HarvSFC

Cost United £37m. Pretty nuts that a £37m player is playing on loan in the Championship. Why the loan market will be key next season.

He's not popular with the ladies, but as a football manager for a Championship club there isn't many better realistic options on paper. Potter left Swansea after a 10th placed finish. Cooper was his summer replacement, taking them to 6th and a play-offs defeat against Brentford in his first season in charge and then 4th and a play-off final defeat against his nemesis, Brentford in his second season in charge. He then walked out on them in the summer and the two years without him they've dropped to 15th and 10th. He then took over Nottingham Forest in September 2021. Forest had won one of their first eight under Chris Hughton and were bottom of the league with 4 points. Those in the play-offs had a 9 point head start. But, they only lost 6 more games across the rest of the season, he took them to 4th and won through the play-offs. Did well in the FA Cup too, reaching the quarter finals after knocking out Arsenal and beating Leicester 4-1, losing 1-0 to Liverpool. As said, it hasn't gone completely to plan for him this season, as his owners like ours and the Chelsea owners started playing Football Manager in real life without any real plan. But, yeah, he's got a winning track record in the Championship, sorted out the mess at Forest who were recycling through managers like Watford (14 in 8 years prior to him), so he has that going for him too, hasn't just walked into good, stable clubs.

Selles is wondering why the Luton lot are so happy, they lost the possession stat 38% to 62%.

Not many YouTube compilations on him. Welcome back to the Championship.

Appears like another spreadsheet guy to me. Good underlying stats (possession), where he can talk a good game, but at the end of the day he's achieved nothing as a manager. Taken MK Dons to 13th and replaced Cooper, who finished 4th with Swansea to a 15th and 10th placed finish in his two seasons in charge. We've all also watched us play a blunt possession game all season. I don't want to see us continue to pass it around Bazunu and our centre-backs next season. It's boring, too passive and at the end of the day doesn't get most teams who try to emulate Barcelona/Man City the same success. You need a mix between direct and possession based football to be winners at our level. One positive is we'd be stupid not to bring Joel Piroe with him if Martin was appointed. Only 23 and a 22 and 19 goal Championship striker.

Les Reed got complacent and believed his own hype, that was our downfall. Two things Brighton are doing to show they're not getting complacent/resting on their success is that they're signing players before selling their stars. They've already got Joao Pedro in and James Milner is all but confirmed with a handful of games left in the season. That would've been unthinkable under our previous lot. Boufal, for example, Mane's replacement was signed on 29th August 2016. Two days before the window closed, wasn't given a pre-season and we sold Mane two months prior on 28th June 2016. Then there was the Van Dijk replacement debacle. Sold him before the January window opened, so a complete reverse to what Brighton are doing and then didn't "replace" him until the following summer with a complete flop in Wesley Hoedt for £15m. That then brings the next point. Brighton are obviously going to sell some players this summer. We sold Van Dijk for a then record fee for a centre-back. But, we continued to shop in the £10m-£20m market, when prices had inflated following our previous success. So, we signed Hoedt for £15m, when probably about two years prior he would have been worth £10m and a fairer reflection on his poor quality. We saw the same when we "replaced" Ings, who was sold for £30m with Adam Armstrong for £15m. Even Leeds have two £30m+ forwards. They're both rubbish, but it's surely got to be easier to find quality for £30m than us looking for "bargains" below £20m. Joao Pedro cost Brighton £30m, so they're investing their predicted income into their transfer fees, while we were always told that the other half of our transfer income had to go towards agent fees and what not. They were the two mistakes we made, so it will obviously take time, but Brighton could sustain this for a bit longer. It also helps that they have an invested owner, a fan of the club.

Paddy McNair would be a good start should Middlesbrough stay down. Pocketed Gyokeres today.

