mat gore

Roeder and Grant are working their magic at Villa. I''d rather let them keep them.

there must be easier ways to sell more pies

35million for Carroll plus obscene wages    Assuming he scores 17+goals a year for 7 years thats still probably 8million per year! On that basis GH is worth about 14-15million for the next 2 years. Allowing for how overpriced Carroll is I''d still say 8-9million is a reasonable price and by no means above his value.

The worst possible appointment short of Souness anyway.  We are now a laughing stock, literally.   I have already received several emails from friends who support other clubs. The board have grotesquely mismanaged this club since we were promoted. This is the worst moment though.  At a time when we need to bring back a sense of togetherness to the club and pull together they spend three weeks in a farcical appointment process and then name someone guaranteed to have 90% of the fans against him before a ball is even kicked.  With his record of 2nd season relegations even if he keeps us up ( which I doubt ) noone will expect him to next year.  This has guaranteed that the crisis will go on at least another year. I don''t know whether hes a good manager or not but his record is poor at best.  At a time when we needed a morale boost we get a kick in the teeth.  Last year when we needed experience we got a first time manager and the experience damaged both him and us. They seem to have learnt NOTHING.   Can I be the first to apply for the managers job to lead our attempts to stabilise in league one.       

Chris Lewellyn scored the goal that kept Wrexham in the league. Think he scored for Wales this season too.  

To be fair I think Chris Martin barely played a reserve gaem before stepping up and none of us regret that. Given the atrocious quality of our reserve "league" its arguable that scoring for the academy team is a bigger achievement and I suspect Grant feels the same.

best result is undoubtedly an ipswich win. We need 3 teams down for us to be safe.  Leeds, Southend, QPR, Luton and Hull are the most likely candidates.  QPR in particular are in freefall and it would be best for us if it stays that way.

I like the way grant is turning the team around.  I expect a play-off push next year *****IF***** we are still in this division. I doubt the board will give him the funds to really challenge for top 2 but I don''t think 6th would be beyond us. Trouble is I think we''re in REAL releagtion trouble.  I expect it to go to the last game.  I think the board have their heads firmly in the sand and we should be looking for 1,2 or even 3 decent quality loans NOW while our tiny squad is so depleted. If we go down we won''t even make the play-offs in league 1 as the cost cutting will be so severe.  I wouldn''t even rule out administration and the 10 point penalty.

Did anyone else notice that the club softened the blow of the transfer windows limited activity by suggesting we''d be getting in several premiership loans. All of a sudden we''re freefalling towards the drop zone with a laughably depleted squad and its gone very quiet on that front indeed.........

A much underrated canary.  Best of luck in canada.

Pathetic answers. We **should** be one of the richer clubs in this division.  We have the parachute payments this year and have sold £10millions pounds plus worth of players in the last 12 months.  We have spent about 3.5 million on players transfer fees maybe 4.  I know there are signing on fees etc etc but frankly we''ve made a large net gain and our wage bill should be falling as highearners leave. A relatively poor/middling team in this division like Coventry can spend 600k-£1million on the fee for Leon McKenzie matching all of our transfer window signings put together just on the up front section of his fee. Are the board really trying to claim that loaning a pimply schoolboy from everton for 4 games blew the transfer budget ?  Everton should have been paying us. They sound like new labour spinning out lies and false statistics to defend the indefensible, As other posters have pointed out the ommissions are so obvious as to make their answers not just wrong but infuriating.  If they think this will placate anyone they''re insane.  Reading their answers made my blood boil they''d have been better off saying nothing.

Best of luck and thanks for the memories. Hope to see you back at the club one day. In the city all time 11 you''d easily be one of the centre-backs.

Calm down.  Colin''s right !!   Peter Grant has already said reinforcements will be coming in he just doesn''t want to get loan players yet as they''d have to return to their clubs before the play-offs !!!   Nero had a better grasp of reality than anyone at this club.  

Next season I think even this squad should be capable of challenging for the play-offs. Admitedly in league one but at least it will make a change from "Not what the Doc ordered" headlines every week.

