Out, damned Spotland, I say. Rochdale (A) 27/9/16

[BWFC_Insane]

Saw this elsewhere, that Rioch, spent a few hundred grand on a few players, like Lee, McGinlay etc. Whilst they weren't massive fees, relative to the time they were fairly significant compared to what we have now.

Not that it's an excuse, football is different now and we have made investment in wages. But ultimately we can only sign players unwanted elsewhere which seems a bit of a tricky business.

Wigan a good example, spent a load last year to win the division. A load relative to us at least.

I am disappointed that likes of Henry and Ameobi seem so far off the pace.

[Hoboh]

Saw this elsewhere, that Rioch, spent a few hundred grand on a few players, like Lee, McGinlay etc. Whilst they weren't massive fees, relative to the time they were fairly significant compared to what we have now.

Not that it's an excuse, football is different now and we have made investment in wages. But ultimately we can only sign players unwanted elsewhere which seems a bit of a tricky business.

Wigan a good example, spent a load last year to win the division. A load relative to us at least.

I am disappointed that likes of Henry and Ameobi seem so far off the pace.

And that my friend is purely down to the judgement of our resident PTM!

[Norpig]

I mean for perspectives sake, the expectations were rock bottom over the summer. Raised by the start to the season, which, very very few fans saw coming.

Not saying that excuses what have been poor performances, but equally I think the difference is a little energy (which perhaps injuries etc have taken their toll) and taking the odd chance. Things look a whole lot better then those little things go for you. Again, I'm not saying we're just unlucky, we're not.

The problem is we've tried to fix this, by sacking managers and it hasn't worked. I genuinely think some expectations are too high. Not to downplay that we are pretty poor right now, but a couple of wins and we're easily back in the top 6, which would be a minor miracle considering where we were back in June. Of course the risk is there now, as it always was that the slide continues. But honestly we can keep fumbling around changing managers, but for whatever reason that has only brought more problems on top of problems.

I think it is harsh to say Parkinson has brought in "his own" players. He's brought in what he could. On the face of it, they seemed reasonable signings. Not a single person wanted Conor Wilkinson to stay, he was getting dogs abuse from the terraces, yet he goes elsewhere and scores goals. He hasn't looked like doing that here under 3 different managers. Perhaps the issues can't be fixed miraculously with a "magic appointment" but time is needed to re-establish the club and put in place the key aspects of what it is about.

End of the day I'm interested to see what Ken does here, because I'm sure his expectations were raised too, but I'm very wary of chasing the magic managerial appointment because we've tried that ad infinitum and it has left us nowhere.

I totally agree after 10 games I was expecting us to be around mid table which is where I still think we will end up in May, we are currently exceeding my expectations with the squad of players we have got and the baggage of seasons of struggle. I think PP will sort it out eventually he needs time and not abuse at this stage. People are too quick to criticise these days I think a bit of patience and support to the team and management is required. For the record I am not a big fan of some of the players we have and yes I want better for my team but it is a slow process and takes a lot of effort before we will improve and progress.

[LeverEnd]

I think criticism is fair. At Rochdale the support was very good, but they wilted near the end and got told at the end. I think that's fair enough. Fans were more forgiving at Walsall but people get pissed off turning up to watch rubbish. That was the 8th away defeat in mylast 8 away games and it's certainly irritating me. Players have to man up and earn the support.
There's no way I'll be turning on PP any time soon. He needs time like people say,but that doesn't mean you can't be critical after a crap performance. There's no lack of running around effort, but there's a lack of bravery in possession and running off the ball. Ameobi is a weord one, he does try to take people on, but stands around scratching his knackers when there's a yawning space inviting him to make a run into. Like some playground kid who wants to beat everyone to show off rather than do the simple thing. Needs giving a simple job involving no thinking and telling to stick to it. Henry looks like the obvious replacement for Davies, skilful but sadly also prone to disappearing. Anderson was dreadful at Rochdale, needs benching for at least one game for Clough. They all have potential to improve though and can't be written off yet.
I still think both the appointment of PP and deadine day exceeded my expectations but always had a sneaking feeling the giddiness of the first 4 games was misplaced. If the 4 wins were evenly spaced there would still be performance concerns but less annoyance at the slump. Bradford fans said PP has lengthy slumps, but given his overall record there must have been some very long good runs as well. Let's hope the next one starts on Sat.

