Midfield_General

Cool. I find it weird that some people only ever relentlessly trot out the club's party line, and attack anyone who challenges it, almost like they have some sort of vested interest in doing so. But hey, isn't it nice that we can agree to disagree like grown-ups. Have a great day.

You're picking one game as if that ends the discussion with a slam dunk. I'm talking about a pattern over the course of half a season or more. I get that he's 19 and is not the finished article yet. I get that he's not a box-to-box, all energy player. I get that he's been playing in a poor side and there has been upheaval. However, I think there have been numerous occasions this season where he has looked disinterested or could have done more to help the team. You clearly disagree, and that's fine.

Yes, because working hard off the ball is exactly the same as running around like a headless chicken or being Brett Ormerod. That's exactly what I said. Good one. 👍

All very fair points. Another question of course is generally how he would fit into a high-energy, high-pressing style of the sort that Still will apparently demand. The manager is going to need to see a lot of work off the ball from any player in that set-up. It's all probably moot though tbh, because the club seem to see him as their quickest and easiest way of raising funds this summer, so I think if he wants to go, then if someone comes in with anything £50/55m+ then he'll be straight off. I'm not entirely clear who would be ready to spend even that sort of money on him though, let alone the silly £100m figure that the club put out there. On the surface there's not an obvious club who would leap at his languid style + what he's proven so far + what it would be likely to cost them, and who also have an obvious need for a player like him. Especially considering he's already been burned by the 'squad player at a big club' experience at Chelsea which didn't work for him at all.

I think the jury's very much out on Dibling's mentality, based on the second half of the season when he didn't seem to putting anywhere near as much work in. Yes he was in a poor side blah blah but he's only 19 and is still making his way in the game - at the very least he should be putting in maximum effort at all times. If he's not prepared to properly bust a gut for the team when he's still only 19, that raises question marks for me. Talent is worthless if you're too arrogant to think you have to work hard as well.

Hang on a sec... Turki... @Turkish ... could it be true? Are we seeing the beginnings of the ultimate CoT coup, with Turki(sh) Al-Sheikh using the exclusive intel gained from his extensive network of contacts to sweep in and buy the club?

True, but what is inarguable is that he has come up the hard way with no previous reputation or contacts in the game to give him a leg up, and no head start as a 'name' from a starry playing career to fall back on. He has come from being an absolute nobody, sat in his bedroom in his mum's house writing off to clubs asking to be given a chance, to going toe-to-toe with Mbappe's PSG, through sheer determination, hard work and by consistently delivering results when he's been given the opportunity. The hundreds of comments below each video from fans of his previous clubs, almost unanimously positive, wishing him well and tipping him for the very top, are also a bit different to the way that some of our former managers are talked about! Or maybe French / Belgian supporters are just nicer than we are... Anyway, it's definitely another step up for him, and time will tell, but for me, just having a gut reaction that isn't 'oh god, they've obviously found another muppet' feels like a nice step back in the right direction after the horror show of the last 12 months.

I've now watched and listened to every video that has been posted of him talking and working and I'm so much more excited. I certainly feel like I know a bit more about him than I did a week ago, and it's good to see beyond the silly headlines about how he only got jobs by being good at Football Manager, which is complete bollocks. The behind the scenes one of him working with the players and the High Performance one of him talking about his career to date are the most interesting two. He is incredibly blunt. He is searingly honest, extremely self-deprecating and completely transparent about things that working football managers almost never talk about, like self-doubt and what he struggles with. At the same time, he is obviously spectacularly driven and has great faith in what he is able to deliver if he is allowed to work with the freedom that he needs to build the working environment he wants. The grounded way he speaks when compared to a loon like Jones or a smoothie like Martin is like he's from a different planet. No platitudes or cliches, just answering questions honestly. It will be very interesting to see if the players take to him and his demeanour. I'm sure some will look down on him, and he's certainly not going to be turning up with a glamour model on his arm and being best banteriffic mates with them. For the ones that don't, I hope the club back him to the hilt to do whatever he feels is necessary to let him create the group dynamic that he needs. I hope he gets off to a good start, but if he doesn't, I hope that both the club and the fans treat it as a long-term project and give him time to do his work. This will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge of his career so far, and I have no idea if it will work out or not, but to me his brutally honest, 'anti-managerspeak-bullshit' demeanour comes across incredibly well, and the almost unanimous praise from the fans of the clubs he has worked with in the past has to be a very good sign. The comments sections below each video are basically just hundreds of fans of his previous clubs saying what a fantastic person and manager he is. Compare and contrast that with the feedback that most past managers get. It's not a traditional appointment for sure, but for me it's a very exciting one, and who knows whether it will be a success, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun finding out. If I had to stick my neck out I think our fans generally tend to appreciate a grafter who doesn't take any shit from the players, and in that respect I think he's got the potential to become something of a cult hero, in the vein of Strachan.

