We had a decent thread a while back discussing Evatt’s philosophies and approach to the game (think it got tainted and pulled)

So not a bad time to start it up again at the beginning of the season.

In the main he’s done a fantastic job. A minority lost patience round about Xmas/New Year in both seasons. 

But surely now he has the large backing of the majority of fans and the brand he talked about implementing here is now well and truly established.

Good article above highlighting how he’s using Sport Science to get the squad performing to it’s optimum level.

A young, meticulous, intelligent and passionate individual, who we are very lucky to have leading our club.

I hope he gets what he deserves with promotion to the Championship. 

11 hours ago, Hoppy said:

I am sure McAteer and Stubbs came from non League McAteer from Marine and Stubbs from Ellesmere port 

We signed McAteer for 500 pounds!

13 minutes ago, woolli said:

We signed McAteer for 500 pounds!

Plus a bag of footballs

1 hour ago, woolli said:

We signed McAteer for 500 pounds!

You couldn't fault Neal for his contacts in the game and his ability to put a team together.

But in the end he is remembered for his final year as arrogant.

8 minutes ago, Dimron said:

You couldn't fault Neal for his contacts in the game and his ability to put a team together.

But in the end he is remembered for his final year as arrogant.

Second part sounds very familiar!

11 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

One of the best pound for pound signings in my lifetime.

Debut v Rochdale in FA Cup, I remember thinking who's this scrawny kid, why is he playing.  First time he got possession, a class above, skill, composure, vision, swagger without being cocky.

First impressions of new signings are very rarely far wrong, I had a similar feel when Mark Davies came on for his debut at Blackburn.  Instant quality on the ball, without the injuries he would have been another of the best bargains in my time.

I’ve seen both extremes. Another one who falls into that category recently was Dapo - looked a class above at L2  level with his first touch.

But there’s been well-known and unknown faces who didn’t look so good when first pulling on the wanderers shirt.

Okocha, Anelka, Campo. Crazy to mention Santos in the same sentence, but he looked awful in his first few games.

An anomaly in this was Gardner. Despite scoring on his debut, in his first few games he looked ungainly, uncertain and a bit unusual.

You could look back in history on here and certainly I remember the moans in the terrace, when criticism was rife and these players were written-off by some because first impressions weren’t great.

My old man can't stand Gardner to this day.

Can't defend ha ha

1 minute ago, gonzo said:

My old man can't stand Gardner to this day.

Can't defend ha ha

Mine exactly the same! He called him all the names under the sun 😂

He was a brilliant defender

For a time there wasnt a better LB in the league

Campo when he first arrived played CB was way to slow Big Sam put him in the midfield as a DM what a player still 1 of my favourite players . 

11 minutes ago, Casino said:

He was a brilliant defender

For a time there wasnt a better LB in the league

 

9 minutes ago, Rizlar said:

Campo when he first arrived played CB was way to slow Big Sam put him in the midfield as a DM what a player still 1 of my favourite players . 

Precisely the reasons we shouldn’t make knee-jerk, immediate judgements on players.

It’s like Randall at the minute. We’ve not a clue what his real potential/impact could be for a host of different reasons!

If we are making an immediate impression on him, then it wouldn’t be too favourable after last week! I think his first two touches went astray and led to Rotherham attacks! 

7 minutes ago, desperado said:

 

Precisely the reasons we shouldn’t make knee-jerk, immediate judgements on players.

It’s like Randall at the minute. We’ve not a clue what his real potential/impact could be for a host of different reasons!

If we are making an immediate impression on him, then it wouldn’t be too favourable after last week! I think his first two touches went astray and led to Rotherham attacks! 

Agreed he needs time to adjust to how we play.

1 hour ago, desperado said:

I’ve seen both extremes. Another one who falls into that category recently was Dapo - looked a class above at L2  level with his first touch.

But there’s been well-known and unknown faces who didn’t look so good when first pulling on the wanderers shirt.

Okocha, Anelka, Campo. Crazy to mention Santos in the same sentence, but he looked awful in his first few games.

An anomaly in this was Gardner. Despite scoring on his debut, in his first few games he looked ungainly, uncertain and a bit unusual.

You could look back in history on here and certainly I remember the moans in the terrace, when criticism was rife and these players were written-off by some because first impressions weren’t great.

Yes Dapo another one, quality from minute one.

I agree there are some that have taken ages to show how good they are.  Yes Gardner was a fish out of water seemingly with the wrong boots on, Okocha and Anelka just looked disinterested to me, like they were wondering what the hell they were doing in Bolton.

I'd disagree on Campo, debut v Liverpool if I remember rightly (and scored), never a CB in memory of man but the instant he took the ball under control I was converted, pure class, such a unique style.

I think I'm more thinking of those we'd never heard of, where you're waiting to find out if they are any good the first time you see them.  Even though Santos wasn't great, I thought he was the least of our problems, some of those new signings beggared belief and left us in no doubt as to their non league standard from minute one - White, Crellin, Comley, Greenidge, Hickman, Mascoll, Taft.  Sorry for the reminders!

