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Bury Yellow

Robin Sainty's EDP column today

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I only know Robin from his contributions to this board and his utterances on the EDP.

i admit I don''t always agree with him and I''m by nature not a '' a glass half full'' sort of bloke. Now that''s an admittance!!

Let me state that I am not a Hughton fan but I sincerely hope that all his supporters are correct and that we ignore the depressing performances that we have witnessed and that we retain our Premier status and that by some miracle all will be great next year or at least our supporters will be able to identify what our coaching staff are trying to achieve.

If all this occurs I will be delighted. What really winds me up is the usual attack on the supporters for booing after the Saints game. Let me say I would never do that but in my heart i was ''doing that'' on Saturday but - it was a protest at the lamentable standard of our coaching and tactics. No way was it an attack on our players and that''s where Robin''s assumption was totally incorrect.

No Robin, there are the Hoots fans who think that Howson is useless, that Tetts can''t pass a ball, that Holt has always been useless that Russell Martin won''t go forward et al but the booing, whatever the criticism, was directed at ''oh dear oh dear'' the tactics and presumably the coaching staff.

We all want our beloved club to progress but I leave this with one question - Mr McNally has been with Celtic and Fulham, then employed Lambo all clubs playing expansive football. How long will he sit watching the stuff we are serving up at the moment?

It''s much easier for Robin and the other regulars who continually defend Hoots to give the impression of superior intelligence against the likes of humble me but is it too much to ask for us who support home and away to have proof of athleticism, character and belief through the performance of the players?

Of course it is correct that the players will not be negative to the media but you only need half a brain to read between the lines on quotes.

Sorry but I feel better after that and to leave on a positive note, 3 points on Sunday and we then look forward to a total change for the better next year... I hope!

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I really struggle to see the need to keep dividing posters Bury old chap. There are those who think that Hughton can do no wrong and those who think he can do no right. I think it''s hard to make a reasonable debate from either extreme view and that most of us are somewhere nearer the centre.

 

 

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Good post. I haven''t criticised the players, just CH and his coaches. I too hope I am proved wrong as Bury says he hopes to be.

Why is it all these commentators tow the same line? I note the new guy toted by Archant is quite happy to deride the past and past characters but not raise a word to the present; I presume from that he would have said something very different at the time.

We are no longer talking about aspirational L1 and Champ players and management we are talking about people who earn the average annual wage per week and criticism comes with the public profile. I don''t ever boo but people can boo if they like provided they get behind the team beforehand.

Posters on here will hold genuine supportive views similar to those expressed by the pundits; fair enough. But I have to wonder what some of these ''punters'' have in the back of their minds.

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I would certainly take issue with this sentence:

The frustration of fans at the club’s inability to stretch enough in the January transfer window to land its targets is understandable to an extent, but you can’t spend what you don’t have, although some seem happy to be free with other people’s money.

The sensible complaint about that transfer window was not that we didn''t spend money we didn''t have, but that we hardly spent anything out of the several million pounds that were made available. It was obvious in the autumn from statements from McNally and Bowkett that they were prepared to pay out serious money in January to try to ensure Premier League survival and the ensuing TV windfall.

And by the time January came around it was plain there were serious squad gaps in defence and midfield as well as up front. Central midfield in particular has been not so much running as crawling on empty. But the money we had went unspent.

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[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]Good post. I haven''t criticised the players, just CH and his coaches. I too hope I am proved wrong as Bury says he hopes to be. Why is it all these commentators tow the same line? I note the new guy toted by Archant is quite happy to deride the past and past characters but not raise a word to the present; I presume from that he would have said something very different at the time. We are no longer talking about aspirational L1 and Champ players and management we are talking about people who earn the average annual wage per week and criticism comes with the public profile. I don''t ever boo but people can boo if they like provided they get behind the team beforehand. Posters on here will hold genuine supportive views similar to those expressed by the pundits; fair enough. But I have to wonder what some of these ''punters'' have in the back of their minds.[/quote]

 

There you have it.

 

But those at the polar opposite do the same thing. I do though agree that if it''s published in the paper then it should be more objective. As I said earlier many, many people believe what''s written there to be fact rather than opinion.

