Players who can't handle the pressure will be dropped, says McCall (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

and the players who cannot handle 18th place in the fag end division will be replaced by whom.............. only a few days to the end of the transfer window so replacements must be from within!!!

sorry but the manger picks the team and tells it how to play. Perhaps he should be thinking of replacing himself!

Which is precisely why we have needed a more physical ,aggressive, horrible centre half and or central midfielder for some time now. It has not been addressed and it starting to show. Here's a tip. Play the same team for more than 1 match on the run, play 4-4-2 so the lads understand it and play the best player for each position rather than playing players out of position. It is clear for the world to see that Evans is struggling, so play Rory and see what he can do.
What did Brian Clough say about never being able to understand why people over complicated football. Well in Stuart we have somebody who worries more about the opposition than what his teams strengths are and unless we get back to basics the rest of t he season is going to be a real struggle.

Spot on lads why mccall has not gone yet i do not know surley if we lose on saturday then he has got to be gone Mccall out

It comes down to coaching, tactics and following a game plan. The first two are questionable and the third obviously does not happen.
As for players not being in their best positions just look at a good cricket team, play those out of order and it rarely works, seen it all too often.

To be fair how can you keep the same team every week when players are suspended, would Evans have been playing if Boulding and Hanson was fully fit?

I would sign an experienced centre back but then again it's looks like it too late. We are now favourites to join The Blue Square, will attendances be the same when we are mid-table in The Blue Square.

Well Torquay is the opportunity to start righting the wrongs. However we have herd the fighting talk before and nothing has come of it so last chance saloon I would say

Apart from the financial considerations of sacking the manager. Or of him 'Falling on his Sword'; taking the honourable move and resigning his position.

Who would be available,or interested in taking the over from Stuart McCall?.

Who would the joint Chairmen appoint?.

What would be the costs of replacing Stuart McCall?.

How much money would be made available, to bring in players, when the January transfer 'Window' is almost finished?.

What has happened to the 'Loyalty' of Bradford City Supporters?.

The very words 'Support' and 'Loyalty' are not evident, from the people who have posted comments on the recent T&A Articles.

If the Players,Management and Board of Directors read the T&A Comments. They must be becoming more depressed, than those who have made the comments.

How can these negative,pessimistic opinions, be of any loyal supportive use, to Bradford City Football Club?.

tjm5 wrote:
Well Torquay is the opportunity to start righting the wrongs. However we have herd the fighting talk before and nothing has come of it so last chance saloon I would say

Too right tjm5, Torquay will win no doubt about that, and by some goals and this will send us into free fall. We need to make changes now.

Come the weekend when we've lost again, what are the chances changes will be made come Monday, absolutely nothing!

Freddy wrote:
Apart from the financial considerations of sacking the manager. Or of him 'Falling on his Sword'; taking the honourable move and resigning his position. Who would be available,or interested in taking the over from Stuart McCall?. Who would the joint Chairmen appoint?. What would be the costs of replacing Stuart McCall?. How much money would be made available, to bring in players, when the January transfer 'Window' is almost finished?. What has happened to the 'Loyalty' of Bradford City Supporters?. The very words 'Support' and 'Loyalty' are not evident, from the people who have posted comments on the recent T&A Articles. If the Players,Management and Board of Directors read the T&A Comments. They must be becoming more depressed, than those who have made the comments. How can these negative,pessimistic opinions, be of any loyal supportive use, to Bradford City Football Club?.

it's not pessimatistic it's realistic.
Open your eyes even the bookies are quoting us favourites after Darlington to go down.

Wake up and sell the coffee.

Farsley-Wrote:-

it's not pessimatistic it's realistic.
Open your eyes even the bookies are quoting us favourites after Darlington to go down.

Wake up and sell the coffee.

MORE DEPRESSING COMMENTS!

Do worry guys, Stu's is going to sign a two year extension and were bringing in Dyk Van Nostrelboy.

Paulvh wrote:
Do worry guys, Stu's is going to sign a two year extension and were bringing in Dyk Van Nostrelboy.

Yeah, Robinho is looking for a new club maybe we can get him also.

