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Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: Bentley Bullet on December 21, 2025, 12:46:01 pm

Title: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Bentley Bullet on December 21, 2025, 12:46:01 pm
Maybe yesterday's debacle might turn out to be the best way forward. There's no doubt now that we need to invest more in the January window than many of us thought prior to the game.

Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Padge_DRFC on December 21, 2025, 02:00:27 pm
Let's hope it's not spend, waste, repeat.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: GazLaz on December 21, 2025, 02:17:52 pm
The players we signed in the summer aren’t great, send more money please Terry.

Yep, that’s the way out of this mess isn’t it.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: mushRTID on December 21, 2025, 02:19:10 pm
The players we signed in the summer aren’t great, send more money please Terry.

Yep, that’s the way out of this mess isn’t it.

What business would you try to do, genuinely interested. In and out?
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: RoseTInteD on December 21, 2025, 02:28:46 pm
The last three seasons we were in league two. This season we are in league one and as long as McCann can keep us up I wouldn't say this season is failure. There are many big clubs in this league that have been at home in the top two leagues.

If this was the end of the season then, yes, we are in trouble, but I think most fans will expect McCann to get us up to safety.

It's all about expectations, and the fact that some fans saw us as champions last season and thought we would do it again. Cheer up and Merry Christmas everyone!
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: GazLaz on December 21, 2025, 02:35:40 pm
The players we signed in the summer aren’t great, send more money please Terry.

Yep, that’s the way out of this mess isn’t it.

What business would you try to do, genuinely interested. In and out?

I’d restructure the whole football department, create a function recruitment team and build a foundation for the future.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Bentley Bullet on December 21, 2025, 02:59:17 pm
Brian Clough was famous for his belief that "Players lose you games, not tactics", a direct dismissal of the over-emphasis on complex tactical analysis in football. He actively derided tactical discussions as "pseudo-intellectual waffle".

His philosophy centered on the importance of man-management, motivation, and simple, fundamental principles of play:

Man Management: Clough believed the morale, commitment, and individual relationships with players were more important than any master plan. He focused on motivating players and building a strong team spirit.

Simplicity: His tactical instructions were often incredibly basic. A classic instruction was: "You get the ball, you pass it to a Red shirt".

Possession-Based Football: Clough abhorred the long-ball game, preferring his teams to play with the ball on the floor. He famously said, "If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put grass up there".

Player Quality: He focused on signing players with the specific characteristics needed to fit into his simple system, rather than relying on complex tactics to make average players perform.

Clough's approach was highly successful, leading unfashionable clubs like Derby County and Nottingham Forest to win the English First Division and, with Forest, two consecutive European Cups in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His success is often cited as evidence for the power of man-management over rigid systems.

(Google)
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: mushRTID on December 21, 2025, 03:07:01 pm
The players we signed in the summer aren’t great, send more money please Terry.

Yep, that’s the way out of this mess isn’t it.

What business would you try to do, genuinely interested. In and out?

I’d restructure the whole football department, create a function recruitment team and build a foundation for the future.


Surely that would be something to start looking at building for the summer?

I mean specifically to the team in January to try and keep us up.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: GazLaz on December 21, 2025, 03:49:29 pm
The players we signed in the summer aren’t great, send more money please Terry.

Yep, that’s the way out of this mess isn’t it.

What business would you try to do, genuinely interested. In and out?

I’d restructure the whole football department, create a function recruitment team and build a foundation for the future.


Surely that would be something to start looking at building for the summer?

I mean specifically to the team in January to try and keep us up.

For starters i’d send all the loanees back and Ajayi, C’OR, Olusanya, Crewe, TLT. It gives you a chance to strengthen all over the pitch then. C’OR has been ok at points but got gradually worse as the seasons gone on. The others have been disastrous signings.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Petche on December 21, 2025, 04:05:10 pm
The players we signed in the summer aren’t great, send more money please Terry.

Yep, that’s the way out of this mess isn’t it.

What business would you try to do, genuinely interested. In and out?

I’d restructure the whole football department, create a function recruitment team and build a foundation for the future.


Surely that would be something to start looking at building for the summer?

I mean specifically to the team in January to try and keep us up.

For starters i’d send all the loanees back and Ajayi, C’OR, Olusanya, Crewe, TLT. It gives you a chance to strengthen all over the pitch then. C’OR has been ok at points but got gradually worse as the seasons gone on. The others have been disastrous signings.

