Metal Militia

I never got the whole Simon Lappin King of Spain thing. Yes he was badly treated by Roeder, but he was a pretty average player.    

I had thought about 4-1-4-1 as Johnson could sit in front of the defence, with Wes to his left and Snodgrass to his right, giving them both a more central role, with Pilkington wide left and Bennett wide right. Hopefully Wes and Snodgrass would give more support to Holt with this shape and Bennett should provide more crosses. I guess the other option would be new forward to support Holt and go back to 4-4-2 with Johnson and Tettey sitting.

The shape of the team certainly doesn''t help Holt, which is why some of the critism of Morison has been harsh at times, as we basically play a loan forward who is expected to create space and put the defence under pressure, but they live on scaps when it comes to goal scoring opportunities. This isn''t helped when backed up by Wes, who is great on the ball and causes problems, but he doesn''t contribute enough goals or assists. As to the lack of crosses, am I right in thinking that Pilkington is right footed playing on the left and Snodgrass left footed playing on the right, so there isn''t anyone to beat the full back.

Football is a business. Prices have increased over many years, but has the product got any better?

You may have missed my point. I wasn''t moaning about how our club is run, simply that over all the years that prices have increased the football isn''t actually any better and the only winners of the increased prices and tv money are the players and their agents.

It appears to me that players and their agents are the only winners as a result of the increased tv money should we remain in the Premier league. We are being asked to pay more to watch the games, with no improvement to our facilities or the experience. We are told that any extra cash raised from us and tv deals will go in to the running of the football club, so we should be pleased as profits are not being taken out by our owners, but the reality is that for us nothing changes next season, whilst our players get to drive a better car. I am not being critical of our board, who are doing an amazing job, but football in general, when we are all paying more for tickets or to watch on tv, but nothing actually changes for us, at a time when many can no longer afford to follow their team. All of the extra cash that has flooded in to football since the Premier League started hasn''t actually improved the quality of the football, with the national team being pretty useless. Yes, stadiums have improved, but most clubs hold huge debts and the average fan can no longer afford to follow their team. After 15 + years of having a season ticket, I will probably not be renewing, which is fine for the club as there are plenty on the waiting list. It would have been a huge thank you if the board had frozen prices for the next season, rather than the one after, as a thank you for watching some pretty awaful football in previous years. Any ground development is on hold and the debt is to be repaid, so the extra tv cash (if we stay up) could have funded the increase to salaries and bringing in a few extra players.   

[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"][quote user="Metal Militia"]As other posters have mentioned, we need to stop thinking of Cody as a youngster who needs 1st team experience. Cody is 24, whilst Martin is only 21. IMO there is no benefit in Cody going on loan, other than to save his wages. We either keep him in the squad, which is my preference, or let him go, but a loan is a waste of time. We also don''t need another striker as if Holt was injured/suspended, then Hoolahoop behind Martin with touch and skill and Jackson with pace, would be quality.[/quote]He still is young in terms of his football development, just because he is 24 doesn''t mean he can''t improve and develop his game. Sending him out on loan allows Lambert to see whether he could possibly step up to Championship football without having to take the risk of playing him here, PL won''t know just through watching him in training. He''s wasn''t really given an opportunity last season because of the form of Holt & Martin.[/quote] I know what you are saying but I would rather see Cody used with us as an impact sub.

As other posters have mentioned, we need to stop thinking of Cody as a youngster who needs 1st team experience. Cody is 24, whilst Martin is only 21. IMO there is no benefit in Cody going on loan, other than to save his wages. We either keep him in the squad, which is my preference, or let him go, but a loan is a waste of time. We also don''t need another striker as if Holt was injured/suspended, then Hoolahoop behind Martin with touch and skill and Jackson with pace, would be quality.

I''ve got to stop drinking in the morning as my last post started well and then crashed and burned at the end!!

Bryan Gunn - a true legend of the club. Forget the last couple of years as if any of us were offered the managers job of the club we love we would give it a go, any probably be a lot worse than Gunny way!

I don''t see many people slating Martin it''s just that many of us rate Spillane and would be happy to see them both staying and competing for the same position. If Spillane did go we won''t get much for him and I would rather see what cash we do have being spent on a goal keeper, then right midfielder, then a forward, not to replace a right back who IMO is good enough for the Championship.

It''s NOT a loan. He is discussing terms tonight before deciding whether to go. He may prefer to stay if he has a chance of playing. As mentioned, I really rate him and he can also cover CB if required.

As usual, I can''t name the ketchup, but Spillane is discussing terms as he wants first team football, but he hasn''t yet made up his mind and may not accept the terms and could be encouraged to stay with us. IMO he is much better than Martin and would love to see him stay. He was in great form prior to his injury.

The club do appear to have stuffed up on this. We sit as a groupd of 5 and all pay monthly interest free for our season tickets. Three of us were automatically renewed, whilst the other two weren''t. By the time they had noticed the early renewal discounts had gone and they were charged the full wack.

I have mentioned in a couple of threads that he apparently failed his medical so the deal is off but I can''t name the ketchup

As I mentioned in another thread, my ketchup said that Taiwo failed his medical so we are looking elsewhere.

Did any of you actually read the original post. It is being suggested that the board sack Lambert, the poster is questioning those fans who said that Worthington should have been sacked when we went to the Prem and their ridiculous reasons as to why he would fail.

Not me. I trust him with team selection, man management, transfers, subs etc. but I don''t trust him not to leave because he will one day as the guy is ambitious and a damn good manager.

We don''t know if Celtic would want to offer him the job and we don''t know if he would accept it. We do know that managers will always say the right thing to the media, just as we wouldn''t state that we planned on leaving our own jobs if there was any chance that we wouldn''t be offered a position with the new employer. I hope that Lambert stays but don''t hang on to any managers words about loving the club that they are at, with no plans to leave, as they are all ambitious.

0-2 city Martin and Doherty

You''re right, you can not buy class, which is why Chris Martin shouldn''t be leaving on a free in the Sumer which is currently the case. He is receving offers for when his contract expires and unless we make an offer that he turns down, we do not receive a compensation payment even though he came through the ranks. Lambert - sign him up!

You all seem to be missing the point. GJP you say that he won''t get a better offer, but the club haven''t given him an offer, so as it stands he won''t be a city player come the summer. Why is this the case when the club recently gave Daley a new contract, who rarely even makes the bench.

I posted somtime ago that Martin is fustrated at no contract talk coming from the club. Put yourselves in his shoes, you would love to be playing for the club week in week out, but you would also want to know that you have a contract after the Summer. If another club offers him a good contract then we will loose him for nothing.

He is

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but Martin is out of contract in the Summer, is young and playing well, so could possibly leave on the cheap. I believe he is fustrated at a lack of any new contract offer (can''t say how I know). Which does appear odd, especially with Daley being given a new contract. Perhaps Lambert is trying to keep Martin focused on playing well?