Thetownend.com

Well, we hit the road tomorrow and head for Essex. Col U have scored 30 goals this season, with a certain Luke Norris their top scorer........and with the most assists  :doh:

Oh boy!

3-0

Good call. Yep 3-0 win. They have donkey forwards,

 Today is a free hit. The fact that ColU could make an offer for Norris that we couldn't refuse, and then not replace him tells us that.

 My only hope is that Michael Doughty notched a couple for us in 2016, at whatever their ground is now called, so maybe he has a thing for ColU....

Winning at Notts Clownty fucked my bet up for £480 last week so I’ve done Colchester to win today as well. Be worth losing an Edward Jenner for another 3 points.

I think Brown is kidding himself if he thinks last week’s win was a turning point. We were still dreadful in the first half mainly because of his haphazard starting XI.

Beginning to think he couldn’t manage a good fart.

Can this be as bad as we fear.....is this the same Luke Norris that use to turn out for us...ponderous, useless in front of goal well useless on the pitch in fact....can`t see anything but a defeat today - unbelievable against a team with Norris playing...optomistic that it will only be 2-0

People posting negative stuff about Brown before the match has even started...oh my.
2-1 Swindon

That's what happens when a manager has 1 win in the last 7 games (or something like that).

Having said that... The 2nd half against Notts County was definitely more genius than luck, and we are about to embark upon a winning streak that will see us surge up the table and take an auto promotion spot. FACT! We just need to BELIEVE people. BELIEVE and if we don't win today it's all because YOU didn't BELIEVE enough, you non-believing cunts.

At least Processed Beats waits until we are losing.

Big loss today  with Norris doing the damage.

Or the player who was our top scorer despite injury issues, who we received a decent cash offer for from a side now gunning for the top three off the back of his great form? The Norris hate is so weird. I'd have wanted to leave our fans as well. We don't deserve some of players we get.

On to the game. My first away since Crawley. If we play the XI that started last week we'll get thumped. We might pick up a point, and PB limps on. Joy.

Think we’ll carry on from last weeks second half performance and another 2-1 away win

Yep yep, in a wierd perverse way he deserves to bag a couple today.

Wish we had him in our team right now

And fair fucks to him too.

I didn't think you could schedule posts on TEF, Processed Beats has figured it out.

Impressive really  :)

Bollocks to Norris...most of his goals for us were penalties just never rated him whenever he played. Promised much delivered little..wasn't sorry to see him go. Nonetheless he's bound to score a hatrick today. Wanker...

Colchester sit currently in 5th place with 8 wins from their 16 games and only 4 defeats.

They are equal highest scorers in L2 with 30 goals.

Season league form DWDWLWDWDLWLWWLW

Home league form WWLWLWWW scoring 20 goals. They have scored in every game played at home so far.

Northampton and Bury are the 2 teams that have won there both 2-1. They also whalloped Crewe 6-0 there.

Norris has scored 8 (19 shots on target from 34 attempts - 56% on target) played 1068 mins averaging 134 mins per goal. Although 3 of his goals have been penalties.

Szmodics 5 (14 shots on target from 23 attemps - 61% on target) played 1269 mins averaging 254 mins per goal.

Nouble 4 (7 shots on target from 16 attempts - 44% on target) played 1379 mins averaging 345 mins per goal.

Town havent lost at Colchester in the last 6 matches with 4 wins and 2 draws there.

I still can't see where our goals will come from.

0-3 defeat in front of 4,355 with 385 Town fans there, Town with just 1 shot on target.

Why is that any worse than criticising him at 4.50?  It's not the same as barracking the players whilst the game is still going on which is clearly counter-productive.  A lot of people, me included, think he is a poor manager and his stats with us and elsewhere don't exactly contradict that point of view.

Notwithstanding, hopeful that we get a point.

1-1

Pre match searching for the spirit of Boudica, but finding only a world of we iz fik innit, in The Playhouse.
I bet the legions of Rome didn't have to go via some obscure Zone 4 underground station to get to Camulodunum.

So, Norris, the inevitable is going to happen isn't it.
Do we miss him, based on the season so far, yes.
Worked hard for the team and was unfortunate with the injury.
The lassitude in front of goal though, my word, like some spaced out, lethargic teenager who had just discovered the joys of wanking for the first time.
Always in the wrong place at the right time.

Zero expectations today, even though we haven't done too bad here in recent years.

The problem with Luke is not so much he left but we didn't replace him with a similar type. Most, if not all, Div 4 sides and indeed many higher, like a fella who can hold the ball up, work the oppo defenders and get you a few goals. They're not exactly thick on the ground atm... if you get a proper good one like a Lukaku, they'll go for 70-80 mill.

Lukaku can look a bit of a donkey, so at our level they're even more equine.  Last week we saw a classic of the kind Jon Stead, proper journeymen, often Div 4 sides will have a veteran up there, as they know how to niggle defenders, win free kicks etc..... lack of mobility offset by nous.

You like Norris now then?

I think Norris always tried but he was a typical div 4 striker, lacking in ability and he was more often than not awful.

Some days couldn't hit a barndoor with a banjo from 6 inches but other times he looked fairly handy. He can take a good penalty.

Do I miss him? no. Did we replace him? no. Will he score today? yes.

That's all that twat does, same negative tripe every week then goes quiet if we are winning and doesn't post. Typical of a number of our fans who revel in negativity, I just don't get it. Guess they just want the satisfaction of saying "I told you so".

Anything other than a mauling would be a huge positive today. Hopefully Brown recognises this and sets us up accordingly with a similar side to which started last week. I wouldn’t be against him sacrificing Richards for an additional midfielder and play Doughty in a false nine role to give us even more steel. Hopefully we’ll nick the odd set piece near their area and Taylor can produce something.

And would we be doing any better with him? Probably not.

Agreed. You going today mate? one of your local games isn't it?

