How Long Will BM Last at this rate?????

[Caskeys Lovechild]

Gambling with money you either haven't got or are not prepared to simply write off if the gamble doesn't come off is neither "investment" nor "ambition".

It's stupidity.

Almost EVERY SINGLE thing said by Samuelson, Madejski and Zingarevich himself was completely clear about how the club would be run, and that was continuing down the same path followed by SJM over the years. Financial prudency.

AZ then said we were aiming to become an established Top 8 team within the next 5 years. Unfortunately to some people that appears to be a contradiction of the above statement so they chose to believe he was really going to be spending big - how else could we become Top 8 after all...?

All he was doing was stating an ambition - even though it was a completely reasonable statement to make, he would have been better off not saying it to avoid sending the more challenged supporters down a completely unrealistic glory path that existed only in their imaginations.

100% this.

The media are partly to blame for this.
The rest of the blame comes down to sheer stupidity, and lack of common sense from big chunks of our support.

Money, whilst nice to have, is no guarantee of success. Manchester City are a prime example, but compared to us, QPR are a better one. Imagine Fernandez gets bored there, pulls his funding, and leaves them with that squad, in the Championship....

On top of that - Transfer fees, are a very poor indicator of "investment". Mariappa @ 2.5million, on what? £25k a week? On what? a 3 year deal?? that's £6.5million of investment, right there. Getting the idea of "where the money's going"?

I'd rather we went in slowly slowly - I'd rather see us get relagated and come back strongly, than throw all of our cards on the table, and declare ourselves all in.....and quite honestly, anyone who can't see the sense in that, is out of touch with reality.

[cmonurz]

And what will be required for us to 'come back strongly'?

And why is it with some of you that it's either none of our cards, or all of them?

[working class hero]

I chat to look at the villa forum.... but imagine the sagging of Brian if we lost 8-0...

[leon]

I chat to look at the villa forum.... but imagine the sagging of Brian if we lost 8-0...

[Lower West]

but compared to us, QPR are a better one. Imagine Fernandez gets bored there, pulls his funding, and leaves them with that squad, in the Championship....

Seems as if Harry is finding similarities with Portsmouth.

A furious Redknapp revealed after his side’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle that he had fined Bosingwa £130,000 – two weeks’ wages – for saying he would not go on the bench in the game against Fulham last week.
The Rangers manager, who only took charge at Loftus Road last month, said Bosingwa’s salary eclipsed anything earned by players at his former club Tottenham.
When asked about his players’ general attitude, Redknapp said: “I fined a player this week and discovered he is on more than any of the players at Spurs.”
Asked specifically about Bosingwa, he continued: “He didn’t travel. He felt he was too good to be on the substitute’s bench.
“I’ve fined him two weeks’ wages, which is £130,000, which isn’t bad for two weeks work is it? How do I handle a player like that? Maybe he’ll find out in January.”

[winchester_royal]

And what will be required for us to 'come back strongly'?

And why is it with some of you that it's either none of our cards, or all of them?

The key to long term success is investment in the infrastructure of the club. The state and success of the academy is absolutely pivotal to a club of our size.

Even if we'd gone out and spent 30m this summer there would still have been a very realistic chance of us going down. If we'd have spent that money instead of investing in the academy/training ground and then gone down we'd have been royallf 6*cked.

In 5 years we will be an established PL side if we are sensible with our money. The academy is starting to produce some real quality players, far superior to the likes of Church that have come through before, and it is imperative we don't lose them cheaply because we chose to chuck our money on big wages rather than invest it in the future.

Yes we'd all like to see a bit more ambition in the transfer narket, but (for me at least) as long as it's not at the cost of not getting cat1 status.

[The Beardy Man]

Gambling with money you either haven't got or are not prepared to simply write off if the gamble doesn't come off is neither "investment" nor "ambition".

It's stupidity.

Almost EVERY SINGLE thing said by Samuelson, Madejski and Zingarevich himself was completely clear about how the club would be run, and that was continuing down the same path followed by SJM over the years. Financial prudency.

AZ then said we were aiming to become an established Top 8 team within the next 5 years. Unfortunately to some people that appears to be a contradiction of the above statement so they chose to believe he was really going to be spending big - how else could we become Top 8 after all...?

All he was doing was stating an ambition - even though it was a completely reasonable statement to make, he would have been better off not saying it to avoid sending the more challenged supporters down a completely unrealistic glory path that existed only in their imaginations.

Exactly. At no stage has anyone running the club during or after the takeover said we are going to burn through a load of cash in transfer fees to move forward.

It was made entirely clear that as far as the playing staff goes we would not have to sell anyone any more for purely financial reasons and we could begin to build a squad once again.

The real investment is likely to be on the infrastructure side, again exactly as those running the club said it would be (and rightly so).

What has been promised is thus far exactly what we have got. As far as TSI are concerned what complaints can anyone have? They have done what they said they would.

[Victor Meldrew]

And what will be required for us to 'come back strongly'?

And why is it with some of you that it's either none of our cards, or all of them?

The key to long term success is investment in the infrastructure of the club. The state and success of the academy is absolutely pivotal to a club of our size.

Even if we'd gone out and spent 30m this summer there would still have been a very realistic chance of us going down. If we'd have spent that money instead of investing in the academy/training ground and then gone down we'd have been royallf 6*cked.

In 5 years we will be an established PL side if we are sensible with our money. The academy is starting to produce some real quality players, far superior to the likes of Church that have come through before, and it is imperative we don't lose them cheaply because we chose to chuck our money on big wages rather than invest it in the future.

