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Beefy is a legend

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Posts posted by Beefy is a legend

  1. Posted

    After about 5 games this season I was having a ding-dong with a guy on the Facebook fan page. I had asked for his assessment of our progress over the last 3 years and his reply was 'back where we started'. That presumably being a judgment based upon us being in the same league division as when Farke and Webber came in.

    IMHO it was a remarkably myopic view. The club is transformed. Had Maddison been injured, we would have survived but clearly 3 or 4 players would have had to go and much of the recruitment wouldn't have occurred, including Buendia, Pukki and Hernandez. 

    But nevertheless that one transfer was crucial to us and we were an injury away from not being able to rebuild the squad. These days, we are a million miles from that. By a willingness to invest in, and play, the best youth, we've created half a dozen players worth tens of millions of pounds and have completely secured the financial safety of the club. We've basically dealt with Covid as if it wasn't a major issue. Three years ago it would have been a disaster. Now it's an inconvenience but one we can ride out. 

    That's not even mentioning that the football on the pitch is, for me, the best we've played since the early 90's. We are a club where young players want to come as there is a genuine route to the first team. And where attacking players know they can express themselves. No longer will a Grant Holt want to leave the club because of the playing style. 

    What has happened here is remarkable. We are dominating this league in a manner that I've never seen before. We've won this league and been promoted several times in the last 15 years, but never with this degree of panache and dominance. I know we are nowhere near finishing off the job, but it feels almost inevitable. 

    'Back where we started'. I think not. 

     

     

    • Like 3

  2. Posted

    4 minutes ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

    Off the top of my head, hasn't that happened before at 'bigger' Cubs than us and all it takes is a bit of PR clarity to address that? 

    Possibly, but then not everyone believes what they read in the paper. Bigger managers than Neil have had their reservations over the model...

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2834976/Harry-Redknapp-Directors-football-joke.html

    In the end, Neil may have in fact felt that the introduction of this role would in fact have undermined him, because he wouldn't have the same control over signings and may have been expected to select his squad in a certain way that wasn't in line with his plans. 

    That is why it is so important to have a Head Coach and Sporting Director with similar philosophy.

     

     

  3. Posted

    We don't really know that Alex Neil was against a Sporting Director model. It may just have been that he would have felt that the introduction of such a director whilst he was the incumbent manager would have looked as though he was being undermined. 

    It's totally different to taking a job at a club where there is already a Sporting Director structure in place. 

     

  5. Posted

    Basically there's no chance of elite sport being cancelled. At the very worst the season might be extended slightly to make room for completing postponed fixtures, but it's much more likely that the games will simply be squeezed in. 

    Post - Christmas there are actually several slots where fixtures could be placed. If you look at NCFC's fixture list, you could add fixtures in as follows and still retain no more than two games per week. :

    - 5th Jan, 12th Jan, 26th Jan, 2nd Feb, 9th Feb, 9th Mar, 13th Apr, 27th Apr, 4th May. 

    That's space for 9 postponed fixtures to be placed. 

  6. Posted

    If you look at the history with this guy, with Owen Coyle and Gary Megson, it seems that he was given a fair bit of rope, going on holidays, not turning up for training etc. 

    One thing we do know about the Farke regime is that the training is intense and days off are limited, as Marshall alludes to in the interview and which I think we also know from the likes of Jerome, Russ Martin, Howson. One suspects Marshall didn't have the same freedom as at previous clubs and, basically, wasn't able to 'get away' with the same behaviour as at previous clubs. 

    Also the fact that he was stuck alone at Dunston Hall without close friends, a long way from home, would have been difficult for him. He wasn't keen to come in the first place but did so as a result of a very good contract. I suspect the same was the case with Steven Naismith although SN clearly was a much better professional. 

     

     

  7. Posted

    On 14/12/2020 at 16:59, keelansgrandad said:

    Data can be meaningless. I believe there is as much in favour of the hoof ball scoring as 50 passes doing so.

    Set pieces contribute a good few goals as well.

    And why does virtually every manager, when losing 1-0 with ten minutes to go, throw on another striker and play it longer than the previous 80.

    DF prefers zonal and we have to accept that but until he decides to try man for man, we will never know.

    I would identify our main problem is we do not defend set pieces particularly well. A lot of clearances are not particularly decisive. And I think our poor record at attacking set pieces indicates we are not good at heading either.

    and yet, all of the best sides in the world play passing football and defend zonally. 

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    There's a fundamental point to this debate. The clubs do a tremendous amount of work and analysis on set piece defending. They have access to data on a vast level and look to tailor a defensive set up to provide the maximum protection to their goal. 

    The vast majority of fans do not have that level of information or education on defensive set up and base most of their opinions on knee jerk reaction to goals conceded and 'gut feel'. 

    You can decide for yourselves whose opinion you prefer. 

    • Like 2

  10. Posted

    5 hours ago, Indy_Bones said:

    It wasn't because we spent money, it was because we had a manager that had no clue how to use the players he'd agreed to bring to the club, and who was happy to bring on defensive mids when we were 2-0 down rather than actually try to get something from the game.

