Did the board learn nothing from Francis and Bentley ?

[mat gore 0]

If we want to survive a relegation battle you need players who battle for the cause.  Colchester are doing well because every player there knows that their best possibly only chance of playing at this level was to stay up.

Battling qualities of the kind brought to a team by the likes of Damien Francis and David Bentley against Fulham are what you get when you have a load of over paid prima donnas who think they are better than they are and believe that no matter what happens to the team they will be ok.

With this in mind it beggars belief that we have 13 players out of contract this summer.

A cheap way of renewing I''m sure.  Doesn''t exactly motivate them does it.

As for the 1 year options we can only take them at their current wages which most playesr will assume we won''t if were in div.1.

These players hucks refers to and I think we know who they are should be told that they will be staying put whatever division we are in if they are under contract next year.

Not telling Francis and other "stars" that if we went down they would NOT be sold was a huge mistake which led to the pathetic performances we saw against fulham (and in some previous games).  It looks like history may well be repeating itself.

 

[GJD 0]

One could argue ( although results are not proving that) that players on their last year of contract might try harder to impress?  I doubt many players leaving our club would be going to top flight clubs and could expect a cut in wages if let go? Norwich are one of the higher payers in this league I believe.

[Old Boy 0]

Agree with you, mat, that we need the "battling qualities" of Damien Francis and David Bentley now like we need Ipswich to win the European Cup, but as I remember it, Francis WAS told by Worthy that he wouldn''t be sold if we were relegated. NW eventually, in pre-season the following term, had to concede that you can''t keep a player if he doesn''t want to play for you (which Francis had made plain, from about halfway through the previous season).And Neil Doncaster''s clarification - that 9 of these thirteen players are on one-year options in the Club''s favour - should mean that we see who wants to stay here, because they''ll fight for their option to be taken up. I don''t see how this should be less of a motivation to perform than having a nice long contract tucked away in their back pocket. It certainly didn''t work like that for McVeigh, who only really performed consistently when his contract was up for renewal. Sadly, my contempt for professional footballers (professional only as in "making a comfortable living") grows by the day. The threat of having to leave the too-cosy environment of Norwich City and try and find somewhere else to spread their beach towels out and relax can only focus their minds.

[Evil Monkey 52]

So now Fulham, and the performances of certain players, is also the fault of the board? Whatever next?My shoulder hurts this morning.  It could be the cycling injury I sustained last summer, which is still sore if I sleep on it.  It could be that... but personally, I think it''s Delia''s fault!SACK THE BOARD, SACK THE BOARD... SACK ME, I''M BORED!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cluck 0]

[quote user="Evil Monkey"]So now Fulham, and the performances of certain players, is also the fault of the board? Whatever next?

My shoulder hurts this morning.  It could be the cycling injury I sustained last summer, which is still sore if I sleep on it.  It could be that... but personally, I think it''s Delia''s fault!

SACK THE BOARD, SACK THE BOARD... SACK ME, I''M BORED!!!!!!!!!!!
[/quote]

Classic sarcastic cop out as usual. Of course DS and Co must take a large slice of responsibility for the Premiership humiliation. They naively kept an inept manager in his job and fully anticipated relegation....but saw the colour of money as reward enough.

Every player at CR at present stinks of DS''s prudence.....and the Fulham debacle was the writing on the wall for what we have now. Nothing has changed and we are reaping the harvest of the Board''s amateurism.

 

[blahblahblah 2]

I guess the issue here is one of accountability.  Some people feel that the blame rests with some of our players (and by extension Worthingon, who brought them in), who have been incapable of living up to their billing and indeed wages.  Others, like cluck, feel that it is indicative of a deeper cultural malaise.  This perception has not been helped by the inability of the club to bring new faces in so far because of the workings of the transfer window, leaving Grant to work with demob-happy players, mainly as a result of other clubs sitting on their jewels through January to get the best price, which in itself is understandable.

I think it''s safe to say that people are fairly set in their positions and are unlikely to be shifted from them, no matter what people from the other position say.  The only way to convince everyone is through action.  I am encouraged by the positive noises from "sources", and look forward to the speculation becoming fact.  Julian Gray would be an excellent signing should the possibility become real, especially as Charlton have also put in a bid.  James Hayter could also be a useful signing, if unproven in the Championship.  The point is that we are attempting to rebuild, and the club will thrive or fall on its'' ability to get players that Grant wants in the door.