Sheff Saint

I think this is all unfair. WGS wasn't given a budget to sign superstars. Even Fergie makes mistakes in the transfer market. What WGS did was, as been mentioned, is get the best out of average players, he knew how to build a 'team.' It really isn't a negative reflection on him if subsequent managers couldn't use the same sqaud to do the same. If anything it shows how good his achievements were.

A good summary. Add in that i'm not sure the finanicial 'mess' is quite as bad as made out. (This is one i hope i'm not wrong on). I understand the debt and the stadium loan but can't believe they being what they are would force us into administration. I think, while the situation is very bad, Lowe is milking it for what it is worth to give leverage to pushing through his policies.

True to a point. So yes we were likely to go down, but why that season, what went wrong and will we learn from the mistakes for the future? (a rhetorical question!) TV money is a massive reason why we are where we are. But given the cards we were dealt, we haven't played them as well as we might. Where as i accept 'we are where we are' and we have to deal with that, aspiring for the best for the club is not a bad thing.

I'm not sure anyone has said they would like us to have been relegated. What they've said is they'd prefer Pearson was still here, not at Leicester. He may well have ****ed up royally this year but he's not really giving any credit to that theory with his performance, albeit a league below. He, almost certainly, wouldn't have done worse than the current setup.

That's not how it works though is it? We had all that in our first season in the CCC but twitcher hardly left us in the top spots did he? Sheff Weds, Forest, Man City, Leeds - none of these went up by winning the league and only City went straight back up. And, where as the young players might be quite good, he's not spent much money has he? So it's still a very good job (assuming they do go up)

Saints OS = Complete garbarge Lowe made it so in the power battle first time, it never really recovered but since Lowe has been back it is just utter utter drivel.

Saints OS = Complete garbarge Lowe made it so in the power battle first time, it never really recovered but since Lowe has been back it is just utter utter drivel.

I agree. What has Crouch done wrong? He got rid of Wilde cos he was spending a fortune on idiots to run the club and play for the club. When Crouch came in he helped pay for Andrew Davies, began reducing the debt by loaning our Rasiak and Skacel, gave Dodd and Gorman a go (on paper i still think that better tahn Gray, Wigley and JP) but was quick to act when that wasn't working (in a proper way, Dodd and Gorman weren't sacked) and pulled a masterstroke off in getting in NP. So what did Crouch get wrong? Siding with Wilde in the first place?

We should win this one. Donny were a lot like us at the Keepmoat. Rubbish at the back, pretty in the middle and rubbish up front. Just a bit more rubbish than us. I don't want to be a doom merchant but lose this and i just can't see that we'll stay up. So we won't. Saints 3 - 0 Donny

I'm not sure the prices or incentives are right but, with the exception of Norwich mentioned above, i think the club have always got the distribution and allocation of tickets spot on for the big games for as long as i can remember.

Was the 'fourth most watched league' term coined from the number of people that saw games in that division across a whole season, rather than just club averages. So of course the CCC was going to do well cos there in more games than in most European Leagues. Could be wrong with that though.

Was the 'fourth most watched league' term coined from the number of people that saw games in that division across a whole season, rather than just club averages. So of course the CCC was going to do well cos there in more games than in most European Leagues. Could be wrong with that though.

In theory i'm well up for this. I think we do need to head down this path. But what is not the right idea is to take such a revolution approach. Baby steps and evolution are needed. Sure, get the kids up and through. But we are in the CCC, we need a few old heads and we need to play in a certain style. Lowe thinks he can change the practice of however many years of modern football overnight. And you can't. And pis*ing off the supporters with a know it all attitude is not going to endear him either. And the divide over success and failure is life, is it not? In such a high powered, hig profile position the line between success and failure is marginal. But if Lowe oversaw two relegations, there can be no denying his term should end and it would end in failure?

Umm, the midfield needs some umph first! For me, when we won at Derby and at Reading we played a proper 4-3-3. And that was great. But other times i've seen us, when we've been poor, it's like we play 4-5-1, the two wide CFs dropping off, and that makes the supply line to the 1 quite hard. But to answer the question i'm not sure 4-4-2 would have helped a lot today. We've got no bite or drive in CM. I like Surman and Morgan but there's something missing.

