Great post Seth - CAFC have transformed from bottom six to top eight virtually overnight. There is definitely a strong case for further strengthening the squad but I buy the idea of securing permanent contract players in January... Just three months and 14 (?) games away. I see Peeters in the standard last night repeats the line that ambition will step up if we are still in the frame at Christmas. If we can't beat Birmingham and Millwall at home with the current squad then it's unlikely loans will resolve that unless there's a top striker from the Premier league...but that brings risk. And it's not the preferred strategy. We have academy players who need to see a route to the bench - not a path blocked by someone on loan. "Made in CAFC" is important to the branding and our budget as we inevitably bring in more players from Europe. I would just like to add that every stage of the squad transformation has been handled so professionally: First a whole number of players were released and a handful of extensions offered - Morrison signed, Dervite, Poyet and Hamer didn't. Then we had early signatures of ten players including some top, top arrivals who are virtually ever present. Final attempts to top up the squad announced that we are players in the market again but we folded in the last round of betting and Delort went elsewhere... So what! Plenty more fish in Europe to catch next January. And then there were loans going out as we thin out the squad with Reza Piotr and Koc going. Reza another player thinking he can do better elsewhere but perhaps looking at the table today wondering if he's missed out?! I see little chance of 90 points and automatic promotion but we are what, 50:50 or 40:60 for 75 points and 6th place? Let the squad find their path by Christmas before telling them that three of them aren't good enough! And let the FFP exercise reshape the January window and the market - or not if they bottle it! Also I think the club needs time to build up the support. Great football and results with lower prices has added 500 to the gate this season so far. Perhaps more will return as they realise Saturday might see us stay in the top six or even climb another place or two? As I posted in May, CAFC had a brand new platform to build on with all those players leaving. Delighted we have capitalised but mindful that every single game is a draw or decided by just one goal. There's a lot of luck involved. The main thing is that the board do have 100% control over our financial future and with long term contracts and low costs we are in a position to add €2m players in the next two or three windows without breaching FFP limits. They've brought in four already in Bulot, Gudmundsson, Vetokele and Buyens. And they can get on with developing the academy and the non football side which will all help prepare the club for the day we do secure promotion! And one final thing...they could sell a player or two to cover losses but I perceive that is more likely in 2016 if we don't make progress...or perhaps players not in the first 18 are sold or loaned out. Everyone knows that the biggest prize in the network is promotion to the Premier league so if Peeters does well this season with results and squad development then he stays and ideally builds on the foundations. We might get lucky this season but my gut feeling is that 2015-16 is the time that we move up another notch through player development and player acquisition. We've waited seven years to get back to this position and it has taken M.Duchatelet and Katrien Meire just seven months to set this up. I think anyone who questions their qualification to run the club should bear that in mind.
If we are stable, but unlikely at the present moment to progress into the Premier League, then I would like to see the Academy infrastructure at Sparrows Lane done. In fact I would like to see it done whatever the circumstances, it has been flagged by the new regime, I know things take time, but as seriously red has observed these new people don't hang about. There is no immediate short term profit from Sparrows Lane development, but the signals it would send out, the message it would convey, would be highly significant.
If we are stable, but unlikely at the present moment to progress into the Premier League, then I would like to see the Academy infrastructure at Sparrows Lane done. In fact I would like to see it done whatever the circumstances, it has been flagged by the new regime, I know things take time, but as seriously red has observed these new people don't hang about. There is no immediate short term profit from Sparrows Lane development, but the signals it would send out, the message it would convey, would be highly significant.
It's difficult to see what prevents the club being more transparent about Sparrows Lane. It ought to be a good news story, even if they "only" build the approved scheme.
Great post Seth a very accurate assessment of the season so far.
Subsequent comments with regards to depth of squad and the need for loan signings are also accurate and fair.
However I predict in similar articles and threads come May we will be saying that a fair to good season could/should have been so much better if these signings had been made in the Autumn and the January window.
Hope I am wrong, but it will always be two forward and one back with RD. Its about sustainability. If we achieve promotion it will be down to luck with new signings and good team management. Both of these have been achieved quite successfully this year, but unlikely to lead to the big P. I think we can look forward to several more season in the Championship, nothing more and hopefully nothing less
Very interesting point by Weegie Addick as well - re not being ready in 1998 and the potential merits of yo-yoing for a while. In arguably the toughest ever Championship and with our recent history of struggle and strife, it's so easy to accept we could not possibly compete at a higher level, so let's just consolidate, be thankful for small mercies, accept that we are punching above our weight, small budget, happy with bottom half finish, blah. But I just look at our Nigelly neighbours and think how close we were to them in 2012/13 - with a clearly much weaker squad than now - and actually they're making quite a decent fist of it, aren't they? As much as it pains me to admit it (reaches for coat).
