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Reply | Trust chair steps down.
at 11:27 25 Sep 2024
Yes, Q&A sessions, meetings for this and meetings for that are just ways of pacifying people really and I know the Committee do it with good intentions but in reality it's all just lip service. I find it all very patronising and always have done.
We are going to have a Q&A session with the Directors but we're going to submit the questions to them first before we meet them...come on, it's ridiculous isn't it when you're maybe trying to hold people to account on behalf of the people you are representing, the fans. It's a concept that makes it easier for those presenting the questions and easier for those answering them..importantly, there is nobody there who is then willing to challenge the answer. It goes against all logic doesn't it when the person's you are there to question have been giving those questions in advance. I know what i'm talking about when it comes to questions and answers, challenging answers and importantly the NVC/body language of the person giving the answer and you lose all of that with how these meetings are conducted. Let's not forget we've had con men masquerading as Directors very recently, all of them having been given the easy option in respect of these Q&A sessions. The concern has been flagged up in the past. Do the difficult questions even get asked? You would hope so or else we will have learned nothing from recent history when it comes to protecting the club and holding people to account, especially those in the Boardroom. It also fosters a 'us and them' environment which for a club our size is bad. It's why I've resorted to asking my questions face to face because then I know my concerns have been addressed.
Anyway, I've posted what direction I think we need to go in but I'm just one of about 600 Trust members. It's a discussion that needs to be had though and one that i think Cameron Ogden needs to be involved with because it's important. [Post edited 25 Sep 15:31]
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Reply | Trust chair steps down.
at 10:50 25 Sep 2024
I've been mulling over the influence that the Trust will have going forward in the new era for a while and I'm wondering if the time has come for a radical shake up. A remodelling with new aims and objectives, a framework that aligns itself with the vision of our new owners and also works hand in hand with the Rochdale AFC Community Trust. Does the Supporters Trust have to run as a separate entity now for example? Everybody singing off the same hymn sheet sounds better to me.
For this to happen it would need input from Cameron, Simon and the Directors, the Community Trust and i think a committee of like minded fans who are willing to embrace a different concept of working, one that will benefit not only the football club and supporters but also the wider community. A group of people that can work together with no agendas and any egos to be left outside the door. The focus being on looking after the football club and making it inclusive to the wider community and other sporting clubs such as Hornets.
I think the Trust in it's present guise as run it's course, it's protected the club in its hour of need but now the landscape has changed and I think the time has now arrived to work collectively rather than a stand alone Supporters Trust. The Trust has been significantly weakened with the departure of George and i think this is as good a time as any to look at the bigger picture going forward and visualise what a new era should look like to attain what we all want, a thriving community club.
I'm not sure what anybody else's view are on this because ive not discussed them. [Post edited 25 Sep 16:52]
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Reply | TONIGHTS GAME V HARTLEPOOL UTD
at 09:59 25 Sep 2024
Gilmours injury looked like a bad one, maybe a broken bone in his foot, hopefully not. He was visibly upset walking off the pitch. Hopefully Henry will be back next week. |
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Reply | TONIGHTS GAME V HARTLEPOOL UTD
at 09:16 25 Sep 2024
We don't have to sell players though, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Stockport etc didn't get out of the National League by selling their best players. The Ogden family will be aware of that and unless its silly money it would be a false economy when compared to the financial gains a return to the EFL brings. Keep hold of them and when we do bring players in make sure they are quality additions. This is a project and it looks like the players and manager have all bought into it, the skeleton has been fattened up over the Summer and with further additions over the next twelve months we should be a real force in this league. We need some feel good factor on the off field side of things now but the player recruitment over the last two summers has been very good. I'm not sure what processes we have in place to identify these players but i've been impressed since McNulty became manager. I don't think we're that far from lift off. [Post edited 25 Sep 9:22]
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Reply | TONIGHTS GAME V HARTLEPOOL UTD
at 08:37 25 Sep 2024
Well I wish him a speedy recovery but it should now be obvious to the manager, if we can solidify the centre of defence and cut out the stupid mistakes then the play offs are more than achievable this season. We've all seen enough of the squad now to realise that. Hopefully there's a desire from Cameron Ogden to keep our best players and keep adding to them when appropriate, unless its silly money we can't be selling if we want to achieve the three year plan. [Post edited 25 Sep 9:30]
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Reply | TONIGHTS GAME V HARTLEPOOL UTD
at 08:05 25 Sep 2024
Hartlepool actually had some talented players on the pitch, especially in their forward line and we earned the right to win the game through our hard work on the night, without that graft we don't win. They had a right good go, especially for a spell at the start of the second half.