I doubt we'd be taking the league by storm, but I reckon we'd be a bit better off.... much like ColU

Mauling? Fuck me, we ain’t that bad. Sure any team in this league could get a spanking but anyone would think we are Macclesfield’s third XI.

The team selection needs tweaking from the start but it wouldn’t really be that much of a surprise if we nicked it - not expecting it, but it’s not impossible.

I was about to post that almost word for word Audrey. Great minds and all that...

It could be a Yeovil away type game  :nod:

Fuck false nines and Norris, we could do with a Jason Roberts type upfront

 :D

It really is a sad indictment and shows just how far this club has sunk under Powers five year plan that we are actually expecting to be dicked by Colchester another club who get average half our league crowds

...or maybe we do

Keep Norris out and we win the game.  :D

Sid is gonna get ya. :)

But yeah, how we have fallen and not just under LP.  :(

Yep, closest one. 30 mins door to door. Feel like I should look in and see how they're doing. Could get turned over 5-0 but Using Reg's logic, we have a very good record at that stadium so maybe we can nick a 1-0 with an og or pen...

never didn't?

your spot on Rob someone like that who could bully defenders.

Same starting XI as last week apart from Romanski for no squad place Doughty

Fuck sake

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DrFSQUSWwAAh6tr.jpg:large)

That looks, again, a dreadful starting XI

Can't say I like the look of that line up again, does look like Taylor could be pushed wide left with Romanski behind him, or hes gone for 3 CB's we will see when the game starts.

The state of that line up.

Colchester unchanged.

Gilmartin, Jackson, Kent, Prosser, Vincent-Young, Pell, Lapslie, Senior, Szmodics, Nouble, Norris

If it wasn’t for Notts County’s dreadful finishing last week, that starting XI would have been 4 down by half time.

Can only hope Colchester’s strikers are just as profligate.

You’re up early.

Richards? Again? FFS!

A terrible staring X1, no pace or skill except for Mc Glashan, sometimes.

dear lord. if it doesn't work try it again next week..

How anyone can play McCourt instead of Dave beggers belief. one mistake is all he made before being outcast. Must have had a behind doors bust up imo

Maybe Dave is Processed Beats

Oh dear   :doh:

he doesn't learn does he oh well.

I'm losing patience with Brown now.....

What a load of shit.....be is watching the same games as us?!




I hope he gets to push humble pie down my throat at 5pm.....

Looks like PB has picked his favoured starting 8.
Why does he persist with the wrong line up, to begin games week in week out?
He must want the sack so he can go back too Hull for free.

I am not going to write us off before the game starts but that line up doesn't inspire me at all, there is no way I would start with Vigs, McCourt, Richards, Romanski, Dunne or McGlashan.

I hope I am wrong but that side looks entirely lacking an attacking threat.

Now watch us go there and win 3-0!

No Doughty, Keshi, Eli, Alzate... Jesus that's a diabolical XI. PB is doubling down on negative shite.

Doughty and Woolery both injured worse than they thought originally. Disappointed Toums isn't even on the bench but IMO we do need Bayo, Keshi and Alzate starting.

Doughty fine last week so can't be his cut from the Cambridge game?

For me, fit players alone we should line up

                       McCormick

Knoyle    Woolfenden    Nelson    Taylor

                       Diagoraga

              Smith               Alzate

McGlashan                                 Anderson
 
                        Adebayo

According to Brown it is, his foot has swelled up Shaun Hodgetts just said.

I’ll need a whole bottle Rioja to get through this one.

As mentioned by some last week we won more by luck than judgement and Brown continues with his dreadful picks. Hope I’m wrong but can’t see us getting away with it two weeks in a row.

Just arrived and it's another decent turn out. Our hard-core following deserve better than that XI.

But hey, you never know. Maybe PB is a football genius and knows exactly what he's doing.

I'm losing what tiny bit of patience I had left with Brown.  I appreciate there are some injuries, but ffs use the best players that are available.  Pathetic starting line-up!

In his pre match press conference PB aluded to Colchester's attacking strength on the wings, good job he's playing an old hack and a youngster out of his normal position on the left then. This, I feel, will be a hard watch.

😂😂

Bayo starting instead of Richards.

Is Richards on the bench now then?

Richards decided he's not up for it and got a "strain".

Regardless, many on here writing off the team before a ball is kicked. Fucking state of some of our fans.

Must have moved pension pick up time

When you’ve had 4 years of watching a diminishing club it’s hard to remain positive

Hey, I know exactly what you mean and at times it is bloody demoralising. The Preston Play Off Final knocked me for six, purely because we had a team that could at least have shown some desire. People can say what they want about Di Canio but I used to go to and leave every game pumped. Even if we lost. The come down has been pretty shit.

Still, I'll never knock us before a ball has been kicked.

Romanski...joke ffs

Quite end to end so far, Col U have some pace, we are looking a bit more solid than last week. Dunne has messed up a couple of good positions but looks lively.

We're actually not playing badly. It's an improvement on recent games anyway.

Do you have an iFollow season ticket or do you pick and choose?

I just pick and choose

Colchester are bypassing midfield almost totally and playing down the channels with pace.

Smith making some good challenges but his long range passing is pretty poor so far today.

Much better than last week but a real lack of anything in the final third.

Romanski is very suspect though. Needs to chill out and not hack at everything.

Taylor looking a lot better with Romanski behind him covering him.

Give and take I guess.

Definately.

Romanski seems to be trying to boot it long whenever it comes to his standing foot rather than swapping it with his left to find a red shirt with a shirt pass.

Norris wins a header and it goes 5 yards wide.

Just me who doesn’t mind that starting XI.

Although I didnt see it when Richards was in it.
Works as a 3-5-2 or a 4-5-1 perhaps even a 4-3-3 if needed.

McGlashan wins a header and connects with his own header making the keeper save.

Needless booking for Col U capt Prosser for a silly foul on McGlashan.

You need a mobile striker in the system. It's working with Eli in so much that he's leading the press and the midfield three have balance. He's also... Ok at holding it up.

Concur.