Yes we'd all like to see a bit more ambition in the transfer narket, but (for me at least) as long as it's not at the cost of not getting cat1 status.

The key to long term success is also about buying new players-it is not exclusively about underlying infrastructure.
I have never understood why it is so important to have a wonderful training ground-our improved facility has done f*** all to improve our side's performance on the pitch and even with that facility our manager and coaching staff have taken half a season to wake up to the reality of how we can best perform as a unit and but for the cred built up by Brian over the past two seasons he would have been sacked by now for underperforming as a coach and manager.

As for the Academy I have been hearing for the past 15 years how we are producing excelllent talent and with the massive investment in that area it is just a matter of time before the club reaps the rewards-one day Rodney we will be millionaires.
I wonder if it is down to our youth coaches and scouts not being good enough-Saints during the same period and at a time when they have had financial restrictions and not played in the top flight have produced amongst others:-
Bale
Surman
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Walcott
Lallana
Matt Mills!!!
McGoldrick
Blackstock etc
and now the young lad Shaw who is thought to be worth many millions
During the same period we haven't done too badly in
Gylfi
McCarthy
Pearce
HRk
but nothing much new in the past 5 years or so.

I agree that The Academy is important and that goes for most clubs anywhere in the world who are all striving to produce their own and see it as how clubs should develop but some clubs gamble (invest?) on transfers to maintain a strong position in the interim and that is where I feel our club lags behind with a business plan for failure rather than one for success.

Back to Brian we will see, but my confidence in him has diminished since it became clear that his only plan is to run a tight-knit unit of players who love to play hit-and-hope football which in itself is destined to failure with only Stoke (and occasionally Sunderland) at the top level having any semblance of success playing that way and they are just so much better at it than we are.

[winchester_royal]

The same Ugwu who can't get a game for Yeovil?

Samiel >>>> Ugwu

[SPARTA]

How much of a chance do academy players have?
For example Gozie Ugwu is a huge talent, people have been raving about him for ages.
Why can't we give him 20 minutes here and there, instead of keeping a lazy workshy russian on insane wages?

Have they? They've been talking about Samuel for years and he's recently got a debut, and I expect we'll see a lot more of him as 4th choice next season in the Championship. But Ugwu, although promising, hasn't had half the attention Samuel has.

[cmonurz]

Can't help wondering if Brian had had his 4-5-1 epiphany back when many on here did, if things might not look so desperate at the bottom of the table.

[Woodcote Royal]

Well, yes, given that he's won just one game and that being achieved with 4-4-2, I suspect he bitterly regrets not listening to the complete tools and no nothings on here.

[cmonurz]

Well, yes, given that he's won just one game and that being achieved with 4-4-2, I suspect he bitterly regrets not listening to the complete tools and no nothings on here.

Come on Woodcote, you are actually better than that.

We've won one game, a game we might have lost had Everton taken their chances. We have looked infinitely more secure and competitive since using 4-5-1.

Anyway, I'll let you get back to your flat-earth arguments.

[Hoop Blah]

How much of a chance do academy players have?
For example Gozie Ugwu is a huge talent, people have been raving about him for ages.
Why can't we give him 20 minutes here and there, instead of keeping a lazy workshy russian on insane wages?

Those people being Didcot Town fans or the clubs ever so impartial twitter feed?

Have you seen him play? He's a man mountain yes but from the little I've seen of him in the flesh he's not got the technique or know-how to make the most of it yet and is some way behind Samuel in quality and potential.

[Woodcote Royal]

Well, yes, given that he's won just one game and that being achieved with 4-4-2, I suspect he bitterly regrets not listening to the complete tools and no nothings on here.

Come on Woodcote, you are actually better than that.

We've won one game, a game we might have lost had Everton taken their chances. We have looked infinitely more secure and competitive since using 4-5-1.

Anyway, I'll let you get back to your flat-earth arguments.

Today and Citeh was much better and 4-5-1 has it's uses but only winning matches will get us out of this mess. Until this formation produces some victories Brian has nothing to learn from anyone in this respect.

[Hoop Blah]

That formation can certainly win matches but, as we've seen it can be used to protect us from the poor defending that gives opposition far too many chances, and as a result really should have been used to close out games whilst leading earlier in the season.

[grey_squirrel]

FFS had McDermott done his homework against a sidewards Swansea team, even he should've known an attacking 4-4-2 was the way to go on this one instead of 9-0-1.

Rabbits in headlights.

[Royal91]

FFS had McDermott done his homework against a sidewards Swansea team, even he should've known an attacking 4-4-2 was the way to go on this one instead of 9-0-1.

Rabbits in headlights.

I hope you're being sarcastic or you're completely deluded and no nothing about football..

Our 4-5-1 caused them to pass sidewards because the extra man in midfield compressed the space.

[SPARTA]

FFS had McDermott done his homework against a sidewards Swansea team, even he should've known an attacking 4-4-2 was the way to go on this one instead of 9-0-1.

Rabbits in headlights.

4-4-2 we are cut open like a warm knife through butter. Just how would we have been better off?

[Royal91]

FFS had McDermott done his homework against a sidewards Swansea team, even he should've known an attacking 4-4-2 was the way to go on this one instead of 9-0-1.

Rabbits in headlights.

4-4-2 we are cut open like a warm knife through butter. Just how would we have been better off?

This forum needs a rating system so we can all laugh at the moronic comments made by people like grey_squirrel.