Absent Friend

Even had we stayed up Ruddy is one player whom I believe would have moved this summer. I would expect 3 or 4 top 10 clubs to be looking at him. But did he not say last year that he did not want to go to one of those clubs as second choice? Arsenal supposedly want him to "push" Szczesny - he might well feel that if all he''s there for is to keep another good keeper on his toes that''s not a risk worth taking. I think he will be genuinely happy to stay with us if there are no realistic offers. But if we put a silly price on his head (the Mail claim Cardiff want £15m for Marshall for example) just to prevent a move then I suspect his attitude would harden. Exactly how high "realistic" stops and "silly" starts is another matter.

I hope Pilkington stays. He spent 6 months badly injured before joining us, in fact the Huddersfield medics and his own determination did very well to even get him back playing, let alone in the Premiership. I think he could be a big player in the Championship - he missed it out entirely when he joined us - if only he can stay fit. But like so many players who suffer a bad injury there seems to be a knock-on effect. When he get''s a knock it seems to take him a long time to get back to his best; but once he does he can be a big player for us, especially on the counter attack. He perhaps speaks more publicly than others, and gives the impression of "rating himself". But don''t kid yourselves - every player in the squad will secretly be hoping somebody in the Premiership (or a European equivalent) will come in for them. For most of them it won''t happen and they''ll stay where they are. I think Pilkington will be one of them.

One thing this certainly not is "Bryan Gunn again". Gunn had relatively little coaching behind him, he had also been in charge of the first team for something like 4 months having very little effect on them after his first Giggs-like game. Adams has on the other hand at least shown consistently over a couple of years the ability to blend together a group of players into a very successful unit that outsmarted - in Everton and Chelsea - two of the best academies in the country. The impact of his work is also reflected in the success of the U21s this year in achieving the position they did. Bryan Gunn never came anywhere near that. Yes, Adams was working with inexperienced teenagers not hard-bitten pros. For that reason the Board''s decision is certainly something of a gamble. But they have observed him at close quarters for several years so one thing for sure is that they know his strengths and weaknesses. But as the topic heading suggests Adams does want the job - perhaps one reason for appointing him was that he showed more passion and desire for it than anyone else.

"I don''t see a reason for players to stay with Adams in charge. Players we might have hung on to like Howson, Redmond, Turner, etc will not look at Adams and believe he is the best chance of getting back to the premiership." Just because you aren''t happy with his appointment from your point of view as a fan does not mean that players will look at it from the same angle, indeed far from it. Players want, more than anything else, to play. At this stage with a completely blank team sheet why would any of the experienced players in the squad not feel confident they are good enough to claim a place? These guys don''t get to the level they are out without having faith in their own ability. The curious thing about reaction to Adams''s appointment is that so many fans put great emphasis on passion and desire of people to be at the club. Well I''ve heard nothing from Lennon or Mackay expressing a strong passionate desire for this job. Adams on the other hand has been crystal clear in expressing his feelings for the club and how much he wants to be here. Isn''t that what fans always claim they want?

Re. 3. Can you see him being able to keep hold of our key players? I certainly think Adams has a good a chance as anyone would have of keeping players. If (say) Tettey, Fer or Snodgrass feel they should stay in the Premiership, or move to a European equivalent, then their agents will beaver away to get them a move regardless. They might get lucky, they might not. If they don''t they''ll stay put. I certainly find it hard to believe that anyone will demand a move because we didn''t appoint Mackay or Lennon - Bassong maybe as he seemed to be out of favour, but that''s about it. And if he can hold the key players then re. 2 he will have what we need to get promoted - a decent squad by Championship standards. Am I happy about his appointment? Not entirely. I certainly didn''t want Lennon, and was doubtful about Malky''s playing style. I would have liked us to have found an up-and-coming figure in the mould of O''Neill when he arrived from Wycombe but realistically there''s no obvious candidate out there of that ilk at the moment.

[quote user="CanaryOne"]Over hyped by the fans because of one managerial appointment but the first time a crisis came along he was like a deer caught in the headlights . [/quote] The first time a crisis came his way was the one he inherited i.e. all but in administration and Bryan Gunn as manager. He sorted it out, with a little help from others of course. It always seems odd how a Board can get one managerial appointment so right and then the next (and maybe the next, and the one after that) so wrong. Ask Bolton fans how things have gone since Allardyce left, for example, or Sheff U after Warnock departed. I guess getting the right man must be a tad harder than it looks!

No, because we would have the same issues with CH next year as this. It is very hard in mid-season to recruit a manager who is performing well. But that''s what we want - someone who is on the up. We don''t need someone who''s been there briefly, done OK, then failed, been sacked and is now ready to go again. That''s about the best you can get mid-season., and that''s why I''ve been against replacing CH in recent months. It''s all about timing in my view. The best time to recruit will be the summer. We will be an attractive proposition (even if relegated, actually, because by Championship standards we are financially secure.) In June any club whose manager we want to poach has time to find an adequate replacement, so they are less likely to put obstacles in our way.