Richards has no place in our XI anyway - let alone in a team shaped like ours today

Norris free kick from 25 to 30 yards goes 20 yards over the bar!

Nelson has shoulder issue according to the radio..

As a complete aside, Kyle Knoyle is having a decent game up against Nouble. Maturing into a very good RB at this level.

Knoyle is my POTY so far Panda. Rarely has a duff game.

Agreed.

Ref giving Colchester everything.

Knoyle is very good up against a strong and fast Nouble.

Lancashire has only made one error so far too, hes not doing badly today.

Norris off injured right on HT.

We're defending well. If the mission is containment, it's mission accomplished so far.

It will be interesting if and when we look to Keshi, Alzate etc.

Looked serious. Not moved for a few mins.

….following a shot 20 yards too high.  nothing against the guy but not much change there then.

Well, I've been wrong so far. Delighted too.
 
- Crap team selection - 0-0
- Norris bound to score - injured

Richards being injured in the warm up helped, hate to say that

Dunne started ok but he gets a nose bleed when around their box, he also made 2 very poor tackles, Alzate in his role would give us a better outlet today IMO otherwise the rest of the side haven't done badly at all so far.

Gonna be at least 5 mins added after this injury to Norris.

Oh.

OH FFS. Batch you utter utter dick.

1-0 to them

Ffs, the injury to Norris works against us.  Why the hell can't we concentrate?

Lost the player in the box, our players looked miles away and it was an easy goal from 15 yards out after a Nouble cross.

HT a bit unlucky to be a goal down really.

7 players in the fucking box and the fucking fuck didn't pick up the man running in. Fuck.

Brown out

Ridiculous team selection if we don’t win today that 7 wins in 27 under him it’s simply not good enough

Buggar! 0-0 HT would've been nice and gave us an outlet to go for it in the 2nd half. Just as Norris goes off we think that little bit of luck is lingering around for us. Nope!

Not over by a long stretch and if Colchester play like this every week and are 5th then we can at least hope that it won' take a lot to get ourselves up there.

Agree that Richards' injury pre game was kind of a blessing as Crazy works better in the hold up role. He needs someone like Alzate to lay off to for the long range efforts and then pick up the scraps after.

Plenty to go yet.

Pretty sure that was Lancashire allowing Nouble to walk around him in the box.  Not as bad as last week but there is nothing going forward.  Contained them but clearly we don’t have the players to sustain that.  

Very frustrating, perversely might do us a favour in that we should see some attacking substitutions much sooner than we may otherwise have.

Not much happened at all really other than the injury and the goal.

Oh please do fuck off OutletDread.

Say again?!  ;)

Agree mate.

A repeat of last week will do nicely.

Would do Alzate for Dunne now. Dunne isn't having a bad game, but as the furthest forward of the three, we need creativity and quality there now.

Another game, another experiment.  It cannot help the players having to constantly think about where they need to be, who does what etc.  We know footballers need a simple plan.

He’s right though.

7 wins in 27 is atrocious

1_0  down only maybe a sneaky 2-1to us could happen. :pint:

If you think Brown keeping his job relies on beating the team with the best home record in the division then you're worse than I thought.

Might as well have sacked him after Notts County if that's your thinking.

Anyways, hopefully we find a way to get back into this game.

Attacking wise we offer little, both Bayo and McGlashan both coming back and defending too often.

We need Alzate and or Anderson for that bit of extra skill and pace when we attack.

Colchester are not very good and easily beatable, Smith doing well right up until either his final shot in the box or his long pass, his running and short passing and tackling are not bad at all.

The game is by no means over, we could still win this like we did last week, defensively Colchester look a bit shaky and their keeper fumbled a couple of crosses earlier on in the game.

We need to get the ball wide for McGlashan or Taylor to get some balls in the box, we have no width today.

If in doubt, it's Lancashire, Taylor or Richards. :-)

Have to agree as well.  It's relegation form.5

Richards hasn’t made any mistakes today

I have a feeling we won't lose today.

Its statistically worse than Malpas FFS!

That is saying something! can't be far behind Hart now TBH.

My biggest issue with Brown is he seems to be gradually making the team worse.  The fact we are still changing formations and players game by game is a worry.

Still, the game/season isn't over yet.

Lets have it Town

He's being a trolling dick like Processed Meats and StefTroll. The position at the end of the season is what matters, not stats carried over from the previous one. Of course, we can all use stats to whatever favourable light we wish to shine in.

For e.g

The average football manager has a win rate of around 30%.
PB has won 7 out of 27 games (SO FAR)
PB win rate is 26% (at Town TO DATE)

So he's a little below average. Not atrocious. Not if we take into account statistical averages.

His season win rate to date is;

Won 5 out of 17 games
Win rate is 29.5%

So he's about average. Not atrocious.

 :)

Lancashire down injured.

Depending on what your expectation of life in division 4 is, that's not good enough.

I would take off McGlashan and Dunne and bring on Anderson and Alzate.

Conroy may have to come on for Lancashire.

Complete bollocks.

7 wins in 27 is atrocious no matter how you dress it up.

that would make sense but Brown leaves it to late :crash:

Lancashire off and Conroy on.

Reality check. Town are in their 2nd season in L2 already. Do I want Town to be in L2? Of course not.

My response was purely to define the over reaction of some "atrocious stats". When the facts are, the average football manager has a win rate of c30%. It was display that we can define stats whichever way we like. The most important one being where we are come early May.

Alzate on for McCourt.

Good effort from Pell from 25 yards out just wide with a lot of power.

So Malpas was average?
Even Williams was a 26.7% win ratio.

Oh please is that the best you've got. My point was representative stats. Take that as you wish. If you're a negative cunt then you'll likely look at any stats that way. Negative cunt.

With Dunne going back into the role McCourt was in I can't see him coming off now, I would think McGlashan could be subbed for Anderson.

If we suffer no more injuries.

I’m realistic.

7 wins in 27 is atrocious.