 

 

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Bury, I understand where you are coming from but even you had to admit you would never boo, although you did "in your heart." There is a significant difference between those two acts. Your takeaway is to feel the frustration that is felt my many fans of clubs all across the country when those fans feel a club is not performing to its potential, particularly if those fans feel the coaching and tactics are responsible. However, to condone booing ( even if you are clear that the booing was directed to those on the sideline ) is not putting yourself in the shirt of the player on the pitch. That shirt is filled with sweat and mud and the team has just missed a penalty at the very end of the game. When players hear booing at that moment, even though they are professional footballers, they are not analysing and determining to whom the booing is directed. They are the end product on the pitch and, in my opinion, players and fans alike have to eat that the performance was not all we would have hoped for, eat it silently and come back with determination next time out, and the next time and the time after that, until those pulling the strings at the club get the personnel in place to more consistently put in performances that we all want to see. After all, even for those of us that are not "a glass half full" kind of people, surely we have to acknowledge that the overall fortune of the club has improved much more than we would have expected when we were relegated from the Championship. We are on a good track. 

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Rudolph, I really do know how to do paragraphs. You have no idea how difficult it is for me just to to post this brief response to you. It disappeared three times and generally, when I do format certain posts, after entering, the content bunches together and the format disappears. I have tried he compatibility button and other things but, finally, just gave up, contributing to me posting less frequently.

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"RUDOLPH HUCKER"

Posters on here will hold genuine supportive views similar to those expressed by the pundits; fair enough. But I have to wonder what some of these ''punters'' have in the back of their minds.

Worry, frustration, anger and yes, even boredom. But I am giving Hughton the benefit of the doubt and hope that what he is doing is going to lead to something good.

It may be a false hope and I could be on here early next season apologising to many posters for being wrong. But I''d rather stay with a positive outlook for now as too much negativity is not good for anyones health.:-)

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For me, personally, I don''t mind what football we play so long as we cling on in there this season.

The money available from more TV funds and with the debt wiped we could truly transform this club in the next two transfer windows.

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Another point to throw in, is that a football match has many variables (11 on the opposite side for a start) and our team will not 100% be able to dictate it''s own play/tactics etc.

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It does seem that anyone archant allow to put out an opinion is a norwich city yes man, There are times when critisism is justified but the reporting and opinion you get from archant employees is just an extension of the clubs official website. not a dissenting voice ever. The local press are well and truly in the clubs pocket its embarrassing. Maybe we should remember where we were 4 years ago but thats stating the bleedin obvious isn''t it...but after sitting through yet another 90 minutes of tedium and concentrating on keeping southampton out with barely a foray forward , and paying a small fortune for the privelidge in the freezing bloody cold, you are going to feel a pissed off and maybe feel the need for a quick boo on the way out, its hardly a crime... i get fed up with club lackeys telling us whats best for us in the local press its all too cosey....

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Purple hits the nail on the head; if we are relegated the mishandling of the January window will go down as, arguably, the biggest missed opportunity in the club''s history.

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I still don''t understand what people who boo expect to actually achieve by it. Do you really think it will effect any change, or does it just make you feel better to ''get it off your chest''?

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We''re 14th in the league with probably one of the lowest wage budgets in the league. We''ve been far from big spenders and are having to endure "second season syndrome" which has relegated teams who spent far, far more than we have trying to stay safe for a second successive season.

Yes, some games have been painfully boring and we''ve dropped easy points. However, Hughton''s mandate is, correctly, survive at all costs. Right now, he''s fulfilling his orders with points to spare. Next season, once he''s signed three or four more of his own players, the pressure will be on to climb the table and improve the performances.

Other teams fans laugh at us and our section of fans that bemoan Hughton. So do some of our fans.

Dividing the fans is not productive, but I can understand why people are pissed off at the constant deriding of our manager as they''ve turned our fan base into a little bit of a laughing stock.

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[quote user="PurpleCanary"]
And by the time January came around it was plain there were serious squad gaps in defence and midfield as well as up front. Central midfield in particular has been not so much running as crawling on empty. But the money we had went unspent.
[/quote]

All your posts crying out for new defenders and midfielders in January must have got lost in the RVW/Hooper/Kamara threads then?

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Whilst agreeing with Robin Sainty''s views as expressed in the EDP most of the time, I also disagreed with some of his last piece, and in particular to:

The frustration of fans at the club’s inability to stretch enough in the January transfer window to land its targets is understandable to an extent, but you can’t spend what you don’t have, although some seem happy to be free with other people’s money.

It is illogical to suggest that a club with our resources, asset base and diversified income streams will somehow become the next Portsmouth if we have say £10M of debt at the end of the season.

That £10m (coupled with the c.£8M of funds available) could have made all the difference in landing the striker that would score the goals to ensure we stay in the Premier.

