My only game so far this reason was this time last week in the League Cup, I’ve got it all to look forward to on Saturday by the sounds of it.
I can completely get the anger and frustration at what appear to be 3 dire performances. The team was weak last season and the league was just as weak. We needed an absolute refresh and we haven’t had that.
It looks unlikely that based on this current team/squad, even with 5/6 more players of the ilk we’re likely to get, we’ll be challenging for promotion. Never say never, but when we’ve got people scratching for crumbs saying it will be okay when we get Gilbey and JFC back, or, we should’ve kept Shinnie, you know you’re desperate
The one thing I can’t get my head around is the gradual anger directed at TS. He’s made some mistakes, said things that he probably shouldn’t have and there’s lots up to debate re: how he’s running the club etc etc. however, seeing some of the comments on Twitter and here about pulling his finger out, put your money where your mouth is etc. bloody hell, we’re like a bunch of spoilt little brats that just expect this guy to plough millions into the squad and we’ll sign 12/13 players. I would love that. I would love for us to be signing as many players have Ipswich have, but football, like life isn’t that simple. TS is putting his money where his mouth is. It’s costing him personally every single month. We don’t have a divine right to have better players or expect anything more than what we’ve got.
He’s literally been in charge over a year, most of that in Covid. No to very little income. How many other benefactors were lining up to run this loss making league one football club last summer when we were on the brink.
I get his personality and presence might wind people up, his actions and words aren’t always the best way, but have a word with yourselves. We’ve gone from being on the brink of existence to putting out tweets where we tell him how much to spend and on who and it’s that simple????
He may get it catastrophically wrong on the playing side with regards the players purchased, and it might not be that what he thought was a decent budget is enough to get us the quality we need, but I think people just need to show a bit more respect.
I’m not arguing with anyone’s viewpoint on how crap we look, I’ve had many a rant at how shit we are over the years. I just can’t get my head around how quickly some of us seem to be up TS’ backside when the bloke is pretty much keeping us breathing financially
I agree with you that the anger directed at TS is unreasonable, although as fans we really need to stop believing what owners say just because we want it to be true. I think in TS’s case he has bitten off more than he can chew, which if true is a forgivable mistake.
In reality there WAS a queue of people interested in buying the club from 2015 onwards. Some may have been desirable, others not so much. It is Roland who determined that none of them got over the line because of his chronic over-valuation of the ground.
As ESI showed, it was easy to buy the club (losses). What TS did and deserves our respect and appreciation for is seeing off the chancers. We had no business expecting anyone from outside to do that.
He will want to succeed at running the club and we all want him to do so, but it’s not (just) about being cleverer than what went before. It will cost more than he ever imagined and you can’t just wish that away.
This is the bit that scares me the most, you not the first person to say it and I think we have all thought it. How the hell do you go through all the shit he did, not to mention the costs, to not know how much its going to cost?
If he looked at it and said "I'll just do it better" and we will spend less and earn more over night. He is quite frankly an idiot.
He quite obviously isn't an idiot, neither are Manford and Adkins they have both been around long enough to know what's what. Either Thomas has had some shocking advice or he has ignored the advice he was given.
One trait common to all recent owners is the belief they don’t need that advice, whether offered or not. Thomas has been quite clear he believes he can bring qualities to the business that will transform it.
I don’t think he’s an idiot at all, just in an unfamiliar and harsh business environment that he was always going to 1) need time, 2) need money and 3) need help to navigate. No shame in any of that.
Do you think hes actually decided not to adequately fund a promotion push this season, or its just his lack of knowledge that has caused the recruitment issues?
Thing is there is no definite figure at which promotion becomes inevitable, or a challenge likely, so it’s always an option to believe you can get away with things. So, for example, Davison or Schwartz can replace Aneke?
Looks to me as if TS has been willing to pay reasonable one-off transfer fees (which he has also received in 20/21) but not necessarily the wages (recurring costs) to get some other deals over the line.
In the early stages we also found ourselves competing with Championship clubs - specifically Birmingham on Aneke and Graham. I know that Graham was minded to sign until Bowyer came in for him and that Adkins was very keen. That’s not a lack of ambition.
Other feedback has been that we are just not willing to pay the money that will get the better players at this level, hence Clare and Dobson. What we don’t know is what Roddy and Adkins have been telling him.
It can still turn around but the foundations look weak.
And there we have it. All this rubbish about Europe in 5 years when we won't even pay decent league one wages for players.