As somebody who doesn't have much faith in any of our central defenders ( I think it's the soft spot of our team) I thought Ferguson had a great game last night and he's now played nearly three games and been excellent. I'm willing to give him a clean slate again now because he's proved that he's more than capable at this level, his last three performances have converted me and i was too harsh in my assessment from last season and pre season friendlies. I'm still not sure why McNulty preferred Sassi, a loan players over one of our own. Hopefully Ferguson will now nail down that spot. [Post edited 25 Sep 8:22]
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Reply | Trust chair steps down.
at 07:47 25 Sep 2024
George will be a massive loss and it's a big blow to not only the Trust but the whole of the fan base. A man of integrity and somebody who never forgot that the most important role of anybody on the Trust Commitee is to represent the Trust members and make their voice heard, even when some people dont particularly like the message. The Supporters are the most important people at any football club, without them there isn't a club.
Thanks for everything George, you've put your life on hold for this club, over the last few years in particular.
'Better to live one day as a Lion than a lifetime as a lamb'. You're a Lion George and you could always be relied on to speak up and challenge people if needed and that's a great trait. [Post edited 25 Sep 10:03]
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Reply | Avoidable goals stat
at 11:42 23 Sep 2024
Putting himself in the shop window, thats the purpose of that interview. He conveniently failed to mention that his tactics relegated us with a very good squad of players and he oversaw the worst run of home results in the clubs history. His X and possession stats will have been great though..McNulty needs to digest this, that's why none of us are interested in his football speak, the league table didn't lie for BBM, another rookie manager who didn't look..apparently. [Post edited 23 Sep 11:48]
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 09:10 23 Sep 2024
This is a classic case of a players stock rising when he is no longer in the team. EEL is the best of a poor trio of central defenders but to progress we need better quality. His performance at York last month was poor, he cost us the game with his defending. We have needed a good experienced centre half for ages but McNulty can't see past EEL. There's a place for him in the squad but really at his age and with his limitations when it comes to distributing the ball we shouldn't be relying on him. Nial Maher was available a couple of months ago having left Halifax, he's the type of player who we should have recruited. |
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Reply | Avoidable goals stat
at 14:48 22 Sep 2024
That's a good point, there are some good disussions on this forum but just like other clubs, the forums seem to all suffer from less and less traffic as fans choose other options to communicate with each other. The amount of people who post on here probably amounts to about 1% of our fan base, insignificant really.. Agree also about the fans forums etc [Post edited 22 Sep 15:01]
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Reply | Avoidable goals stat
at 13:15 22 Sep 2024
Agree with that. At the moment though it's still early days this season and if we're judging the manager by our position in the league we've had a decent start. I have faith in the squad that has been assembled but the failure to sign a decent centre half was highlighted in the pre-season games and it hasn't taken long to come back and bite McNulty on the backside. EEL is a old fashioned stopper, his distribution is terrible, we've all seen that. Sassi was poor when he joined us last season and he's still poor. Having seen Feguson last season and during the pre season friendlies he's not a ball playing centre half and also doesn't fit the bill. Its obvious McNulty doesnt rate him. So the manager has to accept responsibility for the problems we have in the centre of defence. I'm also not convinced with the goalkeepers.
