Article: Misplaced optimism?

[hertsseagull]

You can view the page at http://www.northstandchat.com/content.php?407-Misplaced-optimism

 

[chaileyjem]

Its not so much optimism as relief. Relief that we can actually win another match. Relief that relegation is not necessarily nailed on. Relief that we finally have a manager who, at the very least, is familiar with the Championship , getting teams out of the league and even knows some of the squad and potential new recruits.

I don't think fans have suddenly switched from famine to feast in the last 10 days Also i'm not sure whether there was optimism and real belief at the club every year up til now.12 months ago and the reaction then to Barnes, Bridcutt's departure and their replacement with the likes of David Rodriguez was some acknowledgement that things were already going awry.

I think the temperature of NSC and most fans indicates a relief that the last 6 months is over, the players aren't perhaps as bad as we thought and that Hughton is a good prospect. But optimistic that the club is now Premier League Ready, to coin a phrase, is hardly what i'm hearing. I agree the rebuilding in January and Summer is key, not losing any key players as will Hughton's ability to steer us, hopefully, into mid-table with a few good performances to boot. I now believe thats more likely than i would have done as i trudged home on that Friday night after Millwall.

And we do have a decent spine in there somewhere Stockdale (now at his £1m form), Dunk, Bruno, Greer, Ince, Crofts, Stephens, JFC, March, KLL, Colunga, Baldock even (we've not really seen him) is a decent team/spine to build around.
Now to test the mettle of Hughton/Bloom's checkbook/and the new recruitment team. Can they turn that relief into fully fledged optimism in the next few weeks?
Bloom has already created the conditions and stumped up for 2 play off/promotion ready squads with 2 different managers. The jurys out on whether the club can do it for a third time but there's nothing about the appointment of Hughton that indicates that the (sorry) ambition doesn't remain. The incoming/outgoing of players in the next few weeks will show us whether our New Year glasses are really half full.

 

[sdmartin1]

Sorry can't agree, I think the current optimism is relative to the position we were heading with Hyypia at the helm. Of course, some of our wildly optimistic fans may well think we will challenge for the playoffs next season (provided we avoid relegation of course) but I think most of our supporters have realized our squad is quite considerably weaker than in previous seasons. Bloom seems to have acknowledged this also by getting rid of Burke.

 

[chaileyjem]

Sorry can't agree, I think the current optimism is relative to the position we were heading with Hyypia at the helm. Of course, some of our wildly optimistic fans may well think we will challenge for the playoffs next season (provided we avoid relegation of course) but I think most of our supporters have realized our squad is quite considerably weaker than in previous seasons. Bloom seems to have acknowledged this also by getting rid of Burke.

I think we agree. The squad is weaker. Until we see if January/summer brings in strong additions then promotion confidence is wildly misplaced. That said, the spine of the squad (if injury free) is promising and Hughton can, as perhaps Jones has, get considerably more out of it than SH.

 

[sdmartin1]

I think we agree. The squad is weaker. Until we see if January/summer brings in strong additions then promotion confidence is wildly misplaced. That said, the spine of the squad (if injury free) is promising and Hughton can, as perhaps Jones has, get considerably more out of it than SH.

Sorry I meant I disagree with the OP. I agree largely with your assessment. We have some good players but it is too early to judge either way how we will fare next season imo before transfers in/out. I'm hoping (even if we make limited signings in the January window) Hughton's experience will guide us to a comfy mid table finish.