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Expectation v Reality

Expectation v Reality

H

Hesmagicyouknow

Joined
Mar 19, 2018
Messages
37
A new season has begun full of hope and optimism, with all fans wishing the season of all time ending with promotion, new players come in, everyone talks the talk, yet already after one game has peoples expectations altered?

it's going to take a miracle effort to finish in 6th place let alone higher.
Leeds, Derby, WBA, Fulham should contest the top 4 with a group of Middlesboro, Swansea, Cardiff, Brentford and Bristol City to follow. i think we are in the Hull, Forest, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Sheff Wed bracket so realistically somewhere about 10th is where we may end.
Of course like all North Enders i want my team to win promotion and great cup runs but reality is we are now a prudently run club that has a transfer policy of finding young talent in the hope of making large profits.
Our squad is too large though and the fact we have 4 keepers on the books and are still looking for another shows that numbers need to reduce as we don't have quality in reserve, although they are solid hard working pros.
we have 5/6 strikers yet still don't know our best pairing if pairing at all, and none look near hitting 15 goals let alone 20+
Our new training ground development is on a par with the brexit farce.
Our fans as loyal as we are, gates still hover around the 12-14k mark which isn't anywhere near a raucous intimidating fortress we need as a home team, yet the away fans (WBA away which was the best atmosphere i witnessed last year) travel in numbers and sing their hearts out.

expectations are high every season and we follow the boys up and down the country to watch and hope we achieve our dreams, i just think unless Alex pulls some rabbits out the hat and the current crop of players play to unseen levels.....reality could kick in real soon.
 
Rafferty is
HunterLionheart said:
Why do you think a right back is needed? Fisher is good. Rafferty is reasonable backup.
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Personally I don’t think Rafferty is up to the job. I have no confidence that should Fisher be injured, he can step up and do a job. I’m guessing AN feels the same or else why we would he play Clarke?
 
richiepne25 said:
Rafferty is

Personally I don’t think Rafferty is up to the job. I have no confidence that should Fisher be injured, he can step up and do a job. I’m guessing AN feels the same or else why we would he play Clarke?
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Rafferty hasn't been given the chance to show what he can do or how good he is. At least wait till he gets a decent run in the team before making a stupid judgment.
 
pthnorthender said:
Rafferty hasn't been given the chance to show what he can do or how good he is. At least wait till he gets a decent run in the team before making a stupid judgment.
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If AN Thought he was up to it he’d have played him more last year and he’d have played him on Saturday surely instead of reverting to playing TC out of position instead
 
Watched the Huddersfield v Derby game last night, lots of skill and one touch football on show, our players need to be up for it for 45 more games to match the teams at the top !
 
Farmboy said:
Watched the Huddersfield v Derby game last night, lots of skill and one touch football on show, our players need to be up for it for 45 more games to match the teams at the top !
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I was thinking the same... from what little I have seen already we are no match for Leeds, Derby or Huddersfield.
 
Ando60 said:
I was thinking the same... from what little I have seen already we are no match for Leeds, Derby or Huddersfield.
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I wasn't convinced by Huddersfield, plus I suspect they'll lose a few more before Thursday.

Leeds and Derby first half looked good, even Luton played at an intense pace that we just don't.
 
Hesmagicyouknow said:
A new season has begun full of hope and optimism, with all fans wishing the season of all time ending with promotion, new players come in, everyone talks the talk, yet already after one game has peoples expectations altered?

it's going to take a miracle effort to finish in 6th place let alone higher.
Leeds, Derby, WBA, Fulham should contest the top 4 with a group of Middlesboro, Swansea, Cardiff, Brentford and Bristol City to follow. i think we are in the Hull, Forest, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Sheff Wed bracket so realistically somewhere about 10th is where we may end.
Of course like all North Enders i want my team to win promotion and great cup runs but reality is we are now a prudently run club that has a transfer policy of finding young talent in the hope of making large profits.
Our squad is too large though and the fact we have 4 keepers on the books and are still looking for another shows that numbers need to reduce as we don't have quality in reserve, although they are solid hard working pros.
we have 5/6 strikers yet still don't know our best pairing if pairing at all, and none look near hitting 15 goals let alone 20+
Our new training ground development is on a par with the brexit farce.
Our fans as loyal as we are, gates still hover around the 12-14k mark which isn't anywhere near a raucous intimidating fortress we need as a home team, yet the away fans (WBA away which was the best atmosphere i witnessed last year) travel in numbers and sing their hearts out.

expectations are high every season and we follow the boys up and down the country to watch and hope we achieve our dreams, i just think unless Alex pulls some rabbits out the hat and the current crop of players play to unseen levels.....reality could kick in real soon.
Click to expand...
Reality hurts doesn't it, summer dreams of play offs disintegrate into hopes of survival during a single miserable defeat at Millwall.
Highly unlikely that we'll be relegated as we have a number of well established, effective Championship players, but highly unlikely that we'll be challenging for play offs as we lack the incisive creative spark that transforms the average into the successful.
Much depends on the Manager as the squad is increasingly his. Lots of smashing players but can he develop a style of play that maximises Barky's speed, Bodin's trickery and Green's confidence on the wings, or the creativity which will offer the chances for Maguire, Nugent and Moult to muster 20 goals between them in the season?
All of these will have great moments and triumphant matches, and the consistency of Gally, Pearson and Davies will keep us in most games. Mr Neil now needs to determine a first team squad of 18- (even if that means that Huntington, Harrop, Moult and Rafferty get ring rusty) and ensure that we find a pattern of team play which can overcome the physicality of some sets of opponents, the individual qualities of some opposing players and the gamesmanship which teams like Leeds and Cardiff bring to matches.
I believe in Mr Neil and so am optimistic that he can manoeuvre us higher than the 16th place which looks like our likely status this season.
 
