Every time I read anything that GA says my admiration and respect for him as a human being increases. You can really get a flavour for why a lot of players want to come and work for and with him.
I am happy to join in the criticism of the ‘dark arts’ and gamesmanship that we are (often justifiably) accused of with regard to the football itself (although I think the mental scars from the Torquay season leads him to a safety first approach) but everything else about what he does and how he does it is immense.
We should be very proud and appreciative of who we have as the face of our club.
@bookertease said:
Every time I read anything that GA says my admiration and respect for him as a human being increases. You can really get a flavour for why a lot of players want to come and work for and with him.
I am happy to join in the criticism of the ‘dark arts’ and gamesmanship that we are (often justifiably) accused of with regard to the football itself (although I think the mental scars from the Torquay season leads him to a safety first approach) but everything else about what he does and how he does it is immense.
We should be very proud and appreciative of who we have as the face of our club.
We are blessed to have him and Dobbo
I’m welling up here
What a wonderful club we have
@eric_plant said:
Struggling to think of a more likeable player we've ever had. He is truly inspirational
Really high praise, as we've been utterly blessed with likable players, from most of the O Neill promotion guys, Bloomfield, JJ, Sergio, Bayo et al down the years.
@bookertease said:
Every time I read anything that GA says my admiration and respect for him as a human being increases. You can really get a flavour for why a lot of players want to come and work for and with him.
I am happy to join in the criticism of the ‘dark arts’ and gamesmanship that we are (often justifiably) accused of with regard to the football itself (although I think the mental scars from the Torquay season leads him to a safety first approach) but everything else about what he does and how he does it is immense.
We should be very proud and appreciative of who we have as the face of our club.
Totally. It's no surprise at all how many players have come back after an initial spell.
I returned as a ST holder in the Torquay season and the years since have seen improvement almost every year, excitement, optimism, some great players and some great games. We can forgive a little bit of Darkartsgamesmanshipweknowwhatareareyouknowwhatyou'regoingtoget!
All hail Gaz and Dobbo.
It’s heart warming to read these comments about GA. I stopped posting on the FB group as a direct result of the abuse I was getting for defending him a couple of years ago. We are fortunate to have at the helm a man of such honesty, integrity and decency, quite apart from his qualities as a football manager.
@glasshalffull said:
It’s heart warming to read these comments about GA. I stopped posting on the FB group as a direct result of the abuse I was getting for defending him a couple of years ago. We are fortunate to have at the helm a man of such honesty, integrity and decency, quite apart from his qualities as a football manager.
Very true. He'll certainly be one hell of a job to replace.
The investment situation has hopefully come at just the right time to prove to him this is the best place for him for the forseeable.
I took a moment this morning to look at the League Table (I know it's early days and I shouldn't etc etc) and two things jump out at me:
We're already 6 points better off than we were at this stage last season.
We're level on points with Sunderland, Ipswich and Coventry.
It's been said already in this thread, but we should never under-estimate how far we've come under GA, and what an incredible job he does with one of the smallest budgets in the league (even after this summer's investment).
@glasshalffull said:
It’s heart warming to read these comments about GA. I stopped posting on the FB group as a direct result of the abuse I was getting for defending him a couple of years ago.
And when you consider the players he has signed some unknown (O'Nien, Mawson, Eze, Pierre), some heavily criticized (Bayo) and some completely unexpected (Gape, McCarthy, Fred) his record stands up to scrutiny even from the FB Brains Trust!
@Last_Quarter said:
I took a moment this morning to look at the League Table (I know it's early days and I shouldn't etc etc) and two things jump out at me:
We're already 6 points better off than we were at this stage last season.
We're level on points with Sunderland, Ipswich and Coventry.
It's been said already in this thread, but we should never under-estimate how far we've come under GA, and what an incredible job he does with one of the smallest budgets in the league (even after this summer's investment).
Well said - you have to take stock every so often.
But it's great we're now disappointed to have only taken 8 points from the first 4.
To be honest...even if Gareth 'had the budget for it' I suspect from his past interviews that he would still be very careful in assembling a squad and buy the right sort of player rather than a marquee signing that might poison the dressing room.
