Morecambe 1 [Shaw] Portsmouth 1 LIVE THREAD

[Phil Anderer]

I've been disappointed recently, but today the result, whilst not as good as the performance, was something we'd all have taken before the game. Keep playing like that and we should get to safety and also please the fans (except those few who are never happy).

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

How did we not win that!! Very promising for the rest of the season though.

UTS

[Keith]

How did we not win that!! Very promising for the rest of the season though.

UTS

I wonder how much of Stockton's current situation is also confidence? Last season, he'd have scored one and set up another, instead, he missed by a mile and screwed up his pass that would have set up a winner. But, he looked more 'interested' and 'on it' than lately. Perhaps if he can get a goal, we'll see him back? The season he's having, there may not be a 'big money' move in January, so he's got half a season to wake his career up.

[Keith]

Derek's interview. Interesting. Certainly passionate. We're skint and he's not being supported.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1591504789208285186

[P/T Indie]

It's all great until the next away game when he plays. 6 defenders. We have had lots of good home performances but they are always followed up by poor away games.

[lancaster shrimp]

Well how we didn't win that. Let alone score 4 or 5 I'll never know. Was that miss on half time "the turning point" Good to see Max back.

[glagys]

Great interview with DA
Sounds like he’s under pressure
But we keep playing like that we’ll be fine

[BerlinWaller]

Great interview with DA
Sounds like he’s under pressure
But we keep playing like that we’ll be fine

Agree with this. Really good to hear Derek snapping back after some horrendous stick last week. Some fans seem to have taken the hump but most of these were the ones hammering Derek so they have to take it.

Derek is trying to compete with massive budgets, clubs with huge resources and he is doing it with both hands behind his back. I counted 6 coaches on the pitch from Pompey yesterday, we had John Mc.

Everybody knows the club is potless. Self sufficient means that there has been zero investment from the owners and unless somebody buys us, January will be grim.

[Little Shrimp]

On one hand, I like the fire and passion from DA and think he has been unfairly criticised over this past week. The way the cup fixtures fell in the calendar was hugely unfortunate, made worse by the late switch to Friday night vs Sheff Weds. He was managing a tricky situation fixture wise and ultimately is going to be prioritising the league.

However, he's way off the mark making these claims about not being backed etc. The budget is the same as last season's. Yes, a fair amount of it has been tied up by two year contracts etc and it's fair for him to point that out as it will have made things much trickier for him, but to claim that it means he's 'not been backed' is disingenuous at best. It's an unfortunate and difficult situation, but it's not a case of the rug being pulled out from under him.

What does he expect the club to have done differently? Told SR that we're holding some budget back just in case a club randomly decides to offer to quadruple his salary mid-season around the same time DA was getting sacked at Bradford?

I back Adams, like him as our manager and have been firmly 'Adams in' this whole season, but the fundamental fact of the matter is that this situation starts with him leaving for Bradford. This isn't a swipe at him, it's just the statement of a fact. It's also not to say that SR isn't a major factor in this. I don't think it's fair to criticise him for daring to offer players two year contracts, but he worsened the situation greatly with his departure mid-season.

The inflexible playing budget situation we find ourselves in now is down to a bizarre set of circumstances mainly caused by the untimely departure of managers of their own accord. It's not fair to point a finger at the club for this.

And what's frustrating about those remarks is that they've taken focus away from what was a fantastic performance from both the team and manager yesterday. The set-up and tactics were spot on, the players ran incredibly hard and showed lots of quality to create chances, as well as dig in and defend well at times. Gutting not to have won.

[redrobo]

eeeee by gum.....I enjoyed that....

Despite the antics of the Portsmouth management team in its masses and their refusal to abide by the directions of the 4th official to remain within the confines of their touchline box, I have to give credit where due to DA who tactically was excellent and despite my previous concerns about negative football played an attacking game and used his substitutes very well....just a pity that he didn't bring on Connolly earlier as he had the beating of his man on every occasion and did my eyes deceive me in that Cole looked a lot more like himself showing a willingness to put in a lot more effort than of late...

I had the pleasure of a certain Mr Grimshaw sitting next to me in the second 45 and he was very impressed in the way we went about the game and felt we more than did enough to win. I'm not going to disagree with him on that....

Their were some outstanding performances from our lads but for me the MoM went rightly to Liam Shaw and Grimmy was more than surprised that we had been able to secure him on a season long loan from Celtic.

As for the Portsmouth management team I complained about their use of a coach sitting next to me in the first 30 minutes who was constantly in touch via mobile communication with his bosses in their technical area but fortunately he was told in no uncertain terms by a steward to remove himself from his position as his actions were causing a problem both to myself and others close by who were distracted from watching the game having to listen to his off field tactical advice to his colleagues in the oppositions area.

But enough of them and more about how DA deserves a huge amount of credit on this occasion from someone who has been rightly critical of his style of play in too many games.

His passion was all to clear to see both during the game and most certainly in his post match comments. Not sure I agree with him about the lack of backing by the current owners ( he was able to pay a transfer fee for Jake Taylor after all) but going forward into a next transfer window could prove rightly difficult and unless the ownership problem is sorted in the coming weeks to the owners satisfaction ( may mean the current BoD have to accept that the new owners may not be their preferred choice ) then DA will have no financial cards to play which could severely dent any chance we have of retaining our rightful place in EFL1.

Yesterday's game was for this sad old fool probably the best performance against one of the richer clubs since his arrival but the question has to be asked again that if we can put on displays like that v both Portsmouth and Derby why do we constantly struggle against teams in the current relegation battle...

Here's hoping that DA will continue to insist on his charges that attack is the best form of defense and not PLEASE return to the ultra cautious approach which to my mind clearly doesn't work and is NOT the Morecambe way of doing things that have seen us never relegated in our glorious history to date.

