99 Problems and the pitch is one...

[Fonda]

Where to begin? At the top I suppose. It doesn’t need to be said how good the consortium have been since taking control of our club. And this is the last time I will preface criticism of them by quantifying it. We all know what we owe them, but they can still get things wrong – and they are doing on an increasingly frequent basis.

Their decision to focus all attention and expenditure on infrastructure this season, whilst in the long-term best interests of the club, has quite simply left us with a squad that isn’t fit for purpose. And the wonderful décor in the Gulls nest will count for little in the conference. The bench was a necessity, as the old Grandstand was crumbling like the TUFC defence. But the rest of it? We re-laid the pitch in the summer (see, there was a reason for the title) – seemingly unnecessarily, and we spread about some grass seed? Is that not a bit half-hearted? It’s not 1975. I think the common present technique is to re-turf. And there is evidently a reason for that. Not only is the squad sub-standard, they’re playing every other week on wasteland.

Personally, I’d rather we had invested some funds in the playing squad. Treating that aspect of the club as an after-thought was obviously a glaring mistake. How were we ever destined to have a decent season when we lost, and failed to replace 3 of our best players? Whilst there was clearly a decision made within the boardroom last summer that we were going to focus attention on off-field issues, the manager obviously has had some money to invest, and now we have to focus on his part in our plight.

I don’t want to speak ill of a sick man, but how effectively has he managed the situation he’s come into? It’s certainly not fair to compare his performance to that of his predecessor. Buckle had a favourable budget to most of the clubs he was competing against in his time with us, and as a result he was able to appear a better manager than he was in reality. That is not the case for Lingy. He’s arrived at a different time for our club - a time when our priorities are elsewhere. Money is clearly tight for squad building, but I’d still argue he’s used what he had, pretty badly.

We went into this season with two strikers in the squad. And one of those is barely worthy of the name. The whole make-up of the squad is wrong. Full as it is of players that aren’t actually good enough to get in the side, even in desperate times. The tactics for much of the season made us almost completely impotent. And the players who are on the pitch on a regular basis look totally lost. It’s not just a lack of confidence, they appear dispirited, baffled with what we’re trying to achieve. I don’t get the impression any of the players are on-board with the managers vision. Does anyone recall seeing Manse as lacking in drive and spirit as he has this season? I don’t think age has caught up with his just yet – I think he’s lost interest, sprit broken. And he’s not alone.

The fans are disappearing, and the only sound from those that remain are the noises of discontent. Personally, I’m not a booer. I’m as frustrated as everyone else unfortunate enough to be there, but I’ve never seen the benefit of getting on the players backs during or after a game. I’m not going to preach to others. People pay their hard-earned money at the turnstiles, if they feel the players aren’t giving enough of themselves in return, they’re entitled to tell them so. But I’d be mindful that whilst it might make you feel better, it’ll make the players feel worse. Their spirits need to be raised, not trodden on. Isn’t that counter-productive?

And now we have Knill. The most appropriately named football manager in history. I’ve not completely given up on him yet, but I have my concerns. I was neither delighted nor disgusted when he was recruited (though I’d have opted for someone with dog-fight experience). It might be that AK has a decent pedigree of squad-building – but that isn’t what’s needed right now. We needed someone to work on the mental state of the current players – somebody able to instill some kind of belief in players bereft of any. A person able to unite a dressing room into a group of players prepared to go the extra mile for each other. These are the traits we’re looking for, and I’m afraid I’ve not seen any indication these changes are occurring.

I’ve almost lost all faith in the players currently at the club. I honestly think our only hope now is in the quality, and quantity of loan players Knill is able to attract. The mental damage inflicted this season has turned players previously more than good enough at this level into shadows of their former selves. I wouldn’t trust most of them to pass from A to B successfully more than 50% of the time right now. The pressure of the situation is evidently too much for them. Our only hope is that we can bring in some loanees that posess not only ability and knowhow, but the desire to try and save our club from it's inevitibale fate. But if own own players, who's very livelihood depends on the succes of our club can't be bothered, why should outsiders? We can only hope.

