General Fans Forum 12/12/2022

[bazzer9461]

Blimey, well thats one way of looking at it i suppose.

Fwiw here is another way of looking at it.

Clotet had us in freefall, from 1st to 10th with a humiliating Wigan defeat sandwiched in between that, i feared for us. KR came
in and stabilised the ship, thats his 1st season. Not really sure where you are going with the Pep delivered as much progress in
terms of league position as Karl has ? Clotet delivered nothing, he was rightly ousted before the damage was terminal, he was
manager for 36 games of which we won 12 and i have no doubt that if he had stayed any longer his win percentage would be
even lower than 33.3%, for perspective KR sits at 41.3% with us.

His 2nd season we finished 12th, yea not great but i`m going to give him credit for inheriting a really poor squad that needed
a lot of re-building, maybe i`m being overly generous here ?

3rd season and his best as we made the POF

Can`t argue factually about the next 2 seasons being a steady decline, bit harsh imo as we have performed at equal to or slightly
above budget.

As for this season, honestly im still pretty confident we can make the playoffs, even a defeat at Ipswich wont change that as there
is a long way to go and a fair bit to be optimistic about.

The 2nd playoffs we got battered by Blackpool at home and KR said he would address that and I don’t think he has

 

[werthersoriginal]

After 5 years, expectations have dropped, enthusiasm has been sucked out, apathy has set in and the endless status quo of mediocrity has become the norm.
And some on here defend that status!

Surely it’s the opposite. After five years expectations have risen, for which Robinson deserves credit, and people are getting fed up we’re not making the next step, which is fair enough.

 

[Marked Ox]

No, I call it stabilising.

Would you call stabilising ourselves in League 2 after getting promotion from the Conference progress?

Do you call developing the club off the pitch such as the training ground/Academy etc progress?

Not a criticism of your viewpoint but having a permanent training ground which can be developed and Academy on the same site that is clearly developing in a positive direction is significant progress for me. Especially when you think back to what we've had to use over the years.

 

[Manorlounger]

Surely it’s the opposite. After five years expectations have risen, for which Robinson deserves credit, and people are getting fed up we’re not making the next step, which is fair enough.

If you mean that expectations of mid table mediocrity have risen then, yes.

 

[werthersoriginal]

If you mean that expectations of mid table mediocrity have risen then, yes.

Your answer doesn’t make sense? People’s expectations have risen and lots here are grumpy that we havent got promoted. In fact some seem unable to deal with anything other than a weekly win.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

 

[Scotchegg]

Bottom line is that Robinson will be staying until the summer so for now the Karl United or OUFC debate is pointless. We only have one OUFC and (I think) we all want it to succeed. It's now about getting the best out of the players we have, and adding quality to the areas that need it the most. Both with the aim to get us as high up the league as possible. If that means playoffs, then great. If not then decisions will be made in the summer and we go through this whole thing again then!

 

[bazzer9461]

Your answer doesn’t make sense? People’s expectations have risen and lots here are grumpy that we havent got promoted. In fact some seem unable to deal with anything other than a weekly win.

No I think we would have hoped after our defeat to Wycombe we could have gone one further, but we got battered into submission by the home leg against Blackpool, then last year it was a failure.

Sure we are still in contention for a play off place this season ( but it will depend on the correct recruitment in January to aid that ) but with the last transfer window being a bit of a damp squib we certainly haven’t done ourselves any favours in making a determined effort to be in the playoffs.

Listening to Tim Williams the other day he said OUFC have a habit of coming good in the 2nd half of the season, I hope he’s right as last season was the opposite.

You last comment in your post about people not able to come to terms unless we have a weekly win, I don’t think it’s that it’s this season we have been poor against teams we should have got positive results, yes I know we don’t have a divine right to win but losing some of the games so far that we perhaps shouldn’t have could cost us dearly this season.