One I did get wrong was MJ Williams, I thought he looked dire in his first couple of games, he well and truly proved my first impressions wrong, a great signing for the time.

1 hour ago, desperado said:

 

Precisely the reasons we shouldn’t make knee-jerk, immediate judgements on players.

It’s like Randall at the minute. We’ve not a clue what his real potential/impact could be for a host of different reasons!

If we are making an immediate impression on him, then it wouldn’t be too favourable after last week! I think his first two touches went astray and led to Rotherham attacks! 

There's a danger of Randall becoming a proxy for Evatt hate. 

Think he needs to make a good impression early doors or he could well become the next scapegoat.

Going against the grain here, but I’m not buying it on Dapo. Go through the posts on here at the time and there would be week after week where he would be completely anonymous, sulking about. Don’t get me wrong, he had the quality that got us out of a hole on plenty of occasions, but you could argue the same for Collins. 

1 hour ago, desperado said:

 

Precisely the reasons we shouldn’t make knee-jerk, immediate judgements on players.

It’s like Randall at the minute. We’ve not a clue what his real potential/impact could be for a host of different reasons!

If we are making an immediate impression on him, then it wouldn’t be too favourable after last week! I think his first two touches went astray and led to Rotherham attacks! 

I think we know enough about Randall to know what type of player he is, he's a proven L1 player that we've seen on TV and in the flesh a few times, we know what he'll bring - creativity, assists, a few goals and zero physicality/battling!  

Its not about knee-jerk reactions, just the instinct when you know you're watching a good player.  Its rare I'd think "he's a player" then realise a few months later he's a bit of a donkey.  Yes maybe lazy or inconsistent or infuriating (eg arguably Dapo, Collins, Anelka, Ameobi) but normally when you see that ability its the right impression.

But I'll throw one in that I thought was a great signing and from the 1st game I knew he was crap - Beckford.

From a WhatsApp group 

"The lad who tweeted about Evatt being killed. 

6 month ban and wrote an apology. Police not charging him but seems Evatt making a private claim against him!

38 minutes ago, Zico said:

From a WhatsApp group 

"The lad who tweeted about Evatt being killed. 

6 month ban and wrote an apology. Police not charging him but seems Evatt making a private claim against him!

Evatt should wind his neck in.

It was an unpleasant, ill-thought out insult. I'm sure he's done enough running his mouth off & if he pushes then stuff will come out. He'll pay for it if he pushes his luck.

1 hour ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Evatt should wind his neck in.

It was an unpleasant, ill-thought out insult. I'm sure he's done enough running his mouth off & if he pushes then stuff will come out. He'll pay for it if he pushes his luck.

Where I'm at, 

Guys a Bolton fan, he's apologised, why take it further and risk shaking Pandoras box. 

People management 101, right next to "scoreboard pressure for dummies" 

11 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I think we know enough about Randall to know what type of player he is, he's a proven L1 player that we've seen on TV and in the flesh a few times, we know what he'll bring - creativity, assists, a few goals and zero physicality/battling!  

Its not about knee-jerk reactions, just the instinct when you know you're watching a good player.  Its rare I'd think "he's a player" then realise a few months later he's a bit of a donkey.  Yes maybe lazy or inconsistent or infuriating (eg arguably Dapo, Collins, Anelka, Ameobi) but normally when you see that ability its the right impression.

But I'll throw one in that I thought was a great signing and from the 1st game I knew he was crap - Beckford.

Beckford was one of the worst signings we've made in the last couple of decades, for the crippling money spent on him. Abiding memory of him was his pathological hatred of aerial duels, lame efforts at jumping for the ball and came out of every one rubbing his head

43 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Beckford was one of the worst signings we've made in the last couple of decades, for the crippling money spent on him. Abiding memory of him was his pathological hatred of aerial duels, lame efforts at jumping for the ball and came out of every one rubbing his head

McAtee has a similar habit 

3 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Evatt should wind his neck in.

It was an unpleasant, ill-thought out insult. I'm sure he's done enough running his mouth off & if he pushes then stuff will come out. He'll pay for it if he pushes his luck.

An maybe we should wait for a better source than "a WhatsApp group" before using it as another stick to beat Evatt with.

6 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

McAtee has a similar habit 

He does indeed, when it comes to him in the air he makes a pretence of going for it but never gets off the ground. 

8 hours ago, perth_white said:

An maybe we should wait for a better source than "a WhatsApp group" before using it as another stick to beat Evatt with.

Ì considered that. It's a fair point. But ... ha, feckit. 🏏🏏🏏

1 minute ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Ì considered that. It's a fair point. But ... ha, feckit. 🏏🏏🏏

To be fair, loads on here just make stuff up, at least you had a source.

59 minutes ago, perth_white said:

To be fair, loads on here just make stuff up, at least you had a source.

He was shagging some lass from up Breightmet on Friday night according to sources in ESL