"Its all Micky Adams fault"

[Deano's Invisible Pants]

Not every player a manager buys will be successful, this is the same for every manager from Alex Ferguson all the way down to non league football.

I don't disagree with you, but the number of failures / disappointments we have had in the last 2-3 years has been ridiculous. Just off the top of my head:

Dixon
Davies
Hawkins
Davis
Graeme Smith
Virgo
McLeod
Livermore
Navarro
Thornhill
McFaul
Thomson


...to name but a few. And given the amount of money involved, some would make the case for adding Dickinson to that list, notwithstanding his performance yesterday.

We used to make silk purses out of sows' ears, but successive managers have spent comparatively big money and delivered little in return. My question is, are Wilkins, Adams and Slade solely to blame, or have others behind the scenes had greater influence over transfer policies?

 

[El Presidente]

To be fair, when we bought Murray we also sold Hammond and a couple of others. I'm pretty sure we made a profit that transfer window. Also, under Wilkins, Cox & Elphick were held in high esteem & their value was very high - much higher than now

I think during that window it was

IN
Murray £300k
Thomson £50k
Dixon £45k
McFaul Free

OUT
Hammond £250k
Revell £150k

so it was overall neutral, whereas under MM we were a selling club full stop (apart from Mark McCammon of course!)

 

[El Presidente]

Small town? 250 for btn and hove plus the towns / ports like worthing / Newhaven. No mate its not a small town and stop looking for excuses for those that failed. They failed and thats the end of it. They had cash (more than Oients or Bristol rovers of this world) and they failed. Poyet has a chance and its down to him to take it - that mate is a city attitude not a small town attitude

No, small town, Norwich has the same catchment area and has 25,000 a week in attendance for third tier football, we haven't had that since 1979/80.

 

[king Wombat]

yep and bought well - Murray despite being a prat can play football - when he deems to bother to try, you know when the tv cameras are rolling. However Wilkins had his central midfielder sold and we still got to the edge of the play offs. Wilkins did a great job (I couldnt give a fig if a few players hated him, more than a few players had good reason to hate Clough - just ask Peter Ward!), Adams was a hoofing disaster and Slade bought badly. Poyet now has a chance and he will be judged after he has bought

The central midfielder - Dean Hammond, who said ' I Will stay if the club shows some sign of ambition'. They then signed Murray for £300k - Which was the most money we had spent for years and years. We then signed another couple of players on loan - Westlake/Racon I think from memory.

Hammond still f***ed off, despite being offered the biggest contract at the club.

So how exactly does that constitute Wil,kins having his midfielder sold??

 

[Jamie]

No, small town, Norwich has the same catchment area and has 25,000 a week in attendance for third tier football, we haven't had that since 1979/80.

yep and since 1979 who have the albion been playing, where have they been playing that football when Naaawich were in the premier league, playing European football and the like. No surprise Naarwich get crowds, give them 25 yars in the lowerr leagues and maybe a ground share at Collchester and see what crowds they are pulling in. Anyway the issue is thatt adams and slade failed when given money and whether they should be afforded and excuse. nope, not in my viw, the chairman was let down and he had every right tosck them, but Wilkins took us to 7th and should not have been sacked for upsetting a diddums little player

 

[El Presidente]

Wilkins took us to 7th and should not have been sacked for upsetting a diddums little player

He wasn't.

 

[Acker79]

I can't believe nobody has blamed the Stewards at Withdean yet?!?!

Well, now you mention it... The stewards don't let people sing or enjoy the game leading to no atmosphere leading to players not performing. Damn those fluorescent jacketed cheer-stealers!

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I don't disagree with you, but the number of failures / disappointments we have had in the last 2-3 years has been ridiculous. Just off the top of my head:

Dixon
Davies
Hawkins
Davis
Graeme Smith
Virgo
McLeod
Livermore
Navarro
Thornhill
McFaul
Thomson


...to name but a few. And given the amount of money involved, some would make the case for adding Dickinson to that list, notwithstanding his performance yesterday.

We used to make silk purses out of sows' ears, but successive managers have spent comparatively big money and delivered little in return. My question is, are Wilkins, Adams and Slade solely to blame, or have others behind the scenes had greater influence over transfer policies?

And the fees paid were?
And how much of this did money we used to sign these players came from getting rid of other players from the wage bill to free up the cash to pay for the new ones? (ie not extra money, but using the existing money / budget differently)

To be fair to the managers who brought those players in, several of those signings were players were youngsters with a lot of potential (and if you have limited funds, you look to develop these players to preoduce for you on the pitch then make money when sold) or players who sounded like they could improve on what we already had, but have been shown to to no better or infact worse, eg. Livermore Good for Hull, poor for us. or G Smith, a highly rated Scottish goalkeeper wanted by several teams so sounded worth persuing and taking the risk on, but fate has shown that he isn't up to the task.

Why they might have worked and we signed them perhaps?
Dixon - Scored plenty in non league and was a gamble whether he could do this in League 1, if he had, then it would have been a coup.
Davies - A prospect, as Zamora was when we signed him, but hasn't worked out for him or us.
Hawkins - Solid defender for Adams at his previous club, expected the same from him for us.
Davis - Rated by Forest, did alright for us without being impressive.
Graeme Smith - a highly rated Scottish goalkeeper wanted by several teams so sounded worth persuing and taking the risk on, but fate has shown that he isn't up to the task.
Virgo - Did well for us before, played for Celtic etc, so sounded good move in theory
McLeod - Ex-premiership player, so expected far better from him than he's produced
Livermore - Ex hull player who lead them to promotion to the Premiership, expected more from him than he has demonstrated that he is capable of.
Navarro - rated player at MK Dons, worth a punt?
Thornhill - Highly rated at Forest, again was worth the gamble
McFaul - Young player who had potential, worth a gamble
Thomson - Rated in Scotland, but I think it has finally proved / learn't that Scottish football is below league 1 standards

 

[Jamie]

He wasn't.

pleased to hear it as players are as a ule the last people anyone should listen to

 

[mona]

The standard in Div 1 is higher than it was 4 years ago. We need to improve just to remain in the same place. Unfortunately we haven't improved significantly altho' I have more faith in the current regime.

 

[Don Quixote]

Open your eyes mate, it was his fault! Who else is to blame.

 

[Jim D]

..... We may not have been in danger of getting to the lay offs.....

I thought we get to the lay offs on 1st Jan (between 15 and 18 of them) - or is that just another rumour?

 

[cannedheat]

Shock horror Shock NSC postings get's managers sacked,