Christ almighty, what a shambles.
I think loans were always a key part of the mix.
Indeed, though even there we're lagging behind other clubs
MK Dons have 4 loan players, all signed in July Pompey 3, Sunderland 3, Oxford 3
What's so special about our loan targets, that we have to wait until the end of August for them?
Because, at that time, teams are desperate to offload players and we can get better deals on the wage front. It's all to do with minimising your outlay. Not ideal for getting the players that you want or need.
Yes Andy g I do the diamond worked well under bowyer and that’s 4 players in midfield at the moment we got 3 and 3 players up front producing nothing. Because there to far apart.
I would have chose pratley as the sitting midfield but we gave him away to keep Watson for some reason. That seems mental to me.
Yes Andy g I do the diamond worked well under bowyer and that’s 4 players in midfield at the moment we got 3 and 3 players up front producing nothing. Because there to far apart.
I would have chose pratley as the sitting midfield but we gave him away to keep Watson for some reason. That seems mental to me.
2 Wingers, Watson and Morgan in a diamond. Mind boggling.
We started off brightly but after they scored it all fell apart. The second half was very poor. No composure when we had the ball, couldn't play through them so we resorted to long balls which didn't stick. Midfield hiding from the passing game wity only Dobson coming short, is very easy to defend. Combined with a lack of leftfooted players we are very predictable.
Kirk, Washington and DJ must have felt quite useless on the wings without any service. And I'd rather play one of the U23s at leftback than Gunter. How he got to 100+ caps for Wales is beyond me. He offers nothing defensively as well as going forward.
I don't think other people should be telling people they're overreacting, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Last night was my first game since before Covid and I wish I hadn't bothered absolutely pathetic 2nd half performance. Its clear that starting 11 isn't anywhere near good enough and the bench is as bad as I can remember. If that's our team after 43 games then league 2 is a more likely proposition than the top half.
Except those saying people are overreacting? To me it’s a fair opinion to hold, although I’m not sure if I hold it myself. I agree with much of your post though, especially the bench bit. Most clubs have a wild card on the bench, a Leko or a Jonny Williams. We don’t.
My only game so far this reason was this time last week in the League Cup, I’ve got it all to look forward to on Saturday by the sounds of it.
I can completely get the anger and frustration at what appear to be 3 dire performances. The team was weak last season and the league was just as weak. We needed an absolute refresh and we haven’t had that.
It looks unlikely that based on this current team/squad, even with 5/6 more players of the ilk we’re likely to get, we’ll be challenging for promotion. Never say never, but when we’ve got people scratching for crumbs saying it will be okay when we get Gilbey and JFC back, or, we should’ve kept Shinnie, you know you’re desperate
The one thing I can’t get my head around is the gradual anger directed at TS. He’s made some mistakes, said things that he probably shouldn’t have and there’s lots up to debate re: how he’s running the club etc etc. however, seeing some of the comments on Twitter and here about pulling his finger out, put your money where your mouth is etc. bloody hell, we’re like a bunch of spoilt little brats that just expect this guy to plough millions into the squad and we’ll sign 12/13 players. I would love that. I would love for us to be signing as many players have Ipswich have, but football, like life isn’t that simple. TS is putting his money where his mouth is. It’s costing him personally every single month. We don’t have a divine right to have better players or expect anything more than what we’ve got.
He’s literally been in charge over a year, most of that in Covid. No to very little income. How many other benefactors were lining up to run this loss making league one football club last summer when we were on the brink.
I get his personality and presence might wind people up, his actions and words aren’t always the best way, but have a word with yourselves. We’ve gone from being on the brink of existence to putting out tweets where we tell him how much to spend and on who and it’s that simple????
He may get it catastrophically wrong on the playing side with regards the players purchased, and it might not be that what he thought was a decent budget is enough to get us the quality we need, but I think people just need to show a bit more respect.
I’m not arguing with anyone’s viewpoint on how crap we look, I’ve had many a rant at how shit we are over the years. I just can’t get my head around how quickly some of us seem to be up TS’ backside when the bloke is pretty much keeping us breathing financially
I agree with you that the anger directed at TS is unreasonable, although as fans we really need to stop believing what owners say just because we want it to be true. I think in TS’s case he has bitten off more than he can chew, which if true is a forgivable mistake.
In reality there WAS a queue of people interested in buying the club from 2015 onwards. Some may have been desirable, others not so much. It is Roland who determined that none of them got over the line because of his chronic over-valuation of the ground.
