The summer: I'm looking forward to seeing.....

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I wouldn't say that's exactly the same situation though. I went to about 40 games in that first season back in the chump - we were pretty damn good for the most part - fluent football & thrashing a lot of teams (including Wolves away who were 15 from 15 at that point).

I would also say IMO the players heads never dropped. The effort & commitment was always there even if we couldn't by a win after January. The play off semi v Burnley being a prime example. We actually played pretty well in both legs & got done over by 2 wonder goals & a pen.

This time round we've never really got going have we?

But you may have a point in that player's egos, big money etc could perhaps be a similar factor in both situations. There was talk of dressing room unrest (Kitson IIRC) & perhaps we have that again now?

Still, right now I do not feel the players are playing for him.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

The goings on behind the scenes always reach the players. I wouldn't be surprised that some are already thinking about getting away and their hearts aren't in it here. The squad needs ripping up, high earners moved on, and start again - this time with players that can play how Adkins wants (possession football, comfortable on the ball, movement off the ball and exploiting space). The first thing he did when he came here was implement his tactics and his style of football at all levels of the youth teams and U21's, and that has paid off this season. He hasn't been able to do that with the first-team though, and that isn't his fault. These players are largely Brian McDermott's, and they were put together to play his style of football. The problem is most of them are unable to adapt their game. After the summers false promises by Anton Zingarevich and then John Madejski's regarding money being there in January, Adkins deserves the chance to have a clear-out and build his own team! It will take time, it may be a slog for a season or two, but it could pay dividends in the future.

Yep I completely agree. As many have said on here already, there aren't many of that lot we'll be sorry to see go. They have let the club down big time.

Hopefully the club are already doing a lot of work behind the scenes so we can get going in the summer quickly. New faces & a bit of excitement is desperately need from the fans' POV as it's all getting a bit stagnant now.

I do worry who in the hell would buy the likes of Drenthe though? Doesn't he have another 2 years left?

[EarleyRoyal16]

Seeing the piles of shit that currently occupy our wage bill move on. Would love to see the following leave:

Drenthe
Pogrebnyak
Gorkss
Pearce
Akpan
Blackman
HRK
and possibly ALF

Keep Adkins. His failure this season has been down to the incompetence of the players above and others at times, the broken promises from Anton which meant that he couldn't get the players he wanted, an injury crisis, many reasons, no excuse for some of his questionable tactics in some games, however.

I still have complete faith in him to take this club forward, give him time and the backing to get in his own players to play his way, get Tanner and Kuhl into the first team as well, next season is a 50/50, it could be another year of complete dross, or it could be a very memorable one, depending on if dead wood is moved on and Adkins is backed financially. Looking forward to it.

[SCIAG]

I'm looking forward to Gylfi re-joining after our promotion.

[SPARTA]

The goings on behind the scenes always reach the players. I wouldn't be surprised that some are already thinking about getting away and their hearts aren't in it here. The squad needs ripping up, high earners moved on, and start again - this time with players that can play how Adkins wants (possession football, comfortable on the ball, movement off the ball and exploiting space). The first thing he did when he came here was implement his tactics and his style of football at all levels of the youth teams and U21's, and that has paid off this season. He hasn't been able to do that with the first-team though, and that isn't his fault. These players are largely Brian McDermott's, and they were put together to play his style of football. The problem is most of them are unable to adapt their game. After the summers false promises by Anton Zingarevich and then John Madejski's regarding money being there in January, Adkins deserves the chance to have a clear-out and build his own team! It will take time, it may be a slog for a season or two, but it could pay dividends in the future.

Yep I completely agree. As many have said on here already, there aren't many of that lot we'll be sorry to see go. They have let the club down big time.

Hopefully the club are already doing a lot of work behind the scenes so we can get going in the summer quickly. New faces & a bit of excitement is desperately need from the fans' POV as it's all getting a bit stagnant now.

I do worry who in the hell would buy the likes of Drenthe though? Doesn't he have another 2 years left?

Indeed, and I think he does yes. Last summer the club did everything they could to shift Pogrebnyak, and this summer they'll no doubt be desperate to off-load both. That could be easier said than done with the wages their on.