Go for it? Why the hell not.
Aim to move forward or go backwards, but we are in the classic Championship dilemma.
It's interesting to note how attached we are as fans to the idea that the manager / head coach chooses the new players, even when the chief executive goes on the record saying he doesn't ("he has an input"). I do it too, since I find the idea it is done by someone else with no football background bizarre. No doubt the truth is somewhere in the middle.
When Bob said his ambition is to manage Barcelona, you can see at some time even mid table safety in the championship will not suffice. But that's for another day.
Bob have taken to English football like a duck to water, He has said all the right things, makes subs as quick as possible, and does not suffer fools, (you know who you are). This from Roland and Katrien point of view was the season where we consolidated,
Their headhunted coach would see that their new network team would not be in relegation trouble this season.
The new manager has got CAFC into the top 6 and are one of two sides unbeaten after 10 games.
The same or different.
As an Owner you can reach for the stars(premiership) and like Burnley spend little on new players and make a big profit. Or sell some some players periodically, while treading water in mid table,(champ) but you could make a tidy profit if certain academy players get 50 or so games under their belt, yet are still in contract, before being sold.
The third way, is murray, Goldberg, or Jordon push for glory which resulted in Admin for palace and how close were we ? This will not be an option for RD and KM, who will look at the financial fair play Template as their index.
It's look like we take one game at a time on and off the pitch.
great opening post - been a superb start, I get the feeling we will only dip into the loan market a) with injuries to key players i,e Igor/Yoni or b) if/when performances drop off and we lose a few.
all the while we are coasting along as we are then why change it.
that said, I'd still like to see another striker to partner Igor as a main priority
The Butch Wilkins tippy tappy sideways stuff can get frustrating sometimes but far rather that than a hopeful (less) lump in the air which comes down with snow on it to a midget surrounded by two big oil tankers of centre halves who return it with interest.
We've suffered far too much of the latter since our Premiership days so keeping the ball on the deck in the main is a refreshing change.
I think Bob knows the limitations of the squad and is playing to its strength which at this point is it's defence. I have a feeling that as the squad evolves the emphasis will switch to a more attacking approach.
We all know we need three players in critical attacking positions and so does Bob.
Agree, while he's set them up to play his own style he's also finding the balance between that and making sure we get results. The way we look to pass the ball out you'd ideally want to have more posession and with a few more better attacking players you'd expect to be more dangerous going forward.
What might be interesting is when we first go a couple of goals behind (God forbid) in a match. Our current MO won't work when chasing two goals so we will see where we are tactically. Not much off the bench to change things so it would be down to a very much more attacking stance from the players we are now playing.
Could be wrong but I'm sure we will play offensively if opponents play defensively. Have heard Bob say we can play three ways and it seems if a team sets out to close us down we will just contain and counter attack. Think most teams after seeing our opening displays of passing have adopted to close us down at home so have dominated possession and we have not been attacking. Hope Birmingham play defensive in which case I cannot believe we will not see us doing more attacking, particularly if Gudmunsson plays.
It seems odd that we all agree we need another striker and yet we have 4 out on loan and one (Church) who isn't fancied by BP and can't get into first 18
I've said it before elsewhere and will repeat it here. Chelsea won The Champions League playing the tactic, that we've adopted. Yes, there is an element of luck involved, but in such a tight league, I don't see why we can't be play off contenders. If we can only get another good striker and a good attacking midfielder, I'm confident we could make the play offs, barring too many injuries.
Burnley got automatic promotion last season, with a very well drilled/organised team/system. The big advantage they had over what we've got, was 2 strikers Ings & Vokes scoring over 40 between them. This is what we are missing (as we all know).
The Delort debacle showed we have money to spend on the right player. Fortunately Wigan have discovered he was overpriced and over-hyped, not us. A couple of January players could see a late push like 98.
A lot of people mentioning the concern that when we are winning games it is only by one goal. QPR were promoted last season by winning 23 league games. 16 of these were by a one goal margin.
Comments
There is definitely a strong case for further strengthening the squad but I buy the idea of securing permanent contract players in January... Just three months and 14 (?) games away. I see Peeters in the standard last night repeats the line that ambition will step up if we are still in the frame at Christmas.
If we can't beat Birmingham and Millwall at home with the current squad then it's unlikely loans will resolve that unless there's a top striker from the Premier league...but that brings risk. And it's not the preferred strategy.
We have academy players who need to see a route to the bench - not a path blocked by someone on loan. "Made in CAFC" is important to the branding and our budget as we inevitably bring in more players from Europe.
