Davefevs

Yes, I still see him, give him a nod if we walk past each other.

Bring it on. Minus 12 points automatically (unless they go down anyway in which case it’ll apply next season). They’ll still have to comply with FFP too. Mel Morris - what a man ???

Ashton got rid of Burt pretty quickly then Des Taylor after that. It’s a shame Burt went, because he wasn’t a Cotts man, SOD had brought him in, so had proved he could work with different managers…and his talent ID was pretty good. I think it’s exactly what Lee needed. Of course, what is obvious (to me) is that Ashton had a plan. Come in as COO, get rid of the HOR (Burt), then Taylor, get his feet firmly under the table and “advise” SL that he could do COO and HOR, with a promotion to CEO. All whilst employing his Nephew / Brother-in-Law (Werhun) as Club Secretary then making up his role to be Head of Football Operations to replace the admin he did as COO. Werhun is now COO at Ipswich….another little promotion based on nepotism. Money for Effin old rope!!! Grifters!!! That all happened a year after (2017) he joined (2015/16)….and that was where my suspicions first surfaced about him. My finances / accounts analysis joined the dots together. I have my criticisms of LJ, but I never disliked him like I did Ashton. Maguire might’ve been £2m and Gray £4.5m….but together that kind of ball-park.

Scrumpty used to be a bloke called Dave (not me btw). When we used to sit in the wheelchair tin shack on the corner of the Williams / Atyeo, just after half-time this bloke (and his kid) in his City tracksuit used to come and sit in our section and I had no idea who he was or why he sat with us. So I asked Rob the Wheelchair Supporters Liaison who he was. He said, that is Scrumpy off-duty!!,

Are we? I think we’ve played “okay” (better than okay in some) overall.

Fixed ???

His Brighton side in the Championship was pretty exciting, Knockaert, Murphy ripping teams apart on the wings.

Never been the sane since they gave him a mouth.

Yep, I see that.

Think that’s fair….they were bloody dangerous together! Would’ve liked to see LJ with Keith Burt!

I’m sure it wasn’t quite as simple as that, but Pelling allegedly meddled, tried to go back to Brentford / Hull and tried to do a “better” deal, and both clubs thought City / Pelling was taking the pi$$. In Hull’s case they upped the fee, basically saying if you want to take the pi$$, so will we. In Brentford’s case it was let’s see if anyone else is interested and if we can get more by way of a bidding war….that’s when Burnley came in and the £4m went to £6m, and Gray could start asking for more wages too, £18k instead of £14k. Things dragged on into the season. With Burnley’s interest, he was only ever gonna go there, despite us still trying. So, Cotts tried to get Gayle.

Not sure Lingard was anything more gossip. Gayle was a case of Gray or Gayle I think, not both….we had Kodjia by that point.

I don’t think anyone is calling him a messiah, but we see a man with a good vision and is starting to execute that plan. That vision extends wider than what goes on for 90 minutes once or twice a week. What other managerial roles has he had where he’s chance to do another Leicester? And at least he’s done it at one club (success both times). Many, many managers never taste success once. Anyway, I’m happy with progress….I’ve written a “couple” of posts why. I’m happy with my reasons. I’m sure you’re happy with yours.

Guess the unknown is whether Pearson was happy with the second half because of Kalas or as a team overall? I thought for 20-25 mins second half we were pretty much in total control, and scored in that spell too. Second question is - if we think Vyner isn’t good enough going forward, do we expect Kalas to offer more? As a fan base a lot are pretty anti-Baker at LB because of his limitations on the ball. Does Kalas offer more? Or what is more likely is that if we play 3 CBs (Kalas at RB, Atkinson and Baker) that frees up Nige to play Dasilva to play LB. if that’s the logic then I can happily get my head around it. You’ll know I’m quite an advocate of lopsided / non symmetrical shapes / formations. Watch this space!!! Well on Saturday anyway.

£2.5m Maguire, £4m Gray wasn’t it?

Ta. The beauty of watching live from different view points. I thought the majority of our build up play first half was down “your side” (our right). Very little came from our left apart from a couple of runs from Pring. I was quite encouraged by Zak from the far side. Vyner does go long too quickly at times, that’s an area to improve no doubt. Some boring stats ??? 1st half, passes 158 made / 112 success (71%) - Zak 36 / 23 (64%) 2nd half, passes 115 / 87 (76%) Stats summary: heavily involved, made 23% of our passes just not very accurately. I don’t always present stats to prove my point, this shows he was wasteful with the ball. So I see / concede to your view from closer. ?? But it probably does show it’s when he passes longer that he lets himself down. The link up with Scott wasn’t there. I still think he defended well. One near post challenge on Jerome, and one brilliant interception from a Lansbury pass, where after intercepting he got his body in position to win the next challenge. He isn’t perfect, but I still reckon he’s alright. ?

If you want to judge Nige’s success purely on results, that’s fine, but you will find posters like me looking beyond that and giving an alternate view. The clue is in the words “creating” and “culture”….the theory is that will lead to “results”. That’s not a smart arse response. You can build a house quickly and it look amazing, but unless you spent the time laying the foundations, which look effin ugly, your house might collapse. It’s a crap analogy, yep. Do you listen to Nige’s interviews (club and press). He’s explaining that he’s happy to compromise and play the long-game. That’s why he’s not bought a striker, he can’t afford the one / type he wants, so he’ll wait. He’d rather try to improve what he’s got than waste money short term. He’s trying to communicate to fans that it’s a work in progress. You could look back at last season and say Holden built that lovely house in 5 games, and then suffered subsidence! What was your thinking last year. We’re you “all-in” on results then? If not, why not? What were you like by November? But it’s about opinions. I like having that debate on OTIB.

That is the story, I’m inclined to think there was a lot of truth in it. The source of it has a creditable source. That night in Portugal / Tenerife (?) I thought Cotts was gonna quit. He was steaming.

I guess he might not have been asking a question, but the question mark being slightly tongue in cheek. Unlikely though, think I’m giving him too much credit.

Credit to @The Journalist too, his initial post, my twitter ramblings.

We’re they unobtainable if (allegedly) fees and wages had been agreed for both Gray and Maguire?

I was having that exact discussion on twitter after Saturday when many were bemoaning Baker’s selection, with pre-match or in hindsight. Nige is setting the culture for success, showing them what it takes. As you say it’s not about Luton it’s about the next 2-3 years.

Nope. Yep.

Don’t worry, the lifecycle of the common Hampshire Reds housefly - Press keys on keyboard, press enter, whinge to mods / other posters, repeat. ???

Where do you sit DT? Tony sits just below me in LS near SS. I agree. Think Scott having a poor 37 mins in front of him didn’t help. Shame for Scott, got a heavy challenge early on and didn’t seem himself. Yet, the professional manager thinks he is. As did the Rotherham manager. He has most of the attributes to be a very decent RB at this level. He does need to work on his feet in one v ones though. Its funny whenever we don’t win, there has to be a scapegoat. Vyner is the leading candidate to be pounced on after a game. None of the critics prepared to give him credit though v Cardiff for example…..silence.