Bye-bye League One. It Was Fun to Begin With...

[Keith]

What has happened to the team that started the season? Okay, some sides will have been surprised by us because we were new, but we were playing decent football and looked good.

Now, we can't string a couple of passes together. We're hoofing the ball aimlessly. We've no-one who can get shots away. The team that played as a team, at the start of the season would have torn a very poor Crewe side apart. Tonight, we got what we deserved. One header on target, from a defender, against the bottom of the league team.

New goalkeeper.
One, possibly two League One standard central defenders.
Someone, perhaps two, who can actually shoot.
Someone in the midfield who can create opportunities.

I said we needed nine points from Fleetwood, Crewe & Donnie Rovers. Can't say I'm expecting more than the one.

Gutless. Clueless. Can't see where our next point is coming from.

[Andy D]

noticed some of the players particular Gibbo answering Robbo back when he played a ball into space behind the full back for McDonald to run onto but it went out of play, thought Gibbo had the right idea.



not impressed with Obika, way to slow, not mobile enough with pressing defenders, nor does he win many arial battles to be considered a target man.

[P/T Indie]

Wow must be bad if Keith thinks we are in trouble.

Ah but Obika played in the Scottish Prem so must be good enough! I'm starting to think Scottish Prem is no better than league 2 standard and hope we dont bring in lots of players from their in Jan.

[Redalert1970]

We didn’t play well tonight but my god the over reaction is laughable

We are only half way through the season and only two points off safety

Most people would have taken that at start of season

[Potted Shrimp]

Watched the game on I follow as I couldn’t attend the game despite having a ticket.

I do not feel we should have lost the game, a draw at least would have been fair, their goal was excellent to be fair.

We missed to many chances, some unfortunate, some downright poor including the shot blasted over the bar from Wilding.

A missed opportunity tonight against the basement club, and in a tougher league where 4 go down rather than the 2 we are used to (which is the only reason why were even in the FL) it looks as though we will be relegated for the first time in our history.

Hopefully this spell in league one will help out finances and reputation and we don’t suffer the falling through the league affect which has affected many L1 clubs who suffer subsequent relegations into L2.

We really shouldn’t be here.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I realise I will be shot at by some for this post but as a lifelong fan I believe it needs to be said. I am beginning to feel our management team are out of their depth in league 1. Some really poor signings last summer and an inability to coach players out of the mistakes they make mean we are now in dire trouble. I know we will be told money from the sale of Stockton will be used to strengthen the squad but can people who thought signing the likes of McDonnell, Ayunga, Delaney,Duffus,Gnahoua and even Obika be relied upon to sign players to get us out of this relegation struggle? That group collectively won't score 10 goals in a season and I am not sure together would cope well with league 2. I also wonder why John Mc left at this time. Was he worried what was happening to our club? I realise it was a difficult ask to survive in League 1 but money seemed to be available to get to grips with the challenge but sadly money seems to have been wasted on poor players some of whom were given two year contracts!
I realise Cole was probably left out of the squad to avoid injury before his transfer but in a game where valuable points were at stake I believe as someone still on our payroll he should have been selected to try and win three valuable points.

[Old Man Kensey]

Disappointing all round last night. The atmosphere in the home end has pretty much gone, what happpended to the uplifting chants from the start of the season? Now it's just vile and spiteful moronic nonsense that fails to engage with the vast majority of fans. Also heard a throwaway racist insult thrown in last night. We used to have funny, amusing and uplifting chants, sadly now it seems to becoming rather toxic.
Yes it was frustrating last night but really getting on the players backs doesn't help one bit. Yes it's going to be a tough battle just to stay up, but you have to remember that we've gone from an average league 2 side to probably punching above our weight.
..And can we please stop with the 'We hate Stanley' chants, I'm prerry sure most don't actually hate them. You've got to admire how they have stayed in League One for so long whilst it looks a step to far for us at this moment in time.
Onwards and upwards for Sunday.

[P/T Indie]

Well said fullwood Shrimp, also remember Robbo struggled at Oldham his excuse was they were a basket club and be couldn't bring players in. It does make me wonder if english football is a complete different game to the SPL and he is out of his depth.

[Redalert1970]

Totally agree Old Man Kensey - some of the vile comments towards OUR OWN PLAYERS at the end was totally disgusting and totally out of order

There was even some so called fans making hand gestures to OUR OWN PLAYERS as well

Booing players maybe acceptable sometimes but last night some so called fans over stepped the mark

Yes it`s going to very tough to stay up but the team / management need our support now more than ever

[Relapsed_Shrimp]

I think if we can get two wins in the next two games, we may look a little better and comments may change. It was dreadful, really bad. The gaffer had no idea and it was screaming for a change in shape, even before we scored.

