whilst I understand the point...
Clough managed in a time when you could buy and sell players whenever you wanted. Yes Sturrock has rid of some crap (well, what he thinks is crap anyway) but due to the highly ghey transfer window he cant bring anyone in.
Also Clough had money to spend where as Sturrock does, so if he wants someone in he needs someone out first and the only time that can be done is when the contracts run out which is at the end of the season.
Sadly, your lesson is out of date.
The lesson should read, if you come in mid-season and what you've got is doing alright stick with it till the end of the season....then start to mould your team.
Yes some of it is out of date, especially with Bosman. However, Sturrock appears to be a little like Clough in his approach. I totally agree that moulding a team was very risky approach while trying to achieve automatic promotion. The team Wisey built did have a spine, Brez, Ady, Evo and Peacock. I believe that Sturrock would have been a lot more successful without key injuries. We survived the loss of Brez through Smith (Wise apparently didn't rate him highly enough), we seemed to survive the loss of Evo (under Sturrock) even though he was key under Wise, but losing Ady while Evo is out, seemed to take all the confidence out of the team.
With players being made to leave, I don't understand why it took so long to decide to presumably replace Brown, Shakes and Roberts. Possibly, next season Peacock's career will be extended by converting him into a defender, or midfielder.
What isn't out of date is that you obviously win the game in the opponents half, and by keeping the ball out of your penalty area. Also, you "make" players. People thought Clough was insane at various times for signing Dave McKay, Larry Lloyd and then Kenny Burns. Nobody paid a fortune for a goalie, until Clough bought Shilton. All of a sudden, fans realised goalie's won points just as surely as strikers. Sturrock like Clough is "my way or the highway".
Clough always had players that could cross a ball. Whipping in a cross seems to be beyond our lot. If you are a wide midfielder, you can't run past a defender, and you can't cross a ball, or take a corner without putting it in row "F" find a new job. Sturrock appears to think that most of the players beyond the defense and central midfield can't play his way (e.g., Roberts) his way, or won't play his way (e.g., Weston). Obviously, if we are going to have a tilt at the play-offs (I think, probably like many, that automatic promotion is beyond us now), all of the current forward line has to go. I include Peacock, only because he is apparently not 100% fit.
If we are to believe Sturrock, putting together a decent team is more important than promotion. I don't think many buy that in this primitive league. However, seeing the nucleus of last year's team that got the club relegated, being disbanded is probably okay, as they obviously couldn't perform well enough in League One. I will give Wise credit, he got the best out of them, but Sturrock's issue appears to be that he didn't have sufficient respect for them to get the best out of them. I suspect, the injuries to Ady and Evo have been more destructive than trying to remould the team on the fly.
