Most liked posts in thread: Clubs Mindset

To be fair it’s not crap is it.
We’re close to promotion but also close to complete failure.
We should, as a club and considering the squad we have and the backing Hughes has had, be comfortably in the top three not scrapping about to make the play offs.
We might make it this year, we might not but ultimately it’s not been good enough - from either the management or players.

 

All those clubs have had investment. Whilst we 'live within our means', progress will always be limited. Mid-table League 1 at the most.

Being self-sustainable is to be applauded, but it does limit progress on the field.

 

I don't think its wholly on anyone, but the buck has to stop with Hughes. He's been well backed and top 3 was the right level of expectation. He hasn't done it. It may be that he rescues the thing through the playoffs but I'm doubtful.

We've had the same shortcomings on display all season, and January was a failure in terms of giving the squad what it needed to take it on a level. Stubbs aside, and Clayton to a point, none of the other additions have worked. We needed a quality replacement for Wright and didn't get one, a creative midfielder and didn't get one, and someone else who could contribute goals, and didn't get one. We got a plethora of sub standard loan signings.

We rarely play with real intensity for anything like 90 minutes and I have to think that's at the direction of the manager; case in in point being the Rochdale game. Team that's bottom of the League and his instruction at HT, when only 1-0 was to sit back and hit them on the break. Now, it worked in that game, just about, but its a game plan we've seen often and it generally doesn't work.

Despite the frustrations, if we don't go up I don't think he should be sacked. I don't really have the appetite to start again from scratch and we have to hope that Northampton are a good example of having a 'nearly there' platform to build on again in the summer, to make next season our season. But I worry on 2 fronts - firstly, we'll have moneybags Wrexham into the League, almost certainly Notts C too with plenty of backing, Salford will throw plenty at it again, Gillingham are going to invest. There'll be several, well funded and ambitious clubs in this league next season. And secondly, I see no real evidence that Hughes knows where and how to solve the deficiencies we see. Again, I'd point to January's transfer business, but also the continued pissing about at goalkicks which consistently causes us more problems than the opposition.

 

No club ever gets all its targets. And yes we've improved, which is why I wouldn't want Hughes to be sacked - albeit, I think he's done reasonably rather than particularly well. Context is important - Leyton Orient finished on identical points to us last season and have the 5th highest agent spent compared to us in 6th. They've romped it. Stevenage finished 21st and clearly have a smaller budget and have been top 3 all season.

Hughes has been outperformed by a number of managers and I maintain a view that he's underperformed. Not hugely, and it feels like it's largely self inflicted, but he's underwhelmed slightly in my opinion.

 

With the cheap season tickets you get a bigger “on the day” audience for sponsor's than any other club in the division. Cheap tickets are a positive and not a negative as you’ve indicated.

 

I wish people would stop bashing the season tickets . The reasons we do it are because we can. We have the stadium capacity, we have the population in the area. I am not sure many league two or one clubs could pull the numbers we do , without drastically reducing their playing budgets and thus suffering on the pitch. Some of the bigger clubs that have found themselves in the lower reaches of the football league, Sheff Weds for one, have the support and history not to need this sort of offer, Yet still find it hard to climb back to former glories. Our history is of years of under achievement and poor support, so anything we can do to boost the numbers, has to be applauded.

 

Bit of a daft statement that yes I believe the club has underlying issues as has nearly every other club
Dreary Derek used that as an excuse for his own failings
But that doesn't affect the way we play on the pitch
MH bemoaning the amount of injury time is nonsense we have the same amount of time to score as our opponents
look at 10 man Salford as an example we have a team capable of doing better but are being held back and hindered by negative formations/tactics and that's not down to Rupp/Sparks or off field politics
A different style of play (less cautious) would have us sitting in the Autos
Please explain how that's Rupps fault ??
MH has the squad for promotion but doesn't know how to utilise it and yes it's that simple !!

 

I have been coming to VP since 1958 without a proper count I think I have seen 6 or 7 promotions about one every ten years doesn’t reek of Success does it

 

I think you made a point against yourself in the OP - we had the history makers and went up. That was moving in the right direction again after admin.

the current woes aren’t anything to do with those two periods of admin. They are entirely the fault of two clueless owners who came in subsequently and, in a fresh chapter, started to destroy the club from within.

One hasnt stuck about, the other is trying to repair the mess, but the fault lies with them IMO.

imstead of valuing mccall after the millwall playoff final loss and bolstering a good L1 squad, they tore it apart, gave Stuart nothing to work with but their barnpot plans, and forced him out.

remember Kilgallon on the radio that night almost in tears as the board werent investing? We let good players walk because ‘we knew football’. Edin was just a big fraud in reality.

i agree the mindset at the club has been questionable but our problems are due to clueless owners and poor recruitment both in terms of managers and players.

we have made positive progress in the last 18 months, though. ST sales are fantastic and commercially we are doing really well. Rupp is still here throughout the progress, though he seems to be taking a backseat still.

i think it was 14 players we signed in the summer? That’s a big rebuild. Others have come in on loan. It might take us another season to go up, but it will be tougher next year with Wrexham and likely Notts county coming up.

