We appear to be at quite an important point of our season. Two wins against Plymouth and Oxford and we are back on track whereas, two losses will make things very difficult indeed.
I think the importance of Rob’s upbeat statement has been exaggerated. He said we would be going for automatic promotion, he couldn’t and didn’t promise it would happen. He could still be right, of course, because so far we have played only ten games. The chairman, by his own admission, is no football expert and he probably felt that having seen us win promotion then reach a playoff final there was a reasonable chance we would be in the mix again. We don’t know that he made those comments simply to drum up season tickets sales, and at a time when fans are feeling the pinch financially, I find it hard to believe that anyone purchased tickets based purely on what he said.
@Chris introduced it to the Gasroom before the play-off final, incidentally about another press release from Rob Couhig where he was trying to drum up ticket sales.
Well the thing we don’t know is if Rob made the money available to strengthen the squad and Gareth failed in his efforts to get the players in.
The money could still be there to spend for all we know. If we had money from Derby and we also enjoyed a nice run to the play-off final, then that may well be the case.
Rob would have taken his lead from those with much more football knowledge. However, he isn’t adverse to trying to sell the odd ticket or two but I do feel it is enthusiasm and not any pre planned intention to deceive.
As fans we whinged when it was all about us being a small club and anywhere above bottom 4 was punching above our weight, now we're whinging that the chairman went full beans on the ambitions.
Would anyone have been happy with
"We know post play off final defeat we could well be in for a sluggish one, so realistically we'll be 9th to 16th, but if we do particularly well we might scrape the bottom end play-offs again if the big teams stink things up like other years"
That is a fair point @Malone but I was just pointing out Rob’s possible position in this situation. To be honest though, I personally believe we need a RB and another forward.
Not sure how I'm going to phrase this without the high possibility of giving a differing view on match stats. By the way, I'm pleased you're back posting - it's where you belong. You are the king of stats and obviously engage keenly in this field. But, I'm really at loss with the new trends of analysing football. Perhaps it's my age and a generational thing but, to me, the only stat that matters is on the scoreboard. I once read the explanation of how "expected goals" work and just shook my head. I don't think football lends itself to stats in the way that,say, cricket does. So, I'm genuinely intrigued to know how, for example , the 10+ pass sequence data is relevant? Is it just a bit of fun which gives an indication of how a team performs or is there merit in gathering this information. Having said this, please continue chucking numbers at us. I don't have to take notice of them but quite clearly I do!
He did give the impression that we'd be making some more signficant signings than we ended up doing.
Mawson obviously sits differently to this as he is quality, but was also a replacement, as per the keeper. Aside from that there were actually no signings beyond development ones.
That's fine, but a bit awkward when you've talked up the prospects.
However, I still think we'll suddenly turn it on at a fairly soon point in time.
Our ability to evolve the squad was hampered by our ability to reduce the squad down a bit. Whether that was due to us wanting to move players on and them not being of interest to others or whether it was our decision to offer players contracts that were tough calls. Either way I think it will go down as a poor transfer window that has seen the club not kick on from being a play off finalist. Momentum is a huge thing in sport and we have lost momentum. If they teams below us get wins from their games in hand we are on the relegation line. But of course we are too good to go down and it will all come good.
I’m never sure how much to read into comments made in an interview, but also we don’t know a) what budget was made available in the transfer window, and b) whether GA used all of it.
I can’t remember which interview this was said in (it was WTV subscription-only I think - it would have been around the close of the transfer window I guess).
But GA said that he wouldn’t sign players just for the sake of it (I’m sure we all recall some of the Waddock- and Taylor-era dead wood that was seemingly signed purely to make up the numbers)…and that sometimes money had been made available that he chose not to spend, and that he wouldn’t get dragged into bidding wars/pay over the odds for players.
The point being, Rob Couhig may have made money available that GA chose not to spend this time round…in which case it’d be wrong to knock Couhig for not putting his money where his mouth is, but we’ll never know of course, since our budget isn’t disclosed (and rightly so).
Perhaps we’ll see in January if there’s still money to strengthen, depending on how we’re faring by then…although I guess there’ll be Mehmeti’s transfer fee incoming too by then (?!).
Great questions @floyd. I have only seen GA look so downbeat and discouraged once before, and that was when we had about nine players in training before the promotion season, having had to cull the squad.
I believe he was interviewed for the QPR job (no idea if he got offered it). But then we know he's spoken to other clubs before (Lincoln and Sunderland, to name a couple from recent seasons) and that's never seemed to affect us afterwards. Then again, you'd imagine QPR would be a 'dream' job for him, so...
