12 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

Tbh I thought Stockley was very poor and didn't offer anything when he came on at least Ruari was trying as he was the one having shots and tbh out of all our strikers on the pitch today he is the one who offered the most. 

Stockley won every header, the other forwards were reactive no pro active. Paton will never be good enough for this level or the level below IMHO

1 hour ago, Doha said:

She's spent an unbelievable amount of her own family money on us.

It is accordingly very difficult to criticise.

But bloody hell Carol, why do we keep making the same mistakes repeatedly when it comes to decisive decisions?

You can’t criticise her commitment, but fans have every right to comment on decisions/lack of learnings from past mistakes.

38 minutes ago, Birches Head Fred said:

Remember this is radio STOKE, I'm damned sure they are loving "agent Moore's" efforts to get us back on par with the Mighty Potters.

Don't believe everything you hear or read from a radio station as biased as theirs.

As I put in the other thread, pretty daft to think they don't more than we do at this stage. They've clearly been told this by someone at the club or in the know and can report it.

Its a classic case of don't shoot the messenger - even if you don't like them they might be telling the truth.

3 minutes ago, leedsvaliant said:

There's a number of reasons that we find ourselves where we are:

1) Carol and the board were wooed by the big name Moore. I believe Carol is from the West Brom area, so will have been fully aware of him and his work at West Brom. There was no interview process or assessment of his suitability. The general consensus was we were 'lucky' to have him. A quick look at his previous clubs and there's very few, other than a well backed Sheffield Wednesday, who are complementary about him. In fact most of his previous clubs say that they are still recovering from the damage he inflicted.

2) I have always had the impression that Moore feels that this job is a bit beneath him. I guess after managing a huge club in Sheffield Wednesday, this is a bit of a comedown but he's never seemed fully emotionally invested. When he first joined and had a mate come and watch us instead of himself, alarm bells rang.

3) Further alarm bells rang when we gave the entire football responsibilities to Moore. Who is checking his signings? His performance? His tactics and ideas? His training methods? Carol isn't putting her wellies on and checking, so who's he answerable to from a footballing perspective?

4) I like the CEO. He seems a bright lad. But previous to that he was head of community at Burton. Where's his experience and acumen to take on such a role? It's a key role and needs experience and knowhow, particularly when things are going wrong. He's what, late 30s/early 40s in age? Just doesn't have the gravitas for that role yet. It's perhaps why our preferred signings haven't always got over the line and we've had to 'make do' . You've got to be a tough negotiator in that job.

4) I don't want to sound rude and it's a point I don't really want to have to make but I said before we got Moore that he didn't strike me as the most erudite or intelligent people. I'm not expecting him to be mastermind but he often uses the wrong vocabulary in interviews and doesn't strike me as one of football's great thinkers. Do you have to be super intelligent to be a good manager? No. But look at how the most successful managers across all leagues articulate themselves. They're able to get their point across clearly and have the intelligence to understand and try new things if not working.

5) We've made the same mistakes as before. We've signed way too much quantity over quality. We have 7 strikers, why? Have 4 on the books, two of high quality and then reasonable back ups. We've got 8 million wingbacks. Yes, I know most of them are injured but we should have had a back up formation that doesn't rely on wingbacks so that we didn't need to stockpile them.

6) Much as I hate to criticise Carol, she is ultimately answerable to us as fans...we still invest into the club but obviously not on her scale. But she's not immune from criticism. She's a nice lady but once again her niceness is her downfall. She's become mates with yet another manager and it becomes difficult to sack from this point. I have nothing against positive working relationships but maintain that professional distance. I've worked for bosses who I got on with but I always knew that they were the boss and I was their employee. Again, she told a story of going to the theatre and having a meal with Darren and his family after the Wimbledon game. It's just too familiar. She had the nice walks with both Clarke and Crosby and was chummy with Askey before that. You don't have to be a heartless tyrant but just set the boundaries early on.

It's all culminated in weak decision making with poor checks and a complete lack of football expertise throughout the club. That's why we are in this position today.
 

Best post in the thread. Perfectly summarised why we can’t handle League 1 - structural deficiencies at the top which haven’t been addressed.

It’s a long road back, I fear. I can’t believe I’m saying this after the optimism of the summer.

Of all those people you’ve mentioned, the only one of them who has any more idea about football than you or me is Rudge, and he’s in his 80s and been out of the game for decades.
We are an IT company in a football club’s outfit.
Would anyone else take over a complicated business in an entirely different sector - let’s say, from hospitality to software - and just bring over all the hospitality staff and have no software expertise in the building?

It's a really good point Joe. Don't give football based jobs to people who have been working in an IT company. It's a completely different world.

1 minute ago, arthurdog said:

Ok. Here's my take.

We are getting beaten by poor teams and hammered by good ones. I accept the latter but not the former. Moore's tactics confuse me as do the constant rotations.

There are at least 3 players, who are fan faves, who are just not up to this level .  C Hall, Garrity and Paton. Why not play Stockley and let Cole run on to his knock-ons? .

Our next 2 league games are against 3rd and 2nd in the league. Do we want Moore in charge for those?

 

 

The issue with the latter is they aren't as good as we think they are.

Stockport 2 games since wiped the floor with us , lost 2, both 3-0.

Bolton hammered by Burton. Held to 0-0 by Bradford today.

