Based on the current League-1 & League-2 tables :-

 

First ever Wanderers matches at MK Dons, Wycombe, Burton Albion and maybe Morecambe.

 

First ever Wanderers (competitive) match at Fleetwood.

 

My first matches at the new stadiums at Chesterfield, Coventry, maybe Colchester & Northampton.

 

Any of you under 35 or so won’t have done all the lower division grounds like we did in the 80s. Your chance may be coming along soon. Well, it's an alternative to Europe.

Derbies at Morecambe and Fleetwood (not to mention the chance of Bury).... the prospect makes me shudder.

Always look on the runway for ice....

Always look on the runway for ice....

 

There you go ...... looking on the dark side.

No Europe, no flights needed. Easy-peasy.

Don't need to look on the bright side, we won't be relegated.

Derbies at Morecambe and Fleetwood (not to mention the chance of Bury).... the prospect makes me shudder.

Shudder with excitement, all the new pubs.........

At least we'll win some games if we get relegated...

What's with all this relegation talk? It's October FFS (and early October at that).

 

With the right appointment we'll be top half by Valentines Day.

Odds on unbeaten rest of season anyone??

What's with all this relegation talk? It's October FFS (and early October at that).

 

With the right appointment we'll be top half by Valentines Day.

 

I like this. Although I think we shouldn't be too cocky.

 

On Saturday we probably played the best I've seen us at home this season. And still we were beaten (some might say comfortably) by a ten man Bournemouth. Whilst I think there is enough in the squad to stay up with the more I see the more our huge issues become apparent. A good manager might hide some of those but are there any managers good enough willing to come here?

Odds on unbeaten rest of season anyone??

Probably a free strait jacket

Odds on unbeaten rest of season anyone??

 

48 gazillion to 1.

there is no fcuking bright side to relegation

There I am trying to put a bit of a dark-grey on the black that would be relegation, and people still aren't happy.

 

Relegation is far from a foregone conclusion now that DF (and hopefully 'controlling without possession') has gone but, as bwfcfan says above, the issues are still staring us in the face with these players playing that static sort of football. Roll on a decent new manager and some football to look forward to.

A good manager doesn't change things overnight. Mostly managers turn clubs round by gradually changing the playing staff round. That won't be an option here other than a very slow process. People say these players are good enough to do much better and I sort of agree in terms of some individuals. But I don't see an 11 that convinces me it is good enough overall to get us out of this mess. The back four is leaky and prone to error. The midfield is absolutely atrocious. Craig Davies is a handful until he has to make a decision and then falls apart. Beckford looks finished to me. Mason is a livewire but needs service. Bournemouth with 10 men got players up and down the pitch quicker than we are capable. A new manager isn't going to change that. We have no legs or power in midfield. It is our biggest problem right now.

 

If we attack teams like on Saturday we leave huge gaping holes. If we sit back, nobody has the ability to get forward when we win the ball back. Spearing is not a bad player. Neither is Mark Davies. But they aren't a midfield that will keep us in this division. On paper they look great, but teams just walk through us too easily. Who else have we got? I don't think a new manager suddenly changes any of that. He doesn't make Ream or Mills or Dervite less error prone. Or turn Spearing into the all round midfield player we desperately need. Or find the midfield able to keep up with Bournemouth. The squad is unbalanced and I don't think that can be fixed quickly enough.

A good manager doesn't change things overnight. Mostly managers turn clubs round by gradually changing the playing staff round. That won't be an option here other than a very slow process. 

 

Where are you getting this stuff from? Phil Brown kept Hull up in his first season and in his second season in charge they won promotion. Coyle did the same at Burnley. Holloway won promotion with Blackpool in his first full season. Allardyce won promotion with us in his second season having replaced Eidur Gudjohnson with Ian Marshall.

Where are you getting this stuff from? Phil Brown kept Hull up in his first season and in his second season in charge they won promotion. Coyle did the same at Burnley. Holloway won promotion with Blackpool in his first full season. Allardyce won promotion with us in his second season having replaced Eidur Gudjohnson with Ian Marshall.

 

Allardyce brought in a lot of players. The real replacement for Gudjohnsen if replacement is the right word is Michael Ricketts. Who banged them in for fun. Plus he'd signed Frandsen back for a million or so. And added the likes of Barness and Charlton and Farelly. In other words he changed the squad around. No it wasn't by choice but necessity.

