Thetownend.com

.......out!!

I'm really thinking this is what we need, i don't think he's getting the backing of the players or nothing. Don't think they respect him, and maybe feel he's not the right man for the job.
You've got too think, since taking charge what has he actually acomplished? Our form guide is preety appualing.
Don't mean to sound a bit grumpy or anything, just don't think he's the right person to get us up into the championship over the next 3 seasons or how ever long he's here for??

Views?

It still too early for me to be calling for change.

What worries me, deep in the recesses of my mind, is what if you are right? Next season could be a disaster. Basically, its fair to say I do have doubts right now!

Mixed bag for me really. I was hoping we'd turned the corner last week after the Carlisle game but i was obviously wrong. We do seem to be getting worse and that's 1 win in 9 now. I feel that if we were to give him the summer to build we may find ourselves struggling next season and have to get rid. By which time it could mean we have wasted 9 months and the money to boot. It's a catch 22 really. Do we chop and change in the summer to a proven manager or do we take the risk and stick with him for the summer?

Hehe i was waiting for one of these threads to start....

Unfortunately I think out.
We just seem to be getting precariously worse and worse it seems.
Id rather have  :king:  at this moment in time and thats saying something  :shock:

We wont progress anywhere with MM as manager im affraid.

I thought Carlisle was a turning point as well, then we go and lose two games on the trot. I will go to the remainder of the games but i do not have any motivation to be going.

Sorry to be the first to start a thread like this, just been on my mind so thought i'd share with you guys and gals.

MM has a squad full of Sturrock's ex players: I suspect this is a large part of the problem.

I won't be joining the M.O.B. now or any time in the future.  I think some people may have got a little too used to the protesting state of mind.  I'm convinced that if the fans actually got behind the team a bit more, instead of all this negativity we could have a hlaf decent chance of success next year.

these players seemed to perform ok for STurrock though didn't they?? Sturrock knew how to get the best out of his players and at least motivate them. The players look useless under Malpas now, so obviously something has changed.

Yes, and they performed for him because they were.... his ex players!

It's not that hard to work out, surely?!

To be fair though Jan, we've had a few appalling games, you must be able to see why people are pissed off with Malpas, especially today.

On the evidence of today you have to think that the only way we can get out of this division is by getting relegated.

It's not the players or formation that are the main problems, it's the utter inability to get the basics right.

I know what you are saying and I don't disagree. I suppose the big question is if, say, Jerel Ifil can't pass to a team-mate, is it Malpas's fault?

If it's because he won't perform for Malpas, do we sack Malpas, or do we ship out Ifil?

A lot of our players have been an absolute disgrace this year, and are getting away with it.

I get a bit fed up of hearing the players aren't being motivated, how old are they, five?

They're professional footballers for fucks sake! Do they really need any motivation apart from their own desire?

I still think it's too early to judge Malpas, but the players should be fucking ashamed of themselves today, a pathetic, spineless performance that actually embarrassed me.

I've defended Malpas so much recently but today was a fucking disgrace. I brought my girlfriend along and two Canadians who don't ever get to watch football... I was fucking embarrased, and ended up apologising to them. It says a lot when a Canadian girl who has never watched football and knows absolutely nothing about it, points out our mistakes.

Sort it out Malpas for fucks sake.

I met some friends afterwards who were Southend fans. What they saw was some gutless, lazy Swindon players who, largely, couldn't even do the basics right. Where is their professional pride and dignity?

How long until Kanyuka is fit?

We should have done better today.  We should have done better against better against Orient.  But it's far soon to call for the manager's head.  Way too soon.

We won't be going down this year.  (Despite today's defeat, we're actually safer now than we were this morning.)  So let's see how Maurice rebuilds in the summer.  If we can't even give the man a single summer to build his own squad, we're useless as fans.  Let's him some space, and judge if we have to later in the year.

7 games left.
Give him untill the end of the season. We aren't going to go down ( I hope) and if things don' improve then get rid.
But then I suppose if things don't improve we might go down.

It's more than that imo. Here's a list of some of the things I would like Malpas to sort out:

* Defending set pieces - every player should have a role and know what they are doing. No opposition player should be free in or around the box.

* Teach McGovern how to tackle.

* Tell players to offer movement for throw ins. We are mega crap at this.

* Teach the middle men that when we have the ball one (at least) needs to get forward.

* Defensive line needs to push up more. Defenders should mark their man tighter.

* Team needs more movement and cohesion in general. Every player should be looking to exploit space and give the holder of the ball options.

