2024 Released Players & City transfer rumours

The news re Stubbs is disappointing to me but not a surprise.
He didn't have the best of seasons last year for a number of reasons, but he has shown himself to be more than competent at this level. I mentioned on a previous thread that I'm not writing the new lads off this early but initial impressions leave me worried. We haven't shipped goals yet but we've looked far from solid so far.
Hoping it will be just a case of giving them time to gel but based on what I've seen so far, the defence appears to be downgraded, and does not look like a base for a promotion team to me. Really hope they prove me wrong.

 

TBH he would have been released in the summer had he not triggered the extension. GA was never really a fan, that much was clear.

Pretty sure he had no idea Stubbs and Smallwood had triggers in their contract. He seemed a bit miffed he wasnt aware because I think he would have purposely left Stubbs out of games had he known.

 

We've been quite lucky in that the 2 league games we've played so far, our opponents have been a team that are yet to get off the mark against anyone and a team that haven't properly got their shooting boots on yet. I don't feel our new look backline has been properly tested yet and I do worry about how they will fare when they are. Like you, I hope they prove me wrong but from what I've seen so far, I'm not overly confident that they will.

 

What's irritating me, is GA seems to have been suckered in to being Sparks' (and Sharpe's) puppet. Far from resolving the issue of being badly run by a novice CEO who makes David Brent look like Alan Sugar, bringing Sharpe in (Sparks' mate) seems to given him more power and another line of defence, whilst allowing him to sit in the background and let others do his filthy work.

Conjecture of course, but I would put everything I own on that appointment having been driven by Sparks claiming "he needed help" rather than by Rupp identifying a problem and moving to resolve it.

We need Sparks, out of this club, we need to be run by someone with experience of managing a multi million pound business, who has the gravitas to face it's customers without reverting to the angry face look, going into defensive mode, and talking utter bollocks every time he opens his gob.

The positive side of Sharp & Sparks is at their age there should be youthful enthusiasm in what they do, mistakes will be made, but in most cases senior managers of their age would learn from them, admit to them and be flexible enough to change. Top quality senior managers rarely make the same mistake twice.

All we get with Sparks is mistakes, silence, defiance, more mistakes, in a continuous cycle, followed by attempts in the background to make himself untouchable by throwing manager after manager out with the bath water. Sparks isn't running a football club, he's running a rear guard action to save his own skin day after day, whilst the football club suffers.

Make no mistakes, the issues aren't Rupp needing to put extra money into the club, what is holding us back are Ryan Sparks' inability to manager a business (of any size) and Stephan Rupp's inability to see the continued damage that he is doing.

I would wager that, despite his madness, we wouldn't have been in this position this long if Rahic had stayed, at least he had the required gravitas and knew his own mind, was prepared to take risks on the football front and was was learning on the job.

Sparks makes Junior look like a good CEO.

 

Perhaps he's being instructed what he can and can't say and the clusterfuck is just pulling his strings ?

 

But why is he doing that? He is a respected manager who must know if you become the fall guy then your name is associated with the same mess. I said last week he needs to find away of getting out of that or it will be too late.

 

I would argue Stubbs incompetence cost us a shot at getting to Wembley last season.
Before you say it was only the BSM, everyone on here was gutted at the end of the semi.

 

Were they ? I couldn't give a shit, and not having been to any of the BSM matches had no intention of turning hippocrite by turning up at Wembley.

 

Of course it is part of a managers job to handle difficult scenarios. I think GA needs to stick to “he is distracted and therefore I have stood him down for the moment”

The whole mess goes back to Hughes who did not know how to manage players who were not robots. You need many skills in your armoury to manage different characters.

 

I don’t get why Stubbs got to play 4 pre season games if he was never in the plans

Unless we bring in another CB, they are playing a very risky game

Can’t help feel we are just one injury from capitulation….again. Why doesn’t this hierarchy learn from past errors

 

Why is it unsubstantiated?

Cook has near on 50 goals in two seasons, has not far off a goal every 2.5 games for us playing in a system where he is up front on his own and chances created are as rare as rocking horse shit.

Young went somewhere to play with freedom and got 16 goals in 25 games.

Stating that there could be goals in a partnership involving them two is hardly downright speculative is it, given the right formation and the right supply.

The formation we have currently doesn't work, we don't score enough goals, that is the simplicity of it. It's proven.

Because we don't score enough the defence has to be spot on, because if we concede a goal when then need to score twice to win which is nigh on unlikely given the current scenario.

Play a formation and players that stands up as been the best at your disposal, you can't get promoted scratching wins and draws here and there

 

GA has done the right thing.

Everyone of the squad that failed to get us up under Hughes bar Halliday, Smallwood and Cook has been moved on or is getting moved on. Only Young has yet to be decided on.
Last season was an even bigger embarrassment until he came in and steadied the ship.
From 16th to 8th and now 9 league games undefeated with a ppg under GA that would have us top 5!
Many on here were flapping we were heading for the trap door and out of the league.
Relax, have a pint today and enjoy the game with your mates cos that's all that matters ATM.
Everyone always says it takes till November to see a true picture.
Until then , calm the **** down.

 

I find that hard to believe. One of his first jobs after introducing himself to the squad was to sit down with whatever admin person who is responsible and read through every players contract. Make a list of the players whose contracts run out. Options etc.,

 

Those 4 games got him fit and ready for someone to take him off our hands.

 

Yes it was a howler although he had actually had a good game prior to that. Unfortunately I think there are howlers waiting to happen in each of our current crop - they are all League 2 after all. You just hope they keep them to a minimum and when they do make mistakes that they get away with it.

 

Pretty sure he said it in a pre season interview. Maybe with Raynor.

 

Simon Parker speculating that we are after a centre back now Stubbs has gone.

 

Heard nothing about Walker leaving, just fan speculation because of Adams. Kelly is still here too. And we have signed an old Hughes boy in Wright.

Oduor, Smith, Pattison, Richards were also Hughes signings.

 

We'd certainly be in big trouble on the right if for example Halliday got injured today and Baldwin received a red.

 

I was thinking basically anybody in defence (keeper too) and cook. And with our recent history, injured players aren’t out for a couple of games, they are out for 3-4 months at a time. We’d be utterly shagged.