FAO The Club

[wokinghamred]

AS I've tried to point out before Wilson's record on buying strikers is at best patchy at worst embarrassing...however you want to look at it, going into the season with only one striker is incompetent.

We're now under pressure, which increases the likelihood of taking someone like Trundle on loan.

And decreases the very slight odds of someone half decent coming here.

[reeves4england]

Going back to DV's original point, some kind of statement other than Wilson coming out and saying "I don't know what went wrong" would be nice. I'm not after a refund for my ticket or anything like that, it would just be nice to see the board, management and players accept responsibility for what was a shambolic performance. The players have totally lost the faith of the fan base in the space of just 90 minutes, and it's going to take more than Gordon Greer's "It's up to us" statement to earn it back.

[Fred Elliot]

can we please not get too carried away, at the end of the day its 1 defeat, i know its a very poor defeat but its still only 1 game. It was only a few days ago we was all talking up how good Morrison/Greer/McNamee/Douglas are, that doesnt change after 1 poor performance. I want strikers in as much as the next person but at least we know that Wilson is not signing players who he isnt 100% sure on, at least we know when we sign strikers they will be very good players.

JPC

I completely agree with you bar a few points, which are biggies for me ;

I really dont mind dishing out money to travel the county watching my club, through good times and also bad. That's what we do as football fans FFS !

What I wont sit back and put up with after spending good money that I dont really have is ;

a) A line up that has not even been tried in any form of game apart from maybe a training pitch exercise

b) A lackluster display from a so called team of professionals that are supposedly "playing for the shirt", who quite clearly did not have the inclination or motivation to up their work rate or desire to win the game, yet alone compete.

c) The complete apathy and non- committal to acknowledge the dissenting voice of the paying customers from both player AND managerial staff alike.

If this is the model that Mr Fitton wants to adopt in order to make this a viable "business interest" then I am extremely sad to say that after over 30 years of support, mine will be withdrawn

[glos_robin]

JPC

I completely agree with you bar a few points, which are biggies for me ;

I really dont mind dishing out money to travel the county watching my club, through good times and also bad. That's what we do as football fans FFS !

What I wont sit back and put up with after spending good money that I dont really have is ;

a) A line up that has not even been tried in any form of game apart from maybe a training pitch exercise

b) A lackluster display from a so called team of professionals that are supposedly "playing for the shirt", who quite clearly did not have the inclination or motivation to up their work rate or desire to win the game, yet alone compete.

c) The complete apathy and non- committal to acknowledge the dissenting voice of the paying customers from both player AND managerial staff alike.

If this is the model that Mr Fitton wants to adopt in order to make this a viable "business interest" then I am extremely sad to say that after over 30 years of support, mine will be withdrawn

I think that is the opinion of many others, well said.

[MichaelPook]

I totally agree with the idea of refunds ...

absolutely no chance of this happening ... money is too tight!

[Barry Scott]

I think a lot of these opinions have arisen from a case of raised expectations and this kinda belief we acquire when we start receiving something and want more.

We now have an open board who communicate and want to move the club in the right direction. I think this has forced us to want more and now. I mean we haven't been treated this well for years, and we've put up with immeasurably worse times, so why do people seem to demand more now? I think it's like a smack addict, we've had a bit, we want more, then we want it always and eventually anything less than always is unimaginable.

With regard to a refund, this is just compensation culture going wrong. I'm angry and am fucked off I went, but it was my choice and it's my cross to bare. If they offered me a refund I'd feel embarrassed to take it, because it's all part of the price we pay, emotionally and financially, to support our team. In many ways it's similar to gambling. We're gambling on paying to see a good match, sometimes they don't come in, but we're not entitled to a refund.

[Fred Elliot]

No expectations on my part, optimism yes ! based on a steady pre-season Barry

What tears me apart, is why have a pre-season if you are not going to carry forward what you have learned to the first game.

Betfair would have probably offered 600's on today's starting line up after what we produced in the friendlies

[Barry Scott]

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong Fred. I also had great expectations for today. We've looked tidy in pre-season and cuthbert starting was certainly a strange one.

Talking of Betfair, i'll probably get better than 70-1 now for champs, so i'll have to put some more down.

[yeo]

It'll all be forgotten if we win during the week,its a bit embarrassing and that but losing isnt really the end of the world.Fitton and Wilson cant suddenly go from being the Bees Knees to total Gash on the strength of one result.