There's loads of other stuff, but it's all pretty basic. I'm not asking Malpas to teach them how to do Ronaldo stepovers or Ronaldinho flip-flap skills, just work out the basics in training and make the players get the basics right on the day.

Si - if it was that easy, you would be Manager and MM would be spending his time gobbing off on message boards.

Things are not great at the moment...but neither are they as black & white as you presume.  Give the man some space.

Again, I don't disagree with you in where we fall short, but these are all things that I would expect a professional footballer to understand how to do and be able to execute without having to have his hand held by the management team!

Except for McGovern not being able to tackle. If he's not up to it, then it's not the manager's fault. I've seen JPM pay for other sides and he's looked a quality player, but, sadly, he hasn't ever matched that here, even under Sturrock.

Perhaps, in hindsight, he looked good because he was invariably up against Nicholas.

and this will be the same problem we have next november when the next swindon manager is stuck with MMs players

Points not valid though, because Sturrock left him behind a decent team.

Usually our managers take over shit squads, not Malpas...

Some of those short comings have been going on for years, especially movement at throw ins, come on no one was having a go at Wisey or Sturrock about this.

This place (although no where near is as bad as Thisis) is beginning to have it's own "Blame Malpas/Canada" south park theme.

he has to go imo.the vast majority of town fans are against the bloke now.even those who said to give him time(myself included)have changed their opinions.the players have lost the plot and its just a matter of time until he gets the boot.

booing ifil because he's lost the plot is harsh. but i remember slating him and saying he shouldn't be a pro because of his awful touch and diobolical passing.but wise and poyet turned the lad around, and he continued to flourish under sturrock.as a man marker he is one of the best in the league.

generally i think we have a high proportion of thick idiots following the club. and the abuse players have recieved is nothing new.

if malpas had the personality of allen, no one would give a fuck.

Hang on a sec though DV, Sturrock may have left a mediocre side, but he left a side that was really firing on all cylinders.   We've struggled for goals/chances for some time now and he never really sorted that out.  Okay so he grinded results out but he never had us playing decent football.

Malpas should be given a year at the very least, and people should start giving him a bit of respect.  This is becoming a little embarrassing, some people (on the thisis site mainly) are really showing themselves up as village idiots.  It's a shame that the yocals are the ones making all the noise.

I wanted Wise and Sturrock and bloody Andy King to sort all the basic stuff out too - in fact Wise got most of it quite right imo.  They're basic principles so it won't need 3 months to sort out, more like a couple of weeks.

I'm not saying all our problems will be solved by doing this, but come on, if we're more organised we're more likely to get something from a game. That is black and white and if I'm gobbing off then so be it, because quite frankly what's the point of saying we were ok when we are not. We don't need to play like Brazil, but apart from the last 10 minutes we didn't do anything. That is rubbish.

I'm all for giving Malpas space, in fact I don't think he'll even read this. I haven't shouted "Malpas out" at a game once (well not in seriousness , perhaps once in jest when we were winning) , I am not on the guy's back at all. I am just saying what I'd like him to sort out.

If he can't sort this out by the end of the season then our future looks a bit worrying. I might be calling for his head at the end of the season in that case, but I won't at the moment. He needs time yes, but even a fool can see that things aren't improving and they need to. If they do all is good.

I'm still willing to give malpas time, but i am getting a little worried now. His formation is baffling, and the players dont look motivated anymore.

His time is up in my opinion, what has he brought to teh club? Burne brought in teh watford two and williams brought in timlin.

to steal a over used cliche, its a results business.

I dont give a flying fuck how we played under Sturrock he did the business we were tough to beat and got results.

Malpas has not carried this forward.

I suppose that is a personal thing, I love to see entertainment, coming out of the ground after the Carlisle match was a buzz, and that was after a draw.

I hate grinding out results, doesn't really do it for me anymore.  Fed up and going and watching shite, whether we get 0,1 or 3 points.

Long may we have McNamee in the side as I'd pay my entrance fee to watch a player like him week in week out.

I'd rather have a scrappy 1-0 win than an exciting 2-2 draw....

Obviously a win's better than a draw, but I'm just saying I'd almost prefer us to be a decent footballing side first, then results will take care of themselves.

I suppose that's an idealogy rather than a basis for football management though!

Paul sturrock was at the game today to see his best mate malpas, although sturrock didn't get him the job though did he  :-))(

You keep spouting this - back it up or can it. And don't start giving it the HP.

does it matter?