 

[werthersoriginal]

No I think we would have hoped after our defeat to Wycombe we could have gone one further, but we got battered into submission by the home leg against Blackpool, then last year it was a failure.

Sure we are still in contention for a play off place this season ( but it will depend on the correct recruitment in January to aid that ) but with the last transfer window being a bit of a damp squib we certainly haven’t done ourselves any favours in making a determined effort to be in the playoffs.

Listening to Tim Williams the other day he said OUFC have a habit of coming good in the 2nd half of the season, I hope he’s right as last season was the opposite.

You last comment in your post about people not able to come to terms unless we have a weekly win, I don’t think it’s that it’s this season we have been poor against teams we should have got positive results, yes I know we don’t have a divine right to win but losing some of the games so far that we perhaps shouldn’t have could cost us dearly this season.

Really not intending to reopen old arguments, I just responded to something that didn’t make sense. Anyway, our ship seems to have been steadied to the extent that we weren’t amazed to get a point away at Weds, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to make us genuine contenders in the new year.

 

[Manorlounger]

Your answer doesn’t make sense? People’s expectations have risen and lots here are grumpy that we havent got promoted. In fact some seem unable to deal with anything other than a weekly win.

I expect mid-table mediocrity. My expectations of that have risen. Is that better? Before the last transfer window I had expectations of promotion and an entertaining season of winning football matches.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

After 5 years, expectations have dropped, enthusiasm has been sucked out, apathy has set in and the endless status quo of mediocrity has become the norm.
And some on here defend that status!

Manor
I wouldn’t be surprised not only to finish 8/9 th in the league which isn’t far off where we were when KR took over, but the Board will give KR one more shot next season.
Just have a feeling that we will have a better second half of the season and just miss out on playoff's
KR will then say to the Board if it hadn’t been for injuries we would have been in the playoffs.
I hope I’m wrong on two counts
1 We reach playoffs and get promoted
2 We finish 8th but the Board get someone new in

I really think that the noises coming from the club are very pro KR and we shouldn’t e xpect a new manager next season
Which is staggering but I just have that feeling in my gut

 

[werthersoriginal]

I expect mid-table mediocrity. My expectations of that have risen. Is that better? Before the last transfer window I had expectations of promotion and an entertaining season of winning football matches.

Yeah, kind of two different shades of meaning in one word there.

 

[unification]

Surely it’s the opposite. After five years expectations have risen, for which Robinson deserves credit, and people are getting fed up we’re not making the next step, which is fair enough.

KR is a nearly man. 12+ years as a manager now and whilst he’s won plaudits in the game, he has a solitary promotion to his name. I know some will argue the opposite but we’re certainly not terrible with having him at the helm.

However you have to show something to take you to the next step. Take Southampton’s revival from League 1 to the PL. The first two steps were done by Nigel Adkins who was much sought after at the time. At an early opportunity, he was let go and replaced. There was indignation that a loyal manager who had delivered two promotions was sacked so easily. That was soon forgotten when the Saints progressed under his successor in Mauricio Pochettino. Maybe we need something similar - a manager who builds on what’s been started here to take us up.

KR has shown he is a capable League 1 manager. Is he any better than that or even capable of leading a team out of it? I suspect he needs a very talented set of players to get us up whereas a Critchley or Warne could get a lesser set of players up and out into the Championship.

We should have got Critchley when we had the chance …

 

[werthersoriginal]

KR is a nearly man. 12+ years as a manager now and whilst he’s won plaudits in the game, he has a solitary promotion to his name. I know some will argue the opposite but we’re certainly not terrible with having him at the helm.

However you have to show something to take you to the next step. Take Southampton’s revival from League 1 to the PL. The first two steps were done by Nigel Adkins who was much sought after at the time. At an early opportunity, he was let go and replaced. There was indignation that a loyal manager who had delivered two promotions was sacked so easily. That was soon forgotten when the Saints progressed under his successor in Mauricio Pochettino. Maybe we need something similar - a manager who builds on what’s been started here to take us up.

