Holmes_and_Watson

Abbott / Costello might be stronger overall than Stephens/Anyone. 🙂

5 things. Downes not picking up yellow cards to get himself a holiday....ah, never mind 4 things it is. 🙂

It reminded me of how this excellent one was made:-

Like so many of our SR transfer windows, this one has plenty of issues. We’ve got reduced parachute payments; SR balancing the books and looking to maximise player sale prices where possible; possible personal fallout from last season’s failed promotion; players wanting to step up, even more because we didn’t go up. The squad were very poor under Still but were on a great run under Tonda. We’ve seen the players at both ends of their form. With the disappointing end to last season, Tonda has to keep them towards their best. All while other teams have strengthened, we’ve got new relegated teams with their own parachute payments, and opponents are used to our set up. Looking at the personnel starting this season, compared to last:- GK – Securing Peretz has been excellent business. Ramsdale will surely not want to be back up here, so still expect a loan move before the end of the window. That would leave ourselves needing a replacement, with Long being here primarily for the numbers. Improvement over start of 25/26. DR – With Suga looking likely to leave on loan, we still have Bree, whose return form loan made a big difference last season, and Mads as back up, now that he’s fit. Improvement over start of 25/26. DL – Manning came into a good run of form under Tonda. Finally looking like the player who did well at Swansea. A lot will depend on the defence around him. Welington is very capable backup/ pressure on his place. Larios looks likely to leave. Same as 25/26. DC – Last season, we were thinking one of Wood, Edwards or Quarshie would supplant Stephens as THB’s partner. Now THB is leaving, Edwards already sold and Quarshie off on loan. Decent debut for Schlotterbeck, if too early to call. Weaker than 25/26. MC – Charles scored some important goals, and was an excellent, cool-headed option mainly from the bench. But if JWP’s fitness is anywhere near what we all remember, we’ve got one of our better players from our first season back in the Championship. It’s a test for Tonda to now manage the playing expectations of Jander, Downes and JWP. Bragg also improved last season. Improvement over start of 25/26. AML – Scienza was a late addition to the squad last season (along with Azaz and Fellows). While he can fade, Edozie gets yet another opportunity to push on. More so, with the absence of Robinson or AA dropping back from up front. The roles are a bit clearer, this season. Same as 25/26. AMR – Fraser was here at the start of last season, but his form had dropped markedly. I thought Fellows started with intent, before being put out of position. Matsuki’s work rate always impressed, but his skill improved with playing time. Tonda has a job to get the best balance in the side to compliment Scienza taking the ball on for shots on the left. A natural choice would be Fellows, but some improvement needed to keep Matsuki out. Same as 25/26. AMC – SR have brought in Dobbin to support Azaz in this position, filling a gap left by Aribo and Matsuki filling in. The jury is out on whether AMC is really Dobbin’s best position. Perhaps he’s considered to be versatile to fill in across the midfield, perhaps losing some of Azaz’s qualities as a result. Improvement over start of 25/26. FC – SR singed Damion Downs to lead the line in place of the injury hit Stwart. Larin’s loan, like Peretz and Bree’s return, made a difference. Securing him is an immediate improvement. We’ve also added Mubama on loan. Archer looked decent recently, although still stuck in a system that doesn’t suit him. Improvement over start of 25/26. The main area of concern is central defence. And only as THB is just about to leave. Otherwise, we’ve improved in 5 areas and have the same players in the other 3 (Central defence and central midfield each covering 2 players, in case you were expecting it to add up to 11) All that said, the main question is whether the squad is better than the one that ended the season on such a good run. Charles is ably replaced by JWP. A getting fit Stewart rotated well with a getting up to speed Larin. But now that Larin is sharp, having a reliably fit back up in Mubama is a plus. Although Stewart was sharp, when fit. Central defence is the issue. We could really have done with a new partner for THB. With him gone, we could now do with a replacement for him. We’ve more retained the strength from the end of last season, rather than pushing any boats out to greatly improve on what we had.

You really shouldn't be in @sadoldgit's personal folder. 🙂

Yeah. I hated Austin too. Oh wait, Austin is saying that about Hoedt? 🙂

Wow! Football and my other favourite hobby combining. What a day! 🙂

He did indeed get us promoted, and did give us that record. Just letting that sentence stand by itself. As you say, it's been a disaster since. And there were plenty of counter points, even during the promotion and getting that record. I also enjoyed his system when it worked. Against certain opposition, playing a certain way. And if he has certain players, able to play within his structure, but also pushing against it enough to make their individual talent make a difference. And those players really have to be the best in their league. He'd been at Rangers. He knew what to expect from the fans. But you can see why he went. Their new investment would allow him to shape a squad into his system. It was a budget well above anyone else's. He could have the best players in the league. Rangers wanted his system to get progress in Europe. It's a good fit there. What he wasn't prepared for was: that his budget was needed for a whole squad; plenty of teams set up just to counter old firm opposition, happy to give him possession; competitions underway while they were still bringing players in. Those early European games gave a glimpse. A resetting approach to every move, allowing a team to counter better opposition. Until Brugges who, like all the PL teams we faced under him, showed that there were limits to what his squads could cope against. When it falls apart, there's no other options. Leicester are going to the administration wall. Needing to get out of their division and getting a deluded new owner willing to pick up their debt and obligations. Martin may have some good players left. But it's disjointed, based on who they can move on. In there, he's trying to put in his plans to a squad and fanbase who want to see anything else. We had a wretched September under him. Before that, when the likes of JWP were leaving, I thought we'd be fine. We got points, even if it wasn't the best. September was his system kicking in. October onwards was him having to adjust. Something he's going to have to learn yet again. He's not so much vilified as he's a parody figure in charge of important parts of people's lives: their clubs. His approach of rather losing to progress his project isn't a good fit for any club.

This one reminded me of another I was going to put up. I was wondering what Afrika Bambaataa's other work around that time was. Now deceased, turns out he a sexual abuuser through his career. And it was well known, and his organisation initially dismissed the victims, but is still going. A grim note to a nice thread.

While sabotage was massive, I prefer ... Understated, but still very much them. And another LCD Sound system shout

Serie B awaits.

Tax

Tsk. What's the first rule of Fight Club? Don't post about Fight Club.