Gloucester Saint

Bit late for that now old bean unless they really pull it out of the bag this week and the starting line-up looks radically different.

In which case he is really is on shaky ground. Still sounded quite irritated just now about the shocking lack of progress on incomings for wide players and 10s. Wouldn’t be surprised if he walked shortly. His stock is relatively high, the club’s is not. Wouldn’t blame him either. If Ankerson is in charge of sales, that would explain why they been so turgid after the early Sulemana success (from his own recruitment fuck up). Rasmus will have a good old naked wank in the mirror about the Dibling fee though. Several TEDTalks from that. Fraud.

He is NOT happy with Johannes Spors. That sounds like someone who might walk before the derby if Spors and Solak don’t pull their fingers out this week.

Watch the Wrexham game back. Should score the rebound from Robinson hitting the post, and had another 3-4 very good chances where the keeper isn’t worked. Today, not sitters like the Wrexham game but should still be on target. Granted, he looks world class compared to fucking Downs and Stewart.

AA new contract was Martin’s doing, and we can see from Rangers what that looks like (again). Downs - to me, that has to be a dismissal of the scout who recommended him, or Spors if it was his doing. Might as well do a KLF and burn £8m on a Scottish island. Can’t hold up, can’t control a football, can’t run, can’t head it, and can’t kick it. As someone else observed, the players don’t want to pass to him either as he’s clearly no better in training. Needs to be told on Monday he’s being loaned out to League 1 or 2 to get some experience and Dragan will have bail Spors out on the wages. Plymouth and Cheltenham urgently need strikers for example and will take him on if he isn’t costing them much. AA has done it for us before but he’s not a striker through the middle. How many fucking times do managers need to be told this by the fans? You’re the professionals FFS. BBD - subsidised loan, confidence totally gone. Needs a new environment.

No excuse still though for 5 at the back at home to Stoke. Understandable at Portman but not acceptable today. Early days, and Spors looks another shocking hire by SR, but Will needs to do a lot better than today. If Spors and Dragan don’t come up with the goods, I’d walk if I were him. His stock is quite high and the club’s isn’t.

Well, the manager needs to put pressure publicly on Spors to deliver. Spors has made the promises and miles short so far. Ralph got shafted by Ankerson over strikers and cost him his job. Makes Spors accountable. Downs is a total waste of money, better off getting a free agent than someone sign technique that would have been frowned upon at Bromley or Cheltenham.

Yep, one week to save his job. Promised much and delivered fuck all. 5-6 starters needed through both the spine and out wide. Tick tock. He’s had plenty of time. Aribo and Edozie need to be given cut offs to get their moves done as Sam could’ve helped us today when Stoke went down to 10. This limbo position is not helping anyone.

Poor performance by the Director of Football. Needs a really stellar week or on his bike I think. Good start with Sulemana and Onachu but dreadful since. Downs - I’ve seen big lumps in National League South with a better first touch. To call him a donkey is an insult to the animals. Ali Dia had better technique than that. £7m is beer money but still utterly wasted, and the £15-20m needed for a standout striker at this level is still needed, so dig deep Dragan. This week should hurt a great deal if the club is get back on track.

Spors and Dragan under huge pressure, and Still will be a goner if we lose the derby. They need to pull off some magic in the transfer window this week, real drive, urgency and intent needed.

Data-driven again. But you never turn a profit on someone with no first touch, anticipation, composure or ball striking. Moore was obviously what we needed but not trendy enough for SR. They never will learn.

Plus having a better keeper, central midfield and forward line. Otherwise referred to as a team’s spine. And ours has been broken for several years.

A couple of each arguably, and Downs, AA and BBD loaned out, even if Dragan has to stump up on the wages. Can’t close the curtains on bad investments.

SR are better off sending what they need to the top agency firms and letting them come up with a shortlist at the start of next week. Our scouts have proven time and again that they cannot spot a good player to save their lives bar the odd fluke eg Lavia, Livramento. I bet Fernandes was brought to them by Mendes as well.

As @RedArmy says, either offer him to Goztepe to see if they can get a tune out of him, but realistically it’s probably writing off the fee and wages. Plymouth need a striker and maybe in League 1 he might get away with his dreadful first touch a bit more. He doesn’t look a Championship footballer remotely in any facet, and sometimes the obvious error just needs rectifying. Good reasons why Koln weren’t taking a new contract seriously, SR will never learn around data driven nonsense. Tie up with Mendes like Wolves did, he can spot a quality footballer. Need to bring a couple of starting forwards in though, on loan if SR won’t pay the £12-20m required even after selling Fernandes and Dibling. BBD and AA need to rebuild their confidence away from Saints on loan as well.

2005-9 tells me we are nowhere near hitting the bottom of where we are going to sink without a huge turnover in players over the next few days.

Get fitter and quicker and get on the end of them then. If they can’t do that, ship them out subsidised to a lower division and bring in a couple of loan players who do want to do the extra.

Today was unacceptable, I’ll give you that. But he needs to put a firework up Spors’s arse to get the players he needs for his formation and if that means doing in the presser, do it. Managers get the sack from DoFs if they don’t deliver their objectives, whether the DoF has done their job properly or not.

Give me a break, take the red and white specs off. They were quicker, more composure, took their chances well and our strikers were pathetic. Downs looks worse than Ali Dia’s cameo v Leeds. First touch of concrete. Massive surgery needed next week.

If you buy the £20 item to be a smart arse instead of the £75 item you actually needed and the £25 item breaks in 5 minutes and/or is simply not fit for purpose (eg Damion Downs) then you’ve simply wasted money and time, and the item you needed in the first place you may not be able afford. Utter stupidity and we see it every fucking transfer window. SR - stick to selling, and hook up with Mendes and let him identify and advise on the buying. It’s his living and he knows what he’s doing. SR, you simply do not know anything about buying players. You can sell them, but Downs is just the latest example of cutting a corner in a key position in the spine of the team. The price needed for an outstanding Champ striker is £12-20m. If you can’t find that, sell up. SFC is too much for you.

Sadly he does look horribly out of his depth, there’s a reason Koln weren’t busting a gut for a new contract for him to lead their Bundesliga line. Loaning him out is the smart move, have to address mistakes a lot quicker on recruitment.

That’s what is needed, another half-a-dozen, 3 perm, 3 on loan, who don’t have last season’s PTSD.

Wouldn’t score again in 110 minutes.

Need to be very active in that area next week and if selling Fernandes helps then do it. Also need some subsidised loans out - AA, BBD. SFC isn’t a good environment for them.

Must admit he’s been worse than I feared. £8m is cheap but that looks expensive for no first touch, composure or ball striking. Need to be active in the loan market bringing at least one starting striker in, loaning Downs out to somewhere Plymouth who need a forward to get experience and one of AA/BBD even if it’s a loss on wages because their confidence is through the floor.