Steve Gibson

[Woof Woof 84]

Yup. Putting that amount into a new manager and DoF would be lovely if Gibson would do it and if decent ones would come for that money. I do think that someone competent and with some pulling power is needed otherwise I can't see good players or players with potential coming here.

Sorry to be so pessimistic.

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

27 minutes ago, Duvel said:

I honestly think Gibson thought Woodgate would do a poundland version of Mowbray. Basically man the ship while the club gets rid of all the high earners. 

I don't think Gibson will accept Woodgate taking us down and I don't think its something he'll have expected either. 

A defeat on Saturday is probably what everyone expects given our current form, however I think the next 2 home games might be make or break for JW. 

I wonder if Woody will get the 'vote of confidence' if we get thumped by QPR. 

The following home games against Hull and Barnsley will be massive. The games after those all look tough and we could be adrift by December. Just have a nasty feeling we're sleepwalking towards disaster and Gibson will act too late. 

[sanddancer 1,967]

I believe we have a squad value of £53 million which is rated 8th in the championship and Woody claims the table lies, so is he correct.

[RiseAgainst 3,793]

28 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

Too bold a suggestion that we use the 40k a week gestede is on and the 30k a week shotton is on to bring in a manager and director of football and look to the european market for players?

We seem to have an aversion to shopping in foreign leagues for players these days, which to a degree is understandable after the PL experiment and the behaviour of mercenaries like Guzan and Ramirez. However, the domestic market isn't exactly working for us, if the best we can do is Browne and Bola.

I'd love us to get rid of Gestede and replace him with a DoF and a Europhile scout, but (a) no bugger will take Gestede off our hands, and (b) Gibson generally has a better-buy-British attitude to player recruitment these days.

Someone asked on here recently whether we'd swap our best player for a new DoF, and the consensus was overwhelmingly in favour. But based on recent history, I agree with NB4 that we won't actually do that - or anything remotely sensible.

[Neverbefore 10,939]

6 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

We seem to have an aversion to shopping in foreign leagues for players these days, which to a degree is understandable after the PL experiment and the behaviour of mercenaries like Guzan and Ramirez. However, the domestic market isn't exactly working for us, if the best we can do is Browne and Bola.

I'd love us to get rid of Gestede and replace him with a DoF and a Europhile scout, but (a) no bugger will take Gestede off our hands, and (b) Gibson generally has a better-buy-British attitude to player recruitment these days.

Someone asked on here recently whether we'd swap our best player for a new DoF, and the consensus was overwhelmingly in favour. But based on recent history, I agree with NB4 that we won't actually do that - or anything remotely sensible.

It frustrates the life out of me that we refuse to look at europe at the moment. If they're using the premier league season as a reason not to, it's so so foolish. 

Theyd be better advised to look at what came in the couple of seasons before - nsue, kike, vossen, stuani were top quality players at this level for a lot less than youd pay for domestic players of similar quality. 

I also think we dont look at the youth teams of top half prem teams enough. There are a lot of players in there that arent good enough for them but could be really great in the championship- there are a lot of players who go this route and get back to premier league level and we never seem to manage to spot them. 

[ManBearPig 1,853]

The recruitment team wont go for foreign players because it means that they would probably have to do their job properly. 

There are better technical players abroad. It's the physicality which foreign players have tended to struggle with. Hopefully with Woodgates new philosophy it wont really matter where they come from, as long as they fit how we play. 

But based on the Browne, Bola and Dijksteele scenario, I am not holding my breath. All three from the English leagues and all 3 are poo so far. 

[HoyteForLeftBack 194]

7 minutes ago, ManBearPig said:

The recruitment team wont go for foreign players because it means that they would probably have to do their job properly. 

There are better technical players abroad. It's the physicality which foreign players have tended to struggle with. Hopefully with Woodgates new philosophy it wont really matter where they come from, as long as they fit how we play. 

But based on the Browne, Bola and Dijksteele scenario, I am not holding my breath. All three from the English leagues and all 3 are poo so far. 

Are they poo? Or are they just struggling under a manager who can’t get the best out of them - much the same to the rest of the squad, which are mostly “better” players.

I don’t know because I’ve not seen enough of them in action.

[Borodane 6,299]

3 hours ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

Exactly mate... Relegation is very rarely the 'blessing in disguise' some fans think it's gong to be. There's no chance we'll fly straight back up as an all conquering attacking side. Leeds have still never got back after their relegation.

Would be a disaster and I can see us sleepwalking towards it like we've done in past Premier League seasons. 

Relegation is never a blessing in disguise and hopefully no one would ever think that. How could it be?

[Essuuaitch 330]

the majority of fans  were ok with the probability of  dropping away from the top6  while the transition period developed  but  finishing bottom 3 is  not  gonna  swing it for anyone and shouldnt  even be  considered  as anything but  complete failure. 

btw  was i dreaming this but what happened to the talk of Brum having points deductions this season.

[Brunners 7,982]

1 minute ago, Essuuaitch said:

the majority of fans  were ok with the probability of  dropping away from the top6  while the transition period developed  but  finishing bottom 3 is  not  gonna  swing it for anyone and shouldnt  even be  considered  as anything but  complete failure. 

btw  was i dreaming this but what happened to the talk of Brum having points deductions this season.

They had their point deduction last season. Unless they did something else this offseason?

[LinoJo3 3,191]

People would be far more accepting of it if it wasn’t totally self inflicted, we didn’t have this level of dissent during mowbrays time here because we knew there were external circumstances which helped towards that.

This time were struggling financially because of reckless spending, blowing fortunes and having crap players stuck on stupid contracts. It’s made even worse that we didn’t just make these mistakes in the premiership, we made them again when we got relegated and then AGAIN the summer before last.

Each window we have managed to accumulate at least one garbage but expensive player that we can’t get rid of.

These aren’t Downing type players where it’s more in hindsight, these are obviously poor at the time of signing players. Gestede, guedioura, fletcher, Saville, shotton (30k per week). Unbelievably that group of players has cost us nearly £25m to acquire and we managed to get them all in the space of 2.5 years.

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

15 hours ago, Borodane said:

Relegation is never a blessing in disguise and hopefully no one would ever think that. How could it be?

Have you never heard fans talk along the lines of:

'A couple of rebuilding seasons will do us good' 

'Will be fun to win a few more games against easier opposition'

'We'll bounce back stronger and more confident'

 

[Borodane 6,299]

25 minutes ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

Have you never heard fans talk along the lines of:

'A couple of rebuilding seasons will do us good' 

'Will be fun to win a few more games against easier opposition'

'We'll bounce back stronger and more confident'

 

Yeah I have and every time I've feared for the future of mankind.

[AnglianRed 6,320]

42 minutes ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

Have you never heard fans talk along the lines of:

'A couple of rebuilding seasons will do us good' 

'Will be fun to win a few more games against easier opposition'

'We'll bounce back stronger and more confident'

 

I can't say I've heard fans talk like that...but certainly heard a few pundits and chairmen.

You can do that if you have the money and a sound financial plan, coupled with a good recruiting policy. Boro currently have none of those things.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

"Relegation rebuild in League One might be alright" is just as bad as "I prefer playing in the Championship anyway". If we go down and things don't change, sooner or later, that will change to "I prefer playing in League One anyway".