I've seen McG play worse but he was no great shakes today, although he looked like he was on acid after he scored. I'm sure he ran more than he has in the last 6 games in those last 10 minutes. Saganowski was quiet but got little in the way of supply. I think i've said elsewhere, although i'm not sure we've got a goal scorer at SMS (before Saga came back) we've hardly been supplying a host of golden chances for the CF's we have got have we?

Hard to tell. BWP was wide left and Saga central. McG was almost in the hole so i suppose 4-4-1-1. Sort of. It was a bit toothless still for most of the game. After we'd 'weathered' the Barnsley pressure for 25 mins of the 2nd half we got better.

Just back and defrosted from today. Great three points, hopefully the start of a run. I think we used our 'Get out of Jail free' card a few times today. Davies was superb. Saeijs was good on debut, looks a good signing from one game! Holmes looked good as well, as did Morgan. McGoldrick's goal seemed to make him run, which is always nice to see! BWP was a bit rubbish, James, who i think has got better in recent weeks, had a first half to forget. Morgan was good, Surman kept going but had a hard role today. Still no drive or pace in attack and a poor Barnsley team did spend a lot of time in our half and will surely rue some wasteful finishing. Porbably should have been a couple up by the time we scored. No where near a Reading performance today! But a great three points, which keeps us in touch. Must must must win next week for us and even though i thought the performance wasn't all that today, hopefully the 3 points will give the boyz confidence for that!

Ha ha, i'm first then!! I'll post thoughts later but i think we had the get out of jail free card today. Barnsley should have been about 3-0 up by the time we ventured into their half and scored, but a win is a win and hopefully the confidence of a win will kick us onto a winning run. Main reasons we won, Davies (again) and Saeijs. I thought Saeijs was very solid and looked like the kind of player we need. A big tough centre half. I mean, i can't see Prem clubs knocking the door down for him, but for us i think he could a really good job. First impressions positive for me.

They'll need it. It's like ice up here today. I bet it's in the mid 20's at home!

Whatever the team we need three points. For all the sh*t going on we need some light in the darkness. Big noise from the 13 of us going tomorrow. COYR

But the harsh facts are Cranie, Blackstock and Mills are only very average CCC players in their own right. And that is with older players around them to help them. There is no proof that if they'd all broken into the Saints team together we'd be doing much better than now. Although i happen to think Mills and Cranie are better than the likes of Lancashire, you'd still need experience alongside them. Even Man Utd, when they played all their 'kids' had Bruce and Palliaster and Cantona etc in the squad to help them through. We have had too many journeymen at the club, but now we've gone full circle and got too many kids. Is it just me that thinks it's bleeding ovibus we need a blend of both?

I can judge because i've seen a lot of young players and i've seen what becomes of them. And i know the history tells me players that struggle at league 2 clubs, even at 19, rarely go onto make decent careers for themselves. We are kidding ourselves and the youngsters pretending otherwise. I hope White is a glorious exception to this and he will not recieve any critiscm from me during matches. But it's about time we stopped pandering around saying give players time. 30 odd years of football in the modern era has shown us very few players graduate from youth teams to good first teams. Yes, some players will need time and help. Other players will never come to anything. I hope White does become a world beater and i'll cheer him every game to help him, but, sadly, even at 19, 99 times out 100, if he's going to be good, we'd know about it already.

I've not really seen enough of him to comment, but i don't think it's unfair to assume he's not all that, based on his Shrewsbury experience. History rarely lies. Look at McG. Was **** at Port Vale on loan and looking at his performances now it's easy to see why. I know players will grow and improve, but most clubs cull the chaff at the end of the YTS period, knowing that they'll never grow and improve enough. We don't seem to be that arsed about binning players off anymore. It's not like we're poor judges. How many players have been released and then snapped up by other clubs and become stars? In 25 odd years you could only say there was Wise, Phillips and Scott McDonald.

The not-so-minor flaw in Rupert's grand plan.

If we go down and Eastleigh come up this season (both possible) then Eastleigh would start the FA Cup in qualifying Rd4 and we'd start in Rd1. I'd love to see Eastleigh v Saints in a real match. How odd would that be!