You’re a little bit weird.

You may have to accept that 90% of our fan base think 7 wins in 27 in League 2 isn't good enough. Doesn't make anyone a cunt.

Of all the hills to die in, PB doing an OK job is a weird one.

Change of formation with Anderson on for Romanski.

Decent save from Vigs from a good effort from wide.

Not sure why people are using games involving another manager’s team.

5 in 17 is the record to use, still crap

I’d ignore Bamboo tbf. Brown could be on a 100 game losing streak and Bamboo would still be content. I think he just likes the attention

I think we've had one shot on goal all game?

The same old problems still exist.

For a winger....McGlashan can't cross a ball.

Yep McGlashan in the first half.

We just don't shoot.

....because Brown was still the Manager?

Kellan Gordon scores for Lincoln

Ricky Shakes Mk2 (c)

soapy tit wank, Oxford have thrown a 3-0 lead away.

Fucking stay on your feet McGlashan ffs.

Smith clear on goal with just the keeper beat and he fires it almost at the keeper, our best chance by far.

You missed the bit about them not them being his players then, as you were.

Sounds like I’m defending the fella here!

Going by the average win rate of a football manager then Williams was below average. I didn't say that it brought success. It's just a defined stat.

If we had data that said "but he also drew 70% of games then we'd be looking at a manager with a very low loss %. So it's down to how you interpret them.

Malpas. Wasn't average. He had an "average win rate" if he had a WR of 30%. If we combined his LR (Loss Rate) then we'd have a wider picture.

MM =

W 13 = WR 31%
D  11 = DR 26.2%
L  18 =  LR 42.8% 

I think we can all agree that while he had an average WR%, MM had a high LR%

PB actually has managed 30 games and has

W 9  = 30.00%
D 11 = 36.66%
L 10  = 33.33%

So PB is to date with Town. Pretty bang on average.

OMG Anderson should have put that in, great passing and Anderson fires wide from 15 yards out with just the keeper to beat.

No, I didn’t miss it.
Just pointing out that it’s not a stretch to include all the games Phil Brown has managed when looking at Phil Browns managerial record.

Its amazing what happens when you play attackers.

Dull, boring, negative, weak shite. Exactly the same as last week.

Fucking play some attackers. He has to be finished here.

Bamboo are you watching today? Did you watch list week? The two home games? Do you really think this is average? Acceptable?

Town getting a bit of a grip on the game since Anderson has come on.

Anderson tries a shot from 20 yards after a good turn, nice effort which Dunne was not far from.

3,227 there today.

Just saw Anderson's miss. Jesus. Striker my ass.

I haven't said his record is good. I've merely stated he is average.

You'd think some of you are still shitting yellow the way you go on.

Any way, come on Town!

I never mentioned good. Do you watch the games? Genuine question. If so, are our performances ok?

Average in L2 isn’t fucking good enough

Average isn’t good enough.

Average isn’t good enough.

Average is definitely not good enough, and we can't even manage average most of the time.

How far are we going to fall before something gets done? :zzz:

As things stand 7 points off POs, 8 off the drop zone.

The worry isn't the points difference at this stage of the season, though its not ideal. Its the complete lack of attacking chances created during the games, coupled with a team selection that is seemingly pulled out of a hat every two weeks.

McGlashan dives again in the box and is booked.

We can still get something from this game, its by no means over.

Doesn't help when at home, fans are booing players during the match, when they touch the ball. You now...like they're an Oxford player or something. Then we've got a bunch that love to chant the Tommy Robinson chant. A good chunk aren't exactly making it any easier.  It's not wonder player don't want to play for us if that's the environment. Comes with the territory but some of the stuff just isn't acceptable from the fans either.

Average doesn't mean it's acceptable. It's just meh. We're not going to go down but we're not likely to go up either. Browns season WR has him at 29% (5 from 17). It's currently below average for the season. So far. I've not said that I think it's good enough.

5 minutes.

we had two chances "with just the keeper to beat" on the previous page....

Lots of timewasting gamesmanship by Col U, understandable but fucking annoying.

Looked a correct decision from the replay I've seen too.

Are you his mum?

For the third time, do watch the games and if so, do you think this is OK?

We definately created enough chances to win the game, good chances today, but we need to create much more chances than we actually do.

Definately.

Fair enough. 'Relatively few chances that are rarely converted' then. A lack of quality/composure/confidence.

That was an awful dive by Nouble.

We create chances for the 15 mins we play our best players. Imagine if we played them for 90?

Definately.

We created as many good chances today as Colchester have, we have just lacked the end product.

I fear we won't find out any time soon, but you are right.

We’d score 3 goals a game...









....and concede 4

He doesn’t watch the games imo. You could tell this a couple of weeks back when we played Cambridge. Kept on giving stats about how Town were dominating yet everybody who watched the game thought town were shit and Cambridge deserved their win. Just take his comments with a pinch of salt.

Get fucking shot of this muppet

 :harp:Oh there's always next week.

He’s got to go.

Grrr.

So sounds like we've lost a match we should have drawn. But once again it took the subs, bringing on our better players, to make us play better.

Concrete, viable replacement suggestions?

You're really clutching at straws now.

I don't agree with booing players but we're not crap because of the booing, people are booing because we're crap.

Michael Flynn

2nd week in a row PB picks and starts with the wrong team, how can he not see that?

Losing patience with him now.

We should have got at least a point but we can't score despite getting in good shooting positions.

The players again looked like they had no idea where they should be at times but they all have the quaility to achieve things but its the tactics that aren't working.

We looked OK for 10 minutes, with another masterclass of attacking ineptitude for the other 80.

didn't watch the game today.  it seems we kept it much tighter first half than last week and looked more dangerous in the second half.  A tad unlucky not to share a point.

Pretty toothless in attack...for whatever reason.

I would hope Power is making discreet enquiries but who knows what he finds acceptable.  