Farsleyct, open your eyes and read the bookies odds properly. we arent second favourites to go down at all. check betfair, even notts county are shorter odds than us cos they might get kicked out.
its pretty bad right now but dont let the facts get in way of another reason to moan. another hans christian andersen o the message board

Once again the Ginger Whinger comes out with a diabolical statement.Maybe if he did not concentrate on the opposition as much as he does and got his own tactics and message across to his own players then maybe they would not be anxious.Look in the mirror McCall and you will see the reason City are in this perilous position.

come on these interviews are starting to make me bored and as listening to most of these interviews are just plain boring him telling us heeee will do something and it either not work or doesn't actually do it

When I play on a Sunday and I am taking a dead the ball, our 2 big centre midfielders know how far I can or cant kick it!! So they stand there rather then let my kick by pass them.
Could Bully not have been slightly advanced from a dead ball position?

bradford mad 1 wrote:
Spot on lads why mccall has not gone yet i do not know surley if we lose on saturday then he has got to be gone Mccall out

Weve been crying out for 2 decent center backs since last seasons slump, with little over a week left in the transfer window i cannot belive we still are waiting for Stuart McCall to bring someone in, after saturdays performance from Zesh he would be at the job center now along with evans, major answers need aswering from mccall and lawn about the state of the club and why we have not brought in players onloan. Disgracefull,

if it is true that he had to win the Lincoln and the Torquay then it could be a very long lonely way home with a P45. Ne'er mind Chris Kamara can get SM on the cumfy sofa on Sunday morning for a chat.

I believe the directors have decided the better financial option is to stick with SM for this season in the hope that Grimsby have no improvement in form.

A work colleague has just said to me "you have the biggest set of moaning and whinging supporters in the league" he thought people pulled together when times were tough "but not you lot" do Bradford fans enjoy being laughed at.....and you know what, he,s spot on, if mcCall is bringing the club down he sure as hell has plenty of help from so called supporters, look that word up in the dictionary !!!!

We all have our different opinions what is wrong at City don't we,well in IMO ,it said it all, when I saw City's match on vidio on BBC's Football on my laptop....Look for yourselves.....for one of their goals, THREE City defenders went to tackle one of their strikers, and left TWO of their strikers with just a tap in.....the other goal their player just walzed through THEE of our defenders and slotted in the back of the net,TWO down and so easy...We have two defenders on the coaching staff,this stands out that they are not good enough for this coaching job at City ,so get someone in who can help ,if we do not intend to replace the useless pair, that now hold the central position,before it is too late.....we have 5 days left to rectify this problem with loan's.....we also do need someone to score goals from the chances we do create.....Evans give's 100% with effort add chasing .but let's face it ,he does not produce the finnised product which is GOALS

What we require is a statement from joint chairmen Lawn & Rhodes about a financial situation and why the finance is not there to change the team , if Rehman has been hauled off twice at half time for shocking first half displays surely Stuart wants to change things however I very much doubt he has been offered the finance to do so.

The goal keeping transfer was a forced one as Eastwood was recalled and reluctantly the board have agreed to finance a replacement in Glennon , however it is now clear to see that the flack the manager is taking is partly down to loss of form , confusing tactics and the same old excuses , but a massive part is not having the backing to change things , my guess is City are a lot worse off than we think , we have in theory the same money coming through the doors as most other clubs in our division , regardless of the size of our crowds , most of our fans are on cheap deals or children under 16 , so to call for the signing of defenders / goal scoring strikers and strengthen in others areas isnt possible.

The sooner we lower our expectation levels , the sooner the board are honest with us about the financial situation and the sooner some of our fans realise this is real life and not FIFA10 the better.

Lawn might have helped City out in our hour of need , but Mr Lawn help all the genuine fans out who sit at games home and away and come away with if's / but's & maybe's as to why we continue with the same squad of players and why Stuart clearly doesnt have any help bringing the odd fresh face in.

what is loyal and what is whinging or do people want us to endure clueless football from the coaches and players i dare anyone to justify mcall staying in a job and for the record i love our club but im sick of feeling depressed on asaturday a message to the board on mcall BACK HIM OR SACK HIM??? ctid

Bantam58 wrote:
A work colleague has just said to me "you have the biggest set of moaning and whinging supporters in the league" he thought people pulled together when times were tough "but not you lot" do Bradford fans enjoy being laughed at.....and you know what, he,s spot on, if mcCall is bringing the club down he sure as hell has plenty of help from so called supporters, look that word up in the dictionary !!!!

