Portsmouth away, 4th August

[irie Cee Bee]

So the daggers are out because we lost in pre-season. I thought these games were for fitness to work out the kinks in our armor before the season starts. Yes, I know a loss is hard to take but I certainly believe its better to lose now and fix the problems than to lose when the season starts. Crucifying the manager at this point in the season is for me a knee jerk reaction.

[Gooner Girl]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

Ahhh bless...

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

Ahhh bless...

It's true, i admit it.

[Bruno3]

In the old days in the Bolton Combination teams regularly played unregistered players when they were short on numbers. If one of them got booked they would shout to the bench "what's my name?". The refs were used to it and turned a blind eye

[Wandering Willy]

So the daggers are out because we lost in pre-season. I thought these games were for fitness to work out the kinks in our armor before the season starts. Yes, I know a loss is hard to take but I certainly believe its better to lose now and fix the problems than to lose when the season starts. Crucifying the manager at this point in the season is for me a knee jerk reaction.

You'll need 2 tin hats for that, irie.

[Gooner Girl]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

Ahhh bless...

It's true, i admit it.

I can believe that of you quite easily

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

Regular scorer in the Scottish lower leagues... and now on Twitter

[Bruce Rioja]

Ben Haim was playing for them.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!11one

[Gooner Girl]

Th pompey fans were booing Ben haim. Was wondering if he scored for them how they would react....

[Harry Genshaw]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

My old man rang me once from holiday asking if we'd signed some foreign striker. He'd seen a young girl in his hotel with a Wanderers shirt on and '9' 'Lucy' on the back

[Gooner Girl]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

My old man rang me once from holiday asking if we'd signed some foreign striker. He'd seen a young girl in his hotel with a Wanderers shirt on and '9' 'Lucy' on the back

You northeners... Not the brightest bunch eh?!

[TKIZ!]

First things first: no way in hell would Souness manage us, certainly while Phil Gartside remains at the club, and probably not at all. He's exceedingly happy in Sandbanks (near 'Arry), keeping himself busy and remunerated working for Sky and RTE. Seems to have had no interest in returning to football since about the time we f*cked him over and he publicly denounced us - and that was when we were in a higher division.

I think the only way that we're going to afford someone the time to rebuild the club is either that somehow the fans suddenly develop patience, an unlikely scenario given the last 20 or so years of near upward-movement, or we crash to a god-awful nadir, similar to the 80's.

It must be bourne in mind, when taking Worthy's point (for example) that both Norwich and Swansea appointed young managers, is that neither were in our position of the immediate need to be promoted back to the Prem at the first attempt. They were given time to build from a much mower base point. With the added bonus for Lambert of the worst start to a season that Norwich had ever suffered. It may feel like it, but we haven't actually lost 7-1 at home to anyone recently, let alone Colchester in the division below us. And Brendan Rodger's record before Swansea was hardly illustrious, perhaps reasserting the idea that he was standing on the shoulder of a giant in Martinez, who has hardly set the PL alight himself. It will be interesting to see how both thes managers fair in their second seasons. An interesting point, given that Coyle's first with us was also a success.

A lot of sense talked here (and by Bish & BWFCi... nice to see thoughtful comment rather than knee-jerk arguments).

I do think Coyle's plan to bring through youngsters is a good long-term aim, but hardly groundbreaking in its insight. He has bought into the idea of reducing wage overheads, but it's not like we're the only club aware of the need to do so.

I like Coyle's objectives - playing good football, with a mix of our kids, almost-brilliant kids from bigger clubs and elder statesmen who buy into the philosophy. I worry that he may not be able to achieve them: as noted, this length of stay is uncharted territory for him at any club as a manager (and he rarely lasted three years anywhere as a player). There's nothing necessarily wrong with that - it's a job-stay lifespan he shares with Jose Mourinho - but it makes it somewhat wry that his long-term goal looks better than his short-term achievement...

My thoughts exactly DSB

[Worthy4England]

I think the only way that we're going to afford someone the time to rebuild the club is either that somehow the fans suddenly develop patience, an unlikely scenario given the last 20 or so years of near upward-movement, or we crash to a god-awful nadir, similar to the 80's.