If as seems likely noone of any note has been brought in before the close of the transfer window you should all resign. This club has squandered the chance to resstablish itself as, if not a premiership team, then at least a top championship side.  In three years you will have overseen the complete decimation of the playing squad and two relegations because make no mistake thats where we are headed. We have probably the smallest squad in the division yet players are going out on loan with noone coming in.  Our only consistant performer is out for the entirety of the season and its impossible to see where the goals will come from.  We have a weak sqaud lacking in morale, backbone and depth with an inexperienced manager and yet people in the club are still talking about the play-offs. Its like 1995 all over again.  An out of touch penny pinching board who think we''re too good to go down talking absolute **** and taking us all for mugs. Peter Grant seems to have identified the need for a new left-sided midfielder as well as somone who can tackle in midfied.  You seem to have failed to back him. Don''t wheel out the pathetic lies about it being difficult to sign players, Derby have signed Pearson, Teale, Jones, McEveley etc ect Oh yes and Howard.  I don''t rate Howard personally but Nigel Worthington did and if you want him you have to pay the going rate.  Even Hull are strengthening beyond our wildest dreams.  I''m just waiting for you to say we wanted so and so from Kings Lynn but couldn''t match Peterbrough''s financial clout. If we go down you can''t say you weren''t warned.  I wrote to you last summer with my concerns about the squad size and quality in some areas and I know many others did too.  We all knew Nigel Worthington needed to go by the middle of last season yet you wasted the summer and the first half of this season.  Yet you didn''t back him in the transfer market - you bought lee croft and sold Mcenzie and Green as well as losing charlton, brennan etc etc Its all very well to say lets move forward together but you need to show some signs of having learned from the calamitous mistakes of the past 3 seasons. We have the air of a sunk ship even down to little things like Drury''s booking on Saturday and Dion''s injury.  A couple of signings might have been the shot in the arm to save us but instead we get stories about how we can''t afford some non-entity from St.Mirren. Prudence with ambition don''t make me laugh.  What price will you get for Earnie when you''re selling him from league 1 in next season''s fire sale.  

If we want to survive a relegation battle you need players who battle for the cause.  Colchester are doing well because every player there knows that their best possibly only chance of playing at this level was to stay up. Battling qualities of the kind brought to a team by the likes of Damien Francis and David Bentley against Fulham are what you get when you have a load of over paid prima donnas who think they are better than they are and believe that no matter what happens to the team they will be ok. With this in mind it beggars belief that we have 13 players out of contract this summer. A cheap way of renewing I''m sure.  Doesn''t exactly motivate them does it. As for the 1 year options we can only take them at their current wages which most playesr will assume we won''t if were in div.1. These players hucks refers to and I think we know who they are should be told that they will be staying put whatever division we are in if they are under contract next year. Not telling Francis and other "stars" that if we went down they would NOT be sold was a huge mistake which led to the pathetic performances we saw against fulham (and in some previous games).  It looks like history may well be repeating itself.  

He was one of if not the best left back outside the premiership and I really believed we would lose him to someone bigger.  His form has dipped though and playing behind Hucks seems to have shot his confidence. He doesn''t get anywhere near close enough to his man and always seems to allow them space and time to cross.  We REALLY REALLY need a left midfielder and to move Hucks back up front. We''ve not had a decent team since Huckerby moved to the left-wing.

league one it is then.