Spot on. But the weather in Spain must be bad for our exile friend to want to stay on his laptop. Give me the sun!

To JB Bantam, 100% agree with you.
If we are that skink we just cant afford afford to compete in this league then tell us. It wont be nice to hear but will make the fans more
understanding. At the moment we think we have a top 8 or even top 5
budget because that is what has been implied by the directors. we need to hear from the board.

fatbloke wrote:
When I play on a Sunday and I am taking a dead the ball, our 2 big centre midfielders know how far I can or cant kick it!! So they stand there rather then let my kick by pass them.
Could Bully not have been slightly advanced from a dead ball position?

Having seen you play my friend i can see where your coming from. But you have a very good centre half in front of you. Unlike Glennon who has two donkeys in Zesh and Clarke. And that is being offensive to Donkeys i think. It has only taken Stuart two and a half years to realise he can take off players who are not performing. His first job is to drop O'Brein from the team along with Rahman and put Ramsden in at centre back. and more to your point about the dead balls WHY have Michael "waste of space" Boulding challenging for headers is beyond me.

Citygent,
You are absolutely spot on.The weather here today is appalling,peeing down with rain,has been all night.You are correct that is why I am sat here on my P.c. too bad to go out.However the sun will be back tomorrow and I will not have to sit here and read the Ginger Whingers gabage quotes. L.O.L

Paulvh wrote:
To JB Bantam, 100% agree with you. If we are that skink we just cant afford afford to compete in this league then tell us. It wont be nice to hear but will make the fans more understanding. At the moment we think we have a top 8 or even top 5 budget because that is what has been implied by the directors. we need to hear from the board.

Football Clubs probably can't afford that sort of honesty. True fans will keep coming but a large amount of income comes from floating fans (call them what you will) and if the board comes out and says we're not really in a position to go for promotion then the floating fans will vanish and our income will be reduced.

Any sensible individual knows that

a) McCall has made plenty of mistakes
b) but that many of the problems at VP are out of his control.

The question of whether to change managers or not is an attempt to predict the future. You can argue on any basis that you like about what McCall has done well and what he has done badly but there isn't a definitive answer and no-one can claim as FACT that he should be replaced for the good of the club. The last time we sacked a manager it led to relegation not an upturn in fortunes.

For those that care about the club, best to put all of your energy into being positive as criticism of the players, management or board does not create an atmosphere that is conducive to success. CTID

ok just to address a couple of issues raised on here. I have been a supporter all my life and seen many ups and downs from the rise to the old second division in the eighties, to us stagnating in the early part of the nineties in the old third/second division, to progress with Kamara, elation with Jewell. Followed by depression with Hutchings and Jeffries, more of the same with Law and Robson. Credit for Todd in the early days of his reign almost extinction, another relegation, and the high of McCall's return (apologies if anything has been missed here that was just a basic summary). Through that time I have seen people who I thought should have been given more time and some who I thought why the hell have they been appointed! But one thing remains and that is after 3 years McCall has been given the chance to shine and failed (and I adore McCall in a very unweird football related way). This is not being negative or doom and gloom it is fact results have gotten steadily worse year on year to point where now I feel it may be time for a change. This is looking at it from a purely results based perspective. If we had missed out slightly for the past 2 years and the squad despite financial restraints was being steadily developed like at Rochdale, Accrington, Aldershot etc, or even pulling all together like at Bournemout then no one would be calling for McCall's head. The awful truth is that in the same position as many others in this division McCall has failed to address the issues other clubs have managed to do. I feel the problem is failing to go right back to the basic fundamentals of football if we don't concede then we don't loose and those single goals we score then count for something. Again guys this is just my opinion and I must reiterate I couldn't do McCall's job despite my fierce loyalty and commitment to the club.

ok, we look to be having to go with what we've got for the season. so what can we do?
If Hanson and M Boulding are both fit. partner them up front. typical big lad small ald partnership. get the best from both of them. this relies upon the midfield hitting hanson with high balls, and playing boulding in through the chanels.

In midfield, go to win! Have Daley wide right and then have Brandon supporting the front two. Use Bullock and Flynn as a holding and a passing midfielder.

