful style on Fenty. I'm afraid that it is the manager that dictates the way we play, not the directors. Macclesfield for instance, came here and at least had a go, and played decent football. Are you trying to tell me that they have more money than us which allows them buy better footballers compared to us?

Bob on M91...think some of our frustrations have to based round the fact that we have some decent/good players, certainly good if not better than league 2, and the managers tactics/style of play isn't good enough to get a tune out of them...
No one can put the blame at the door of the board for this, only 2 people set the squad up on a match day ..so limbrick and Jolley have to shoulder the blame for our God awful displays, which is no longer the odd game in isolation, it's been every game since the middle to end of September bar the Exeter game..
I just wish THEY  could see where they're getting it wrong, put players in their natural positions and actually go at a team rather than hoping we get the chance of a counter attack...which again, is a flaw in his tactics as we do not have the natural pace, with the exception of Wright, to be a counter attacking team...
All in all, the management team are failing us as fans and letting the board down that employed them...if Fenty is the fan he proclaims to be then surely he can't be happy with what he's been watching happen on the pitch recently...

Quoted from KingstonMariner

What the hell is that? Got a link?

I know most things but I am embarrassed to say I don't know how to as it's stored on microfiche. If I did manage to do this I believe you would have to be in possession of a microfiche reader yourself. If I could have done this it would have stopped a lot of the rumours. If you want you could always contact the microfiche/microfilm org. in Boston Mass. for further details.Don't forget their time is 4 hours behind us and on Mondays they usually have a tea party. Hope this clears any misunderstandings.

Quoted from The Old Codger

Read above! Rob states that we are about where we should be with our budget.

But what is the budget and what are other clubs budgets? It's easy to come out with figures like "18th in the budget league" but no facts or information to back it up.

Quoted from mimma

I don't accept that our style of football is down to budget. It seems to me that some on here are trying to pin the god awful style on Fenty. I'm afraid that it is the manager that dictates the way we play, not the directors. Macclesfield for instance, came here and at least had a go, and played decent football. Are you trying to tell me that they have more money than us which allows them buy better footballers compared to us?

Absolutely! There are plenty of managers who will use budget as an excuse and aim low so it looks as though they are overachieving. Hurst is one and Jolley is looking more and more like another. On the other hand we have seen Buckley Mk1 for instance with no budget at all and only about 6 signed players when he came get a team to play a passing game even while building up to his best side.

Obviously budget matters but the use of the budget matters more and it is the manager's job to do that and to realise he is in the entertainment industry. That means fans contribute cash and to get it he must provide results first and foremost but some entertaining football will go a long way to keeping fans happy even if the results are not perfect. Doesn't the Exeter game show that it can be done?

So true RonR-the fact is there are no decent results or entertainment. How on earth can Jolly and his team justify being kept in their jobs I will never know. It appears that they don't rehearse or plan anything in training except maybe play tiggy or tag and even that will be stopped too. I know it's cold and you, like the rest of us, like to be sat round the fire but get using the training for what it's meant to be for and start again from scratch with a bit more planning and use the players for the role that you signed them for.

If we can perform like v Exeter each week then we would be flying - I would also say how we played at Walsall and and home to Vale were also good performances -

but we just dont seem to keep up those performances - what a disappointing month October was and we can most probably say the same for November (be surprised if we get anything from Northampton)

Last season we ended with 16 wins and 22 defeats - we currently need another 12 wins to better that and for that to happen something has to change

I've been very defensive of Jolley in the past and advocated that anger is directed toward the board room rather than to him, largely due to the budget constraints I believe he's under.

I still believe that we should direct our main anger towards the higher echelons of this club, that's where the fundamental problems of the last 20 years lie.

However, I'm simply struggling to defend Jolley anymore.  Even more so after that absolutely dreadful show on Saturday.  It was simply shite.

Regardless of budget constraints, Jolley has built an unbalanced squad.  There isn't a body in the building that he hasn't signed or given a new deal to.  They're all his players.  

He's got four central defenders, with very little difference between them in what they bring.  The most composed is the lad who should still be serving the second year of his YTS!  Individually I think Waterfall is a good signing but was he what he needed?  

In midfield where's the variation?  There's nothing in there that's remotely technical or creative.  Our best footballing midfielder is Hessenthaler, a guy who's best used in front of the back four.  

We have no width other than Max Wright, who without we look absolutely toothless.  

In attack we're pathetic.  We've got a guy who can be a focal point, hold play up and bring others into play.  Yet what we're doing is lumping it into corners for him to chase down.  He's supported by a guy (Green) who looks devoid of confidence, fitness and understanding.  Our Plan B is to bring on Rose because of his pace but we don't adjust how we play the balls up to him.  We still lump it and expect him to win it 9 feet in the air against giant defenders.

The one potential variation we have in attack, indeed our whole squad, is Charles Vernam.  I've been a bit disappointed with what he's delivered since arriving permanently and I get that there's probably question marks over his fitness, but when we were crying out for something different he played 63 minutes on loan for Chorley - which also cup ties him so I'm guessing that could be an indication of how Jolley views his future.

I know Hendrie is injured and I'm guessing Hewitt is injured too, which left us without a right wing-back.  The no brainer for me was to go with a back four on Saturday and put Harry Davis at right-back.  Using Jordan Cook as a wing-back is just ridiculous.  Wedded to a system we can't play and shoehorning people into it just to stick with it.

I don't mind grinding results out as and when needed.  But we are awful, not just dogged.  We have no quality, we have no game plan, we have no clear vision, we have nothing at all.  

One argument is let's ride it out until January and let Jolley do some further tweaks to the squad.  The other is do we want to let him loose again?  On reflection have we improved window on window?  Individually I think we've brought good players in, just the balance is wrong.  

I know it wasn't a nice day on Saturday and the FA Cup isn't the glamour it once was.  But having not played for ages and no game next week, you would have expected a better gate.  That's a result of the poor entertainment we're offering.  

Jolley comes across as a nice bloke but that's not what we need.  We need a winner. I've got big reservations if he's that, unfortunately.