Tiger Update

Load of sodding drama queens on here. Darren Patterson and our journey to the Conference South. Doing the conga at Rushden and Diamonds. Tunbridge Angels. Short memories. It wasn't all that long ago that I was having a P**s at Stafford Rangers and wondering where the roof to the latrine had gone.
A couple of bad rudderless years and we could be heading back there. Look at Chesterfield and Leyton Orient.

Hence why people are nervous.
 
A couple of bad rudderless years and we could be heading back there. Look at Chesterfield and Leyton Orient.

Hence why people are nervous.
We've got a much better, more professional set up behind the scenes now. We are actually building an academy, with Chrissy Allen, and are giving youth a chance. In the bad old days, we didn't even have any form of scouting network.

Not comparing apples with apples tbh, and we do have an owner who is paying transfer fees.
 
..it also wasn't that long ago that we signed players like Grebis on the back of a quick look at a vhs tape bought at a car boot sale.
 
To be fair, maybe Tiger is a genuine fella with a long term plan in place. And maybe there are mitigating circumstances as to why that plan has to be kept under wraps at the moment, who knows?!, but can nobody at the club advise him that fluffy ‘updates’ like these, when the fans are fed up waiting for substantial information, are only going to get people’s backs up? Ill advised at best..
 
We've got a much better, more professional set up behind the scenes now. We are actually building an academy, with Chrissy Allen, and are giving youth a chance. In the bad old days, we didn't even have any form of scouting network.

Not comparing apples with apples tbh, and we do have an owner who is paying transfer fees.

But the first team squad is shite, and ultimately that’s what counts.
 
but be careful it's all very well saying they were the darker days but our club cannot afford another relegation and whilst you may think it's fine sat in div4 in comparison you are only another horrible messed up on all fronts season from returning to them dark days again and seriously that could then spell the end.
 
You're right that one relegation could lead to another, but then one season battling for survival could lead to a season of much greater success next. We don't know so why worry about what we can't predict or change.
 
It worries me that people are already accepting the prospect of relegation. That it’s not as bad as the conference days and that we’ll probably bounce back anyway. I haven’t forgotten how crap league 2 was and how tough it was to get out of. Look at our neighbours up the A420. And what have we seen from Tiger and Robinson so far for us all to be confident that they’ll make a success of a league 2 campaign?
 
Sticking my neck out, I might get it chopped off. But... I know the update was dull and empty. I know it’s difficult for him both in terms of location, language and, according to the board, what he can and cannot say right now.

What Tiger has done is put money into the club for transfers. Right before he joined for Brannagan and Dickie and for the signings of Hanson and Whyte. As KR said at the time the chairman has heavily backed him and now he has to repay that with performances on the pitch. Errr I see what’s missing!
Looks like Tiger is going to back KR again in Jan too.
Yes there are lots of things we as fans want sorted off the pitch but where immediate investment was needed after Pep / Eales we got it.

If Tiger has one failing at the moment it’s not recognising that KR is an idiot. An idiot wasting his money on injured, past it or down right terrible signings.
The team is an absolute shambles! Players playing in positions they weren’t signed to play in, players injured before they even kicked a ball, players who are simply not good enough, inadequate cover all over the pitch. It’s just a total mess.

Worst of all when KR phoned Tiger to apologise instead of being told “sort it out or I’ll find someone who will”. Tiger actually told KR not to worry, I know how hard you’re all working! FFS!
 
We've got a much better, more professional set up behind the scenes now. We are actually building an academy, with Chrissy Allen, and are giving youth a chance. In the bad old days, we didn't even have any form of scouting network.

Not comparing apples with apples tbh, and we do have an owner who is paying transfer fees.

A scouting network! You are joking! we’ve signed some absolute dog @@@@ players!
 
A scouting network! You are joking! we’ve signed some absolute dog @@@@ players!

Our sports science department has also crumbled in recent times. Or perhaps the adonis KR knows better? Pre game swimming and training session anyone... Our lads are knackered out at the halfway point of the campaign.
 