Looking better when the subs come on then not starting them the next game.Thats an annoying habit

I've only watched one game this season and we were dire, created nothing and had less than three shots. Something is majorly wrong and the game plan (if there is one) obviously ain't working. If us lot with next to no football managerial experience can see that, why can't the club?

From what I saw from the highlights on twitter we looked much better in the second half after Alzate and Anderson came on.

Brown is an absolute shitebag who needs to go. Sorry this season way below par.

Bungle from rainbow? Diane Abbot? The homeless fella I pass most lunchtime on my stroll, a fucking amoeba. Anyone!!

Duncan Ferguson

It was exactly the same last week. OK Adebayo made a big difference too last week. None of them were starting again this week despite the shit show of the first 30 last.

Thankfully it was better this week defensively, not that it ultimately much matters. Little positives I suppose.

All those calling for Brown to be sacked - serious question - what makes you think Power will make a decent appointment in his place? He’d probably go for the cheap option and stick Taylor in charge for the rest of the season - if that’s what you all want then fine. We should not be sat in 16th place in the 4th tier, but in my opinion our position reflects the decisions of only one person and that’s the chairman. The buck stops with him.

Its a fair question. If the answer is Taylor then maybe we should be a bit cautious...

But 6 points, 8 games. It can't carry on. The clock is ticking for Brown.

Moronic leaving your better players on the bench.

You can't ask the subs to save the day week on week. Scrapping around mid table isn't good enough IMO. I'd be looking at a change ASAP. Don't think it's going to work.

How's about fucking do one.

StefTroll doesn't want Town to win imo. You can tell this every single match and even more so when we lose. Keeps on giving the same negative lines Just like your pal Processed Meats. Just take his comments with a pinch of salt.

I do watch the games. I admitted when I did the Cambridge game that I struggled to watch and comment on the game.

We've got our traditional winter lull starting soon too.

Yes. I've been his Mum all his life.

This is tiresome.

Brown was a reasonable appointment for this division and probably did not come cheap. Flitcroft was also a decent appointment on paper. Ling was doing well. Cooper has us one game away from the Championship. Williams was a punt (the problem there being that Power dithered).

It's all very well being able to be critical of appointments with the power of hindsight, but there's not much else that can be done. Unless you have a magic ball that you could lend to Power.

Agree to a point but Brown has decent enough tools at his disposal to have us doing better than we are.

It's not Power's fault Phil Brown keeps fucking up on a match day. It's not like we're scraping a fit XI to play each week. It's Brown's squad and he's getting nothing like the best out of them.

Just not good enough from the Manager.  That game in isolation wasn't that bad, we could easily have got a point or sneaked a win, but it's the context of the other games around it - we are losing the good things we had earlier in the season.  We look less ropey at the back but still likely to have a moment like today where a few players fall asleep, putting us behind.  We clearly cannot soak up a game - last week we got the win by reverting to type - i.e the way we set-up early in the season.  Brown is tinkering and making a dogs mess of the team.  Players falling over each other, having to think far too much about what they are being asked to do now.  We must have played six formations over the past two games alone.  He's has long enough to have developed a pattern of play, he hasn't, it's all on him.  There are moments in games where we show we have more than enough to be a team that should be up the top end, it's his job to extract that for longer in games.

On the players, Adebayo is worrying me, I don't know that he has a position.  We already have Anderson who has no natural position on the pitch.  The chopping and changing isn't helping them, but Adebayo is playing himself out of form right now.

Dunne has done alright the past few games - that's good news for him, but probably highlights our issue because he is one of our worst players!

McCourt seems steady but little more.

Taylor wasn't exposed today - but didn't really offer much either.

Thought Knoyle had one of his poorer games.  Not bad, but not offering much threat going forward.  You'd think he'd work well with McGlashan, but the latter hogs the line and prevents Knoyle getting forward I think.  Plus McGlashan is clearly useless and falls over at a hint of breeze.

Alzate looked useful, just as he did last week.  We have to get him n the team and use him to his advantages.  he is the most creative player we have and we should be trying to build our attacks around him.

Nelson was ok, Conroy ok bar one silly flick that put Romanski in trouble, and Romanski looked ok at left back but isn't going to do much going forward other than getting himself out of position - which he did a couple of times.

Smith was probably the best player for us over the 90 minutes.  He does waste a few balls, and I think if he squared the ball we had a tap in rather than shoot at the keeper.  However, he pushes the team forwards.

Yep totally agree - it’s not good when you still don’t know your best lineup in November! Some of the selections just seem to be clutching at straws looking for it to click...and it clearly isn’t.

I do watch the games. Mainly on ifollow due to location. I'll get to as many "live" games as I can though.

I've already said I don't think it is ok and I don't think it is good enough but reality says we're in our 2nd season in L2. Largely not helped by Power not being divisive in sacking Luke Williams when in L1. We're here now. Most important is we figure a way out (upwardly).

I'm all for going for an up and coming non-league manager or retiring player. That would probably be a 'cheap' option, but the cost is not a deciding factor for me. Obviously, because I'm not paying. I just feel it's the best option.

It's all very well bemoaning 'cheap' appointments, but how many 'expensive' managers would manage in L2? How many 'expensive' managers are there in L2 currently?

I'm purely talking about booing our own players, when on the ball, during the game. At home. If that's your bag, fair enough but I won't boo my own player on the ball.

You can wash this any way you like, but the basic truth is we are currently dreadful. How much of that is down to the manager or the players the manager recruited doesn’t really matter.

The end result is the same and my finger is pointing at Brown - and it’s vertical and not horizontal.

IMHO Brown has created a rank average Lg2 side, having been given the means to create a squad capable of being promoted and he isn't capable of galvanising them to over achieve. This team will amount to mediocrity at best under Brown, best case scenario.

starting away games with a more defensive, limited team and then bringing on the likes of Alzate and Anderson as the game opens up generally in the 2nd half doesn't sound shocking in itself.

Don't feel Bayo is up to being a target man and Richards certainly isn't.  Someone like Nile Ranger could open things open a lot more for the two we have though as well as the midfielders.