Yeah, it was. I don't agree that lack of 'proper' friendlies had any negative effect. With one or two exceptions, we've not looked unfit - we're one of the more intensely pressing teams in the league (and arguably the most effective - that's one massive positive from our altogether messy start to the season!).
We don't know whether Ainsworth had the money to spend or not, by the sounds of it there was money but we weren't able to reach an agreement with potential targets for various reasons. Which is fine, though when the chairman sends a message to supporters saying that the squad will be better than last season, some supporters will take that to mean that the squad will be strengthened (I've yet to speak to someone who thinks our current squad is stronger than last season's), and that results, if not performances on the pitch would improve (they haven't).
In the context of where the club is, and our philosophy of using our resources as wisely as possible for the long-term benefit of the club, our progress so far this season is understandable (if not a little frustrating at times), though I can at least appreciate where some who are bemoaning the lack of signings and results so far this season are coming from.
I wonder what perception Gasroomers would have if the injury crisis we have happened in the 2nd half of the season, rather than our current position. I'm pretty sure we would have at least say another 6 points and we would be way higher up the league. Then all would be rosey here until Scowen, Hanlon, Wheeler, Mellor etc went off injured, GMac got suspended and inevitably results mirrored the missing list. 🤷♂️
That’s definitely a huckster hat. Pity the photographer didn’t wait for him to light his cigar which, if you look very carefully, you will see in his gloved right hand.
Comments
We appear to be at quite an important point of our season. Two wins against Plymouth and Oxford and we are back on track whereas, two losses will make things very difficult indeed.
True @Blue_since_1990 but it also pretty much describes football any day of the week. That's why we love it.
I think the importance of Rob’s upbeat statement has been exaggerated. He said we would be going for automatic promotion, he couldn’t and didn’t promise it would happen. He could still be right, of course, because so far we have played only ten games. The chairman, by his own admission, is no football expert and he probably felt that having seen us win promotion then reach a playoff final there was a reasonable chance we would be in the mix again. We don’t know that he made those comments simply to drum up season tickets sales, and at a time when fans are feeling the pinch financially, I find it hard to believe that anyone purchased tickets based purely on what he said.
@Chris introduced it to the Gasroom before the play-off final, incidentally about another press release from Rob Couhig where he was trying to drum up ticket sales.
The main issue is that he made such a big thing of making the squad "even stronger" than it was last season. Which didn't materialise.
Well the thing we don’t know is if Rob made the money available to strengthen the squad and Gareth failed in his efforts to get the players in.
The money could still be there to spend for all we know. If we had money from Derby and we also enjoyed a nice run to the play-off final, then that may well be the case.
Rob would have taken his lead from those with much more football knowledge. However, he isn’t adverse to trying to sell the odd ticket or two but I do feel it is enthusiasm and not any pre planned intention to deceive.
As fans we whinged when it was all about us being a small club and anywhere above bottom 4 was punching above our weight, now we're whinging that the chairman went full beans on the ambitions.
Would anyone have been happy with
"We know post play off final defeat we could well be in for a sluggish one, so realistically we'll be 9th to 16th, but if we do particularly well we might scrape the bottom end play-offs again if the big teams stink things up like other years"
I'd like to know what positions people would actually think need improving if we had everyone fit.
It seems a fair consensus on here that we have a pretty excellent squad.
With numerical and budgetary restraints, you can't just bring a bunch of high earners in just while we await the return of the injury crew. Can we?
That is a fair point @Malone but I was just pointing out Rob’s possible position in this situation. To be honest though, I personally believe we need a RB and another forward.
Not sure how I'm going to phrase this without the high possibility of giving a differing view on match stats. By the way, I'm pleased you're back posting - it's where you belong. You are the king of stats and obviously engage keenly in this field. But, I'm really at loss with the new trends of analysing football. Perhaps it's my age and a generational thing but, to me, the only stat that matters is on the scoreboard. I once read the explanation of how "expected goals" work and just shook my head. I don't think football lends itself to stats in the way that,say, cricket does. So, I'm genuinely intrigued to know how, for example , the 10+ pass sequence data is relevant? Is it just a bit of fun which gives an indication of how a team performs or is there merit in gathering this information. Having said this, please continue chucking numbers at us. I don't have to take notice of them but quite clearly I do!
He did give the impression that we'd be making some more signficant signings than we ended up doing.
Mawson obviously sits differently to this as he is quality, but was also a replacement, as per the keeper. Aside from that there were actually no signings beyond development ones.
That's fine, but a bit awkward when you've talked up the prospects.