Well done DA and credit to you and the lads for a wonderful afternoons entertainment despite the pitiful antics of the Portsmouth management team ably assisted at times by the referee and the 4th official who was a disgrace in allowing the Portsmouth contingent to do as they pleased both inside their technical are and up and down the touchline throughout the game.

[BerlinWaller]

I am pretty sure that this seasons budget was cut pre season and what was promised wasn't delivered. There was the CMG, Sam and the cup run revenue in the bank but where has it all gone?

Will our BoD's have any influence over who buys the club? They can drum up interest but Jason is the Key holder and can pretty much do what he wants. Having said that, we are lucky to have the likes of the Chairmen, James and Charlie looking out for us.

[black morse]

I am pretty sure that this seasons budget was cut pre season and what was promised wasn't delivered. There was the CMG, Sam and the cup run revenue in the bank but where has it all gone?

Will our BoD's have any influence over who buys the club? They can drum up interest but Jason is the Key holder and can pretty much do what he wants. Having said that, we are lucky to have the likes of the Chairmen, James and Charlie looking out for us.

And that's the crucial bit. If the budget was cut and what was promised wasn't delivered then DA has every right to be annoyed. No matter what some on here may think it must be a lot easier to plan a more attacking game if you have confidence that chances that arise from that attack will be taken. I'm sure that we all agree that with a striker who can be relied upon we would not be in the relegation area but with no money where is that striker going to come from....unless Cole comes good again.
'

[Wild Bill]

I think we can only speculate to what's really been going on. I suspect the goalposts though have been moved since since Derek was tempted back and the owners financial gymnastics came to a head. I don't think Derek is someone to play games but is right to feel annoyed if promises haven't been met. I still think he's looking for his next move up, so the current situation isn't going to help his management CV.

[Keith]

From a Portsmouth point of view...

"...for all of the Morecambe manager’s trademark agitating and comical talk of being worthy of a ‘landslide victory’ by ‘five or six goals’, it was his side who could feel short-changed from the point".

And yet...

"It took Josh Griffiths, the man some say doesn’t make saves, to produce the first of three world-class stops to keep his team in it".

So we should have 'only' had four goals, not 'five or six' then?

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/foot ... ed-3916491

[P/T Indie]

What an interview from Derek I thought he was going to go all Kevin Keegan at one point!

Something had obviously riled him I am guessing frustration at the lack of quality we have so not to be able to take the win.

I get his point about that we have dropped 16points from a leading position so we must be doing something to take the lead but I would love to know out of the games we were leading how many of them did we start with 6 defenders on the pitch.

Has the budget changed or is he just doing what he has done at other clubs when under pressure and trying to move the blame somewhere else.

On the podcast he said that they were planning for Jan like normal so has something gone on in the past week and now there is no budget for Jan.

[Redalert1970]

No response from the board regarding Derek's rant or have I missed it

Don't really know what to think about all this carry on

[BerlinWaller]

Does it need a response from the Board? We need to hear from the Owner and what his plans are.

[redrobo]

Does it need a response from the Board? We need to hear from the Owner and what his plans are.

Yes it's for the owner to respond but his communication with the fans is silence and has been for almost his / their involvement. Nobody wants a blow by blow account of all that goes on but when the club is up for sale some idea of what the situation could be going forward if no buyer can be found would be most welcome.

[Keith]

If a sale is going through, then you wouldn't expect a multi-million pound deal to be spoken about until the ink is dry.

Alternatively, if nothing is happening, then there is nothing to report.

Schrödinger's Football Club... ...a paradox where a deal is both simultaneously happening and not happening, and we won't know until the box is open!

[redrobo]

....and their plan going forward if no buyer is...

Need some assurances from the horses mouth that it's not a case of Worcester Warriors....please....

[Little Shrimp]

....and their plan going forward if no buyer is...

Need some assurances from the horses mouth that it's not a case of Worcester Warriors....please....

There have been assurances of this already. Rod went on BBC Lancs and the Trust podcast giving a detailed breakdown of how things are. Christie Trust protects the ground so it can't be asset stripped, basically all debt cleared including repayments to Bond Group, and the club is currently able to self sustain at the moment.

Directors have said that there are interested parties and discussions taking place, but understandably haven't been able to divulge details. They've also said that it's now in the hands of Jason and who he decides to sell it too. They will try to influence I'm sure but the final call is Jason's, so let's hope there are some good options and that he does make a good choice. The local consortium wish that has been mentioned would seem like a great result if it's possible.

[redrobo]

I'm fully aware of what Rod and his fellow Directors have told us (and we thank them for that) BUT do we trust the owners to be completely open with the Board of the real situation.....

I'm sure the Warriors Board where only told what the owners wanted them to know...until it became obvious that things were bad.

[black morse]

I'm fully aware of what Rod and his fellow Directors have told us (and we thank them for that) BUT do we trust the owners to be completely open with the Board of the real situation.....

I'm sure the Warriors Board where only told what the owners wanted them to know...until it became obvious that things were bad.

If the Board aren't told what's happening or what the real truth is then there's no way he's going to tell us

[redrobo]

...and if there are no buyers then what happens.....surely the owner has at the very least to tell our BoD what his intention is.....

[KenH]

...and if there are no buyers then what happens.....surely the owner has at the very least to tell our BoD what his intention is.....

Presumably Jason keeps it until someone does come to buy it at a price he's willing to accept.

In the meantime, as Rod says, the club is self-sustained, which means it can plod along, but obviously without funds to increase players budget, so relegation almost inevitable.

If Jason is happy to let the club just plod along on a low playing budget, then there's no reason why he would sell for a song as it's not costing him anything.