Something stinks at our club

[Ibiza Town]

Our squad isn't the best but its not bad.

We have some good players and some average ones, almost all now playing badly. 

Again we have another new manager a with decent record looking suspect.

Despite all the changes in personel we have returned to that losing, fearful, negative mentality that we've had for the last 3 seasons (apart from the spell under Warnock).

All this to me points to something the stinks at the heart of the club.

How can can all these individuals, new and old, underperform so badly in exactly the same way and in the same manner that we've seen so many times before?

This all points to a much deeper problem  

What the hell is it?

[htfcterry]

Sept 24, 2024 22:43:10 GMT 1 Ibiza Town said:

Our squad isn't the best but its not bad.

We have some good players and some average ones, almost all now playing badly. 

Again we have another new manager with decent record looking suspect.

Despite all the changes in personel we have returned to that losing, fearful, negative mentality that we've had for the last 3 seasons (apart from the spell under Warnock).

All this to me points to something the stinks at the heart of the club.

How can can all these individuals, new and old, underperform so badly in exactly the same way and in the same manner that we've seen so many times before?

This all points to a much deeper problem  

What the hell is it?

Great post, wondered the exact same thing on my drive home. It also crossed my mind during the press conference yesterday as Tom Lees looked abit agitated and Duff wasn't the same as he was earlier in the season. The first thing Duff said in his opening press conference was "sweat on shirt is an absolute minimum". It's taken only the 6th game to be "outrun" as he called it.

[Essex Terrier]

Sept 24, 2024 22:43:10 GMT 1 Ibiza Town said:

Our squad isn't the best but its not bad.

We have some good players and some average ones, almost all now playing badly. 

Again we have another new manager with decent record looking suspect.

Despite all the changes in personel we have returned to that losing, fearful, negative mentality that we've had for the last 3 seasons (apart from the spell under Warnock).

All this to me points to something the stinks at the heart of the club.

How can can all these individuals, new and old, underperform so badly in exactly the same way and in the same manner that we've seen so many times before?

This all points to a much deeper problem  

What the hell is it?

You think it's ....THE FANS?!!😵😵

[conman]

It's a curse I tell you.. The ground was built on an old Anglo Saxon burial ground.

[FloridaTerrier]

Anyone think it's a coincidence our form went to shit when we didn't sign a proven goalscorer at this level? Almost as if players lost a bit of belief?

[rougeboy31]

We keep getting shitty managers who learned from videos and shit like xg instead of getting proper experience. Proven by the difference between an old head like Steve Bruce. Blackpool were good tonight and were fairly decent to watch, duff instead micro manages everything to the point where we won’t even have a shot from outside the penalty box. We have had three decent managers in the last ten years. One is the oldest available with more experience than I don’t know what - Warnock. Carlos who worked under a legendary manager who revolutionised football. And Wagner who worked under klopp at one of the best youth clubs in the world. They had learnt from the best. Duff has learnt from Sean dyche who makes Tony pulis look brilliant and himself lost to Darren Moore in a playoff.

[Wagner Uber Alles]

Sept 24, 2024 22:43:10 GMT 1 Ibiza Town said:

Our squad isn't the best but its not bad.

We have some good players and some average ones, almost all now playing badly. 

Again we have another new manager a with decent record looking suspect.

Despite all the changes in personel we have returned to that losing, fearful, negative mentality that we've had for the last 3 seasons (apart from the spell under Warnock).

All this to me points to something the stinks at the heart of the club.

How can can all these individuals, new and old, underperform so badly in exactly the same way and in the same manner that we've seen so many times before?

This all points to a much deeper problem  

What the hell is it?

Something in the water?

Something overpowering in the negative aura created by a mismanaged and neglected town and its crumbling infrastructure, buildings and population, psychologically rubbing off on the football club and its employees? Similarly affecting the Giants?

[smax]

Perhaps it’s the smell of new paint and work pods in the fantastic new offices. Or more likely the stench eminates  from the ruthless nature this lot got rid of successful employees such as Warnock and to a certain extent loyal servants such as Ann Hough but are allowing Mr Edwards and Mr Cartwright to carry on. Emperors new clothes springs to mind.

