Jake Young

Last year was the exception, when you look at the last few years. To me, we're fundamentally mismanaged as a club, run by a mixture of a disengaged owner and incompetent CEO. It only ends one way, for me. We may buck the trend but if I had to put money on us exiting the league over the next couple of years, I know which direction I'd go for. I see us dying a slow death, unless there's change at the top.

 

It certainly did, no question.

 

Kevin i will try and answer.
Mark Hughes had his style of football, some of the players were his , lots he already had in the squad.
I personally found his way of playing frustrating , keep ball is all well and good if you have the quality of ball players required, who can work the ball from back to front , and create and take chances from this, it does not even have to be done at pace if your passing is accurate retain possession and take those chances when they come along. Unfortunately we did not have a squad full of players who could do this, but we managed to find a way of reaching the playoff's. ultimately we fell at this hurdle.
Yes most did not like the style, but it was starting to work. For some unknown reason, instead of adding that extra to try and make it work even better, we ripped it up and changed direction again. it failed and Hughes had to go.
GA is more direct and the squad of players he has ended up with, is not really suited to how he wants to play. far too many tricky , small and physically weak players and some too old or unfit.
We may not like this style either, but if ultimately he gets results , then you live with it. Steve Evans is a good example, horrible man and horrible football, but i would swap league position with Stevenage in breath.
I am not sure about sussing other teams out. or us being sussed out, i think we are just too weak and worry more about what they can do to us, than what we can do to them.
The owner , as is his right , has decided that he will not put anymore of his money into the club and we have to stand on our own two feet, again i would love him to put say £1million into the playing budget every year,its not going to happen and we still have a decent budget, teams with apparently a lot less than us, have and are performing far better. Barrow , Crewe, 2 examples.
As i said earlier, we have to pick a manager and let him build his squad of players , to play how he wants. This will take time and we have to be patient.
Unfortunately our large stadium allows for the large following and increases the pressure on anyone who steps into the hot seat.
Probably why the Cowleys were not interested and have opted to hide away in Essex, their reputation could not stand another hit, after Town and Pompey.
I always try and look at these things without being too re-active, i did not think we were going to storm the league after the run of unbeaten games. For me the season has gone and we need to allow GA the time to build the squad in his image. It will take time and we have to stick with it.

 

Disagree with your comments about players not suiting GA style we have had one bad performance in the=last 10 or so matches. The Crewe result was a bit of a freak we were far the better side in my opinion.

 

Excellent response but the fundamental answer to the question remains elusive. I have a great book on football formations / styles etc whatever what one wishes to call it ( It’s been mentioned on here), and it’s plain that all styles / formations are merely a passing fad and one cannot remain in use at any one time for very long.
It’s innovator's like Pep and now Klopp who change the game as we know it. Stones and Trent A-A “inverted” defenders. The fad will wear off once other teams cotton on.

 

Remember when we used to offer Carlisle crap offers Charlie Wyke ?? wow times have changed

 

Surely he cant have a niggle until Bradford City think any offer for him is acceptable, will he be on the bench at Derby, or Saturday at Colchester, we don't know the situation although at the time I thought Nahki was a bit of a pr1ck for actually coming out and saying Huddersfield were the only team he'd sign for, but time is a great healer and was happy to see him at the Preston away game several years ago supporting his past team mates.

 

Sadly it looks that way.

 

I think we can read into the situation mate, I don't think he will wear Claret & Amber again unless Motherwell sign him .

 

Maybe one point

 

The key here, is the rule that you can't play for more than 2 FL clubs in one season. If that rule didn't apply, he'd have made himself available on Saturday I'm sure. Put yourself in the players shoes; its a short career, and opportunities to materially change your financial security don't come around often. What do you reckon he's on, say £2k per week? He has 18 months on his deal, with the club having a year's option. So that's a contract value of approx 150- 250K. And he's playing for a club going nowhere in League 2. If he moves, he's going to be on £5-10K per week, and would almost certainly be on a 3.5 year deal, maybe even with an extra years option. So that's a contract value of £1-2m. Playing at a higher level, possibly moving to a much nicer part of the country and for a club that's almost certainly going to be better placed to develop him further. Its the difference between earning a decent wage and setting yourself up for years (probably for life, if properly advised). Its a complete no brainer - no way is he going to see the chance of such a move whisked away just to turn out once or twice for a plodding league 2 club that couldn't wait to shift him out on loan twice in the last year. Be honest - what would you do? Even leaving aside any possibility of ill will, he'd be daft not to bide his time for a week or two. That's exactly what I'd be doing in his position. He's doing nothing wrong, he's protecting his interests.

Nakhi's situation was totally different.

 

Agree 100%
It will doubtless be an undisclosed fee to the mighty Carlisle (they seem to like our ex players)
Mixed feelings myself not sure he can reproduce his Swindon form either with us or another club
Will be interesting to see

 

Alan Nixon is saying it’s Exeter and Port Vale who are after Young.

 

That’s fair yes.

 

In what way was NW’s situation different, I may have missed it sorry?

 

Got to admit, i cannot see both those teams blowing City away with a cracking offer
But we are stuck with a player that wants to get a move this month

 

Ridehaugh and Halliday are not wing backs. Wilson , Afoka, Chapman , Odouir and Pointon can not play the role either in my opinion. Richards has the energy, but as yet has not shown any flair for it, Ogeyoke played down the right and was poor for the most part. Its an important part of how GA wants to play. Square pegs, round holes.
Crawley, Crewe , Morecambe first half, Acrcington was not brilliant, Notts county and Barrow also in the last 10 league games. 4 wins 4 losses 2 draws,

 

Tried my best mate, but ultimately football is a simple game and i am a great believer in a squad of players all knowing what the aim is , all pulling in the same direction and giving their all for the cause. You do not need to re invent the wheel.

 

When does he ever get anything right?

 

Can't see Exeter or Vale coming up with the £, but at least if Exeter do they have previous in developing young players.

Watkins, Ampadu, Williams etc. might make a sell on clause worth it.