No, but it irritates me  :D

Although he was at the game, saw him leaving as I was trudging across the car park from my post-match "I don't belieeeeve it" at the County

It is to early really it is not his squad, so judge him by what we do at the start of next season 10 or so games in.

Having said that I am glad we have the points on the board in the table because some of the dross we are playing would lead to relegation otherwise.
I also don't like the fact that we have gone from 2 players off a play-off charge under Sturrock and looking completely useless. I guess that shows the quality of Paul Sturrock

Carlisle aside we have done neither.

As I said, I will give him until next Christmas before judging, but I am worried about doing so. We seem to have gone several steps back and the 'buzz' that Swindon Town should be generating after finally getting someone in (off the pitch) that knows what they are doing has long since gone.

Maybe as a fan base we would always moan about something? Is this what we have become? I don't think so, but I sometimes wonder.

I use Jerel Ifil as an example. Why was he so good under Wise and Sturrock yet so poor under King/Iffy and now Malpas? Is it down to personal player management? Why can't a manager who played 51 times for his country at centre back organise a defence properly. For me that's been the difference since Malpas has been here. Poor defence with no organisation and it's costing us.

Malpas was a full back Rich you knob jockey, which completely ruins your arguement.   :wink:

Oh sorry Jan my mistake. It's not my fault nobody had heard of him until he came here  :wink:

Give him until the end of the season then fuck him off. Just seems to get everything wrong in my opinion Formations tactical changes everything .

Commingues and Easton had been our best 2 players this year they are both playing out of position now with a perfectly capable left back sitting on the bench .

Blair Sturrock been playing well recently but is left on the bench when we are chasing the result in favour of Zaboub who has been ineffective on the left hand side in recent months let alone on the right hand side

Mcgovern has been shit on the wing and in the middle and our strikers are so low on confidence its scary yet as I said before the only one who has reason to be confident is left on the bench for 90 ficking minutes

As for Jerel Ifil and Aljofree they are looking like Sunday league footballers at the moment and im afraid that is down to one person

Comminges has done well at left back. Jack Smith looked good at right back until Southend. I don't think that's a fair point. Easton has got forward a lot more since his move to the right. I don't think he's particularly good at that position though, so I think that point is fair.



Well now you've just contradicted yourself. Funnily enough we only had one free substitute when Zaaboub was subbed on. If McGovern was as shit as you say he was (which I think he was) then surely you have to change it around a bit. The problem was mainly in midfield for the whole game, not up front.



It'll be interesting to see if that is right. I'm amazed that players can get so lazy and get back to bad habits so quickly. The basics seemingly need a lot of work I would agree.

I've just had a read about our great leader, he won the 1983 league title with Dundee Utd as a part time player, as he was studying for a Engineering degree.

Maybe he's here for the ground redevelopment work.  Good work AF, work smarter, not harder.

http://www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk/legends_mauricemalpas.asp

I haven't been critical of Malpas up until now as I thought he deserved a chance to stamp his own style on the squad.

After the Carlisle game I really thought we'd turned the corner and the days of attractive, free flowing football were about to return.

Now I think that he's on to a loser: he's never had fan support (If Ling had got the job, we'd all be singing 'Martin Lings Red and White Army') but it appears the players aren't supporting him either. Ifil and Aljofree aren't being asked to do anything more than they were under Sturrock, but for some reason they've forgotten how to competently defend.

To be honest I feel a bit sorry for Malpas, a lot of supporters don't want him , never did and were very negative from the off. The more results go against him, the more people will jump on him.

I don't know anything about what goes on behind the scenes, but I just think that having Byrne and Williams as his assistants was a bad move. If Malpas stays in the summer it wouldn't surprise me if they left.

I still won't slag the bloke off, if he's here next season and our first 15 games yield the same results as we've had recently, then I'll want him out!

I agree with hertha, the man deserves a little time.  The fact that so many people were so negative about the bloke "because he wasn't a name" really peeved me off.

I understand what you are saying Si but my point is we are not getting the results by playing our best two players this season out of position . Granted They are both playing well still but is that at a risk of every other player?  

There was no contradiction in my McGovern rant I personally would have just taken him off for Sturrock instead and actually taken a risk at home and played 3 strikers up front.

There is no fact behind why Ifil and Aljofree are playing so poor and I suppose it could just be that it’s a massive coincidence that we have lost all confidence since he took over . Up until now I have said lets back him but as game after game goes by I find myself unable to feel confident with him as manager that’s my problem.

 :goodpost:

Hertha does make a good point about Bryne and Williams as well. Maybe getting some better coaches/assistant in in the summer will help?

