Is it still mainly all Sami's fault?

[London Irish]

Most of the first half of this disappointing season I though the debate on NSC was fairly measured and rang true - lots of flak for Sami obviously for either being too idealistic or just too inept - but also a lot of flak for other parts of the club, the recruitment team, the board etc - was a lot of blame to go round and it was being reasonably fairly shared out.

Jonah's unbeaten reign and Chris's bright start seemed to skew that level-headedness for me. Suddenly it was just Sami as public enemy number one by far and our squad of players wers suddently all brilliant again.

Is reality biting again now?

We were damn lucky Millwall blew a great chance against a depleted Tykes otherwise we'd be back in the bottom 3 now.

I think Hughton was a great move by the board but the squad still looks poor by the standards of our play-off seasons. Still a huge amount of work to be done bringing in some real quality.

It just doesn't add for me that the players who did a lot to help get rid of Sami are now suddenly going to be good enough for Hughton's project.

 

[Acker79]

I was thinking something similar myself. The brief run of success after Sami left has ebbed away a bit, reminding people of the quality of the squad we have.

We have a few players coming back from injury, perhaps there's still time for things to swing back to everything being Sami's fault.

 

[BensGrandad]

Should have signed a couple during January. Our only hope now is to consider anybody released by their clubs like Assou Ekotto to reduce the loans. If not we are f....d for this season.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Mainly BERK's fault, but ( sadly) Sami has to take a MASSIVE amount of the blame.

 

[Icy Gull]

Nope, Bloom's reluctance to pay the going rate for a Championship side, relying on loanees and mostly average signings is the main reason. The appointment of Hyypia didn't help though.

It's Bloom's toy though and he can spend the money wherever he likes but we will do well to stay up with what we have

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

It is not Sami's fault at all. It is the fault of the Board and Burke. A bit of class wins games at this level. We moved on Ulloa, Barnes, Buckley, Bridcutt and PIG but have not replaced them with sufficient quality. Thus we will be found out and lose more often than we win. What did they really expect with the recruitment that they achieved.

COG works hard but to be paying him 13k a week as reported by El Pres. over three years is ridiculous. He holds up well but never looks like scoring. I would speculate we offered Barnes not much more than half of that. The board thought we could do better and were wrong, very wrong. A complete cock up by them.

We pay quite well to be honest. We are paying enough but it is the players who are not delivering and recruitment has been poor.

Unless we bring in players on loan we will be relegated. This is a tough league and to survive, let alone move forward, costs money.

The Board, the club and indeed the supporters have become at least a touch arrogant. Oh yes looking to the play offs each season. What.. when u do not properly invest.. no chance...

The way the stadium emptied when we went 3 1 down today should be a chilling sign to the Board of the future unless they actually get their act together and bring in the right players. It is obvious that Greer, Bruno and Calderon are ageing and are not what they were. Stockdale is .. well.... acceptable some days. Dunk.... well good for the most part but a bloody liability otherwise.

We are division 1 bound and if we escape this season we will go down next without change.

Tony, your trust has been misplaced. Others have spent your money and very unwisely. Perhaps Barber needs to go...His influence and ego is too great.

 

[Tory Boy]

As much as I love the fella the reason we have the worst team since we came to the Amex is Tony Bloom.

He has put piles and piles of cash in the club, but this season he is responsible for us going backward.

TB

 

[BensGrandad]

It is not Sami's fault at all. It is the fault of the Board and Burke. A bit of class wins games at this level. We moved on Ulloa, Barnes, Buckley, Bridcutt and PIG but have not replaced them with sufficient quality. Thus we will be found out and lose more often than we win. What did they really expect with the recruitment that they achieved.

COG works hard but to be paying him 13k a week as reported by El Pres. over three years is ridiculous. He holds up well but never looks like scoring. I would speculate we offered Barnes not much more than half of that. The board thought we could do better and were wrong, very wrong. A complete cock up by them.

We pay quite well to be honest. We are paying enough but it is the players who are not delivering and recruitment has been poor.

