Clarke leaving after Saturday?

[Sutekh]

Clarke had a month to sign a striker - and came up with Yakubu.

Yes 'cos finding a half decent striker in January when there is next to no money is so easy.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Unless we were expecting to get Murray for free or Nicky Hammond is a liar, then there was money available.

[PeterReadingborn59]

Clarke has being trying to see just what the current squad could offer and avoided lumbering the club with a big centre forward or centre back that contribute little or nothing at all. Clarke has hinted that significant changes will occur, let's hope that is proven and the right blend is found for an enjoyable 15/16 season.

[Sutekh]

Unless we were expecting to get Murray for free or Nicky Hammond is a liar, then there was money available.

Money that probably went towards paying up the contracts of Mr Adkins and Mr Gibbs.

[GH Royal]

Unless we were expecting to get Murray for free or Nicky Hammond is a liar, then there was money available.

Money that probably went towards paying up the contracts of Mr Adkins and Mr Gibbs.

Good point, wasn't Adkins' pay-off rumoured to be around £800k? Seems high so I may have may wires crossed but can't find anything on the internet about it.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Unless we were expecting to get Murray for free or Nicky Hammond is a liar, then there was money available.

Money that probably went towards paying up the contracts of Mr Adkins and Mr Gibbs.

Then why did Clarke chase him for the whole of Jan?

[TBM]

Unless we were expecting to get Murray for free or Nicky Hammond is a liar, then there was money available.

Money that probably went towards paying up the contracts of Mr Adkins and Mr Gibbs.

Then why did Clarke chase him for the whole of Jan?

Exactly and even Hammond said that the money was there and they remaind hopeful Murray would sign

[icelandboy]

We did bid for that Lasse Vibe but had the bid rejected as they wanted more money which we didn't have. They tried with two different bids but had to give up

[Snowball]

Do you think we are playing better football now to this time last season?

yes.

The results say different:

3 defeats in 14 last season (last 2 months of the season) getting 22pts

7 defeats in 14 this season getting 10pts

SERIOUSLY?

Last season we were fighting to make the POs and attempted to play our best 11 every game
with a team (not really good enough, cracks showing) that had at least SOME motivation

This season we clearly threw two games (Watford & Huddersfield) and rested 1-2
of the first 11 in quite a few other games. the team at Watford was a joke.

And the team won v Brighton and just about guaranteed survival and since then
(other than our brilliant game at Wembley) have been going through the motions,
many knowing they are leaving, many thinking of a pay cut, all knowing that the
manager is going to disembowel the side starting saturday

Actually he's already started with Guthrie, Drenthe and Edwards.


It's comparing Apples to Pears, just wrong

[Hoop Blah]

Then why did Clarke chase him for the whole of Jan?

Exactly and even Hammond said that the money was there and they remaind hopeful Murray would sign

I think it was a failing by Clarke not to get someone in more suitable but I'm assuming that they decided that they'd rather stick with the limited options we had, plus a Yakubu, instead of getting in someone that wasn't the right player just for the sake of it. In effect keeping their powder dry for the summer when there will be more room to manoeuvre once we've cleared the decks a bit.

You do often hear that it's difficult to get the right players in January, although I'd say that's more of an issue at the top end than our level.

I wouldn't be surprised if they thought they'd get someone half decent in on loan, and then ended up with Appiah instead!

[TBM]

SERIOUSLY?

Last season we were fighting to make the POs

...and this season we were fighting against relegation.

Fact is Adkins got us to 7th last season - this season when he left we were 17th.........now, under Clarke, we could finish as low as 21st (best being 19th) - i don't see the improvement, in 4/5 months

[melonhead]

Unless we were expecting to get Murray for free or Nicky Hammond is a liar, then there was money available.

Money that probably went towards paying up the contracts of Mr Adkins and Mr Gibbs.

Then why did Clarke chase him for the whole of Jan?

money was there.but for some reason murray decided hed just prefer to play regularly at his own club, in the premiere league instead of for a rubbish relegation threatened club in the championship.

agree we should have had other targets, but transfers are just hard, and sometimes don't come off. especially when the money isn't very much, and the club isn't very good.