My worry is, if we do give him 15 games next season and he isnt up to scratch and then we get rid of him we've wasted another season.

A new guy will come in and we'll have to give him 10-15 games to find his feet, then another few months to bring in his own players. Then give him the summer to do his own pre-season....

If Malpas isnt up to the job, the time to get rid is the end of the season as soon as the last match is over....so the new manager has the summer and pre-season to do what he wants.

At this moment in time I see no point in wasting the pre-season on Malpas because he'll be gone by November

 :toppost:

Get rid in the summer.

If he stays we will go backwards-fast. And sacking him 15 games in will leave a manager with his players.

And, what contacts does he have to bring in anyone decent anyway?

Say give him a chance if you like- but if he stays for pre-season you can write off next season

I see your point Dan, but what if we get rid at the end of the season and the new guy turns out to be shit? We'll be no better off.

The successful teams seem to be mainly those that give a manager time, look at Walsall: they were shocking at the beginning of the season but the chairman kept faith in Richard Money and now they're flying. If it was up to their fans he'd probably be gone.

Some managers come in a have instant success and some take a little time. (And some fail, obviously!)

If we replace Malpas with a shit manager in the summer you are right, we wont be any better off.....but if we do appoint another shit manager I dont think we'll be any worse off to be honest.

if we get rid it must be done now.this will give a new man 7 games to asses the squad and plan for next season.you cannot wait until pre season when contracts would have been dished out to make a managerial change.that would be crazy

Can someone tell me which of the team who have beaten us should we have beaten instead?

I'll give Huddersfield away, but we did also beat them under Malpas as well.

Maybe Walsall? but they were at the end of a purple patch, would love to play them now as they are in decline.

Look at the start of the season up until Port Vale.  All the teams bar 2 are now struggling below us or around us.  That's the period where Sturrock got results.

Now look at who Malpas' team has been beaten by that we played before he came as well.  We hadn't beaten one of them, in fact we lost to most of them.  It's situation of the run of fixtures recently.  The only time to really judge him would be after the last game of the season, the last 4 are the games we might well claim we SHOULD be looking to beat.

From the Vale game, which was under Sturrock, we went on a run of W1 D1 L6 - against the same sort of teams we've just played now.

Look at the list of teams we beat under Sturrock, Tranmere aside, all bottom of the table teams.

I'm not saying I believe Malpas to be great, or shit, I'm just saying you'd think we went on a top of the tabel bashing period under Sturrock.  It's unfair to compare unless it's like for like, so on that basis I'll do my comparing at seasons end.

It wasn't because he "wasn't a name" as such. It was because he wasn't proven, and was therefore a higher risk.

And yes I think Malpas deserves more time, and that we have been on bad runs before and also made the play-offs under the same manager (e.g. King).

The only genuine reason I can see for getting rid of Malpas now or in the summer is 1) Relagation. 2) if 11 players stand up and say he's shit and they can't play under him.

Rob we don’t have any divine right to beat anyone in this league and I agree things were not Amazing under sturrock but with the same set of players he did not have a bad run like this did he?

My personal opinion is I don’t think he is up to the job but my opinion does not matter its up to Fitton to decide that .As for people saying he was not taken to by the fans I agree but he could of turned them on his side with points and performances which he simply has not done .

Double post :oops:

That's the point.  UNder Sturrock we began a run of W1 D1 L6, that happened when we started playing the top hlf teams.  The good run, if that is what we call it, under Sturrock was against teams like Bournemouth, Luton, Cheltenham & Gillingham - all played close to each other.  We have to let Malpas go through that run of games before we can compare.

The teams we have been beaten by, we also got beat by under previous Managers, or at best drew.

Spot on!



 :thumbs:

Why appoint him in the first place unless the board are going to give him proper backing, even in the midst of fierce criticism from the fans? At this point in the season, surely we've got to gear up to him getting a proper pre-season under his belt and allow him to put his stamp on the squad (personnel, training, tactics) and make a judgement from there. We all saw what Wise managed to do with a relatively shite squad, just by getting them fit, motivated and organised. OK so Wise was a 'bit of a name' but in Malpas we're supposed to have one of the games most well qualified and astute coaches.

Based on the perfoermances so far, my jury is out but I personally want to give MM a fair crack of the whip. The new owners are building for the long haul - which is a massively refreshing change after the 13-odd years we've had to suffer - and I'm concious that we need to adjust/temper our short-term ambitions and actions accordingly.

