Grecians from Devon? At home to Exeter Sat,31st Aug ,3-0'clock

[DJBlu]

The problem isn't that we could compile some decent forwards moves, that may on a different day have got a goal. We saw Daniel Braaten's highlights reel. I'm struggling to recall a really decent save from the keeper and very poor teams can get a shot on target. I didn't really think "we got this" for 90 minutes.

Similar to Charlton and Wrexham. I could make the case for us looking reasonably solid against Wrexham, I'd struggle to be very convincing about our ability to win it.

We won against Orient, but you don't need to stitch anything together to see the saves Baxter made...

Because no one is saying he didn't do a job. I could if they did.

[Worthy4England]

The problem isn't that we could compile some decent forwards moves, that may on a different day have got a goal. We saw Daniel Braaten's highlights reel. I'm struggling to recall a really decent save from the keeper and very poor teams can get a shot on target. I didn't really think "we got this" for 90 minutes.

Similar to Charlton and Wrexham. I could make the case for us looking reasonably solid against Wrexham, I'd struggle to be very convincing about our ability to win it.

We won against Orient, but you don't need to stitch anything together to see the saves Baxter made...

Because no one is saying he didn't do a job. I could if they did.

Your time mate, use it as you will. Not sure it's going to convince many that the world is a different shape to what they saw.

[DJBlu]

The problem isn't that we could compile some decent forwards moves, that may on a different day have got a goal. We saw Daniel Braaten's highlights reel. I'm struggling to recall a really decent save from the keeper and very poor teams can get a shot on target. I didn't really think "we got this" for 90 minutes.

Similar to Charlton and Wrexham. I could make the case for us looking reasonably solid against Wrexham, I'd struggle to be very convincing about our ability to win it.

We won against Orient, but you don't need to stitch anything together to see the saves Baxter made...

Yeah. We are in a world where Evatt and a select few are in total denial.

You're just blinded by hatred. I would go as far to say it's not just limited to football. I can count on one hand the threads in this forum where you've had a modicum of positivity. No one will ever be good enough for our massive club. Here's news for you, we're not massive, we're a little club in the North West trying to compete with a limited budget. We've got, regardless of what you think, one of the younger more exciting managers in the EFL. He won't be out of work if he leaves here but we'll be stuck with the next poor chap trying to achieve and deliver the extremely demanding requests of fans like yourself.

Modern day I suppose. Everyone's pissed off and wants next day delivery, if not complaint and compensation. Real Karens.

[BWFC_Insane]

The problem isn't that we could compile some decent forwards moves, that may on a different day have got a goal. We saw Daniel Braaten's highlights reel. I'm struggling to recall a really decent save from the keeper and very poor teams can get a shot on target. I didn't really think "we got this" for 90 minutes.

Similar to Charlton and Wrexham. I could make the case for us looking reasonably solid against Wrexham, I'd struggle to be very convincing about our ability to win it.

We won against Orient, but you don't need to stitch anything together to see the saves Baxter made...

Yeah. We are in a world where Evatt and a select few are in total denial.

You're just blinded by hatred. I would go as far to say it's not just limited to football. I can count on one hand the threads in this forum where you've had a modicum of positivity. No one will ever be good enough for our massive club. Here's news for you, we're not massive, we're a little club in the North West trying to compete with a limited budget. We've got, regardless of what you think, one of the younger more exciting managers in the EFL. He won't be out of work if he leaves here but we'll be stuck with the next poor chap trying to achieve and deliver the extremely demanding requests of fans like yourself.

Modern day I suppose. Everyone's pissed off and wants next day delivery, if not complaint and compensation. Real Karens.

There are only two managers I’ve been amongst the early calls for getting rid. Coyle and Evatt. I was right on Coyle….this is his fifth season here. We are stuck in league one having spent money that past managers here would have dreamt of.

Next day delivery? He’s had more time than any manager we’ve previously dispensed with. He’s just not that good. And I think that would be ok if he realised it. But thinking you should be a premiership manager whilst being unable to really do the job in league one is a dangerous combination.

This is only the second extended period in our history where we’ve been outside the top two divisions. Why you would rather talk down Bolton Wanderers than accept Evatt simply isn’t it is beyond me. Everyone has their reasons.

[DJBlu]

The problem isn't that we could compile some decent forwards moves, that may on a different day have got a goal. We saw Daniel Braaten's highlights reel. I'm struggling to recall a really decent save from the keeper and very poor teams can get a shot on target. I didn't really think "we got this" for 90 minutes.

Similar to Charlton and Wrexham. I could make the case for us looking reasonably solid against Wrexham, I'd struggle to be very convincing about our ability to win it.

We won against Orient, but you don't need to stitch anything together to see the saves Baxter made...

