2 hours ago, Big E said:

He can’t come out and say “no idea why we’ve signed this cunt”

 

Indeed, and I didn't say he would. I even suggested he was protecting his man.

I will repeat; the words he did use perhaps weren't the best though.

He could have protected him without saying he had also been looking at him. He is media trained and savvy after all. 

1 hour ago, Ani said:

He did more yesterday than he has since he got here, not saying much. He is in the ‘keep sadly’ group as doubt anyone else will want him and daresay in decent ££. 

We (or particularly SS) are paying the price for failure being indulged in Evatt's case and rewarded in the case of half of our squad, with further contract extensions that are now tying our hands. Tie that in with some of the fancy contracts offered to the more recent signings, none of whom have shown their ceiling to be any higher than this Division, and we're in more than a sticky spot. 

I get the notion of having to offer a reasonable length of contract to get the player in the first place and protect us by way of a reasonable fee if he angles for a move or a higher level club fancies him but it feels like there's been a significant bit of overrating some of who we've signed over the last two years

Happy if it comes back to bite me on the arse in a year's time but I'll be surprised if any of this squad go onto play 40-odd games in the Championship, for us or anyone else.

 

3 hours ago, gonzo said:

Not the same sqaud though pal.

We had two of the worst transfers windows in this history of the game.

We swapped Dion, Maghoma and Bod for Ranall and McAtee and the Cardiff Donkey.

We lost Santos. An inform on the pace Santos is better than anything we have currently. 

We lost Vic even as a presence if nothing else.

We swapped Randal Williams for Murphy.

Folk tout our best two midfielders as Morley and Dempsey. They were bowling about 2 seasons ago.

We've not made one single upgrade or improved the sqaud in anyway. 

It's been a total disaster.

Spot on. Nine of the squad that started this season were in it in 21/22, along with the likes of Lee, Dapo, Aimson, Bod, Sadlier. Those nine, bar Charles, are still with us, at least as at today, and we're no nearer, partly because they haven't progressed and partly because the transfer decisions (outs and ins) have been disastrous, as you say.

54 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Indeed, and I didn't say he would. I even suggested he was protecting his man.

I will repeat; the words he did use perhaps weren't the best though.

He could have protected him without saying he had also been looking at him. He is media trained and savvy after all. 

Whilst I agree with the general principle and calling for Crellin to man up as Evatt did was wrong I think it is time for the kid gloves to come off with some of our players. As SS highlighted yesterday in patches this season we have been very good the players are not capable of maintaining those standards. They love the plaudits but take zero responsibility on the pitch when it ain’t going well. Too much saying the right thing in interviews with no improvement on the pitch. 

We are prone to over think things. IE was blinkered into us playing the pep way and it failed because we didn't get promoted to championship. Its 3rd tier football, where physical and mental strength is key, less so pretty football and chess board like tactics. We watch 3rd tier refs, who are so poor. When I watch most championship teams it's like another game to what we churn out. The players we have are smaller, weaker, less determined and many struggle to even kick the ball properly. Because we have a premiership ground and decent fan base, we are conditioned to have high expectancy. We hopefully have the manager and a bit of money to get up, but we need a reality check to keep it simple.

Edited April 22, 20251 yr by worthy10
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4 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Indeed, and I didn't say he would. I even suggested he was protecting his man.

I will repeat; the words he did use perhaps weren't the best though.

He could have protected him without saying he had also been looking at him. He is media trained and savvy after all. 

 

There's no way Etete would be a professional footballer if he was actually as bad as he's looked here. Made 50 appearances in the Championship in the last two years and just signed a new deal at Cardiff.

It's likely Schumacher had looked at him at some point, but nobody could've predicted he'd be this shit for us.

30 minutes ago, Tombwfc said:

 

There's no way Etete would be a professional footballer if he was actually as bad as he's looked here. Made 50 appearances in the Championship in the last two years and just signed a new deal at Cardiff.

It's likely Schumacher had looked at him at some point, but nobody could've predicted he'd be this shit for us.

i think he scored 6 in those 50 appearances. so i think he is definitely not what we need

after i mentioned another youngster, i thought he would be on the bench

did see him pitchside though, so don't be surprised if daeshon lawrence gets a run out soon

37 minutes ago, Tombwfc said:

 

There's no way Etete would be a professional footballer if he was actually as bad as he's looked here. Made 50 appearances in the Championship in the last two years and just signed a new deal at Cardiff.

It's likely Schumacher had looked at him at some point, but nobody could've predicted he'd be this shit for us.

I remember going to our pre season tour of Ireland in 1998 (I think). Went to a game and watched some young kid who'd played at PSV with Ronaldo (the original). He'd been injured but was really highly rated.

He was overweight, touch worse than mine and got subbed off at half time. Few of us genuinely laughed and said words to the effect of 'thank god we'll never see him again'. Maybe some others were there who can back up how bad this kid was.

Anyway, it was Eidur Gudjohnsen. I've learnt not to judge players too soon since that day, but I'll admit Etete has had me scratching my head at times.

53 minutes ago, Tombwfc said:

 

There's no way Etete would be a professional footballer if he was actually as bad as he's looked here. Made 50 appearances in the Championship in the last two years and just signed a new deal at Cardiff.