Why appoint him in the first place unless the board are going to give him proper backing, even in the midst of fierce criticism from the fans? At this point in the season, surely we've got to gear up to him getting a proper pre-season under his belt and allow him to put his stamp on the squad (personnel, training, tactics) and make a judgement from there. We all saw what Wise managed to do with a relatively shite squad, just by getting them fit, motivated and organised. OK so Wise was a 'bit of a name' but in Malpas we're supposed to have one of the games most well qualified and astute coaches.

Based on the perfoermances so far, my jury is out but I personally want to give MM a fair crack of the whip. The new owners are building for the long haul - which is a massively refreshing change after the 13-odd years we've had to suffer - and I'm concious that we need to adjust/temper our short-term ambitions and actions accordingly.

Has anybody thought that the team of coaching staff around him isn't up to the job eg. Adie Williams who I saw rather pissed in the Old Bank the night before the Southend game. Byrne seems to rant too much probably discouraging the players and the goalkeepers don't seem to have improved under Granvilles coaching. Things under Sturrock weren't so much better but with the likes of John Blackley coaching the defence they seemed to improve. Allow Malpas to bring in his own coaches. I believe they could be the problem. Give Malpas the satrt of next season with his own players and possibly his own coaching team.

Let hinm start next season and you will see a sharp drop in season ticket revenue- this is why i think he will be gone in the summer if the current form continues

malpas deserves a chance next season. maybe if he brings in his own team and gets some money to spend we may push on. cant get my head round why the same players can look so useless compared to sturrocks regime its almost as if king has come back and the players have gone back 3 years.

That's true Rob but the thing is we never had a complete shocker of a performance under Sturrock like we have seen against Walsall and yesterday. Defence always looked solid even if we were not playing that great. It's just looks disjointed now.

I wouldn't mind that. Would like to know if Malpas actually wanted to work with Byrne and Williams in the first place? I think Williams will be gone in the summer anyway. He even said himself that he had to impress Malpas with his coaching so we shall see.

Cheltenham in the LDV?

Sturrock was in charge for some awful games, FWIW.

I'd also probably not rate a 1-0 home defeat against a top 6 team as a shocker.  More....expected.

Rob are you confusing performance and results :D

malpas makes iffy look like a tactical genious.

also the season we were relegated i never got the feeling i couldn,t be bovered to go .this season i missed the carlisle game went yesterday but am very doubtful to be going to the next home game.i didn,t expect this the day we were saved, :cry:

Spot on.

Get a grip man, 2 seasons ago we were a hell of a lot worse than we are now.  One of our rare wins was against City and they pretty much outlpayed us with 10 men.  When we won, bar maybe Bourmeouth, it was often a fight against the odds win.  We got murdered in Nottingham, tamely rolled over against some teams at home such as Barnsley who looked like they were a good league above us ability wise on that day.  In fact, 2 seasons ago was one of the worst in our history, this season is merely a normal season in STFC's history.

This is getting crazy, what the hell have the good folk of Swindon been on recently, comparing this season and manager with two seasons ago??  WTF??  I'm close to giving up, not with MM, or the club, but with my fellow STFC supporter.

GET A FUCKING GRIP PEOPLE!!!!!

Is this some sort of wind up, that I'm not in on?

What else can you compare to if it isn't the past!!!

I rest my case.

Then if you are going to rest your case, I doubt you would get very far, no sense in that answer.
In life who do you compare with, the past or the future?

Dell if you don't have the intelligence to link my statement with another post comparing this season to two season's ago and MM being described as worse than Iffy (or whatever the comparison was) then it's really not worth my time.

have a good evening.

The problem comes when Malpas isn't allowed to bring in as many changes as some people seem to think will happen. We can't afford [it financially] to chuck players away and get a load of new ones in. Fitton has clearly expressed the desire to build up slowly, that also won't mean wholesale changes. Besides, I think that would prove disastrous - something Spencer White made a point about the other week I believe.

At the moment one or two quality additions wouldn't bring us up. We are failing as a team. I don't care how Malpas does it but he needs to get more out of the players. I think the pre-season could determine how well we fair in the league next year, I am sure of that. It will be interesting to see if we can get off to a good start.

I don't want Malpas out just yet, but I am starting to get concerned that we won't see any improvements. I think even the people who have been more supportive of Malpas from the off must be able to see our deficiencies and they are worrying. They don't warrant a sacking, but come September, if we aren't doing well, I'd say get him out then.

