Team spirit and new signings

[CapeTownRams]

One thing that worries me with Mac is whether his penchant for flair and foreign players might end up ruining the much talked about team spirit at the Club. This is not a dig at foreign players etc.

I was often skeptical about the much hyped team spirit during the NC era as he seemed to fall out with players easily. However, comments by the new management team and the players themselves since have tended to have vindicated the early talk. That's to say that the players really were and are a tight knit bunch. This is not to be underestimated in my view and was a big part of what we achieved last season. It takes skill and time to mould a team like that and you have to have a good eye for the right and wrong characters. NC on the whole seemed to be quite good at it.

Thing is that it takes some time to build up that team spirit but very little time to ruin it if you bring in a couple of the 'wrong sort'.

Mac needs to be very careful with this part of the next stage of our team development. My gut feeling is that he concentrates more on just the playing talents and doesn't put as much emphasis on the player character side of things. If he gets it wrong then it will set us back significantly in my view.

Let's see what develops.......

[ChaddesdenRam]

As long as we get 3 points after 90 minutes it doesn't matter but you are right we did have a great chemistry last season, hope it stays.

[Pearl Ram]

I would have thought Jake might "enlighten" anyone who could be described as "the wrong sort".

 

Don't worry about stuff you can't control, sit back and enjoy the ride. 

[Srg]

Wouldn't say he has a penchant for foreign players and flair at all. Who has he signed for the first team? Dawkins? Guess he counts as Jamaican. The rest are young lads for the development team.

 

I think the contracts being handed out to first team speak to his plans perfectly well.

[CapeTownRams]

Well to- date that might be true. I was really talking from his previous tenure at other clubs, most notably Boro. Thing is that up to date he really hasn't been given much to spend so couldn't change things too much. That seems to have changed somewhat now and he's clearly been some cash to spend. When that happened at Boro he didn't spend very wisely I would say. Compare that yo his time in Holland where his hands were somewhat tied financially and he did well. Maybe the moral is to get the best out of him you don't give much down to spend !

[Srg]

I also think he has learnt considerably from his time elsewhere. This maybe idealistic at this stage with him having done so well thus far, but he said he has learnt from his errors. And so far, that seems true.

[JohnHarkes]

I'd say that the squad seemed to display a greater togetherness as the season went on and, more than anything else, I'd attribute that to our good form - everything seems rosy when you're winning!