Yeah. We are in a world where Evatt and a select few are in total denial.

You're just blinded by hatred. I would go as far to say it's not just limited to football. I can count on one hand the threads in this forum where you've had a modicum of positivity. No one will ever be good enough for our massive club. Here's news for you, we're not massive, we're a little club in the North West trying to compete with a limited budget. We've got, regardless of what you think, one of the younger more exciting managers in the EFL. He won't be out of work if he leaves here but we'll be stuck with the next poor chap trying to achieve and deliver the extremely demanding requests of fans like yourself.

Modern day I suppose. Everyone's pissed off and wants next day delivery, if not complaint and compensation. Real Karens.

There are only two managers I’ve been amongst the early calls for getting rid. Coyle and Evatt. I was right on Coyle….this is his fifth season here. We are stuck in league one having spent money that past managers here would have dreamt of.

Next day delivery? He’s had more time than any manager we’ve previously dispensed with. He’s just not that good. And I think that would be ok if he realised it. But thinking you should be a premiership manager whilst being unable to really do the job in league one is a dangerous combination.

This is only the second extended period in our history where we’ve been outside the top two divisions. Why you would rather talk down Bolton Wanderers than accept Evatt simply isn’t it is beyond me. Everyone has their reasons.

Just replied in another thread, Phil Neal got 6.5 years. We talk as if it's simple to get out of this league. It isn't, only 3 managers succeed out of 24. 12.5% chance which obviously increases/decreases with strength of our squad vs rest of the league. Luck etc and bottle. If you think there is someone out there who can get this squad up and retain the bottle required then I'm all ears. I just don't think there is. Look at Derby, the relief when they did it. They had a wobble and probably only went up because of the players here as you put it not having the bottle. How does a manager give them that bottle? Other than replacing them, which he's been doing season in season out. He is stubborn however he's listening to people and has changed the system, 5-2-3 now? And it isn't working. He makes subs, doesn't etc. He can't win.

Was it Kipling who said "If you can keep your head when all those around you are losing theirs..."

I've enjoyed being a Bolton fan since Rioch took us up to the Premier League, and what did he do after that, I digress, in that time there have been some standouts.

Todd and the 100.
Allardyce, Preston at Cardiff. Away in Portugal, Highest ever league finish.
Parkinson, Promotion to the Championship and the final day to stay there.
Evatt, Promotion to League One and the EFL trophy, My nephews first ever game and the smile will stay with me forever.

So if people wonder why I think Evatt gets a few more games then to me personally, he deserves it.

[BWFC_Insane]

The problem isn't that we could compile some decent forwards moves, that may on a different day have got a goal. We saw Daniel Braaten's highlights reel. I'm struggling to recall a really decent save from the keeper and very poor teams can get a shot on target. I didn't really think "we got this" for 90 minutes.

Similar to Charlton and Wrexham. I could make the case for us looking reasonably solid against Wrexham, I'd struggle to be very convincing about our ability to win it.

We won against Orient, but you don't need to stitch anything together to see the saves Baxter made...

Yeah. We are in a world where Evatt and a select few are in total denial.

You're just blinded by hatred. I would go as far to say it's not just limited to football. I can count on one hand the threads in this forum where you've had a modicum of positivity. No one will ever be good enough for our massive club. Here's news for you, we're not massive, we're a little club in the North West trying to compete with a limited budget. We've got, regardless of what you think, one of the younger more exciting managers in the EFL. He won't be out of work if he leaves here but we'll be stuck with the next poor chap trying to achieve and deliver the extremely demanding requests of fans like yourself.

Modern day I suppose. Everyone's pissed off and wants next day delivery, if not complaint and compensation. Real Karens.

There are only two managers I’ve been amongst the early calls for getting rid. Coyle and Evatt. I was right on Coyle….this is his fifth season here. We are stuck in league one having spent money that past managers here would have dreamt of.

Next day delivery? He’s had more time than any manager we’ve previously dispensed with. He’s just not that good. And I think that would be ok if he realised it. But thinking you should be a premiership manager whilst being unable to really do the job in league one is a dangerous combination.

This is only the second extended period in our history where we’ve been outside the top two divisions. Why you would rather talk down Bolton Wanderers than accept Evatt simply isn’t it is beyond me. Everyone has their reasons.

Just replied in another thread, Phil Neal got 6.5 years. We talk as if it's simple to get out of this league. It isn't, only 3 managers succeed out of 24. 12.5% chance which obviously increases/decreases with strength of our squad vs rest of the league. Luck etc and bottle. If you think there is someone out there who can get this squad up and retain the bottle required then I'm all ears. I just don't think there is. Look at Derby, the relief when they did it. They had a wobble and probably only went up because of the players here as you put it not having the bottle. How does a manager give them that bottle? Other than replacing them, which he's been doing season in season out. He is stubborn however he's listening to people and has changed the system, 5-2-3 now? And it isn't working. He makes subs, doesn't etc. He can't win.