[pilgrimterrier]

Sept 24, 2024 23:32:20 GMT 1 rougeboy31 said:

We keep getting shitty managers who learned from videos and shit like xg instead of getting proper experience. Proven by the difference between an old head like Steve Bruce. Blackpool were good tonight and were fairly decent to watch, duff instead micro manages everything to the point where we won’t even have a shot from outside the penalty box. We have had three decent managers in the last ten years. One is the oldest available with more experience than I don’t know what - Warnock. Carlos who worked under a legendary manager who revolutionised football. And Wagner who worked under klopp at one of the best youth clubs in the world. They had learnt from the best. Duff has learnt from Sean dyche who makes Tony pulis look brilliant and himself lost to Darren Moore in a playoff.

I think there is something to be said for ‘old school’ coaching. Not just in football but rugby too. It’s as though all individuality is coached out of players these days so they act as robots to pre set plans. When the plans don’t work the teams go to rat shit on the pitch unless there is a ‘rebel’ type player who grabs the game by the scruff of the neck

[duncfost01]

Basically it’s because the players we have are simply not good enough.

The manager persists with his 3-5-2.

We have zero quality up front. Something every fan knew in the summer.

So much of this is on Cartwright and his football manager esq recruitment.

It’s a very worrying situation.

[terriers321]

Its a mixture of things.

Recruitment has been really bad. We spent decent money in the championship on Healey,Radulovic and Balker. They should have been top players for us in this league but instead they are always injured or just not upto it. Sorensen has done OK and Evans has been poor, although I think will come good eventually.

Kane and Miller were released by clubs at this level and Ladapo was without a club. They were never going to change the team dynamics.

There seems to be no individuals here you can build a team around and the only ones with true leadership skills who will grab the bull by its horns when things arnt going well are past there sell by date.

[Larry David]

I spoke to several Barnsley fans when they released Kane, the feeling was that he was ok, nothing special, not moving us forward hence why he was released.

Worrying

Cartwright is a fool. You needed to recruit leaders, strong individuals not just faces

Ladapo was the classic...we have been watching him for ages...have you bollocks, ghats about as bad as when we said we were tracking Siewert after Wagner

[Henry Mcgee]

Sept 25, 2024 7:11:53 GMT 1 Larry David said:

I spoke to several Barnsley fans when they released Kane, the feeling was that he was ok, nothing special, not moving us forward hence why he was released.

Worrying

Cartwright is a fool. You needed to recruit leaders, strong individuals not just faces

Ladapo was the classic...we have been watching him for ages...have you bollocks, ghats about as bad as when we said we were tracking Siewert after Wagner

Judging on last night's performance, they clearly weren't watching Ladapo because they wouldn't have signed him.

[Headless Chicken]

Sept 24, 2024 22:54:04 GMT 1 Essex Terrier said:

Sept 24, 2024 22:43:10 GMT 1 Ibiza Town said:

Our squad isn't the best but its not bad.

We have some good players and some average ones, almost all now playing badly. 

Again we have another new manager with decent record looking suspect.

Despite all the changes in personel we have returned to that losing, fearful, negative mentality that we've had for the last 3 seasons (apart from the spell under Warnock).

All this to me points to something the stinks at the heart of the club.

How can can all these individuals, new and old, underperform so badly in exactly the same way and in the same manner that we've seen so many times before?

This all points to a much deeper problem  

What the hell is it?

You think it's ....THE FANS?!!😵😵

It's the only constant 🤣

[utttrooper]

I think it could well be down to the fact that the wingbacks and the whole midfield bar Hodge don't seem to play well without the team playing well so we are either really on it or really off it. Many on here would disagree but I do believe on paper we have the second best squad in the league and it's down to Duff and the players to make sure that we can be the second best team in the league.

[SacTown]

Sept 25, 2024 7:11:53 GMT 1 Larry David said:

I spoke to several Barnsley fans when they released Kane, the feeling was that he was ok, nothing special, not moving us forward hence why he was released.

Worrying

Cartwright is a fool. You needed to recruit leaders, strong individuals not just faces

Ladapo was the classic...we have been watching him for ages...have you bollocks, ghats about as bad as when we said we were tracking Siewert after Wagner

Cartwright and Edwards both have their snouts in the trough.

[jim100]

Probably overthinking it. A rotten club would be one where an owner doesn't care, like town were before hoyle became chairman and we crashed into league 2.

Nagle clearly cares but unfortunately massive mistakes have been made which has left us with an average league one squad. We will lose games in the manner we did last night

[detox]

I don't know what it is..all I know is whenever one of our players gets the ball he has an opponent up his back within seconds, yet when the opponents get the ball there isn't a Town player within 10 yards of them.. Happens all the time. Why ? Are we playing in zones rather than marking players , because we never seem to have players in the right place.

