SCIAGurz13 Think back to McDermott and Coppell - they had to sell their best players every season and were left with a small proportion of the money and talent Adkins has at his disposal, yet they never complained and got on with it in a no nonsense fashion. Even when Brian was sacked we were still in with a slight chance of staying up despite the ownership chaos. He recieved less financial backing in the Championship and PL combined than Adkins has in this season alone!
Again, that's not entirely accurate.
Only once did Coppell "have to sell his best players", and that was directly after a relegation. Little had spent the entire previous season out injured and Sonko was no good, so that's Shorey and Kitson. After our last relegation, Adkins had to sell Mariappa and Kebe, two of his best players. Again this summer, he had to sell Le Fondre and McCarthy, both amongst his best players, and also lost McAnuff, Drenthe, Morrison and Bridge from his strongest side. Whilst Bridge had already been replaced, losing McAnuff too meant Obita was first choice in two positions. I've included Drenthe in case someone argues that Le Fondre wasn't a regular starter, as Drenthe was the only credible alternative. However you slice it, it's four starters, and Bridge would have been another barring injury.
Has Adkins complained about losing players in the summer? Any more than McDermott did?
It's hard to say for sure whether Adkins' side is currently more talented than some of McDermott's. After the sale of Sigurdsson, McDermott was still able to call upon Long, Kebe, McAnuff and Leigertwood, as well as Hunt, Zurab, Mills, Harte and Griffin. Federici, Pearce and Karacan were no worse than they are today (based on current form). Personally I think only Norwood/Guthrie and Obita would make that side, maybe Gunter and Pearce when they hit form. The side that won promotion did so with Roberts, Gorkss and Pearce in for Long, Mills and Zurab (and no regular right back). Again, I'd probably take Norwood ahead of Karacan, and changing the full backs would be nice, but I certainly don't think the current first team is clearly better. There's more strength in depth in several positions - Karacan ahead of Mullins any day, Cooper ahead of Khumalo, Taylor ahead of Cwyka - but given their respective injury records, I'm not sure that's too relevant.
The claim that McDermott received less funding in seven transfer windows than Adkins did in the last one has no basis in reality. In McDermott's final summer, he spent about £6m on two players, plus signed four senior players on "free" transfers. This summer, Adkins spent about £1.5m on two players, plus two loans, and a senior player on a "free" transfer. Under McDermott, we made significant outlays (on fees and or wages) on players including Griffin, Leigertwood, Gorkss, and Roberts, in the Championship alone. Yes, that has to be balanced against money coming in, but the £9m raised through player sales this summer is more than we raised in two of McDermott's three seasons (note 1: that was only so high because Leicester paid £4.5m for Mills. Note 2: one of McDermott's summers was in the PL so naturally no one was in a hurry to leave).
I really agree with Leon: we need to stop revising history. Claiming that McDermott played crap football, was rolling in money, or would certainly have achieved a mid-table finish without Roberts are not helpful to anyone. Equally, claiming McDermott had less money, no players and consistently masterful tactics is silly (though I find it hard to argue that Adkins is as strong tactically as McDermott).
McDermott was a fantastic manager for two and a half years who did great things for this club and led us to success that I didn't think was possible three years in a row. We don't need to constantly compare Adkins to him.
I think we all acknowledge that we do not have the resources to buy a Premier League team. If we ever want to do well in the PL again, we'll need to build a side over a long period of time. We can't do that if we keep taking a short term view and sacking the manager because he's not doing as well as the over-achiever who proceeded him.
If we don't want to be a PL club, that's fine be me - but in that case, why remove a manager who is on course to keep us in the Championship?
SydenhamRoyal For me the questions are not around the players ability or otherwise, but about one massive strategic error from Adkins, and one very telling statistic.
First, the strategic error - it was clear last season that our biggest problems were in defence, that is where we were weakest. Adkins has used wha little funds were available on the attack. He could, and should, have spent what little funds he had on improving the defence. Week in, week out, he is bemoaning the poor defending that is giving away soft goals, but the back 4 are immune to being dropped because there are no alternatives. Meanwhile, further up the field the players know not to put in a man of the match performance or they will be dropped for the next game. A real motivator ...
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Royality creeps InThe CubeRoyality creeps In According to BBCRB Adkins and his "coaching" staff where handing notes out to the players on the pitch last night. They were reading them then throwing them on the floor. The Cardiff players then picked them up and read the instructions.
That's not what BBCRB said at all. And there's no need to make things up to justify an Adkins out post.
Well thats what I heard. What was your version of events :?:
The CubeRoyality creeps InThe Cube That's not what BBCRB said at all. And there's no need to make things up to justify an Adkins out post.
Well thats what I heard. What was your version of events
Dellor said that Adkins had given out two notes, for two different players. He asked what was wrong with the normal system of talking to people. He and Gooding followed this up with speculation about what might happen if a player read the note and then threw it on the ground, given the possibility of an opponent picking it up and reading it. However, Dellor then said that a Reading player had handed one of the notes back to the coaching staff. The fate of the second note was not made clear.
Of course, whether the above bears any resemblance to what actually happened is another matter entirely.
MmmMonsterMunch They're not trying though Ian. They've mentally given up....
Speaks volumes when you know we've lost the game once we concede first.
Big Foot 2 wins from 12 and Adkins has just signed up to Twitter - WTF
Had a text about this on the weekend as a m8 of a m8 works at the club and thought the same - unbelievableRoyal LadyBig Foot 2 wins from 12 and Adkins has just signed up to Twitter - WTF
I thought it was a parody account! It reads like it!!
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