Just to add re. Purple''s comment (added whilst I was posting mine) that we won''t be bottom of the wage pile this season, that''s probably true, but it will be very close. Looking at the kinds of player Hull and Cardiff brought in after promotion I would be surprised if they are paying less than us. They might be in total if they have a big gap between their top earners and the guys who were there last season and are in mid-contract. Palace probably are bottom, but even they seem to have found a few pennies recently.

There is nothing wrong with having some borrowings, but they need to be used for the right thing. Expanding the stadium for example, i.e. a major capital project which increases the value of the premises and - assuming the extra seats can be filled regularly - brings in extra revenue. That in turn enables you to increase the wage budget. But the significant thing is that over the last 3 seasons a fair chunk of Premiership money has been used to clear debt, much of which I believe had relatively high interest rates attached to it. Whatever happens we won''t need to ring fence that money again; instead it can be used to increase the wage budget, as can the interest saved by clearing the debt. And incidentally although McNally referred to us being 20th of 20 last season when it comes to wage budgets I don''t think there is any hint at all that he is "proud" of it. I have no doubt at all that his priority will be to get that budget up as soon as he can.

Why would he want to swap the largest salary budget (by a mile) in his current league for one of the smallest in ours? Why would he want to swap guaranteed European football for an annual relegation scrap? But even if he wanted to come frankly I wouldn''t want him anywhere near our club. This is a guy who achieves the almost impossible by making Billy Davies seem a nice fellow. He seems to me ideal for a club like Celtic whose mere existence is a focal point for bigotry and hatred, about as far removed from a club like ours as you can get.

Luck? When your opponents hit the post, or we hit the bar, that''s not luck, that''s bad shooting; just not as bad as sending it out for a throw in. But when an opponent gets rightly sent off and the referee, unsure exactly what has happened, sends off your own player wrongly, then that certainly is bad luck. When, as at Hull early in the season, a penalty is awarded at one end but an identical offence ignored at the other that too is bad luck. And with today''s game in mind when Frazer Campbell can crudely put Tettey out of the game for several months without so much as a booking that is rough in the extreme.. But taking a point or three when we''ve not apparently played well or taking none when we have (Man U game for example), no that''s just part of the game and always will be.

When this Board was appointed we were in the third tier for the first time in 50 years. They inherited a manager who, whilst a club legend as a player and much respected for his charity work in the city, was not suitable for the role. They had the banks breathing down their necks and we were lucky to avoid administration. Their plan originally was, I think, to make it to the Premiership in 5 seasons. This is the 5th season. So given that we are actually completing our 3rd season in the top flight, and we are free of external debt, it''s a little tough to accuse them of negligence. What they need to do now though is find a way to increase the wage budget so that when the likes of Holtby or Zaha of Fabio become available we can compete for them. It seems that at the moment we can''t whilst most of our rivals can. At some point soon they have to be willing to take a bit of a risk in order to attract some quality, and to provide more strength in depth. We don''t want to go down, obviously not. But I don''t think we should be quite as fearful of it as we were before. If it does happen the Board''s strategy will have put us in a much stronger position than most relegated clubs are, certainly than we were before. Debt free in the Championship is almost unheard of. Regardless of the outcome I personally think Hughton should go at the end of the season because of the style of football he serves up. It is much better to make a change then so that the new incumbent has time to plan pre-season and refresh his squad.

Our expectations at the start of this season were blown up by beating a totally disinterested Man City on the last day of the previous season and spending record sums, FOR US, on transfers in the summer and having several months to build up RVW as a world beater before he even arrived at Colney. What everyone ignored was the fact that our salary budget, whilst undoubtedly higher than last year, does not allow us to compete with most of our rivals. Amongst many others those rivals are employing Parker, Richardson, Bent, Carroll, Downing, Joe Cole, Adam Johnson, Brown, Caulker, Agbonlahor, Crouch, and Huddlestone. All are, or have been, England players. Most have not been particularly successful at that level (who has?!?) and because of that it''s easy to dismiss them as "failures". But most, if not all, would walk improve our first team - just not for the salaries we offer. If you look at our squad we have the likes of Howson, Turner, Ryan Bennett and Hooper; they haven''t even made it as far as being England "failures". Were Wes, Snodgrass , Pilkington or Russell Martin English they would be nowhere near the national team. The moment reality dawned on me was when the Board revealed we are free from external debt. That is great to hear - I bet Bolton fans would love to be able to hear that - but it also goes a long way to explaining why Hughton, or any other potential manager, has to operate with constraints that Bruce, Allardyce, Solskjaer, Hughes, Poyet or the new bloke at Fulham don''t. The Premiership riches have been used to stabilise the club - no bad thing, in fact if we did go down it would be a massive advantage. That is good long-term thinking; the trouble is when we spend a fortune getting to a game we want instant entertainment and positive results now, not in 3 years time. I''m delighted we won at last yesterday and on balance think we can, just about, hold on. But even if we stay up I think Hughton should, like Pullis last year, be moved on. You can''t get away from the fact that the football is painful to watch. We''ve even pinched last place on MOTD from Pullis more often than not, and that takes some doing. Realistically until the Board are willing to open the coffers so that we CAN afford to pay better quality players, especially in midfield, we will always be struggling in the bottom half. Let''s just hope that in the summer they find a way to do just that.