[Barry Scott]

Thanks Yeovil.

I avoid the forum between games if we lose, as I hate getting sucked into and influenced in all this. Shit happens, we're still going up.

[Danjackson10]

Shit does happen, i think its the kick up the arse we needed!
Last season we won our first game and then went on a shite run of form right up to october! Id rather take this defeat on the chin and hopefully have a better run of form over the next couple of months! Then we can start to worry if its still all tits up! Its one game...fucking loads left to go!

[flammableBen]

I really admire some of the optimism on show after a 5-0 defeat, but surely Fitton has to learn some lessons from this.

I'll be ever thankful for the club saving antics that him and his mates pulled off, and if it's a choice between them and the other offers which were apperently about (possibly even incuding power/trust) then I'm happy it's Fitton and co.

But he hasn't learnt a fucking thing. Two slow manager appointments later and he still seems to be making the same mistakes when it comes to replacing a striker. I understand and accept the buying on our own terms thing, but you can't rebuild a football club without sorting shit out on the pitch, however fucking brilliant the catering and newly painted clubshop are.

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to linger about in league one indefinitely, I see it as our natural league position. But if you're going to make promises of 3 years until championship (extended to five I believe) then you've got to make some effort to push forward on it.

Saying that, the poaching of some youth players from Plymouth earlier in the summer makes it clear that he's making an effort on one part of the plan, but I think he has to realise that you can't make a financial profit on every spend. Maybe sometimes you need to buy a player who's value is only going down whatever (due to age probably), just to get a return on the pitch.

end of rant.

[jonny72]

But he hasn't learnt a fucking thing. Two slow manager appointments later and he still seems to be making the same mistakes when it comes to replacing a striker. I understand and accept the buying on our own terms thing, but you can't rebuild a football club without sorting shit out on the pitch, however fucking brilliant the catering and newly painted clubshop are.

Is Fitton to blame for the striker shortage? I'd be very surprised if he hasn't made at least a few hundred grand available for a replacement for Cox which is more than enough at this level, so can he be blamed?

I honestly think the problem is that they had a number of strikers lined up and every single one fell through. They didn't give any thought to this scenario so didn't have a safety net leaving us in the position we are now in.

If this is what happened, I'd blame Wilson. He is the experienced manager and he shouldn't have let it happen.

Fitton & co have always put their hands in their pockets when they've needed to and there is absolutely nothing to suggest they have suddenly become tight as fuck - they just don't want to piss their money away which is fair enough.

[flammableBen]

Is Fitton to blame for the striker shortage? I'd be very surprised if he hasn't made at least a few hundred grand available for a replacement for Cox which is more than enough at this level, so can he be blamed?

I honestly think the problem is that they had a number of strikers lined up and every single one fell through. They didn't give any thought to this scenario so didn't have a safety net leaving us in the position we are now in.

If this is what happened, I'd blame Wilson. He is the experienced manager and he shouldn't have let it happen.

Fitton & co have always put their hands in their pockets when they've needed to and there is absolutely nothing to suggest they have suddenly become tight as fuck - they just don't want to piss their money away which is fair enough.

There's too much history of signings and managers falling through now that it can't be a coincidence.

Personally I don't think it's either of the extremes (which to be honest I thought I made clear in the post before), I think it's quite clear that Fitton is willing to spend money. He has done on several occasions.

I don't think it's that he's tight, but it seems like he's only interested in players which can be seen as investments. Spending on players isn't always about the financial return when you sell them on later, the football return is just as important.

[china red]

Spending money on the team is not necessarily the answer to our problems.  Norwich spent heavily this summer including 1/2 a million on Grant Holt, and they got completely stuffed at home by Colchester.  

I think calling Fitton tight is a bit unfair considering how much money he has invested in town so far.  Also he did back Wilson when attempting to sign Robinson (275k) and OTJ (250k) before the Cox deal was complete.

Losing on the first day of the new season is bad enough but to lose so heavily to a supposed rival is even worse.  We do need strikers in and soon but I think the players Wilson has been trying to sign would have been good for the next few years of STFC and not just in the short term.  Trying to sign these players may see us miss out on more than we get but it's got to be in the best interests of STFC to be looking at players who have either played at a higher level or show the potential to make the step up.

Let's at least try to be a little bit more patient and see what pans out over the next month before we all call for Wilson and Fitton to be lynched.