Was it Kipling who said "If you can keep your head when all those around you are losing theirs..."

I've enjoyed being a Bolton fan since Rioch took us up to the Premier League, and what did he do after that, I digress, in that time there have been some standouts.

Todd and the 100.
Allardyce, Preston at Cardiff. Away in Portugal, Highest ever league finish.
Parkinson, Promotion to the Championship and the final day to stay there.
Evatt, Promotion to League One and the EFL trophy, My nephews first ever game and the smile will stay with me forever.

So if people wonder why I think Evatt gets a few more games then to me personally, he deserves it.

Evatt has handpicked this side. We were player wise better than derby last season. They went up purely because Warne is a better manager. He knows how to get teams out of this league.

Sentimentality is a bad reason to keep a manager imho. It’s what happened with Coyle and that precipitated the biggest disaster this club has ever suffered. We waited too long.

I don’t think Evatt has what it takes to get us up. I think other managers do. Not all, no guarantees but Evatt had two seasons where we’ve been top 6 and failed in both. First one, ok. Play off defeat was tame but he got another chance but we all said we needed to go up. It was his team all his picks. Bottled autos. Bottled play offs. The character flaws are reflected by the manager imho.

All I want is some hope. I’ve lost hope right now. The club is in a low point in its history the last few years and Evatt initially did offer some hope and backed it up. But that’s gone now. And when it’s dark like the 80’s you need hope on the horizon. I just hope it doesn’t take that long.

[DJBlu]

If you think this is dark then God help.

[Prufrock]

Aye. And we had better players than Derby is a fecking reach too. Not many of ours on £1m a year. Where did Kane Wilson end up again?

[GhostoftheBok]

"This is only the second extended period..."

We are rebuilding a football club. We had a badge, a stadium and not much else.

No first team training ground. No players. No staff to speak of.

Of course it's one of the longer periods we have down here. We've never had to completely rebuild the football department to this degree.

That doesn't make Evatt unsackable. But Jesus, of course it's been a low ebb. It's also been one of the few periods of continual improvement in the nearly 20 years since Sam buggered off. In fact it might be the only period you could describe that way.

Some of this stuff is nuts.

[BWFC_Insane]

If you think this is dark then God help.

It is. It’s lower league stuff. I don’t fork out the money to watch us be happy with league one dross. I see it as an incredibly poor period compared to our times in the championship and premiership.

I realise there are a few people who simply don’t care about success and just want to watch us play but majority of fans who I sit with every week are not happy watching league one football and you can’t pretend to be surprised by that.

[BWFC_Insane]

"This is only the second extended period..."

We are rebuilding a football club. We had a badge, a stadium and not much else.

No first team training ground. No players. No staff to speak of.

Of course it's one of the longer periods we have down here. We've never had to completely rebuild the football department to this degree.

That doesn't make Evatt unsackable. But Jesus, of course it's been a low ebb. It's also been one of the few periods of continual improvement in the nearly 20 years since Sam buggered off. In fact it might be the only period you could describe that way.

Some of this stuff is nuts.

Sure. But that’s not the case now. Parky took us up in an embargo with the worst ownership we’ve ever had.

Evatt had the slack cut for the initial position. But last season wasn’t because we had to rebuild the club.

[GhostoftheBok]

Parky took us up in an embargo

I can hear the vein throbbing in DSB's head from here.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Nah, don’t worry about me. I have neither the time nor the energy. People see what they want to see.

BWFCi is perfectly entitled to want us in a higher division. Personally I think Parky is a fascinating example on that topic. His first season, in the lower league, created some great memories. His second, in the higher, was all but uniformly f**king dreadful and possibly the time I’ve come closest to walking away in 40 years of watching Wanderers.

IMO it’s possible to have great enjoyable seasons down here. But so far this isn’t one of them. That needs to change somehow. Especially as what counts as enjoyable in this one is largely driven by product rather than process.

[BWFC_Insane]

Nah, don’t worry about me. I have neither the time nor the energy. People see what they want to see.

BWFCi is perfectly entitled to want us in a higher division. Personally I think Parky is a fascinating example on that topic. His first season, in the lower league, created some great memories. His second, in the higher, was all but uniformly f**king dreadful and possibly the time I’ve come closest to walking away in 40 years of watching Wanderers.

IMO it’s possible to have great enjoyable seasons down here. But so far this isn’t one of them. That needs to change somehow. Especially as what counts as enjoyable in this one is largely driven by product rather than process.

