Wycombe Wanderers (H)

[gonzo]

24 minutes ago, Tombwfc said:

 

At what point does being up and down = shite though, for our purposes?

If you're only good enough every 4/5 games, then you're not good enough for a side looking to get promoted.

We've got the worst of both worlds with a lot of our lads. Many do just about enough to convince people they're quality, but don't do it anywhere near often enough.

Maybe they just need a proper pre season with a proper manager with a structure and plan in place for promotion with a few additional players with the right character?

Not every single player is shite and we need to clear em all out or have em sweeping the carpark.

[London Wanderer]

31 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Maybe they just need a proper pre season with a proper manager with a structure and plan in place for promotion with a few additional players with the right character?

Not every single player is shite and we need to clear em all out or have em sweeping the carpark.

Aye

 Be interesting what changes SS makes & who he brings in. 
 

Or these players get us promoted & I look like a right fanny 😄

SS has hinted that they’re playing for their futures, so we’ll see what the next few games bring. For all my moaning, I have a soft spot for a lot of players in the squad & would like to see them stay with us. I just expected better after Evatt left, but he was in charge for years, so realistically it’s going to take time to adjust. 

Edited April 17, 2025 by London Wanderer

[Ani]

38 minutes ago, Tombwfc said:

 

At what point does being up and down = shite though, for our purposes?

If you're only good enough every 4/5 games, then you're not good enough for a side looking to get promoted.

We've got the worst of both worlds with a lot of our lads. Many do just about enough to convince people they're quality, but don't do it anywhere near often enough.

The facts are we have made play offs last 2 seasons and are not going to be million miles of this year, so the players are ‘nearly’ good enough. 
 

They do not have to be world beaters just better than other league 3 teams who mainly have smaller budgets. Even this season better use of the loan market would pretty much guaranteed us a play offs last spot, hard to imagine the loan players contributing less than those here this year. 
 

Add in IEs obsession with signing players with  their socks pulled down and you realise we have had our pants pulled down. MacAtee and Randel prime examples - fans of Barnsley and Peterborough were not arsed when we signed them. 
 

If SS can not improve things to at least get us into a play off position next season he will not be doing a good job unless he gets £0 from the Board. The biggest disappointment this year is how far off automatics we are. Maybe the biggest challenge is take a bunch of nearly men , change the system and still progress

[gonzo]

Said it before. Anyone that slates our players and their abilities haven't browsed others teams much.

The whole league is shite. Nobody plays good football and the games are all shite to watch.

It's about point on the board and nothing else. Something our previous manager and recruitment seemed to have forgotten also.

It's just about who is the least shittest and covers enough of the basics to get up the league.

Wycombe and Wrexham are bloody awful to watch. They just win game though.

[Greg_BWFC]

17 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Said it before. Anyone that slates our players and their abilities haven't browsed others teams much.

The whole league is shite. Nobody plays good football and the games are all shite to watch.

It's about point on the board and nothing else. Something our previous manager and recruitment seemed to have forgotten also.

It's just about who is the least shittest and covers enough of the basics to get up the league.

Wycombe and Wrexham are bloody awful to watch. They just win game though.

Spot on mate.

Evatt was obsessed with having us "Championship ready" 😒, but with division 3 players.

6 and 7/10 most weeks will get you promoted.

Don't have to play champagne football.

It's nice when we do though 😀.

I'm optimistic for next season when I think back to SS getting Plymouth up.

He had them just knocking out wins all season, am sure @green genie will confirm.

[thebells]

Pompey last time, Wycombe this time, Ipswich 2 years back. Teams can move from play off contenders to promotion teams fairly quickly at this level (accept Ipswich had some cash). 

We need freshening up, more pace, a bit of steel. But 6 or 7 out and similar in can quickly change the whole look and feel of the squad. 

Ennis at Blackpool best shout I’ve heard so far. 

i expect out will be Baxter, Santos, Jones, Murphy, Matete and Etete, with Lolos, Randall and CMG told to look elsewhere or rot! That’s 9, and probably enough. Some big wages in 4 or 5 cases too. 

Anyway, I’m now of the mind we’ll beat Wycombe to prolong the agony. 

[ianofcleveleys]

1 hour ago, Greg_BWFC said:

Well that's the problem isn't it.

Think you'd agree there is some talent there.

And it's why a lot of us get so frustrated, myself included.

The trick is to get regular 7/10 performances instead of the occasional 9/10 followed by 3 and 4/10.

I think we will still have a lot of this squad next season, hopefully SS can improve on the consistency 🤞

The switch in transfer policy to buying up the best other talents in L1 and paying top whack for them might have confused the picture in some people's eyes ('we've paid that much so they must be that good'). 

What it's left us with in my eyes is a squad that, yes, has a fair number of lads with talent but too many that are too specific in what they can and can't do, or, spinning it another way, too many who are in the 'he's good but he needs this or that type of player with him for him to shine' category. 