I'm going to credit McNulty though with the make up of our midfield, wide players and forwards, i think he's done a decent job and when we decide to take the game to our opponents we look slick at times with some good passages of play.
The fans will make their views know if we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot and McNulty needs to stop trying to pull the wool over the fans eyes in his interviews, it makes him look daft. We are all too long in the tooth to be suckered into his excuses, we conceded four goals that should have been the focus of his interview not the referee, or this bloody stupid X claptrap that he keeps wittering on about ( nobody is arsed about it Jim). So bottom line...i think it's a pretty easy fix for McNulty.
1..Move heaven and earth to find a decent experienced centre half.
2..Modify how we are playing the ball out of defence, particularly the goalkeepers distribution.
3.. Ensure one of the midfield players is always available to take the ball from the defenders to bring the forward players into the game
4. The tempo that WE play at will invariably dictate the best outcome of the game for us, especially when playing at home. Quick two touch passing and movement from the start of games is required, not after 20 or 30 minutes, from the start.
I still have faith but it's down to Jim to take his blinkers off. If he really did believe what he said during his post match interview yesterday then we're knackered. The referee didn't lose us the game and that X stuff won't keep him in a job. He might have swallowed the full volume of coaching manuals and we might not be able to get him back, i hope we can. [Post edited 22 Sep 13:19]
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Reply | Avoidable goals stat
at 12:03 22 Sep 2024
I can think of a quicker way to change things. The Owners of the club/ Chairman/Directors call a meeting with the manager and his coaches and explain that the fans spend a lot of money to support their club, they have a expectation that the team will give themselves the best chance they can to win games. The club needs to increase crowds to generate income to keep the club afloat and pay yours and the players wages. The owners need the club to be winning games to generate income streams. If your team continue to gift our opponents goals due to playing around with the ball at the back we will look for a replacement and you can go and manage elsewhere. If we are losing potentially 1000 home fans every game because we keep shooting ourselves in the foot and cant progress up the league due to your daft tactics, that's potentially £500k of revenue you are costing us over a season, four times more than your annual salary, plus a chance of reaching the play offs and possible promotion. Please stop using our club as a platform to practice your coaching manual ideologies because we are losing games and deterring fans from attending games. Of course nobody within our club will say that to him though.
Plenty of Club owners and Chairman in the past such as Bob Lord at Burnley would have done that. I think our ex Chairman David Kilpatrick would have done also. Losing games by conceding totally avoidable goals costs our club money through the turnstiles, it makes it impossible to get any momentum and feel good factor going in the Town. All six goals conceded this week have been avoidable, half of those have been as a result of trying to play it our of our own penalty area. Sassi's defending for the first goal yesterday still takes some fathoming out. If the players are encouraged to do it and manager and his staff are not accountable to anybody they will keep on doing it. His interview yesterday was one of deflection, he needs to start taking personal responsibility for the way we are just handing goals to our opponents on a plate. I'd also suggest that he needs to start taking notice of the league table because he'll be judged on that and nobody will care about his X stats, or whatever he calls them. [Post edited 22 Sep 12:32]
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 19:40 21 Sep 2024
The referee wasn't responsible for our defeat today, our defending was woeful and that's it, exactly the same as last Saturday. Jim needs to take it on the chin and sort the problem out, get that area of the team properly strengthened and we will be a force in this league. The centre of our defence has been a problem for a long time, EEL can do a job but hes getting older and is limited. Keep bringing in stop gap loan players doesn't solve the problem and it's obvious he doesn't fancy Ferguson. The deficiencies in our defence just undermine all the good work of those further up the pitch and eventually it will demoralise them, it needs sorting out. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 19:14 21 Sep 2024
You mentioned poor decision making and that sums up our performance. Instead of clearing a high ball near the goal line Sassi attempts to head it over the top of their forward and just succeeds in leaving him a simple tap in, a ridiculous decision for any defender to make.