It's likely Schumacher had looked at him at some point, but nobody could've predicted he'd be this shit for us.

Agreed.

However, with his recent injury record, and the fact that he had hardly played this season, and wasnt fully fit, why on earth was Evatt even considering him?

Especially so, considering we'd just sold our main goalscorer at the time.

We shouldn't have been looking at getting someone else's striker fit and up to speed, when we needed someone ready to step up.

Spaffed money elsewhere on Randall.

Utterly bonkers. 

im sure iles said we were in for collins

if we had got him and he had scored for us like he has lincoln, we would be 2nd

 

well, maybe not

11 minutes ago, Casino said:

im sure iles said we were in for collins

if we had got him and he had scored for us like he has lincoln, we would be 2nd

 

well, maybe not

He did say that, yes, we were looking at him but he was undecided about coming, apparently because of the managerial situation, so Evatt moved on, to Etete 🙄

Etete is this season's Raziak

11 hours ago, Walkden White said:

Sure they said in the commentary that Burnley had conceded a Championship record of just 15 goals 😳. Puts our 68 or whatever in context.

Similarly Keith Hill said on the radio after the game that we could sign better centre halves and they would still look exposed in our system (and he knows his onions 😉)

After the Wycombe game he said "I'm not being condescending, but I was a CB, and I could still have played in the Wycombe defence today at 55 years old"!!  TBH I wasn't a CB and I'm older than him and I think I could have managed a 20 minute cameo without the scoreline changing.

In fairness we were miles better at Lincoln than v Wycombe, some decent football at time after first 25 minutes.

2 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

After the Wycombe game he said "I'm not being condescending, but I was a CB, and I could still have played in the Wycombe defence today at 55 years old"!!  TBH I wasn't a CB and I'm older than him and I think I could have managed a 20 minute cameo without the scoreline changing.

In fairness we were miles better at Lincoln than v Wycombe, some decent football at time after first 25 minutes.

I'm not saying he's wrong, but let's not also forget the Keith Hill is a fucking moron.

8 hours ago, Traf said:

How far we've fallen this year has been cruelly highlighted recently by Jay Matete now being one of our "better/least poor" performers.

And the fact that the general consensus is that our player of the season is Cogley.  I get what qualities he brings (reliable/adaptable to different positions/always fit), but if JDC is your best player the squad isn't bursting with talent and you aren't getting promoted.

27 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

And the fact that the general consensus is that our player of the season is Cogley.  I get what qualities he brings (reliable/adaptable to different positions/always fit), but if JDC is your best player the squad isn't bursting with talent and you aren't getting promoted.

He may as well win Clubman of the year.

Was always the sub that ran the line every week

2 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

After the Wycombe game he said "I'm not being condescending, but I was a CB, and I could still have played in the Wycombe defence today at 55 years old"!!  TBH I wasn't a CB and I'm older than him and I think I could have managed a 20 minute cameo without the scoreline changing.

In fairness we were miles better at Lincoln than v Wycombe, some decent football at time after first 25 minutes.

Say you got to play every minute of every game in a season (up front and titlining) - and you also get to take all the pens and the free kicks. How many do you reckon you could score in a season for Bolton? 

18 minutes ago, kent_white said:

Say you got to play every minute of every game in a season (up front and titlining) - and you also get to take all the pens and the free kicks. How many do you reckon you could score in a season for Bolton? 

Even at my "peak", 30+ years ago, I'm going with zero goals from open play because I wouldn't be quick enough to get the space to shoot.  I'd back myself to score at least 1 pen in the season! (a proven pen taker in Wigan Sunday League no less). 

The only ex-pro I knowingly played against was Wayne Aspinall and he was head & shoulders the best player, running the midfield in his 30s.  (I came up against his more famous brother Warren as kids, he was a class above, played for Everton & Villa).   

1 hour ago, kent_white said:

Say you got to play every minute of every game in a season (up front and titlining) - and you also get to take all the pens and the free kicks. How many do you reckon you could score in a season for Bolton? 

Twat it first time at goal, every time even the slightest opportunity arose.

Might grab a goal in the season. 

Worth a try for the dosh.

36 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Twat it first time at goal, every time even the slightest opportunity arose.

Might grab a goal in the season. 

Worth a try for the dosh.

Isn’t that what Collins ‘offers’?

Edited April 22, 20251 yr by bwfc4ife

3 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

And the fact that the general consensus is that our player of the season is Cogley.  I get what qualities he brings (reliable/adaptable to different positions/always fit), but if JDC is your best player the squad isn't bursting with talent and you aren't getting promoted.

See for me JDC is quick, fit and light on his feet. But he falls into the category of not being very good at kicking the football. A golfing analogy, he shanks it a lot. That said, if kicking the ball was also a strength, he would be playing in the championship maybe.

I'd get 3 at least. No way I'm getting out scored by big Vic! 

18 hours ago, bwfc4ife said:

Isn’t that what Collins ‘offers’?

Well, if he does it successfully, 20 times a season, he'll do for me.

On 19/04/2025 at 20:11, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

@masi 51

Think ship has sailed with him......Off to the Championship