For a while they got by on the narrative that they 'saved the club' - they didn't, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time - and lucking out on winning promotion to the Championship was a huge bonus, having already landed on their feet by coming into a club with one of the best managers in the EFL. But I think they stopped caring (if they ever truly did in the first place - I sense their initial charm offensive was influenced by the novelty of owning a football club) once they realised getting back to the Championship wasn't going to be a cakewalk, and that there is a ceiling to the size of the club and we can't realistically grow the crowd that much.
All of that would be understandable - but their (mainly Rob's) underlying stubbornness and resistance to (and thinly veiled criticism) of fans has soured things, and that reared its head again recently with the comments implying Bloomfield simply wouldn't be sacked.
I thought he’d lost the players after that first half showing but our second half performance certainly seemed to suggest otherwise.
The amount of players going seems to suggest something else is going on budget wise.
We badly missed Scowen today and have done over the last four games.
Leahy was dreadful, JJ is more than capable of doing what he’s been doing at left back. I think Wheeler must have gone off injured after that tackle at end of the first half.
We desperately need a centre midfielder to provide some competition and to be able to have one on the bench.
if Bloomfield is removed of his duties now, I wouldn’t have a huge issue but if he stays we need to get behind him and he needs to be backed to sign a midfielder, Vokes back up and a left back.
Rob’s tantrum at that Trust meeting and Pete going back to the states when the club didn’t roll over and let them have ownership of the ground, plus GA leaving, was the beginning of a hands off policy.
The other obvious thing is they haven’t got a clue about football and the fact that quality on the field is what matters not £7 pies.
Some of us (ok, one of us) has been saying this since the start, not that many others seemed to appreciate it. The problem was they walked into this club without anyone showing any desire to scrutinise them or ask difficult questions, which led them to surmise they could just get away with whatever they wanted. They weren't wrong either.
I was thinking about what their legacy would be when walking into the ground today.
Gareth was no patsy so his comment abouts them really coming in at the right time shouldn't be ignored.
But a lot of that championship promotion was due to his supreme management.
And in effect , we're back to where we were when they came in. Battling to stay up in league 1. Just with a less certain management.
So of the actual changes
Food, not been particularly great. Initial enthusiasm with a host of wild and wacky vans, now has pretty much petered out.Laughably high priced in places.
Merch, initial enthusiasm for new items waned. Then we had the farce with the shirts. Some ludicrously high price items too.
WiFi, never seemed much of a problem anyway.
Floodlights, championship forced a chance, and paid for it.
Electronic advert boards, all jazzy and that but not much thrill to it
The big game changing changes, new road, new training ground, new stand, are yet to be seen.
The merchandise is actually terrible, a shambles to be honest.
They (the Couhigs), were very fortunate that a COVID impacted season saw us have a shot at a championship spot. However, they then showed their lack of football knowledge by failing to invest in that January window and that resulted in us getting relegated by missing out by the thinnest margin to dodgy Derby County outfit.
Rob gives zero crap about the club , if he did he would.have acted 10 games ago, he is the man to blame , if Blooms actually cared about the club he should walk away.....zero ownership and no charism on the bench
Bloomfield certainly won’t walk away, if he does he is finished in the game at EFL level as a manager. He won’t jump, he needs to be pushed and the Couhigs will be reluctant to pay off his contract, well that is, until someone with some actual knowledge points out to them that sacking Bloomfield and paying him off will be cheaper than suffering League 2 football.
I havnt liked them from the start tbh, typical American smarm offensive, over promise under deliver. I'd have preferred Denis Bergkamp, and he actually knows about football !
I don't like this anti Couhig stuff. I appreciate what they've tried to do for the club, even though they made a terrible error keeping MB on at the end of last season and obviously compounded it by giving him a new contract. Who advises them on these things?
There’s probably no more people at AP on a Saturday these days than work on the industrial estate anyway. I remember the old O2 4G signal was often pretty crap at half time. And EE never worked once you moved 3 feet from the window in the Vere.
Anyway, the WiFi is ultimately there for the contactless terminals and conference facilities. It’s just offered to punters for convenience and to be fair, it’s very good.
At the risk of incurring @glasshalffull’s wrath it would be interesting to see how this has changed following yesterday’s dire first half ‘performance’.
It was insipid enough to tip me into the ‘that’s enough’ pot.
Next week’s Cheltenham game is unfortunately now of major importance I think. Lose (and/or play as badly as we did against 11 men yesterday) and it will be hard to see anything other than MB needing to depart.
If we do lose, and he does remain in post however, I think that means he will be managing us until May at least.
In which case, we probably have to draw the line under the ‘in/out’ debate, get behind MB and the team and just hope that we enter a relegation fight and not a relegation surrender.
Yes. It's time to reach the 'acceptance' stage of the five stages of grief and accept that the manager is going nowhere and we have to get behind the team.
The floodlights and advertising boards had to be done for the championship season, had we not gone up would've stayed the same. I'm not sure going cashless is an improvement myself !
Comments
For a while they got by on the narrative that they 'saved the club' - they didn't, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time - and lucking out on winning promotion to the Championship was a huge bonus, having already landed on their feet by coming into a club with one of the best managers in the EFL. But I think they stopped caring (if they ever truly did in the first place - I sense their initial charm offensive was influenced by the novelty of owning a football club) once they realised getting back to the Championship wasn't going to be a cakewalk, and that there is a ceiling to the size of the club and we can't realistically grow the crowd that much.
All of that would be understandable - but their (mainly Rob's) underlying stubbornness and resistance to (and thinly veiled criticism) of fans has soured things, and that reared its head again recently with the comments implying Bloomfield simply wouldn't be sacked.