Could be Vigs out for a fee and a striker in. I'm still hoping to be proved wrong but it looks like Brown has run out of time to deliver and STFC should not be caught short as we plan a 2nd half to the campaign.

Shame.  Hated Flitcroft but like Brown.

 Well not a bad afternoon, Flitcroft's lot pulled out a last gasp equaliser at Whaddon Road, which keeps them 10 points below, we need a cushion there as they've 6 bonus points coming along.  Notts also lost a late winning position.  As at the start of the thread, I said today was a free shot, and by all accounts we nearly nicked a point.

Bambi is wrong on his assumption that we can't go down.... that will hinge on the home form turning around, as this run of winless games is our worst ever in Div 4, and will need to change pdq, if we're not to get dragged in, I don't really want a campaign where our FL future is in doubt.  

Although Macc look booked in for 1 slot, plenty had Morecambe booked in for the other a few weeks back now they're 4 points off of us.

Still a cup game coming up, so no need to worry about things for a fortnight  :pint:

On the bright side we can still achieve 108 points 😃

A free hit today, we’ve avoided a real dent being put in our goal difference and we remain above the dotted line....it isn’t a disaster.

I'd be gobsmacked if we got a fee for Vigs.  Brown's clutch game was last week, today was a free shot. He'll get a few more games now, to try and turn the home form around.

And we’re still in the FA Cup.

And the Boycott.

It can't be as we won last week. You can't be on a winless run when you won in the last match.

Under Beamish in 84 we went 8 games without winning once. In fact we won just twice in 15 games at one point in early December to March.

At some point if things don’t improve Mr. Hawes or Powers friendly BBC phone in mate Shaun Hodgetts should ask Brown if he was the owner would he sack him?

I'm sure we've all had friends or relatives who have no interest in football, say to us "I can't see what all the fuss is about, it's just 22 men kicking a ball around" and you may tell them to fuck off or just smile indulgently because we all know there is far, far more to it than that and they will never be able to grasp just how much more it does actually mean.

For me today though, it was exactly that. It was dreary, dull and joyless. The first half was one of the worst I've ever seen. The second started off pretty much the same until the subs were made when we actually showed a little bit of life. Fuck knows what Brown was doing with that team selection, it was pathetic but meh, whatever. Fair play to all of you who still care enough to debate the merits of various players, formations, the manager, refereeing decisions, Power etc, I really can't be fucked with it. I feel like the life has been sucked out of me where STFC is concerned.

This is is the complete quote....


Ken Beamish only ever managed a run of 4 home games without a win

Reg would be so proud of your statistical prowess.

He is Reg. HTH.

Vigs could be better than the current Liverpool keeper - and the Arsenal keeper - based on an enjoyable TV match tonight.  He certainly won't fetch a fee after January.  Either way, we have the luxury of two very decent keepers, one with rather more potential, except on the fee front.

I think the time has come NOW for STFC to start trying to identify a probable replacement for Brown who now looks to be on the verge of definitively underachieving.  If we get 12 points from the next 6 and the form matches the points then perhaps not.  No harm preparing the ground now.

I think a replacement for Brown would need to be watching the match streams and considering, with Power, what might need to be done in the January window.  We should be prepared.

As mentioned, not sure that Power sees it that way or what he regards as acceptable.  It's his call, innit.

Have we sacked the useless fucker yet

I said after the summer recruitment that there was nothing that indicated Power had any interest in anything much more than a midtable season with perhaps an outside chance of a PO slot. It's why in Div 4, down to 7th place  is available, gives the middling teams something to aim for until late in the season.

With that in mind Brown is doing pretty much as expected. As long as we don't completely implode, and start to really explore the nether regions of Div 4, he'll be OK.  Atm 16th is the lowest position we've ever occupied after a significant number of Div 4 games, namely more than 10 in the regulation season. 83/84 we only dropped to 17th after a couple of sides played postponed matches after our last game.

We need to make sure though we keep those 6 sides between us and the drop zone.

I can't see him surviving if we don't beat York.

Having said that, Power does seem to dither when it comes to fixing things. I don't have a problem with the appointments he's made, it's his inaction when things are not working that infuriate me. 

I actually hope we lose next week.

Fuck em, had a gutsfull now.

As I pointed out t'other day, losing to non league sides isn't usually a capital offence... Bert Head, Danny Williams, Lou Macari, Steve McMahon, Danny Wilson and PdC have all done it and not been sacked. Luke did it and wasn't sacked.... perhaps Malpas, but technically he got one more game and it was losing in the Boycott, that finished him.

it's it common knowledge that Doughty is part time, getting 2 days off a week to look after the families business interests?

Hadn't heard that before today. very odd thing to make up. very odd is true too

It seems more of a 0 hour contract to me with the amount of time he has had off.

:)

This is me since the spineless performance at Exeter. Or possibly longer.

And just to clarify (I assume you are of a similar view) this is not me throwing my toys out of the pram and saying "I'm never going again bla bla bla..." I will continue to look at TEF (and obviously post the odd piece of literary brilliance) and check out the Adver site and follow the scores on Soccer Saturday and the midweek programmes and and I'll probably even go to Stevenage and Cambridge on the basis that they're not a total ball ache to get to from here...but I'm just not feeling it. I feel totally empty and devoid of feeling when it comes to STFC. Sad, but 'it is what it is'...

The decline continues. I suppose like B Rovers and the piss stains, amongst other supposed League stalwarts, none of us can really contemplate the abyss.

But year on year uselessness and seemingly nobody to care less about it has taken its toll.

This is dire crap to be sure. Have we bottomed out? I doubt it. Is it terminal?

I honestly think that Power's been unlucky with the managerial appointment's he's made. I also think that he's just one 'lucky' appointment away from everybody feeling some love again.

That's not to say he's absolved of all blame, of course. He has played a huge part in us being where we are, but I also think he's been let down by some of his managers.