Apologies for the essay. I’m actually surprised I’ve made the effort to write this many words on a subject that barely deserves it. I guess it needed to come out. Will we stay up? I’m doubtful. I simply can’t see where our next win is coming from. All the other clubs around us, whilst rubbish in their own individual ways, do maintain an ability to win every now and again. Unfortunately, we can no longer rely on the fact there might be two teams worse than us. There simply aren’t.

I’ve lost faith, and I’m rapidly losing interest. That’s pretty damning. What would relegation mean? Simply, it’d mean we didn’t learn lessons from our previous experiences. That’s unforgiveable. And I doubt we’d be back any time soon.

[CP Gull]

Great post Shane, good to see you back posting on this forum.

[Fonda]

Thanks mate. Frustration dictated a need to get some thoughts down. I'm sure it's all been said before anyway. It's not made me feel any better about things unfortunately.

[hector]

Where to begin? At the top I suppose. It doesn’t need to be said how good the consortium have been since taking control of our club. And this is the last time I will preface criticism of them by quantifying it. We all know what we owe them, but they can still get things wrong – and they are doing on an increasingly frequent basis.

Their decision to focus all attention and expenditure on infrastructure this season, whilst in the long-term best interests of the club, has quite simply left us with a squad that isn’t fit for purpose. And the wonderful décor in the Gulls nest will count for little in the conference. The bench was a necessity, as the old Grandstand was crumbling like the TUFC defence. But the rest of it? We re-laid the pitch in the summer (see, there was a reason for the title) – seemingly unnecessarily, and we spread about some grass seed? Is that not a bit half-hearted? It’s not 1975. I think the common present technique is to re-turf. And there is evidently a reason for that. Not only is the squad sub-standard, they’re playing every other week on wasteland.

Personally, I’d rather we had invested some funds in the playing squad. Treating that aspect of the club as an after-thought was obviously a glaring mistake. How were we ever destined to have a decent season when we lost, and failed to replace 3 of our best players? Whilst there was clearly a decision made within the boardroom last summer that we were going to focus attention on off-field issues, the manager obviously has had some money to invest, and now we have to focus on his part in our plight.

I don’t want to speak ill of a sick man, but how effectively has he managed the situation he’s come into? It’s certainly not fair to compare his performance to that of his predecessor. Buckle had a favourable budget to most of the clubs he was competing against in his time with us, and as a result he was able to appear a better manager than he was in reality. That is not the case for Lingy. He’s arrived at a different time for our club - a time when our priorities are elsewhere. Money is clearly tight for squad building, but I’d still argue he’s used what he had, pretty badly.

We went into this season with two strikers in the squad. And one of those is barely worthy of the name. The whole make-up of the squad is wrong. Full as it is of players that aren’t actually good enough to get in the side, even in desperate times. The tactics for much of the season made us almost completely impotent. And the players who are on the pitch on a regular basis look totally lost. It’s not just a lack of confidence, they appear dispirited, baffled with what we’re trying to achieve. I don’t get the impression any of the players are on-board with the managers vision. Does anyone recall seeing Manse as lacking in drive and spirit as he has this season? I don’t think age has caught up with his just yet – I think he’s lost interest, sprit broken. And he’s not alone.

The fans are disappearing, and the only sound from those that remain are the noises of discontent. Personally, I’m not a booer. I’m as frustrated as everyone else unfortunate enough to be there, but I’ve never seen the benefit of getting on the players backs during or after a game. I’m not going to preach to others. People pay their hard-earned money at the turnstiles, if they feel the players aren’t giving enough of themselves in return, they’re entitled to tell them so. But I’d be mindful that whilst it might make you feel better, it’ll make the players feel worse. Their spirits need to be raised, not trodden on. Isn’t that counter-productive?

And now we have Knill. The most appropriately named football manager in history. I’ve not completely given up on him yet, but I have my concerns. I was neither delighted nor disgusted when he was recruited (though I’d have opted for someone with dog-fight experience). It might be that AK has a decent pedigree of squad-building – but that isn’t what’s needed right now. We needed someone to work on the mental state of the current players – somebody able to instill some kind of belief in players bereft of any. A person able to unite a dressing room into a group of players prepared to go the extra mile for each other. These are the traits we’re looking for, and I’m afraid I’ve not seen any indication these changes are occurring.