 

I think it’s more a holistic comment - not just this season, not just related to being lethargic on the pitch until the last three months.
It’s ingrained, we don’t demand or expect success, there’s a wide acceptance of mediocrity.
@Fordy117 talks some absolute crap at times but with this I completely agree - there’s a long term losers mentality at the club from fans to board.

 

you say some stuff that is questionable but that is so wide of the mark you've landed in the wrong field...

they are already a basket case club, supporters trust showed no confidence in the board just a few days ago.

Not sure if you remember these are the same folk who tried to buy city and they met Rupps asking price. Rupp declined their offer. He did his due diligence and look how its turned out...

for me i smelt something was up when they publicly accused Rupp of reneging on the deal and rupp took them to court and settled out of court. Rupp really does need more respect on this forum.

SOURCES;

https://www.ctfcsa.co.uk/2023/statement-17-april-2023/

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportlatest/19798927.bradford-city-owner-rupp-blasts-back-wagmi-united/
https://www.bradfordcityafc.com/news/2022/february/legal-agreement-stefan-rupp-and-wagmi-united2/

 

No, I've said in my other post I don't think he should br sacked. He should be backed again for another season, hopefully with some constructive scrutiny from Sparks and Rupp as to what went wrong so he's challenged on how to make corrections in the summer. If he doesn't deliver next season, it may be a different story. But whilst he'll have failed if we don't go up, he's not come so short that we should be starting again. We have to break that cycle, however that shouldn't detract from a reasonable critique of how he's performed.

 

Doesn't have to be a City fan

Ryan Reynolds will have never heard Wrexham before. Now I don't really know the story of why he rocked up there flashing his millions.

I do find it odd that some clubs can find rich investors from out of their town, or even country and a club with our potential can't.

Rahic obviously got involved with us and saw the potential of getting us into the Championship on the back of a sizeable fanbase and potential to increase further, however, once here, he was out of his depth and made a right mess of it rapidly taking us backwards.

Fair play to Wrexham for attracting glamorous and wealthy owners, wish we could do the same

 

We had the spend big moment under Rahic, but he who knows football did the spending. We've had experienced managers, but no scouting network, we've bought young, we've bought old, we've brought in goalscorers but not played the system to get the best from them, we've had half a squad of loanees which proved fruitless, we've handed out 1 year deals, 3 year deals, we've brought managers in without a number 2, we've used youth team coaches, we've changed systems and nothing has worked. I’m with @Fordy117 to a degree. If we want to have a house built of brick instead of straw, we need to invest in the infrastructure so that we can produce talent to sell. Putting the pieces in place will cost money. A lot of money if we're going to do it right. What we have at the moment is a poor man's version of a successful club. It's a step in the right direction but when you look at the Lutons and Boltons, they've taken a punt by having the right fit for their club, and having the correct strategy that everyone works to.

 

I think the fans (and board) do demand success hence the big turnover of managers? Losers mentality is just some childish comment for effect. You can say we've been under performing for years given the size of the club and fan base but there are lots of reasons for that and to just say 'losers mentality' or blame the owner (or fans) is way too simplistic.

 

Threads like this annoy me because it brings back memories of how close we were to the championship before Laurel and Hardy turned up.. arghhhhhhh all we needed was that bit of investment after we lost to millwall in Parkys last game but nope.. they hit the reset button and decimated us.. it look the threat of a flyby for Rupp to act, and fair play he has backed Hughes this season, but what he let happen to this club by his mate Edin is unforgivable.. so RUPP OUT!

 

The season we missed out getting beat by Millwall we were still owned by Julian & Mark, who then sold the club to Laurel & Hardy, Parky walks out after speaking with Edin and Stuart takes over and gets one better than Parky getting us to Wembley, totally agree that closed season Laurel & Hardy should have invested in that team that came so close, unfortunately we know there were problems behind the scenes, no money was forthcoming for Stuart and it all been downhill from there.

 

The only underlying issues i see are the pressure that comes with being the biggest club in the league (big fish small pond).

Bolton managed it but they weren't as well entrenched in this league as we are. The longer you stay the harder it is to get out.

i fail to see what else Rupp could be doing right now, he backed his people , not for the first time. He is a safe pair of hands given a rocky start to his ownership.

still at least 3 games to play before the witch-hunt needs to start Hopefully MH can learn and adapt , sign a few nasty never say die characters, whatever the outcome.