There’s a lot to be said for this. I think people were cautiously optimistic when he took on the job. He wasn’t a nobody. He can’t turn it around now though. Time to cut and run.

I've always been relatively pro-Brown but I can't see where we're going with him - it ain't up though, that's an absolute cast-iron dead cert...

Going backwards

Ok so here's my suggestion for the new Town manager …. Craig Bellamy.

No, hear me out.  He's been Academy coach at Cardiff for nearly 4 years and definitely wants to be a manager, agreeing terms with Oxford in Feb this year and then pulled out.  The main reason I'd go for Bellamy is due to the countless times I've heard former teammates talk about him on podcasts saying he was the best trainer at the club, always demanded the highest standards from others (which is why he tended to fall out with those who didn't pull their weight) and just had an overwhelming will to win. Opposition fans would hate him, which might at least get our fans going and create some form of atmosphere.

Who knows, he could be shite but I'd rather take a punt on someone like Bellamy being the next Macari, Ardiles, Hoddle etc than appoint another journeyman lower league version of Brown and Flitcroft like Keith Curle, John Sheridan or Justin Edinburgh - no thanks  :suicide:

We are where we are by design, each year our team gets worse. We endure a last minute rush for freebies and loans at the start of each season. We don't have a squad just a bunch of players 3 of which are finished and need putting out to pasture.
We all know where this is heading, unless there's a change in the way the clubs run, from top to bottom.
The alternative is going out of the league.

9th worst team in England’s league pyramid. Not good enough by a long way.

Before you all slit your throats, be wary of what you wish for. I saw poor old York City today, they lost 4-1 at home in a league 2 levels lower than us. The fans are at loggerheads with the owner, the ground has been sold from under their feet, and they’re about to move to a soul-less new ground in a shopping centre miles out of town.

Could easily be us if we’re not vigilant.

BTW they’re not a bad team on that showing, strangely enough. Captain/centre back sent off after 25 mins, they’ve got a new manager, a bunch of solid giants inc a decent striker, Burrow, skilful midfielder Moke and big Jon Parkin coming off the bench. Wouldn’t surprise me if they bullied us into a draw, gives us a chance to visit a real old ground before the bulldozers do their worst.

Excellent post Wilf. There's a lot of complacency amongst Town fans atm...  we are where we are, because we're not very good, perhaps not bad enough to drop, but we may well flirt with it. Be interesting to see how much difference there is between us and a Conference N side... last year we had a bit too much for Dartford, a S equivalent, but we're not as good this season.

A bit too much? We fucked em by 5

I imagine we'd probablhy win the conferece south, and maybe make some money on the way back up.

I quite fancy us for first team to play in premier and then go down to non-league. Weren't we the first to do levels one and four since the 1992 prem reinvention of everything?

I had this epiphany after a home game (maybe Oldham?) when Paul Hart was in charge. I missed more home games under Hart than I had in the previous 20 years.

I’ve been to 3 games since, watched 2 games on the TV and watched 3 minutes of our play off final before I switched off.

I genuinely feel like a recovering addict whose life got a lot better & more enjoyable when I binned off the hardcore fandom and down graded to being a ‘supporter’ ‘follower’ whatever terminology you want to use.

The PdC era nearly bought me back in. I will be honest, I fucking loved the swagger, the slight hint of arrogance and degree of hate it bought us.
It felt like everyone want to see us fail and we turned that into comradery (was he the Italian boy?) and stuck two fingers up to everyone. Our attitude was to work harder than everyone and strive, no demand perfection. Anything less wasn’t good enough. That galvanised the fan base.

Now, we have no comradery, no ambition, no desire to progress and nothing about us. I know I’ve said it before but we are just here to make up the number; a pathetic existence.

I’d imagine following Swindon each week feels like a chore & is strongly advise anyone who feels that way to reassess their priorities and decide whether it’s really worse it (it isn’t)

Aside from all of that Brown is doing a terrible job and should be gone first thing Monday morning

York really were shafted by their owners I believe?  A case where owning a ground turned out to be a curse. 

Not the same but I believe Ground ownership by the Trust can give the supporters a close  equivalent of a "golden share" in STFC

That's all well and good Will but what does it actually mean in real terms? There's fuck all we can do about it when it comes down to it.

Believe me, every time I've looked at the Conference table in the last 15 or so years and seen the likes of Chesterfield, Lincoln, Cambridge, Grimsby, Orient, Hartlepool, Wrexham etc (some of those have obviously come back up albeit after a good few seasons at that level) I have thought to myself "There but for the grace of God go STFC and who is to say it won't be us at some point?"

That's not to mention the likes of Stockport, Hereford, Darlington and most pertinently, next week's opponents York who have slipped even further down the greasy pole. Did the fans of those Clubs fail in their vigilance? I'm pretty sure all any of them could do was sit back and watch their Club go to hell in a hand cart.

The two highlights yesterday were 1. The sun finally going behind the the stand opposite just around half time (although that meant we had a better view of what was happening on the pitch so that was a mixed blessing) and 2. The thought there are enough teams even worse than us for us to not go down - this season at least - although having just looked at the table I see we're only 10 points ahead of the drop zone so maybe as Reg says, that's me being complacent. We'll see.

Edit: ...oh yes...and next week will be one hell of a battle which I can imagine us being totally unprepared for.

Would't put any money on us to go through.

we will ease past York unless Brown plays the youths. given his job is on the line he will take it seriously.

with regards to being vigilant, you are absolutely right. Personally I think the only thing the fans can do in such circumstances is to unite in protest. Not because it'll make a difference, but because it's all they can do.

The problem is that there is no logical reason why we should suddenly improve. We are lacking dreadfully up front and no matter what combo Brown comes up with in his seemingly muddled mind we are still slack at the back and have no creativity in midfield.

A perfect storm.

I get the impression that Brown is managing like someone safe in the knowledge that he will still be here in May and probably next season as well.
No real evidence, just the comments about experimenting and needing to see more of some players on the pitch etc.

