Just Back

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

We’ve clearly got a group of weak minded players who cannot cope with playing at home in front of a large crowd. urine poor . No good going forward. Get rid of the manager as well , hes got nothing about him and don’t think he’s going to take us anywhere but down. I’m still not sure he’s really in charge. It’s a fooking mess

He's not really in charge, is he? Had no choice in any of his staff, not even his assistant manager. Signings were all players we'd spoken to in the summer.

Hurst was sacked because he signed his own players and didn't play passing football. Yes, results contributed but the statement was that the data was good and we'd been unlucky in several games. When that was the case 12 months earlier there was no consideration in sacking him.

Artell brought in to play passing football and sticks to it religiously until a meeting happens. He's apparently not told to change the style but we do and revert to the type of football he was so critical of just 2 weeks earlier.

A mess is spot on. Never gets any better for us.

Yesterday was the first home game I’ve missed in a while but by the sounds of it I didn’t miss much. Ultimately it appears it comes down to the fact that we just don’t have much quality available. After this recent unbeaten run of hard fought points won I’ve seen some suggest that we don’t need wholesale changes to the squad for next season. And whilst that would be nice I think if we want to progress at all then we’re going to need a serious injection of quality across the board.

Neither goalkeepers are good enough. I know Cartwright has had a couple of good games recently but right now he’s not anywhere near consistent enough and I’ve never been impressed with his shot stopping. Eastwood has about as much confidence as I would have if I had to fight Tyson Fury and is so mentally fragile that really he should consider a different career.

In the defence Tharme looks like a decent L2 stopper and Hume, if we can get him to stay, looks decent too. Mullarkey and Rodgers would be okay back ups but if we want to progress we need better. At right back, Clifton’s defensive side of the game is good and has energy to burn but he can’t play football. And Maher and Glennon are almost certainly on their way out and both are NL standard anyway.

Midfield in the big issue. Thompson has been a good signing but is lacking in mobility. He reads the game very well and has the ability to consistently look after the ball. If you put two quality players next to him then you’d have a good midfield for this level. The problem right now is none of the other midfielders are FL standard. Clifton can’t play midfield. Holohan and Green aren’t FL standard and struggle to do the basics well. Wood and Andrews are very young and will be alright long term but they’re not our players. It needs a complete overhaul in there for next season.

Up front we need to keep Rose and Wilson is decent. I’m not bothered if Pyke stays as he’s not a central striker and other than a couple of good games wide right he’s flattered to deceive.

One of the few good things is that actually some of our best players recently have been the additions in January so if Artell and the recruitment chap can do similar in the summer then we might see an improvement. I don’t think you can exaggerate just how poor the squad was that he inherited. Other than Conteh and Rose it was miles short of the squad we had when we got promoted and that side finished 6th in the NL. Lots of work to do and it’s so depressing after the high hopes in August

Quoted from mariner91

Yesterday was the first home game I’ve missed in a while but by the sounds of it I didn’t miss much. Ultimately it appears it comes down to the fact that we just don’t have much quality available. After this recent unbeaten run of hard fought points won I’ve seen some suggest that we don’t need wholesale changes to the squad for next season. And whilst that would be nice I think if we want to progress at all then we’re going to need a serious injection of quality across the board.

Neither goalkeepers are good enough. I know Cartwright has had a couple of good games recently but right now he’s not anywhere near consistent enough and I’ve never been impressed with his shot stopping. Eastwood has about as much confidence as I would have if I had to fight Tyson Fury and is so mentally fragile that really he should consider a different career.

In the defence Tharme looks like a decent L2 stopper and Hume, if we can get him to stay, looks decent too. Mullarkey and Rodgers would be okay back ups but if we want to progress we need better. At right back, Clifton’s defensive side of the game is good and has energy to burn but he can’t play football. And Maher and Glennon are almost certainly on their way out and both are NL standard anyway.

Midfield in the big issue. Thompson has been a good signing but is lacking in mobility. He reads the game very well and has the ability to consistently look after the ball. If you put two quality players next to him then you’d have a good midfield for this level. The problem right now is none of the other midfielders are FL standard. Clifton can’t play midfield. Holohan and Green aren’t FL standard and struggle to do the basics well. Wood and Andrews are very young and will be alright long term but they’re not our players. It needs a complete overhaul in there for next season.