It must be bourne in mind, when taking Worthy's point (for example) that both Norwich and Swansea appointed young managers, is that neither were in our position of the immediate need to be promoted back to the Prem at the first attempt. They were given time to build from a much mower base point. With the added bonus for Lambert of the worst start to a season that Norwich had ever suffered. It may feel like it, but we haven't actually lost 7-1 at home to anyone recently, let alone Colchester in the division below us. And Brendan Rodger's record before Swansea was hardly illustrious, perhaps reasserting the idea that he was standing on the shoulder of a giant in Martinez, who has hardly set the PL alight himself. It will be interesting to see how both thes managers fair in their second seasons. An interesting point, given that Coyle's first with us was also a success.

Worthy's point was about the new appointees, rather than Lambert and Rodgers. I was making the point that a number of Clubs probably not too dissimilar in terms of clout had managed to find new managers that weren't the usual trite candidates that are rolled out as bogeymen every time someone suggests the possibility that we might need a change.

To your point though, which is a good one, both Norwich and Swansea had struggled financially in recent times, so maybe there was less pressure, but even so, they're on their 8th manager since 2000. Swansea on their 9th. By comparison, we're on our 5th (if you count Archie Knox) So stability and time is hardly the byword there.

Neither manager had much budget - Swansea £17.4, Norwich £18.4 - that included in both cases what were understood to be significant promotion bonuses - £4.4m in the case of Norwich. So I think there's some balancing factor there, they got more time, Coyle's had more money.

But looking at the time factor - Rogers was only in charge for 61 games, Lambert for 142 - Coyle has been wih us 115.

Given these factors, I'd expect to see some shape and form, in what we were trying to achieve, rather than the random pubness. That's not that we always achieved it - it's work in progess - the problem is, I'm seeing nowt. Bugger all.

When we talk about our squad in terms of Premier players, like Brucie, I think we have one or two, rather than "lots", but then again I'd have said the same thing about Norwich and Swansea too.

So in summary, we probably have more cash, we probably have a similar level of "premier quality", Coyle's had a reasonable amount of time, all teams will have transfers - the main differentiation left is the Manager. So now's the time to shit or get off the pot.

[onlywanderer]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

Ahhh bless...

It's true, i admit it.

I can believe that of you quite easily

reminds me of that band 'TBA' that seem to be playing everywhere.

[bobo the clown]

Ah i remember that time i thought we'd signed a player called 'A. Trialist'
I thought he was french or something!

Ahhh bless...

It's true, i admit it.

I can believe that of you quite easily

reminds me of that band 'TBA' that seem to be playing everywhere.

... or the time I saw Pink Floyd's 'Live at Pompeii' at the flicks and noted there was a support film of Queen. Only to find out it was the National Anthem.

[50sQuiff]

First things first: no way in hell would Souness manage us, certainly while Phil Gartside remains at the club, and probably not at all. He's exceedingly happy in Sandbanks (near 'Arry), keeping himself busy and remunerated working for Sky and RTE. Seems to have had no interest in returning to football since about the time we f*cked him over and he publicly denounced us - and that was when we were in a higher division.

I think the only way that we're going to afford someone the time to rebuild the club is either that somehow the fans suddenly develop patience, an unlikely scenario given the last 20 or so years of near upward-movement, or we crash to a god-awful nadir, similar to the 80's.

It must be bourne in mind, when taking Worthy's point (for example) that both Norwich and Swansea appointed young managers, is that neither were in our position of the immediate need to be promoted back to the Prem at the first attempt. They were given time to build from a much mower base point. With the added bonus for Lambert of the worst start to a season that Norwich had ever suffered. It may feel like it, but we haven't actually lost 7-1 at home to anyone recently, let alone Colchester in the division below us. And Brendan Rodger's record before Swansea was hardly illustrious, perhaps reasserting the idea that he was standing on the shoulder of a giant in Martinez, who has hardly set the PL alight himself. It will be interesting to see how both thes managers fair in their second seasons. An interesting point, given that Coyle's first with us was also a success.

A lot of sense talked here (and by Bish & BWFCi... nice to see thoughtful comment rather than knee-jerk arguments).

I do think Coyle's plan to bring through youngsters is a good long-term aim, but hardly groundbreaking in its insight. He has bought into the idea of reducing wage overheads, but it's not like we're the only club aware of the need to do so.

