What Next?

Not too much to ask for is it?

 

I'd love Hughes to come out and say he got certain tactics wrong throughout the season and acknowledge that he was perhaps too over-cautious at times.

Followed by a promise to have a bit more attacking intent next season and really go for it.

That in my opinion is all we need, because at the moment it sounds like he's doubling down on his tactical thinking by saying it had nothing to do with tactics when he's the only one who can't see it for what it is/was.

 

Sparks said we don't accept meritocracy and he got hounded off twitter for it.

hughes said after the carlsie game “we will come back stronger next season”

do you think this club with all the times it has said the objective is promotion has suddenly change its mind the closest we get to that objective in 6 years?


Everyone is hurting. Let the players, staff and management breathe for a bit.

 

I don't know what they can say anymore tbh.

I'm bored of the we go again, build on the platform type messages.

Regardless of the cheap(er) tickets, there's 15k of us. We should not be in this division. I'm tired of us being the club that cannot get it right. Luton had it far worse than us and are 90 mins from the Prem. Cov, Bolton both bounced back first time from this level. We're into our 5th year, it's not just failure it's embarrassing. I know you are where you deserve to be, but we're quite literally competing with village teams (FGR) in some cases. Appalling.

The club has to come out swinging this next season. And on the pitch that means more pace, more athleticism and more directness. L2 isn't a difficult league to get out of, 2 of the 3 teams already promoted came bottom half last season. And the two play off finalists came 20th and were in the National League. Sort it out City. Less talking, more action.

 

Where do we go from here? I'd imagine we had one of the most sizeable budgets in the league and the manager was well backed. What will next seasons budget be?

Its highly unlikely we're going to sack a manager who took us to the playoffs and in many respects we shouldn't. Its easy to make the case that stability will pay off and that we just need tweaks to go a step further next season. But is that really so? The playing style really hasn't worked this season. Far too often Cook has been isolated and we create little. We've relied on Cook getting on the end of set pieces and doing things for himself and we won't be able to rely on that next season because he won't be here.

The squad needs work. A lot of work. It's oversized but lacking in quality, pace and energy. The January window was a failure and right up to the end of the season we had common failings and gaps on the team sheet. Far, far too many players have made little to no impact or rarely featured. Perreira, East, Donohoe, Oliver, Young, Harratt, Nevers, Bola, to name a few.

I think next season will be a struggle and a hard decision needs to be made. I know some have an Allergic reaction to this, but I'd take Steve Evans. He plays the sort of direct, aggressive football that our fans want. He'd take us up. And Wellens was making very friendly noises when we played them. If there was any chance of tempting him here, I'd do it in a shot.

I really don't have confidence that Hughes will fare any better next season.

 

But you are asking the club to say something..

 

I thought Steve Evans was employed?

I'd take Wellens, but again, employed.

 

Good managers tend to be.

 

Wellans has recently signed an extended contract at Orient Jon.
No chance of him coming here!!

 

Agreed, I think if Hughes left, we'd be better discussing managers we could actually sign rather than Evans or Wellens.

 

The only thing I’m interested in seeing first is the retained list

Then, see who we sign in the summer

Those 2 things alone are the only important things

 

I'm quite excited about the Summer window.

Of course, I expect Cook to leave, but would be disappointed if Lewis left.

But who goes and who comes in will be telling.

 

If cook and Lewis leave that will be telling.

 

If we sell Lewis, particularly to be a number 2 in the Championship, we should just toss the towel in and start planning for a promotion bid in 2025/6.

I've no idea what promises were made to him upon his arrival, but if we didn't promise him we'd sell him to the first bidder, we shouldn't even entertain the idea.

We have enough on our plate replacing Cook, and at least 3 or 4 other players who failed to score enough goals this season.

 

Evans would drop Stevenage in a breath to come here, regardless of a drop in division. I've absolutely no doubt about that.

 

Genuine question, why are you excited by the summer window? I see it being a problem. Cook will leave and with him goes the only threat we have. Banks was our second biggest threat and he hoes too. We have lots of players tied down to contracts so how much room for manoeuvre is there in the squad? Other than Lewis and maybe Stubbs and Halliday, how many of our players still under contract are we pleased to see tied down?

Hughes completely fluffed tye January window, why would he get the summer any better? And this summer we have Wrexham coming up, if Stockport don't come up they'll spend again, Gillingham now have money, Salford will go big again, Notts County will have a few quid.

This summer is going to be very difficult. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Lewis leave if we get decent fee either.

 

100%. Wellens would be very unlikely, but Evans would come in a shot.

 

The summer will be the same as it always is. We'll sign 2 or 3 players that convince us all we'll piss tye league but then be surprised when they turn out to be sh*t (Smallwood, Chapman, Walker, Oliver), sign 3 or 4 players who appear to be strange but convince ourselves there's a plan that makes sense (Young, Osadebe, East), go into the first game of the season full of optimism and backed by a bumper home or away following, then draw 0-0 playing drab football that creates nothing and start the process of convincing ourselves the squad just needs time to bond.