Red And White Barmy Army

a sensationalist comment that I'm sure Cortese will not be happy with! there will be an appology from channel 4 coming tomorrow morning!

jesus... i interpret the title of this thread to be in reference to 'established players' with a good reputation. what a 22 year old looks for in a club and a 27 year old looks for are 2 completely different things imo. there is no 'harder' or 'easier' to buy 1 person or another, there is just a 'difference'. just the same as i wouldn't like to say whether fonte is better than lambert. there is just a difference. i believe there is a difference in attracting a cork type player to a more established type player. u say ur 'sure' we would have a pretty decent chance of getting CMS but that's the whole point of this thread i think - many people are not so sure. Adkins didn't make that sort of signing in January and hasn't shown an indication that he will again this summer. as i say, i could be wrong but that's the point of having a discussion. some1 come up with a theory/hypothesis and we discuss whether it will have practical implications. some think it will, so don't.. dig........ i believe Adkins will find it difficult to attract established players with a good reputation in the prime of their careers. i think any player in their prime that he can attract would be one that is either not doing so well at the moment or is not established enough yet in England. 25-28 is the age range i'm talking about which is usually when players come into their prime. this has nothing to do with Adkins' ability to coach these players it is about the PERCEPTION of whether the players think NA would be able to develop them better than other managers with more experience at a higher level. that perception is enhanced by one's reputation as a manager. i'm sure adkins would be the 1st to admit that he does not have the same reputation as many of the current championship managers (yet).

I thought i took enough time to explain the logic pretty well actually but maybe i should help you more... it is harder to get a player with potential than some1 over the hill - yes of course. but i am not talking about players who are over the hill, i'm talking about players in their prime. it must have been alot harder to buy Rickie Lambert 2 years ago than when he was 22! surely?! I used CMS in my 1st post on this thread as the example of type of player i would be surprised if NA could attract because he is 27(?). At that age fewer managers would be able to develop a player than when they were 22. That's the way the system works - level one coaches coach the under 9s cos it's about letting them play and explore and gradually over the years they progress to the elite level where fewer and fewer managers can bring out an extra something. RL's development had plateaued at Bristol Rovers and then Pardew coached him and pushed him to the next level. If my career plateaued at the age of 25/26/27 then I wouldn't jump on any old bandwaggon - i would want to stay at the top of my game for as long as possible and go for a manager with a decent reputation. CMS would have thought poyet could develop him because he would have a lot of respect for him as a top player and therefore has some very good experience behind him. IF saints had been in for him i doubt he would have come here any way because he doesn't know enough about Adkins because his reputation isn't developed enough yet. Simples? Bed.

I think tbf the Cork signing doesn't prove much. I and am sure many others didn't doubt the ability of the club (inc Adkins) to bring in championship standard players who are young and have ambition. The type of signing which would stand me corrected would be a player in his prime who is looking for a manager that can bring out something extra in them to make sure they continue to develop different aspects of their game. For example, Lambert was in his prime(ish) but thought Pardew and the club would help him develop a lot more (which clearly happened). I believe he stated as much in one of his first interviews also. Not enough players know how good Adkins is yet (or how he can help them develop). That is still the underlying problem for me which should be corrected with a top half finish this year which will help develop his reputation. Cork is different in that he knows he will continue to develop without being choosey regarding managers. It is the experience and the team which will develop him more than anything else. Bring in a good championship standard player in his prime and I will stand corrected. That is all.

1) Fair point - I haven't been keeping track of all the constant rumours so just plucked 1 out the air tbh. 2) Gus Poyet gains players' respect for his playing career more than anything. Rightly or wrongly, some (most) players don't take much notice of where they got their reputation. Even (supposedly) more educated chairmen can't see the wood thru the trees at times - plenty of examples of players given management roles without any coaching experience whatsoever (e.g. Shearer).

PS the way around all this is to bring in foreign players who don't know much about the championship and care less about what the manager's name is. Might mean we're looking towards Europe again. Did we ever confirm that Hans-Frieajlekfshkl scout person btw?