Robson was fortunate not to get a red card, coming out for a ball that he had no hope of getting, the last defender saved him but it was a poor decision.
Playing it out from the back again, poor control from Gilmour again and a poor decision to bring down their player for the penalty.
I watched all the game and the Rodney penalty claim appeared to show him run into the defender, i think that's how the referee interpreted it. That was my first reaction when i saw it but I haven't seen a replay. How did they then have the freedom of the pitch to break forward and walk the ball into the net? McNulty didn't mention that in his interview. I didn't see any other penalty incident and nobody on the commentary mentioned it.
The defending from the long throw which led to their second goal was also really poor, poor marking and no defender on the back post.
We've conceded six goals this week and all of them have been a comedy of errors. Mc Nulty is using today's referee as a smokescreen and a deflection tactic, the fans aren't daft. [Post edited 21 Sep 19:15]
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 17:39 21 Sep 2024
I think it's a solid start to the season, architects of our own downfall in all three defeats so plenty for the management and players to work on. The defending was abysmal today but the midfield and forward play was very good in parts. Eastleigh are good at home and defensively we couldn't handle them. Hartlepool haven't won at home in five months and then it's Braintree, we should be targeting six points from those games and we are more than capable. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 13:27 21 Sep 2024
Exactly Dale 4 life, its a frustration thing with me. Last Saturday transported me back to last season and having seen all the games this season i wasn't expecting to see that again, especially against a team that had been travelling all week and not doing great in the league. I was expecting a high octane performance from the start and a expectation from the manager and the players that we would be top of the league by 5pm. Those are the sort of games that we really need to embrace and attack when they come around...we saw the complete opposite and that was really disappointing to see when we are trying to increase attendances. I love this squad of players, the unity and joy they display and they are also capable of playing some great passing football because we've all witnessed it. I'm 100% behind the manager, he's done well since he's taken the job but with better players and a bigger squad comes expectations and last Saturday was like a blast from the past and we are now better than that. We will lose games but let's do it the right way, play with bravery and attack the opposition, if they are better than us then you can accept that. Last week was a passive surrender for most of the game, we didnt lay a glove on them. The manager has got to accept that and make sure it doesn't happen again. Is he over thinking the game, over thinking team selection, trying to keep everybody happy? All valid questions i think but none of them really matter if the performances are on point and we are getting results. [Post edited 21 Sep 13:39]
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 11:53 21 Sep 2024
In general the performances have been good this season James. The discussion relates to what we saw last week against Solihull, it didn't work last season and it didn't work on Saturday. The alternative is to ignore what you are watching and accept it as being normal, you can't then complain though when your crowds don't increase. We've seen the style of football that these players are capable of producing, the Genie is out of the box. We've done what we did with the central defender on numerous occasions last season and it doesn't work, the game stops, momentum dies and so does any atmosphere we have in the stadium. It plays into our opponents hands and nullifies our strengths. We can't keep using our opponents as an excuse to play that way if they want to sit deep and defend rather than engage us, standing on the halfway line with the ball isn't going to hurt them. We're in a different place now James, we have quality players in midfield and also out wide. They should be expected to pull the strings at home and unlock defences, not the defenders. [Post edited 21 Sep 12:11]
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 08:57 21 Sep 2024
I think we've all been watching football long enough to know that your midfield players should be the ones who demand the ball and dictate the tempo of the game, it shouldnt be a rookie centre half. The home form let us down last season, drawing too many games that we should have won, same laboured style of play, long ball from EEL to nobody in particular. You're spot on in respect to McNultys in game decisions, or lack of them. I also take on board what you are saying in respect to the way we played was much slower, but that was obvious after twenty minutes and it just became slower and slower. It's been a common theme in home games since McNulty became manager but we hadnt seen it this season. We have maybe the best three midfield players in this league and if we are relying on a centre half to launch attacks from our own half with long aimless balls then the tactics he's employing have to be questioned ( that reliance on the central defenders distribution happens too often and is too deliberate for it not to be a tactic employed by the manager) . Yes, they will work on the odd occasion but they take out the whole of our midfield and invariably end up in the stands or the opposition goalkeepers hands. The first thought in Sassis mind should be to give the ball to either East, Henry or Gilmour and let them progress our attacks from there.