We could have afforded the £5m no question. But as with so many of these fringe England players - Downing, Bent, Johnson are other examples - the wages they demand are way beyond what we are prepared to pay. In fact the desire to lose his inflated wages from their books may be the reason Spurs let him go for that sort of money.

I don''t thing we need to pay the price of relegation for Hughton to leave in the summer. When it comes to changing managers timing is everything. October might have been the right time, now most probably isn''t. If you want to attract a decent manager you have to be an attractive proposition to them; right now we are not. We are a struggling Premiership team, with relatively lowly paid players, and a heavy injury list. By the time he''d been appointed and found his way to Colney any new incumbent would have about a fortnight to strengthen the squad. And don''t forget that because of the way the fixtures pan out effectively survival would have to be achieved in his first dozen or so games. That''s a tough ask. And supposing we wanted someone currently doing well, even if lower down the league? Even if they were interested in coming here their current employers wouldn''t even let us speak to them at this stage of the season. (Not that that might stop McNally....) No, let''s roll forward to May. We will then be a much more attractive proposition. Hopefully we will be an established Premiership club going into its fourth season, but with the challenge of improving the entertainment on offer. What''s not to like? What happened to Pullis last season can, and should, happen to Hughton this unless the style of play changes very soon. But even if the worse comes to the worst we will be a comparatively wealthy and Champioship side, with a squad that would be very capable of bouncing back. I think that would attract a lot of interest from some good, ambitious and up-and-coming people.

What''s your problem treacletown? The idea that opposing fans shouldn''t be allowed to mix is ludicrous. As long as you weren''t wishing you could get away with attacking them I don''t see the problem. You weren''t, were you? I work within a mile of Old Trafford. Should I be banned from working amongst Manchester United fans? If so 3 of the people who work for me had better stay at home. Along with the 2 Man City fans who have been rubbing it in for weeks. They are all human, not manure or manshit by the way, and none of them are arrogant. Luckily my boss is a Norwich Academy man (as I often remind him), or Leeds as he prefers to call it.... It helps lighten things up a bit. If some of our fans have passed on tickets to opposing fans that''s not ideal - but who knows how it came about? Perhaps the "two little man ures" of whom you speak were nephews of a couple of our season ticket holders, getting a rare chance to see an away game. There''s all sorts of possibilities. Live and let live why don''t you?

I don''t think a big defeat tomorrow would prompt an immediate change because whatever the result the more significant game is at Palace on NYD. Preparing for that one with a caretaker in charge would be crazy. But after that there''s 10 days to the next league game - and that''s at Goodison , so not really one we''d expect anything from - and nearly 3 weeks before Hull arrive for another key game. So potentially there could be a change before then, with the transfer window still open, and at least some chance of a new man having time to prepare a team.

Oh, it does do paragraphs, but not on the preview. How odd.

Yes, we are in a tough spot, as our 7 or 8 other teams. That was always going to be the case, and if we stay up we will be in a similar spot next year too. And the reason is wages. We may have spent more on transfer fees than normal, but we will still be paying amongst the lowest salaries in the league. We will not pay the wages of even one of Scott Parker, Berbatov, Riise, Senderos, Richardson or Bent, never mind all of them. Fulham should never have been anywhere near the bottom 3 with the squad and resources at their disposal. That''s how bad Jol was. The issue with Hughton is really to do with style (or lack of it) isn''t it? That''s why people still want him out even when we are winning games. The trouble is I doubt if anyone else who would take a significantly different approach with our resources. Malky certainly wouldn''t - Cardiff were very defensive under him and awful timewasters. Lambert really did seem to be the exception in his approach. Personally I think we have to bite the bullet for now and, whatever happens, make a change in the summer. Apart from anything else we would be a far more attractive proposition for new managers either as a Prem club that''s been there for 3 years or as a top Championship team with a squad capable of bouncing back. I can not see any manager currently doing well wanting to come here in mid-season to join a relegation dogfight (even if their employers allowed them to talk to us, which is unlikely). PS does anyone have a clue why this won''t show proper paragraph breaks any more? Used to post through "compatability" mode but that seems to have disappeared, and shift+return doesn''t work either.