As ESI showed, it was easy to buy the club (losses). What TS did and deserves our respect and appreciation for is seeing off the chancers. We had no business expecting anyone from outside to do that.
He will want to succeed at running the club and we all want him to do so, but it’s not (just) about being cleverer than what went before. It will cost more than he ever imagined and you can’t just wish that away.
This is the bit that scares me the most, you not the first person to say it and I think we have all thought it. How the hell do you go through all the shit he did, not to mention the costs, to not know how much its going to cost?
If he looked at it and said "I'll just do it better" and we will spend less and earn more over night. He is quite frankly an idiot.
He quite obviously isn't an idiot, neither are Manford and Adkins they have both been around long enough to know what's what. Either Thomas has had some shocking advice or he has ignored the advice he was given.
One trait common to all recent owners is the belief they don’t need that advice, whether offered or not. Thomas has been quite clear he believes he can bring qualities to the business that will transform it.
I don’t think he’s an idiot at all, just in an unfamiliar and harsh business environment that he was always going to 1) need time, 2) need money and 3) need help to navigate. No shame in any of that.
Do you think hes actually decided not to adequately fund a promotion push this season, or its just his lack of knowledge that has caused the recruitment issues?
Thing is there is no definite figure at which promotion becomes inevitable, or a challenge likely, so it’s always an option to believe you can get away with things. So, for example, Davison or Schwartz can replace Aneke?
Looks to me as if TS has been willing to pay reasonable one-off transfer fees (which he has also received in 20/21) but not necessarily the wages (recurring costs) to get some other deals over the line.
In the early stages we also found ourselves competing with Championship clubs - specifically Birmingham on Aneke and Graham. I know that Graham was minded to sign until Bowyer came in for him and that Adkins was very keen. That’s not a lack of ambition.
Other feedback has been that we are just not willing to pay the money that will get the better players at this level, hence Clare and Dobson. What we don’t know is what Roddy and Adkins have been telling him.
It can still turn around but the foundations look weak.
And there we have it. All this rubbish about Europe in 5 years when we won't even pay decent league one wages for players.
Christ almighty, what a shambles.
I think loans were always a key part of the mix.
Indeed, though even there we're lagging behind other clubs
MK Dons have 4 loan players, all signed in July Pompey 3, Sunderland 3, Oxford 3
What's so special about our loan targets, that we have to wait until the end of August for them?
I think Clare can be moulded into a better player. I just don’t think he knows what his role is. Started superbly yesterday then after they scored he didn’t really know whether to keep pressing or not and become lost.
In terms of Dobson, I rate his work rate and tenacity but with the ball he’s poor. Gets himself in all sorts of bother when he has to think what he’s doing. He’s the type of player you want coming off the bench last 10-15 to inject a bit of energy into the middle of the park.
I think Clare will prove to be a good signing. Dobson I agree with you but we have to remember both of these are at a new club with a brand new partnership, it will take a bit of time for them to gel. I see Dobson to be the annoying midfielder constantly biting at your legs and Clare being the box to box type. Massive overreaction from people to be writing off any of these new signings after 3 games.
I don't think other people should be telling people they're overreacting, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Last night was my first game since before Covid and I wish I hadn't bothered absolutely pathetic 2nd half performance. Its clear that starting 11 isn't anywhere near good enough and the bench is as bad as I can remember. If that's our team after 43 games then league 2 is a more likely proposition than the top half.
Except those saying people are overreacting? To me it’s a fair opinion to hold, although I’m not sure if I hold it myself. I agree with much of your post though, especially the bench bit. Most clubs have a wild card on the bench, a Leko or a Jonny Williams. We don’t.
Well yes they're entitled to think people are overreacting. But just telling them to stop doing it isn't really an opinion
My only game so far this reason was this time last week in the League Cup, I’ve got it all to look forward to on Saturday by the sounds of it.
I can completely get the anger and frustration at what appear to be 3 dire performances. The team was weak last season and the league was just as weak. We needed an absolute refresh and we haven’t had that.
