Reply With QuoteMitch Rose had his limitations and could be described as average at best for us...but I think we've missed him this season. At least he put himself about a bit.
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Would even prefer Mitch Rose to Reeves, hope IB soon become aware that playing both Doyle and Reeves really limits us in midfield.Originally Posted by St Kitts Magpie
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Mitch Rose had his limitations and could be described as average at best for us...but I think we've missed him this season. At least he put himself about a bit.
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We have a massive problem upfront, Knowles and Sam between them have scored 20 odd goals so far in their careers, obviously mainly Sam and due to Knowles’s age but we need proven strikers, their both gambles which haven’t paid off. I think Reeves is hampered by Doyle, I like Doyle but we only need one of them and have a Mitch Rose type next to them. Hopefully Knight is the answer and just get in a CM ASAP
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Over the past twenty years we have been used to the “old fashioned” model of entrusting managers’ judgement when recruiting new players, or worse still, the judgement of someone like Guy Branston. The outcome has been a steady decline leading to where we are now. So the idea that a new approach is any greater risk is comprehensively disproven by past experience. The "old ways" could hardly have done more damage.
It is maybe a cultural thing that a lot of British football managers, and maybe British fans, resent the idea of players being identified primarily by somebody other than “the manager”. It’s a bit like weaning the British football fan off the 4-4-2 system. However, if the recruitment is done correctly and scientifically by intelligent, analytical people (i.e. not a Guy Branston) then there’s no reason it can’t work. In fact, many European clubs, including top clubs, have demonstrated it can work better than the “old” model.
Our recruitment in the past two years can probably best be described as “mixed” in its success, but when you think about it, that’s actually a darn sight better than you could say about most of our recruitment before that, which was a story of overwhelming failure. And worse still, the managers whose judgement we trusted often let good young players of our own leave the club in order to create space for their comparatively expensive crocks of sh*t.
I believe that for the past two years we have seen a hybrid recruiting system where the owners have given the manager they inherited the backing to sign players on his own hunches, mixed with some recommended by Football Radar. This may reflect why the outcomes have also been a bit mixed, and why Ardley has seemed to give repeated chances to some of the players he prefers and limited chances to others, even though they have performed relatively well when picked. You mention Elisha Sam as if he has been a failure, but actually his goals return is very good, as is that of Rodrigues, and when the rest of the team is conspicuously lacking goals (aside from Wootton and Boldewijn) it begs the question why Ardley was so sparing in his use of these young, improving assets and didn’t play more to their strengths, instead of relying repeatedly on his ‘Dad’s Army’ of players in obvious decline.
Now we have a guy who is happy to be a Head Coach rather than a manager, and apparently very willing for Football Radar to play a significant if not leading role in recruitment. He says his first love is working on the training pitch and developing players, which tends to imply young recruits rather than grizzled old professionals. If so, then the owners now appear to have fully in place the model they envisaged, and they have already made it clear that they are not demanding “promotion or bust”. They are clearly focused on a long-term, developmental approach where they want to achieve steady rather than spectacular process based on recruiting young players, developing them, and hopefully bringing in some funds by selling them on at a profit.
As fans, I think we’re going to have to get used to not thinking in the “old way”, not over-reacting to short-term results, and not thinking in terms of having “two year plans to reach League Two” or “five year plans to reach the Championship”. The culture of the club is changing, and although I understand the scepticism amongst those who are used to the old way of thinking, it is difficult to understand why they regard it so fondly, because for 20 years it has failed us spectacularly. Our only real success in that time was a season built on a financial fraud.
It’s time to embrace something new, even if the positive results don’t come straight away.
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Was it not having the guts to replace them or the fact that he overrated them both? Doyle and Reeves couldn’t do anything wrong in Ardley’s eyes. There’s also this issue about how well they train. Surely it’s how you perform on match days that should be the major consideration. A number of top players have been poor trainers. Didn’t our own Neal Bishop recently admit he wasn’t always the best trainer. I can’t recall him ever letting us down on match day though.
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In the long run you're dead. Too many are now writing this season off and there's all to play for. Last season's recruitment was pretty good, this season's not so much. Even so, one dynamic centre midfielder and one top line striker should improve us enough to give a real push to at least have a bash at winning the league.
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Keep the faith. If we can win the 3 games in hand and beat Sutton then we will be in 2nd place just 3 points behind Sutton.
It's still doable
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I agree, it's too many others including the Reedtz and Burchnall who seem a bit lukewarm about this season.
Wrexham, Chesterfield and Halifax absolutely believe they've got a shot at promotion now and are going for it. We seem to be drifting into an acceptance that it's not happening this year and we absolutely shouldn't be.
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I suspect most of that is simply management of expectations for the fans. I'm sure inside Reedtz Inc. HQ they are actually AT LEAST as hungry for promotion as we are.
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They haven't said or indicated they are "lukewarm" about this season at all.
In fact, I'm sure one of the reasons they made a change is now is to see if Burchnall can get something more out of the players than Ardley was, in the hope that we can end the season in success.
What their statements have suggested is that it's not "promotion or bust" and the long-term strategy will remain consistent, but that's not being "lukewarm", it's about anticipating all eventualities and planning for them, which is what sensible, analytical people do.
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