Farke

[king canary 7,558]

@hoegsar

The think is with Pep you could see obvious progression and development in style even through the struggles. Combine that with his track record and patience was inevitable.

I''m just not sure I feel any great sense of progress with Farke- in fact it feels like we play better when we actively go against his instincts.

[norfolkngood 1,086]

i agree KC and also worried if players do not see progress the good young ones will leave not the deadwood we so badly want to leave

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,219]

That Norfolk is precisely why the belated implementation of the (right) strategy will cripple the success of the philosophy in the eyes of many fans before it has the chance to be truly established.

Fans will mistakenly transfer the reality of weak results and lack of on-field success to the new model and/or Manager and/or Sporting Director when the true cause lies in the dramatic downturn caused by lack of finance and firefighting restructuring that that entails for our sustainable model.

I would suggest that some fan criticism of some players, such as those who perform for the TV cameras notably better than at other times, are excessively selfish or do things for themselves rather than the team, or the dramatic relegation of others, or relatively minor injuries that keep others repeatedly out of the picture, the talking up of young stars, leaks to the press by agents of general erraticism could easily (sadly) be attributed to professional eyeing of possible exits.

A richer club would indeed protect its essential assets that fit the future model to be restructured to. They could provide future clarity, nailing down key assets to the floor via new contracts or (unwritten) promises of key roles into the future. We are (very honestly)not doing such things. We will need to find +£23m and we will have to take that money from the market - and give the market what it wants. To reiterate this is not even the same as ‘people buying what you want to keep, or not buying what you want to sell’, it means being forced to sustainably balance the books at any cost out of necessity, today, to the pound.*

Things are up in the air. Players (and their agents) are highly attuned to such things. The Manager is thus very much a red herring in context.

Parma

* unless external debts are taken on, existing shareholders provide more residents resources, or external investment is received.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

[quote user="king canary"]Nah, Zimmerman benefits from low expectations - cheap and stepping up from a lower level so people are more forgiving. He''s been average at best and will be a squad player from now on.[/quote]

Which is exactly what he was brought in for. The reason he has had to play so many games is the other transfers have been so weak and we paid decent money in comparison for those. I''m not about to kick a young player who has shown promise in some games but recently has been making a series of bad judgements in a team devoid of any senior leadership or confidence. Whoever scouted Franke has got it badly wrong and it used what little resources we have putting it right. Other positions were crying out for investment whether that was physicality in midfield or something different upfront.

[FenwayFrank 2,447]

“Other positions were crying out for investment whether that was physicality in midfield or something different upfront. “

Really ? we’ve all been saying for a few years we needed to tighten up at the back and get in a couple of central defenders.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

[quote user="FenwayFrank"]“Other positions were crying out for investment whether that was physicality in midfield or something different upfront. “

Really ? we’ve all been saying for a few years we needed to tighten up at the back and get in a couple of central defenders.[/quote]

yes really!, had they got the transfer of Franke right for 2.5m, he would have played alongside Klose. Because they got it so wrong they then had to spend the 4 odd million left in the kitty on Hanley and the resultant wages. Part of the reason , not all but part is the midfield we put out when Tettey is not there is physically weak and easily dominated by the opposition, this will make even good defenders look bad let alone average ones that we have. Had we not made that error with Franke we could have brought in someone to give more ballast to the midfield.

[hogesar 9,606]

Ive seen developments. Ive seen that hindered by a run of poor results meaning a drop in confidence which unfortunately is a bit of a circle because its hard to stick to philosophy when things arent going well. Certainly in the last few games we have had at least a 20 minute spell or so where weve kept the ball but on attacks moved it quickly and effectively.

Its also worth noting we are working with an ageing striker in Jerome and one who cant be f*cked and is selfish without delivering the goals for it to be reasonable for him to do so (unless sky cameras are about) in Oliviera.

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

A better coach would be getting more out of these players.

Put Oliveira, Maddison and Pritchard into most other Championship sides and no doubt they would improve the team.

[hogesar 9,606]

Pritchard has only just come back, Oliviera doesnt want to be here and Maddison has been good pretty much all season and is constantly praising our head coach.

Not sure on your point?

[MmmmGravy 0]

Is this not the same Farke that took us on an 8 match unbeaten run, at which point everyone was singing his praises and excited by the prospect of a long-term ''Farke Life''? One win in ten is poor, but the confidence knock, along with injuries has led to a downturn in results. I''m sure it''ll come back. Didn''t see the game on Saturday, but it sounds like it was another good performance, which is only positive.

Give it time. A transitional season which I didn''t expect much from, given the turnover of players in the summer, which will continue in Jan and again in the offseason.

Negativity isn''t going to help. Get behind them and support the lads, and stop being so fickle.

[Woodman 92]

The problem is that we could have done with having this transitional season last year. With the loss of income/parachute money this year, people can''t cope with next season being another transitional one, especially when we have no option but to sell our better players to balance the books. Or are we banking on doing exactly the same thing as Huddersfield? I don''t think our fans have that much patience - their immediate expectations are high.

[MmmmGravy 0]

[quote user="Woodman"]The problem is that we could have done with having this transitional season last year. With the loss of income/parachute money this year, people can''t cope with next season being another transitional one, especially when we have no option but to sell our better players to balance the books. Or are we banking on doing exactly the same thing as Huddersfield? I don''t think our fans have that much patience - their immediate expectations are high.[/quote]

That''s modern football I guess, fans are now used to City being in the Prem and that''s where they expect us to be, when in reality we''re not a Premier League side; we don''t have the financial backing.

Agree that we should have done this last year, and I''m sure the whole NCFC board would agree, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,219]

Gravy,

The Masterclasses have discussed such fundamentals, strategic options, problems, causes and solutions for some time. A version of the current model has long been advised as a sensible framework to mitigate against our limitations.

There is a huge difference between implementing such a model proctor hoc of financial crisis with foresight and planning and a post hoc firefighting position, that belatedly finds itself forced into the option.

Parma

[Bill 1,788]

[quote user="Woodman"]The problem is that we could have done with having this transitional season last year. With the loss of income/parachute money this year, people can''t cope with next season being another transitional one, especially when we have no option but to sell our better players to balance the books. Or are we banking on doing exactly the same thing as Huddersfield? I don''t think our fans have that much patience - their immediate expectations are high.[/quote]Or, ''better players'' will be offered better money so move onthat''s how football worksthat''s how we acquired them in the first place... ask Leeds, Coventry, Lincoln, Blackburn .....and a host of lower league clubs where we have ''pinched'' their better talent

[king canary 7,558]

@rhubarb

The lack of money though means the clubs we can pinch from become fewer and the clubs who can pinch from us grows larger. It was only last season that we could beat Brighton to Pritchard at the last minute, while next season, even if Brighton go down, they will be able to take players from us if they so wish.