um pahars

You're right with Shipperley and I have to say that in his last season here he probably takes the award of largest centre forward. Good shout.

It's the rewriting of history that has made me chuckle. Many posters have been crying out for a striker, be it one of those we've loaned out or getting someone else in, and when Saga came back on the scene the overwhelming verdict was that it was good news. Indeed, there was even the furore about getting his papers cleared so that he could play immediately and make sure we didn't loan him out again.

Exactly. I'm not saying he was responsible for everything, as ultimately I'd like to think that Poortvliet had the last say, but he was defintiely complicit to some degree. I just don't particularly like the rewriting of history and blaming Jan for everything when this was always sold to us as a Revolutionary Coaching Set Up with a seamless tranistion, coaches interchanging etc etc etc. Rich, I would be wary of all the little briefings and snippets coming out of St Mary's in recent weeks. There is a campaign to portray Poortvliet as the villain and to exonerate Wotte from any blame and to give him a clean slate as he's now the gaffer, but he has to take his share of stick for his part in this awful season. And of the two of them, Wotte most definitley is the one with the "reputation" and a fair bit of history. But what these little t1tbits do tell us is that this Revolutionary Coaching Set Up was a total fck up right from the very start. It makes the Wigley decision almost rational!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMHO, that was all a load of bollcks anyway. The whole idea that these youngsters had been brought up with this style of play and we changed the first team to match it was just nonsense. Also what was nonsense was the idea that our youngsters only knew one way to play etc etc etc. So what had been happening in all the years before? How did Walcott & Bale manage to shake off the stigma of only playing 4-3-3. It was all a load of ******** propaganda, and even though I haven't got loads of time for Wiseman, he called it right yesterday when he said only a 5 year old would have fallen for the propaganda being served up this season.

But false economies come into it as well. We paid monies for Pekhart and Robertson and then of course the biggest price we have paid is in seeing gates dwindle, as thousands stay away because of poor performances and results at home. Each 1,000 bums is circa £500,000 a year. Any fool can cut costs, you get the red pen out and put a line through those with the most noughts at the end. But in doing that you risk consinging yourself to a downward spiral as qulaity often costs money. What is much more inspiring and a sign of a decent business mind is growing revenues, enticing back customers and moving forward, something that we have failed miserably at. From the start of the season the strategy, the execution and the results were all wrong.

John was treated appallingly at the start of this season, frozen out, told to find a new Club, not included in the new plans etc etc etc, so let's not rewrite history. I think when we let him go Poortvliet even made reference to the fact that he John plays in a 4-4-2 team, something Poortvliet didn't believe in. Even the lad now at Bournemouth was selected ahead of him at one point!!!! An injury didn't help, but we certainly made sure that John's season never got off to it's best start. Just like Saga is proving, when used properly these guys have scored goals in the past and they will score goals again.

Cardiff on the road are a much tougher proposition than Preston. I think a draw would be a good result, and if we manage that we just have to pray other teams don't steal a march on us, but with Plymouth and Forest away at Wolves and Reading respectively we should be OK. Barnsley and Norwich have winnable home games, so fingers crossed for a couple of draws there.

Ruddock when he played centre forward late on in some games. David Hirst had some girth. Moody & Crouch were probably the tallest but not in the lump of a centre forward role. Micky Evans was pretty chunky. Ossie was no short ar53. Fashanu maybe

What do you mean very soon??? The airbrush was wheeled out the minute Poortvliet got the boot and went in to overdrive that evening. It hasn't stopped either, be it statements and comments on the OS or in the Press, or in off the recrod briefings and comments to others. I haven't been impressed by the way Poortvliet has been hung out to dry. Wotte was to a large degree complicit in the 28 game farce and to suggest otherwise is rewriting history. They came as a pair from the joint interviews, the double pub sessions, the Q & A's at the AGM, the after match briefings, the original statments etc etc etc. However, he has shown that he is not as stubborn/foolish/one dimensional as Poortvliet, so I give him credit for accepting that Lowe's policy of youth and Total Football was flawed (even the great Chris Imwelumo might want to rethink his comments!!!). He will be judged over the period of his tenure, the points he amasses and how the team performs. 2 points from 4 games was poor, yesterday was very promising and so I hope the rebuilding starts from 21st Feb.

