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Number 9

The fidgeting goalposts

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So our goal was automatic promotion, after all we have one of the best teams in the land.

A short while ago our erstwhile leader admitted to his doting public that we have a fantastic opportunity to win the playoffs, much more fun for the fans, exciting trip to wembley and a tin cup for the cupboard.

In recent times we are treated to a running commentary on the fixtures and results of just the two teams above us, hoping we might squeak into 5th or 6th place.

I imagine that in a week or two the goalposts will be placed firmly in front of 6th place before shortly after ''we can really get behind the team of kids as we build our own up ready for automatic promotion next season''

Promotion Promotion Promotion

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There you have it ladies and gentlemen, reading Neil''s latest words on Pinkun front page, extensively about Sheff Weds possibly losing the next two games and we could win.

Hopefully we will beat them, but I wonder where he will move the goalposts to if we don''t get three points?

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What do you expect him to say exactly? This season has been a total screw-up, and we''ve got no realistic chance of getting into the playoffs? Do you think that would motivate the squad?

Alex Neil is an extremely honest individual, probably to a fault. I''m sure he''s acutely aware that this has been a poor season of missed targets.

Still, well done on finding yet another stick to beat the club with - and it''s only early Monday!

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ANOTHER poor season of missed targets, (albeit mathematically possible for us to get promoted still) after last season of missed targets.

The continual repeating of the same errors whilst hoping for success demonstrates a resistance to learning and change.

The club will not progress until the management / coaching team are changed.

Being honest, even being acutely honest is commendable, but not the most important attribute of the manager at our football club. There are 27000 ''honest'' people in the stands along with countless others watching / listening, just being honest ain''t the answer.

What''s required is a proficient football manager. The board liked Neil and seemed content for him to learn on the job, my concern is that he''s not learning, and we now are staring at another season of failing to reach the squads potential.

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[quote user="Ian"]What do you expect him to say exactly? This season has been a total screw-up, and we''ve got no realistic chance of getting into the playoffs? Do you think that would motivate the squad?

Alex Neil is an extremely honest individual, probably to a fault. I''m sure he''s acutely aware that this has been a poor season of missed targets.

Still, well done on finding yet another stick to beat the club with - and it''s only early Monday![/quote]Really?[^o)]

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I don''t disagree with what you''re saying Number 9; we''re not in a position where we have the time or finance to educate a manager.

However, my point is that there are other extenuating circumstances, and assuming the squad are still playing for him; who do you get in who would actually do better? You either go for a "proven" manager in this division (Lambert, Bruce?), or an up-and-comer, who has done well over small periods of time, much like Alex Neil when he joined us. We would not be able to attract, or probably afford, a Benitez style character.

However, you want to dress it up, with whatever truisms you fancy using today; you cannot be sure that if we had got rid of Neil at the start of the season we would be better off that where we are now. Equally, there are no guarantees that we will fare better by getting rid of him and getting someone else in next season. I think it''s pretty clear that Neil wanted to strengthen defensively and offensively, but for whatever reason the board could not get his targets in. I don''t know if it would have been different under a different manager.

Dead wood and a toxic squad atmosphere (IMO) has cost us massively this season; if that was down to the manager not wanting to move the players on then he is culpable, but I have my doubts in this respect.

I get that people need someone to blame for a poor season. I know a lot of fans like to pretend that Neil is 100% responsible for us under-performing this season (whilst simultaneously refusing to give him any credit for past successes), and that a simple change of management team would bring us the success we crave, but in my opinion it''s never that straightforward.

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How many defenders has Neil signed with the, what is it now £50,000,000 he has spent over the transfer windows since he''s been manager?

The list goes like this:

Dijks (direct cheaper replacement for Olsson)

Er

Hmm

Now list the midfielders and kids he has signed, if you have time.

Neil is responsible for poor results because he is responsible for the decisions which lead to the poor results.

Those decisions include signings, team selection, tactics, substitions, player development etc.

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Actually, putting it like that, we have spent almost double on defenders than we have forwards under Neil?

(Klose 8mil, Pinto 2.5mil v Oliveria 6mil)

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50 mil? Net spend? Or some random made up figure to suit your agenda?

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Could someone who doesn''t think AN is honest please explain why or give an example please? As far as I can see he gives a very open and frank appraisal of things from his point of view. Even if I didn''t agree with him I wouldn''t call it dishonest...

