Guitar Ray

Didn’t we have wingbacks when we were promoted from League 2?

The difference between the 2 divisions is pretty wide overall. For example Smith has a promotion from League 2 on his CV which would suggest he’s a decent player at that level. The youngsters, those we manage to keep, will look better in League 2. A few of the outfield players plus Ripley will be decent. I honestly believe that the nucleus is there. Definitely no need for a mass clearout but whatever happens any new additions have got to be established players if we’re to do well.

It would depend largely on how much money we threw at it in the summer and probably again in the January window. The current squad has the nucleus of a decent league 2 outfit in my opinion but obviously our better players will be targeted by other clubs. Crewe have shown what can be achieved with some decent recruitment and a few young home grown players. No reason why we shouldn’t be able to emulate that.

The sad thing is it was so easily avoidable. The near miss of last season should’ve been enough of a kick up the backside for the powers that be to see what was needed, but no, some deluded footballing genius decided he had a master plan, we were suddenly going to play football in the style of Man City, but then he forgot to recruit the players to do so.

Not read through all this topic but I’d be fairly confident that much of this squad would be OK at League 2 level. No doubt we’ll lose some of our better players, maybe all. The biggest issue is that we still need 3, maybe even 4, strikers and if we do lose Garrity & Chiz then that’s a fair few extra goals we’ve got to find on top. Add the goals plus a bit of extra pace and power and we’ll be rayt. Oh, and you always need a sprinkle of good luck.

Very much from the heart. We’re all feeling the pain and frustration. Frustration that relegation could so easily have been avoided. Onto next season and its not just up to Carol, the staff and the players, it’s also up to the fans to stick with the club through the bad times as well as the good.

Yes all those pints have been essential this season.

Still raw after a year? Sorry, but are you related to the guy or have you gone soft? What will be raw is the feeling I’m likely to have at full time tomorrow barring some sort of fluke, not an ex-employee, albeit well regarded, from a year past.

As you say, mistakes happen, and can be forgiven. But what’s to forgive? An error of judgment. So what do you want? Some sort of grovelling apology for that? Why not simply let the club have their inquest, as per Matt Hancock, and state their findings. Discuss. Move forward. End of.

What’s to be gained from dragging this old chestnut up? Whatever the circumstances behind CG leaving he isn’t the reason we’ve been relegated.

Maybe you’re standing by that person with the wool still firmly pulled over your eyes though.

We’ll renew as normal the only question was in which stand. I did think about moving from the Hamil but we were talking about it again last night at the game and the consensus in our small group was to give it another season.

Very easy to say, but I just repeated your sentence and found my fist had punched a hole in a nearby stud wall. I’ll be needing some patch plaster before I can learn from it and move on. 😖

Spot on, but quite frankly I’m not arsed much at all about communication, just give me the stuff I need to know and beyond that a winning team to talk about. A lot of the stuff the club have come out with has just been used as a stick to beat them with so I don’t know why they bother. Basically a lot of folk these days want to know it all so they can talk about 💩 on social media all day long. Anyway, here’s me talking more 💩

Just to correct you, I have no positive bias towards Clarke and I think if you care to read back through various topics my comments would always acknowledge the fact that Crosby played a big part in our promotion. People seem to forget that the manager isn’t a one man band. When Clarke was in charge he had a team of staff along side him, Crosby being one member of that team. Moving along, I also don’t think Crosby was as bad a manager as many are making out. My own feelings being that he was hamstrung by recruitment and having to buy in to the football philosophy of his boss, David Flitcroft. I’ve said on several occasions that if we add a couple of capable strikers to our current, admittedly poor, squad, Crosby would’ve had enough about him to guide the side to safety, albeit probably not challenge for the play offs.

Quite clearly these are subjective views, personal opinions. Taken at face value his CV suggests he’s a good manager at league 2 level.

Oatcakes are available in the fanzone.

Nobody is saying the owners are beyond criticism, far from it. No escaping the fact though that the DoF should shoulder the bulk of the blame for our current situation. Without knowing the full facts it appears that when discussing the managers position with Flitcroft the DoF pathway came up and obviously he sold himself to Carol that he was the best available candidate and so ends up with that job on a part-time basis. I think it’s on record he said he wasn’t interested in the full time managers job due to business commitments. So he’s effectively “advised” Carol into giving him the DoF job which eventually ends up being full time anyway. In terms of the managerial recruitment then that’s on Flitcroft, as the man responsible for all things football. He gets the plaudits for appointing Clarke, equally should be castigated when Crosby fails, although for me a massive part of that failure was the weaknesses in the squad and recruitment based around playing a rigid style, the jury is out on Moore until he’s working with his own squad of players. It’s the DoF’s job to recruit the manager and Carol has 2 choices, trust her DoF or ignore him and go her own way, which is hint going to happen. Sadly, we’re having a conversation which would’ve been so different had our ex-DoF managed to add a couple of capable strikers at some point over 3 transfer windows. Turn a couple of this seasons losses or draws into wins and we’d be safe and looking to improve again in League 1.

To appoint someone better qualified than yourself into a role and delegate responsibility is not poor leadership and is perfectly normal in any business. The problem is that Flitcroft has been able to manipulate Carol from day one, being interviewed as a potential manager the club suddenly adopts a completely new DoF model with him as that DoF. Bingo! Our initial success and the galvanising effect it had no doubt clouded people’s judgement. Clearly Flitcroft was a grade A waffler full of management speak and that possibly appealed to Carol, who knows, but she clearly rated the guy, hence that crazy letter.

I beg to differ. Clarke has a proven track record at the level below so was a solid appointment. Where Flitcroft got lucky was that Clarke replicated that success with us in achieving another promotion, which could in no way be guaranteed let alone in the short timescale it took. I feel your negative bias towards Clarke has blinkered your judgement on this one. Fair to say however that this success also probably played into Flitcroft’s hands in the sense that it made it harder for the powers that be to accept that he wasn’t capable of turning things around. Naturally the manager would get the axe first as is always the case. Then we’re in the wait and see cycle again until finally, after changing several managers and pressure from the fans the lightbulb has had to come on.

Maybe the fact that she’s seeing her own millions disappear will focus her mind slightly more than it will me worrying about the price of a couple of season tickets in League 2. Who knows?

Folk expect a scoreboard and we’ve had one forever. The old one was knackered, plus was in the way if you’re stood at the back of the Hamil….. buts that’s a separate topic.

I used to work for a guy who did give people a chance, particularly sales people. And he was also pretty friendly with some of them. But he wasn't afraid to get rid of them if they weren't performing for his business. Unfortunately, to be successful, you have to be ruthless at times. Even if you personally like the people. We have got rid of people. Not soon enough is more the issue.

Goodnight.

Who said she’s a lifelong fan? I didn’t and it’s widely on record what her history is regarding football so nothing is being rewritten as far as I can see. I think you’re understating the fact that someone had to “throw money away” to take the club out of the clutches of Sexman. Maybe you’ve forgotten what was going on around that time. Carol went wrong by trusting David Flitcroft, who was approached for the managers job but somehow managed to convince her we needed a DoF and wangled the job for himself. Flitcroft got lucky in that a decent managerial appointment in DC saw us promoted which would’ve cemented his reputation in Carol’s eyes. From then on it’s been more a typical Flitcroft scenario that we’ve seen.