Can't you get bargepole to do it for you?
That's the best post i've seen today sir take a bow.
I thought he’d lost the players after that first half showing but our second half performance certainly seemed to suggest otherwise.
The amount of players going seems to suggest something else is going on budget wise.
We badly missed Scowen today and have done over the last four games.
Leahy was dreadful, JJ is more than capable of doing what he’s been doing at left back. I think Wheeler must have gone off injured after that tackle at end of the first half.
We desperately need a centre midfielder to provide some competition and to be able to have one on the bench.
if Bloomfield is removed of his duties now, I wouldn’t have a huge issue but if he stays we need to get behind him and he needs to be backed to sign a midfielder, Vokes back up and a left back.
Rob’s tantrum at that Trust meeting and Pete going back to the states when the club didn’t roll over and let them have ownership of the ground, plus GA leaving, was the beginning of a hands off policy.
The other obvious thing is they haven’t got a clue about football and the fact that quality on the field is what matters not £7 pies.
You've put it far better than me and in far fewer words 😂
Some of us (ok, one of us) has been saying this since the start, not that many others seemed to appreciate it. The problem was they walked into this club without anyone showing any desire to scrutinise them or ask difficult questions, which led them to surmise they could just get away with whatever they wanted. They weren't wrong either.
We reap what we sow.
We've had some appalling decisions made over the years, but thank goodness the trust slammed the door on letting them have the ground.
That'd have been an absolutely guaranteed route to oblivion in the future.
Probably Max’s fault.
I was thinking about what their legacy would be when walking into the ground today.
Gareth was no patsy so his comment abouts them really coming in at the right time shouldn't be ignored.
But a lot of that championship promotion was due to his supreme management.
And in effect , we're back to where we were when they came in. Battling to stay up in league 1. Just with a less certain management.
So of the actual changes
Food, not been particularly great. Initial enthusiasm with a host of wild and wacky vans, now has pretty much petered out.Laughably high priced in places.
Merch, initial enthusiasm for new items waned. Then we had the farce with the shirts. Some ludicrously high price items too.
WiFi, never seemed much of a problem anyway.
Floodlights, championship forced a chance, and paid for it.
Electronic advert boards, all jazzy and that but not much thrill to it
The big game changing changes, new road, new training ground, new stand, are yet to be seen.
I (clearly naively) thought American owners would get merch spot-on, but has it really changed much at all?
Still don’t understand the WiFi thing when you can get unlimited 4/5G data for £20 a month.
I can't remember ever struggling to get a signal at Wycombe anyway. Unlike many other grounds.
The merchandise is actually terrible, a shambles to be honest.
They (the Couhigs), were very fortunate that a COVID impacted season saw us have a shot at a championship spot. However, they then showed their lack of football knowledge by failing to invest in that January window and that resulted in us getting relegated by missing out by the thinnest margin to dodgy Derby County outfit.
Rob gives zero crap about the club , if he did he would.have acted 10 games ago, he is the man to blame , if Blooms actually cared about the club he should walk away.....zero ownership and no charism on the bench
Bloomfield certainly won’t walk away, if he does he is finished in the game at EFL level as a manager. He won’t jump, he needs to be pushed and the Couhigs will be reluctant to pay off his contract, well that is, until someone with some actual knowledge points out to them that sacking Bloomfield and paying him off will be cheaper than suffering League 2 football.
I never say never, except for that road .
I havnt liked them from the start tbh, typical American smarm offensive, over promise under deliver. I'd have preferred Denis Bergkamp, and he actually knows about football !
But he wouldn't be able to fly over as often as the Couhigs
Not to mention utterly ludicrously not replacing him at the end of last season - if not sooner.
I don't like this anti Couhig stuff. I appreciate what they've tried to do for the club, even though they made a terrible error keeping MB on at the end of last season and obviously compounded it by giving him a new contract. Who advises them on these things?
There’s probably no more people at AP on a Saturday these days than work on the industrial estate anyway. I remember the old O2 4G signal was often pretty crap at half time. And EE never worked once you moved 3 feet from the window in the Vere.
Anyway, the WiFi is ultimately there for the contactless terminals and conference facilities. It’s just offered to punters for convenience and to be fair, it’s very good.
I don’t think he’s going anywhere. That said, if he is sacked I now think that will be the right decision.
Just reading back what RC said when MB extended his contract. Oh dear. https://www.wwfc.com/news/2023/november/01/matt-bloomfield-extends-chairboys-contract/
At the risk of incurring @glasshalffull’s wrath it would be interesting to see how this has changed following yesterday’s dire first half ‘performance’.
It was insipid enough to tip me into the ‘that’s enough’ pot.
Next week’s Cheltenham game is unfortunately now of major importance I think. Lose (and/or play as badly as we did against 11 men yesterday) and it will be hard to see anything other than MB needing to depart.
If we do lose, and he does remain in post however, I think that means he will be managing us until May at least.
In which case, we probably have to draw the line under the ‘in/out’ debate, get behind MB and the team and just hope that we enter a relegation fight and not a relegation surrender.
what changed was then being down to 10 men and.getting Kone on....Blooms offers absolutely nothing to this team.
I have no idea how what you’ve said relates or follows on from my post?
Yes. It's time to reach the 'acceptance' stage of the five stages of grief and accept that the manager is going nowhere and we have to get behind the team.
I think there have been improvements:
- cashless bars
- better ticket system
- floodlights
- advertising boards
Most of those should be useful in the future and support revenues.
But they clearly aren't going to deliver a step change in attendances.
The floodlights and advertising boards had to be done for the championship season, had we not gone up would've stayed the same. I'm not sure going cashless is an improvement myself !