I’ve mentioned it before, my belief is that Robinson has never has such a free reign at a football club before, Tiger is hardly here which leaves Robinson and McWilliams in charge of the day to day business. Robinson is quite a dominant force and has probably convinced Tiger that he should have full control of the football side of things, something he alludes to when he talks about his and Tigers vision at the club, and I don’t think he’s got the mentality to cope with it very well. He’s too ‘excitable’ a character. This has led to problems in the recruitment and to issues like the swimming situation. Who knows how much advice he accepts from the sports science and recruitment departments? We know he can be quite an abrasive character, he openly admits to falling out with NI manager O’Neill without the blink of an eye.
 
I am not certain I get the logic behind “we lost to Salisbury so relegation is fine”, it makes no more sense than saying we won the league cup so we should get promoted. We are in league one now, what happened in the past, whether when we under or overachieved isn’t relevant, it’s nice to take a walk down memory lane occasionally but it’s madness to pitch a tent there.

Staying up is everything now football wise, no point being a football club if you have any other attitude, might as well all just meet up and stand around the Kassam car park having a chat without the hassle of the match.
 
It worries me that people are already accepting the prospect of relegation.

Completely agree with this, and the idea that we’ll easily be able to regroup and bounce back is just unrealistic. Breaking down the ‘losing mentality’ at a club once it’s set in like rot can be extremely tough, time-consuming and costly - as the Wilder/Thomas/Leneghan and Appleton/Ashton/Eales administrations found.

But at the same time, can you blame fans for being resigned to going down? Given the utter paucity of any real tangible information around the future of our club, the plans for a sustainable future, and a prolonged period of being obviously and outright lied to by chairmen - not just Tiger - going back to the ‘three fee-paying players in January’ farce which realistically convinced Appleton it was time to go what other conclusion can fans reach?

All we have to go on is the crashing reality of what we see on the pitch, i.e. three goals from three strikers all season (only one of which is available), and probably another month before maybe a reinforcement arrives, our best defender going just short of temperamentally admitting he wants out on live radio, an ‘unbeaten run’ which didn’t actually contain that many league wins at all, a catastrophic first quarter of the season, and a festive trio of fixtures which saw 0 points and 0 goals, including a thrashing at the bottom club, which is nailed on relegation form. Oh, and the actions of our ‘eccentric’ (elusive, confusing, deliberately vague) chairman who delivered one of the most shambolic ‘welcome to the club’ pressers ever conceived and has followed that by overseeing a club barely away from the relegation zone at any point whilst repeatedly not paying tax bills.

I’m not saying it’s over - but the pressure on recruitment this month is immense. There’s time to turn it round - but it’s January now. Our abysmal form isn’t fluke or unlucky, it’s symptomatic of a bad team, an uneven squad and a losing mentality starting to set in. Those aren’t easily fixed.
 
Completely agree with this, and the idea that we’ll easily be able to regroup and bounce back is just unrealistic. Breaking down the ‘losing mentality’ at a club once it’s set in like rot can be extremely tough, time-consuming and costly - as the Wilder/Thomas/Leneghan and Appleton/Ashton/Eales administrations found.

But at the same time, can you blame fans for being resigned to going down? Given the utter paucity of any real tangible information around the future of our club, the plans for a sustainable future, and a prolonged period of being obviously and outright lied to by chairmen - not just Tiger - going back to the ‘three fee-paying players in January’ farce which realistically convinced Appleton it was time to go what other conclusion can fans reach?

All we have to go on is the crashing reality of what we see on the pitch, i.e. three goals from three strikers all season (only one of which is available), and probably another month before maybe a reinforcement arrives, our best defender going just short of temperamentally admitting he wants out on live radio, an ‘unbeaten run’ which didn’t actually contain that many league wins at all, a catastrophic first quarter of the season, and a festive trio of fixtures which saw 0 points and 0 goals, including a thrashing at the bottom club, which is nailed on relegation form. Oh, and the actions of our ‘eccentric’ (elusive, confusing, deliberately vague) chairman who delivered one of the most shambolic ‘welcome to the club’ pressers ever conceived and has followed that by overseeing a club barely away from the relegation zone at any point whilst repeatedly not paying tax bills.

I’m not saying it’s over - but the pressure on recruitment this month is immense. There’s time to turn it round - but it’s January now. Our abysmal form isn’t fluke or unlucky, it’s symptomatic of a bad team, an uneven squad and a losing mentality starting to set in. Those aren’t easily fixed.

Totally agree, but it’s the FA Cup game today so you must be up for that?
 
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