I’ve almost lost all faith in the players currently at the club. I honestly think our only hope now is in the quality, and quantity of loan players Knill is able to attract. The mental damage inflicted this season has turned players previously more than good enough at this level into shadows of their former selves. I wouldn’t trust most of them to pass from A to B successfully more than 50% of the time right now. The pressure of the situation is evidently too much for them. Our only hope is that we can bring in some loanees that posess not only ability and knowhow, but the desire to try and save our club from it's inevitibale fate. But if own own players, who's very livelihood depends on the succes of our club can't be bothered, why should outsiders? We can only hope.

Apologies for the essay. I’m actually surprised I’ve made the effort to write this many words on a subject that barely deserves it. I guess it needed to come out. Will we stay up? I’m doubtful. I simply can’t see where our next win is coming from. All the other clubs around us, whilst rubbish in their own individual ways, do maintain an ability to win every now and again. Unfortunately, we can no longer rely on the fact there might be two teams worse than us. There simply aren’t.

I’ve lost faith, and I’m rapidly losing interest. That’s pretty damning. What would relegation mean? Simply, it’d mean we didn’t learn lessons from our previous experiences. That’s unforgiveable. And I doubt we’d be back any time soon.

An excellent post and in particular your last paragraph resonates with me. Losing interest, the apathy that engenders and the sort of 'sod them, I can't be bothered with them' feeling that the 'stress' of following TUFC this season causes as we stand by helplessly and watch this club disintegrate.

[Scott Brehaut]

The thing is, the players are looking like they can't be bothered so is it any wonder that the fans are feeling the same.

Good post Shane - good to have you back.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Where to begin? At the top I suppose. It doesn’t need to be said how good the consortium have been since taking control of our club. And this is the last time I will preface criticism of them by quantifying it. We all know what we owe them, but they can still get things wrong – and they are doing on an increasingly frequent basis.

Their decision to focus all attention and expenditure on infrastructure this season, whilst in the long-term best interests of the club, has quite simply left us with a squad that isn’t fit for purpose. And the wonderful décor in the Gulls nest will count for little in the conference. The bench was a necessity, as the old Grandstand was crumbling like the TUFC defence. But the rest of it? We re-laid the pitch in the summer (see, there was a reason for the title) – seemingly unnecessarily, and we spread about some grass seed? Is that not a bit half-hearted? It’s not 1975. I think the common present technique is to re-turf. And there is evidently a reason for that. Not only is the squad sub-standard, they’re playing every other week on wasteland.

Personally, I’d rather we had invested some funds in the playing squad. Treating that aspect of the club as an after-thought was obviously a glaring mistake. How were we ever destined to have a decent season when we lost, and failed to replace 3 of our best players? Whilst there was clearly a decision made within the boardroom last summer that we were going to focus attention on off-field issues, the manager obviously has had some money to invest, and now we have to focus on his part in our plight.

I don’t want to speak ill of a sick man, but how effectively has he managed the situation he’s come into? It’s certainly not fair to compare his performance to that of his predecessor. Buckle had a favourable budget to most of the clubs he was competing against in his time with us, and as a result he was able to appear a better manager than he was in reality. That is not the case for Lingy. He’s arrived at a different time for our club - a time when our priorities are elsewhere. Money is clearly tight for squad building, but I’d still argue he’s used what he had, pretty badly.

We went into this season with two strikers in the squad. And one of those is barely worthy of the name. The whole make-up of the squad is wrong. Full as it is of players that aren’t actually good enough to get in the side, even in desperate times. The tactics for much of the season made us almost completely impotent. And the players who are on the pitch on a regular basis look totally lost. It’s not just a lack of confidence, they appear dispirited, baffled with what we’re trying to achieve. I don’t get the impression any of the players are on-board with the managers vision. Does anyone recall seeing Manse as lacking in drive and spirit as he has this season? I don’t think age has caught up with his just yet – I think he’s lost interest, sprit broken. And he’s not alone.

