Coppell out!

[brendywendy]

These are the teams of a similar size to us (West Ham a bit bigger I suppose) so why the hell can't we aspire to match them ?

Or take Leeds, Leicester, Derby, Forest, Southampton, Watford, Bradford and many others. All teams of a similar size to us and, um, well behind us.....

nearly all of teh teams in teh prem are bigger than us, in terms of history/silverware/fanbase

only hull, and wigan are of comparable size IMO

west ham, fulham, boro etc all outstrip us in nearly all good measures of club"size"
its when people start to go on about us being bigger than fulham etc that i realise some people are just delusional

[Hoop Blah]

Valid points brendy and Sun, but should that mean we don't look to progress or want the club to do all it can to be as good as it can?

[brendywendy]

Valid points brendy and Sun, but should that mean we don't look to progress or want the club to do all it can to be as good as it can?

course not

i want to acheive all of thosethings
i just cal for some realism when they arent acheived all at once

[Ian Royal]

We're certainly not far behind the likes of Wigan, Pompey, Bolton, Stoke, Fulham, Boro and Hull. Some more than others of course.

Bolton are on the slide, they were quite a lot ahead of us. I'd say we're on the cusp of greatness (for us), we just need a couple of seasons in the Prem without relegation to build up a cash base to then make the next big push.

Mind you, a couple of seasons in the Prem would still be a step up for us.

Historically most of the Championship and half League 1 are bigger than us, but Just looking at the last 5 - 10 years and we've come a long way. We may never be as big as Forest or Leeds in terms of stuff won, but we could get to the point where we can argue that past glories are irrelevant and that we have become bigger in recent times.

[brendywendy]

We're certainly not far behind the likes of Wigan, Pompey, Bolton, Stoke, Fulham, Boro and Hull. Some more than others of course.

Bolton are on the slide, they were quite a lot ahead of us. I'd say we're on the cusp of greatness (for us), we just need a couple of seasons in the Prem without relegation to build up a cash base to then make the next big push.

Mind you, a couple of seasons in the Prem would still be a step up for us.

Historically most of the Championship and half League 1 are bigger than us, but Just looking at the last 5 - 10 years and we've come a long way. We may never be as big as Forest or Leeds in terms of stuff won, but we could get to the point where we can argue that past glories are irrelevant and that we have become bigger in recent times.

"not far behind" teams with actual top level silverware is a bit daft ie -boro, stoke,fulham and pompey
but i agree generally with the post
we have a chance, which is more than i could ever have said 10 years ago
which is why we should be a little less inclined to get on the clubs back at every opportunity

[Great Knolly]

Not quite sure what "bigger than" really means. It's just a gut reaction I suppose.
I'd say we're...
Bigger than: Middlesboro, Wigan, Hull, Watford, Weymouth, Doncaster
Smaller than: Fulham, West Ham, Real Madrid, Stoke, West Brom, Leeds, Forest.

Wigan really are a tin-pot club, Recently established and with a small following. I have more disdain for Middlesborough though.

[CMRoyal]

A lot of talk over the last few weeks about SC being too loyal, but there's got to be some admission that this is has proven to be at least partially incorrect. Harper and Cisse remain dropped, and Kebe and Lita got ditched too last night.

[Hoop Blah]

A lot of talk over the last few weeks about SC being too loyal, but there's got to be some admission that this is has proven to be at least partially incorrect. Harper and Cisse remain dropped, and Kebe and Lita got ditched too last night.

I think the point is that it took him so long to make any unforced changes to the team even though our performances, and form, were on a downward spiral.

If anything the reaction to the changes this week, ie a much improved first half performance on Saturday and 3 points and our first goals for 9 hours (or whatever the figure was), suggests that those suggesting Coppell needed to change things about were spot on.

As a Harper fan I wasn't calling for him to be dropped as I put quite a weight on what he does for the team, however, the team, and especially the midfield needed a shake up and an off form Harper was one of those that were obviously in the firing line.

What would've happened had Coppell reacted to our declining form a bit quicker? Who knows!

[Sun Tzu]

Valid points brendy and Sun, but should that mean we don't look to progress or want the club to do all it can to be as good as it can?

Of course not.

But it does mean that just plucking random names who happen to be above us isn't necessarily the way to judge it.

In my time as a fan we've caught up and over taken many clubs that seemed way bigger than us. The fact that we haven't managed to over take them all gives us something to shoot at but sometimes it does help just to look in the rear view mirror and see who you've left behind. Not long ago we were the poor relation in the Didcot Triangle !!