This club is a shambles and everyone could see it coming except them. I supported Worthington into last season as I felt he deserved the chance to take us back up.  After the stoke game it was obvious something was badly wrong and I felt he  had to go.  The 5 games in december covered the cracks but after the ipswich defeat in Feb there was no doubt that Worthington was beyond saving.  That was obvious to ***everyone***. To keep him into the new season and only get 1 new face in while selling mckenzie and green was criminal. It was obvious that there was no competition for places, no cover for injuries and none of last seasons deficienceis (well maybe 1) had been addressed. To now head into the transfer window sinking like a stone and seemingly heading for division 1 and spent precisely bu**er all is unbelievable.  The combined fees for chadwick and brown are less than the up front for mckenzie a medicore striker. I know money doesn''t grow on trees but virtually every team in this division is outspending us except maybe colchester and southend.  For god sakes Hull just signed Prutton.  He may not be Pele but we can only dream of a midfielder of his "quality".  If Shef Utd want whereareyou then let them have him and if theyll pay us so much the better. We have a gutless, spineless team lacking in confidence as well as basic ability.  IF we don''t get a decent keeper, a decent centre-back, a central midfielder who can tackle and bothers to play for more than 1 game every 20 and probably another stiker we will most likely go down as at present we are by far the worst side in this division. I''d be trying to get Camp, Leon Knight (and yes I know his character but he''d be virtually free  and perfect cover for earnshaw), Mark Jones, Darrell Russell and any premiership defender on loan. I''d most like tyo hear the board say that should we go down then the players will be coming with us. Etuhu, Doherty, Drury etc etc may fancy themselves as premiership players but we''re heading for div.1.  I imiagine they all think that we might be but they won''t be a.la francis, bentley etc.  The board telling them otherwise might just get some of them to try and earn their money.  

Yesterday''s shambles put several things into perspective. We aren''t good enough as things stand. I think things are not so bleak as they were this time last year though. Not least because the manager Didn''t create this mess. Ipswich look a reasonable team not good enough for the playoffs but too good For a relegation battle and they wanted to win it. We have intractable problems in every area of the pitch which were beautifully highlighted by yesterday''s game. Defence - individually all our players (even the doc!!) are good enough for this league. As a unit they suck. Our only decent defence has dion dublin partnering shacks and this isn''t a long term solution and anyway dublin Doesn''t want to play there. This has been the case since malky left and needs to be rectified a.s.a.p. The number of times we had players given unchallenged headers when three of our defenders were all marking the Same player 3 feet away was scary. The keystone cops form a better unit. Midfield - excellent at times. When we have the ball we usually look great. Under pressure (any pressure at all) They are non-existant. When piswich won the ball even in their own area they could run it at will to the edge of our box Without so much as being slowed down let alone tackled. My feeling is worthy bought in players to try and get us to Be a passing team but gave no thought to the "unit". Simon charlton was not our Makelele. Even with 5 in midfield we Were hopeless defensively which just exposed our hopeless defence. Chadwick did more defensive work on his own Than the other 4 put together and I worried that he might be lightweight. Attack - earnie is great but is lightweight and not a team player. We have noone to play with him, give him no support and God forbid if he gets injured there is NOONE to act as adequate cover. We need 3 players min in jan probably 4. An organising defender, a battering ram striker and a new Gary Holt. Probably a new left-back too as Drury is off form still and has no competition for his spot or cover for injury. Individually yesterday I’d say Gallagher - good enough for this league. Not as good as Green but not a priority area for reinforcement in my opinion. Colin - looks good to me. Positionally suspect but so''s the whole defence. I think that like Shacks he''d be good enough if the Unit was. Shackell - a great prospect alongside the right partner. A headless chicken alongside the doc. Doherty - unfairly targeted for criticism due to his inability to organise. He gives away too many freekicks But the real problem is he doesn''t organise and as the senior pro he needs to. His individual performance Yesterday was not bad and he made some good challenges but what had been a solid unit during his absence Became a total shambles on his return. One of him or shacks have to make way and I think he''d Be the easier half to replace. Drury - really poor. I know how hard it is to maintain professional performance with a young family but he should be Worried for his place. He''s been off form for too long now and if I was grant I''d be looking to add competition here. Chadwick - looked really good to me. The only member of the midfield I thought turned up. Hughes - better than robinson or etuhu but woeful. Etuhu - too many off days. Great on his day but awful off it. Yesterday was not his day. Robinson - did he play ?? I think the guy is useful in a passing team doing well but with Etuhu, hughes and safri all Prone to disappearing is too often a passenger in this team. Huckerby - offered a threat at least but to be honest yesterday''s performance was really bad and he needs to do much better. The lack of a targetman means our midfield has to hold the ball and also has to keep pressure off the defence, this is making him Look a liability. Earnie - didn''t get the ball. Safri - really worried that a) his form is so bad he was dropped to the bench b) when he found out he got the flu. Could be genuine but I fear the worst. I expect to see him go in jan and as hes by far our best midfielder that’s not good. The team can be turned around if we can just stay in touch until jan. The 2million that worthy was going to spend on Cotteriil (why !!) Could easily buy 4 players to fill the holes. The defender doesn''t have to be a world beater just an organiser. Dublin isn''t the greatest defender nor was malky but the difference they made to the unit was crucial. Likewise holt wasn''t exactly pele but having someone harry the opposition when they have the ball is essential and was so glaringly missing yesterday. I know we look a different team in training but we look great when we have the ball in matches we just don''t have it enough. Peter Grant at least seems aware of the problems.  I think dropping Dublin was a mistake but if Dion asked to be considered as a striker was probably the only decision to make.  If Worthy had stayed we''d be in the bottom 3 by now.  Lets just get to jan and hope that the right new blood is brought in.