But if we are giving Evatt reasons after spending money Parky would have fainted over then I think Parky who took us up under embargo whilst losing two of his best players in January then in the championship still being under embargo with no money and again losing his main striker in January - it’s a completely different achievement. I would argue that what he achieved in the conditions and with the situation was not only good it was beyond any realistic expectation. I would say it was not far off Allardyce taking us into the prem and keeping us there all things taken into account in terms of achievement.

The football was agricultural that second season but again he was working with absolutely nowt.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'm not comparing Parky to Evatt.

I'm saying the football in Parky's second season was the most witless, gutless, reactive, ambitionless, unentertaining, miserable shite I've ever had the misfortune to watch any Wanderers team excrete, and I include the mid-80s versions when we counted Steve Elliott and Trevor Morgan as "strikers" - because at least we tried then.

I didn't want to pay to watch that absolute dross. I did, on a fair few occasions, but with heavy heart and low expectations. I compared it at the time to like rota-visiting a dying relative and I haven't changed my view. If you liked it, I'm glad for you.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm not comparing Parky to Evatt.

I'm saying the football in Parky's second season was the most witless, gutless, reactive, ambitionless, unentertaining, miserable shite I've ever had the misfortune to watch any Wanderers team excrete, and I include the mid-80s versions when we counted Steve Elliott and Trevor Morgan as "strikers" - because at least we tried then.

I didn't want to pay to watch that absolute dross. I did, on a fair few occasions, but with heavy heart and low expectations. I compared it at the time to like rota-visiting a dying relative and I haven't changed my view. If you liked it, I'm glad for you.

I get that is how you saw it. It wasn’t very good. But I look at the players we had…to keep that side up was a miracle however it was done.

Anyway on another note what is ironic is that the two full backs (not always used) that Parky had in Little and obviously a then young Antonee Robinson are the exact sorts we need at wing back now but lack, bar maybe Tutu (who I think looks good but questionable defensively).

[GhostoftheBok]

Tutu and Schon, once up to speed, look like they'll be fine.

Both creative, ambitious players. Schon has one of the best tackling to possession ratios in the country at the minute. Looks a gritty little bugger to the eye, too. Tutu can beat players for fun.

Coggers and Randell should be good options.

Long term I'm not worried about those wide areas too much now, barring fitness.

I remain concerned about 10, despite us having a couple of million in talent there. Evatt seems to recognise that, at least. His citing of the second international break would seem to say that he knows what options he's left the window short on, despite big bids to try and fix it.

If he survives until January that's where you'd currently spend what money remains, rather than wingback.

[BWFC_Insane]

Tutu and Schon, once up to speed, look like they'll be fine.

Both creative, ambitious players. Schon has one of the best tackling to possession ratios in the country at the minute. Looks a gritty little bugger to the eye, too. Tutu can beat players for fun.

Coggers and Randell should be good options.

Long term I'm not worried about those wide areas too much now, barring fitness.

I remain concerned about 10, despite us having a couple of million in talent there. Evatt seems to recognise that, at least. His citing of the second international break would seem to say that he knows what options he's left the window short on, despite big bids to try and fix it.

If he survives until January that's where you'd currently spend what money remains, rather than wingback.

I’d worry about those wide areas, we’ve barely managed a meaningful cross and apart from Tutu they don’t look capable of flying past opponents. Schon looks technically talented but he’s not screaming natural wing back at me yet.

[GhostoftheBok]

I’d worry about those wide areas, we’ve barely managed a meaningful cross and apart from Tutu they don’t look capable of flying past opponents. Schon looks technically talented but he’s not screaming natural wing back at me yet.

We don't play to cross. We want cut-backs. We've seen quite a lot of that, just no takers.

Schon is pretty quick and hard working. Not as good one-on-one as I was hoping, but very capable.

We'll see how it breaks. I'd not put my mortgage on it working, but I'm quite happy with them at the moment.

Tutu's ability to play on the left is very welcome.

[BWFC_Insane]

I’d worry about those wide areas, we’ve barely managed a meaningful cross and apart from Tutu they don’t look capable of flying past opponents. Schon looks technically talented but he’s not screaming natural wing back at me yet.

We don't play to cross. We want cut-backs. We've seen quite a lot of that, just no takers.

Schon is pretty quick and hard working. Not as good one-on-one as I was hoping, but very capable.

We'll see how it breaks. I'd not put my mortgage on it working, but I'm quite happy with them at the moment.

Tutu's ability to play on the left is very welcome.

I will take your word for it but if that is true it’s total bollocks. You can’t limit your chance creation to one move. If we can’t get in behind which we frequently can’t, don’t think Schon has got in behind once in the last two league games, then, you need to put delivery into the box.