Was thinking about this the other day and couldn't help but feel that the likes of CMS etc would much rather play for some1 they already respect for playing or managing at a high level. NC has been good at selling a vision to players before but what was 'fantastic ambition' in league 1 is simply the norm in the championship. Every team has a long-term plan and unless NC pays over the odds on wages then the decisions of players is most likely to rest on their attitude towards the manager. Lallana and Lambert etc sign new contracts because they have had time to judge him and develop that respect. The likes of CMS have no idea what Adkins is about so are always going to prefer a manager to which they have a positive attitude rather than a neutral one. I fear NC is only just realising what a big pull Pardew had over many players that joined the club (Fonte, Lambert etc could have probably held out for other championship offers sooner or later). Whether it's right or not, I fear NA needs to finish top half this season or NC might go looking for a bigger name manager who can attract better players ahead of next summer's transfer window. The way to convince players to come is to firmly establish yourself as a championship manager by putting the results together on the pitch. Shouldn't be a major problem cos I think this team should be able to make top half with 1 or 2 extras. All IMO of course, we could sign Owen tomorrow and shut me right up but I'm just working on theoretical logic here...

says ours does have footballs out - the new approach. used by most coaches these days - mourinho etc. strachan did the old skool method effectively because it instilled discipline into a side lacking in that department at the time. u can't just measure fitness with a bleep test at the end of pre-season to see how effective the training has been any more - u've got to measure performance fatigue etc which is best improved by having footballs out all the time so skills and routines become automatic even when fatigued.

so difficult to see us finishing above the likes of west ham, forest, leeds, cardiff, reading and birmingham. boro, leicester, burnley and blackpool will also be tough (but do-able).

Can see us finishing below 7 of those teams.

that's a good point which i believed at the time but then looking back he couldn't have said anything else. "they want to sell" = an unnecessary distraction = potentially not getting promoted. a white lie would have been the obvious thing to do in Cortese's position. I'm far from certain they will sell but at the same time I'm just saying that I don't think we can be certain that they will stay.

I think the last time they came was for a 5.15 kick off. maybe they can't get to games for a 3pm KO? i have no idea but didn't see them on saturday or the car outside the front that they usually arrive in and leave there. might be wrong but their absence does concern me in that they may pass ownership to some1 else, but NC says there is a back-up plan so I don't believe there will be any major consequences even if the Liebherr's do leave.

love this!!

just realised that didn't make sense. sorry! guess they just don't want people randomly calling up to reserve there seat only to not turn up and preventing others from going.

cos they can't have 30,000 people walking up on the day which is exactly what will happen if they say you can get them this way.

why no cameras if he's doing it at sms?

What an immense day! Loved every single minute of it. E-I-E-I-E-I-O up the football league we go!!!

We believe. Southampton expects.

Barbican is about 40 minute walk. match ticket gives u a 10% cab discount if u go with tower cabs - their number's on the back of the ticket. A lot of closer pubs that are closer but Home Park is at the far end of an enormous park so most places are going to be a 15 minute walk. My advice would be to walk from the station to mutley plain for a few then 15 min ish walk to the stadium probably. Used to live down that way a few years back - quite studenty but plenty of boozers inc a weatherspoons. The barbican is the other side of town completely so taxi's would be best then.

Huddersfield seem determined to copy us: (from twitter) @SoccerAM please rt for all the 150+ #htafc #p4p2 cyclist riding from Huddersfield to Brighton to raise money for Yorkshire air ambulance!

Adam Lallana. Impact.com. We know he's the best player in league 1. Next seasion will confirm that he's the best player in the championship too.

When I heard Solent saying Fonte's put it in the net I thought they meant it was an own goal. I went from the worst feeling in the world to a high not experienced in years in less than a second! LUVIT SAINTSSSSS!!!!!! Now lets win in at Plymouth so it's on my patch please =)

i meant 4 out of last 5 btw. orient beating pboro now so its playoffs for them

i'm worried that brighton will be up for beating us tomorrow - especially after we destroyed them in the pfa awards. players might think they have something to prove. and then they may well step off the gas for udders. it's quite worrying that we may have to win all 5 of our remaining games whilst huddersfield only have to beat dagenham & redbridge and brentford at home if they beat brighton.

is Jason Puncheon on twitter? I have a message for him.