Up front we need to keep Rose and Wilson is decent. I’m not bothered if Pyke stays as he’s not a central striker and other than a couple of good games wide right he’s flattered to deceive.

One of the few good things is that actually some of our best players recently have been the additions in January so if Artell and the recruitment chap can do similar in the summer then we might see an improvement. I don’t think you can exaggerate just how poor the squad was that he inherited. Other than Conteh and Rose it was miles short of the squad we had when we got promoted and that side finished 6th in the NL. Lots of work to do and it’s so depressing after the high hopes in August

The January recruitment has to go down as a win 4/5  have improved us to varying degrees . We will probably need to do similiar but double or more to have any sort of success next time out - Do we have the resource to recruit probably 10 players of that standard or better though?

We should try hard for Hume  , but will it be we were the shop window rather than his final destination ?

Quoted from Mappers

The January recruitment has to go down as a win 4/5  have improved us to varying degrees . We will probably need to do similiar but double or more to have any sort of success next time out - Do we have the resource to recruit probably 10 players of that standard or better though?

We should try hard for Hume  , but will it be we were the shop window rather than his final destination ?

Tharme, Thompson are Hume are better than what we had.

The summer recruitment didn’t work but oddly enough in recent weeks Rodgers & Mullarkey have looked better and it’s Clifton, Holohan & Green that have been exposed for the level they are actually at.

Hurst seems to have got a lot wrong in the last summer but maybe there was more to fix than we anticipated.

I think JS is right you have to & can run a club sustainably, whether that results in performance on the pitch well in the current world of the EFL I’m not sure.

Lots have things about are club have improved, but when you look at our current side & league position it’s hard to identify what in terms of the first team squad & performances where you can say we’ve moved forward.

Like you say Mappers we just need to finish above the line & see what Artell can do.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

In terms of actual league placings we are no better off than with Fenty, which is not something I thought I would write. Doing nothing substantial but keeping the costs down has been equally successful as doing lots but not spending substantially more on top players is giving us similar outcomes.

I was member a hoop when the new owners came in, but unless we are going to make really substantial improvements to BP, or actually get a new training facility then everything should be focused on getting better players in during the summer.

If long term plans are just that, then bobbing along in the lower reaches of league 2 or worse won't keep the fans enthused enough.

I think getting out of NL, making key but not always tangible improvements to BP (ground and pitch) and sustaining the books over 3 seasons isn't a bad foundation and was priority.  This season has undoubtedly been a blip on the pitch when considering progress, so next really is quite important in terms of intent. By the way 'member a hoop' is a wonderful swear filter!

The biggest problem for 1878 is going to be convincing 6500 home supporters to keep coming through the turnstiles foe tgd fayre on offer.We can't sugar coat it were force fed crap on a regular basis regardless of manager and team and frankly I'm sick of it. The other stuff off the pitch matters of course but I like I suspect most of the 6500 just want to come to Blundell Park and watch my team play well and compete we've been short changed for 20 years. The priority for 1878 must be to sort out the first team everything else should be secondary to that in my opinion. Failure to heed the above will be reflected in the gates.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

The biggest problem for 1878 is going to be convincing 6500 home supporters to keep coming through the turnstiles foe tgd fayre on offer.We can't sugar coat it were force fed crap on a regular basis regardless of manager and team and frankly I'm sick of it. The other stuff off the pitch matters of course but I like I suspect most of the 6500 just want to come to Blundell Park and watch my team play well and compete we've been short changed for 20 years. The priority for 1878 must be to sort out the first team everything else should be secondary to that in my opinion. Failure to heed the above will be reflected in the gates.

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

I'm still puzzled that Harrogate, Morecambe, Crawley, Accy,Newport  can all manage much better than us in league 2 despite getting roughly 1/3 of our gates/income? The sums don't add up.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

In that case do you expect JD and AP to " invest' or donate tens of millions to help the club maintain it's league status?

I know I will get hammered for this but, Artell should play Clifton in midfield, he is better there than Green, Holohan, Wood and Andrews. Play Smith at right wing back, he did very well when coming on as a substitute.

I would like to think that both Bramwell and Braithwate will get a chance at some point.