GK is Glennon, so that leaves the back 4. this is the problem area. Rehman was a political signing! lets admit it! Clarke is not good enough. the best centre back was let go last summer in Bower! Give Horne a shot on the left side and O Brien a rest and some time in the reserves to get his confidence back. PLay Bateson on the right, as he is ok, and put Ramsden as Centre back and captain. Then choose one of clarke or rehman to mess it all up. Or go with 3 at back and put an extra man in midfield, probably J OB

If I was Lawn or Rhodes I wouldn't stump up any spending cash for a manager who has already shown he doesn't know how to spend it. ITS THE MANAGER, who is the problem. There are too many instances of good players coming in and looking poor, and poor players going off and looking good. Anyone see O'Grady's hat-trick at the weekend?

so theres a few players who are suffering from anxiety attacks...... not a mention of the 12,000 fans who are also suffering from the same condition week in week out !

essmbee wrote:
so theres a few players who are suffering from anxiety attacks...... not a mention of the 12,000 fans who are also suffering from the same condition week in week out !

here here

What is the meaning of this statement..? If Stuart cannot recognise the quality of mental toughness how fit is he to bring players to the Club in the first place? A sad reflection on his inability to kick on.

IM NO McCALL SUPPORTER!! But LAWN/RHODES have been shocking over the handling of their Manager, since they extended his contract ???!!!.
They wont back him, and they wont sack him ..............they have left this poor bloke in total limbo!and WHY because they made a fatal error of judgement regarding his contract.
No direction coming from the board room..........No wonder the supporters are confussed!!

shaun from richmond wrote:
IM NO McCALL SUPPORTER!! But LAWN/RHODES have been shocking over the handling of their Manager, since they extended his contract ???!!!. They wont back him, and they wont sack him ..............they have left this poor bloke in total limbo!and WHY because they made a fatal error of judgement regarding his contract. No direction coming from the board room..........No wonder the supporters are confussed!!

is this Shaun actually sying something rather then 'MCCALL OUT'???
and to be honest i agree with him....i best go lie down!!!

Personally from the way McCall speaks above I haven't heard him sound like this before - the hurt is obviously there to see and maybe he has been too nice all along and that is the biggest mistake he has made whilst been in charge???
Give the players a rollocking before the game on Saturday, send them out ready to fight a war for you Stu and let's see what they are made of! The players attitudes on Saturday will show us all for defo if they respect him or not - they know his job hinges on this game and will they be ready to fight for him?? They could easily have him out of a job on Saturday so we will see - this is the sole reason I am thinking about a 10/12 hour round trip!!

I'm affraid that if i put that effort in and they don't i might explode!!!

fairweather fan wrote:
If I was Lawn or Rhodes I wouldn't stump up any spending cash for a manager who has already shown he doesn't know how to spend it. ITS THE MANAGER, who is the problem. There are too many instances of good players coming in and looking poor, and poor players going off and looking good. Anyone see O'Grady's hat-trick at the weekend?

why is the infactuation with O'Grady?? He came to City with no match fitness and looked absolutely useless when on the park.

Did anybody see Rooney's 4 on Saturday??

fairweather fan wrote:
If I was Lawn or Rhodes I wouldn't stump up any spending cash for a manager who has already shown he doesn't know how to spend it. ITS THE MANAGER, who is the problem. There are too many instances of good players coming in and looking poor, and poor players going off and looking good. Anyone see O'Grady's hat-trick at the weekend?

NOW HANG ON A MINUTE!!
It was LAWN/RHODES, about this time last year who extended McCalls contract??!! (When I was calling for McCalls head)
Since then they have done NOTHING to help THEIR MANAGER!!
McCALL has never been able to Coach but These TWO HAVNT ...............PUT UP, BUT THEY SURE HAVE SHUT UP!!
SPINELESS, THE PAIR OF THEM!!

shaun from richmond wrote:

fairweather fan wrote: If I was Lawn or Rhodes I wouldn't stump up any spending cash for a manager who has already shown he doesn't know how to spend it. ITS THE MANAGER, who is the problem. There are too many instances of good players coming in and looking poor, and poor players going off and looking good. Anyone see O'Grady's hat-trick at the weekend?