It looks unlikely that based on this current team/squad, even with 5/6 more players of the ilk we’re likely to get, we’ll be challenging for promotion. Never say never, but when we’ve got people scratching for crumbs saying it will be okay when we get Gilbey and JFC back, or, we should’ve kept Shinnie, you know you’re desperate
The one thing I can’t get my head around is the gradual anger directed at TS. He’s made some mistakes, said things that he probably shouldn’t have and there’s lots up to debate re: how he’s running the club etc etc. however, seeing some of the comments on Twitter and here about pulling his finger out, put your money where your mouth is etc. bloody hell, we’re like a bunch of spoilt little brats that just expect this guy to plough millions into the squad and we’ll sign 12/13 players. I would love that. I would love for us to be signing as many players have Ipswich have, but football, like life isn’t that simple. TS is putting his money where his mouth is. It’s costing him personally every single month. We don’t have a divine right to have better players or expect anything more than what we’ve got.
He’s literally been in charge over a year, most of that in Covid. No to very little income. How many other benefactors were lining up to run this loss making league one football club last summer when we were on the brink.
I get his personality and presence might wind people up, his actions and words aren’t always the best way, but have a word with yourselves. We’ve gone from being on the brink of existence to putting out tweets where we tell him how much to spend and on who and it’s that simple????
He may get it catastrophically wrong on the playing side with regards the players purchased, and it might not be that what he thought was a decent budget is enough to get us the quality we need, but I think people just need to show a bit more respect.
I’m not arguing with anyone’s viewpoint on how crap we look, I’ve had many a rant at how shit we are over the years. I just can’t get my head around how quickly some of us seem to be up TS’ backside when the bloke is pretty much keeping us breathing financially
I agree with you that the anger directed at TS is unreasonable, although as fans we really need to stop believing what owners say just because we want it to be true. I think in TS’s case he has bitten off more than he can chew, which if true is a forgivable mistake.
In reality there WAS a queue of people interested in buying the club from 2015 onwards. Some may have been desirable, others not so much. It is Roland who determined that none of them got over the line because of his chronic over-valuation of the ground.
As ESI showed, it was easy to buy the club (losses). What TS did and deserves our respect and appreciation for is seeing off the chancers. We had no business expecting anyone from outside to do that.
He will want to succeed at running the club and we all want him to do so, but it’s not (just) about being cleverer than what went before. It will cost more than he ever imagined and you can’t just wish that away.
This is the bit that scares me the most, you not the first person to say it and I think we have all thought it. How the hell do you go through all the shit he did, not to mention the costs, to not know how much its going to cost?
If he looked at it and said "I'll just do it better" and we will spend less and earn more over night. He is quite frankly an idiot.
He quite obviously isn't an idiot, neither are Manford and Adkins they have both been around long enough to know what's what. Either Thomas has had some shocking advice or he has ignored the advice he was given.
One trait common to all recent owners is the belief they don’t need that advice, whether offered or not. Thomas has been quite clear he believes he can bring qualities to the business that will transform it.
I don’t think he’s an idiot at all, just in an unfamiliar and harsh business environment that he was always going to 1) need time, 2) need money and 3) need help to navigate. No shame in any of that.
Do you think hes actually decided not to adequately fund a promotion push this season, or its just his lack of knowledge that has caused the recruitment issues?
Thing is there is no definite figure at which promotion becomes inevitable, or a challenge likely, so it’s always an option to believe you can get away with things. So, for example, Davison or Schwartz can replace Aneke?
Looks to me as if TS has been willing to pay reasonable one-off transfer fees (which he has also received in 20/21) but not necessarily the wages (recurring costs) to get some other deals over the line.
In the early stages we also found ourselves competing with Championship clubs - specifically Birmingham on Aneke and Graham. I know that Graham was minded to sign until Bowyer came in for him and that Adkins was very keen. That’s not a lack of ambition.
Other feedback has been that we are just not willing to pay the money that will get the better players at this level, hence Clare and Dobson. What we don’t know is what Roddy and Adkins have been telling him.
It can still turn around but the foundations look weak.
And there we have it. All this rubbish about Europe in 5 years when we won't even pay decent league one wages for players.
Christ almighty, what a shambles.
I think loans were always a key part of the mix.
What's so special about our loan targets, that we have to wait until the end of August for them?
The dust has settled and whilst last night was poor, some of our fans are overreacting. We are THREE games in……not 43!!!
You remind of the Japanese Emperor addressing the Japanese people on the radio after the Americans had dropped the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nakasaki…
”The war has taken a new turn; not necessarily to our advantage.”