[Pepe the Horseman]

money was there.but for some reason murray decided hed just prefer to play regularly at his own club, in the premiere league instead of for a rubbish relegation threatened club in the championship.

agree we should have had other targets, but transfers are just hard, and sometimes don't come off. especially when the money isn't very much, and the club isn't very good.

That was obvious. That's why we shouldn't have wasted time trying to sign him. Just not buying the 'he hasn't had a striker' excuse, when he had a month to sort it out, but instead chased a player who we realistically weren't going to get, then signed Yakubu.

Murray was on high wages, and would've cost what, £1.5m-£2m? Plenty of money to have signed a decent striker at this level, even if we were languishing in the bottom half.

[Snowball]

It amuses me the way people here "condemn" the manager for not getting in a top striker
in January. First, HE DOESN'T DO THE BUYING!

He will tell the board he needs a striker (I think Pog was on high appearance money
and they were trying not to play him)... and we had at least the possibility of Murray.

If Murray had stayed for another 20+ league games and 5 cup games?

He got 8 in 18 for us, so it's not unreasonable to think he might have got 9-10-11-12 more goals.
We might have beaten Arsenal! We would have got a LOT more points

3-3-0-3-0-1-0-3-1-3-0-1-2-0-1-0-2-2 ---------25 goals in 18 Murray leaves
0-1-0-2-1-0-0-1-0-0-1-2-1-2-1-1-0-0-0-0-1 14 goals in 21

Does ANYONE think Clarke didn't want Murray back? Of course he did.

Look how Murray has played for Palace since.

[Snowball]

Murray was on high wages, and would've cost what, £1.5m-£2m? Plenty of money to have signed a decent striker at this level, even if we were languishing in the bottom half.

WHO?

[Pepe the Horseman]

Dunno m8, I'm not a scout. But if it isn't we're fcuked, because we're sure as hell not gonna spend more than that on a striker.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Ok, por example, Wolves paid £2m for Afobe, who's scored 13 in 20.

[andrew1957]

When we had Afobe most on hear moaned about how crap he was. No doubt if we had paid 2M for him in January it would have been condemned as a shockingly bad buy. Most on here are never satisfied.

And frankly whether we end the season 17th or 21st has no bearing whatsoever on next season. Survival is survival. I would much prefer 21st and the cup run to 17th and no cup run. Clearly the players lost interest once we were safe and the cup became the sole focus. Once you lose focus it is very hard to get it back - hence the poor results since Arsenal. Although I am sure from what he said the other night that SC is genuinely angry with the general lack of resolve in the squad - hence many of the underperformers will go this summer.

[TBM]

Look into League One - i'm sure those banging in 15+ goals wouldn't have cost as much as Murray

[El Diablo]

Do you think we are playing better football now to this time last season?

The results say different:

3 defeats in 14 last season (last 2 months of the season) getting 22pts

7 defeats in 14 this season getting 10pts

SERIOUSLY?

Last season we were fighting to make the POs and attempted to play our best 11 every game
with a team (not really good enough, cracks showing) that had at least SOME motivation

This season we clearly threw two games (Watford & Huddersfield) and rested 1-2
of the first 11 in quite a few other games. the team at Watford was a joke.

And the team won v Brighton and just about guaranteed survival and since then
(other than our brilliant game at Wembley) have been going through the motions,
many knowing they are leaving, many thinking of a pay cut, all knowing that the
manager is going to disembowel the side starting saturday

Actually he's already started with Guthrie, Drenthe and Edwards.


It's comparing Apples to Pears, just wrong

^ This: I cant claim to have ever managed a football team, however I have managed large teams of people. And I can tell you that when a team knows that their jobs /futures/salaries are on the line - it can bring the worst out in many. And when that happens theres nothing a management team can do - people have already decided their own fates. That then goes two ways - some will be that pissed that they want to leave / believe they'll be made redundant - and their productivity/moral drops. That then drives a divide for those who want to stay / try to carve out a future. The bottom line is that the effectivness of that team drops, and runs below expectations. Footballers would be no different. Clarke has alluded to that with the 'decay' comment.
The very best thing that can happen right now for RFC is to release those players, quickly, get the right recruits in / promote from within, and start again. If we do that - and do it well, then I would expect a shakey start to the next season, with improvements happening month in month through 2016. Top 10 would be my want . Clarke should stay. He just needs support from the board.