NOW HANG ON A MINUTE!! It was LAWN/RHODES, about this time last year who extended McCalls contract??!! (When I was calling for McCalls head) Since then they have done NOTHING to help THEIR MANAGER!! McCALL has never been able to Coach but These TWO HAVNT ...............PUT UP, BUT THEY SURE HAVE SHUT UP!! SPINELESS, THE PAIR OF THEM!!

u haven't lost your temper have you Shaun???? lol

i must agree with you though - it cant be forgot that they have done wonders for the club in the past but have they done the best by McCall??? Have they actually got any money between them?? I'm not having a dig at them by the way but actualy is a genuine question....

if we got a new manager would they have any cash to give him??

Surely that is the question....

gspot wrote:

shaun from richmond wrote:

fairweather fan wrote: If I was Lawn or Rhodes I wouldn't stump up any spending cash for a manager who has already shown he doesn't know how to spend it. ITS THE MANAGER, who is the problem. There are too many instances of good players coming in and looking poor, and poor players going off and looking good. Anyone see O'Grady's hat-trick at the weekend?

NOW HANG ON A MINUTE!! It was LAWN/RHODES, about this time last year who extended McCalls contract??!! (When I was calling for McCalls head) Since then they have done NOTHING to help THEIR MANAGER!! McCALL has never been able to Coach but These TWO HAVNT ...............PUT UP, BUT THEY SURE HAVE SHUT UP!! SPINELESS, THE PAIR OF THEM!!

u haven't lost your temper have you Shaun???? lol i must agree with you though - it cant be forgot that they have done wonders for the club in the past but have they done the best by McCall??? Have they actually got any money between them?? I'm not having a dig at them by the way but actualy is a genuine question.... if we got a new manager would they have any cash to give him?? Surely that is the question....

The one thing I thought we would get from LAWN, was a bit of honesty!! But instead hes happy to leave McCall to slowly hang himself!!
I think our attension should turn to the "SILENT TWO"!
My old man has always said Lawn is a SPIV !!
PS....Tropical down here in Devon!!

farsleyct wrote:

Freddy wrote: Apart from the financial considerations of sacking the manager. Or of him 'Falling on his Sword'; taking the honourable move and resigning his position. Who would be available,or interested in taking the over from Stuart McCall?. Who would the joint Chairmen appoint?. What would be the costs of replacing Stuart McCall?. How much money would be made available, to bring in players, when the January transfer 'Window' is almost finished?. What has happened to the 'Loyalty' of Bradford City Supporters?. The very words 'Support' and 'Loyalty' are not evident, from the people who have posted comments on the recent T&A Articles. If the Players,Management and Board of Directors read the T&A Comments. They must be becoming more depressed, than those who have made the comments. How can these negative,pessimistic opinions, be of any loyal supportive use, to Bradford City Football Club?.

it's not pessimatistic it's realistic. Open your eyes even the bookies are quoting us favourites after Darlington to go down. Wake up and sell the coffee.

Tell me which bookies mate, I want to put a £1000 on us staying up.

the city realist wrote:
what is loyal and what is whinging or do people want us to endure clueless football from the coaches and players i dare anyone to justify mcall staying in a job and for the record i love our club but im sick of feeling depressed on asaturday a message to the board on mcall BACK HIM OR SACK HIM??? ctid

I dare justify McCall staying in a job. It depends on what you expect. I expect a team to give everything that they have got (there is no excuse for not putting the effort in). Over the last two games I have seen a team that give everything until the final whistle. I share your frustration at the results but you cannot "demand" results in sport. Managers can coach all they like but players will still make mistakes. It is certainly not "clueless" football and it is too simplistic just to blame a football manager for results.

essmbee wrote:
so theres a few players who are suffering from anxiety attacks...... not a mention of the 12,000 fans who are also suffering from the same condition week in week out !

