What a difference from a few weeks back (well a couple of months ago)

[NZrobin]

Back in September there was real excitement and optimism with some excellent signings having been made.
There was talk on this forum about automatic promotion and the very least play-off's being achieved.
Now the latest topic on here is What a shambles and Power ripping off the club before he moves on...
From afar I simply can't see what has gone terribly wrong in 8 x short weeks
Except the manager has been sacked, players obviously not performing and now STFC are 2nd from bottom in the league and only the Wilts senior cup to look forward too.
Please, all the wise folk who approved of the signing that Power made explain their opinions of what has happened here..
Surely these reasons can't be all Powers fault to include
1/ There has been some serious issues with injures
2/ Cooper seemed disinterested after not leaving in the summer
3/ ...........................

COYMR's 
 


 

[Panda Paws]

Such a hard one to answer as there's no simple way of explaining what went wrong but the standout moment in my head is Col U at home. After all the signings and the excitement and the hype and positivity, Cooper managed to field the most shambolically set up XI in memory, Wes Thomas got injured and we lost at home to a pile of shite, who have gone on to prove what a pile of shite they are.

I've never left a game early until Saturday. There's absolutely nothing to enjoy about watching this side. Zero. Every single player on Saturday was shite, save Louis (who was marginally better). Not only were they shite, they were clueless and gutless too. Toxic combination.

They don't know what they're doing, they're (possibly) not good enough to do what they're meant to be doing, they don't escape that by working hard and fighting for second balls and as individuals, keep making horrendous errors. 

Up until Saturday I've been convinced we have the individuals to get out of this, but not any more. More despressingly, I've got no interest in going again any time soon, a sentence I never thought I'd say.

[Skinny Pete]

The plain and simple truth is that Power's recruitment for this season has been shown to be poor. Where, before, we spent cash on the likes of Luongo and Byrne the recruits have all be freebies (apart from the yet to be seen Jordan Stewart).

Whether he thought it was an easily repeatable thing I don't know. Some of the players recruited are way sub standard and there is the feeling that some of those brought in were done so solely with a view to a possible profit rather than actually be needed for the team - Bangoura springs to mind.

Easy after the event to criticise but it does make you wonder who actually recommended these players.

[Abrahammer]

Unpredictability is a good thing, the sport would be fucking dire otherwise

[Batch]

The truth should lie somewhere between. We aren't as good as we thought, and on paper we shouldn't be as bad as we are.

Injuries well and truly stuffed us, and I think we will pick up soon. But whether its enough is another matter.

One nagging doubt overriding the others is that we are lucky to have picked up some of the points we have. The teams defence (not just the back 3/4) is a massive, massive worry. But we've added more robust players...and yet ...


gaaaaaaaahh

[Honest Lee]

Unpredictability is a good thing, the sport would be fucking dire otherwise

That would be nice, but we are very predictable at the moment!

[Flashheart]

Ask me again in January when we'll have an idea of how managerial changes affected things.

[Tails]

I hope we're unpredictable enough to go on a 20 game 5-0 winning streak!

[Reg Smeeton]

Back in September there was real excitement and optimism with some excellent signings having been made.
There was talk on this forum about automatic promotion and the very least play-off's being achieved.
Now the latest topic on here is What a shambles and Power ripping off the club before he moves on...
From afar I simply can't see what has gone terribly wrong in 8 x short weeks
Except the manager has been sacked, players obviously not performing and now STFC are 2nd from bottom in the league and only the Wilts senior cup to look forward too.
Please, all the wise folk who approved of the signing that Power made explain their opinions of what has happened here..
Surely these reasons can't be all Powers fault to include
1/ There has been some serious issues with injures
2/ Cooper seemed disinterested after not leaving in the summer
3/ ...........................

COYMR's 
 

Froggy pointed out the discrepency between some posters thoughts and seeming reality....


Not to say I told you so, cos I didn't, and not criticising anyone, but it's worth remembering that three weeks is a long time in football, especially during an injury crisis.

Quote from: Oxfordhater on Friday, September 11, 2015, 21:19:19

Quietly confident we can really challenge again this year.