I like Coyle's objectives - playing good football, with a mix of our kids, almost-brilliant kids from bigger clubs and elder statesmen who buy into the philosophy. I worry that he may not be able to achieve them: as noted, this length of stay is uncharted territory for him at any club as a manager (and he rarely lasted three years anywhere as a player). There's nothing necessarily wrong with that - it's a job-stay lifespan he shares with Jose Mourinho - but it makes it somewhat wry that his long-term goal looks better than his short-term achievement...

My thoughts exactly DSB

Sorry to lower the tone but all this stuff about Coyle being the man to rebuild is bollocks. Lambert and Rodgers hadn't just got their sides relegated with a season-long dose of ineptitude. Neither had Rioch or Allardyce. I don't think you rebuild with the man that precipitated your decline. In fact I dread to see what further 'rebuilding' Coyle is going to do to us this season because he was a fecking wrecking-ball last year.

If Coyle is the man best qualified for the task then why not Megson? Coyle has proven to be a worse manager. He's produced worse football and even worse results.

[thebish]

If Coyle is the man best qualified for the task then why not Megson?

nice thought - but I don't think he'd come to us now...

[Il Pirate]

It's all a bit late, I know; but tried to post this sat teatime & I was blocked!

A 'sunny spells' saturday & a chance to see the lads near home, so I seconded a crew of one, Cabin boy Sam; hoisted the rigging and set fair sail for England aboard the galleon. Following an enforced instant lunch at muck donalds, it was off to the pub to meet with the charming Bish & the lovely GG. A pint & pleasant chat was all too soon interupted by the need to head to the ground. Although with hindsight, an afternoon in the pub would have been the preferred option. Now when you start a footy match, you need sommat called 'formation' & 'shape'. How you line up is important. 442, 532, 5311, 141211 Here I invite you to insert your own permutation of numbers which make 10. Because at some point during the 90 minutes we were probably playing it. Shape? Christmas tree, pyramid, morris men dancing on a wet whitsun weekend; we tried 'em all. This only served to allow a rag tag pompey side made up of 2 senior pro's, 3 lower league mercenaries and 6 wannabe kids, to slice through the middle of us at will. And they did it a lot. Not since the mighty Lincoln City beat us 1-2 (iirc) at burnden in Jan '84 have I witnessed such an inept, passionless performance. We weren't bad, we weren't poor, we were much, much worse than that. Bolton to win the chumpionship? I'd rather put my money on Bradley Wiggins winning the womens 100kg Judo gold at the 2016 olympics. Sadly, it's a much safer bet. Thanks again to Bish & GG who brightened up what otherwise would have been a real crap day.

[Gooner Girl]

It's all a bit late, I know; but tried to post this sat teatime & I was blocked!

A 'sunny spells' saturday & a chance to see the lads near home, so I seconded a crew of one, Cabin boy Sam; hoisted the rigging and set fair sail for England aboard the galleon. Following an enforced instant lunch at muck donalds, it was off to the pub to meet with the charming Bish & the lovely GG. A pint & pleasant chat was all too soon interupted by the need to head to the ground. Although with hindsight, an afternoon in the pub would have been the preferred option. Now when you start a footy match, you need sommat called 'formation' & 'shape'. How you line up is important. 442, 532, 5311, 141211 Here I invite you to insert your own permutation of numbers which make 10. Because at some point during the 90 minutes we were probably playing it. Shape? Christmas tree, pyramid, morris men dancing on a wet whitsun weekend; we tried 'em all. This only served to allow a rag tag pompey side made up of 2 senior pro's, 3 lower league mercenaries and 6 wannabe kids, to slice through the middle of us at will. And they did it a lot. Not since the mighty Lincoln City beat us 1-2 (iirc) at burnden in Jan '84 have I witnessed such an inept, passionless performance. We weren't bad, we weren't poor, we were much, much worse than that. Bolton to win the chumpionship? I'd rather put my money on Bradley Wiggins winning the womens 100kg Judo gold at the 2016 olympics. Sadly, it's a much safer bet. Thanks again to Bish & GG who brightened up what otherwise would have been a real crap day.

A fair assesment Pirate! Was lovely to meet you and Sam - he's a sweetie!

[thebish]

Thanks again to Bish & GG who brightened up what otherwise would have been a real crap day.

A fair assesment Pirate! Was lovely to meet you and Sam - he's a sweetie!

aye - I think you've pulled there GG!