However, I still think we'll suddenly turn it on at a fairly soon point in time.
I hope you are right Mr M, because that is what we all want. 👍
Our ability to evolve the squad was hampered by our ability to reduce the squad down a bit. Whether that was due to us wanting to move players on and them not being of interest to others or whether it was our decision to offer players contracts that were tough calls. Either way I think it will go down as a poor transfer window that has seen the club not kick on from being a play off finalist. Momentum is a huge thing in sport and we have lost momentum. If they teams below us get wins from their games in hand we are on the relegation line. But of course we are too good to go down and it will all come good.
I’m never sure how much to read into comments made in an interview, but also we don’t know a) what budget was made available in the transfer window, and b) whether GA used all of it.
I can’t remember which interview this was said in (it was WTV subscription-only I think - it would have been around the close of the transfer window I guess).
But GA said that he wouldn’t sign players just for the sake of it (I’m sure we all recall some of the Waddock- and Taylor-era dead wood that was seemingly signed purely to make up the numbers)…and that sometimes money had been made available that he chose not to spend, and that he wouldn’t get dragged into bidding wars/pay over the odds for players.
The point being, Rob Couhig may have made money available that GA chose not to spend this time round…in which case it’d be wrong to knock Couhig for not putting his money where his mouth is, but we’ll never know of course, since our budget isn’t disclosed (and rightly so).
Perhaps we’ll see in January if there’s still money to strengthen, depending on how we’re faring by then…although I guess there’ll be Mehmeti’s transfer fee incoming too by then (?!).
There are a few things I’d love to know about our preseason;
1) Did GA get a good amount of time away from the club? (Because he looks and sounds worn out)
2) How close did GA come to getting another job? (Because it would help explain the dead period after the play-offs)
3) Were we Nathan Bishoped by any other clubs? (Because it would explain the lack of recruitment)
4) what was the thinking behind the (lack of) proper friendlies? (Because we weren’t ready for kick off)
If you mean "home" friendlies for Point 4, that was our pitch needing to be relayed wasn't it?
Great questions @floyd. I have only seen GA look so downbeat and discouraged once before, and that was when we had about nine players in training before the promotion season, having had to cull the squad.
I believe he was interviewed for the QPR job (no idea if he got offered it). But then we know he's spoken to other clubs before (Lincoln and Sunderland, to name a couple from recent seasons) and that's never seemed to affect us afterwards. Then again, you'd imagine QPR would be a 'dream' job for him, so...
Yeah, it was. I don't agree that lack of 'proper' friendlies had any negative effect. With one or two exceptions, we've not looked unfit - we're one of the more intensely pressing teams in the league (and arguably the most effective - that's one massive positive from our altogether messy start to the season!).
9 out of our 10 games played have been against teams above us in the league as of today.
Can we read anything into that or am I clutching at straws?
Of the remaining first round of fixtures, we have to play 7 teams that are above us, and 7 teams that are currently below us.
If the 7 below us are in any way as bad as Burton were on the opening day, we will not get relegated.
I meant more the opposition. Who did we play? Oxford City and a bunch of reserve/u23 teams?
We don't know whether Ainsworth had the money to spend or not, by the sounds of it there was money but we weren't able to reach an agreement with potential targets for various reasons. Which is fine, though when the chairman sends a message to supporters saying that the squad will be better than last season, some supporters will take that to mean that the squad will be strengthened (I've yet to speak to someone who thinks our current squad is stronger than last season's), and that results, if not performances on the pitch would improve (they haven't).
In the context of where the club is, and our philosophy of using our resources as wisely as possible for the long-term benefit of the club, our progress so far this season is understandable (if not a little frustrating at times), though I can at least appreciate where some who are bemoaning the lack of signings and results so far this season are coming from.
I wonder what perception Gasroomers would have if the injury crisis we have happened in the 2nd half of the season, rather than our current position. I'm pretty sure we would have at least say another 6 points and we would be way higher up the league. Then all would be rosey here until Scowen, Hanlon, Wheeler, Mellor etc went off injured, GMac got suspended and inevitably results mirrored the missing list. 🤷♂️
In fairness, there's barely any teams below us, so they'd have to be teams above us!
“Huckster” puts me in mind of Colonel Tom Parker !
I can’t see Rob wearing a large hat and smoking a large cigar
Brickbats have been flying fairly freely this season. [I’m assuming that was the other candidate for Word of the Day yesterday.]
That’s definitely a huckster hat. Pity the photographer didn’t wait for him to light his cigar which, if you look very carefully, you will see in his gloved right hand.