Match Thread

[Superhans]

i know i keep saying it but JE is the best thing that has happened to this club since the griggs era! he wants to play attacking football on the deck using young and hungry, players who are value for money and not costing the club a fortune. in our situation i dont think we can expect a lot more than that! hes still got things to learn i agree but im prepared to let him learn with us and give him the time he needs to build a squad that can WIN us this division and hold our own when we go up

[rudolph_hucker]

i know i keep saying it but JE is the best thing that has happened to this club since the griggs era! he wants to play attacking football on the deck using young and hungry, players who are value for money and not costing the club a fortune. in our situation i dont think we can expect a lot more than that! hes still got things to learn i agree but im prepared to let him learn with us and give him the time he needs to build a squad that can WIN us this division and hold our own when we go up

Bad decisions and formations mean poor performances means lower gates means less money. I fail to see how teaching him is a positive, I know I'll get the "oh look what we did last season" brigade on my case but can anybody tell me that he was 100% making the team selections? Plus look at the quality of players that have gone, Dale, Tommo, Byrne, Terry and to a certain extent Michael Stone all part of the team and all able to play.

[Pigman]

You're a miserable old bugger Lee :lol:

You're right about the quality players that we've lost, but JE was instrumental in pulling the side together that played so well last season and the end result was tremendous, no-one was complaining as we flew into the play-offs. Okay we were found lacking in the end, but no-one expected us to be there - it was a bonus! I also think he finally got the best out of Tomlin - he took him aside, talked to him ands calmed him down, enouraging him to reach the potential we all knew he could, prior to that many of us thought he'd never make it, he showed promise, but let himself down a lot - JE did help there (I know that for a fact).

He's a young manager and is learning and I for one am glad he's here, continuity is vital for a club like ours, to keep chopping and changing managers is destructive. He'll make mistakes, he'll play systems we don't agree with, he'll infuriate the hell out of us with his substitutions, like all managers do !!!

Quality clubs keep their managers and show loyalty - he's repaid that this week by turning away from two decent job offers I understand.

Think about Talbot. If we'd chopped him in Dec 2000 after those years of being the bridesmaids and another season (it looked like) of failure no-one would have blamed us, but look what happened when loyalty was shown by Max?

We could have chopped JE in December after the 3 months we had, many clubs would have - we've come through that and he has far less resources than Talbot had at his disposal. Justin will see us to probably an 7th or 8th place finish this year, which is better than I predicted (10th) and about what most people would have expected from us.

JE gets my vote, he's an honest guy who says it as it is, comes over as genuine when you speak to him and he really does love this football club - he'll move on at sometime I'm sure, but I'd love to see him take us into the football league - an Arsenal Legend did it the first time around, who's to say a Spurs Legend can't do it this time ;) We just need to give him time !!

[therushden]

can we get someone else to take dead ball situations on tues? power was shocking on sat. one thing farrel can do, is ping a good corner in.

[rudolph_hucker]

You're a miserable old bugger Lee :lol:



JE gets my vote, he's an honest guy who says it as it is, comes over as genuine when you speak to him and he really does love this football club - he'll move on at sometime I'm sure, but I'd love to see him take us into the football league -

Less of the old please ;)

I'd love to see JE get us into the football league as you know my passion for the club. I just don't think he will ever do it as much as it hurts me to say it. Yes he does come over as passionate and honest but that doesn't ultimately make him any good at his job, I'm still unconvinced that he had ALL the decisions last season and that MS had a massive input.
Hey ho this is a forum for opinions and that is just mine.

[Mad Dog]

Less of the old please ;)

I'd love to see JE get us into the football league as you know my passion for the club. I just don't think he will ever do it as much as it hurts me to say it. Yes he does come over as passionate and honest but that doesn't ultimately make him any good at his job, I'm still unconvinced that he had ALL the decisions last season and that MS had a massive input.
Hey ho this is a forum for opinions and that is just mine.

Tbh, I feel that MS' role last year has been a little overrated. I keep thinking that he would have a far greater role at Barnet and they would not be where they are if had the ammount of influence implied on here. They would have offered him the job as well.

Losing him was a big loss, yes, I'm not going to deny that, but I feel that the loss of Tomlin, Byrne and Terry had a far bigger impact than the loss of Stone. Taking this into account, I think the fact that we're where we are in the league given the losses incured is a credit to Justin's management of this team and squad.

I guess that the only way we'll settle this is when Stone gets a job as a manager in the Conference. Incidently I believe he'll be in the Conference next season as a coach unless he moves in the summer.

[Pigman]

I think JEMS were a good management team, but I think it does JE a dis-service to say MS was the topman in the team, if you look at our league placing now, with the quality of the players we've lost, JE and PD are doing a terrific job - as are the team.

You're entitled to your opinion Lee, thats the beauty of these boards - I just disagree with you. JE isn't the finished article as a manager and I personally think its great to watch him develop - who would we get in to replace him anyway? Who would be better?

The acid test this season will be March. Wrexham, Grimsby, Luton and AFC Dons. Assuming we can win against FGR and Southport, the points we take out of those 4 games will determine if we're serious play-off challengers or not. I think this team has the ability to raise its game against these sides.

You then look at the games after that and they're all against sides in the push for promotion, its going to be bloody tough, but we'll see. Its just great to be looking forward and not over our shoulders at a relegation battle.

Win on Tuesday and I'd say objective 1 is achieved - 53 points should see us safe from relegation ;) The rest is a ride

[rudolph_hucker]

I think JEMS were a good management team, but I think it does JE a dis-service to say MS was the topman in the team, if you look at our league placing now, with the quality of the players we've lost, JE and PD are doing a terrific job - as are the team.

You misunderstood me mate, I was meant to imply that MS had a massive influence on the team and the team spirit, not necessarily the top man.
Don't get me wrong if somebody had said at the start of the season we would be top ten (or evn top 8) I'd have taken that. There is just something I find really frUstrating about JE and after EVERY game the supporters are questioning some of the decisions. I dunno mate I'll give him my support but that doesn't mean I like what he does or how he does it. ;)

[Three of Diamonds]

I can see where both Pigman and rudolph are coming from. JE has done a great job with the resources at his disposal, but it doesn't mean he couldn't have done any more. As far as I can see his only failing is that he does not see when the team formation has been found out during a game, and change it. Far too many times this season we've looked capable of winning a game, only for the opposition to suss us out and nullify the game. THAT'S when a manager wins the game, a change of formation, player or tactics and sadly it isn't quite inventive enough. Last season we had Tomlin to dig us out of a hole so we could keep the formation, this season we don't have that creative spark. BUT I do believe he'll learn this in time so we must stick with him.