Ruthless Clarke

[andrew1957]

Well no one can say that Clarke is not building his own team.

He has ripped the guts out of last season's underperforming squad.

Taylor has now gone and Akpan is rumoured to be following soon. We will then only have 11 senior players left from last season (Obita, Hector, Williams, McCleary, Norwood, Pog, Blackman, HRK, Gunter, Ferdinand and Cox). Maybe even some of these will be out of the exit door by 2nd September.

Time will tell if his new look squad works out but he has certainly been his own man and will be judged by his success. Good to see how much he has been backed buy the new owners too. They seem to trust him.

Onwards and upwards.

[Hoop Blah]

Clarke certainly doesn't look like he's going to pander to players or shy away from making tough and unpopular decisions. I think he showed that last season both in his selections and the defence of them to Dellor on the radio.

He's backed that up this summer with everything he's done, including the non-selection of Ferdinand on Saturday which he explains (to a degree) on GetReading today.

I like the guys style.

[winchester_royal]

Harsh to say, but very pleased to see the back of Taylor. Tried hard, but ultimately not good enough. Likewise with Akpan. Hopefully means that the two deals we're looking to bring in are sorted as well though because our squad was looking thin enough already.

[Big Foot]

No tears here at Taylor's departure

[savage 4 england]

Still think the squad will be distinctly average.

[MoorgateRoyal]

I like him.

He's beginning to put his own team together (including the backroom staff) and if he can bring in some more players this year and next, then we will see where we're at.

He strikes me as a very straightforward guy and I think that will work to his benefit.

[Forbury Lion]

Still think the squad will be distinctly average.

Still an improvement over last year then.

[Uke]

Could it be that SC is following in the footsteps of SC?

[Coppelled_Streets]

Still think the squad will be distinctly average.

Agreed. It still needs a lot of work, and I'm not sure the Thai's will have the patience Clarke will need to see it all come to fruition.

[loyalroyaldaz]

Cant complain at all about this.
These two were not good enough at this level and sadly Atkins thought they were.

Managers ultimately live and die by the decisions they make.

Confident Steve Clarke will prove a success.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Cant complain at all about this.
These two were not good enough at this level and sadly Atkins thought they were.

Managers ultimately live and die by the decisions they make.

Confident Steve Clarke will prove a success.

I don't think Adkins thought they were, he just didn't really have much of a choice. He certainly didn't rate Akpan.

[Lacoste]

Still think the squad will be distinctly average.

Agreed. It still needs a lot of work, and I'm not sure the Thai's will have the patience Clarke will need to see it all come to fruition.

To be honest, a manager who changes his whole backroom staff and signs 7/8 players for the first team squad doesn't get much time. It is then practically their team I'm afraid.

What are they going to do if it doesn't work out, sign another 8 players? sell the players he's signed and start again?

It's not like he's bought in 1 or 2 at a time and made it a slow transition. He has gone balls deep and backed himself.

He will live or die by these signings.

[Forbury Lion]

Could it be that SC is following in the footsteps of SC?

We also lost our first league game 2-1 away in the 106 season.

[CountryRoyal]

Could it be that SC is following in the footsteps of SC?

We also lost our first league game 2-1 away in the 106 season.

No we didn't.

I'm liking his approach, for far too long we've been to "nice" about things, something the players/management suggested towards the end of last season I think.

There's no room for sentimentality in success. Taylor and Akpan weren't good enough.... See yuhhh.

[Franchise FC]

Could it be that SC is following in the footsteps of SC?

We also lost our first league game 2-1 away in the 106 season.

Oh no we didn't - our first away defeat wasn't until 2006 - away at Luton and a 3-2 defeat

Plastic

[RoyallyFcuked]

Could it be that SC is following in the footsteps of SC?

We also lost our first league game 2-1 away in the 106 season.

I thought this as I was leaving the Brum game, except we didnt lose 2-1 away. The first game of the 106 season was a 2-1 home defeat to Plymouth. The only other defeat that season was 3-2 away to Luton, in February 2006.

Anyway I've liked what I've seen from Clarke so far but we are still not done in the transfer market imo. As I said on another thread we still need -

1 Winger (Hurtado?)
1 Striker
1 Creative Central Attacking Midfielder (someone like Sigurdsson)

[CountryRoyal]

Could it be that SC is following in the footsteps of SC?

We also lost our first league game 2-1 away in the 106 season.

1 Winger (Hurtado?)
1 Striker
1 Creative Central Attacking Midfielder (someone like Sigurdsson)

Not convinced we will bring in another striker but hope we do, reckon it will just be Hurtado and this bloke from Espanyol.

As much as it pains me to say it I don't think we will see a goal scoring creative mid like gylfi for some time.

[Lacoste]

He won't go from wanting two more fairly expensive strikers to signing non surely?

Any idea how much hurtado is costing?

[Ian Royal]

Sad to see Taylor go. I liked him. But. He wasn't up to the standard we are after, so can't argue with him going.

Clarke's done masses over the summer. There's a few issues left, but he seems to have had exactly the sort of summer business we needed to avoid going down in a shambles. Fair play.

The proof, as always, is in the results. It may be a failure but at least now you can't say it hasn't been a big effort. 10 games in I'd expect us to about 12th.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I like the fact he may seem ruthless (if he even is). However, some might call it decisive. Besides it was long overdue - the club was rotting from the inside & needed wholesale changes throughout.

He's weeding out all the sh1t & long may it continue. Akpan off the wage bill was surprisingly good news.