Popular Post Tamworthowl Posted May 13, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted May 13, 2022 …I was wondering whether or not we’d have a club to follow in the coming season. And if we did, I was worried that we’d be facing a struggle against successive relegations. The first issue soon disappeared, and we started to sign new players. Freebies, Stoke’s 5th choice forward, loans, Burnley’s 4th choice keeper, and Prem academy rejects, Adeniran. Some players I’d never heard of were lauded on here as being pretty good (Shodipo). Soon we had enough players to make a team. Enough to make a squad. But whilst we had numbers, it was still a mixture of misfits, rejects and those who performed so badly and without passion as we got relegated just a few weeks earlier. So thoughts of successive relegations dispersed to be replaced with a bit of optimism: 8th or 9th. Then Windass was injured. Out for at least two months (season ending would have been more accurate). I probably thought bottom half at this point but the blind optimism of the fan pushed me to stay with comfortably top half. 9 months later and we’ve finished 4th. To me, that’s overachieving. True, we messed up in the play-offs and we’ve conceded way too many late goals to lose points. But we’ve dealt with yet another massive injury list along the way. We’ve produced an entertaining style of play, plenty of goals, and a home record we’ve been dreaming of for years. A year after being concerned for the future of the club, I’m optimistic for next season. Another rebuild, but this time from a solid base. Moore did well in the transfer market last season, considering both hands were tied behind his back, and I’m confident that he’ll do as well this summer. He needs to address the tissue of beating teams that park the bus, especially away from home, and “putting games to bed” when we’re ahead, but with decent defensive recruits, a commanding keeper, and help for Gregory (a fit Windass might suffice) I’m confident of an improved league position next season. Bring on pre-season. 20 2 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatter Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Think it was Steve Bruce that said a rebuild needs 3 or 4 transfer windows to achieve what’s required. In reality we haven’t had one normal transfer window due to being under successive embargoes. Taking this into account its clear Moore has done pretty well with the hand he was dealt and should be given another season…2 more normal windows to finish reshaping the squad. And yes although we missed promotion I agree we should be happier about the state of the club than one year ago 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthefish2002 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 I know we feared 12 months ago this season could be a complete disaster and it didnt turn out that way. We have no right to be promoted at all but finishing 4th in Division 3 and being in this league again next year is not over achieving. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleo Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Similar thoughts. I felt he needed 2 seasons and tbh, I think he did better than I thought at the start of the season. I would have liked a younger team but all in all it could have been a lot worse. We’ll see what squad we start with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tamworthowl Posted May 13, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 13, 2022 6 minutes ago, matthefish2002 said: I know we feared 12 months ago this season could be a complete disaster and it didnt turn out that way. We have no right to be promoted at all but finishing 4th in Division 3 and being in this league again next year is not over achieving. Finishing 4th in Div 3 is an embarrassment to a club of our stature and aspirations, and it’s nothing to brag about, but based on where we were and our expectations 12 months ago, it is an over achievement. Unless, of course, you thought that Moore could build a top two finish from the dregs of last season's demoralised relegation squad amidst the chaos of a transfer embargo and recent non payment of salaries. Nah, we overachieved against any reasonable expectation this season. 9 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Of The Roasters Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 35 minutes ago, Tamworthowl said: 9 months later and we’ve finished 4th. To me, that’s overachieving. True, we messed up in the play-offs and we’ve conceded way too many late goals to lose points. But we’ve dealt with yet another massive injury list along the way. We’ve produced an entertaining style of play, plenty of goals, and a home record we’ve been dreaming of for years. I know we fell short this season (although we still finished ahead of my own expectations) but I'm seeing plenty of positives and some firm foundations being put in place. Yes, there have been shortcomings, but they are things that can be worked at and improved IMO. Like yourself I'm optimistic. More optimistic than I have been in for several seasons in fact. My biggest fear is that with the departure of some key players there will be another period of adjustment and bedding in of replacements. Many fans are expecting a flying start to next season, and I've already read multiple comments on Owlstalk suggesting that if we're not firmly in the top two after a couple of months then Moore should be dismissed. Personally speaking I think this sort of thinking is short term and counterproductive, and that he really needs the whole of next season to continue the rebuilding. Unfortunately, a lot of our fans are impatient and (IMO) have unrealistically high expectations, so I can see people quickly getting on the managers back yet again. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sham67 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 3 minutes ago, Roy Of The Roasters said: I know we fell short this season (although we still finished ahead of my own expectations) but I'm seeing plenty of positives and some firm foundations being put in place. Yes, there have been shortcomings, but they are things that can be worked at and improved IMO. Like yourself I'm optimistic. More optimistic than I have been in for several seasons in fact. My biggest fear is that with the departure of some key players there will be another period of adjustment and bedding in of replacements. Many fans are expecting a flying start to next season, and I've already read multiple comments on Owlstalk suggesting that if we're not firmly in the top two after a couple of months then Moore should be dismissed. Personally speaking I think this sort of thinking is short term and counterproductive, and that he really needs the whole of next season to continue the rebuilding. Unfortunately, a lot of our fans are impatient and (IMO) have unrealistically high expectations, so I can see people quickly getting on the managers back yet again. I fully agree with your sentiments, however I think there’s a good chance we’ll start next season with 7/8 of the starters against Sunderland playing the first game. Injuries permitting… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 41 minutes ago, Tamworthowl said: Finishing 4th in Div 3 is an embarrassment to a club of our stature and aspirations, and it’s nothing to brag about, but based on where we were and our expectations 12 months ago, it is an over achievement. Unless, of course, you thought that Moore could build a top two finish from the dregs of last season's demoralised relegation squad amidst the chaos of a transfer embargo and recent non payment of salaries. Nah, we overachieved against any reasonable expectation this season. We’re in league 1, the other teams aren’t very good. It’s quite easy to finish top 2, Rotherham did and we got more points than them last season in the championship. We brought in enough quality players for this level to achieve it. A decent managers would have had us better organised at set plays, cut out so many late goals conceded, played players in the right positions, asked the players not to play out from the back so much when they can’t do it.. the net result would have been comfortably 5 points more for autos. I always scratch my head when I hear some of our fans say they expected us to finish in the bottom half so they’re happy with how it went. It’s like they’ve not seen the teams in the bottom half, the players they have and the budgets they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Of The Roasters Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 1 minute ago, Sham67 said: I fully agree with your sentiments, however I think there’s a good chance we’ll start next season with 7/8 of the starters against Sunderland playing the first game. Injuries permitting… I think that's about right, but it depends which 7 - 8. Players of the calibre of Luongo, Dean, Storey, BPF will be big shoes to fill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sham67 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 29 minutes ago, Roy Of The Roasters said: I think that's about right, but it depends which 7 - 8. Players of the calibre of Luongo, Dean, Storey, BPF will be big shoes to fill. I’ll be shocked if one of those are not here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffield_dave Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 I think this season will be difficult to evaluate. Nothing you've said about your fears for the club before the season are wrong. We did look completely f*cked for a period and I'll hold my hands up, I was one of those who wondered if we'd have a club at all, or at least a team capable of competing against relegation. That said, I also think that view undersells what we did have. I think every single other manager in this division would take BPF, Iorfa, Dean, Bannan, Byers, Luongo, Windass and Gregory. We brought in loan signings who - at least in theory with the likes of Theo and Shodipo - looked to have the talent to compete at the top end of this league. We were able to bring players in on a free to bolster things mid-season like Berahino and NML who many others in this league might not have been able to attract or afford. The team had talent. Keeping some of the players we kept, attracting some of the signings we attracted, shouldn't have been possible for a League One team and might not be again for a second stint. I firmly believe the team we finished the season with was good enough to go up, and should have gone up, and nobody will ever convince me that failing to do so is anything other than abject failure. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulcinella Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Some perspective is sorely needed. The last two times we were in this league: 2003-4 - 16th 2004-5 - 5th - promoted through play-offs 2010-11 - 15th 2011-12 - 2nd - automatically promoted This time: 2021-22 - 4th Now that's a huge improvement in my book. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Blatter said: Think it was Steve Bruce that said a rebuild needs 3 or 4 transfer windows to achieve what’s required. In reality we haven’t had one normal transfer window due to being under successive embargoes. Taking this into account its clear Moore has done pretty well with the hand he was dealt and should be given another season…2 more normal windows to finish reshaping the squad. And yes although we missed promotion I agree we should be happier about the state of the club than one year ago I think the reality is this summer is the first summer for 4 or 5 seasons we have no excuses for not getting our business done early and players in for a full preseason. No embargos, no points deduction, no manager changes, no change of division. The recruitment needs to be better, players we need to play the way we want to, focus of young and improving to go with the older heads of Bannan, Gregory, maybe Dean and Hutch. I dont want the Chansiri approach of leaving everything to the last minute, sign players on transfer deadline day, who mainly get injured, are unfit or barely play. We don't need Premier league players or Championship players we need good league one players that can get us promoted from this league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulcinella Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 3 minutes ago, room0035 said: I think the reality is this summer is the first summer for 4 or 5 seasons we have no excuses for not getting our business done early and players in for a full preseason. No embargos, no points deduction, no manager changes, no change of division. The recruitment needs to be better, players we need to play the way we want to, focus of young and improving to go with the older heads of Bannan, Gregory, maybe Dean and Hutch. I dont want the Chansiri approach of leaving everything to the last minute, sign players on transfer deadline day, who mainly get injured, are unfit or barely play. We don't need Premier league players or Championship players we need good league one players that can get us promoted from this league. I hope that's true - but I don't understand what's happening about Financial Fair Play. Didn't we have a 25million loss? That must put us in a very tight position unless there's some kind of get out due to the Covid years. Maybe someone on here can explain how it works. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royalowlisback Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 7 minutes ago, Pulcinella said: Some perspective is sorely needed. The last two times we were in this league: 2003-4 - 16th 2004-5 - 5th - promoted through play-offs 2010-11 - 15th 2011-12 - 2nd - automatically promoted This time: 2021-22 - 4th Now that's a huge improvement in my book. What happened in in 2004 and 2011 are completely irrelevant, and the squad we had this time around, along with the wages being paid are far and away better than the previous campaigns mentioned. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, Pulcinella said: Some perspective is sorely needed. The last two times we were in this league: 2003-4 - 16th 2004-5 - 5th - promoted through play-offs 2010-11 - 15th 2011-12 - 2nd - automatically promoted This time: 2021-22 - 4th Now that's a huge improvement in my book. But the previous two times we had chairman willing to make the changes needed to get promoted, I dont think we currently have that. would DC have sacked Moore with 10 games to go to make sure we got in a manager to get us promoted. if come 20 games into next season will DC get rid and bring in another experience manager to get us up. milan did with Megson and Dave Allen with Sturrock, I am not sure with DC he is more reactive than Proactive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chow Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Rebuilding in 3/4 transfers translates to me 3 or 4 under one manager. We can’t keep signing a new full team every season, not fair on any manager. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, Pulcinella said: I hope that's true - but I don't understand what's happening about Financial Fair Play. Didn't we have a 25million loss? That must put us in a very tight position unless there's some kind of get out due to the Covid years. Maybe someone on here can explain how it works. I thunk the rule for this league are different its not based on losses but % of turnover but someone will be able to give the exact details. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hirstysfags Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Tamworthowl said: Finishing 4th in Div 3 is an embarrassment to a club of our stature and aspirations, and it’s nothing to brag about, but based on where we were and our expectations 12 months ago, it is an over achievement. Unless, of course, you thought that Moore could build a top two finish from the dregs of last season's demoralised relegation squad amidst the chaos of a transfer embargo and recent non payment of salaries. Nah, we overachieved against any reasonable expectation this season. What stature is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Quinn Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 6 minutes ago, hirstysfags said: What stature is that? Yeh what statures that we haven't done much to brag about for last 30 years.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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