Decent performances from DJ and Stockley but, other than that, a dismal evening, in which we let a very average MK Dons side totally control the last half hour of the game. They were more or less taking the piss out of us in the latter stages, playing keep ball, and we were completely unable to do anything about it. We have very serious problems in midfield, where Dobson and Clare look out of their depth, while Gunter was absolutely hopeless at left back.
A very worrying performance and a repetition on Saturday against Wigan will see us drop into the relegation spots and forced to play catch up for the rest of the season. Reinforcements are urgently needed but it's hard to see us bridging the gap to the better teams in this league, including Wycombe and Rotherham. The squad is threadbare and a number of the existing players just don't look up to the task.
The dust has settled and whilst last night was poor, some of our fans are overreacting. We are THREE games in……not 43!!!
Absolutely not the point. What most people are rightly saying is that this squad is considerably weaker than last season's and unless we bring some quality in soon, we will struggle mightily.
That farce with the Gunter throws in added time showed the limitations of our tactics, and indeed technical ability. Against a team who are very good with the ball, we desperately needed to keep possession.
Instead we had Gunter just trying to hurl it up the pitch (stealing a few yards in the process), hoping that we'd win the knock on and the second ball. Even if the throw had been legal, chances are we'd have ceded possession anyway. In 7 minutes of added time we barely got near their penalty area.
I still think we will come good; obviously we need 4 or 5 incoming and I'm assuming that we'll use all our loan slots. The left back situation should have been resolved earlier, having a right-footer there slows the play down. Dobson made an error last night but was very good against Sheff Weds and Clare made some good runs in the first half. I think we should give this team more time; let's see where we are after ten games. Younger players in particular need our support. COYR!!
Very poor overall last night particularly the second half where we created virtually nothing and MK Dons bossed it.
Whether it was a collective 'bad day at the office' last night or they are simply not up to it is hard to say this early but we have not played particularly well in the matches preceding that either.
The new goalkeeper looks poor to me and I couldn't help visualising Phillips and Amos coping with one on ones following their first goal. He is not 'Thuram like' but probably our worst keeper since Ross Worner (apart from Thuram) on what I have seen so far. I don't know why so many on here are berating Albie Morgan. He took an excellent free kick for Stockley's goal and showed much more than both Clare and Dobson generally. Not that that says much given how poor they were.
We need a goalscoring striker and more presence in midfield if we have any serious ambitions of competing for promotion. As things stand we could be in a relegation battle.
I think Clare can be moulded into a better player. I just don’t think he knows what his role is. Started superbly yesterday then after they scored he didn’t really know whether to keep pressing or not and become lost.
In terms of Dobson, I rate his work rate and tenacity but with the ball he’s poor. Gets himself in all sorts of bother when he has to think what he’s doing. He’s the type of player you want coming off the bench last 10-15 to inject a bit of energy into the middle of the park.
I thought Clare did well at times last night especially when he drifted out to the right more.
First things first we are playing a team that wears white shirts , why the fuch are we in mourning black and not RED ? .. and yes, I guess it's at the behest of the shirt making wallahs looking to advertise their expensive wares .. thing is we are a supposed to be a football club, not a collection of mobile(ish) male models selling 'sportsware' clobber.
The good news .. Young Elewere came on for the glassman Inniss and made a decent fist of it. I wrote on here that he should have started, but better late than never.
A talented young MK Dons team ran rings round us, sharper, more organised, more ambitious, more talented. A team assembled over the past few months by a manager who has now left them for the Green Green Grass of Wales, MK owe him a big thank you.
We were hard working but chased around with no leadership, no organiser, little apparent clue what to do and/or when to do it and far too slow especially in defence. The three midfielders tried hard but were out skilled and out muscled by a far better MK unit. Jaiyesimi was excellent down the right, Stockley tried hard and scored a very good goal but otherwise was controlled by two VERY efficient MK centre backs. The defence was again poor. Their first goal was a near replica of Oxford's first at the weekend, two slow centre backs beaten by good but straightforward through ball to a quick striker Parrot, who looks like he has learnt a lot at the Harry Kane school of forward play. The second was well taken but our seven men round the ball should have cleared it long before it got to Eise .. on and on and on
Last word, Adkins .. I was underwhelmed at his appointment and said so on here. We are 2-1 down last night and not looking like scoring if we played for another two hours. Kirk had replaced Washington (was he injured or what ?) and that left forwards Davison and Clayden on the bench as potential forward reinforcements, so what does Adkins do ? .. he pulls off Dobson and sends on Ben Watson .. a big W T F.. Adkins will NOT manage us to promotion, even if we bring in a half dozen top talents, he should be sacked now and be replaced by JJ, a man who has CAFC running through his body like the lettering through a stick of sweet rock .. Adkins should be sacked, but I'll wager we are stuck with him for an all too long time yet
PS .. we are not yet quite as embarrassing as the conked out Tractor People
I see it the opposite to some. Dobson, I think could grow into his role. Clare is an honest player with average touch, average passing, no creativity and few goals. That is what he has been all his career and whilst aspects could improve, can it enough to be a starter for us? Maybe in League 2. As a bench player, he could do a job bringing energy on later in the game.