Don''t get me wrong I''m not anti-PG.  Since he''s arrived I''ve been hugely impressed and am hopeful for the future.  Since 3pm saturday I''m also hugely worried. OK as some posters have pointed out its an inherited weak squad and 3 key players were missing (that our squad is so very poor though is reason enough to worry).  HOWEVER,  I knew we''d lost and possibly heavily before the game even kicked off when I heard who was playing.  Sadly I suspect so did the players. The words "Gary" "Doherty" "midfield" "role" should never again appear in the same sentence.  I''m sorry but it doesn''t require Sir Alf Ramsey to realise that this was a match made in hell.  Pick the slowest, clumsiest defender you have, least famed for his passing and put him in an unfamilliar midfield role.......  I know he told the players not to sit back but with a 37 year old target man up front alone with 3 defensively minded midfielders plus 1 winger and a half fit Andy hughes what did he expect ?  I expected what we got. He talked about letting youth have its go then when it came to it played an unfit Andy Hughes out of position rather than turn to a youngster.   I''m not criticising hughes here as I think he''s not been fairly treated by most people but left-winger he ain''t even when fit. Is Ryan Jarvis really THAT bad that 4-4-2 with him was so undesirable we had to go with Saturday''s "team". I hope Peter Grant learns a LOT faster than his predecessor. I also hope the board can see what a joke our squad has become and allow some investment and quickly.  Loans are needed NOW as if we''re in a relegation fight come january its going to be a hell of a lot harder to keep/get players.    

They can''t be very bright if thats what they wanted. I''m not sure what they intended to come from this statement.  For me it symptomatic of the half-arsed management of the club lately. Almost all the fans want Worthington to go now and this statement has made people feel its a done deal.  Half the fans (or more) are now probably hoping we lose to burnley.  It may even encourage some of the players not to try.  Given that the Burnley game is on TV large scale protests are inevitable and should city go behind the atmosphere will be terrible. A poor win against Burnley will be a disaster.  Noone will be happy, it will prove NOTHING as our home record is good and we have 2 weeks until the QPR game in limbo and unable to appoint a new manager to try and sort this mess out. Even winning both games well won''t stop the protests.  People now think the end is near and will keep pushing until he goes.  Last season he had his chance.  After a poor start we won 5 on the bounce to bring us into play off contention in january then blew it spectacularly.  Any recovery this year will now be viewed in those terms. He has to go and go now and thats what the statement **should** have said rather than this half-measure cock up. We are now jeapardizing points we can ill afford to lose in the next 2 games to give the board the stomach to make a decision that should have been taken in February.

Don''t worry in January Earnie will leave then we''ll have money to spend like we did when Greeno and Leon left. Oh Wait.... League 1 here we come.

before we get sucked into a relegation battle. A change is needed and if the board can''t see it now then I''m afraid DELIA OUT.  

Palace got Matty Svennson from Portsmouth....