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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

paulhanley

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Posts posted by paulhanley

  1. There's room in the squad for a signing if Arfield and Williams are on their way out but Iles ain't confident. Like most other folk I still think we need a midfielder with some physique. 

    Overall though..not too fussed. Just relieved we've got rid of Evatt and enjoying the honeymoon period for the new set up. Win, lose or draw this season .... we're building for the future again.

  2. It's not major surgery that's needed but at the same time it's a little bit more than tweaks. The squad needs to be a bit more mentally tough, there needs to be a leader or two added and also a bit more physique, especially in midfield. SS is very unlikely to be as tactically dogmatic/predictable as IE so that problem ought to resolve itself. 

  3. We aren't getting automatic promotion and in my mind I'd written off the season and been thinking about preparing for 25/6 with a new manager and making an assault on League 1. These last two wins of Julian's have us outside the play offs by a fraction so, of course, promotion cannot be ruled out! Look at Oxford last season. Would we be Championship ready if we snuck up with this team? No. Oxford seem to have rapidly developed themselves though! 

    As regards remaining fixtures I hope Julian has a little word with SS to say "whatever else happens the fans would love to avenge the 5-0 at Stockport, finally get one over on Wigan and win at Blackpool for the first time since 1977". 

  4. 4 minutes ago, Cheese said:

     

    Brilliant news but bloody hell Cheese have you been pressing refresh all afternoon? You nearly beat the club to that announcement! 

  5. Been at work all day so only just checking in. Probably miles behind the curve but it looks like betting suspended again and everyone waiting for to arrange the press conference?

  6. Steve Thompson and Neil Redfearn? All we need is Warren Joyce on the team and its BWFC 1983/4 re-born!!

    I actually think there's a good manager in Thommo. When he was a player he took a while to build up physically and really it wasn't until his mid-20s that he matured in to the quality midfielder he's remembered as being here and at Leicester. Similar with his management career he's picked up a load of experience at different clubs and given his background and knowledge I reckon he's capable of being in the no 1 role. At Bolton and now though? It'd be a gamble and he's in a field with some quality/proven names.

    Still - while we all have Julian in mind its good to remember his midfield partner too. Thommo played an awful lot of games for us. 

    (Redfearn was a tremendous midfielder too but much shorter career with us and came back to haunt us more than once)

  7. 1 hour ago, HR said:

    When did we last have two ex players managing against each other?  Coyle maybe vs Allardyce?

    I think probably Phil Brown v Owen Coyle happened at some point but would have to check back.

  8. I think Big Sam would be a perfect director of football, on the board, linking between manager and directors, giving the benefit of his long experience not just of football but of Bolton Wanderers.

  9. Had a good look at all the names in the frame and had a chance to think a bit now the work day is done. 

    Schumacher has done nothing wrong in his managerial career. Nobody seems to make it stick at Stoke and he'd won as many games as he'd lost in the ridiculously short spell he was afforded. 

    As things stand he's my no 1 choice. I reserve the right to change my mind half a dozen times between now and breakfast tomorrow though 🙂

  10. Just now, Tonge moor green jacket said:

    Daft thing is, we're still well within a play off shout. If the new man can put out a modicum of consistency, then we've every chance of getting in them, and then who knows.

    A free shot if you like, no one will be too worried if we didn't make it, given the start.

    The new man then has time to assess in the summer and build accordingly.

    Aye, you're right. It's just if by some miracle we got to the Championship with this squad I don't think we'd have enough time to evolve it to be ready for that level. It'd take a miracle worker.

  11. I appreciate people's warnings about Schumacher although I'd been warm to that idea initially. I think Wycombe are in for him too. 

    Gary O'Neil would be of interest. 

    If Tony Mowbray hadn't got a new job recently I'd have been keen on him 

    Ryan Lowe and Leam Richardson's stars have fallen a little bit of late. 

    Let's get someone in with a bit of experience under their belt this time. As a decently sized club with a good fanbase and an upward journey beckoning, we are surely entitled to that privilege. 

    I know people tend to scoff at Big Sam but if the club want a short-term caretaker while it considers its options I think he'd be perfect and he'd enjoy it. I also think he'd be up for a longer-term director of football style role and we clearly need someone with a footballing brain on that board. The amount of time its taken them to pot Evatt shows that! 

  12. First time I've managed to get on here since seeing the news this morning. 

    What a blessed relief. I can start properly supporting the club again now. 

    We're at Ground Zero in some ways but that squad has talent in it even if it has no balance and has not been managed with any pragmatism. Short term the players just need someone to build their confidence and keep it simple for them. 

    We're not going up this year and we'd have been bombed out of the Championship if we'd beaten Oxford at Wembley. We need to focus on building a squad with lot of capabilities now, under the stewardship of a management team who are able to adapt and think laterally. It's all about hitting the ground running for 2025/26 season.

     

  13. Not much to make me smile linked to my footballing affiliations just now but the ongoing circus at United definitely does. Long may it continue and long may their grotesque support base suffer. 

    The rags and Tottenham were definitely the two big clubs to slip in to the second tier in the 70s (although Villa did so too early in the decade). Could it happen again? Nah, too much dross at the bottom. But Postecoglu in particular seems to be giving it a good try. There are elements of the Evatts about him.

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