Gibson appeared to have ice skates on, must have fell about 50 times!!! Kyle looks like he's had a heavy Xmas even more so, and the three up top haven't a clue at this level. I don't have a clue where some spark is coming from. Looking at all the rumour mill and reports, it just appears to look like an ambush on the Scottish Leagues for new players - which is the wrong way round. People go north of the boarder to finish their careers, only a few exceptional examples who have made it the other way.

John Mc leaving, Cole due to go, arguments with the manager, I think the board need to sit down and have a long long think on the next steps. Tottenham could hit double figures with kids! Not that, that really matters!!

Still, time to recover and easily done.

[Relapsed_Shrimp]

Also, may I add in extreme disappointing circumstances ...

I heard and witnessed (although unclear who) three counts of horrendous racism last night. Not overly loud but certainly heard about 10 people down the line. Fortunately it appeared to be a younger group of idiots that don't appear to be true fans of the club. Never did I think the racism in football issue would effect our family club. Disgusting, one of my group had to be talked down from confronting the group. It has been reported to the club although not sure what can be done. We went a long time without and black players, we now have a mix like all teams. Seems we haven't integrated the same 21st century mix in our small sections of idiotic support. My 8 year old son watching football with his dad does not deserve to ask me what a certain racist comment means at a football match.

I urge anyone that hears this to take action.

[Redalert1970]

Totally agree Relapsed Shrimp these morons need to get out of our club - they are not fans they are just racist bigots

Really hope the club start taking action on these people and let the proper fans get on with supporting their beloved club

[redrobo]

In my 65 years of watching numerous poor performances under different management teams last night for me must rate as the lowest of the low.

No spirit....no fight....and sadly too many players not up to EFL football at whatever level.

The prospect of even more imports from North of the Border is worrying but our manager appears to believe that they are more than capable of performing in the EFL which is laughable.

I've said it numerous times this season.....SR talks a good game but is unable to get his charges to perform on the field and at times we look like a team of individuals who are incapable of performing under the current regime.

When the rumours started to circulate about DA leaving for Bradford I wonder if our BoD made any speculative moves behind the scenes to recruit a manager rather than rely on the usual method of waiting to see who applied Maybe we should have done a bit of head hunting as is common in the recruitment game.....Bradford did it to us....maybe we should have followed their lead

It appears that the manager has lost the dressing room by some of the on field reactions to his barracking in the first 45, something that if he stays ( ) could be lost forever.

Whatever finances are available for new players could and probably will be wasted if as I suspect we rely on imports from Scotland who collectively have no experience of EFL football which is what is needed and as a son of a Scotsman myself I take little pleasure in stating what must be obvious to many.

[Ispyshrimp]

Totally agree Old Man Kensey - some of the vile comments towards OUR OWN PLAYERS at the end was totally disgusting and totally out of order

There was even some so called fans making hand gestures to OUR OWN PLAYERS as well

Booing players maybe acceptable sometimes but last night some so called fans over stepped the mark

Yes it`s going to very tough to stay up but the team / management need our support now more than ever

Personally I didn't hear or have ever heard racist comments in our football club, along with the way our fans follow the club in the way we do has always what has made our club special, it doesn't belong anywhere never mind our club. When we have had troubled seasons gone by we have always stuck by the players but that said until now most seasons the players have put their heart and sole in to the shirt they wore, personally over the past few weeks this hasn't been the case, certain players and we all know who they are, are stealing a wage IMO, abuse towards players is not right but letting them know how the fans feel after watching last night game doesn't hurt if done in the right way (boos better than some gestures and comments)
Don't mind losing games, seen many of games over the years where we have lost but not without a fight, last night was one of the worst I've seen in 30 plus years
If players put in a shift they would have the fans support 100%, most if us know where we are we never dreamed of, but being here in the present lets at least not go down without a fight.

on wards to Sundays game, lets hope for an Improvement in at least efforts as quite frankly its not good enough

[Keith]

Anyone shouting racist abuse needs identifying and rooting out of the club, with a very long ban. Absolutely unacceptable. Hopefully the stewards will be keeping their ears open for any repeat instances.

[P/T Indie]

I believe we did approach people and asked them to apply according to what I have heard on podcasts with James and Charlie.

I too am worried about players from scotland I think spl is no better than league 2 remb McDonald and McGowan went from league 2 into SPL.

I think Robbo thinks his SPL contacts are good enough for league 1 when they are not. Where as Derek had a few years in the EFL as well as his Scottish experience which gave him a better perspective.

[Keith]

Wow must be bad if Keith thinks we are in trouble.

We didn’t play well tonight but my god the over reaction is laughable

It isn't simply that we didn't play well, we've not played well for a long time. It was the manner of the defeat. Constant hoof-ball, no desire, no fight, no idea. We played two games against other relegation threatened sides and managed one goal, a header from a defender. We have no god-given right to win games, and we'll never win without making the effort.

Crewe are awful and I'd expect them to go down unless they make changes in January. We were even worse.