The fans are disappearing, and the only sound from those that remain are the noises of discontent. Personally, I’m not a booer. I’m as frustrated as everyone else unfortunate enough to be there, but I’ve never seen the benefit of getting on the players backs during or after a game. I’m not going to preach to others. People pay their hard-earned money at the turnstiles, if they feel the players aren’t giving enough of themselves in return, they’re entitled to tell them so. But I’d be mindful that whilst it might make you feel better, it’ll make the players feel worse. Their spirits need to be raised, not trodden on. Isn’t that counter-productive?

And now we have Knill. The most appropriately named football manager in history. I’ve not completely given up on him yet, but I have my concerns. I was neither delighted nor disgusted when he was recruited (though I’d have opted for someone with dog-fight experience). It might be that AK has a decent pedigree of squad-building – but that isn’t what’s needed right now. We needed someone to work on the mental state of the current players – somebody able to instill some kind of belief in players bereft of any. A person able to unite a dressing room into a group of players prepared to go the extra mile for each other. These are the traits we’re looking for, and I’m afraid I’ve not seen any indication these changes are occurring.
I’ve almost lost all faith in the players currently at the club. I honestly think our only hope now is in the quality, and quantity of loan players Knill is able to attract. The mental damage inflicted this season has turned players previously more than good enough at this level into shadows of their former selves. I wouldn’t trust most of them to pass from A to B successfully more than 50% of the time right now. The pressure of the situation is evidently too much for them. Our only hope is that we can bring in some loanees that posess not only ability and knowhow, but the desire to try and save our club from it's inevitibale fate. But if own own players, who's very livelihood depends on the succes of our club can't be bothered, why should outsiders? We can only hope.

Apologies for the essay. I’m actually surprised I’ve made the effort to write this many words on a subject that barely deserves it. I guess it needed to come out. Will we stay up? I’m doubtful. I simply can’t see where our next win is coming from. All the other clubs around us, whilst rubbish in their own individual ways, do maintain an ability to win every now and again. Unfortunately, we can no longer rely on the fact there might be two teams worse than us. There simply aren’t.

I’ve lost faith, and I’m rapidly losing interest. That’s pretty damning. What would relegation mean? Simply, it’d mean we didn’t learn lessons from our previous experiences. That’s unforgiveable. And I doubt we’d be back any time soon.

SPOT ON FONDA! Nail hit firmly on head. Regardless of who is to blame it doesn't matter, that has gone. We needed someone brought in who could improve all the things you highlight like attitude etc but we have once again made the wrong decision. In a season of indecision and wrong decisions i reckon this is one wrong decision too much.

[Glostergull]

Wellcome back Fonda. We missed you (mind you my aim wasn't all that good)
Frustrated indeed we all are. The squad are not playing well. One thing is obvious and that is Rene has lost confidence in his own team and can't get decent service to do anything with. I fear too he will walk this summer. He must get some offers from other clubs. if not we will be very very lucky to retain his services. We must sort out this sooner than later. maybe we should get in a confidence guru to help them look more positively at playing, it's worked before at other teams. This is the main thing for us at the present. Restore team moral and things will get better. do nothing and it's good night Vienna.

[royalgull]

We went into this season with two strikers in the squad. And one of those is barely worthy of the name. The whole make-up of the squad is wrong. Full as it is of players that aren’t actually good enough to get in the side, even in desperate times. The tactics for much of the season made us almost completely impotent. And the players who are on the pitch on a regular basis look totally lost. It’s not just a lack of confidence, they appear dispirited, baffled with what we’re trying to achieve. I don’t get the impression any of the players are on-board with the managers vision

That's a very good paragraph and hits the nail on the head. Like you Fonda I have given up on our players because other than 4 of them I can't stand the rest. Just beyond terrible footballers and this is where Lingy has to take a share of the blame. Yes the budget was smaller this year but if you've got £70k to spend on players and you chuck it all at one person, he can't be a flop....and he has been a total flop. Not just him there are loads of others. Our midfield as a collective is just appalling with no flair, no skill, no technical ability, we have no pace or quality out wide and other than Howe the rest of our 'forwards' would struggle to hold down a place at Truro.

No surprise to me to read how bad Oastler was on Saturday, he is never a full back. In every game last season I saw he was our weakest link it's just now even mroe obvious because the rest of our back 5 is weaker than last year, both in personnel but mainly in performance. