I feel it's a bit of a cliche to say when a manager has got sacked that you haven't been putting in 100%, but it does back you into a corner and it looks bad when a new manager comes in and performances don't improve...
Nasty character ergo hedge fund manager. But he comes in with investment and gradually forces Cahunt out with his own people and financial muscle. Sad days for anyone following WFC. As the years pass the numbers will dwindle until the last one is laid to rest.
Praise to him for saying that but I'm afraid the players that it applies to won't realise it's them he's referring to. Always someone else to blame these days. No accountability from Pozzo and it has bled into every part of the club.
My Dad was born in Blackpool and my other half’s family are all from Blackpool and the surrounding area but I’d never actually been to a game at Bloomfield Road until today. Despite the result and performance I’m glad I went. My Dad died in June. When he first watched Watford, in the 1950s, they played in blue. He always looked out for Blackpool’s results and remembered watching the Matthews Cup final in 1953 on a friend’s telly when he was 10. His grandfather’s headstone is in Fleetwood cemetery - he died at sea when the merchant vessel he was on was sunk by the Germans in the First World War. So the place means something to me. We’ve made a weekend of it. Parkrun along the promenade in Fleetwood this morning to run off last night’s beers, a couple of pints with my other half’s Blackpool-supporting relatives in the very friendly Bloomfield social club before the game. And a sense of added symbolism for me when the team ran out in the blue shirts. And then… that performance. This game is about the connections, the relationships, friendships, ups and downs. In the grand scheme of things the results don’t matter. Not really. We’ll win, lose and draw many more games. But the performances matter. The performances matter a lot because they tell us about the identity of the club we support. Today was as bad as anything in terms of the lack of heart, soul, steel, drive, determination. There’s decent players in there but they show none of the things that actually win games when the other side are prepared to fight. Another display of pointless, ineffective possession football. Bilic hasn’t had enough time to drill anything into them but they shouldn’t need the coach to tell them that the basics matter. They are a group of supposed professionals who should be able to move with energy, aggression, a sense of attacking purpose. The idea is to get the ball in the oppo’s net for chrisssakes. Lazy, wasteful shirkers most of them. No one leading the side or setting an example. Louza tried but no one followed him. Sarr summed it up in the second half when he let the ball run off thinking he’d won a corner when he clearly hadn’t. Absolute garbage. The players take responsibility for their performances and today was absolutely gutless by most of them. Gutless. Above the players, the people who assembled this mess need to ask themselves if they are fit for purpose. Right, I’m off for a pint and a pork pie from The Pork Shop in Poulton. They really are excellent. The jelly surrounding the meat is wobbly and the pastry crumbles perfectly under the lightest pressure. Much like our team of flakes and jellies.
In which case Bilic like Edwards needs to be allowed to bring the players he want's into the team. Not Pozzo's disasters. We are run shambolically. Nothing aside from the scouting in South America works. The medical team is awful. The selection of players is awful. How is it in this day and age we are so lacking in analysis. Our set pieces are dreadful. And we still unlike most sides have a psychologist working with the jellyfish who play for us. The mind boggles. All this is down to one man who has no real understanding of football and where the game has gone. A few rounds of poker don't win promotions especially when you keep dealing terrible hands all the time. POZZO OUT.
I posted the below after we lost 0-3 to Norwich last season. Anyone who has been paying attention for the last few years can see the exact downward trajectory you described above is playing out exactly as many of us predicted. The club is rotten to the core and far bigger clubs than us (again which you mention above) have fallen further and harder than we are going to
You don't have to have an intricate understanding of the sport to be a good owner but you need to people in the relevant positions who do know either the sport or their role or preferably both. Pozzo is clearly a control freak who cannot or will not delegate. The coach/ manager has to be allowed to do their job. When you get amateurs telling professionals "this is the way to do it" everything falls down. I know the Titanic was built by professionals and the Ark by an amateur but that's an exception! Gino thought he'd cracked it about five years ago and he hasn't progressed,infact he's regressed. He's stopped learning,he's stop listening and he never has communicated so it's a perfect **** storm.
Hopefully you'll see that once again I will very rarely if ever throw the first insult, I'm perfectly happy to have a civilised debate with whoever, but obviously some people can't handle others having an (even slightly) differing viewpoint. Apologies if I've ever ignored your posts, it wasn't intentional. All we had to judge the squad at the start of the season was what we've seen in a league above from some, what we've seen in the Championship from some, and the career records of the rest. Taking all that into account, when we had Dennis and Samir, I thought on paper our squad was very strong, relative to the division. Injuries have hurt us, we haven't been able to play a full strength side more than once (?) without multiple difference-makers missing. I don't think we're getting top 2 unless our current mentality is fixed, and we get a bit more luck with injuries. But I do still think our squad is strong enough, although has been hampered by the lack of a strong RB option, thanks to Gaspar's...slow adjustment.