You'd imagine the young players who are turning up late to training/on their phones are Edozie, Mara and Bazunu considering they've all been dropped, not getting much of a look in and their general demeanour which we see, although for an admittedly short period of time. You also wouldn't be too surprised if AMN and Aribo were just as poor professionally off the pitch, although AMN does get in the team every week, so he may be doing something right like the other lesser talents who get played every week. Overall, what a mess of a situation. I don't know why Crocker wasn't just put in charge of recruitment in January and why it had to be the under qualified Ankersen. Even tonight's statement is coming weeks/months too late. Why wait until we're confirmed relegated to release something you'd hope is meaningful and not when relegation was staring us in the face.

Onuachu this week’s tombola pick.

Inverted/central midfield wing backs works for City and Liverpool because they dominate possession. For us, it was just an exploitation that another team used against us.

Deleted all Instagram posts, which is the modern player's way of announcing they're transferring from one club to another, if there was any doubt. Seemed a bit of a prat on social media anyway, posing for pictures and showing off his riches like some egotistical Lemina.

It's a strange one. 2005, I was distraught after the Manchester United final day loss, but I was also ignorant of the Championship and thought we'd walk the league and come straight back up. Now, the relegation is obviously damaging and after attending recent matches in the last month or so I've felt gutted, but I've accepted relegation and don't feel as much negativity towards it as I did in 2005, while also knowing how unforgiving the Championship is and how easy it is to soon become a mid-table Championship team. The last few years, especially at home have been a chore for us all and it's almost nice to think that this part of the club's history is almost coming to an end and we're nearing a much needed reboot. How long it takes us to recover though, who knows.

Maitland-Niles moves in slow motion.

So that’s what happens when you counter a team out of position instead of recycling the ball around your defence and allowing the opposition to regroup. Damn.

Need a goal scorer, not somebody who contributed 5 goals in a team that ran away with the league. 9 league goals in his last three seasons. Need a Lambert, Sharp, Connolly strike force again, who all bagged more than Barnes did this season, despite Lambert being the clear main man and Sharp only playing after January. To put it into context, Jos Hooiveld scored two more in our promotion season than Barnes has this season, while Guly, who wasn't everybody's favourite bagged double.

I liked when Dan Sheldon joined the forum, posted "I am going to be using Saints Web to communicate more frequently with supporters. If you have any queries, topics you want me to explore or anything else, then feel free to leave a comment/post a question." Made 16 further posts and then left the role never to be seen again. Good times.

He’s good for youngsters, like Bazunu. Makes him feel confident all week in training with his piss poor shots, although he does add to the complacency on a match day.

Entering complete parody mode.

In an ideal/realistic world: New GK Livramento - Stephens - New CB - New LB Two new CM's (Expect JWP, Lavia and Diallo to leave) Sulemana - Alcaraz - Tella/Edozie New ST Have no idea who we should sign, mind. Hopefully players coming into their peak. Considering all the profit we made off players like Ings, Lambert, Lovren, Van Dijk.... The list goes on, it's strange how the club turned to youth to make profits.

Another example being Kompany, who was named Burnley manager on 14th June, three weeks after the season was completed. On a separate topic, I think we all know that Liam Delap will be our priority striker target again this summer after two pretty awful loans at Stoke and Preston. See if Wilcox has a fascination with Manchester City youth players like Shields did.

Lincoln City bullying Bazunu for their goal the early warning sign, expect to see more of it if we don't get someone more commanding in goal next season.

Money, probably. Ipswich have a 22 year transfer record - Matteo Sereni in 2001 for £4.75m. They don't spend a lot. Made a couple of £1m+ signings last summer and in January with Leif Davis and Nathan Broadhead, but their squad has been built on a tight budget. One thing and it is probably the only thing SR can't be criticised for is their spending, which we know does most of the talking in football. They also have a 26 goal ex-Skate in Conor Chaplin who might do alright here. Edit: Alex Neil made a similar move from Sunderland to Stoke last season after Sunderland's promotion.

