Failure 23/24

Not to rain on your parade, but those are overall stats and include the nonsense trophy wins. I think GA got at least 4 in that nonsense competition.

They don't translate to points.

 

Disagree.

We got Rupp/Sparks shitting themselves about a fan boycott.

We had the protests you were advocating for a long time. Even though you failed to join them. Nuff said about that.

Since then we are unbeaten.

I would say that is anything but a failure.

Bantam progressivism in full force. Here we go.

You onboard?

 

The pressure remains on next season, too.

It's not just a case of 'make a statement and appease the fans', many of us have taken Rupp on his word here. There will be hell to pay if he mugs us off just like he did last time.

We need commitment from Stefan as much as anyone, end of, time to act.

 

The win rate is taken over all competitions but the fact remains his points ratio taken over all the season would have us in fourth again with Hughes team

 

For sure he picked us up, if he hadn't we wouldn't have finished top half.

Nothing against Graham Alexander at all, I still have some reservations, but he's done more than enough now to earn the Summer and Winter transfer windows and prove he can get us promoted.

We're all going to wonder 'what if' with some of those results and why we performed so poorly at points, but that's football, eh? Those things happen. They need to be at a minimum next season, however, as we must once again target the top 3.

 

If we drag the dead beast of last season around then it will surely affect our summer. We know what the problems are, now we need an action plan on recruitment. We also need to be thinking of formulating our medium and long term future…..where are we going, what will be the building blocks to get us there, how will we recognise success. Promotion is one very important aspect of success but there are others. Even this season which by anyone’s standards has been a failure we did have a very good January window and end to the season. Plus Bobby Pointon is now a regular. We have employed Sharpe who hopefully will be able to complete some of this planning.

 

The thread starter is definitely right on pretty much all the failures across the board, our scouting set up with Gent and co has come in for deserved stick with some of the duds we've signed recently, but despite this obvious failure in our scouting is what I want to see is our manager step in and say I don't care how much research you've done on this player but I've had a look at him myself and also spoke to my contacts in the game and he's not for me it ain't happening....End of.

 

There is no doubt there have been some failures in the scouting but we have found some good finds as well permanent and loans players like Kelly Ireland Oyegoke Brentford Tomkinson Norwich Banks Crystal Palace Kavanagh Gent gets unjustifiably maligned at times. I think the team that took the field today with one or two quality signings stands a great chance next season

 

Agreed on Gent.

Wonder if he stays now that Sharpe is here, part of me thinks he departs this Summer, but happy enough for him to stay.

 

Blame is Rupp and Sparks.

They set the budget that dedicates the shite we have brought in.

 

On the fence with him but he just scrapes through for me. However the below were massive red flags:

- The Pointon exclusion was inexcusable
- Failure to find a solution for gaps in CM or LWB in Jan window (Wright playing LWB came too late)
- ability to make us hard to beat when key players were out

He scrapes through cause, when he has had players available, his points ratio is a decent return. So I give him the benefit that when he has the summer window to recruit and time with the squad to prepare (he called out low levels of fitness when he arrived) then I expect a decent return.

 

Pointon being left out was bizarre - and I for one am glad Pointon has made Alexander at a massive slice of humble pie.

 

The budget wasnt the issue it was the loons that blew it on shite yet again.

We missed out by a couple of points and i could live with that had it been a half decent league but it was rank and for us to finish on the points we did simply show that.

Sadly some will get giddy that our form picked up at the end when the pressure was off and when players where out for new deals
Folk what to look back at our run against Mansfield,Notts County,FGR and Harrogate thats what this squad was really about.

 

GA said pretty much the same thing yesterday. Those that are after a new contract need to have out it in for the entire campaign.

 

I don't think it was bizarre. Like Hughes, he favoured the centre midfield pairing of Smallwood and Gilliead and I remain convinced that had Gilliead not got injured, Bobby would have remained on the bench. Hopefully GA will have seen now what a few of us have been saying for the past 2 seasons that a Smallwood /Gilliead pairing holds us back, and playing with Smallwood (if he stays, which looks likely) in a solo holding role is the way forward.

 

Glad he came out and acknowledged that dont get me wrong he aint been blameless with some of his lineups but thats just a small part the bigger picture was yet again our piss poor recruitment and another weak minded squad failed us again and if Rupp and cant see with the right budget and the right players we would walk this league then i give up.

How many years now ????? Lets hope Sharpe is about to break that cycle and actually gives GA thr backing he needs

 

He may have actually been trying to protect the kid from the mass grumblings and you know what we are like for putting all our hopes on one lad to be our savour.

 

He seems to be very much of the view that Smallwood has, which I struggle with. I'll admit he's done a decent job on this last little run we've had but prior to that, he's been awful. He's either picked up over the last few weeks because he's after a new contract, or he's looked a better player in the system we've been playing with Pointon and Walker in front of him. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and say it's the latter, but if we start next season with him and Gilliead in the centre again I'll be absolutely fuming.

 

Possibly a bit of that as well yes, but the fact remains, a fit Gilliead and we wouldn't have seen Bobby in the starting 11 over the last few weeks.

 

Where to start:
Summer recruitment - Sparks made a lot of noise in pre-season about being more adventurous in our play for this season with a smaller but more adaptive squad. When this failed miserably we panicked and began frantically hoovering up players, prior to the window closing. Leaving us with a bloated squad that needed culling in January. Who was to blame? Hughes or Sparks? I think Gent was asked to do one thing only to have to about face when Sparks/Hughes hit the panic button.
Hughes sacking - Sparks royally cocked this up. The lack of communication whilst we looked to replace Hughes was a massive mistake. He compounded this with his failure to get 'his man' but then tried to make out GA was his #1 choice when it was as clear as day it wasn't. He had nobody lined up when he could and should have.
Communication - for someone who's come from a marketing background, Sparks has been woeful this season. As I've touched on, his big announcement around recruitment and playing style was then followed by the FUBAR recruitment of the summer. The we had the Hughes replacement debacle. He then really shot himself in the foot with the so called 'fans forum'. You could hear him squirming under questioning and frankly his answers dug a deeper hole. And finally we have complete silence whilst things imploded with protests, letters, articles in the national press.
The big positives from this sh!t show is that it's forced Sparks and Rupp to nail their colours to the mast. The open letter is the document which holds both men to account. We have it in black and white. If they go back on their word there should and will be hell to pay.