[quote user="SeattleCanary"]Unfortunately for Pilks it seems he is made of glass. We''d need to loan in another winger of a decent standard if he really needed a long time on the sidelines. We are either having awful luck with the players this season, or there is something wrong with the fitness regime.[/quote]   He suffered a dislocated left ankle and a broken fibula 6 months before he joined us.  Nothing to do with being "made of glass" or, as others have called him, being a "sick note".  He has simply been very unlucky. He''s done extremely well to have had a career in the Premiership at all since then and I suspect he''s achieved that by a combination of skilled medics and his own sheer bloody-minded hard work and determination. Many playrs drop down a division or two after an injury like that; he jumped up two. Dion Dublin on BBC website seemed to suggest it was his determination to get to the ball that caused him to overstretch today.  Perhaps at times that''s the problem - he has tried too hard. But f he gets the "sick note" insult for that imagine what stick he would get if he tried to protect himself instead of showing the sort of commitment we expect. An injury as serious as his when you are trying to mix with very strong and fit athletes at the top level of a sport must have a knock-on effect as to how you run, train etc. as you try to cope with the after effects of it.  And that leads to other stresses and strains you might otherwise avoid. I feel very sorry for the guy with the injuries he''s had  and hope he can recover from the latest one and get back to his best sooner rather than later.

If the goal had been allowed I hope Craig Bellamy would have been allowed a clear run to score in front of the Barclay, just for old time''s sake.

Yes, and Liverpool were 7th, 12 points ahead of the rest.  With Man C our next away game that will 5 of that top 7 in our first 10 games.  And our last 4 games are against teams in that group too. So we need to get on a good run for the 24 games in between.  Something like 35 points will be needed assuming we can beat Cardiff and get nothing at the Etihad. Sometimes the "big" teams don''t "turn up" - Arsenal and Man U at CR last year for example - but so far this season they have, at least when playing us.  Cardiff, WBA and others have benefitted from no shows, we haven''t.  So we can not afford any more Hull or Villa type performances. But to be fair the way we are playing, especially with a more settled midfield, they look less likely than they did a few weeks ago.    

What makes it so frustrating is that when Rivaldo was retrospectively punished for simulation in the Turkey Brazil World Cup semi-final that should have been the signal to start clamping down on it.  11 years later - yes, it really is that long ago -  and the only other case I can recall where anyone''s reviewed it was some clown of a goalkeeper at Celtic Park.  Unfortunately our own FA are utterly useless.  They still haven''t made it possible to take action in a situation such as Torres against Spurs where he should have been retrospectively punished for his scratch on Vertonghen, and so should Vertonghen for his antics that eventually got Torres red-carded.  They say the referee saw part of it so they couldn''t do anything afterwards.  If they really want to go down that route they need to suspend both players AND the referee for not dealing with it properly in the first place. But it would be a lot better if they accepted that when players set out to con referees the officials are sometimes going to be fooled by it.  So reviewing something in this way is not undermining them, indeed in the long term it should help them.  Until they do this players will know they can cheat at will and get off scot free.

There''s been a lot spoken about diving, but far too little about simulation designed to get opponents sent off which is worse in my view.  To hit or butt anyone in the head is serious business; so too pretend someone''s done that to you when they haven''t is equally serious.  Too many players are going in for this con, it needs to be stopped.  I had a very clear view of Thierney''s theatrics at Bolton and was disappointed when he wasn''t taken to task over it.  But it was one of our first games back in the Premiership and I suspect most people understandably got wrapped up with the relief and excitement of what was our first top flight away win for a long time (also our first win that season?)  and thus prepared to let it go. This Ellmander incident is appalling but in this case it''s Sweden''s issue not ours.  It does tell us though that we have a cheat on our hands and if he ever does the same for us I hope he''s roundly condemned for it.  Yes, even if we finished up surviving in the Prem, or winning a cup,  by the skin of our teeth as a result. One day, hopefully soon, the authorities are going to wake up and start banning players retrospectively where they make out they''ve been assaulted when they haven''t.  I would be extremely angry if one of our players was banned for that; I imagine the board and manager would be too.  

Remember seeing this lad in the Europa League when Hughton was in charge of Brum and thinking then that he reminded me of Huckerby in his early days, or of Robbie Keane when he was still a Wolves youngster.  Hope he signs - think there''s a lot to come from him if his head''s right. If ever there''s a player who need to get in the Premiership at a sensible level to develop it''s him.  Makes more sense for him to come to us than do what Zaha is doing, or Sinclair has done with Man C.  Pilks has had trouble with injuries, some players just do.  So Redmond as an alternative would be a great move. The Murphy twins might not be too impressed if he does sign, but maybe they will  get out on loan for a while rather than hanging around forlornly on the sidelines hoping for a meaningful game here and there.