3rd May 1997

[portlock seagull]

Yes it is a defeatest thread......but then we're being defeated every week so your point is??!

Have changed from mcGuee in to McGuee out on back of y'day's results. We need a change, we're probably going down, so probably not worth doing until end of season.

Thank f*** my Nantwich friends cancelled us this w/e because I would have been there too getting all depressed on the M6 with the rest of the gang.

 

[bhaexpress]

f*** off.

Being an albion fan does not mean you HAVE to blindly accept RUBBISH like we are getting.

Surely ANYONE would want better for the club they love then our current performances?

Wow, you must be one hell of a journalist Ritchie, what an eloquent and educated reply. There's a job waiting for you at Viz I'm sure.

 

[portlock seagull]

Will everyone please stop bringing up Hereford everytime as if it's an example to be Henry V like quoted when the chips are down - It was an AWFUL game of football.

1997 and all that is becoming our version of 1966 - a bit pathetic to keep harking back to and now very boring.

 

[Curious Orange]

Yes it is a defeatest thread......but then we're being defeated every week so your point is??!

The point is that there are still THIRTY points to be played for and we are only five points behind Sheffield Wednesday. People are expecting us to lose every game and it is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now I've been watching the Albion far too long to have any great expectations, but even I am not willing to write the season off just yet, strange things happen in football, and sometimes they happen to us.

 

[goldstone]

I've supported McGhee all through this season, but recently I've had real difficulty understanding his team selection and it's now so bad I do think he's lost the plot.

First strikers. His constant tinkering with the striking partnership has meant no chance for any two strikers to strike up an understanding. Basic stuff. Sticking with any two of our six or so strikers for a few games cannot have been any worse than what we have seen. And who know, it may even have worked!

Yesterday's line-up. Why bring back Chippy when just about everyone on here agrees that he's going through a poor spell? Why drop Hammond when he had probably one of his best games the previous week? Why drop Reid? Was he so bad the previous week? I don't think so.

The other thing that's clear is that we need full backs playing full back and not converted central defenders. Lynch apparently prefers the centre. El Abd plays better there. So Reid and Mayo at full back?

I truly beleive things are just going from bad to worse at present under McGhee and if nothing else we need a change in order to motivate the players. Give the job to Wendy on a caretaker basis until the end of the season. He certainly can't do any worse.

 

[NMH]

The point is that there are still THIRTY points to be played for and we are only five points behind Sheffield Wednesday. People are expecting us to lose every game and it is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now I've been watching the Albion far too long to have any great expectations, but even I am not willing to write the season off just yet, strange things happen in football, and sometimes they happen to us.

No. A "self fulfilling prophesy" is something that is predicted before the hand of fate, and then comes true. The 'hand of fate' is NOTHING to do with this. 11 players on a pitch against another 11 - are almost everything to do with it. The tactical nouse of the manager as the playright and director of the stage production is the precedent . No prophesy here, just plain ol' GRAVITY !

We've got power struggles with the most talented of the players, resulting in their skill, desire and confidence either being drained, or nowhere to be seen. Either there are lads played completely out of position, or tactical changes that dissolve any fluidity in teamwork. Formations that do not result in anything but failure, substitutions that bear no fruit, training that bears no evidence. If we don't have the right players for the job, there's no point in MM blaming the 'wrong ones', who cannot produce miracles is there? There's an apparent problem with what's translated onto the playing field, and responsibility must lie with the manager.

 

[Yorkie]

The point is that there are still THIRTY points to be played for and we are only five points behind Sheffield Wednesday. People are expecting us to lose every game and it is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now I've been watching the Albion far too long to have any great expectations, but even I am not willing to write the season off just yet, strange things happen in football, and sometimes they happen to us.

I agree. This feels just like last February when we lost 6 games in a row. I know we had a bit of a cushion then and so didn't go into the bottom three but it was still a very nerve wracking time.
We're not dead yet and there's still a battle to be won or lost.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

No. A "self fulfilling prophesy" is something that is predicted before the hand of fate, and then comes true. The 'hand of fate' is NOTHING to do with this. 11 players on a pitch against another 11 - are almost everything to do with it. The tactical nouse of the manager as the playright and director of the stage production is the precedent . No prophesy here, just plain ol' GRAVITY !

We've got power struggles with the most talented of the players, resulting in their skill, desire and confidence either being drained, or nowhere to be seen. Either there are lads played completely out of position, or tactical changes that dissolve any fluidity in teamwork. Formations that do not result in anything but failure, substitutions that bear no fruit, training that bears no evidence. If we don't have the right players for the job, there's no point in MM blaming the 'wrong ones', who cannot produce miracles is there? There's an apparent problem with what's translated onto the playing field, and responsibility must lie with the manager.