[CMRoyal]

A lot of talk over the last few weeks about SC being too loyal, but there's got to be some admission that this is has proven to be at least partially incorrect. Harper and Cisse remain dropped, and Kebe and Lita got ditched too last night.

I think the point is that it took him so long to make any unforced changes to the team even though our performances, and form, were on a downward spiral.

If anything the reaction to the changes this week, ie a much improved first half performance on Saturday and 3 points and our first goals for 9 hours (or whatever the figure was), suggests that those suggesting Coppell needed to change things about were spot on.

As a Harper fan I wasn't calling for him to be dropped as I put quite a weight on what he does for the team, however, the team, and especially the midfield needed a shake up and an off form Harper was one of those that were obviously in the firing line.

What would've happened had Coppell reacted to our declining form a bit quicker? Who knows!

Thing is, we only beat Wolves four matches before Forest. At that point we'd only lost 1 in 11, was it? snowball can clarify. OK, two draws after that weren't great, but that made it 1 in 13. And a defeat later the team changed. I'm not convinced that those suggesting Coppell needed to change things were as ahead of the curve as you suggest.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm probably going back to the home game against Southampton in the league to be fair.

We might not have lost many games between then and Wolves but the cracks were appearing for me, despite a couple of decent scorelines against Cov and Watford.

[CMRoyal]

I'm probably going back to the home game against Southampton in the league to be fair.

We might not have lost many games between then and Wolves but the cracks were appearing for me, despite a couple of decent scorelines against Cov and Watford.

I know this is HNA so we should be arguing this down to the bone, but I agree! However, as the SC mantra goes, it's all about points accumulation and so long as points are being accumulated, cracks will continue to be papered over I guess. Takes a brave man to change a winning team - having said that, there was a certain amount of rotation happening just before Christmas.

[Hoop Blah]

Were we really a winning team back then though? I guess three wins on the bounce would suggest we were!!

I do remember a little bit of rotation around Christmas, but that was mainly just the raft of changes for the cup teams plus the switch of the midfield two for the one off game (Southampton was it?) to save the legs over the 'busy Christmas period.'

Actually, just checked that out on Soccerbase, and he did swap the midfield two for more than just the Saints away game. I'd forgotten that, eg Blackpool at home for one. Only thing I'd say about that is that it seemed like a formulaic swap that the players probably knew wasn't a long term thing.

Does lessen the arguement that Coppell needed to change things about a bit though I guess.

....doesn't change my opinion though!

[brendywendy]

I'm probably going back to the home game against Southampton in the league to be fair.

We might not have lost many games between then and Wolves but the cracks were appearing for me, despite a couple of decent scorelines against Cov and Watford.

so you'd have changed the team after the watford game?

[Hoop Blah]

Maybe.

As odd as it may seem I didn't think we played very well that night. It would've been a tad harsh to change things after that specific game perhaps, but I'm talking more about the prolonged period.

[roberto_11]

Mind you, a couple of seasons in the Prem would still be a step up for us.

Where have you been the last few years?

[Ian Royal]

Mind you, a couple of seasons in the Prem would still be a step up for us.

Where have you been the last few years?

Cambridge. You?

My point is that doing it once is fine and we've grown, but we're still only an upper Chump club with a few excellent recent seasons. Cuffs sake Swindon have been there! A return with a couple more seasons would be a significant step up and show we weren't a two season wonder. We can bounce back.

[brendywendy]

Maybe.

As odd as it may seem I didn't think we played very well that night. It would've been a tad harsh to change things after that specific game perhaps, but I'm talking more about the prolonged period.

fairy muff
it was a pretty poor game, 4 goals aside

but if hed changed it after that, and we lost the game , then what?!
i just think people get used to teh same old arguments, and are not quick in changing opinions in the face of a certain ammount of evidence
i think coppell has been much less loyal, and way more inclined to change things about when it doesnt work

of course, he will still go back to the players who he trusts, because they have delivered what he asked on numerous previous occasions-but thats how it should be really

[The whole year inn]

Let's face it, if Coppell left 99% of sane people would be begging for him back within 6 months.

I cannot think of anyone else that I would rather have at the helm and I hope he gets tied down to a long a contract as possible as soon as possible.

Reading fans complaining about being 3rd with two games in hand.

[Royal With Cheese]

Let's face it, if Coppell left 99% of sane people would be begging for him back within 6 months.

I cannot think of anyone else that I would rather have at the helm and I hope he gets tied down to a long a contract as possible as soon as possible.

Reading fans complaining about being 3rd with two games in hand.

Agreed, like Reading fans needing to be "inspired" by their football team.