Reading through some of the posts on this thread I am amazed that a few can criticise any of the players, in particular Ryan Allsop. That was urinating at a hell of a rate and it wasn't a clean head of the ball, (which possibly was worse), it made catching it near impossible. Please trawl through the highlights & your memories of the games so far and ask yourselves, how many times so far has Allsop made some terrific reaction saves? I would argue many more than he has made mistakes. I can recall at least two 1 on 1s, in the second half against MK and probably more than I can remember.
Do we really have spare money for a decent L1/Championship GK to get splinters on their ar£e every Saturday? Accept that Allsop is a decent keeper at this level, GA & Dobbo clearly think so and I'm fine with that. The players that we have are exceptional compared to 3/4 years ago & I for one am enjoying watching them and go to games now with optimism rather than just hope. Let's show respect for their feelings and just get behind every one of them, just as they do, as a squad. Pretty sure some of us will get a lot more pleasure out of the games as well.
@EwanHoosaami said:
Reading through some of the posts on this thread I am amazed that a few can criticise any of the players, in particular Ryan Allsop. That was urinating at a hell of a rate and it wasn't a clean head of the ball, (which possibly was worse), it made catching it near impossible. Please trawl through the highlights & your memories of the games so far and ask yourselves, how many times so far has Allsop made some terrific reaction saves? I would argue many more than he has made mistakes. I can recall at least two 1 on 1s, in the second half against MK and probably more than I can remember.
Do we really have spare money for a decent L1/Championship GK to get splinters on their ar£e every Saturday? Accept that Allsop is a decent keeper at this level, GA & Dobbo clearly think so and I'm fine with that. The players that we have are exceptional compared to 3/4 years ago & I for one am enjoying watching them and go to games now with optimism rather than just hope. Let's show respect for their feelings and just get behind every one of them, just as they do, as a squad. Pretty sure some of us will get a lot more pleasure out of the games as well.
You are right to back the players - we all try and do that.
And some of the posts on FB went too far, getting after one player - but I dare say many were emotional spur of the moment posts.
Yes, it was hard conditions, and maybe he wasn't expecting the ball to come at him like that etc, but it was still a mistake - it'sthe unforgiving nature of football.
That's fair to say. Holding it against him isn't fair.
We move to the next game, and like you say he may well save us the next game.
Yeah, lets have a new goalie, two access roads and those hot tubs down one side.
We've got an increased budget that is still low compared to our rivals and is based on loans.
I hear next year its Florida for pre season, all expenses paid for legacy members.
In fairness, we probably still don't have the budget to have two competing first team keepers.
We've probably worked wonders to bring in so many players, but some are pretty young and relatively unproven, or on a short term deal like Charles, or on a loan like Smyth.
The Fred and Wheeler signings, plus sheer number of signings, are probably slightly masking the budget question - while obviously much better than we'd prepared for pre season (talk of no permanent signings!)
I realise this place has long since been preserved only for the disciples and true believers but those attempting to try and ignore the one rather big negative from last night are laughable. It's like sticking your fingers in your ears and going la-la-la. Apparently professional goalkeepers are now not expected to catch a football if it is raining. Well, who knew? I always thought those gloves were just for a show. Apparently it was a deft header, complete with bamboozling spin reminiscent of Shane Warne. Or one with the pace of a Jofra Archer bouncer, depending on which defence barrister is pleading the case at the time. Some desperately try to claim Allsop is a decent keeper, despite being replaced by a PT instructor last season following a series of goalkeeping calamities. There's clearly been a case of collective amnesia in South Bucks. (Yes, I know @ericplant made the same point, but it bears repeating). Apparently he's made a significant improvement and some even claim it was actually a good save! [insert emoji here). Of course the official Fleetwood Town match report describes it as fumble and the clip kindly provided by @Vital from behind the goal clearly shows just how bad of a mistake it is.
But of course there's no room for negativity here. Criticism of Wycombe Wanderers players has become heresy now. You would think some would recognise the absurdity of arguing the strength of teams after just four league games but apparently Fleetwood Town won't drop many points at home this season. They would have dropped three yesterday had our goalkeeper not dropped to the ball. Whilst Gareth Ainsworth ignored the elephant in the room in his post-match interview; choosing instead to concentrate on the triumphant return of Darius Charles, I wonder what Allsop's team-mates were thinking, having worked so incredibly hard and done so well to get so agonisingly close to all three points? If it's so incredibly frustrating for the likes of me, I wonder just how much more it must have stung for them? I wonder if they felt let down, or knew it was going to happen having seen it happen so often last season. I wonder whether they made all the same excuses for him as those have been so quick to do so here.
