Cost Cutting

[Millenniumram]

Great so not only do we have a load of **** no one wants, but we’ve got no money to improve on that load of ****. Honestly had more optimism and ambition under GSE than right now and that’s saying something. We’ve been absolutely wrecked by poor planning and dreadful recruitment, both of staff and players. Attendances will drop massively next year if things continue the way they are, that’s for sure. Hate being like this but I’m so downbeat about everything to do with the club I’d almost rather be Sunderland and get relegated and bought out, least that way we can start again.....

Mind I’ll still be there tomorrow night, all excited until we naturally concede on 20 minutes, throwing our only counter game plan out the window and guaranteeing a loss. Great. Just great.

[Curtains]

Just now, Millenniumram said:

Great so not only do we have a load of **** no one wants, but we’ve got no money to improve on that load of ****. Honestly had more optimism and ambition under GSE than right now and that’s saying something. We’ve been absolutely wrecked by poor planning and dreadful recruitment, both of staff and players. Attendances will drop massively next year if things continue the way they are, that’s for sure. Hate being like this but I’m so downbeat about everything to do with the club I’d almost rather be Sunderland and get relegated and bought out, least that way we can start again.....

Mind I’ll still be there tomorrow night, all excited until we naturally concede on 20 minutes, throwing our only counter game plan out the window and guaranteeing a loss. Great. Just great.

Cheer up mate. 

Shall I give you a cuddle. 

[Gone]

2 hours ago, IlsonDerby said:

I’m not saying bringing in Jerome was good business but I’m willing to speculate that the loan fee for Martin more than covered his transfer fee. 

I’d hope Jerome was bought in as he was the best we could afford rather than him being Rowetts first choice (and we’ll never know) 

Strong rumours we wanted him in the summer. I think Gary’s a fan and wanted him 

[IlsonDerby]

2 hours ago, cannable said:

If the widely reported £30,000 is correct AND IF Reading are paying all of it then that’s £510,000.

That’s a third of the Jerome fee, let alone his wages.

I doubt any loan fee will cover £1,000,000 plus Jerome’s wages.

It cost Fulham (reportedly) quite a few million to loan him for the whole season? Can surely make an assumption that anything between 600k - 1.2m would be reasonable for half of a season for a team more desperate than Fulham? 

 

I'm not saying this is accurate but it would shock me if we'd made a net loss this January... 

[IlsonDerby]

17 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

Strong rumours we wanted him in the summer. I think Gary’s a fan and wanted him 

Jesus wept...

[Angry Ram]

2 hours ago, oldtimeram said:

I still say that all of this mess is down to Morris 

You keep getting me into trouble.... 

[brady1993]

2 hours ago, cannable said:

It’s all very complex. You COULD argue that it was Rush.

In sacking Clough he got rid of a man whose whole footballing ideals perfectly aligned with Morris… but then you could argue Morris would never had joined without Clough.

The appointment of Clement is the beginning of our downfall, whoever made that decision got it badly wrong. But then you could argue; should Mel have sacked McClaren? 

Pearson plunged us further in the ****. 

Nobody has ever shared the same footballing ideals as Mel put probably in part because his own ideals have never been consistent. 

Do we have any senior management left at the club from when Clough was here? There’s been no continuity really since McClaren was sacked. He kept everything the same but was purely a better coach and tactician than Clough. 

I disagree a bit about Clement. Whilst I think it turned out to be a bad decision I can understand why we hired. Young, good pedigree as a coach and comes in making all the right noises. Likewise I can understand why he was sacked for the reasons given by MM at the time. I can also understand (if disagree with) the sacking of McClaren the first time.

Where it falls it apart for me is the hiring of Pearson. It completely flies in the face MM said he wanted us as a club to be about. Then this is compounded by the hiring and firing of McClaren.

My biggest worry about MM is that a lot of the decisions seem to be the impulsive decisions of a fan would make. They seem to follow the current most popular thoughts of the fan base. 

"McClaren should be sacked for not ruling out Newcastle" - McClaren sacked

"Clement should be sacked because his football his crap" - Clement sacked

"Pearson would sort this sorry lot out" - Pearson hired 

"Pearson plays crap football and we aren't scoring. Bring back a footballing manager like McClaren" - McClaren hired 

"McClaren doesn't care, bring in someone with a bit of grit who cares about the club" - Rowett hired 

If I was a betting man our next manager will be somebody who plays attractive football and favours youth. Who will inevitably be sacked for an old head who has the know how to get promoted. 

[Dimmu]

What we can be sure about is that cost-cutting means we are not going to dismiss a manager who just signed a new contract.

It simply would cost too much.

[Papahet]

They'll be too much unrest if this form continued under Rowett into next season.

Morris is too difficult to read, one minute he was regarding Clement "Our Ferguson" and the next he's given the boot.

Warnock was the man we should have gone for the second Morris arrived, if the sole aim was to get promotion. With the lack of money and a mad head owner at the helm - It's very Brum like situation for Gaz to work with and he wouldn't be complaining any time soon to walk away.

 

[PodgeyRam]

4 hours ago, IlsonDerby said:

I’m not saying bringing in Jerome was good business but I’m willing to speculate that the loan fee for Martin more than covered his transfer fee. 

I’d hope Jerome was bought in as he was the best we could afford rather than him being Rowetts first choice (and we’ll never know) 

Prepare to be disappointed 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5271949/Cameron-Jerome-set-Derby-medical-Tuesday.html

Derby, who tried for Jerome last summer, hope the transfer can be wrapped up without a hitch, enabling the 31-year-old to play in Friday’s game against Bristol City at Pride Park.