What the board have done is played a game of russian roulette in the hope that we can grind out results without scoring many goals, all for the holy grail of being debt free.

If the gamble pays off, we need to see much, much more spent on players than we have in the past, bearing in mind that all of the other Prem clubs will have a lot more income to spend from the new TV deals.

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This is the most sensible post I have seen for a long time.

I would imagine 80% of Norwich fans feel the same insofar as I am willing to suffer the ''Dour'' performances (Cue ''What about Man u and Arse wins'') for league survival this year and give Hoots the benefit for next season providing we do survive this year but...... If we play this sh1t next year or fail and get relegated then he would have to go !

We wait and hope !

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Nutty Nigel posted : I really struggle to see the need to keep dividing posters Bury old chap. There are those who think that Hughton can do no wrong and those who think he can do no right. I think it''s hard to make a reasonable debate from either extreme view and that most of us are somewhere nearer the centre.

Interesting that this is not a view you take re debate on the merits of Deli and MWJ''s ownership though.

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All throughout this season, I have felt the same way about NCFC and CH.

First and foremost, I think Chris Hughton is a decent coach and most certainly has a future as NCFC boss. He has built the team around a solid defense which, despite being wholly less entertaining, is fine as long as we stay in the division. This however, can be seen as disappointing, as we have been spoilt with the entertaining style of football played under PL (sorry *tin hat*).

The following comments explain my thinking towards how life under CH has become hard to watch and a little frustrating:

1) The tactics under PL were entertaining and fearless. If it was 1-1 at 70 mins, we would go for it - double sub and end up with priceless memories (often a win... or at least going for it). Whether this would have seen us safe this season is debatable, however it did us well for 3 amazing years.

This season, nicking a headed goal to win/draw seems to be ''job done''... (epitomised by CH after Everton (H), "coming back from 1-0 down, I was keen to hang on with a draw"). I have been wanting to tell CH to ''grow a pair'' many times this season and making the first sub after 81 minutes has seen me pull may hair out on numerous occasions.

2)PL was a supreme man manager, who bought young and hungry players from the lower tiers. These players worked their nads off for him and essentially punched above their weight.... Hughton took over and evidently preferred ''experience''.

Now, the likes of Howson, Holt, Pilks, Bennett x 2, Tierney, Fox etc, who played so, so well only a year ago seem a mere shadow of themselves.

CH sticks with the same team every week and doesn''t seem to have confidence with the squad at all.

Hopefully CH can buy well in the summer, get his squad sorted and start playing some decent football

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[quote user="Dr Crafty Canary"]Nutty Nigel posted : I really struggle to see the need to keep dividing posters Bury old chap. There are those who think that Hughton can do no wrong and those who think he can do no right. I think it''s hard to make a reasonable debate from either extreme view and that most of us are somewhere nearer the centre. Interesting that this is not a view you take re debate on the merits of Deli and MWJ''s ownership though.[/quote]

 

Look at you spoiling for a fight Crafty. But I will point out the the differences in what you see as an interesting conundrum. I will never support a nasty malicious witch hunt against anyone. If you start threads called "Fack off Hughton" like you did "Fack off Smith" then see what happens. Or how about if you come on here preaching to those who actually go to games that they should line Carrow Road with burning effigies of Hughton (like you did Smith & Jones to hound them out) I will react in the same way. If your daft brother was to come on here appealing for someone else to print Hughton out stickers like he did for Smith & Jones then I will react the same way. And if your vindictive mate started a smear campaign against Hughton based on nothing but idle gossip like he did Smith & Jones and stated that Hughton was like a gangrenous limb that would have to be removed for the club to recover (like he did Smith & Jones) I''d react the same way.

 

Well done for taking this thread off topic to open old arguments. I''ve given you what you wanted and now you can appeal for this post to be removed and wail and sqweam about bully boys and "the pack". Nice shortish trip for you today? But I doubt you''ll shift your lardy arse to join the yellow army...

 

 

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[quote user="Dr Crafty Canary"]LOL, point proved methinks!. Plenty of abuse aimed at an opposing view. So middle ground.[/quote]

I suspect, in time, a new political party may be formed to represent those individuals who can hardly wait to use the annoying expression of "methinks." The irony, of course, is that it is so often the case that those using the expression rarely seem to employ the little grey cells. 

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Methinks is an old English expression that is still perfectly valid to use. Of course those that use the bastardised form of our wonderful language might have problems with such expressions. Says more about their grey cells than ours.

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