Albert Einstein is credited with saying "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." Yet everyone will rock up to Adams Park on Saturday and see Allsop in goal again.
But like someone said earlier, I suppose a few of the players can't look too harshly at Allsopp, when they've let the opposition swing a cross in, allow a free header on the P spot in the 90th min, and then watch the same player stroke in.
Ryan Allsop, making his 187th professional appearance, is not to blame but Giles Phillips, making only his 2nd ever league start, and Darius Charles, making his first start in 9 months after recovering from a career-ending injury, are the real culprits. Is that your argument? Whoa, and I thought I was too demanding.
@glasshalfempty hear hear! It's a pity you are not allowed to express your opinion on here all dissent being stifled by the disciples and true believers. Laughable AND a great shame. The fact that there is never any negativity on here is very depressing and your post was a breath of fresh air.
But like someone said earlier, I suppose a few of the players can't look too harshly at Allsopp, when they've let the opposition swing a cross in, allow a free header on the P spot in the 90th min, and then watch the same player stroke in.
You also have to criticise the striker for missing an easy chance.
Mid way between the P spot and the 6 yard line, free header and he hit the keeper. Shocking play. Lucky he was able to follow it up.
I agree that it is silly to judge a player by a mistake he may or may not have made in an individual game. Every player that's ever laced up a pair of boots has made loads of mistakes.
But we've got over a season's worth of data on Ryan Allsopp now, and that's more than enough to make a call on whether or not he is good enough, or whether we could do better.
@glasshalfempty I will 100% defend your right to post whatever you wish on here/anywhere else on the internet, opinions and debate are great facets of football that keep us all hooked.
I agree that it was an Allsop error that made a telling contribution to the late leveller and I reckon Ryan would agree with this too.
In answer to your question about his team mates thoughts on the matter - from what I see with this current group of players, I believe that they will take collecive responsibility and move on or 'go again' to use the preferred parlance of the pro footballer. The bond and camaraderie of the playing/coaching staff is the best I've seen since I started reporting on the club.
This current crop fail and achieve together and do so with a positive mind set that starts with the attitude of Gaz and filters down through his 'generals' of Bayo, Blooms, Charles, Jacobson etc. I dread to think where the club would be now without this positive agenda set by Gaz.
I remember being at Fleetwood back in 2014 and seeing Dean Morgan turning around to his own bench and telling them to 'f*** off' after receiving some instruction. WW insipidly lost that day against ten men and not long after went on to survive at Torquay. Dean Morgan didn't make the trip that day and was last seen on trial at Beaconsfield, despite his obvious talents.
The fans can worry, pick holes and find fault and also celebrate the success, it's their prerogative, but these players are currently relentlessly positive and together.
And I know I am not allowed to point out that bloody Bayo missed a sitter on Saturday. He's a striker for God's sake...that's his only job! The players work so hard to set him up...and what do the non-coffee smellers say?
'It happens in football and luckily we won...'
I ask you...
Two wins and two draws paper over the cracks and if you cannot see it I despair...
Share this post before Gasroom/Power Group/Putin deletes it.
Comments
Every time I read anything that GA says my admiration and respect for him as a human being increases. You can really get a flavour for why a lot of players want to come and work for and with him.
I am happy to join in the criticism of the ‘dark arts’ and gamesmanship that we are (often justifiably) accused of with regard to the football itself (although I think the mental scars from the Torquay season leads him to a safety first approach) but everything else about what he does and how he does it is immense.
We should be very proud and appreciative of who we have as the face of our club.
We are blessed to have him and Dobbo
I’m welling up here
What a wonderful club we have
Really high praise, as we've been utterly blessed with likable players, from most of the O Neill promotion guys, Bloomfield, JJ, Sergio, Bayo et al down the years.
Totally. It's no surprise at all how many players have come back after an initial spell.
I returned as a ST holder in the Torquay season and the years since have seen improvement almost every year, excitement, optimism, some great players and some great games. We can forgive a little bit of Darkartsgamesmanshipweknowwhatareareyouknowwhatyou'regoingtoget!