[BWFC_Insane]

I think criticism is fair. At Rochdale the support was very good, but they wilted near the end and got told at the end. I think that's fair enough. Fans were more forgiving at Walsall but people get pissed off turning up to watch rubbish. That was the 8th away defeat in mylast 8 away games and it's certainly irritating me. Players have to man up and earn the support.
There's no way I'll be turning on PP any time soon. He needs time like people say,but that doesn't mean you can't be critical after a crap performance. There's no lack of running around effort, but there's a lack of bravery in possession and running off the ball. Ameobi is a weord one, he does try to take people on, but stands around scratching his knackers when there's a yawning space inviting him to make a run into. Like some playground kid who wants to beat everyone to show off rather than do the simple thing. Needs giving a simple job involving no thinking and telling to stick to it. Henry looks like the obvious replacement for Davies, skilful but sadly also prone to disappearing. Anderson was dreadful at Rochdale, needs benching for at least one game for Clough. They all have potential to improve though and can't be written off yet.
I still think both the appointment of PP and deadine day exceeded my expectations but always had a sneaking feeling the giddiness of the first 4 games was misplaced. If the 4 wins were evenly spaced there would still be performance concerns but less annoyance at the slump. Bradford fans said PP has lengthy slumps, but given his overall record there must have been some very long good runs as well. Let's hope the next one starts on Sat.

I think being critical is fine. I'm not sure booing helps anything or anyone but get why people become frustrated.

The main thing is when being critical is trying to stay balanced and also trying to have some context. There hasn't been a game this season we couldn't have very feasibly won. Nobody has battered us. In every game there are chances you can argue "had we scored there" and probably have a good case for winning. The counter is the same can be said in reverse of the 4 we did win.

But I think we've been competitive (in terms of having a chance of a result) every game. We've just started slipping the wrong side of fine margins (thanks Dougie) now and the worry is we've been here before and not been able to stop that happening week in week out.

But I'm hopeful we will stop it. I think we've got a manager who has been in this scenario before many times and knows the score. Which gives me hope, over say someone who has broadly never had to deal with poor runs or loss of form in competitive scenarios.

I also think that the "performances" always look better when you take your chances and score, and also take Parky's point that scoring a goal lifts the team and sometimes you play better. The most worrying performance for me has been MK Dons at home where despite an early lead against what looked a disinterested side we still couldn't really control the game to any extent. We're still for me in the situation of having some very good players, but also some incredibly weak areas in the team, even at league one level.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Bradford fans said PP has lengthy slumps

Last season he only won two of his first 10 league games, leaving them 19th. They won six of the next eight, lifting them to 7th.

In 2014/15 they started OK with three wins in the first five, but only won two in the next 11 (losing six of them). Then they won five in the next seven (drawing the other two).

In 2013/14, freshly promoted, their first 10 games went W6 D3 L1 - by October 5th they were fourth. Then they won one (and drew 11) of their next 20, tumbling to 13th.

So yeah, streaky.

[LeverEnd]

Bradford fans said PP has lengthy slumps

Last season he only won two of his first 10 league games, leaving them 19th. They won six of the next eight, lifting them to 7th.

In 2014/15 they started OK with three wins in the first five, but only won two in the next 11 (losing six of them). Then they won five in the next seven (drawing the other two).

In 2013/14, freshly promoted, their first 10 games went W6 D3 L1 - by October 5th they were fourth. Then they won one (and drew 11) of their next 20, tumbling to 13th.

So yeah, streaky.

Let's hope the good uns are longer than the bad uns.

[Prufrock]

The last proper manager we had was streaky too, tbf