In addition to the 1000's of City fans that live abroad and have to make do with listening to City on the Radio

tjm5 wrote:
ok just to address a couple of issues raised on here. I have been a supporter all my life and seen many ups and downs from the rise to the old second division in the eighties, to us stagnating in the early part of the nineties in the old third/second division, to progress with Kamara, elation with Jewell. Followed by depression with Hutchings and Jeffries, more of the same with Law and Robson. Credit for Todd in the early days of his reign almost extinction, another relegation, and the high of McCall's return (apologies if anything has been missed here that was just a basic summary). Through that time I have seen people who I thought should have been given more time and some who I thought why the hell have they been appointed! But one thing remains and that is after 3 years McCall has been given the chance to shine and failed (and I adore McCall in a very unweird football related way). This is not being negative or doom and gloom it is fact results have gotten steadily worse year on year to point where now I feel it may be time for a change. This is looking at it from a purely results based perspective. If we had missed out slightly for the past 2 years and the squad despite financial restraints was being steadily developed like at Rochdale, Accrington, Aldershot etc, or even pulling all together like at Bournemout then no one would be calling for McCall's head. The awful truth is that in the same position as many others in this division McCall has failed to address the issues other clubs have managed to do. I feel the problem is failing to go right back to the basic fundamentals of football if we don't concede then we don't loose and those single goals we score then count for something. Again guys this is just my opinion and I must reiterate I couldn't do McCall's job despite my fierce loyalty and commitment to the club.

Some fair points, reasonable argument and I agree with you on much of what you say. However, I don't agree with your opinion that he has had 3 years to shine. His 1st season with us (2007-2008) ended in 10th position and 17points from a play-off spot. His 2nd season ended in 9th position missing out by 3 points from making the play-off last season. Then, of course, he had to forego any hopes of being able to build on the improvement he had achieved. I feel as confident as I could that had McCall been in control of who he kept, who to let go and who to sign, we would be at least in the play-off places now. He has had to start almost from scratch this season but on top of that he has had to look to the non-league clubs to build a squad (do people out there really expect a promotion Team to be built on 1st season professionals?). I personally, -although I disagree with many of Stuarts decisions- cannot believe that so many supporters who want him sacked refuse to take into consideration the circumstances that he has had to work under. If he had been able to get on with adding to and improving on his Team building at the start of this season then I could accept he had been given the tools and the time to do the job -but he hasn't!. And for those supporters that think loans are a cheap option in which to build a promotion Team, you might be surprised to learn that many loans include a signing-on fee as well as wages. And if they can't be signed up at the end of season (a la: Jones, Law and Furman) what happens to your Team building stratagy then? McCall should NOT resign and supporters should be more realistic and support him and the players in as loud a fashion as possible -particularly at the next home game.

LONNIE

i agree with most of your posts in the past few days. You mentioned like myself attempting 5 at the back. I have thought that Stu would have attempted wing-backs in recent games to sure up the defence and tighten what i believe are holes due to is a lack f pace in central midfield.

Ramsden could operate as the right of a central three with bateson and O'brien working as wing-backs. Or even let Daley play as a winger and sacrifice a right-wing back knowing that Ramsden can cover? and Bullock as a defensive midfieldeer can veer to that side this would allow either Brandon to play behind the front two or an extra central midfielder.
Whatever the selection i think that 5 across the middle can be accomodated with our current squad of players

lonniejockstrap wrote:

tjm5 wrote: ok just to address a couple of issues raised on here. I have been a supporter all my life and seen many ups and downs from the rise to the old second division in the eighties, to us stagnating in the early part of the nineties in the old third/second division, to progress with Kamara, elation with Jewell. Followed by depression with Hutchings and Jeffries, more of the same with Law and Robson. Credit for Todd in the early days of his reign almost extinction, another relegation, and the high of McCall's return (apologies if anything has been missed here that was just a basic summary). Through that time I have seen people who I thought should have been given more time and some who I thought why the hell have they been appointed! But one thing remains and that is after 3 years McCall has been given the chance to shine and failed (and I adore McCall in a very unweird football related way). This is not being negative or doom and gloom it is fact results have gotten steadily worse year on year to point where now I feel it may be time for a change. This is looking at it from a purely results based perspective. If we had missed out slightly for the past 2 years and the squad despite financial restraints was being steadily developed like at Rochdale, Accrington, Aldershot etc, or even pulling all together like at Bournemout then no one would be calling for McCall's head. The awful truth is that in the same position as many others in this division McCall has failed to address the issues other clubs have managed to do. I feel the problem is failing to go right back to the basic fundamentals of football if we don't concede then we don't loose and those single goals we score then count for something. Again guys this is just my opinion and I must reiterate I couldn't do McCall's job despite my fierce loyalty and commitment to the club.

