The Malpas Debate.

[Simon Pieman]

Why did Malpas say there was money available in June then? Why did he say he hadn't asked Fitton for more money because he didn't want it?

[leefer]

Thats a very good point....but ime sticking to my guns Si...i like him,hes trying to play football and i think we will reach the playoffs easily.....weve only played 7 matches in another 35 i might be agreeing with you.

[Simon Pieman]

How long do you think it takes to work on these issues? And do you start counting from when he was appointed, the start of this season, or now?

Out of all those issues? I think the only one that I expect not to be there from the start of this season is the winning mentality. Realistically it may take a couple of decent results or the fans getting fully behind the team to achieve this. Unfortunately the fans react to how the team does more often than not, so it can end like a vicious cycle. I don't think the fans have been behind the team from the first whistle of the season either.

The other things should be improved from when Malpas was appointed. I've not seen an improvement and he was appointed 9 months ago.

[Simon Pieman]

Thats a very good point....but ime sticking to my guns Si...i like him,hes trying to play football and i think we will reach the playoffs easily.....weve only played 7 matches in another 35 i might be agreeing with you.

Like I said earlier, in as little as 3 or 4 games I may be back to agreeing with you, or going to the more extreme opinion of saying he isn't going to progress us so perhaps we should cut our losses.

I only want to see progress. We may have started below some people's expectations and that's just the way it is. But if we are serious about getting into the Championship then we'll have to make good these issues eventually.

I'm not sure Fitton is ever going to splash the cash in League One. Perhaps we should be marauding him instead! 

[Bogus Dave]

Do you know this as a fact?

I thought it was common knowledge he got given the job on the proviso he works with byrne and williams?

[Simon Pieman]

I thought it was common knowledge he got given the job on the proviso he works with byrne and williams?

Yes. That also makes good sense at the time as they know the team and could integrate Malpas with the players even quicker than if that link was never there.

What I was getting at, if Byrne and Williams aren't good enough (or peceived so by Malpas) then why are they still here? Is he not allowed to get rid of people as he would do with a player?

[herthab]

Why did Malpas say there was money available in June then? Why did he say he hadn't asked Fitton for more money because he didn't want it?

I'm not saying there wasn't any money available. As to not asking for any more, I think a lot of us thought we had a pretty strong squad this season......

[Bogus Dave]

Ah right. I cannot comment on them

[sonic youth]

i'd rather we got shot of byrne and williams than malpas tbh

[Simon Pieman]

I'm not saying there wasn't any money available. As to not asking for any more, I think a lot of us thought we had a pretty strong squad this season......

I don't see your initial point as to why Malpas has been restricted then I'm afraid.

I think we'll have to take the view of differing opinions (much like Leefer and Dave as well). Going back to the initial post by DRS, this is a good debate because people aren't simply making stupid points, there is some decent reasoning behind their thoughts, unlike the usual bollocks of "Malpas has no charisma" etc. etc..

[Arriba]

money is tight we all know that.fitton isn't going to throw money at players so the budget is what it is.what is vitally important is to have a management team who can get players within that budget, and to get the best out of them.i'm not sure malpas is capable of doing this.i back him for now but some players seem to be off the pace this year.i hope maplas can lift the team so a change of manager wont be needed.all it would do is set us back again.

[michael]

The budget isn't small either! We should be able to put a more than capable group of players together for the money available.

[herthab]

I'm not saying there wasn't any money available. As to not asking for any more, I think a lot of us thought we had a pretty strong squad this season......

I don't see your initial point as to why Malpas has been restricted then I'm afraid.

I think we'll have to take the view of differing opinions (much like Leefer and Dave as well). Going back to the initial post by DRS, this is a good debate because people aren't simply making stupid points, there is some decent reasoning behind their thoughts, unlike the usual bollocks of "Malpas has no charisma" etc. etc..

A very tight budget when it came to attracting players (Which is no bad thing imo, but does make it difficult to get players in)

Does that help highlight my initial point?

[alanmayes]

Spence,

A lot of your posts mirror my feelings at the moment.With regards to Reading and the Pardew period,
he was indeed given a large budget and it took him ages to get things right.Remember when their fans
thought the team were "pants" and designated a particular home game,for fans to turn up and wave
underwear at the team?

The key is to have resources and to spend well,without being extravagent.Bristol City under Johnson
showed how to do this,also Cardiff in League 1 and Plymouth,the first time under Sturrock.Better players
bring a greater level of consistency and we need to see an ongoing improvement as the season goes on,
we also need to keep and improve/build upon the fanbase.

I do feel that Andrew Fitton should give MM the resources for a couple of loan signings.I know that we
can't offload the likes of Pook and Sturrock,but sometimes you have to bite the bullet.In 1985 Macari's
team made a very indifferent start,but the loan signing of Nicky Coleman (Millwall left back) made a huge
impact upon the team and results picked up and we had a season never to be forgotten.I don't expect
us to be promotion candidates,but i don't want us to be treading water,constantly looking at the bottom
of the table and worrying if we might be dragged downwards.

[DV]

at the end of the day we are only 7 games into the season.

Andy King had a run of defeats greater than that before he got the sack!

Our team is under performing. Thats clear that part to do with the manager and part to do with the players. I dont think bringing in a new manager, with new idea, wanting new players will help our current players perform better. Maybe for the first game or two to prove a point.

We have look at the results a bit more as well. We've conceeded 3 in the last 3 home games. Ok, fair enough....lets see the last home game was Leeds who are one of, if not the best team in this league. They'll out play and beat most teams this year.

Colchester havent started the season well, so fair enough and the other team was QPR who are a top 6 championship side with a huge budget and millions worth of talent.

Ok, so we havent beaten teams like Hereford, Cheltenham and Stockport away from home. 2 draws is alright better than we would have done last season where we had a truely awful away record.

The problem is takeover = money = fans expecting money to be spent = fans expecting promotion. We seem to be setting our sights way too high this season. I see Spencers point of view and I'd love us to be good, win games and challenge this season but in truth you need to add a bit of realism.

We finished 13th last season and if we finish higher this season with more points I'll consider that progress. If we finish lower with less points we need to look at why we have gone backwards and make decisions about the playing staff, coaching staff and manager then.

Unless we go on a mad winless run and find ourselves in the bottom 4 or 5 around Christmas I think Malpas will see out the season.