Clifford Nelson

I am sure that the ones who watched the game today now realises that we have a much better team than we thought we had. We still need to assure a bit more strength in depth, but our boys can really play. Pity that the ones who was sitting at home contributing to the forum didn't come down to SMS. You missed a treat.

He was better than "reasonably competent". He had a good game, and will only get better when he gets to understand his team mates. It's good-bye to Molineux.

Those who stay calm when everybody else is panicking. They are the real leaders.

Excellent idea! Somewhere where everyone can go and empty yesterday's bile when the need arises.

There is only one place to be tomorrow and that is SMS. Shake the negativity out and support the team tomorrow in the build-up to Millwall. What could be more important than that?

Every thread seems to deteriorate into the old mud of yesterday. I'm as responsible as anybody, really, but I just realised that I'm heartily sick and tired of reading about last years scenario yet again. Returning to the thread's early content I'm pleased that Lallana is not being sold, since in his current form and state of mind that is the last we would hear of him. He isn't ready to go anywhere, and a season under AP will do him the world of good. There are other talented youngsters still at the club, but with the possible exception of Gillet and Mills they need a psychological re-building job. I'm struggling in my mind to put out a solid starting eleven which can commence battle towards mid-table by christmas. Kelvin, Perry, Gillett, John, Harding...maybe Wotton, Thomas if he's fit, Schneiderlin, but can he play with Gillett, probably not...I can get part of a bench together with youngsters like Mills and maybe Lancashire, who isn't ready for L1 CB duties yet, but it's awfully thin out there. It's still looking like another 5 or 6 experienced players needed. Good luck AP!

Even Bosmans would have cost too much in our state last year. We had a few loans, cheap youngsters from elsewhere. Cork was good and elected to elsewhere.

If you ask people to achieve what they haven't got the potential to achieve they will only lose confidence and achieve even less than they could if managed well. That's the same for footballers as for anybody else. Maybe Burley was more aware of the realities. It looks like everybody has fogotten that Michael Wilde told us that the aim last season was to reach the play-offs. I was a very high ambition, but it was also a ludicrous one, since we sent out the youth team to achieve it. Motivational skills are, contrary to common beliefs, not an easy thing to acquire. Amongst football managers it is a fairly rare commodity. The managers who've got it usually do very well.

Come on, mate, you're a day behind the discussion. We've been there in spades already.

The situation was already there when he took over. The team had lost games and confidence and the boys were running around like headless chicken. He didn't manage to turn that around into avoiding relegation, but was that really a possibility in the first place?

I would have thought that AP has contacted every free transfer he is interested in by now and that the club is discussing possibilities with one or two. I wouldn't even be surprised if there was another face or two signed tomorrow.

It's called negotiations. John's agent wants a bit more...the club won't offer that much...and so on it goes.

I don't think anybody could have done any better with that inexperienced and shell shocked squad with several holes where talent, experience, or both should have been. Still it all looked like a possibility before the administrators marched in and the kids lost heart totally. Wotte got lots of undeserved criticism for what he did, even though selection and tactics sometimes looked questionable. Nevertheless I think that AP is about as perfect a manager for our club as we could possibly have hoped for. He also had the guts to name the elephant in the room.

I don't know why I thought he had passed on to the great Wembley in the sky, but he is 81 and still kicking (a ball?). Maybe free transfer?

...and they will walk us right down into League 2 if they were left to get on with it. Luckily AP knows that, which fills me with confidence. The team against Millwall will look very little like the team of last year, I think.

They can't all be on the bench so I imagine that you'd like to put Gobern, Thomson, McLaggon, Doble and Saville on the pitch to take on Millwall... James is not up to it as midfielder since he is still standing there waiting for the ball. If he hasn't learnt how to meet it yet then I think it's too late. He isn't a natural right back either. Thomas possibly, but can he stay fit for more than a game? The team on the pitch is what I'm after and not a bunch of youth players with potential. One or two of them at a time will do, let's remember what happened last year. They should learn most of the trade they should learn in the reserves. None of them is a Bridge, Bale or Walcott.

This only shows that we keep watching different games. I wouldn't hire you as a scout and you probably wouldn't hire me, because what I've seen is a player who can thrive only on service and we have been unable to provide any. In my eyes that has made him look awful.

I feel the urge to defend Jermain Wright, since I several times saw him passing the ball to a saints player. That is more than many members of that squad managed.

If I think of the players who played last season and are still here, who would I like to see on the team sheet every week? - Kelvin, Perry and Gillet comes readily to mind. Adding in Harding and Stern that makes 5. In a squad of 18 we still need 13. Add a few of the better youngsters for the bench like Mills, Paterson, Lancashire (maybe), and we're still looking for another 10!!! Am I missing any gems here?

In the early stages after the takeover ML made it clear that the plan was for a return to the PL. He also made it clear that might mean different managers and players for different stages of that campaign. If we go and spend money for players to take us out of League 1, they won't be easy to sell again if they disappoint or are not good enough for the CCC. Then we won't recoup the money. We might also, like Newcastle for instance, have a big and expensive squad we can't sell, nor use. The players we sign this year might not be with us in CCC. We really don't want to store up debt and trouble for the future. Everything is done right for a change, not just for today, but for the long run.

I've got a job for the PR agency. They can train the players in not ever again use the dreadful and defeatist word "hopefully" from every interview they give. I don't want their "hope" but their determination and fighting spirit, and if they haven't got it then there shouldn't be a place for them here.

He is saying what most of us have known to be true over a very long time. That fills me with confidence that he is working to try to rectify a dire situation, and I am more than happy to support him and the team in the time it takes to sort out and make us competitive again. Isn't it re-freshing not to hear the b*llsh*t anymore? Dung is dung and should be labelled as such. It's only received cheerfully by farmers.

Well spotted!

The club had a shortlist of candidates they wanted to speak to, some wanted to speak, others didn't. That doesn't mean that anybody was first choice. If Tisdale actually turned down a job offer, then we would have made an offer to the club for his release as well. I really don't think it went that far. Tisdale's comments are meant for the Exeter fans and will re-assure them that he loves their club, blablabla.. Whatever the circumstances I am thoroughly delighted with AP and his straight talking. He has seen it all, knows what's wanted and intends to fix the team. A massive job, but I trust he will do it well. We couldn't have made a better choice.

AP's honest and unspun views are so refreshing compared to the abject nonsense we've been fed for so long, and still are, if you remember Stewart Henderson's recent interview in which he told us that the team was well prepared for Millwall and League 1!!! We can live with straightforward points of view even if they are not palatable at all times, because we watch the team and form our own opinions. Far too often I have wondered if I'm just being patronised or if the coaching staff and managers are living in a different universe. In either way it just makes me angry. Nonsense/spin is usually designed by PR companies trying to sell what is really a sub-quality or 'not fit for purpose' product. AP seems to be the sign of a new era.