[winchester_royal]

Agree with the general premise of the thread. Can't wait to see the back of 90% of this excruciatingly average first team squad. Sadly I fear many will reappear come August time and continue to produce the turgid football we've witnessed for the majority of this season.

[Eaststandman]

me as a fan having absolutely no value to, or influence on, the team, tactics, player purchases, sales or anything else, other than the usual hope, aspiration and disappointment!

[SCIAG]

So the 2 Coppell seasons where we finished 3 points off the playoffs we were Automatic Promotion favourites at the start of the season, were we?
Are you mad?

In 03/04, we'd just signed Shaun Goater, who was highly thought of, following a play off campaign.
In 04/05, we had the excuse of injuries to our front men. With Forster, Goater and Kitson all available (but not for long...), we were strong playoff contenders. I think the relegated teams were thought of more highly than us though.
By 05/06, we were expected to be lower mid table, and weren't even being mentioned as playoff candidates (aside from a few "oh, Leroy Lita" comments).

[P!ssed Off]

So the 2 Coppell seasons where we finished 3 points off the playoffs we were Automatic Promotion favourites at the start of the season, were we?
Are you mad?

In 03/04, we'd just signed Shaun Goater, who was highly thought of, following a play off campaign.
In 04/05, we had the excuse of injuries to our front men. With Forster, Goater and Kitson all available (but not for long...), we were strong playoff contenders. I think the relegated teams were thought of more highly than us though.
By 05/06, we were expected to be lower mid table, and weren't even being mentioned as playoff candidates (aside from a few "oh, Leroy Lita" comments).

So we're in agreement then.

[marcusopp]

All the high-earning, under-performing, preening, tempramental pr*cks leaving the club.

Goodbye Drenthe, I look forward to you Instagramming pictures of your boots and your homies in your own little clique at whatever club you end up next on your journey from Real Madrid to Ryman League, you fat waster.

Goodbye Guthrie, you have the attitude of Joey Barton and half of the ability, you horrible chav.

Goodbye Pog, you have been good to watch at times but all too often you play with all the commitment of someone with M.E.

Goodbye Gunter, you utter melt.

Goodbye Akpan, not sure how much you earn but it will surely be far more than we can afford for your entirely modest abilities.

Goodbye Adkins, you are about as trustworthy as a double-glazing salesman.
Bit harsh on Gunter and Akpan, but great post. I assume you're also looking forward to barbecues and having saturdays back?

If anyone else wants to go then - almost entirely without exception - that is entirely fine by me.

[bobby m's syrup]

An end to the interminable Buyout saga and a decent kit design for once.

[Royal Ginger]

Kit's not bad this year, hoops don't go all the way round, but other then that it's one of the better ones in recent years.

[paultheroyal]

It seems a lot of you expect miracles from very little.

Adkins is a good manager who is working with what he's got after being promised everything. He is also more likely to get us playing more enjoyable football once given some money to do that.

We have a great chance of being promoted.

Take your heads out of your arses and accept not every season is like the 106

At last some realism.

There is some utter crap on this thread.

[Ian Royal]

So the 2 Coppell seasons where we finished 3 points off the playoffs we were Automatic Promotion favourites at the start of the season, were we?
Are you mad?

In 03/04, we'd just signed Shaun Goater, who was highly thought of, following a play off campaign.
In 04/05, we had the excuse of injuries to our front men. With Forster, Goater and Kitson all available (but not for long...), we were strong playoff contenders. I think the relegated teams were thought of more highly than us though.
By 05/06, we were expected to be lower mid table, and weren't even being mentioned as playoff candidates (aside from a few "oh, Leroy Lita" comments).

I never understood why we were so poorly rated in 05/06. I thought we had a great chance of auto promotion and was astonished when 4-4-2 put us on 20-1, on a par with Hull iirc.

[jellytot]

It seems a lot of you expect miracles from very little.

Adkins is a good manager who is working with what he's got after being promised everything. He is also more likely to get us playing more enjoyable football once given some money to do that.