Morgan, could play as part of a midfield but not as the dominant player. He isn't a write off and he has improved his energy levels but he is not going to make us tick, at this time at least. He is 21 and has the potential but has to be more consistent and improve his composure. He might find it easier with a better player than Clare playing with him.
First things first we are playing a team that wears white shirts , why the fuch are we in mourning black and not RED ? .. and yes, I guess it's at the behest of the shirt making wallahs looking to advertise their expensive wares .. thing is we are a supposed to be a football club, not a collection of mobile(ish) male models selling 'sportsware' clobber.
The good news .. Young Elewere came on for the glassman Inniss and made a decent fist of it. I wrote on here that he should have started, but better late than never.
A talented young MK Dons team ran rings round us, sharper, more organised, more ambitious, more talented. A team assembled over the past few months by a manager who has now left them for the Green Green Grass of Wales, MK owe him a big thank you.
We were hard working but chased around with no leadership, no organiser, little apparent clue what to do and/or when to do it and far too slow especially in defence. The three midfielders tried hard but were out skilled and out muscled by a far better MK unit. Jaiyesimi was excellent down the right, Stockley tried hard and scored a very good goal but otherwise was controlled by two VERY efficient MK centre backs. The defence was again poor. Their first goal was a near replica of Oxford's first at the weekend, two slow centre backs beaten by good but straightforward through ball to a quick striker Parrot, who looks like he has learnt a lot at the Harry Kane school of forward play. The second was well taken but our seven men round the ball should have cleared it long before it got to Eise .. on and on and on
Last word, Adkins .. I was underwhelmed at his appointment and said so on here. We are 2-1 down last night and not looking like scoring if we played for another two hours. Kirk had replaced Washington (was he injured or what ?) and that left forwards Davison and Clayden on the bench as potential forward reinforcements, so what does Adkins do ? .. he pulls off Dobson and sends on Ben Watson .. a big W T F.. Adkins will NOT manage us to promotion, even if we bring in a half dozen top talents, he should be sacked now and be replaced by JJ, a man who has CAFC running through his body like the lettering through a stick of sweet rock .. Adkins should be sacked, but I'll wager we are stuck with him for an all too long time yet
PS .. we are not yet quite as embarrassing as the conked out Tractor People
Hes shite. He is not strong in the tackle. Waddles about the pitch. His positioning is atrocious. His short passing is an absolute joke. Last night he was just watching the game pass him by. Pratley is a better holding midfielder and that's saying a lot.
I think the biggest problem for the likes of Clare and Dobson at the moment is there is just no competition and nobody pushing them for their place , it’s difficult to overstate just how pathetic the size of our squad is especially given we’ve had since may to sort it out
Guys let’s just take a step back and not settle for thinking someone might be ‘alright’ after a while. We are Charlton Athletic - and playing in league 1. We have rarely in my lifetime played at this level but when we do we have players that stand out………
Charlton Athletic in league one don’t pick up rejects from teams that we are either competing with or should be finishing well above.
We shouldn’t be settling for players like Dobson and Clare in the hope they might be ok after a while. Or they can do a job. This isn’t the premier league. This isn’t the championship.
At the very least we shouldn’t have to settle for ‘ok’ at this level.
My only game so far this reason was this time last week in the League Cup, I’ve got it all to look forward to on Saturday by the sounds of it.
I can completely get the anger and frustration at what appear to be 3 dire performances. The team was weak last season and the league was just as weak. We needed an absolute refresh and we haven’t had that.