Expectation was me, bouncing up n down, over excited and looking forward to my first game of the season.
Reality is, I can't remember, EVER, feeling as flat as I do right now, waiting for our first home game.
 
Even if we did all the strengthening people want, we'd still need a massive slice of luck to reach the top 6.

If Hemmings increased the wage cap and reinvested most of the Robinson money, we'd still be miles behind 75% of the division financially.

Birmingham supposedly skint yet they chucked £7m at a Croatian midfielder.
 
Hesmagicyouknow said:
A new season has begun full of hope and optimism, with all fans wishing the season of all time ending with promotion, new players come in, everyone talks the talk, yet already after one game has peoples expectations altered?

it's going to take a miracle effort to finish in 6th place let alone higher.
Leeds, Derby, WBA, Fulham should contest the top 4 with a group of Middlesboro, Swansea, Cardiff, Brentford and Bristol City to follow. i think we are in the Hull, Forest, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Sheff Wed bracket so realistically somewhere about 10th is where we may end.
Of course like all North Enders i want my team to win promotion and great cup runs but reality is we are now a prudently run club that has a transfer policy of finding young talent in the hope of making large profits.
Our squad is too large though and the fact we have 4 keepers on the books and are still looking for another shows that numbers need to reduce as we don't have quality in reserve, although they are solid hard working pros.
we have 5/6 strikers yet still don't know our best pairing if pairing at all, and none look near hitting 15 goals let alone 20+
Our new training ground development is on a par with the brexit farce.
Our fans as loyal as we are, gates still hover around the 12-14k mark which isn't anywhere near a raucous intimidating fortress we need as a home team, yet the away fans (WBA away which was the best atmosphere i witnessed last year) travel in numbers and sing their hearts out.

expectations are high every season and we follow the boys up and down the country to watch and hope we achieve our dreams, i just think unless Alex pulls some rabbits out the hat and the current crop of players play to unseen levels.....reality could kick in real soon.
Click to expand...

BOARD OUT!

(If you think it's bad now remember '84 '85 '86)
 
The transfer window hasn’t shut yet, god knows about comings and more scarily, goings, there will be before it ends.

Spending on transfers and wages is starting to hit ridiculous amounts for teams at this level, most of it subsidised by foreign owners who are bending weak financial regulations to get away with it. All with the hope of getting in the Premiership where they can spend even more...... .However the majority of them won’t achieve this, they will just write off many millions of pounds like the chicken farmers up the road are doing. Maybe it’s an Indian tax dodge, with so many foreign owners i have no idea how the FA and EFL keep tabs on how clean these finances are.

The whole thing is starting to get very distasteful.

Very ordinary players are now going for millions and earning millions, and it doesn’t stack up in any way with ticket sales at clubs in turns of financing it. Rovers pay £5 million for a forward who must be on £20k a week, therefore a million a year. 12000 gates at £25 a ticket for 23 games is £6.9 million, leaving them £900,000 after the £6 million they have just spent, that’s ticket money gone in one go.

And down the road at Bolton( yes I know the history there but let’s just look at it on today’s situation), bigger town, similar size club, the players can’t even get paid.So what’s the difference? Just a bunch of crazy Indian chicken farmers with money to burn, sounds a bit iffy to me. Same sized town, similar clubs, stadiums etc, similar fan base, similar normal income streams, but financially poles apart only because of owners who are quite happy to lose millions of pounds.

Well EFL, don’t you think you should start taking a look at all foreign owned clubs who have owners prepared to lose millions,and in doing so putting these clubs into totally unsubstainable financial situations in normal trading conditions, aren’t owners and directors supposed to manage the company in a balanced and prudent way, because overspending like that seems a very very odd thing to want to do. Why would Richard Branson want to do that to a small provincial towns football club in India or Italy or Indonesia or Iran or wherever? He wouldn’t. Yet Rovers, Wigan, Reading etc have these foreign owners , and spending far more on transfers and wages than normal income streams would ever cover, far far more. Is it this chance of getting into the Premier league and gambling millions to do so? It’s becoming very very unbalanced and very bizarre.

Come on EFL, start applying some proper financial rules.
 
europne said:
Very ordinary players are now going for millions and earning millions, and it doesn’t stack up in any way with ticket sales at clubs in turns of financing it. Rovers pay £5 million for a forward who must be on £20k a week, therefore a million a year. 12000 gates at £25 a ticket for 23 games is £6.9 million, leaving them £900,000 after the £6 million they have just spent, that’s ticket money gone in one go.
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The transfer fee will be paid over the term of his contract, probably 5 years so it's not quite as simple as you put it there. However your post is spot on and the EFL need to step up to the plate and if they're going to have FPP, then make sure it is fit for purpose. Derby selling their stadium and then recruiting Rooney as a coach, not a player to get round it, is disgraceful
 
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