A change in system, a greater emphasis on nouse, physicality and robustness in pre season and the transfer window, and the 4/5 players in over Summer to help the system work and we can be a team that's hard to deal with next season. I don't think it's beyond SS, his staff and Fergal to get us to that place

Promotion is about being consistently effective over 46 games, the plaudits from pundits about how we play are worth zero if how we play doesn't garner enough points 

 

[gonzo]

That silly football league world thing we're touting Ennis for Wigan yesterday.

This lot here bloody love him.

[Johnnyrotten]

11 hours ago, only1swanny said:

Morley, sheehan..

Possibly mcatee or collins if they had the service.

Still longing to see why randall had that price tag.. 

Never in a month of Sundays IMO.  

It beggars belief we've spent about £2mil on McAtee and Randall and turned down £1mil for Vic.  Beyond wierd.

[ianofcleveleys]

28 minutes ago, gonzo said:

That silly football league world thing we're touting Ennis for Wigan yesterday.

This lot here bloody love him.

I could write most of what's on there in my dinner hour

[gonzo]

Just now, ianofcleveleys said:

I could write most of what's on there in my dinner hour

Ha ha I was sent the link by some Blackpool fans who I've been winding up saying him coming to us is a done deal

(I'm going to look rather silly aren't I)

[thebells]

5 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Ha ha I was sent the link by some Blackpool fans who I've been winding up saying him coming to us is a done deal

(I'm going to look rather silly aren't I)

I try to avoid those sites. But he seems the ‘type’ of player that might actually free up Collins up so we get more value from him. As much as Collins frustrates me, he’s being asked to do the job of a runner and a goalscorer at the moment. If we can remove that burden, I think he becomes a much better player. 
 

[Johnnyrotten]

3 hours ago, Greg_BWFC said:

Probably not many mate.

They brought in a load of new players in the summer, I read somewhere 17.

I'll qualify this by saying I've no idea how many of their team from last season are playing regularly 🤷‍♂️.

But that many incoming says a lot

Cos I'm still off work and bored (and a bit of a sad bastard too 😄), did a bit of digging and they brought in 16.

I'm a bit bored to so had a look at their Wembley line up compared to this season's appearances.

8 that started at Wembley (plus 1 came on as sub) have started more than 20 league games:

Cumming (GK), Brown, Long, Moore, Leigh (DF), Brannagan (MF); Harris, Goodrham, Rodrigues (FW)

And they lost their best player on the day (Murphy) to Pompey, he'd still be their if his contract hadn't ended.

Of their new signings, 9 have played around 20 times or more:

Vaulks (ever present), Kioso (mystery to me!), Helik, Nelson, Ter Avest, Mizouni, Placheta, Dembele and Phillips.

Let's face it we all thought they'd go straight back down and they've done brilliant to get so many Championship points from where they were a year ago, I think we all assumed we'd be playing Peterboro at Wembley. 

[Ani]

38 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I'm a bit bored to so had a look at their Wembley line up compared to this season's appearances.

8 that started at Wembley (plus 1 came on as sub) have started more than 20 league games:

Cumming (GK), Brown, Long, Moore, Leigh (DF), Brannagan (MF); Harris, Goodrham, Rodrigues (FW)

And they lost their best player on the day (Murphy) to Pompey, he'd still be their if his contract hadn't ended.

Of their new signings, 9 have played around 20 times or more:

Vaulks (ever present), Kioso (mystery to me!), Helik, Nelson, Ter Avest, Mizouni, Placheta, Dembele and Phillips.

Let's face it we all thought they'd go straight back down and they've done brilliant to get so many Championship points from where they were a year ago, I think we all assumed we'd be playing Peterboro at Wembley. 

If we had Brannigan we would be comfortably  in the play offs. 

[ianofcleveleys]

59 minutes ago, thebells said:

I try to avoid those sites. But he seems the ‘type’ of player that might actually free up Collins up so we get more value from him. As much as Collins frustrates me, he’s being asked to do the job of a runner and a goalscorer at the moment. If we can remove that burden, I think he becomes a much better player. 
 

He's frustrated me at times too but only mildly compared with some of our others. He's productive enough, in a list today of half a dozen with over 100 goal involvements (goals plus assists) since 21/22, up with the likes of Watkins and Solanke, and, interestingly, Davis Keillor-Dunn of Barnsley who I'd have definitely snatched before they got him.

He's suffered at ours from being the one who, presumably, Evatt though were going to be the key to success, to be built round and serviced, then McAtee came along and it was him, then Randall came along and they all looked round at each other and said 'who's doing the grafting for us'

[thebells]

1 minute ago, ianofcleveleys said:

He's frustrated me at times too but only mildly compared with some of our others. He's productive enough, in a list today of half a dozen with over 100 goal involvements (goals plus assists) since 21/22, up with the likes of Watkins and Solanke, and, interestingly, Davis Keillor-Dunn of Barnsley who I'd have definitely snatched before they got him.

He's suffered at ours from being the one who, presumably, Evatt though were going to be the key to success, to be built round and serviced, then McAtee came along and it was him, then Randall came along and they all looked round at each other and said 'who's doing the grafting for us'

Agree on Keillor-Dunn. Good player. 