Same when we attack down the wing, you look across the pitch and there's no Town player in sight for the square ball...or when we're past their full back and putting a ball across the midfield are still on the half way line.

What I do see is players shuffling a few yards so an opponent is in the way of them receiving a pass from a struggling team mate..hiding.That happens a lot in midfield.

We don't appear to have a single 'match winner' or 'game changer' in the squad.

It looks to me like the players haven't a clue where they should be, and very rarely make a move for  them to receive a pass.

I've no idea what the players are being told by the coaching staff but it is 100% clear it needs changing, immediately.

[townarentbest]

I think high performance athletes probably shouldn't train day-in day-out metres from a place making pesticides and herbicides.

[katiemterrier27]

Sept 24, 2024 23:30:36 GMT 1 FloridaTerrier said:

Anyone think it's a coincidence our form went to shit when we didn't sign a proven goalscorer at this level? Almost as if players lost a bit of belief?

No it's not a coincidence, good point. The same old message was sent out, no intent no ambition. The players are mostly poor quality with little motivation but nice contracts so they're sitting pretty.    

[CowshedJack]

Sick to teeth of supporting this shit club

[brixham]

I watched the Northampton game on TV (didn't see the Blackpool one thankfully) and it was noticeable that no one went over to Helik to put an arm round him and say something like "forget it Mikel now get down the other end and put one in their net" etc
Or when Koroma missed the pen..where was an arm around him saying " forget it Josh...you just scored a brilliant goal..now get us another...this game isn't finished yet"
The lack of fight after an adverse action has happened far too often over the last few seasons.
What's the solution? Not easy but we need more vocality on the pitch...a captain who does the encouraging as well as bollockings...maybe a psychologist to work on mental frailty with players...maybe an exorcist 😉....any ideas?

[boooothy]

Winning is a habit, so is losing.

We are a bunch of losers, fans included. Playing at home is no advantage with the atmosphere we’ve managed to create.

[galpharm2400]

Watching 10 individuals play their own game and attempt to try and just do enough works every now and again.
Second half against Posh, first halves against Stevenage and Shrewsbury and second half against Bolton. 3 of those games also hinged on the opposition missing real gobbers.
Problem is that it does not work for long enough in games that we win, without luck going for us and in games where it does not work at all the opposition look to have more players than us and we provide no real threat and are carved open regularly with enough players back but no one actually picking up the bloke who score. We dont play as a unit going forward or back, we dont have smaller units working together in areas of the pitch to move forward or defend that area better.
There simply isnt enough work going on from enough of the team to play as a team. Anyone can drift forward and wait, anyone can get back and stand about, which is really what we are doing at the moment. Being near their goal does not mean you are attacking, being back behind the ball does not mean you are defending. Moving and being able to recieve the ball or moving defenders about is attacking, being behind the ball and either challenging for it or picking up opponents is defending.
Its hard work, we dont do it.

[Sparrow]

Sept 25, 2024 11:01:49 GMT 1 brixham said:

I watched the Northampton game on TV (didn't see the Blackpool one thankfully) and it was noticeable that no one went over to Helik to put an arm round him and say something like "forget it Mikel now get down the other end and put one in their net" etc
Or when Koroma missed the pen..where was an arm around him saying " forget it Josh...you just scored a brilliant goal..now get us another...this game isn't finished yet"
The lack of fight after an adverse action has happened far too often over the last few seasons.
What's the solution? Not easy but we need more vocality on the pitch...a captain who does the encouraging as well as bollockings...maybe a psychologist to work on mental frailty with players...maybe an exorcist 😉....any ideas?

Really good point this.

Helik made a horrible mistake and no one was there for him. Indeed, our club captain and leader did what he always does. Bollocks him, waving his arms in the air and gesticulating that he should have cleared the ball down field. That was not what he needed at that exact time.

I remember thinking exactly the same when Mbete made his home debut for us. Made a couple of mistakes, including giving a penalty away, and not one of the senior players gave him any words of encouragement. They all just looked at the floor and trudge away.

Set of losers with no leaders.

Whilst I think we did sign some good players over the summer. We have not signed the leaders the squad so badly needed.