Some fair points, reasonable argument and I agree with you on much of what you say. However, I don't agree with your opinion that he has had 3 years to shine. His 1st season with us (2007-2008) ended in 10th position and 17points from a play-off spot. His 2nd season ended in 9th position missing out by 3 points from making the play-off last season. Then, of course, he had to forego any hopes of being able to build on the improvement he had achieved. I feel as confident as I could that had McCall been in control of who he kept, who to let go and who to sign, we would be at least in the play-off places now. He has had to start almost from scratch this season but on top of that he has had to look to the non-league clubs to build a squad (do people out there really expect a promotion Team to be built on 1st season professionals?). I personally, -although I disagree with many of Stuarts decisions- cannot believe that so many supporters who want him sacked refuse to take into consideration the circumstances that he has had to work under. If he had been able to get on with adding to and improving on his Team building at the start of this season then I could accept he had been given the tools and the time to do the job -but he hasn't!. And for those supporters that think loans are a cheap option in which to build a promotion Team, you might be surprised to learn that many loans include a signing-on fee as well as wages. And if they can't be signed up at the end of season (a la: Jones, Law and Furman) what happens to your Team building stratagy then? McCall should NOT resign and supporters should be more realistic and support him and the players in as loud a fashion as possible -particularly at the next home game.

excellent post mate - the best i've read for a while and i agree 100%.
i must admit that i am creeping into no mans land in not been able to decide what is the best for the club with regards to mccall but your post as but a bit of realism back into for me!!!
i still cant decide to travel tro Torquay or not!!

I am sad to say I can't travel to Torquay due to having a new job and I accept and I take on board what your saying Lonnie. I just cant shake the thought running round in my head that there could have been better options open to us than say Rehman and Clarke who could have come in for at least the same money. I agree with the loan side of things and for every good loan signing there are at least 2 poor one's. The best example of loans working for you could be Hereford a couple of years ago when they gained promotion on the back of some inspired loan signings, but for the most part it is hit and miss and we really can't afford to make a mistake at this point. However we do need some kind of inspiration or lift and I have always said time is the greatest gift to football manager nowadays and not many get it. Credit to Rhodes and Lawn for not panicking yet but the closer to the relegation spots we get the more nervous we all feel McCall supporter or not.

here's a couple of ideas to get over our first half blues: John Beck used to drench all his players in ice cold water as they were leaving the dressing room to ensure they started the game with vigour. They has to keep chasinmg and moving to get warmed up.

Clubs have been known to turn the heating up very high in visitors dressing rooms for an hour or so before a game therby making the visitors somewhat sleeepy as they prepare.

Additionally our keeper should wear a refective jersey-- rumour has it that it affects shots and headers at goal.

stupid ideas and maybe worth a try-------------- oops I am getting into SM mode about players feeling anxiety!!! there are many folk who have anxiety every day of their lives because of lack of income and bills to meet.

Players feeling anxiety? :it was not that long ago since players were saying they came to the club for the buzz of playing in front of big crowds!

so what has happened to their confidence with this wealth of coaching available to them?

tjm5 wrote:
I am sad to say I can't travel to Torquay due to having a new job and I accept and I take on board what your saying Lonnie. I just cant shake the thought running round in my head that there could have been better options open to us than say Rehman and Clarke who could have come in for at least the same money. I agree with the loan side of things and for every good loan signing there are at least 2 poor one's. The best example of loans working for you could be Hereford a couple of years ago when they gained promotion on the back of some inspired loan signings, but for the most part it is hit and miss and we really can't afford to make a mistake at this point. However we do need some kind of inspiration or lift and I have always said time is the greatest gift to football manager nowadays and not many get it. Credit to Rhodes and Lawn for not panicking yet but the closer to the relegation spots we get the more nervous we all feel McCall supporter or not.

Just to add to your comments above, I think the danger with loan players is that it is possible to win promotion but you are just as likely to be relegated immediately the following season.

When we get promotion I want it to be permanent, so i'm happy to wait a few seasons while we build a good young squad and get some home grown youth team players coming through.

Agree with you Scargutt Hereford are a good example again as it was successful for them in League Two but then they struggled in the division above after that.

are the directors travelling?