It looks unlikely that based on this current team/squad, even with 5/6 more players of the ilk we’re likely to get, we’ll be challenging for promotion. Never say never, but when we’ve got people scratching for crumbs saying it will be okay when we get Gilbey and JFC back, or, we should’ve kept Shinnie, you know you’re desperate
The one thing I can’t get my head around is the gradual anger directed at TS. He’s made some mistakes, said things that he probably shouldn’t have and there’s lots up to debate re: how he’s running the club etc etc. however, seeing some of the comments on Twitter and here about pulling his finger out, put your money where your mouth is etc. bloody hell, we’re like a bunch of spoilt little brats that just expect this guy to plough millions into the squad and we’ll sign 12/13 players. I would love that. I would love for us to be signing as many players have Ipswich have, but football, like life isn’t that simple. TS is putting his money where his mouth is. It’s costing him personally every single month. We don’t have a divine right to have better players or expect anything more than what we’ve got.
He’s literally been in charge over a year, most of that in Covid. No to very little income. How many other benefactors were lining up to run this loss making league one football club last summer when we were on the brink.
I get his personality and presence might wind people up, his actions and words aren’t always the best way, but have a word with yourselves. We’ve gone from being on the brink of existence to putting out tweets where we tell him how much to spend and on who and it’s that simple????
He may get it catastrophically wrong on the playing side with regards the players purchased, and it might not be that what he thought was a decent budget is enough to get us the quality we need, but I think people just need to show a bit more respect.
I’m not arguing with anyone’s viewpoint on how crap we look, I’ve had many a rant at how shit we are over the years. I just can’t get my head around how quickly some of us seem to be up TS’ backside when the bloke is pretty much keeping us breathing financially
I agree with you that the anger directed at TS is unreasonable, although as fans we really need to stop believing what owners say just because we want it to be true. I think in TS’s case he has bitten off more than he can chew, which if true is a forgivable mistake.
In reality there WAS a queue of people interested in buying the club from 2015 onwards. Some may have been desirable, others not so much. It is Roland who determined that none of them got over the line because of his chronic over-valuation of the ground.
As ESI showed, it was easy to buy the club (losses). What TS did and deserves our respect and appreciation for is seeing off the chancers. We had no business expecting anyone from outside to do that.
He will want to succeed at running the club and we all want him to do so, but it’s not (just) about being cleverer than what went before. It will cost more than he ever imagined and you can’t just wish that away.
This is the bit that scares me the most, you not the first person to say it and I think we have all thought it. How the hell do you go through all the shit he did, not to mention the costs, to not know how much its going to cost?
If he looked at it and said "I'll just do it better" and we will spend less and earn more over night. He is quite frankly an idiot.
He quite obviously isn't an idiot, neither are Manford and Adkins they have both been around long enough to know what's what. Either Thomas has had some shocking advice or he has ignored the advice he was given.
One trait common to all recent owners is the belief they don’t need that advice, whether offered or not. Thomas has been quite clear he believes he can bring qualities to the business that will transform it.
I don’t think he’s an idiot at all, just in an unfamiliar and harsh business environment that he was always going to 1) need time, 2) need money and 3) need help to navigate. No shame in any of that.
Do you think hes actually decided not to adequately fund a promotion push this season, or its just his lack of knowledge that has caused the recruitment issues?
Thing is there is no definite figure at which promotion becomes inevitable, or a challenge likely, so it’s always an option to believe you can get away with things. So, for example, Davison or Schwartz can replace Aneke?
Looks to me as if TS has been willing to pay reasonable one-off transfer fees (which he has also received in 20/21) but not necessarily the wages (recurring costs) to get some other deals over the line.
In the early stages we also found ourselves competing with Championship clubs - specifically Birmingham on Aneke and Graham. I know that Graham was minded to sign until Bowyer came in for him and that Adkins was very keen. That’s not a lack of ambition.
Other feedback has been that we are just not willing to pay the money that will get the better players at this level, hence Clare and Dobson. What we don’t know is what Roddy and Adkins have been telling him.
It can still turn around but the foundations look weak.
And there we have it. All this rubbish about Europe in 5 years when we won't even pay decent league one wages for players.
Christ almighty, what a shambles.
I think loans were always a key part of the mix.
Indeed, though even there we're lagging behind other clubs
MK Dons have 4 loan players, all signed in July Pompey 3, Sunderland 3, Oxford 3
What's so special about our loan targets, that we have to wait until the end of August for them?
It could be that we're competing with Championship sides for players, and the loaning clubs are looking for playing time or wages guarantees. It could also be poor planning. Until we get them in, and until we determine how, or even if, they improve the side, it's just guessing.
Comments
Not ideal for getting the players that you want or need.
