Deano's Invisible Pants
Well-known member
- Mar 1, 2008
- 1,133
.......I genuinely think we are going backwards. We were beaten fair and square by a better team today. Normally I can live with that. Beaten by West Ham at Upton Park by 6? Fine. Spanked by Liverpool at Anfield? OK. Edged out by Middlesbrough or Cardiff? Even beaten by The Scum at Selhurst. No great surprise. Watford are a club with much more limited means, lower aspirations, and much smaller crowds, but Zola has transformed them since last season. Man-for-man they were comfortably better than us, and Zola won the tactical battle.
Meanwhile, if anything, we look weaker and more predictable than ever. Gus, much as I admire him, has a very mixed record in the transfer market. With the benefit of hindsight, we have grossly undervalued Noone and Murray. CMS, Hoskins, Dobbie, Crofts, Bruno - all big signings and all to a greater or lesser degree proving disappointing. And before anyone questions my inclusion of Bruno, he is a liability defensively as he proved once again today.
26,700. That's TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED. Having watched us piss around in front of a few thousand for the 25+ years I've been watching them (including as a season ticket holder at Gillingham and at Withdean), I can hardly believe the support we're getting right now, and it's soul destroying to see us fail to put on a show. I can live with not being promoted, I can live with not being in the play-offs - and yes, we are light years better on the pitch than we were a few years ago. BUT, we MUST give people the sense we are progressing, otherwise the crest of the wave the club is still riding on will be lost and crowds will dip very quickly.
It's a good thing we've got a long-term strategy with a chairman who puts his faith in his manager, but for the first time some fairly major question marks are hanging over GP. I feel this transfer window may prove to be a very important few weeks in the short / medium term future of the club and I hope GP quickly dispels those question marks. It's a commercial imperative that he starts getting the big decisions right.
Meanwhile, if anything, we look weaker and more predictable than ever. Gus, much as I admire him, has a very mixed record in the transfer market. With the benefit of hindsight, we have grossly undervalued Noone and Murray. CMS, Hoskins, Dobbie, Crofts, Bruno - all big signings and all to a greater or lesser degree proving disappointing. And before anyone questions my inclusion of Bruno, he is a liability defensively as he proved once again today.
26,700. That's TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED. Having watched us piss around in front of a few thousand for the 25+ years I've been watching them (including as a season ticket holder at Gillingham and at Withdean), I can hardly believe the support we're getting right now, and it's soul destroying to see us fail to put on a show. I can live with not being promoted, I can live with not being in the play-offs - and yes, we are light years better on the pitch than we were a few years ago. BUT, we MUST give people the sense we are progressing, otherwise the crest of the wave the club is still riding on will be lost and crowds will dip very quickly.
It's a good thing we've got a long-term strategy with a chairman who puts his faith in his manager, but for the first time some fairly major question marks are hanging over GP. I feel this transfer window may prove to be a very important few weeks in the short / medium term future of the club and I hope GP quickly dispels those question marks. It's a commercial imperative that he starts getting the big decisions right.