Talksport (yes, I know) reporting this morning that van Nistelrooy's sacking is imminent with Martin lined up to take over straight away: https://talksport.com/football/3238564/ruud-van-nistelrooy-leicester-sacked-russell-martin/ Caveat: It's Crook

Yeah a lot of their fans seem understandably utterly bemused at their club's 'obsession' with us, especially with taking our cast-offs. I have to say I don't really get it myself either, hilarious though it is. They're already chanting against him and he hasn't even joined yet. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/rare-chant-gives-leicester-city-10214101 "But there was also a chant about Russell Martin, the man at the centre of rife speculation around the City job and the favourite to succeed Ruud van Nistelrooy. While the chant – “Russell Martin, what a ******” – was unnecessarily harsh towards the former Southampton manager, it was at least effective in showing the fans’ thoughts on his possible arrival, especially with Jon Rudkin at the Vitality Stadium to hear them. For lots of fans, appointing Martin is akin to signing Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand despite their involvement in the 9-0 game at St Mary’s. Last season in the Championship, City won their two games against Martin’s Saints 9-1 on aggregate. Plus, in the Premier League, he took just five points from 16 matches before being sacked. To many, it feels like a backwards step."

Blimey - they really don't want him do they 🤣 https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/137307-russell-martin/#comments If he does go there then he'd better start well, because if he doesn't then that could turn extremely toxic, extremely quickly. '#WelcomeRylan' and 'Poundland Ant Middleton' made me laugh

Love the fact that he got his squad together and said "Lads, I'm going to be honest, we're really, really, really shit." I'm starting to see why they think he's right for this particular job. That was a really interesting listen. He's not a traditional football manager by any means, but I'm excited to see what he can do.

He's a puff of pink mist wafting about where a midfielder should be

The Japanese one is fun. It’s showing the game with English commentary but it’s got some random Japanese bloke talking over it who sounds like he’s sat in his bedroom

In a poor game they were the better side and deserved the narrow victory. Orient were very disappointing, offered pretty much nothing. Charlton just sat deep for the 1-0 in the second half when it became apparent Orient didn’t have any quality to break them down. Fair enough. Not pretty, but got the job done. Jones has done a decent job there, fair play to him. He’s a classic lower league manager who works well with limited players with low expectations who can be galvanised into being better than the sum of their parts through defensive organisation, fitness and hard work. Better players who have worked with other, better managers don’t take him seriously though because on a basic level he’s just such a gimp. I won’t pretend to be an expert on Still, but based on what we’ve seen and heard of Jones, what we’ve seen and heard of Still so far, and the resources available to both, I’d be amazed if we didn’t beat them home and away next season. Score the first goal and they’re screwed because Jones isn’t good enough to coach intelligent attacking play. He just sets up to be hard to break down, which was enough today after they scored from a free kick the keeper should have saved easily, but won’t be enough against the sides with more quality that they’ll play next season.

@MindtheGab mentioned that Still's MNF appearance was a key factor. I'm very intrigued about that. In this data-driven era, and with a business-critical decision to be made worth hundreds of millions of pounds, surely even SR are more organised than to pick a manager by just watching Sky until they stumble across someone who sounds clever doing a TV interview. Would love to know more about how his MNF appearance influenced or focused the thinking on Still, to the extent it made him our number one target.

Interview ahead of their play-off final today: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/24/nathan-jones-charlton-league-one-playoff-final-leyton-orient-football He’s from a small Welsh mining community apparently. Who knew!

Derby fans should be celebrating that one as much as Sunderland are

We were linked with him a couple of weeks back

Well either Sunderland or Sheffield Utd will probably be looking for a new manager in October, he’s probably giving his CV to their chairmen personally today to get ahead of the game

Are you saying that in a critical season our exhaustive global search for a manager, conducted by our crack team of experts, has basically come down to someone watching Sky Sports and going ‘ooh, he sounds clever’?

Aaaand that’s enough of that Fuck this See you next season

Good of TNT to provide a nice balanced view on the game with former Everton stalwart Leon Britten as co commentator. ”It’s such a pity that goal was offside” Fuck off

Sanda? He’s a little rough round the edges Has some Power Bit of a Tool