We have a great chance of being promoted.

Take your heads out of your arses and accept not every season is like the 106

At last some realism.

There is some utter crap on this thread.

Hear hear! I remember when we really shit before SJM bought the club. (It was kind of fun watching us then, we still had our moments, the Simod Cup, 13 game unbeaten streak, but generally poop)

For me all I really care about is the long term future of the club. That for me means getting in a new owner and keeping our cat 1 academy status. If we tick both of those boxes we will be fine. We have a good manager, who has not been supported very well by the club, doing all he can. He needs time to get rid of some of the playing staff he does not want and get in 3 or 4. Perhaps some of the kids will have to move up. Maybe we will have to take mid table for a few seasons. BUT we are a well run club. Too many of the younger ones have little patience.

[loyalroyal4life]

It seems a lot of you expect miracles from very little.

Adkins is a good manager who is working with what he's got after being promised everything. He is also more likely to get us playing more enjoyable football once given some money to do that.

We have a great chance of being promoted.

Take your heads out of your arses and accept not every season is like the 106

At last some realism.

There is some utter crap on this thread.

So you do not think that with the squad we have we should not be challenging for promotion?? Scraping into a playoff place (although can't see it happening unless we win tomorrow) is not really an achievement from NA even if he has had broken promises.

[jellytot]

We have had a lot of injuries. To be honest, we are not as good as we think we are. Up front nothing that special (not a lot of goals really) at the back leak silly goals as we did all of the season in the PL. In the midfield we have had bad injuries. The team needed strengthening. If we had brought in one or two in January we would definitely had finished in the top six. We still may cling on. My feeling is that we have just not played enough as solid unit all season. Too many changes for one reason or another. Other teams are just better teams.

Too many over paid pros who think they are better than they are. They work hard when they can be bothered. Not sure many of them care. Will be good to see a few leave.

[Ian Royal]

It seems a lot of you expect miracles from very little.

Adkins is a good manager who is working with what he's got after being promised everything. He is also more likely to get us playing more enjoyable football once given some money to do that.

We have a great chance of being promoted.

Take your heads out of your arses and accept not every season is like the 106

At last some realism.

There is some utter crap on this thread.

So you do not think that with the squad we have we should not be challenging for promotion?? Scraping into a playoff place (although can't see it happening unless we win tomorrow) is not really an achievement from NA even if he has had broken promises.

Yes we should. And we just about have been, even with injuries and disruption. It's not been good enough, but that happens sometimes. There are about 12 teams in the Championship who have a legitimate case to feel they should be challenging for promotion. When it goes wrong, you deal with it, learn your lessons and try again next season.

You don't sack a manager for one season of underachievement unless it's threatening the future of the club. And that simply isn't the case.

We do need a significant number of changes, partly to freshen up the squad and partly to lower the wage bill. But part of the fun of that is getting to see the chance of young players step up from the academy.

[Ian Royal]

We have had a lot of injuries. To be honest, we are not as good as we think we are. Up front nothing that special (not a lot of goals really) at the back leak silly goals as we did all of the season in the PL. In the midfield we have had bad injuries. The team needed strengthening. If we had brought in one or two in January we would definitely had finished in the top six. We still may cling on. My feeling is that we have just not played enough as solid unit all season. Too many changes for one reason or another. Other teams are just better teams.

Too many over paid pros who think they are better than they are. They work hard when they can be bothered. Not sure many of them care. Will be good to see a few leave.

Quite telling that certainly Pog and now I think Drenthe have come out saying the Championship is a far harder league than they expected.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I'm looking forward to...........seeing us actually win a game of football at home!

I just checked the stats & they ain't pretty. 7 wins from 20 at home this season. That is bloody awful. Any stattos out there know the last time we won 7 games or less at home in a football league season?

I just checked the stats for the 1st time we got relegated from the PL in 2008 & even then we managed to win 8 home games!

Against:

Everton
Wigan
Derby
Newcastle
Liverpool
Sunderland
Manchester City
Birmingham

Wow...how times change!

HOW did we go down that year?