Daniel Johnson

[Garden Gnome]

I feel like someone has kicked me in the stomach and completely winded me!
Being without DJ is bad enough, but missing Browne as well is removing the heart out of the team.
As if things were not difficult enough with the injuries we are already carrying.

I'm usually 'mr optimistic' but now I'm 'Mr Worried, ..... Mr Very Worried'.

Moral in camp must be low.
times like this when the metal of the club, manager and remaining fit players is really tested.
Who will step up? .... Interesting!

 

[Yoowell]

And you’re probably right, which is a sad contrast to last season. Sadly the sale of key players combined with lack of investment, and then several serious injuries has led to this.

I believe next summer may be quite tough to take (again) in terms of players leaving should we not win promotion (already looks a write-off).

I feel sorry for the AN and the squad. It’s the same set of players really (the starting XI at least, minus Hugill / Cunningham) who’ve been slogging it out for 18 months now. They need help with reinforcements, and experienced, first-team reinforcements, not more youth prospects or Irish punts. It’s difficult to be hopeful about January though.

Everything about the club seems to indicate it’s being set up to sell and not for further investment.....I’ve heard the legends bar is not happening now.
These last couple of injuries could have forced his hand a bit because selling a league one club would be a lot more difficult.

 

[California_PNE]

Everything about the club seems to indicate it’s being set up to sell and not for further investment.....I’ve heard the legends bar is not happening now.
These last couple of injuries could have forced his hand a bit because selling a league one club would be a lot more difficult.

Squads worth 77m 🙂

What a foolish statement that was

 

[ernest]

Well at least Robinson and Nmecha seem to have come through their international matches unscathed. We will obviously be without Maguire and Johnson this week-end but we just do not know at the moment whether Browne will be available. If he is then we can still put out a strong starting midfield. I remember a match at our place against Saturday's opponents long ago when we were struggling to score - Alex Dawson was in decline, Alan Spavin rarely netted and neither did Frank Lee on the left wing. Our opponents who play at a ground by the River Darwen had just spent £70,000 - a massive sum then - on a new centre forward called Alan Gilliver and the match was his debut as I recall. We won 3-0 with goals from Spavin, Lee and Dawson. Come on - heads up.

 

[donaldtpne]

club not saying what the injury is, just that he has to see a specialist.

 

[PNEinPendle]

And you’re probably right, which is a sad contrast to last season. Sadly the sale of key players combined with lack of investment, and then several serious injuries has led to this.

I believe next summer may be quite tough to take (again) in terms of players leaving should we not win promotion (already looks a write-off).

I feel sorry for the AN and the squad. It’s the same set of players really (the starting XI at least, minus Hugill / Cunningham) who’ve been slogging it out for 18 months now. They need help with reinforcements, and experienced, first-team reinforcements, not more youth prospects or Irish punts. It’s difficult to be hopeful about January though.

We may not have signed all the players we wanted especially a RB and a CF, but we did sign quite a few players. Even if we sign experienced players, the manager may not want to put them straight into the first team. I’d love us to sign better players but don’t expect it to happen. AN shouldn’t either. The management don’t deserve sympathy. They need to get on with the job with the resources that they have.

i don’t remember such a love in under SG and I don’t get why we should for AN

 

[kbd_pne]

We may not have signed all the players we wanted especially a RB and a CF, but we did sign quite a few players. Even if we sign experienced players, the manager may not want to put them straight into the first team. I’d love us to sign better players but don’t expect it to happen. AN shouldn’t either. The management don’t deserve sympathy. They need to get on with the job with the resources that they have.

i don’t remember such a love in under SG and I don’t get why we should for AN

We signed a few players but they had 4 Championship appearances between them (Barker’s spell at Rotherham). One of them was a 3rd choice GK without a professional appearance to his name. I doubt AN wanted to shop at the likes of Shamrock either, hence why Burke doesn’t make the squad even with Bodin and Harrop suffering ACL injuries.

SG was able to bring in experienced players on loan when on a bad run. Like when we started the 16/17 season very badly and he brought in Baptiste and McGeady (PL and UCL experience) on loan and they were able to slot straight into the 1st team and improve us. AN hasn’t been allowed to do that for some reason.

Why shouldn’t AN expect to sign better players? He’s clearly an ambitious young manager, so why on earth shouldn’t he expect to try to improve the team? Bizarre that you think a manager should be content with the first team being weaker and content with not signing better players.

I’m sure the whole management team is ‘getting on’ with the job, and it isn’t a love-in, people are just sympathetic and understanding of the problems they are facing.