Had a quick look at the teams who made the autos in the last couple of seasons and all of the managers were at least in their second full season with their clubs and some had gone through a season or two of struggle as well.

I dunno.

As for the game.
Made it to the place where the shuttle buses normally wait.
Nothing there. Waited at another bus stop for a few minutes. Then headed off home.

Couple of home games coming up and 3 wins out of 4 suddenly doesn't sound so bad ahead of the visit to Port Vale.
Yeah I know.

:hmmm:

There’s nothing to suggest Brown’s job is on the line. He isn’t under pressure from the fan base, sure a fair few groans online, but we aren’t at a stage where we are seeing protests or even any chants questioning his position.

Reg has summed it up far better than I can but ultimately we have seen nothing to suggest the owner was serious about mounting a promotion bid this season, so I’d say we are performing as expected. That yesterday’s opponents were able to poach our best striker with a bid we couldn’t refuse speaks volumes.

Fans need to adjust their expectations and face up to the admittedly grim reality - we are simply making up the numbers and that will remain the case until there’s some real investment. In the meantime, every season above the trap door should be considered a success.

ok fair comments.

I don't expect him to get sacked after losing to York, but i do expect a fan reaction of it happened. a tipping point.

if we continue with the current league form will see him gone at Christmas. Because we'd be in a relation slide. We won't lose though.

Agreed, should we be properly sucked in then his position would be untenable and I’m sure even Power would recognise that. I admire your optimism re. York but we’ve seen better sides lose similar matches....hopefully we go for it from the off and can put the match to bed early doors.

Power's commitment to playing success is very questionable, but

That yesterday’s opponents were able to poach our best striker with a bid we couldn’t refuse speaks volumes.


bit of an exaggeration.

loadsa pens and a 1 in 4 striker with the touch of a..........?  that striker?  I was pleased to see the back of him and for a fee was great.  (decent worker but best striker, really?). Richards with 11 from 20 was the clearly our best striker. 

last season. 

I was simply quoting PB in the week, I was also glad to see him move on and consider him one of the worst finishers I have seen at the club. However, it is hard to argue that our failure to replace him could cost us at the end of the season.

missed Brown's comments.  fully agree that the lack of a replacement has proved highly damaging.  Bayo needs someone to feed off and indeed to learn from. 

Given the injury problems and the possibilty of clubs not wanting their loan players used, we may have little choice other than sticking out anybody who is available...

Bayo was looking very good not so long ago, I was very excited by him. Brown seems to be making players underperform individually and collectively.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this season Brown is under instruction to keep us in this league on an agreed and accepted tight budget, with the purchase of the ground being the catalyst for an increased budget underpinned by other investment streams based on the procurement of SN1 next season.

The longest serving gaffer in Div 4 is Jim Bentley. He does a fine job in keeping Morecambe in the league, could he do a Coleman at some point?

The next 2 are McGreal and Cooper, both May 2016, and both clubs ColU and FGR are benefitting from that bit of stabilty.

4 consecutive seasons of failure - each becoming more desperate and damaging than the last. It seems to matter not what manager is here or what squad is assembled, the entire club seems to be plunging headlong down the leagues.

This season feels like the season before we got relegated from L1. Did OK to stay up but the regression continued the next season and down we went.

Lack of success, and yet again entertainment, is going to see diminishing attendances followed by a playing budget cut and the whole sorry situation getting even worse.

With certain players seemingly ostracised from the squad entirely on the flimsiest of excuses points to not all being well behind the scenes, too.

Pre game Brown and Bayo were interviewed and they both said there was one of the happiest off pitch squads they have ever had, and I think they both genuinely meant it, there was no hesitation when asked about off field things from either of them.

Also the behind the scenes film with Jimmy Bullard he commented about the good feeling in training.

On the pitch that doesn't come accross though.

Under PdC the players were scared of him, with Williams the players treated him as a mate and he wouldn't reprimand them, under Cooper the players didn't respect him. I don't know how the players look at Brown but his tactics are obviously confusing them.

If they're happy under these circumstances then we are doomed.

 :bye:

(https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6Mbsv3wXbIS3dpNS/giphy.gif)

(https://media.giphy.com/media/vMPqEsML6cWRy/giphy.gif)

One curio about Div 4 is that the points needed to stay up can vary quite alarmingly each season.  To give an indicator we know from many dire Div3 campaigns  that 52 is usually cut off, Ok we went down in 81/82 with 52 but it's only happened a couple of times, since 3 points for a win.

However in Div 4 in the last few years you can find teams 3rd bottom on 42/43.... and teams relegated on 50/51.  In other words if you've a couple of basket cases you can get away with the lower points total, but a season where you don't have 2 the points required is pushed up.

So this year, already Macc are looking booked in, however we've yet to go there and have a 100% losing record at Moss Rose... that will need to change.  Another imponderable atm is Cheltnumb, are they going to show signs of revival  :hmmm:, our problem with them is that we've yet to play them, and we know what happens when we do.  Trying to reverse recent history v Numb and picking up a couple of draws, may decide our fate this season.

It's interesting that Numb, went down the route of the sort of managerial change we will no doubt persue if Brown goes.... namely get shot of the experienced boss and promote from within, and then a newbie Duff, who's had 9 league games and not won.

Couple of games in the week where clubs use up their game in hand.  Notts v Oldham, the most interesting, a point for Oldham will drop us down to 17th.... but would keep a nice gap to Notts.  Grimsby at Mansfield, a win for the Mariners would bring them up to 3 points adrift of us. Mansfield hard to beat, mind.

I long for 2 points from Cheltenham

However in Div 4 in the last few years you can find teams 3rd bottom on 42/43.... and teams relegated on 50/51.  In other words if you've a couple of basket cases you can get away with the lower points total, but a season where you don't have 2 the points required is pushed up.
 
Based on our current form of 5 points from 6 games, we could be sailing a little too close to the wind this year.
We could be looking to retain our league status by the grace of others being more shite than us.