Totally agree there. I've really done my best to back Malpas up but I'm really concerned now.... Carlisle was excellent but thinking back, we really should have won that but we can't seem to grasp the basics. I'm beginning to think the problem lies in the coaching, since Sturrock left our defence has become laughable, and is the root of the problem. Southends goal yesterday was a fluke, but we let the guy run through us with no real effort to challenge him.

Going forward I think we are OK and we do have quality in McNamee. On another day we would have scored 3 yesterday but the players don't seem to have the confidence in the system that we are playing. I think it's time to give up this 3.5 / 2.5 system as we aren't getting results, and our form at the moment is a joke.

The thing that concerns me the most is that relegation is not totally out of the question, and we've hit terrible form just as the relegation run in heats up. We can't win away for shit, and with really tough games against Tranmere and Donny coming up it isn't gonna be pretty...

Our games against Vale, Gillingham and Millwall could prove more vital than I would have liked.

Its simple realy....get a player who can get in the top five in the lge 2 scoring charts and it wont really matter what the tactics are,who the manager is......the defence have played well most games but we dont score enough....i think this time next season a few fans will have egg on there faces,the reason being Malpass will bring in some good players HE wants in the close season and ime really looking forward to seeing HIS team play then maybe judge him when hes had a fair crack....not 15 odd matches.

im scared that he will bring his own players in for next season and still be as shit as he has us playing now

*cough* Cureton. Classic example of a good goalscorer made ineffective by tactics and the manager.

But Cureton missed a load of sitters that costed us big time.

I am starting to get worried with the way that we are playing that if we give Malpas into next season and he has been able to bring in new players and still not turned it around then a new manager will be coming in, taking over a poor team, and having to use players he has inherited and unable to build properly with his own players until the following season.

Let's face it I think everyone agrees that the squad we have should be performing better than what they are as we do have some good players in there but for some reason the new managment team just cannot get them playing to how they should be and they look a poor team at the moment.

Malpas needs to start showing improvements otherwise however hard it may be the question will surely have to be raised are we better off taking the risk and getting rid of him now and get someone in that is experienced, understands english football and knows the leagues or carry on and risk having another bad season and risk not being in a position to make a promotion push next season. of course Malpas may turn it around next season and we may turn into world beaters, but so far the evidence is pointing against that.

Yes. But he's also scored a shit load since leaving. So he clearly could do it with the right set up. Which is my point, buying a goalscorer is no guarantee of goals if the rest of the team don't suit or are coached into a style of play that suits them.

On Curo - Whilst yes he did miss some sitters. He was also not helped by the shower of shit team low on confidence that seemed to hoof it forward to him. A bit of a scapegoat I feel, simple fact is the team were not good enough.

The plan is to be promoted within 3 years, being in the promotion hunt next season need not be necessary, people need to temper their expectations.  While it would be nice, I don;t see a mad push to be promoted next season as top of the priority list.  Probably a 10th to 12th place finish would be quite acceptable within the grand scheme of things.

I also happen to think our league position perfectly fits the squad of players we have had for this season so far.  Whether or not I think the performances are entertaining enough or not is another thing, but your statement just goes to show lots of people really did think we were a better team than we really are.  I still think we'll finish about 16th and that pretty much sums the squad up.  The talk of the play offs from the players and Managers didn't help.

oops double post

But I really do think that some of these players are decent players, the likes of Cox, Ifil, Brez, Easton, Macnamee I'm sure could play at a higher level and to be fair the way the team was playing at the begining of the season then there was a lot of people that thought we may have an outside chance of the play-off's as there is usually one team that get's promoted and then carry's that spirit into the following season and has a really good season.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying sack the guy now but I am concerned at our recent performances and results.

With the 3 year plan surely next season should see us having a go at trying to get promotion and then it leaves us with the following season to really go for it if we have failed, if you have that "oh mid table is fine attitude" then what is the point, have something to aim for and if we don't make it at least we can say we had a bloody good go and set's it up well for the following season.

Is Malpas the one to take us there ? I'm still not sure, time will tell.

The aim should be mid table but prepare for better.  There shouldn't be a pre season of thinking it's all or nothing, it should be about ensuring we improve on this season and if that gives us a little bit more then so be it.  The clubs was so ruined it should take a good 2 years or so to really get back to being a sound football club.

I'd argue that Ifil won't cut it in the league above, not consistent enough and relies too much on someone next to him guiding him in games (hence his great spell next to Williams and Vincent).  McNamee has the ability but not the legs....so far.  Ciox probably, Brez, Easton and Minge are the only 4 that really could prosper and that's not enough to get a team above mid table at best.