KR has shown he is a capable League 1 manager. Is he any better than that or even capable of leading a team out of it? I suspect he needs a very talented set of players to get us up whereas a Critchley or Warne could get a lesser set of players up and out into the Championship.

We should have got Critchley when we had the chance …

I’ve thought of that Adkins / Pochetinno situation too, it’s a good point. However I saw Neil Critchley on tv recently and he seemed more of the bitter, angry type than the calm , intelligent sort of manager I hope we get next.

 

[bazzer9461]

Manor
I wouldn’t be surprised not only to finish 8/9 th in the league which isn’t far off where we were when KR took over, but the Board will give KR one more shot next season.
Just have a feeling that we will have a better second half of the season and just miss out on playoff's
KR will then say to the Board if it hadn’t been for injuries we would have been in the playoffs.
I hope I’m wrong on two counts
1 We reach playoffs and get promoted
2 We finish 8th but the Board get someone new in

I really think that the noises coming from the club are very pro KR and we shouldn’t e xpect a new manager next season
Which is staggering but I just have that feeling in my gut

Also have to say if it hasn’t already been mentioned when Barnsley got promoted out of L1 they were bottom at Christmas so anything is possible.
If our recruitment is good in January the optimism amongst fans will be evident especially big the results are more 3 points rather than 1.

 

[Carpy]

I think if we’re talking about progress away from the playing side of the football club there has certainly been some movement in certain places, others not so much

Media - No change, still average to poor in my view

Infrastructure - Vast improvement, the training facility makes the old shed we were based out of look like a joke and if the stadium comes off then we’ll be worlds away from where we were/are.

Recruitment - Feel we’ve gone backwards ever so slightly here, under Eales/Ashton we signed promising youngsters regularly such as Roofe, Lundstram, Ledson, Rothwell, mixed in with robust League One players, while we still sign a decent youngster a season normally (albeit they take longer to make an impact), the flurry of crocks can’t go unnoticed (and is a conscious decision).

Marketing & Fan Inclusion/Experience - Completely subjective of course but in my view we’ve gone backwards here by the largest degree, few examples are the digital vs physical season tickets fiasco, the lack of a regular fans forum (although hopefully now this changes), general poor communication/updates from anyone but Karl or to be fair to him, Dan Harris, things like the fan zone never reappeared (ignoring Firoz and those politics for now), kit release and availability amongst others.

Progress has been made, but I think a lot more is needed if the Top 30 club status is to be realised

 

[CCYellow]

It is not to 'Robinson's credit' that the expectation is Championship football. That was the expectation in 2014, when Appleton took over. 8 1/2 years ago.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32222729

(Yes it's dated 2015, but Collins signed in 2014, which is when he was shown these plans)

 

[TailsWeWin]

Surely it isn’t unreasonable to EXPECT to beat Morecombe, Fleetwood, MKD, Forest Green etc etc in a season where our manager has been given very reasonable financial resources to bolster the 2021/22 squad?

 

[Fred]

No, I call it stabilising.

Would you call stabilising ourselves in League 2 after getting promotion from the Conference progress?

Yes

 

[nick68]

Whilst I appreciate League position is key to getting promotion etc I think the below gives a bit more balance to progress;

16/17 - P 46 Pts 69 PPG 1.50 (Appleton)
17/18 - P 46 Pts 56 PPG 1.22 (Appleton)
18/19 - P 46 Pts 60 PPG 1.30 (Clotet/Robinson)
19-20 - P 35 Pts 60 PPG 1.71 (Robinson)
20-21 - P 46 Pts 74 PPG 1.61 (Robinson)
21-22 - P 46 Pts 76 PPG 1.65 (Robinson)
22-23 - P 21 Pts 26 PPG 1.24 (Robinson)

No hiding that this season hasn't been good to this point but signs that we are improving now we have all bar Baldock back available for selection.