A bit behind the times I know, but .......

[Rossi 0]

http://new.pinkun.com/content/columns/RickWaghorn.aspx?brand=PINKUNOnline&category=RickWaghorn&tBrand=PINKUNOnline&tCategory=RickWaghorn&itemid=NOED07%20Jan%202006%2012%3A42%3A35%3A593

What on earth has Rick Waghorn been consuming recently ? His pink un column after the cup game showed all the signs of what doctors call senility. Maybe even, he should visit the place that he so irresponsibly raised in the paper when talking about Leon McKenzie recently.

 

Whilst it is plainly clear that getting your foot stuck in is a vital ingredient, it is vital in every league and only plays a part in any team. There comes a point where the word quality becomes involved. True, the higher up the leagues you go the more emphasis on quality but we are not a conference side.

 

“I don’t think Damien Francis has the same menace as Dickson Etuhu” wrote Waghorn. I don’t think that any manager in this league would rather have Dickson – especially Preston, who are laughing all the way to the local branch of their bank.

 

For those that hadn’t already decided to use the column to aid them in collecting the mess whilst walking their dog, they soon did. The whole notion that Paul Crichton is credited with both shaping the team and influencing it is a maybe a massively over the top but has a strain of credibility to it. My point is that it doesn’t have to be Paul Crichton - that has to be the whole reason why £500,000 was spent on Andy Hughes. Ask any player, he’s the joker of the pack, but seemingly we do better without him on the pitch. Ask any player who loves a Rick Waghorn style tackle, and he too would be near the top of the list. Doesn’t make sense, does it?

 

For those who continued to read they found Rick declaring that the most important factor is finding a “good lad” that can count even more than a “good player.” “It’s getting enough good lads together, and in a small squad keeping those good lads fit and on the pitch on a regular basis.” If only Andy Hughes and Dickson Etuhu had a few twin brothers we’d be okay. The problem is that they haven’t, we are not okay, and Rick Waghorn is entirely wrong. You see that in the world of tougher tackling leagues, you need more than a “small squad of good lads.” For a start tough tackles equals injuries and suspensions via yellow / red cards. A small squad just can’t cope. The powers that be may complain about being down to the bare bones, but ‘only’ Marney and Hughes are the real midfield losses from the start of the season. Without Safri, our engine room looks like it couldn’t power a Sinclair C5. We knew Safri would play for Morocco, and Robinson and Etuhu were, at that point, keeping the bench warm elsewhere. They got it wrong, and they got it wrong badly.

 

Seemingly lost without a decent right winger for the whole of Worthington’s tenure that belongs to Norwich City, with a squad that he has entirely shaped, and with the added advantage of parachute payments we have failed miserably. If we sat in the top two would we have a better chance of retaining Ashton and Green ?

 

Rick Waghorn, last season, was a supporter of the going down and back up club, the whole ‘Charlton model and yo-yo theory.’ That was, of course, well after the theory that we were going to stay up because we played better football. Many supporters went along with the whole scenario and few questioned the goings on, in short the fans had faith in what they read in the papers and what they heard from the board.

Here we sit, watching mediocre football, with two of our best assets on the brink of leaving. We are several points away from where we should be and our squad is thinner than the cane that holds my runner beans up. We constantly suffer from training ground incidents, playing players whilst injured (apart from Ashton hmmm) and Rick Waghorn wants more ‘good players?’ "Good players like Carl Robinson" (praised by Waghorn for playing whilst injured) who is now out for 8 weeks because he punctured his lung? Of course if we are to discuss ‘good lads’ we have to include Captain Clapper, Commander-in-chief of the good lads army. He will make an appearance in a mask and be the envy of every manager in the league.

 

Sorry for the length of that, but boy i feel loads better.

 

 

 

 

[Ken Aries 0]

Well, he does have to fill all those column inches with something and I guess sometimes there really isn''t very much to talk about. What do you do then? Waffle

[YankeeCanary 0]

Great input Rossi and good to see posters who can think for themselves by employing little grey cells. I have the sense sometimes that Waghorn arrives at work and makes it up as he goes along. I don''t think he ever steps back from his writing, takes a look at it and asks himself where the flaws are. More importantly, there does not appear to be an overseer ( editor ) who asks those questions either.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Rant it may have been Rossi but you really have hit the nail on the head:

The powers that be may complain about being down to the bare bones, but ‘only’ Marney and Hughes are the real midfield losses from the start of the season. Without Safri, our engine room looks like it couldn’t power a Sinclair C5. We knew Safri would play for Morocco, and Robinson and Etuhu were, at that point, keeping the bench warm elsewhere. They got it wrong, and they got it wrong badly.

And Here:

Seemingly lost without a decent right winger for the whole of Worthington’s tenure that belongs to Norwich City, with a squad that he has entirely shaped, and with the added advantage of parachute payments we have failed miserably. If we sat in the top two would we have a better chance of retaining Ashton and Green ?

And here:

Here we sit, watching mediocre football, with two of our best assets on the brink of leaving. We are several points away from where we should be and our squad is thinner than the cane that holds my runner beans up. We constantly suffer from training ground incidents, playing players whilst injured (apart from Ashton hmmm) and Rick Waghorn wants more ‘good players?’ "Good players like Carl Robinson" (praised by Waghorn for playing whilst injured) who is now out for 8 weeks because he punctured his lung? Of course if we are to discuss ‘good lads’ we have to include Captain Clapper, Commander-in-chief of the good lads army. He will make an appearance in a mask and be the envy of every manager in the league.

This season has been a complete disaster so far, to see players playing with such obvious injuries has been terrible. It has been totally short sighted and cost us in the long run.

[Oso Butch 0]

Rossi - nothing to add. Just ''thanks'' for a brilliant post.  It made me feel better too, just reading it. 

Bet your ol'' keyboard was hot as you got that lot out of your system... Keep posting ''em like that, man!  Nothing but sense there.  [:)]