And on Collins. For someone who I have down as underperforming, he’s scored a lot of goals. I think we can get more out of him with a different kind of player. 

Having said that, his first touch at times has me questioning if he’s won a competition! 😂

[Greg_BWFC]

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I'm a bit bored to so had a look at their Wembley line up compared to this season's appearances.

8 that started at Wembley (plus 1 came on as sub) have started more than 20 league games:

Cumming (GK), Brown, Long, Moore, Leigh (DF), Brannagan (MF); Harris, Goodrham, Rodrigues (FW)

And they lost their best player on the day (Murphy) to Pompey, he'd still be their if his contract hadn't ended.

Of their new signings, 9 have played around 20 times or more:

Vaulks (ever present), Kioso (mystery to me!), Helik, Nelson, Ter Avest, Mizouni, Placheta, Dembele and Phillips.

Let's face it we all thought they'd go straight back down and they've done brilliant to get so many Championship points from where they were a year ago, I think we all assumed we'd be playing Peterboro at Wembley. 

Fair play mate, i wasn't that bored 👍😁

Think they took a while to get going didn't they?

Could be down to bedding so many new players in or the new manager.

Either way, like you say they've done better than I thought they would.

The bastards 😄

[Zico]

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

That silly football league world thing we're touting Ennis for Wigan yesterday.

This lot here bloody love him.

SS managed him at Plymouth

but probably linked because RL signed him

reckon both will fancy him

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Ani said:

If we had Brannigan we would be comfortably  in the play offs. 

He's the epitome of what we are missing, he's not just hard as nails and a leader, he's got real quality on the ball.  Upto a year ago, he would have been a player we should have been bidding our half a millions on instead of those we did bring in, now he's out of our reach.  He's been at Oxford for 7 years, always L1 till we handed him a promotion, frustrating as well that he's from the NW so probably gettable.

[Johnnyrotten]

Not to get into next season too much, we've got a summer to fill with that, but I'd never say SS or any other manager has to get promotion from L1.  This season even if we'd over performed, most accepted Birmingham were going to win the league.  That only left one place to fight for, which we failed miserably to do.

Next season, if the current bottom 3 go down, we are up against Luton, Cardiff and Plymouth.  Nobody's telling me they won't finish in the top 6 of this poor league.  And if 2 of those run away with it like Brum, there's not a lot we can do about it, there squad and budget will presumably be miles better than our's. 

All I ask of SS is to make us hard to beat and to get the most out of his resources, ie don't spend a million on someone like Randall and McAtee for starters.  Just maximise what you have at your disposal - squad and finances.

[boltonboris]

19 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

He's the epitome of what we are missing, he's not just hard as nails and a leader, he's got real quality on the ball.  Upto a year ago, he would have been a player we should have been bidding our half a millions on instead of those we did bring in, now he's out of our reach.  He's been at Oxford for 7 years, always L1 till we handed him a promotion, frustrating as well that he's from the NW so probably gettable.

He was always out of our reach. Apparently earning £15k per week last season

[Traf]

4 hours ago, gonzo said:

Maybe they just need a proper pre season with a proper manager with a structure and plan in place for promotion with a few additional players with the right character?

Not every single player is shite and we need to clear em all out or have em sweeping the carpark.

Car park does need sweeping though.
 

Edited April 17, 2025 by Traf

[Tombwfc]

18 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Not to get into next season too much, we've got a summer to fill with that, but I'd never say SS or any other manager has to get promotion from L1.  This season even if we'd over performed, most accepted Birmingham were going to win the league.  That only left one place to fight for, which we failed miserably to do.

Next season, if the current bottom 3 go down, we are up against Luton, Cardiff and Plymouth.  Nobody's telling me they won't finish in the top 6 of this poor league.  And if 2 of those run away with it like Brum, there's not a lot we can do about it, there squad and budget will presumably be miles better than our's. 

All I ask of SS is to make us hard to beat and to get the most out of his resources, ie don't spend a million on someone like Randall and McAtee for starters.  Just maximise what you have at your disposal - squad and finances.

 

Why not? Huddersfield and Rotherham won't finish top 6 in this poor league. 

Birmingham are an outlier who spent £30m on players. I think they're the only one of the last 12 teams to come down who'll have gone straight back up.

[Nottm_Wanderer]

We didn't sign bad players , we just played them out of position...

Get rid ....

Baxter, Jones , Johnston , Thommo, Sheehan, Dempsey , Santos , CMG , Schon 

 

Keep 

Lolos never had a run in team , big lad , strong , good runner ..

Same with Randall, the lad never had a proper run in the team 

 

There's a big chunk of midfield gone there , let's face it midfield has been none existent this season and went missing for the run in  last season .  Get rid , no second chances 

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2025 by Nottm_Wanderer
Added a bit extra info

[Johnnyrotten]

40 minutes ago, boltonboris said:

He was always out of our reach. Apparently earning £15k per week last season

Fair enough if that's the case, surprised Oxford could afford that in L1.