 

Within that squad though were the likes of Elliot, Warhurst, Gardner, Frandsen, Nolan, Holdsworth, Ricketts quality that we simply do not have now. Quality that Allardyce admittedly unlocked but there was enough there to work with along with a few solid and sensible signings.

 

If we weren't limited so strongly in the transfer market then it could turn quickly. Couple of quality players and we'd be away. But that isn't going to be an option. We don't have anyone to sell to fund some new players either. Coyle sold that Lafferty for a few million in his first summer to allow him to re-structure the squad. I don't see that happening.

 

In short, how can a manager change round the basic shortcomings we've got as outlined without changing the players? Or do you think that none of that is an issue? That a manager can change the fact that Bournemouth's ten men were slicker and more agile and more athletic than our side? I don't think that will change personally.

In short, how can a manager change round the basic shortcomings we've got as outlined without changing the players?

 

Allardyce didn't sign star names. He worked with other teams cast-offs by and large. It was down to his coaching ability.

Allardyce didn't sign star names. He worked with other teams cast-offs by and large. It was down to his coaching ability.

 

I'm not having that entirely. He had an eye for a bargain and got the best out of players. But he had the basic tools there plus was able to sign a few more.

 

We are severely limited in signings and in my view lack the basic tools in the squad. We don't have the money to sign a Frandsen or a Ricketts for that matter. Nor do we have a Gardner or an Elliot or Warhurst in the squad. No manager can coach the athleticism we lack into players that don't have that in their game. So the basic issues will remain. I think people are in for a shock if they think that we are bottom with 5 points from 11 games purely because Freedman was a bit of an arse and the players didn't like him. We are there because there are fundamental things missing in the squad. As much as I expect improvement Saturday showed that those missing things don't get fixed simply through a more positive attitude and extra effort alone.

Allardyce didn't sign star names. He worked with other teams cast-offs by and large. It was down to his coaching ability.

 

come now - top coach as he was, there is no doubt Djorkaeff, Okocha, Campo, Diouf, Anelka, Stelios, etc etc were more like "star names" than cast offs

 

YD had fallen out with Kaiserslauten, we just made the most of it, Okocha had run out his contract at PSG after they signed him for £10M, Campo may not have been RM material but he'd won the CL with them just a year or so previously 

 

etc

 

etc

 

yeah, Ian Marshall wasn't a star name by any means

Allardyce didn't sign star names. He worked with other teams cast-offs by and large. It was down to his coaching ability.

 

 

in the promotion season it was down to relatively dour, organised football

 

and michael ricketts

 

 

no problem with any of that btw

and bwfcfan is correct

 

we saw the difference one player can make

 

both dawson and juke had a massive effect

 

if you could add those 2 for the rest of the season, you could expect an enormous upturn

 

its why its so frustrating we get so little out of mark davies and lee - 2 players who may well be in the top 2 or 3% earners in this league

Edited October 6, 201411 yr by Casino

Allardyce didn't sign star names. He worked with other teams cast-offs by and large. It was down to his coaching ability.

Do we really have to list the players that he signed that were shit and remained shit? It'll be a fucking big list.

come now - top coach as he was, there is no doubt Djorkaeff, Okocha, Campo, Diouf, Anelka, Stelios, etc etc were more like "star names" than cast offs

 

We're talking about the two seasons in the Championship.

We are severely limited in signings and in my view lack the basic tools in the squad. We don't have the money to sign a Frandsen or a Ricketts for that matter. Nor do we have a Gardner or an Elliot or Warhurst in the squad.

 

Not many, if any, clubs were queueing up to sign any of them though were they? Having failed to win promotion the first time around under Todd, those players had gone backwards the season after. Allardyce turned it around. No reason why the new boss can't do the same with some of the better players he'll inherit.

and bwfcfan is correct

 

we saw the difference one player can make

 

both dawson and juke had a massive effect

 

if you could add those 2 for the rest of the season, you could expect an enormous upturn

 

its why its so frustrating we get so little out of mark davies and lee - 2 players who may well be in the top 2 or 3% earners in this league

 

That's the point though. A new manager could turn it around just by getting better performances out of his better players. I don't buy this idea that chucking money at it is the only solution.