Look at the style of play we saw in the home pre season friendlies against, Carlisle and Salford, Woking in the league, quick two touch football playing through the thirds and getting the ball out wide. Different football to how we played against Solihull. No walking around with the ball, defenders playing little passes to each other and then the game stops and everybody waits for the central defender to try a killer pass or launch the ball up field. We didnt see any of that. Anyway, let's see if we can get some pace and urgency into our game today, we did it in the last fifteen minutes of the Solihull game and nearly snatched a point. McNulty also needs to settle on his strongest starting eleven, constantly chopping and changing the team destabilises performances. Winning games comes before giving everybody game time and we've now had enough games to see what's what.
We could be top of the league tonight 😀 [Post edited 21 Sep 9:38]
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Reply | Refwatch - Eastleigh v Rochdale
at 06:17 21 Sep 2024
The team did play a different way though in the first half, they replicated the way we played games last season and invariably it didn't work. Slow build up to the halfway line defenders passing it cautiously between each other while our opponents are already sitting back in their defensive formation, after much tippy tappy the central defender (swap Sassy for EEL) either launches a long aimless ball through to the goalkeeper or out over the heads of the wide players for a throw in, once in a blue moon he'll pick out a player with a good ball. We've seen the tactic too many times for it not to have come off the training ground so it must be encouraged by the manager, it's a deliberate way of playing and it gives the opposition time to set themselves, it's easy to play against. Henry being replaced by Gilmour is also a cautious selection in home games which comes from the manager. We Showed Solihull too much respect instead of playing to our strengths and putting them on the back foot from the start..we waited eighty minutes to do that. The central defenders worry me and i include EEL in that unfortunately. Solihulls second goal was dog and duck defending, a total embarrassment.
The tactics should have been to get the ball to the wide players at every opportunity, we didn't, the defenders turned back inside instead on many occasions when the obvious pass was on. Solihull strolled through the first half, we should have been playing at a fast tempo, getting the ball wide. Switching play and putting them under pressure, pulling them around in the final third..we saw the exact opposite of that and didn't have a shot on target throughout the half. The midfield players should be demanding the ball from the defenders, instead we had East off loading the ball to Sassi. We've seen the exact same slow walking football up to the halfway line and then the central defender looks to play long diagonal balls too many times now to suggest that it's not a deliberate tactic employed by the manager. If it isn't then the players are clearly ignoring his instructions and opting to play a style which just kills the memento of our play and also any atmosphere we have in the ground. I'm not suggesting it's a tactic that's employed every game.
Solihull did very little throughout the game, we gifted them both goals and we had our first shot on target in the 86th minute. You would expect every team to be defensively well organised, it's up to us to break them down and you can't do that by strolling around with the ball in your own half of the pitch and then eventually let your centre half launch long aimless balls. In his post match interview he actually stated we controlled the game, that's how he will have viewed that first half performance. Solihull sat back and deliberately didn't come out to engage us until they decided to do, so it was Solihull who dictated that first half not us, they just watched our defenders fannying around with the ball at a snails pace, all very easy for them to defend against.
We are discussing a individual game though and the frustration is that many supporters thought we had confined that first half display to the dustbin now that we have better players on the pitch, it brought back bad memories from last season. Hopefully it's just a blip, the managers and players have started the season very well and hopefully that will continue today and next week. I hate it when we beat ourselves and we've done that twice now this season. [Post edited 21 Sep 7:25]
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