Having looked in a bit more, I would be quite supportive of bringing in Kieran McKenna from Ipswich. When he took charge, they were a mess of a club in League One, recycling through three managers a season. Sound familiar? One year in charge and Ipswich have won promotion, would have won the league any other season and still can with one game to go, having only lost four league games all season, scoring 99 and conceding 33. Now, you could say Ipswich is his first job as a manager, he's never managed in the Championship, could the step up be too far for him, like Nathan Jones' was for the Premier League. But, I would say Ipswich and Luton have different pressures. Luton were always the underdog and were always overachieving in their promotion to the Championship and then successful seasons in the Championship. Whereas, McKenna has met the expectations of Ipswich. Ipswich being more similar to Stoke. Additionally, he has worked within the youth team and coaching staff of Tottenham and Manchester United. Working with the egos that Jones never got the grasp of as well as learning off Pochettino and Mourinho, which again Jones was never given the opportunity to do. Then, bringing me onto my next point. Having worked in the youth teams of these clubs, you would imagine McKenna knows how to develop and bring through young talent. Fits the club's ethos and this isn't wholly about Sports Republic's fetish of signing youngsters, but also developing and bringing in our own current talents from the B team, something we've been ignoring in recent years. Lastly from his Wikipedia page, it says this: "Following McKenna’s arrival as Manchester United's under-18s manager, Indy Boonen, who was a teenage player for United at the time, praised McKenna by stating, "He changed everything. The way we trained was how the opponent played on the Saturday. If you played against West Brom, you trained how they are and focused on their weaknesses." A manager who sets up a team to exploit the opposition's weakness. Revolutionary! Just from Thursday night we were all saying and it was known Bournemouth's weakness was in the air. So, we played short corners and our six foot eight striker was nowhere to be seen. Scrap the playbook rubbish. It worked for a bit getting us to the top of the league and then funnily enough, other clubs worked out it's weaknesses and have been beating us ever since, Hasenhuttl remained loyal to it, Jones played his "front footed and aggressive" mess every game and Selles plays Mr. Conservative. It would be nice to set up a team to exploit the oppositions weakness and look comfortable again. This appointment would of course make too much sense. So, scrap all this.

Lets see if the Leeds version has any impact: "The Leeds United Supporters Advisory Board have released the following statement after their 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth: "After the result and performance of the team today, the Leeds United Supporters Advisory Board (SAB) would like to place on record its lack of faith in the current management team at the club. "The SAB have been supportive of many decisions this year and will always work with the club to improve the way the club connects with its supporters and communities, so it is only right that we also address the current performances and the situation we are now faced with. "Leeds United fans have, and will always, support our club through its ‘ups and downs’, but with four games left this situation is no longer sustainable. "The narrow escape from relegation last season should have been the catalyst for a season of growth but this season has now turned into a humiliating disaster. "The appointment of Jesse Marsch, a style of play so different from that of Marcelo Bielsa, the sacking of Marcsh after the transfer window had closed, the hiring of a of a fifth-choice manager, the purchase of a £35m striker who has played hardly any minutes in a relegation dogfight, the costly and embarrassing mistakes made in the Jean Kevin Augustin case… there have been far too many questionable decisions and people must be made accountable. "The players must also take responsibility for their abject performances and lack of professional pride since half time against Crystal Palace. To pull on that famous white shirt is something that us fans can only dream of, yet it seems that some of the squad don’t have the fight for this battle. "We are therefore asking for immediate changes to be made to the first team coach and to those responsible for the recruitment of the managers and players who have been brought in over the last 14 months. "We would like to place on record our thanks and gratitude to the many staff, at both Thorp Arch and Elland Road, who worked tirelessly to make Leeds United a club that all of those who support it can be proud of. "The Supporters Advisory Board are due to meet with the club this coming week and hope that they are able to respond to this statement before the meeting takes place." Can pretty much replace Leeds with Southampton, just our frozen out striker cost a bit less than £35m. They get to have dialogue with their club. We get told to be grateful for fans forums where Semmens and Ankersen dismiss everything, say they know best, spout some nonsense about the women's team and call it a night.

Been saying it for months, play the inconsistent, yet unpredictable attackers and they will create at least a couple of chances a match, rather than the three consistently shit and predictable attackers (Walcott, Elyounoussi and A. Armstrong). Shame it's taken so long to work out.