    Some of the worst, most turgid dross I've ever witnessed as a fan, respected the guy for how he conducted himself in a professional manner and spoke well, but absolutely clueless in terms of attractive attacking play and utilising the talent available to him, preferring instead to play for 0-0 and hope to squeeze a goal somewhere if lucky, just awful to watch.

    Agreed - we spent money on players that would never fit the Hughton style of play. We bought ourselves two goal poachers, both talented players with good records, but who were going to get very limited chances inside the box given the tactical set up. We were never going to play to their strengths.

    In the Hughton style what we actually needed were a couple of target man, battering ram type strikers in the Andy Carroll mould, to help our two banks of four to get up the pitch. The huge outlay on RVW and Hooper, in that context, made no sense. 

    At the time, I was very much in Hughton's corner. I argued to my mates that getting results was the be all and end all, especially in the PL. But Farke has, I think, proven me wrong. It is possible to both win and play attractive football. I suppose Farke still has to demonstrate that at PL level, but he has given me the belief to say that it can be done. 

  11. Posted

    2 minutes ago, city4eva said:

    IMO there will never be enough/decent funds available while Delia is in charge as her pockets are not deep enough and Covid plus the increase in wages will take care of most of the profits from sales..

    I am not advocating a change as I love Delia but we are where we are. Most owners in the champs have more money than Delia

    This is why we have made the academy our top priority. We can't buy top PL players, but we can make them. And we have done so.

    Let's not forget that we stayed in the PL for three seasons not that long ago under the present owners. And we did that without anywhere near the quality of players or playing style that we have now, IMHO. In fact, it was the year that we loosened the purse strings and invested heavily that it went wrong.  

    It's difficult, but by no means impossible to establish ourselves at that level. If we trust our playing philosophy, continue to promote our best youth, and recruit wisely, it can be done. 

    • Like 3

  12. Posted

    2 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

    Imagine £70/80m in the coffers plus full Sky money if promoted. Even taking the Covid hit into account surely decent funds would be available to at last have a go at stopping up. 

    Agreed although once we do go up, there is then the possibility of retaining those players for a season at least. Whatever we got in for Max, we would never be able to replace him with better. That lad is going right to the very top of the game. 

    Whatever we do re. player sales, it would appear that we will have much more clout this time to bring players in, having now dealt with the 'sins of the past'.

     

     

  13. Posted

    If we are top of the league come the new year I'd be very surprised if we allow any of our top assets to leave in January. Any business much more likely to be done in the summer. If by that stage we are back in the PL it also makes our bargaining position so much stronger as we can offer top level football to our players. We would only really need to consider selling to the top 6 or 7 PL clubs and, if so, you could see £35m-£40m price tags on Emi and Max. 

     

  15. Posted

    Actually thought Preston went toe to toe with us (I attended that game) and pretty much deserved their 2-2. Since then I would say that we've deserved to win every single home game except Coventry when we were absolutely bereft of fit players. We battered Derby and Millwall and think we've won all the others with more shots and possession. 

  16. Posted

    11 minutes ago, WD40 said:

    Again - just shows the gulf between the champs and prem that we can have as bad an injury crisis and be top. Not looking forward to next year should we go up. 

    It isn't just that though. We are a superbly coached club now, with an embedded style of play that is superior to almost all sides in this division.

    I don't think I can remember us dominating games like this consistently as we are at this level before. It's quite brilliant. 

    • Like 3

  19. Posted

    Buendia will make a huge difference. If, as I’ve read, Omotoye plays off the shoulder with his pace it might make sense for him to get at least some game time.

    Defensively we look fine so I’m hoping we might sneak a 1-0 but I think a 1-1 draw would be fine, especially with Bournemouth losing last night. 

  22. Posted

    On 25/11/2020 at 16:08, Bill said:

    That is rather an urbin myth. Evans has steadily been bleeding the binners dry.

    A fair number of players have left for heavy fees, without a penny of it being seen back in the playing budget.

    Adding interest to debt is not investing - nor is buying a debt if £30m for £6 or £8 million investing either. Just as making off with the training ground as compensation for interest is not investment either. A look at the sorry state of the ground and the squad will tell you where the money has been going

    A few years back the then CEO Milne talked of having half of the squad coming through the academy. What happened there ? Nothing, bar the ridiculous idea that CAT 1 could be funded by raffles and jumble sakes ran by the farmhands themselves.

    The paupers are where they are through years of under investment and almost complete mismanagement.

    Lambert will do well to stop them sinking further.

     

    I don't think what you've said there is quite right Bill although I do stand to be corrected. My understanding is that Evans does subsidise the club's wage bill each year, to the tune of approximately £5m per season. 

    I do agree with you regarding complete mismanagement though! 

     

  24. Posted

    I thought Alice, who incidentally is Kevin Piper’s daughter and works for Sky Sports News, did a good job and showed a decent breadth of knowledge of NCFC’s recent history. 
     

    Thought it was an excellent interview in general. Farke has such a decency and warmth to him, like the anti-Lambert!

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