Unless we bring in some more loan signings we will be relegated This is a tough league and to survive, let alone move forward, costs money.

The Board, the club and indeed the supporters have become at least a touch arrogant. Oh yes looking to the play offs each season. What.. when u do not properly invest.. no chance...

The way the stadium emptied when we went 3 1 down today should be a chilling sign to the Board of the future unless they actually get their act together and bring in the right players. It is obvious that Greer, Bruno and Calderon are ageing and are not what they were. Stockdale is .. well.... acceptable some days. Dunk.... well good for the most part but a bloody liability otherwise.

We are division 1 bound and if we escape this season we will go down next without change.

Tony, your trust has been misplaced. Others have spent your money and very unwisely. Perhaps Barber needs to go...His influence and ego is too great.

We are limited on loans as we already have 4 and can only name 5 on a match day. The problem was not brining in either bought or free signings during January our only hope now is to recruit a couple of free agents who are better than we have. Could we send Bennnet back and sign Assou Ekotto on a short contract. That would free up 1 loan space.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Yes. And no. David Burke has, in my opinion, weakened our squad continuously over the last few windows.

People say we had a terrible window this time. I actually dispute that. We have a lovely stadium and training facility but would you want to join a side one place above relegation, in transition and with players on the payroll seemingly just to pick up their wages (Agustien)? Especially if other sides were offering more? I wouldn't. Therefore the capture of Beram Kayal looks even better in context. We have bought quality over quantity (the opposite of which Burke did in the summer window) against the odds and with a reduced pool to choose from.

So Sami cannot be held responsible for all the players that were here. He can, however, be held responsible for making them play a style that they never could get close to. We may have had monkeys, but rather than give them nice trees to swing from, or even typewriters upon which they could write Shakespeare, Sami bunged them in the penguin enclosure and asked them to swim in cold water for the opening zoo crowd of the season, untrained. It's hardly a surprise that months later, with a zoo keeper that knows what he's doing, they still have no confidence.

Hughton will eventually rescue us but he is undoing the mess of at least two people.

 

[symyjym]

It's the players making mistakes like today that cost Sami his job.

 

[Barnham Seagull]

It is not Sami's fault at all. It is the fault of the Board and Burke. A bit of class wins games at this level. We moved on Ulloa, Barnes, Buckley, Bridcutt and PIG but have not replaced them with sufficient quality. Thus we will be found out and lose more often than we win. What did they really expect with the recruitment that they achieved.

COG works hard but to be paying him 13k a week as reported by El Pres. over three years is ridiculous. He holds up well but never looks like scoring. I would speculate we offered Barnes not much more than half of that. The board thought we could do better and were wrong, very wrong. A complete cock up by them.

We pay quite well to be honest. We are paying enough but it is the players who are not delivering and recruitment has been poor.

Unless we bring in players on loan we will be relegated. This is a tough league and to survive, let alone move forward, costs money.

The Board, the club and indeed the supporters have become at least a touch arrogant. Oh yes looking to the play offs each season. What.. when u do not properly invest.. no chance...

The way the stadium emptied when we went 3 1 down today should be a chilling sign to the Board of the future unless they actually get their act together and bring in the right players. It is obvious that Greer, Bruno and Calderon are ageing and are not what they were. Stockdale is .. well.... acceptable some days. Dunk.... well good for the most part but a bloody liability otherwise.

We are division 1 bound and if we escape this season we will go down next without change.

Tony, your trust has been misplaced. Others have spent your money and very unwisely. Perhaps Barber needs to go...His influence and ego is too great.

Agree with all of this

 

[GT49er]

It's a bit of both......Sami has to take a large share of the blame for CH's stint having to start from where we are now, but at the same time, Sami wasn't dealt the greatest of hands to work with. Our best players had been sold and replaced with ones who were just not as good. The squad is mid-table, just about. Maybe a little lower, but if we play to that standard we will pull away from relegation. Not by much. Lickers have gone very quiet these days........................