Agree with that. Looks like CO'R is out of our hands anyway, presumably why he was missing yesterday?
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: mushRTID on December 21, 2025, 04:19:00 pm
I could see Timmy been out of our hands too.

Hull may want to pull him out of this situation.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Padge_DRFC on December 21, 2025, 04:51:33 pm
I could see Timmy been out of our hands too.

Hull may want to pull him out of this situation.

Hopefully. Ever since that interview he did about not being defined about what he does on the pitch was enough for me. Zero accountability. It's just not worked out unfortunately
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Reg of the Rovers on December 21, 2025, 05:18:51 pm
Towards the end of Danny Schofield’s reign the club wrote an open letter stating that there would be significant investment in the summer and that Danny was the man to manage that. There was an outcry from the fans fearing that investment would be wasted and Danny was relieved of his duties.

I don’t trust McCann to invest anything wisely. His recruitment is so random and scattergun it’ll just swell the squad with more mediocrity.

His record with us is fail (albeit exceeding most expectations), fail, succeed. If he fails this year we’re back in league two wilderness for goodness knows how long. It was a long and difficult road back to this league, I’m not happy with ‘hopefully Grant’s the man to keep us up’. I’d like someone to come in and definitely be the man to keep us up, to drive us on using any investment to create an identity, setting us up to be hard to beat, and consolidate us at this level, as a force to compete with our many neighbours in this league.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Chris Black come back on December 21, 2025, 05:29:10 pm
Most clubs twigged long ago that managers are the very worst people to be trusted with money. Few stick around for more than a season or two, and leave behind a bill for all the players they signed and are unwanted. It’s senseless. You have a permanent recruitment structure that runs the whole process and consults with manager, but keeps him as far away from making decisions as possible. Easiest way to waste money is giving managers total autonomy.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: murham on December 21, 2025, 05:43:10 pm
Basic spine to the team is missing
Goalkeeper?
Centre half?
Centre forward?

Defense is none existent, surely that is where every team starts,we don’t.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: mushRTID on December 21, 2025, 05:45:05 pm
Basic spine to the team is missing
Goalkeeper?
Centre half?
Centre forward?

Defense is none existent, surely that is where every team starts,we don’t.

I think we need two defenders and let Grehan go out on loan.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: selby on December 21, 2025, 05:57:00 pm
  The first thing to do is check all the match stats of all the players in EFL games this season and start from there, who is good enough of what we have and highlight where we are poor.
  If your going to use technology don't go half way. Then llook at what is in our price range and who is available.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Chris Black come back on December 21, 2025, 06:02:36 pm
Can’t for the life of me understand why Terry allows this to continue. It’s literally money out of his wallet that is subsidising all this - we never make any money from players, zero!
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: LincolnDonny on December 21, 2025, 07:31:31 pm
The trouble is the WHOLE backbone of our team is made of loans , thats the problem ,if they have a poor game ... so what its not their team , they know they will be back to their own team ,  and WHY when we loan someone out MOSTLY they go to a non league team?

That says a lot about the quality we have!

Whats the point of having an under 18 team if the 1 or 2 get a fulltime contract and the gulf between those so few, and the first team is so extreme that those go to small town /large village teams?

Then what happens to them ... its bye bye to them and careers  gone!

Loanees are suppose to add the cream to the milk and not the damn backbone.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Albert Trousers on December 21, 2025, 07:49:45 pm
Basic spine to the team is missing
Goalkeeper?
Centre half?
Centre forward?

I would add Centre Midfield to that too, on paper we have some quality CM's at the club but they get bullied & overran week in week out.

Defense is none existent, surely that is where every team starts,we don’t.

I think we need two defenders and let Grehan go out on loan.
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: In the box on December 21, 2025, 07:54:49 pm
Maybe yesterday's debacle might turn out to be the best way forward. There's no doubt now that we need to invest more in the January window than many of us thought prior to the game.
Why should take this result in particular. We’ve only won one in 14-15 games why not any of them ?
Title: Re: A Blessing In Disguise?
Post by: Bentley Bullet on December 21, 2025, 09:23:54 pm
Maybe yesterday's debacle might turn out to be the best way forward. There's no doubt now that we need to invest more in the January window than many of us thought prior to the game.
Why should take this result in particular. We’ve only won one in 14-15 games why not any of them ?
Because last week's performance at Cardiff might have given off the impression that we weren't far away from being a good, winning side, and might have impacted the importance of new signings in the January transfer window.