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Neil''s signings, for the most part have been poor. Dijks looks decent but he''ll be gone at the end of the season. The only other guaranteed starter is Pinto and let''s not forget, he was poor last season and was dropped for some time.

Klose was axed for a prolonged period earlier this season, Naismith has been in and out of the team and just generally pretty awful. Pritchard is very hit and miss and again, is far from a regular. Canos lasted six months, Wildschut looks like he could last even less and Madison has hardly kicked a ball.

Nelson looks decent but has only played a handful of matches so the jury is still out.

I''ve left out Brady as he''s irrelevant now, anyone else I''ve missed?

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Ian wrote the following post at 2017-02-27 12:37 PM:

What do you expect him to say exactly? This season has been a total screw-up, and we''ve got no realistic chance of getting into the playoffs? Do you think that would motivate the squad?

Just this season!!!!!? He screwed last season up too!

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It''s not just signings, which players are significantly better now after couple seasons being coached by Neil and his team?

Who is exceeding expectations?

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Not reaching the play-offs with this squad will be a huge failure - rightfully the management and board should take stick for it should that happen.

As it stands we still have an albeit minimal chance of achieving the playoffs.

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[quote user="Clint"]Neil''s signings, for the most part have been poor.[/quote]This is a myth. We get considerably more points per game the more of Neil''s signings play. This season we have used between 4 and 7 of Neil''s signings each game, the ppg stack up like this:4 - 0.8 ppg5 - 1.5 ppg6 - 1.6 ppg7 - 2.1 ppgThis evidence suggests that if we had 11 Neil signings we''d be looking at well over 3 points a game.

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Ok Derveld, am I right in thinking that on that basis we would be top of the league if Neil played 7 or more of his signings every match? But yet we are nowhere near top of the league so why is this and why is Neil choosing to leave his signings out of the team if they make such a difference to our ability to pick up points? Either your stats are flawed and meaningless or Neil really hasn''t got a clue!

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Sorry Derveld, I totally missed the last line so I''m assuming you''re being ironic!

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[quote user="Clint"]Neil''s signings, for the most part have been poor. Dijks looks decent but he''ll be gone at the end of the season. The only other guaranteed starter is Pinto and let''s not forget, he was poor last season and was dropped for some time.

Klose was axed for a prolonged period earlier this season, Naismith has been in and out of the team and just generally pretty awful. Pritchard is very hit and miss and again, is far from a regular. Canos lasted six months, Wildschut looks like he could last even less and Madison has hardly kicked a ball.

Nelson looks decent but has only played a handful of matches so the jury is still out.

I''ve left out Brady as he''s irrelevant now, anyone else I''ve missed?[/quote]The two permanent sick notes Jarvis and Mulumbu.

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Ian wrote

Alex Neil is an extremely honest individual, probably to a fault. I''m sure he''s acutely aware that this has been a poor season of missed targets.

Think last season was not too good either

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Everyone could see Neil''s record, his poor squad and our weak board. So thinking we would be challenging for the automatics was delusion par excellence. Understandable perhaps given the hype associated with football, but nevertheless deluded.I suspect at some point in the coming seasons we will face a relegation battle to avoid the drop to league one. The big question is how soon? And how will Neil explain things?

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[quote user="Ian"]50 mil? Net spend? Or some random made up figure to suit your agenda?[/quote]The poster didn''t say net spend. But a figure of around 50m  for Neil''s transfer spending since he has been manager does not look too far out to me, allowing for the difficulty of not knowing whether touted figures do or do not include extras, such a promotion payments. For example, in the summer we spent 12.6m on Canos, Oliverira and Pritchard, with potential extra payments of 9m.Of course the net spend figure would be much lower. We have received substantial fees for Grabban, Johnson, Hooper, Brady, Olsson and Redmond. Perhaps 30m or so. But a rough estimate of what were probably the basic fees paid for Neil''s major singings (Andreu, Dorrans, Brady, Jarvis, Pinto, Naismith, Klose, Canos, Oliveira, Pritchard and Wildschut) would certainly get close to 50m. Brady, Naismith, Klose, Pritchard and Wildschut alone would probably account for more than 30m.And this is without taking into account fees paid for players we have had on loan, such as Mbokani.

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Evidently easy to forget those 2 Tilly, must have played less than 20 matches between them!

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Mulumbu got injured in pre-season 2015 and Jarvis has been injured since approx 2012.

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