Most people would have taken that at start of season

If playing with fight and desire. It is made more frustrating because we saw at the start of the season that we could play well.

[sandgrown]

I realise I will be shot at by some for this post but as a lifelong fan I believe it needs to be said. I am beginning to feel our management team are out of their depth in league 1. Some really poor signings last summer and an inability to coach players out of the mistakes they make mean we are now in dire trouble. I know we will be told money from the sale of Stockton will be used to strengthen the squad but can people who thought signing the likes of McDonnell, Ayunga, Delaney,Duffus,Gnahoua and even Obika be relied upon to sign players to get us out of this relegation struggle? That group collectively won't score 10 goals in a season and I am not sure together would cope well with league 2. I also wonder why John Mc left at this time. Was he worried what was happening to our club? I realise it was a difficult ask to survive in League 1 but money seemed to be available to get to grips with the challenge but sadly money seems to have been wasted on poor players some of whom were given two year contracts!
I realise Cole was probably left out of the squad to avoid injury before his transfer but in a game where valuable points were at stake I believe as someone still on our payroll he should have been selected to try and win three valuable points.

good post again Fulwood, fresh air kicks and a foul throw in said it all

and def. no more SPL players

[Redalert1970]

We also have Martin Foyle involved at the club now - he will have loads of contacts in England / Scotland and lots of other areas

Whose actually said we are signing loads of players from Scottish football anyway ????

Give Robbo and his coaches a chance in January and see who comes / goes before been too critical

[Old Man Kensey]

Anyone shouting racist abuse needs identifying and rooting out of the club, with a very long ban. Absolutely unacceptable. Hopefully the stewards will be keeping their ears open for any repeat instances.

A few stewards at the back of the stand should be in place for the game on Sunday.
However that won't stop the negative and toxic chants that seem to have grown in number ove the last few games. We never sing anything uplifitng or positive anymore.

[thefactsman]

Really sad to hear there was racial remarks made by our fans!! Hope they are identified quickly...

Without being too cynical, if Robbo was a manager at another club he'd of been sacked by now. 1 win in 13 league games isn't good enough and that win was only because of a Cole Stockton wondergoal. However, I think Robbo deserved more time - it's obviously some of the players are letting him down. Let's hope Martin Foyle has recgonised what we need and got some targets in mind.

Whoever said signing players from scottish football doesn't work either is untrue. Greg Leigh's last club was Aberdeen and he's been our of best players this season - if you're good enough then you're good enough, doesn't matter which league you've come from

[Little Shrimp]

Really sad to hear there was racial remarks made by our fans!! Hope they are identified quickly...

Without being too cynical, if Robbo was a manager at another club he'd of been sacked by now. 1 win in 13 league games isn't good enough and that win was only because of a Cole Stockton wondergoal. However, I think Robbo deserved more time - it's obviously some of the players are letting him down. Let's hope Martin Foyle has recgonised what we need and got some targets in mind.

Whoever said signing players from scottish football doesn't work either is untrue. Greg Leigh's last club was Aberdeen and he's been our of best players this season - if you're good enough then you're good enough, doesn't matter which league you've come from

Good point about Scottish football. It's absolute nonsense to suggest that it's inherently too bad or good for our level. The success of a player at a club is determined by a far greater variety of factors. Like you say, one of our best performers is straight from the Scotland. In fact, only three of our signings have come directly from Scotland - Leigh, Obika and McPake. And McPake has played more matches in England than in Scotland.

We've had to take gambles on lots of players given our budget, being a month behind everyone due to the playoffs, and having to make a crazy amount of signings. Unfortunately, a number haven't worked out the way we'd have hoped. Let's hope we can get the personnel in over January to rectify some of those problems.

[glagys]

Think we should Robbo till the season ends
then,
even if we go down, as long as we look like a team and play with passion and look like there are positives to build on in L2
If not we need to look elsewhere

[redrobo]

Keith posted 'Crewe are awful and I'd expect them to go down unless they make changes in January. We were even worse.'

So if we were even worse is Keith suggesting that we make changes as he predicts Crewe will...if that is the case then we are in agreement about the need for changes or we will follow them on the road back to EFL2. God forbid....

After all the hard work done by the club off the field a return to EFL2 would be a total kick in the teeth.

We brought in DA to retain our place in EFL2.....maybe we need to look at a change in the management team or will we continue with the existing until it is too late

I was wrong about O'Connor who is one of our better signings and I was wrong about Ayunga who I predicted great things from.....but I suspect I've got it right about the need for change in management before it's too late.

And do we really have confidence that given some pennies to spend in the transfer window that we will spend it well.... It concerns me to be honest....

[Redalert1970]

Why are some people making out that it would be a disaster to go down

League 2 is a very good league with some very good teams

Yes there is bigger clubs in league 1 but if the club did a cheap season ticket deal there is no reason why we couldn’t still get decent crowds especially if we started the season well