Yes they are both amongst the better teams in the division but let's not make them out to be wonderful. It's a very poor standard league one , of which currently we are the poorest of all 24. 

3 minutes ago, Alfie1962 said:

Stockley won every header, the other forwards were reactive no pro active. Paton will never be good enough for this level or the level below IMHO

No he definitely did not, I would say put of around 7-8 aerial challenges he won 2 at most 

So carol is backing the manager,...Alan vit will be masturbating in his socks tonight 🤣🤣💦💦

Edited November 22, 2025Nov 22 by Splodger

9 minutes ago, leedsvaliant said:

There's a number of reasons that we find ourselves where we are:

1) Carol and the board were wooed by the big name Moore. I believe Carol is from the West Brom area, so will have been fully aware of him and his work at West Brom. There was no interview process or assessment of his suitability. The general consensus was we were 'lucky' to have him. A quick look at his previous clubs and there's very few, other than a well backed Sheffield Wednesday, who are complementary about him. In fact most of his previous clubs say that they are still recovering from the damage he inflicted.

2) I have always had the impression that Moore feels that this job is a bit beneath him. I guess after managing a huge club in Sheffield Wednesday, this is a bit of a comedown but he's never seemed fully emotionally invested. When he first joined and had a mate come and watch us instead of himself, alarm bells rang.

3) Further alarm bells rang when we gave the entire football responsibilities to Moore. Who is checking his signings? His performance? His tactics and ideas? His training methods? Carol isn't putting her wellies on and checking, so who's he answerable to from a footballing perspective?

4) I like the CEO. He seems a bright lad. But previous to that he was head of community at Burton. Where's his experience and acumen to take on such a role? It's a key role and needs experience and knowhow, particularly when things are going wrong. He's what, late 30s/early 40s in age? Just doesn't have the gravitas for that role yet. It's perhaps why our preferred signings haven't always got over the line and we've had to 'make do' . You've got to be a tough negotiator in that job.

4) I don't want to sound rude and it's a point I don't really want to have to make but I said before we got Moore that he didn't strike me as the most erudite or intelligent people. I'm not expecting him to be mastermind but he often uses the wrong vocabulary in interviews and doesn't strike me as one of football's great thinkers. Do you have to be super intelligent to be a good manager? No. But look at how the most successful managers across all leagues articulate themselves. They're able to get their point across clearly and have the intelligence to understand and try new things if not working.

5) We've made the same mistakes as before. We've signed way too much quantity over quality. We have 7 strikers, why? Have 4 on the books, two of high quality and then reasonable back ups. We've got 8 million wingbacks. Yes, I know most of them are injured but we should have had a back up formation that doesn't rely on wingbacks so that we didn't need to stockpile them.

6) Much as I hate to criticise Carol, she is ultimately answerable to us as fans...we still invest into the club but obviously not on her scale. But she's not immune from criticism. She's a nice lady but once again her niceness is her downfall. She's become mates with yet another manager and it becomes difficult to sack from this point. I have nothing against positive working relationships but maintain that professional distance. I've worked for bosses who I got on with but I always knew that they were the boss and I was their employee. Again, she told a story of going to the theatre and having a meal with Darren and his family after the Wimbledon game. It's just too familiar. She had the nice walks with both Clarke and Crosby and was chummy with Askey before that. You don't have to be a heartless tyrant but just set the boundaries early on.

It's all culminated in weak decision making with poor checks and a complete lack of football expertise throughout the club. That's why we are in this position today.
 

Cracking post. 

8 minutes ago, Alfie1962 said:

Stockley won every header, the other forwards were reactive no pro active. Paton will never be good enough for this level or the level below IMHO

Great header from Stockley to miss that chance… that was a sitter. Stockley is only decent in the air, the rest of his game is very poor, now he’s missing simple chances I really fail to see what he offers. Not a chance Stockley is a league one striker now. 

Just now, valiant_593 said:

Great header from Stockley to miss that chance… that was a sitter. Stockley is only decent in the air, the rest of his game is very poor, now he’s missing simple chances I really fail to see what he offers. Not a chance Stockley is a league one striker now. 

He offers more than Paton, play Cole and Stockley together that is our best hope IMHO

We have about 8 strikers and only one is good enough. And Moore played him on the wing to win the game. 

41 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

She saved the club, and everyone should be eternally grateful for that, but she also has the same issues with managers time and time again. Everyone can be criticised. Her blind loyalty to a manager is threatening to relegate us again. She's the managers boss, not their best mate and confidant. She's not 'Auntie Carol', she is the owner of a professional football club. This happened with 'Uncle' Norman and his 'sweetie jar'. This attitude as a fan contributes to us being in the position we're in again imo. Treat owners with respect, but also treat them as the professionals they are and hold them to account when they are making the same mistakes over and over again. 

she might be my auntie carol 😍😍😍

38 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

If Carol can’t be trusted to make the obvious call and sack him, can we trust she’ll choose the right replacement when she does wake up?

I’m sorry, but Paddy needs to take the reins here, employ a consultant to come in to appoint a new manager and then take over football decision-making permanently.

I cannot hack relegation again.

Come on, it's a hobby - what else we going do all week if we can't moan about this crap

As me old Pappy used to say "if u can't moan about work and football, then u can't moan about anything"

It must be getting bad though as the usual doom mongers have resurfaced 

I said at the time I would like Duff to replace Crosby but we went for Moore............ they are polar opposites