I agree that it will be a much tougher ask than Preston and arguably a point is probably on the cards and would be a good result IMHO. Preston don't travel well and have only won 3 on their travels and lost 8 (it's their 12 wins at home that have put them up the top end of the table). However, Cardiff have only lost twice away, but they have drawn 9 so I would be happy to make it 10.

Gphjwill or whatever his name is was running one of these every week. It was quite interesting, not least because some names have disappeared totally off the radar (Doncaster) whilst others slipped away for a bit but are now right back in it (Barnsley). My gut feel is that Charlton have got too much to do, so it will be 2 from us, Norwich, Plymouth & Forest. Norwich have constantly bobbed aroung the 20th place and have never shown any signs of pulling away. They'll be right in it at the end. Forest had a mini revival in Dec/Jan after they beat us, but have not managed to pull away. Although Plymouth have 5/6 points on us, their form ober the last few months is shocking and they have dropped from 7th after about 20 games (they were even in the play off spots at one point) to be in the relegation battle. A slide like that causes problems. Still not in our hands, but we are certainly not in Charlton's position.

Great story. This is something that I think they should do more and make more out of it. I know we have a slightly different training structure now involving some afternoons, but I still think the players & coaching staff should be getting out in the community whenever possible. The other alternative is to open Staplewood for schools and other junior teams to be coached there by the players. It's a really simple way of bringing back a feelgood factor and I'm sure both the youngsters and the players themselves would get something out of.

And hopefully it's not too late for him to be the talisman who helps keep us up. Goals win matches in football (!!) and he certainly has the ability to drive us up the table. We have been crying out for a clinicial finisher and his recent goals have shown just what we have been missing (mind you I'm still scratching my head over Wotte's not productive commnet last week!!). As others have said it was a total false economy to loan out all our options and to rely on McGoaldrought and other young loanees. Looking back it was absolute madness and I only hope too much damage was not done earlier in the season. We may have got Saga back more by accident than design, but he has to be the first name on the teamsheet every week.

There's battering rams, those that put themselves about and those that mix it up, and then there's fat fcking units like Parkin. He never even left the floor when he jumped!!!!!!!!!!!!

The same team since I first saw them in 1974, and you LOL:D

Yes, a very incorrect assumption Get close to Jason and ask him his opinions about Jan, Wotte and Lowe. He also may not like his salary being leaked to the press!!!

Was JP any good?:rolleyes:

We've had five Wotte's and we've got five points. I'd much rather have a 50 watt or even a 40 watt bulb than a 31 wotte dudd.

You may want to have a rethink if you think Euell's and Wotte's relationship is all sweetness and light.

I quite agree that unless someone buys them all out then someone/something has to convince them to do something about it. But I remain totally unconvinced with the three statements above. a) I'm sure there are many others who could do a better or different job than Lowe, there are also other who do a worse job, the trick will be getting out and recuiting the better ones. b) I refuse to accept that there are no alternatives out there. c) I refuse to accept that Lowe is the only person who could work under such constraints and that there isn't someone out there who could do a better job (after all his performance this season has been appalling and we've already ripped up the original script). I fully accept that those in charge need to accept there has to be a change before a change takes place, but there a multitude of alternatives out there. And given his fck up of a record to date, I struggle to believe that no one else could have done a better job.

Supporting the team and wanting a change in the boardroom are not mutually exclusive you know:rolleyes::rolleyes:

It still may not be too late to turn this around. The first 2/3rds of the season were an absolute disaster, but there is still time for us to pull it off, particularly if we play like we did today.

You're quite right. The Lowe and Poortvliet's Revolutionary Coaching Set Up ignoring dodgy CV's protest, was much better attended. Huzzah.

I'd agree we looked better with Euell up front, but remain to be convinced that we need to play McGoldrick in the centre of the park.