Maybe there's somewhere else to lay the blame.....

[SNAP 0]

OK, tin hat ready - bullets and insults ducked - here goes.

Laying the blame for the current dire situation at the football club entirely at the feet of either the arrogant manager or the well meaning amateurs who are completely out of their depth running a large Plc company does seem a little unbalanced. I no longer enjoy watching the team I have supported at almost every home game since 1960 going through the motions as the Board do the maths for League One and the football management team start jumping ship. Not because I’m being defeatist but simply because I genuinely doubt we will ever get back to the Championship saddled with the debts the prudent amateurs have left us to bear and administration will confine us to the lower leagues for years to come.

If we are looking for somewhere to lay the blame let’s maybe look at some more obvious targets. Take a walk around the back of the Jarrold Stand on match day. Look at the range of cars lined up in the players car park. Marvel at the lifestyle being enjoyed by your heroes as they swagger around to the changing rooms. Wonder at the fact that 25,000 of us turning up every home game still cannot even pay the wages of these people! Consider turning up to a music concert only to be told that the artists won’t be singing today – they’ll appear on stage and you won’t get any money back, but they won’t be singing. Maybe it’s time for an Emperor’s new clothes moment – maybe we should look for a way of showing these hugely paid performers that we expect value for money.

I accept this board is populated by many who will see such a statement as heresy, but I believe the tipping point has been reached and we should no longer be expected to put up with stirring words from players at a pre-match press conference and sympathetic mumbled promises to put it right after another disaster. It’s time the players took some real responsibility for their dismal performances.

…….And before anyone dares to tell me I’m not a true supporter and the club doesn’t need supporters like me let me tell you I, and the growing number who feel like I do, are EXACTLY the sort of supporters the club needs. Blind supporting of the team come what may and accepting anything that is set out for us as football is very creditable but there needs to be a realisation that we are looking for another 13 game run like last year and 30 points from 26 games – anyone see that coming from the few players we will have left come the end of the January Sales?. The arrogant manager and the amateur owners are easy targets but maybe we shouldn’t take our eye of the real ball as easily as some of our players. Let them know how we feel during another inept performance. Why not? Cheering them on simply encourages them to believe that we all still love them and the water is still theirs to walk on. Deflate some egos. These players thrive on the adulation. Why not try withdrawing it until it is deserved? After all the management of the club won’t be the only ones plotting with their agents to figure out whose water they will be walking on next season…..

 

[Binky 0]

Snap! If your point is that players are paid too much and have it too cosy, I think many fans (and not a few ex-players) will agree wholeheartedly. But that is not the issue. The game is where it is - and not all clubs are in our position (obviously). Even though the squad has been greatly improved since last season, the manager is clearly failing - the table doesn''t lie. Roeder cans till turn things around IMO but not if he continues with his Maggie Thatcher/Gordon Brown (you choose) stance of refusing to take advice. He never admits to being wrong. His loan policy used selectively could have been a division winner (eg Ched Evans) but used to excess, it has become corrosive for the club both for players on the pitch and for fans watching. Drury,Shackell, Otsemobor, Lappin & Cureton may not be world beaters but they are/were our players and given the constraints should have been encouraged and nurtured - not beaten down and discarded.  Consistency of performances must surely start with consistency of team selection. But it''s an old management trick of new managers - appoint young or the less talented (because you will always have their allegiance) and discard any of the old regime, just in case they ever hanker for it and give you problems that prevent you impelementing your grand masterplan. Is Sibierski actually doing a lot more or scoring more goals than Chris Martin could? No but I bet he''s easier to manage!

For what it''s worth, I think it highly likely that over the next few years players salaries will actually fall. But sadly, so will a lot of fans'' wages too.

[Beauseant 0]

No bullets from me. A very good post.Roeder and Smith don''t miss chances, give the ball away or fail to mark.

Unfortunately the Premiership and Sky has much to answer for, but there is no doubt that players now live in an unreal world in which everything revolves around them. Witness the Ronaldo situation yesterday. First he explains the handball on the basis that he was pushed, then that he heard a whistle,and finally resorts via his manager to saying that he was protecting his face.

Sadly, stick from the crowd, rather than motivating the little darlings, is likely to result in transfer requests on the basis that the crowd is hostile to them!

[BGG&YPOS 0]

Agree, I done a post on Sunday asking who is at fault for the defeat Saturday, as everyone was asking for GR''s head, but it was the same players that came back onto the pitch for the second half that finished the first. It was also the team that most posters wanted to see out there on the pitch and contained 9 of our players.

[shortfatb 0]

I don''t read or write on here much anymore as the team are dreadful and the board seems to be full of triumphalist or Deliaist bile from a limited number of keyboard big mouths.However, read your good post and although watching the Forest game I was pleased that we got the points, in truth I was quite envious of the young Forest team which included a lot of young relatively local or other teenage discards and a few loanees making a reasonable, but probably ultimately a vain, bid to staying in the Championship. They seemed like a team who liked to play together and they were pretty much a Nottingham Forest team rather than our set of travelling mercenaries like ours. Although I understand that Calderwood''s days may be numbered, I for one would rather watch  a team that had been economically compiled of young triers and a few older heads who ultimate don''t quite make it, than a hastily and reasonably expensively put together group, with any of those who become sought after only bringing money to their parent clubs, and who will disband in January and the summer regardless of the results. Anyone else agree? 

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="shortfatb"]I don''t read or write on here much anymore as the team are dreadful and the board seems to be full of triumphalist or Deliaist bile from a limited number of keyboard big mouths.

However, read your good post and although watching the Forest game I was pleased that we got the points, in truth I was quite envious of the young Forest team which included a lot of young relatively local or other teenage discards and a few loanees making a reasonable, but probably ultimately a vain, bid to staying in the Championship. They seemed like a team who liked to play together and they were pretty much a Nottingham Forest team rather than our set of travelling mercenaries like ours.

Although I understand that Calderwood''s days may be numbered, I for one would rather watch  a team that had been economically compiled of young triers and a few older heads who ultimate don''t quite make it, than a hastily and reasonably expensively put together group, with any of those who become sought after only bringing money to their parent clubs, and who will disband in January and the summer regardless of the results. Anyone else agree? 
[/quote]

 

I do, shortfab. The current squad was put together to try to produce a quick fix within our limited budget (and has failed spectacularly). The fans can''t relate to the players, many of whom are just passing through, and the players clearly feel little for the fans. Yesterday Histon showed what real football is all about,with players giving all they had and more in front of a totally committed and engaged crowd.It was breathtaking to watch, but I''ve not felt that way about a City side for way too long.

Maybe, if no new investment is forthcoming we have to go back to go forward,and maybe we have to drop to League One to start again on Forest''s lines