Jump to content

Pwoite

Members
  • Posts

    101
  • Joined

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Pwoite's Achievements

  1. Do we have a potential ‘golden generation’? Dibbling, Meghoma, SAA, Bragg, Lawrence, Ballard, never mind some potentially outstanding U17s….. or will some or all flatter to deceive and become Ryan Seagers? I was talking with someone who is close to the Liverpool academy, and their approach, despite the size of the club, is very similar to ours, in that they take on around a dozen kids each year, and develop them individually to play the way the first team does, and teach them how to handle themselves in the public eye. This is in contrast to the football farms of youngsters at Manchester City, Chelsea, Man United or Arsenal. No doubt someone will produce a study of the relative successes of the two differing approaches, perhaps comparing the costs per first team appearance or something. We certainly appear to have got it right in recent years, after a decade, nearly, where our famed academy had come off the rails, whether through organic growth or acquisition as is the case with SAA and Meghoma. Potentially exciting times.
  2. Is this chicken or egg? (Certainly, not Egg!) Was Holgate not replaced because of Lawrence? And Charles, of course. Guess it’s too early for a bench appearance tonight.
  3. At least the benefit of that is that I won’t have to listen to the prick being a pundit.
  4. You're saying their forum has a consensus view? Wow. I hadn't realised such things were possible.
  5. Was Payne sent on loan for experience or to put him in the shop window? As has been said before, not that many of our loans seem to help the individual, though I had thought Payne had been seen as a strong prospect. Will he end up like Vokins, Small and many others….
  6. Tella? Smallbone? Oxlade-Chamberlain? Define a regular, but whichever way you look at it, the cupboard is bare..... How many of Dibling, Ballard, Bragg, SAA, Meghoma, Edwards, Rodriguez, (add as appropriate) will be automatic match day players in two, three years' time?
  7. Back up for Stewart…….LLSS. One obvious conclusion, bit left field
  8. Pwoite

    Stephens

    I thought a testimonial came after ten years. But is that ten years on pro terms? Otherwise every seventeen year old, who joined at seven, would expect a night in the lights..... Maybe this is Kamari Doyle's issue!!
  9. Most of the Ipswich squad were in League 1 a year ago and are still young, hence the low wages due to existing contracts. Things will change once the vultures start circulating and players start expecting to be paid the ‘true’ wealth.
  10. Pwoite

    Sport Republic

    I missed the second anniversary of Sport Republic's purchase of our Club, but a few days past that occasion, is it now time to re-evaluate their performance, contribution and impact? Nine months ago the standing of SR reached an all time low. Relegation, a season with three managers, a squad in disarray, players underperforming and potential financial implosion beckoning. Now, a little more than halfway into the following season and we are riding high in our division; have a squad firing on all cylinders; a manager who has won over a disbelieving fanbase; a director of football who quietly, anonymously, has ploughed a very successful course, and an unbeaten run beating anything achieved for over a century. So, is this great planning, good luck, or a combination of both? Have the cards fallen fortuitously, or has there been clever sleight of hand behind the scenes? If we go back two years, we had a manger who was running out of ideas, and a squad that was a patchwork of poor deals, cheap solutions and uninterested personnel. With hindsight, SR failed to react quickly enough, allowing the situation to drag on, in terms of the manager, for nearly a whole year. Yes, we liked Ralph, certainly initially, and enjoyed his enthusiasm, but the directors should have seen that the players were divided, and that he had largely lost the dressing room. Things weren't much better in the board room, and the laissez faire policy towards allowing the Southampton board to continue to run the club was also showing signs of cracks. Again, reaction was too slow. In terms of the transfer market, new players had been brought in, and certainly money was spent, but with a manger in decline and senior players increasingly apathetic, with a captain not strong enough to pull it all together, the impact of the purchases was less than had been hoped, and many failed to fulfill potential. Then came last January. Panic. A disastrous choice of new manager, and last minute acquisitions who failed to fit in or provide the expected lift. The inevitable happened. Then came the clear-out. Board, manager, players. Not all was entirely planned, or wanted, but some was financially necessary and the rest strategically so. In came Wilcox, shortly followed by Russell Martin, who was greeted with an air of disappointment, incredulity or surprise. Parallel with this there were changes and appointments to a number of senior positions within the club, and, it has to be said, a steady stream of departures. An indifferent first month, a disastrous second, then it all started to pull together. Several key players went, including JWP and Tella as the transfer window started to close. My suspicion, based on no inside knowledge whatsoever, is that the club were quite happy to see James leave. great guy, terrific front man for the media, and incomparable for free kicks, but what else? As a captain, he seemed too weak. As a defensive midfielder, too ineffectual, particularly without Romeu alongside. Nathan Jones played him further forward, where he seemed more at home, but others were potentially seen as more natural in that role, so under Seles he became more defensive again. Now, we seem to have an effective manager, a united squad, positive support from the stands, and an ever upwards progression. Have Sport Republic played a blinder, found the DoF we needed and a manager who can get unity and success, and did all those moves in September actually form part of a master plan to get rid of the bad eggs and the expensive but ineffective soufflés? My opinion, for what it is worth, is that it was probably 80% planning, 10% circumstance and 10% luck. However, the result has to be that SR have partially, maybe largely, restored their reputation, but more importantly, our club, together, has turned it round.
  11. Yes, but who was Allen Tankard? I don't remember that name, though Google suggests he carved out a career in the lower leagues. Guess he had Frannie occupying the berth he wanted.
  12. It would be hard to believe the Club hasn't got a replacement, lined up, in the wings, ready to drop, but there again, no club would accept a deal from us solely on the grounds that we might, or might not, sell Che Adams. equally, those clubs, if they are listening to offers from us, are listening to similar offers from other clubs, and on occasions, what the likes of Hull offer can be more enticing than what we can. Still, the last three windows, SR have delivered a striker every time, so what could possibly go wrong!!!!! Summer '22 - Mara Winter '23 - Tall Paul Summer '23 - Stewart Recipe for .........
  13. Interesting point about our loanees. I'd presumed we would never see any of them again, and that whether or not announced, every one of these players would be sold in 2024. If we did get promoted, something we increasingly need to consider, who might we expect to return to the first team squad? ABK would certainly strengthen it. Not sure about Perraud. Who else?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

View Terms of service (Terms of Use) and Privacy Policy (Privacy Policy) and Forum Guidelines ({Guidelines})