I am sorry but which of the most talented players, except for Knight who is a lazy player and deserved what happened, has McGhee forced to leave. There seems to be a myth on NSC that we have all these Championship quality strikers and McGhee has decided to coach them so they will not score. For the idiots who think this, I will simplify the situation. We have little money so have to gamble on players that other clubs in this division do not want. Consequently, we are unable to sign proven Championship strikers. This is also the same reason that we play players out of position and it has worked on numerous occasions e.g. Reid at right back, Virgs up front etc.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I was there in May in with the Hereford fans because I couldnt get a ticket for the Albion end and I still say MAGOO OUT.

The SQUAD is good enough. The manager isnt.

 

[Yorkie]

I am sorry but which of the most talented players, except for Knight who is a lazy player and deserved what happened, has McGhee forced to leave. There seems to be a myth on NSC that we have all these Championship quality strikers and McGhee has decided to coach them so they will not score. For the idiots who think this, I will simplify the situation. We have little money so have to gamble on players that other clubs in this division do not want. Consequently, we are unable to sign proven Championship strikers. This is also the same reason that we play players out of position and it has worked on numerous occasions e.g. Reid at right back, Virgs up front etc.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

We have little money so have to gamble on players that other clubs in this division do not want.

Like Turienzo and of course the six figure "bid" for Tom Brighton. Not exactly the actions of a "skint" club is it....

 

[Yorkie]

Like Turienzo and of course the six figure "bid" for Tom Brighton. Not exactly the actions of a "skint" club is it....

Peanuts compared with what other teams in this division pay for their strikers. Most of them were worth the value of our entire team put together.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Like Turienzo and of course the six figure "bid" for Tom Brighton. Not exactly the actions of a "skint" club is it....

So you regard that as big money at this level. Watford signed two strikers in the summer who have had mixed careers at this level. Darius Henderson costs £450k and Marlon King cost them £500k. Neither of them are absolutely proven at this level and they cost almost £1 million between them. Stoke spent almost £1 million on Bangoura who had never played in England before.

Does that put our investment in Turienzo into perspective for you.

 

[Bez]

Time for a change now. Other eams change managerand get a instant upturn in form.

We should do it.

By the im 34, at Hererford and want the clown out.

Let the Magoo out chants begin.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

I was at Hereford, etc etc...is this another "uberfan" bollocks thread?

I do not think this is the right time to dispose of McGhee's services. I am not 100% a believer that it is all his fault.

A lot of this must be laid at the door of the players. When hammond missed goals after goals which you would expect a footballer to score, was that McGhee's fault? When we cannot get the ball into the area through midfield, is that Mcghee's fault...No. He can only send out what he has on his books.

To say that crosses on crosses are flying into the area and our strikers are missing them is also nonsense...when was the last game you saw us pepper and area with crosses....I cant remember one.

These players are not good enough....we could have Sven here and he would not be able to get out of these players what we are expecting.

the biggest dissapointment in my eyes is that we have been unable to attract anyone with any money into the club on the back of a sucessful application for a ground. Yes LDC are challenging, but the Government have NEVER lost an appeal. If someone had faith in this club, they would have been able to take a punt....that is my concern

 

[Albion Rob]

Having made the trip on Saturday, the glaring problem was that at half time, Gradi shook things up, either by a rousing speech or tactical nous, we didn't. Fair enough, the equaliser was a freak but we should at least have held on for the draw. It was eleven strugglers against eleven strugglers and to be honest we could have lost by three or four in the end.

I agree with what has been stated here that McGhee's hands are very tied but it surely has to be horses for courses and we need a manager with a little black book which will allow him to get good players on loan for a good price - in much the same way as Crewe do. What are all these players in the reserves of London clubs up to with their time, I understand we had a look at Barnard but there must be others that could have taken a drive down the M23 for a few months.

Things just seem to be ending up for McGhee as the looked to (from the outside) at Millwall. The team appears to be sterile and there were no positives whatsoever to cling to from Saturday - and that's happening all too often at the moment.

I sincerely hope he can turn it round but can anyone really see us getting anything out of the trip to the West Country on Saturday.

I fear he is on borrowed time.

 

[Normal Rob]

Its like buying a 4 bedroom house that needs loads of work and when the builders aren't doing their job fixing it up saying 'oh well we used to live in a 1 bedroom flat so we shouldn't complain'.

i think that's probably the most ludicrously bad analogy i've ever heard.