All hail Gaz and Dobbo.
It’s heart warming to read these comments about GA. I stopped posting on the FB group as a direct result of the abuse I was getting for defending him a couple of years ago. We are fortunate to have at the helm a man of such honesty, integrity and decency, quite apart from his qualities as a football manager.
Form is temporary, class is permanent.
Very true. He'll certainly be one hell of a job to replace.
The investment situation has hopefully come at just the right time to prove to him this is the best place for him for the forseeable.
I took a moment this morning to look at the League Table (I know it's early days and I shouldn't etc etc) and two things jump out at me:
It's been said already in this thread, but we should never under-estimate how far we've come under GA, and what an incredible job he does with one of the smallest budgets in the league (even after this summer's investment).
And when you consider the players he has signed some unknown (O'Nien, Mawson, Eze, Pierre), some heavily criticized (Bayo) and some completely unexpected (Gape, McCarthy, Fred) his record stands up to scrutiny even from the FB Brains Trust!
Well said - you have to take stock every so often.
But it's great we're now disappointed to have only taken 8 points from the first 4.
"Now we've got the budget for it"
Yeah, lets have a new goalie, two access roads and those hot tubs down one side.
We've got an increased budget that is still low compared to our rivals and is based on loans.
I hear next year its Florida for pre season, all expenses paid for legacy members.
To be honest...even if Gareth 'had the budget for it' I suspect from his past interviews that he would still be very careful in assembling a squad and buy the right sort of player rather than a marquee signing that might poison the dressing room.
What a silly post
Reading through some of the posts on this thread I am amazed that a few can criticise any of the players, in particular Ryan Allsop. That was urinating at a hell of a rate and it wasn't a clean head of the ball, (which possibly was worse), it made catching it near impossible. Please trawl through the highlights & your memories of the games so far and ask yourselves, how many times so far has Allsop made some terrific reaction saves? I would argue many more than he has made mistakes. I can recall at least two 1 on 1s, in the second half against MK and probably more than I can remember.
Do we really have spare money for a decent L1/Championship GK to get splinters on their ar£e every Saturday? Accept that Allsop is a decent keeper at this level, GA & Dobbo clearly think so and I'm fine with that. The players that we have are exceptional compared to 3/4 years ago & I for one am enjoying watching them and go to games now with optimism rather than just hope. Let's show respect for their feelings and just get behind every one of them, just as they do, as a squad. Pretty sure some of us will get a lot more pleasure out of the games as well.
You are right to back the players - we all try and do that.
And some of the posts on FB went too far, getting after one player - but I dare say many were emotional spur of the moment posts.
Yes, it was hard conditions, and maybe he wasn't expecting the ball to come at him like that etc, but it was still a mistake - it'sthe unforgiving nature of football.
That's fair to say. Holding it against him isn't fair.
We move to the next game, and like you say he may well save us the next game.
In fairness, we probably still don't have the budget to have two competing first team keepers.
We've probably worked wonders to bring in so many players, but some are pretty young and relatively unproven, or on a short term deal like Charles, or on a loan like Smyth.
The Fred and Wheeler signings, plus sheer number of signings, are probably slightly masking the budget question - while obviously much better than we'd prepared for pre season (talk of no permanent signings!)
I realise this place has long since been preserved only for the disciples and true believers but those attempting to try and ignore the one rather big negative from last night are laughable. It's like sticking your fingers in your ears and going la-la-la. Apparently professional goalkeepers are now not expected to catch a football if it is raining. Well, who knew? I always thought those gloves were just for a show. Apparently it was a deft header, complete with bamboozling spin reminiscent of Shane Warne. Or one with the pace of a Jofra Archer bouncer, depending on which defence barrister is pleading the case at the time. Some desperately try to claim Allsop is a decent keeper, despite being replaced by a PT instructor last season following a series of goalkeeping calamities. There's clearly been a case of collective amnesia in South Bucks. (Yes, I know @ericplant made the same point, but it bears repeating). Apparently he's made a significant improvement and some even claim it was actually a good save! [insert emoji here). Of course the official Fleetwood Town match report describes it as fumble and the clip kindly provided by @Vital from behind the goal clearly shows just how bad of a mistake it is.