[Dell12]

Like Ibiza Town, I think on paper we have a decent squad and we did solid enough business over the summer. We got rid of a lot of dead wood and brought in some players who are proven at League One level. There's no-one we signed who I thought was a particularly poor addition. I would imagine our wage bill is comfortably in the top 3 or 4 - so I don't think we can accuse Nagle of underinvestment either. Similarly, I think Duff is proven at this level, certainly more so than the last 3-4 managers. If we were to change again, I think we'd start to look like a toxic place to manage, and I'm not really convinced there's anyone much better out there or that it would make a whole lot of difference.

My gut feel is that there's a poor culture among the players, intentional or otherwise. Losing has become engrained, heads drop quickly and it's only really Warnock who has managed to get a tune out of them since Corberan. It's frustrating because I think we have potential, but it's not working.

In the short to medium term, I think Duff is going to have to swallow his pride and find a system that works better quickly. We're not a particularly physical or athletic team, so I think the top priority has to be getting more bodies into midfield to close down some of the spaces on the pitch. We don't have the players who can cover the ground that needed to be covered last night playing 3-5-2 (or what mostly turned into a 5-3-2).

But come the end of the season, I think we have alot of players on quite big money for League One who are out of contract who aren't up to the job. And they need to leave.

[Wagner Uber Alles]

Sept 25, 2024 10:28:47 GMT 1 CowshedJack said:

Sick to teeth of supporting this shit club

Goodbye 👋

[colnevalleyblue]

Sept 25, 2024 11:52:49 GMT 1 Dell12 said:

Like Ibiza Town, I think on paper we have a decent squad and we did solid enough business over the summer. We got rid of a lot of dead wood and brought in some players who are proven at League One level. There's no-one we signed who I thought was a particularly poor addition. I would imagine our wage bill is comfortably in the top 3 or 4 - so I don't think we can accuse Nagle of underinvestment either. Similarly, I think Duff is proven at this level, certainly more so than the last 3-4 managers. If we were to change again, I think we'd start to look like a toxic place to manage, and I'm not really convinced there's anyone much better out there or that it would make a whole lot of difference.

My gut feel is that there's a poor culture among the players, intentional or otherwise. Losing has become engrained, heads drop quickly and it's only really Warnock who has managed to get a tune out of them since Corberan. It's frustrating because I think we have potential, but it's not working.

In the short to medium term, I think Duff is going to have to swallow his pride and find a system that works better quickly. We're not a particularly physical or athletic team, so I think the top priority has to be getting more bodies into midfield to close down some of the spaces on the pitch. We don't have the players who can cover the ground that needed to be covered last night playing 3-5-2 (or what mostly turned into a 5-3-2).

But come the end of the season, I think we have alot of players on quite big money for League One who are out of contract who aren't up to the job. And they need to leave.

Agree regarding losing culture.
I can't remember if it's the last 8 or 9 years but we've lost more games and conceded more goals than anyone else in the Football League (92 teams) probably go further than that too, I'd expect we'd still be top if you included the non League teams until you get someway down the pyramid.

We already look like a toxic place to manage.
we have chopped and changed far too much. Changing DOF, how many have we had since 2017? It must be 5 or 6.
In the previous 2 seasons we've been changing managers and coaching staff every 3 or 4 months. You can't operate like that.
Someone new comes in, has fresh idea's wants to play a different system, he wants get to know the players etc 'everyone starts a fresh' and we then end up not being able to progress or move on.
We've needed a new striker since 2018, we've brought in so many strikers but not been prepared to spend on a key areas of the field and now we are left with about half a dozen rattling around the squad either injured or out on loans.

Duff needs time to ride out the storm. Breitenreiter touched upon the toxicity in the club and blamed players mentality but what was the cause for their mentality?
He needs to just be given a year to properly work out our shortcomings and be allowed space and time to go about changing it.

[Detective Boyle]

Sept 25, 2024 11:13:43 GMT 1 boooothy said:

Winning is a habit, so is losing.

We are a bunch of losers, fans included. Playing at home is no advantage with the atmosphere we’ve managed to create.

Ridiculous and pathetic comment really. Town fans have shown that if the players work their arses off and give us something to cheer about we really do get behind the team. The players actually over the last 5 years been very lucky that they have us, a lot of fans would have actually protested at how bad it’s become.
But unfortunately many have passed anger and reached apathy

[ralphadonna]

Sept 24, 2024 23:14:30 GMT 1 conman said:

It's a curse I tell you.. The ground was built on an old Anglo Saxon burial ground.

I also came here to ask if we are cursed? 😂

Bar the Carlos season it’s the same thing season after season. I’m reaching bafflement now.

Managers and players and the owner have changed over the past 5 years but watching Town play panicky football repeats.