Some fans are very quick to speculate about a manager’s position, doing that and slating the manager seems the default thing to do when on a bad run. Historically though at PNE all the managers have faced the same issues, which suggests the problem lies elsewhere.

 

[kbd_pne]

Everything about the club seems to indicate it’s being set up to sell and not for further investment.....I’ve heard the legends bar is not happening now.
These last couple of injuries could have forced his hand a bit because selling a league one club would be a lot more difficult.

I heard the bar will just be an upgraded version of Finney’s (which is shite IMO) and not a fanzone under the AKTE or in the old shop.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

We signed a few players but they had 4 Championship appearances between them (Barker’s spell at Rotherham). One of them was a 3rd choice GK without a professional appearance to his name. I doubt AN wanted to shop at the likes of Shamrock either, hence why Burke doesn’t make the squad even with Bodin and Harrop suffering ACL injuries.

SG was able to bring in experienced players on loan when on a bad run. Like when we started the 16/17 season very badly and he brought in Baptiste and McGeady (PL and UCL experience) on loan and they were able to slot straight into the 1st team and improve us. AN hasn’t been allowed to do that for some reason.

Why shouldn’t AN expect to sign better players? He’s clearly an ambitious young manager, so why on earth shouldn’t he expect to try to improve the team? Bizarre that you think a manager should be content with the first team being weaker and content with not signing better players.

I’m sure the whole management team is ‘getting on’ with the job, and it isn’t a love-in, people are just sympathetic and understanding of the problems they are facing.

Some fans are very quick to speculate about a manager’s position, doing that and slating the manager seems the default thing to do when on a bad run. Historically though at PNE all the managers have faced the same issues, which suggests the problem lies elsewhere.

AN seems a different type of man manager to SG, some of the experienced players who look at coming into PNE might not like his management style.

SG was likeable and quite laid back and whilst I am not saying AN isn't likeable he seems the sort of manager that it's his way or the high way and I couldn't seen McGeady liking his tantrums on the side line when something goes wrong.

Just an idea might not be the case.

 

[kbd_pne]

AN seems a different type of man manager to SG, some of the experienced players who look at coming into PNE might not like his management style.

SG was likeable and quite laid back and whilst I am not saying AN isn't likeable he seems the sort of manager that it's his way or the high way and I couldn't seen McGeady liking his tantrums on the side line when something goes wrong.

Just an idea might not be the case.

The set of experienced players we’ve already got such as Gallagher, Huntington and Clarke all seem to work fine with him and all signed new deals.

He got the best out of the likes of Hoolahan and Jerome whilst at Norwich.

The issue of not bringing in experience seems down to club policy and our budget rather than AN not wanting experience or not being able to attract it. As for McGeady he is a different case altogether really given the strange character he seems to be.

 

[Yoowell]

I heard the bar will just be an upgraded version of Finney’s (which is shite IMO) and not a fanzone under the AKTE or in the old shop.

Sorry I meant to say fan zone not legends.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

The set of experienced players we’ve already got such as Gallagher, Huntington and Clarke all seem to work fine with him and all signed new deals.

He got the best out of the likes of Hoolahan and Jerome whilst at Norwich.

The issue of not bringing in experience seems down to club policy and our budget rather than AN not wanting experience or not being able to attract it. As for McGeady he is a different case altogether really given the strange character he seems to be.

It could be the case that the names you have mentioned they were all at the club when he came along and loved the club they were/are at enough not to cause friction and to carry on playing.

Outside pro's might view the situation differently.

 

[kbd_pne]

It could be the case that the names you have mentioned they were all at the club when he came along and loved the club they were/are at enough not to cause friction and to carry on playing.

Outside pro's might view the situation differently.

I do understand your point about him generally being a coach that is ideal to work with younger players but I really doubt AN being our manager means we can’t bring in 1-2 experienced loans. As I said he won promotion to the Premier League at Norwich by getting the best from a group of experienced players, so I really doubt he is viewed as a turn off.

It’s up to the club whether to sanction / veto those types of signings. I’m not exonerating AN totally from the blame with recruitment but the buck ultimately stops with those upstairs.

Personally feel that if DJ is out long-term we have no choice but to recruit an experienced playmaker who can step into the first team.

 

[jgriff2296]

I do understand your point about him generally being a coach that is ideal to work with younger players but I really doubt AN being our manager means we can’t bring in 1-2 experienced loans. As I said he won promotion to the Premier League at Norwich by getting the best from a group of experienced players, so I really doubt he is viewed as a turn off.

It’s up to the club whether to sanction / veto those types of signings. I’m not exonerating AN totally from the blame with recruitment but the buck ultimately stops with those upstairs.