Quote from: joteddyred on Thursday, September 10, 2015, 19:49:17

Well well well.  Anyone who thinks Power doesn't want promotion needs to think again.

Quote from: EldeneRed on Thursday, September 10, 2015, 20:10:45

At this point, if we don't get at least a play-off place and stuff the pox in their shitty 3-sided box then something is very wrong.

Quote from: Benzel on Thursday, September 10, 2015, 22:36:32

Our squad looks so good I'm actually laughing.

Quote from: Kinky Tom on Friday, September 11, 2015, 00:05:47

Is this real?  Will we ever lose again?  If this is indeed real then our last 8 days worth of business have been damn impressive.

Quote from: Flashheart on Friday, September 11, 2015, 07:40:50

I know I'm jumping the gun a tad here, but I'm beginning to think that Power would be able to put together a team that could stay up in the Championship.... without running up debts.

Quote from: OOH!  SHAUN TAYLOR on Friday, September 11, 2015, 08:00:50

I know this is STFC where we've got used over the years to every silver lining having a cloud and every light at the end of the tunnel being a train heading straight towards us etc BUT -  I think it's fair to say we have every reason to be optimistic at this point in time  Yes

Quote from: Tails on Friday, September 11, 2015, 08:40:10

We've gone from certain relegation to automatic promotion very quickly! Amazing what a little patience can do...

I still think we'll end up midtable but its an exciting squad being put together.

Quote from: JayBox325 on Friday, September 11, 2015, 08:51:06

With the squad we have we should definitely push for autos.

Quote from: Nemo on Thursday, September 10, 2015, 19:00:37

I've just done a sex wee

There were some who pointed out the need for caution, because having to throw a bunch of players together and find a team is difficult....therefore the season's aim should be for 52 points and that being a decent achievement. A view incidentally, I still hold.

What is true as Tails pointed out elsewhere, that nothing much has changed from last year, other than we're shit. Power was always in the clear as long as results were OK, and always going to get a hard time when not. 

[JoeMezz]

I think the key point is the point that we haven't spent any money on recruits, and instead adjusted our wage budget to accomodate the signings of Thomas and Ajose.
Look back to last years team and we splashed out money on Byrne (100k), Luongo (400k), Foderingham (100k?), Obika (250k), Smith (100k) all with a view to making some profit on these players. With the selling of Byrne we lost one too many of these talented players and haven't coped
This seasons model seems to be getting players for free with a view to a profit but players like Barry are just not ready for league football, let alone league 1.
We will have to spend in January to stay up and will have to recruit players of similar ilk to Luongo (maybe Moncur from Colchester) with the view to cashing in on these players in 18 months time.

[Red Frog]

Who's gong to break it to NZ Robin that we're not entering the Wiltshire Senior Cup?

[Ardiles]

Between regular contributors to this forum, there must be hundreds (maybe thousands?) of years of collective experience of lower league football.  And no-one (myself included) foresaw the predicament we’re now in.  Not even Reg. 

I find that fascinating.  Basically, we’re all rubbish and we know #### all.  We’d be as well supporting a game of blind darts or ‘spin the bottle’.  We’re all emotionally (& financially) invested in a game of chance.

[Reg Smeeton]

Who's gong to break it to NZ Robin that we're not entering the Wiltshire Senior Cup?

Whilst not something of Power's doing...the lack of things like the WSC and Combination games, have helped to drive a wedge between the proper hardcore fan and the club.

[Red Frog]

Whilst not something of Power's doing...the lack of things like the WSC and Combination games, have helped to drive a wedge between the proper hardcore fan and the club.

Really? Were there more than 50 hardcore Combo and Wilts Cup regulars? And if they spent that much of their life at the club, are they that easily discouraged?

Edit: this is about you, isn't it.

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

When you watch home and away and can see that Barry and Rodgers are squad players at best and Pyjamas has been disappointing.
It is then difficult to understand the next week they remain in the first team.
If that is due to injuries, tactics or something else then it remains a concern.
If the 3 mentioned were replaced by "better" players and yes they were not part of the starting line up then I would feel mildly optimistic.
If we continue to play those 3 regularly then we are in trouble.