But of course there's no room for negativity here. Criticism of Wycombe Wanderers players has become heresy now. You would think some would recognise the absurdity of arguing the strength of teams after just four league games but apparently Fleetwood Town won't drop many points at home this season. They would have dropped three yesterday had our goalkeeper not dropped to the ball. Whilst Gareth Ainsworth ignored the elephant in the room in his post-match interview; choosing instead to concentrate on the triumphant return of Darius Charles, I wonder what Allsop's team-mates were thinking, having worked so incredibly hard and done so well to get so agonisingly close to all three points? If it's so incredibly frustrating for the likes of me, I wonder just how much more it must have stung for them? I wonder if they felt let down, or knew it was going to happen having seen it happen so often last season. I wonder whether they made all the same excuses for him as those have been so quick to do so here.
Albert Einstein is credited with saying "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." Yet everyone will rock up to Adams Park on Saturday and see Allsop in goal again.
Yeah I'm a Wanderer.
You think my contributions here are exuding pleasure?
I chuckled @glasshalfempty , I have to admit.
But like someone said earlier, I suppose a few of the players can't look too harshly at Allsopp, when they've let the opposition swing a cross in, allow a free header on the P spot in the 90th min, and then watch the same player stroke in.
Ryan Allsop, making his 187th professional appearance, is not to blame but Giles Phillips, making only his 2nd ever league start, and Darius Charles, making his first start in 9 months after recovering from a career-ending injury, are the real culprits. Is that your argument? Whoa, and I thought I was too demanding.
@glasshalfempty hear hear! It's a pity you are not allowed to express your opinion on here all dissent being stifled by the disciples and true believers. Laughable AND a great shame. The fact that there is never any negativity on here is very depressing and your post was a breath of fresh air.
What do we want?! 'More negativity!'
When do we want it?! 'Should have got it ages ago to be honest Wake up and smell the coffee...'
You also have to criticise the striker for missing an easy chance.
Mid way between the P spot and the 6 yard line, free header and he hit the keeper. Shocking play. Lucky he was able to follow it up.
I agree that it is silly to judge a player by a mistake he may or may not have made in an individual game. Every player that's ever laced up a pair of boots has made loads of mistakes.
But we've got over a season's worth of data on Ryan Allsopp now, and that's more than enough to make a call on whether or not he is good enough, or whether we could do better.
brilliant!
@glasshalfempty I will 100% defend your right to post whatever you wish on here/anywhere else on the internet, opinions and debate are great facets of football that keep us all hooked.
I agree that it was an Allsop error that made a telling contribution to the late leveller and I reckon Ryan would agree with this too.
In answer to your question about his team mates thoughts on the matter - from what I see with this current group of players, I believe that they will take collecive responsibility and move on or 'go again' to use the preferred parlance of the pro footballer. The bond and camaraderie of the playing/coaching staff is the best I've seen since I started reporting on the club.
This current crop fail and achieve together and do so with a positive mind set that starts with the attitude of Gaz and filters down through his 'generals' of Bayo, Blooms, Charles, Jacobson etc. I dread to think where the club would be now without this positive agenda set by Gaz.
I remember being at Fleetwood back in 2014 and seeing Dean Morgan turning around to his own bench and telling them to 'f*** off' after receiving some instruction. WW insipidly lost that day against ten men and not long after went on to survive at Torquay. Dean Morgan didn't make the trip that day and was last seen on trial at Beaconsfield, despite his obvious talents.
The fans can worry, pick holes and find fault and also celebrate the success, it's their prerogative, but these players are currently relentlessly positive and together.
Hope to see you soon at a game.
And I know I am not allowed to point out that bloody Bayo missed a sitter on Saturday. He's a striker for God's sake...that's his only job! The players work so hard to set him up...and what do the non-coffee smellers say?
'It happens in football and luckily we won...'
I ask you...
Two wins and two draws paper over the cracks and if you cannot see it I despair...
Share this post before Gasroom/Power Group/Putin deletes it.
Well said @bluntphil . As ever, cheers for an entertaining commentary last night - including the 'best goals scored at Wembley' discussion.
Looked biblical on iFollow, was it as bad as it looked?
That was Bayo's 45th goal for us. How long until the 50th?