I would just like to add that every stage of the squad transformation has been handled so professionally:
First a whole number of players were released and a handful of extensions offered - Morrison signed, Dervite, Poyet and Hamer didn't.
Then we had early signatures of ten players including some top, top arrivals who are virtually ever present.
Final attempts to top up the squad announced that we are players in the market again but we folded in the last round of betting and Delort went elsewhere... So what! Plenty more fish in Europe to catch next January.
And then there were loans going out as we thin out the squad with Reza Piotr and Koc going. Reza another player thinking he can do better elsewhere but perhaps looking at the table today wondering if he's missed out?!
I see little chance of 90 points and automatic promotion but we are what, 50:50 or 40:60 for 75 points and 6th place? Let the squad find their path by Christmas before telling them that three of them aren't good enough!
And let the FFP exercise reshape the January window and the market - or not if they bottle it!
Also I think the club needs time to build up the support. Great football and results with lower prices has added 500 to the gate this season so far. Perhaps more will return as they realise Saturday might see us stay in the top six or even climb another place or two?
As I posted in May, CAFC had a brand new platform to build on with all those players leaving. Delighted we have capitalised but mindful that every single game is a draw or decided by just one goal. There's a lot of luck involved.
The main thing is that the board do have 100% control over our financial future and with long term contracts and low costs we are in a position to add €2m players in the next two or three windows without breaching FFP limits. They've brought in four already in Bulot, Gudmundsson, Vetokele and Buyens. And they can get on with developing the academy and the non football side which will all help prepare the club for the day we do secure promotion!
And one final thing...they could sell a player or two to cover losses but I perceive that is more likely in 2016 if we don't make progress...or perhaps players not in the first 18 are sold or loaned out. Everyone knows that the biggest prize in the network is promotion to the Premier league so if Peeters does well this season with results and squad development then he stays and ideally builds on the foundations. We might get lucky this season but my gut feeling is that 2015-16 is the time that we move up another notch through player development and player acquisition.
We've waited seven years to get back to this position and it has taken M.Duchatelet and Katrien Meire just seven months to set this up. I think anyone who questions their qualification to run the club should bear that in mind.
In fact I would like to see it done whatever the circumstances, it has been flagged by the new regime, I know things take time, but as seriously red has observed these new people don't hang about.
There is no immediate short term profit from Sparrows Lane development, but the signals it would send out, the message it would convey, would be highly significant.
Subsequent comments with regards to depth of squad and the need for loan signings are also accurate and fair.
However I predict in similar articles and threads come May we will be saying that a fair to good season could/should have been so much better if these signings had been made in the Autumn and the January window.
Hope I am wrong, but it will always be two forward and one back with RD. Its about sustainability. If we achieve promotion it will be down to luck with new signings and good team management. Both of these have been achieved quite successfully this year, but unlikely to lead to the big P. I think we can look forward to several more season in the Championship, nothing more and hopefully nothing less
Bob have taken to English football like a duck to water, He has said all the right things, makes subs as quick as possible, and does not suffer fools, (you know who you are). This from Roland and Katrien point of view was the season where we consolidated,
Their headhunted coach would see that their new network team would not be in relegation trouble this season.
The new manager has got CAFC into the top 6 and are one of two sides unbeaten after 10 games.
The same or different.
As an Owner you can reach for the stars(premiership) and like Burnley spend little on new players and make a big profit.
Or sell some some players periodically, while treading water in mid table,(champ) but you could make a tidy profit if
certain academy players get 50 or so games under their belt, yet are still in contract, before being sold.
The third way, is murray, Goldberg, or Jordon push for glory which resulted in Admin for palace and how close were we ? This will not be an option for RD and KM, who will look at the financial fair play Template as their index.
It's look like we take one game at a time on and off the pitch.
all the while we are coasting along as we are then why change it.
that said, I'd still like to see another striker to partner Igor as a main priority
We've suffered far too much of the latter since our Premiership days so keeping the ball on the deck in the main is a refreshing change.
We all know we need three players in critical attacking positions and so does Bob.
Chelsea won The Champions League playing the tactic, that we've adopted.
Yes, there is an element of luck involved, but in such a tight league, I don't see why we can't be play off contenders.
If we can only get another good striker and a good attacking midfielder, I'm confident we could make the play offs, barring too many injuries.
Burnley got automatic promotion last season, with a very well drilled/organised team/system.
The big advantage they had over what we've got, was 2 strikers Ings & Vokes scoring over 40 between them.
This is what we are missing (as we all know).
QPR were promoted last season by winning 23 league games. 16 of these were by a one goal margin.