I can't ski but many people said the East Stand would never be rebuilt, yet Gino Pozzo performed a miracle and got one built. If he can do that then I'm sure I can find my way around a set of skis.
Indeed, and a Republican booster - at least he was a Jeb Bush supporter, rather than a Trump one, as per Robert Kraft, say. Trouble is, no one who could legitimately afford to take us over is a pleasant individual, and venal capitalist with relatively mild Republican leanings is very close to as ethically good as we could possibly ask for, as much as it's distasteful to admit. Unless anyone has a direct line to Mark Cuban, that is?
Slav's got a full week now with these weak mentally ****ed players, probably the biggest job he's had, and his job now is to start turning this around. He didn't create these problems, but he's the one we need to sort this out, whatever it takes. If Slav can't do it, no one can.
Do you know that after reading and contributing to these comments I would happily eat my words at the end of the season if we got out of this mess with some pride. One can only hope it turns out to be that way and we come through with at least something to look forward to next season.
Well this is all very depressing . I think Bilic summed the current situation up with his post match comments, which were very honest There is a decent , talented team in there on paper, but can anyone get a tune out of them or is there such an ingrained attitude/fear issue that we are doomed ? He’s got a full week to work with this squad now so let’s see if he can start to turn this round for the Norwich game. If not I fear what we’re going to witness !
He may have a week to work with them now, but he's still going to have the same team he picked today. What he has to do is get some focus in the side. Football is not a difficult game to understand but it is to play. He needs to set out a tactic, work on it when they can as much as they can in training this week, then do their best to execute that plan on Saturday. If we lose to Norwich and play anything like we did today and Wednesday, Bilic will be gone or very close to it. It's not all his fault and the players' have to take a fair bulk of the last two performances. I was listening to the DNSYE podcast after the game and a lot of the fans' who called in said the players don't care if they win or lose, they have no real connection to the club and it's just a job. While I agree with some of that, for us the fans, we are the people that keep those players in the job they do. We may not pay their wages but we do cheer when they score and boo at times, but we give the team the reaction their abilities atune to. If they don't give a crap every single game and just win by default when they do then they are in the wrong job. @Smudger has talked time and tine again about the need for a sports Psychologist, and the ludicrous amounts of cash we have blown on paying off managers contracts we should have one by now.
One glimmer of hope is that Bilic has not tried to pretend it was alright. When the players are clearly not committed enough it helps when the manager / coach has the nous and nuts to say publicly it wasn’t good enough.
Haven’t read any of this thread yet - looking forward to hearing what the “Rob Edwards was out of his depth” brigade have to say though.
Don’t know about you but I am off to play golf. I might have a high handicap but I think I have more ball control than some of our shower.
The players can blame the churn, (horrible LTA word about members coming in and out of tennis clubs) of coaches and managers. The fans haven't mattered at football since the wealth of the PL outweighed the gate receipts. Why do fans lose connection with a club? High up is the constant beggering about with kick off times and days to satisfy the demands of television. Players,even average ones such as ours are as rich as Croesus so the hunger is diminished and it becomes just a job. Clock in,clock out. The elite aren't necessarily the better technicians but they have the desire and will to keep working, learning and improving and not remain comfortable. Our club is the epitomy of this complacent mentality. A complete change is needed and fast. I pity Bilic. He's between the Scylla and Charybdis.
I agree it's unlikely to be successful That it's not wildly far-fetched is a measure of where we're at right now
Firstly, no need to apologise. Was just wondering if you were hiding from debate as I think debate is healthy and was intrigued to know what parts of our squad are top two level. I understand the thinking behind those saying the likes of Cathcart, Kabasele & WTE being not just good enough but the best in the league two years ago coupled with the upgrade of Masina to Kamara would mean our defence is fine but I genuinely think there’s been massive regression in that area hence some of our issues. Choudhury can be Chalobah to a degree, Louza would be our best CM that season and the attacks pretty much the same isn’t it? So I just lay all the blame at the defences door. I think the below image is a pretty accurate reflection of our squad right now which is why we’re so poor. Defence on the left, to attack on the right.
I like your spirit. I am not sure that you are aware of how quickly you pick up speed and how fast you'll be going. It is not Ivanhoe Beacon. It looks easy on Ski Sunday. Still, you're a brave person, so good luck. I am not sure that building a stand counts for much right now. The team is awful, league one or league two standard. The worst for many seasons. I am not sure what Gino Pozzo plan is, so we will all wait until he pulls a rabbit out of his hat. 1. Promotion 2. Relegation 3. Administration 4. Sells the club 5. Survival in the Championship. Daddy takes over the control. You choose.
He’s lost 2 in 3. Edwards lost 2 in 11. Yet apparently it was Edwards who was out of his depth. Time for this owner to sell up.