Rowett sees Jerome as a different option up front to Matej Vydra and David Nugent.

[rammieib]

6 hours ago, jagerbob said:

To the guy who started this thread, how do you know who is on a massive contract and who is paying for peanuts? Unless you are DCFCs financial director, then I think I'll take Mels word over yours.

On the subject of Thorne i would say the majority of fans were calling for him to get a new contrct signed in the first half of the season, despite his injury record. Infact the majority were calling for him to play every week and Tom Huddlestone to be dropped. So you cant have it both ways and suddenly now say why have we done this?

Let's be honest, if we listen to Mel Morris then not even our Finance Director knows what we're paying out!!!

[oldtimeram]

2 hours ago, Angry Ram said:

You keep getting me into trouble.... 

My intention lol

[oldtimeram]

If Morris has had enough of putting his own dosh in to the team building maybe he is looking to offload the club?  Can't blame him if he is. I would not waste my money on this lot.

[Ramchop]

5 hours ago, cannable said:

Is it?

Is George playing ***** because the injuries have done him in or is it once again, the system? 

Under McClaren he would make an angle for himself, receive the ball from the centre-halves, spin and have five players ahead of him and pushed-up full-backs. He could spread the play or find Hughes, Bryson, Jeff or Dawkins in ‘the half-space’. The following game is a prime example of this. 

Now-a-days he’s limited to the right side of the midfield and starting further up the pitch so he’s not receiving it on the half-turn, he’s receiving it face on, and being limited to one side of the pitch further limits his opportunity to turn. 

And now whenever he is turned he’s positioned so that his options are two square passes left or right, a diagonal to Lawrence or in behind for Nugent. The only ‘trademark George pass’ he ever has on is for Vydra.

Then take into account that off the ball he isn’t fast or energetic enough.

There have been five minute spells every now and again where he has dropped in between the centre-halves and taken some control of the game, which makes me think it isn’t him.

And to avoid that looking a sycophantic defence of him I think Huddlestone has the same problems. As he’s more comfortable playing it short, first time with his left and his trademark passing is in-behind rather than zipped to feet though I think he’s just about coping. 

Both belong at the base of a three.

He would have Hughes as a safe pair of feet to pass into, or Hendrick/Bryson making a run ahead.

Now he has Huddlestone as a safe pair of feet to pass into, and Vydra ahead to pass to

Still has an option each side. Still has the same number of men to pass to. What's so different?

[Ambitious]

I have no doubt our style of play has impacted some players, which can't be a surprise. It happens at every club up and down the leagues. A good example would be our own Timi Elsnik: he's gone from being a key player in a Swindon team to being on the bench because of a change in tactics. We have fell down by continuing to ask certain players to play a certain way that they aren't comfortable with. I have no doubts that Lawrence's best game in months came as we tried to play the ball into feet as opposed to space. 

I can't understand the abuse towards Rowett, in all honesty, but I certainly don't like the playing style. The worst thing about it is that he could probably have a team on 1/4 of the money and have them doing the same job. Mason Bennett, for example, would probably be a better option for how we have been playing that Lawrence because he's quicker & stronger and has more energy chasing balls over the top. He doesn't have anywhere near the amount of quality that Lawrence does technically, but we haven't been asking our players to play a technical game. 

I'm all for cost cutting, providing it's not a case of going back to the dark days under Clough where a million pound signing was the height of our expectation. Adjusting the budget and having a smarter approach to the transfer market and I'll be happy. 

I'm not as incensed by the current squad as a few others are, I'm more than happy to keep any of the players on the books and give them another chance, equally they all could go and I'd probably not bat an eyelid. The likelihood is, whoever is in charge, whichever approach we take, we'll sign more players that fall under expectation than rise above it. I guess you could say that by 90% of the teams throughout the leagues as well.  

[cannable]

1 hour ago, Ramchop said:

He would have Hughes as a safe pair of feet to pass into, or Hendrick/Bryson making a run ahead.

Now he has Huddlestone as a safe pair of feet to pass into, and Vydra ahead to pass to

Still has an option each side. Still has the same number of men to pass to. What's so different?

Well again, start with the first ball into him. This video explains pretty well how to receive the ball when playing at the base of a three.

Now if you rewatch the Charlton video the first two scenarios in the above clip are where both of our goals come from. The first in which he receives the ball from Keogh, controls it with his back-foot and boom, he’s facing the opposition goal. The second, he’s in a position to receive it safely from Fozzy, back-foot touch, body open.

Now he’s on the ball and ready to distribute. Again, this video explains what the role entails then; 

So back to Charlton, he’s played the exact passes discussed in the video. Zipped balls into Hughes for the first and Jeff for the second. 

Now contrast that to his role now. He’s limited to the right-hand side of the pitch so unless the ball is coming from Davies or Wisdom he is never going to be in a position to receive it on his back foot, open up his body and play a ball. Admittedly he can push up further in a two and receive it on his back-foot from Huddlestone.

When he does end up facing the oppositions goal he no longer has those passes into both pockets on and with being on the right-hand side of the pitch he only has one diagonal ball on. It’s now Vydra (who is easier to mark) in one pocket, a diagonal to Lawrence, a square pass to Huddlestone or a  clip down the line for Weimann. 

Effectively the system has reduced the number of potential situations in which he can receive the ball to use it effectively and he also has one less forward passing option. 

This is before even taking into account that he isn’t fit enough or mobile enough for a two.