Personally feel that if DJ is out long-term we have no choice but to recruit an experienced playmaker who can step into the first team.

I agree - but where are you going to find one?

 

[Randall Flagg]

I agree - but where are you going to find one?

Graham Carey has been mentioned a few times previously. Plays as a 10 behind the striker. That said, so does Burke and he gets nowhere near the first team.

 

[PNEinPendle]

We signed a few players but they had 4 Championship appearances between them (Barker’s spell at Rotherham). One of them was a 3rd choice GK without a professional appearance to his name. I doubt AN wanted to shop at the likes of Shamrock either, hence why Burke doesn’t make the squad even with Bodin and Harrop suffering ACL injuries.

SG was able to bring in experienced players on loan when on a bad run. Like when we started the 16/17 season very badly and he brought in Baptiste and McGeady (PL and UCL experience) on loan and they were able to slot straight into the 1st team and improve us. AN hasn’t been allowed to do that for some reason.

Why shouldn’t AN expect to sign better players? He’s clearly an ambitious young manager, so why on earth shouldn’t he expect to try to improve the team? Bizarre that you think a manager should be content with the first team being weaker and content with not signing better players.

I’m sure the whole management team is ‘getting on’ with the job, and it isn’t a love-in, people are just sympathetic and understanding of the problems they are facing.

Some fans are very quick to speculate about a manager’s position, doing that and slating the manager seems the default thing to do when on a bad run. Historically though at PNE all the managers have faced the same issues, which suggests the problem lies elsewhere.

are you saying that AN did not want the players that we signed in summer? I thought that we had a couple of players lined up that fell through at the end of the window and therefore the only loan options we had at that stage were inexperienced. Again, are you saying that more experienced loans have been ruled out? Also, I don’t know how much we paid out to have Baptiste and McGeady, but maybe we got a good deal on them. It also depends on who was available and at what price in summer. Do you know?

i haven’t said that the manager should put up with a weaker team although I do expect richer clubs to pinch our best players. It is up to the manager, TH and PR to get the best replacements we can afford in to replace them. If you know that AN is definitely not being backed then I do have some sympathy but at some point he will either fail because of it or leave for somewhere where he is backed more.

 

[PNEroulette]

LEP just saying he's seeing a specialist.
Possibly means it's not a regular type of injury that medical staff at Deepdale could 100% diagnose and have an idea how long recovery will take.
Similar to going to a local doctor who is fine for regular problems but if it falls outside certain boundaries he will send you to a specialist.
At this stage PNE may not know enough about his injury to be able to project how long recovery will take . Let's hope it turns out to be weeks rather than months.

 

[sedgwick__7]

Re: the recruitment debate, imho arguing that Neil has to get on with it and that's that, because of the number of players we signed is quite an empty argument really. It's not about quantity of what we bring in, it's about quality.

We signed 5 players permanently, one of which was a 3rd choice keeper who'll probably never play for us. One was a £200k left back replacing one we sold for £4m. One was obviously a punt thanks to another Irish recommendation (Burke). I have no problem signing the likes of Ledson and Storey, but they probably won't improve the first team for 12-18 months at best.

It was good that we reacted quickly to the Bodin and Maguire injuries by getting the City loanees. They still seem to be getting going, although Nmecha has looked far better than Barker so far.

As for the 'quantity', it could be argued that wasn't good enough either. The manager obviously wanted a right back and an experienced, physical forward and got neither. Both those positions, especially a target man, were clearly more important than other areas that we signed players in as well (namely the Burke signing).

I fear that our depth is not good enough to cope with a lot of these injuries, with which we have been very unlucky.

Obviously outside of windows Neil does have to 'get on with it' and manage the players he's got. However, just because we're outside of a window doesn't mean the consequences of a bad window (or 2, or 3) are not felt on the pitch, and it doesn't mean the hand Neil has been dealt with is fair. Trying to improve us at the moment (compared to last season) given the lack of investment and injuries is nigh on impossible.

 

[ernest]

I have no problem signing the likes of Ledson and Storey, but they probably won't improve the first team for 12-18 months at best.

Storey has already looked entirely at home when playing. He is arguably the most successful in terms of actual performances of any of our summer signings yet ironically barely makes the squad given that he currently has Huntington, Davies and just possibly Clarke in front of him for a central defensive role. I certainly don't want us to have any injuries in that department but it is arguably where we do have genuine strength-in-depth. Ledson may well have to grow up very quickly over the next few weeks.

 

[SF]

Actually only lost 1 game (excluding Boro's penalty shoot-out win) with Storey in the side.

He tends to go unnoticed in games which is a very good trait for a centre back.