S-Clarke

Any match-day ticket above £60 is just thieving money really. Disgusting.

If he's their Eriksen replacement, or their scouts are even considering that, then Spurs are in trouble.

I think as a club we need to accept our position as a showcase club. We will be seen as a pathway to some top managers and players before they make their move further up the pyramid. Very similar to how Monaco, Dortmund, Ajax and the likes work - not full of money, they pick talent well and coach it well and put it on a stage where it can flourish and be sold on for big money. It's a sad cycle in that sense, but it's the only way to operate on the top table without a sugar daddy. You need to be on the ball and be ready to react to a big sale with the next big talent. We can't expect to keep success stories, and neither will any of the other clubs. We did it well for a couple of years, to a certain extend luck does come into it, but I feel we have lost our way scouting and recruitment wise, lost our way as a club with no real identity as to how we want to play. We tried to be clever and save money, not raising our transfer fees with the general rise across all football – so we attract lesser quality. To cut a long story short, scouting and recruitment is absolutely critical for a club like us. A couple of seasons of shoddy recruitment and players of lower talent and poor personalities will leave us where we have been. Ross Wilson and Les were the main guilty parties for the mess of the last couple of seasons, but somehow Ross has earned a promotion. I guess I'll have to give him the benefit of doubt, but personally I hope Ralph calls the shots and uses the wider scouting network - not just at our club. I hope the club have learned from the mistakes of the last couple of years and we buy players which fit an actual philosophy and a way the coach wants us to play. I have a feeling that Ralph may be key in getting this back on track, he just needs to be trusted and backed. That's my only fear.

.

But it did suit him, he was one of the most creative players in the league on a regular basis! Brushing shoulders with De Bruyne and the likes with chances created, so many assists for us. He was a success, he was just mis managed by Puel and Pellegrino in a turgid and boring team. Put him in a dymanic team with pace and he's a key part, as we saw when he was in Koemans side with Pelle and Mane etc. Top player for us, certainly didn't fail in the PL and certainly wasn't a reject. I think we let him go as he made it clear he wanted to go, and Ajax was his only choice. A lot of clubs are probably looking now at his form and wondering why they didn't grab him, but he deserves what he's getting now - so let him enjoy it, but also needs respect for what he did here.

I think we'll finish above Brighton no matter what given their remaining games, but we'll need at least 4 points to hop above Burnley. Two wins to have a chance of doing anything else, which I don't think we'll do - West Ham are a good side, if Stephens starts then we've already conceeded goals. We'll probably stay in 16th.

To be fair, Saturday highlighted our problems. Sure, he can finish now and then...but he won't get the goals required to maintain a decent placing. Look at the open goal he scuffed for example, this is just trademark Long. Thus we didn't win the game. (Well, one of the reasons why we didn't) Good for 5-8 goals a year if played in a decent side and confident, but could easily go an entire season without a goal (as we've seen). Really think we should focus on getting better in the summer, he's a likeable guy, but not really good enough if we're brutally honest.

So it's just a little wish list from your latest football manager, full of random unknowns and a couple of pointlessly unrealstic options, just on there in case - out of a random situation, they become avaliable. Sule, i mean ffs.

Funnilly enough, this is where he played for Burnley in the Championship (when Austen was there) and also where he played for Bournemouth - never an out and out forward.

I just hope Ralph is stronger than our previous management, if you let Ross take control and start making the transfers then you're ****ed. Basically. I'm sure Ralph has some good contacts, so let him recommend the players, let his contacts scout, and let Ross just play tiddly winks or something.

He's done pathetic stuff like that before. Really don't rate him, doesn't offer a thing. He was in a team beaten by Kazakhstan, so that really says it all

I think he's someone we can get decent $$ for, not sure he's good enough for the level I want us to get back to, so yeah...take the money, use it wisley. That's the question though.

Wouldn't take anyone from Huddersfield, really poor set of players. Same to be said of Cardiff, they're going back to their level. Fulham on the other hand do have some ability, they just didn't have a team. I think they'll need to ship a few out and I'd be interested to see what interest there is in Sessengon this summer - he's probably one of the only ones I'd be interested in.