Kirk, Washington and DJ must have felt quite useless on the wings without any service. And I'd rather play one of the U23s at leftback than Gunter. How he got to 100+ caps for Wales is beyond me. He offers nothing defensively as well as going forward.
”The war has taken a new turn; not necessarily to our advantage.”
But then I'm pretty sure the rankings are simply taken from Whoscored.com
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1553969/Live/England-League-One-2021-2022-Milton-Keynes-Dons-Charlton
A very worrying performance and a repetition on Saturday against Wigan will see us drop into the relegation spots and forced to play catch up for the rest of the season. Reinforcements are urgently needed but it's hard to see us bridging the gap to the better teams in this league, including Wycombe and Rotherham. The squad is threadbare and a number of the existing players just don't look up to the task.
What most people are rightly saying is that this squad is considerably weaker than last season's and unless we bring some quality in soon, we will struggle mightily.
Instead we had Gunter just trying to hurl it up the pitch (stealing a few yards in the process), hoping that we'd win the knock on and the second ball. Even if the throw had been legal, chances are we'd have ceded possession anyway. In 7 minutes of added time we barely got near their penalty area.
Very poor overall last night particularly the second half where we created virtually nothing and MK Dons bossed it.
Whether it was a collective 'bad day at the office' last night or they are simply not up to it is hard to say this early but we have not played particularly well in the matches preceding that either.
The new goalkeeper looks poor to me and I couldn't help visualising Phillips and Amos coping with one on ones following their first goal. He is not 'Thuram like' but probably our worst keeper since Ross Worner (apart from Thuram) on what I have seen so far. I don't know why so many on here are berating Albie Morgan. He took an excellent free kick for Stockley's goal and showed much more than both Clare and Dobson generally. Not that that says much given how poor they were.
We need a goalscoring striker and more presence in midfield if we have any serious ambitions of competing for promotion. As things stand we could be in a relegation battle.
The good news .. Young Elewere came on for the glassman Inniss and made a decent fist of it. I wrote on here that he should have started, but better late than never.
A talented young MK Dons team ran rings round us, sharper, more organised, more ambitious, more talented. A team assembled over the past few months by a manager who has now left them for the Green Green Grass of Wales, MK owe him a big thank you.
We were hard working but chased around with no leadership, no organiser, little apparent clue what to do and/or when to do it and far too slow especially in defence.
The three midfielders tried hard but were out skilled and out muscled by a far better MK unit. Jaiyesimi was excellent down the right, Stockley tried hard and scored a very good goal but otherwise was controlled by two VERY efficient MK centre backs.
The defence was again poor. Their first goal was a near replica of Oxford's first at the weekend, two slow centre backs beaten by good but straightforward through ball to a quick striker Parrot, who looks like he has learnt a lot at the Harry Kane school of forward play. The second was well taken but our seven men round the ball should have cleared it long before it got to Eise .. on and on and on
Last word, Adkins .. I was underwhelmed at his appointment and said so on here. We are 2-1 down last night and not looking like scoring if we played for another two hours. Kirk had replaced Washington (was he injured or what ?) and that left forwards Davison and Clayden on the bench as potential forward reinforcements, so what does Adkins do ? .. he pulls off Dobson and sends on Ben Watson .. a big W T F.. Adkins will NOT manage us to promotion, even if we bring in a half dozen top talents, he should be sacked now and be replaced by JJ, a man who has CAFC running through his body like the lettering through a stick of sweet rock .. Adkins should be sacked, but I'll wager we are stuck with him for an all too long time yet
PS .. we are not yet quite as embarrassing as the conked out Tractor People
Morgan, could play as part of a midfield but not as the dominant player. He isn't a write off and he has improved his energy levels but he is not going to make us tick, at this time at least. He is 21 and has the potential but has to be more consistent and improve his composure. He might find it easier with a better player than Clare playing with him.
Shelvey, Taylor, Cullen, Bielik, Grant, Bauer, Aribo, Jackson, Wright Phillips, Bailey, Kermorgant, Jackson, Djiksteel, Burton, Sam, Solly…. Etc etc
Charlton Athletic in league one don’t pick up rejects from teams that we are either competing with or should be finishing well above.
We shouldn’t be settling for players like Dobson and Clare in the hope they might be ok after a while. Or they can do a job. This isn’t the premier league. This isn’t the championship.
At the very least we shouldn’t have to settle for ‘ok’ at this level.