Weird game really, but a proper entertaining end of season fare. Nothing to really play for, but flaws of both sides out on full show! We started so well, pressed, harried, first to the second balls, getting in behind numerous times and playing in between the lines. Their midfield were just too slow in the opening stages and we were just 'on it' - just not clinical enough, we should have been 2 or 3 up based on that first 20 or so mins. Bournemouth’s goal was a breakaway and came from absolutely nowhere in terms of the pattern of play, but it was poor defending and highlighted the real issue through the core of the side - a lack of pace. We wilted after that, similar to what we did in the first half of the season - and Bournemouth were on top for the rest of that half and deserved to go in ahead, no doubts about it. 2nd half he changed it, pushed the full backs further forward (with the introduction of Targett) and it helped - we stretched them more and got down the sides more, JWP was picking up space in the middle as illustrated by his very clean finish. It was a bit frantic for a while, but Valery did exactly what we wanted the full backs to do - advance the play and provide the width, and Targett did the same from the left. Thought we'd close it out, especially when Bournemouth had to lose another couple of players. But another one of Ross Wilson's masterstroke signings, Armstrong, came up with the goods. He's done this before in the dying embers of games (giving away penalties). Absolutely brainless and that just sums him up really, need to dump him back to Scotland, hopefully with Ross. Overall, an entertaining game, frantic and full of both teams’ problems - defending. Hopefully the last game we'll see from Stephens, for all his technical ability and smoothness on the ball at times, as an out and out defender he is absolutely disgusting. Not going to go anywhere with him on the pitch, needs shipping out - don't want the possibility of him being near the squad next year, if he is then we’ve got problems and Ralph has been let down. Ings was poor, touch was poor, looked heavy in his movement and not very dynamic. Slow to get the ball away and slow to get a shot off - needs to improve massively for me, otherwise he's a big waste of money. Let's just draw a line under this season anyway, hopefully the last we'll see from a few of the 'stalwarts' of the last couple of years - and we can start a fresh with some players of genuine ability with a manager who knows what to do with them.

The debate above is about Ross Wilson, who has become the head of recruitment/director of football type, when he doesn't even deserve to clean players boots.

£46 ticket price in the Kingsland - £47 if you include the booking fee. Absolute theives really.

What has Ross achieved to get a promotion like this? He should have been out of the door with Les, he's half the problem. His record is atrocious, he should not be making these sorts of calls or building a team around 'him'. He has wasted a fortune of money, which for a club like us, is like gold dust. He's flittered nearly £100m away on the likes of Elyounoussi, Boufal, Hoedt, Carrillo, Ings, Armstrong - and half of those have been shipped out on loan anyway. Seemingly he's going to continue making the calls, so I doubt our recruitment is going to improve a great deal – unless Ralph puts his contacts into the hat and we bypass as much of Ross as we can, that's what I hope will happen!

Imagine he'll be avaliable in and around the 10-15 million mark, 70k p/w wages? I mean, he looks shot these days. Doesn't look fit and looks like injuries have caught up with him. I'd rather shell out on a strong leading CB rather than focus on someone like Theo, as I don't think we'll have much dollar to play with.

Why include Ings? He's ours. He signed a 4 or 5 year pre-contract last summer, which kicks in during July 2019 when the obliged transfer with Liverpool for £18m finalises. He won't go back and we won't be selling him after buying him.

''What the **** is on your head?'' ''He's got a pineapple on his head...'' And is that an overweight Elyonnoussi i can see in the background.

Ah yes I did forget about their Semi's sandwiched in between, that will take it's toll.

I think this is the stage of the season where you look at who plays first. The next two 'match days' have Man City playing after Liverpool, so they will be playing catch up until the final day. Could be either of theirs, too tight to call. Both with similar run ins.

Because we carry the likes of Stephens through PL games, when they aren't PL players. That needs to stop. Whilst Yoshida is decent, he's still not top level PL quality. Bedernak is arguably our best centre back now days and he's still young/growing. We have no dominant experienced presence in the back line and they panic. We are generally a very mentally fragile team because we recruited so many mentally fragile players over the last few years. We can turn that up in the summer and get the right sorts, then you'll notice a difference.

It won't, sqeeuky bum time for Brighton and Cardiff. Imagine if Brighton get a huge win and then Cardiff win as well, that will deflate them massivley given their remaining 2. We are fine, anyone can see that now. We're not even included in any 'relegation' talks. If Cardiff and Brighton both get over 37 points and overtake us in 3 games, then I will eat both of my ears. It will simply not happen. Stop worrying about it now and look forward to the summer and what Ralph can do with this lot!

We've now got more points than we did last season by the way. Which wasn't too hard.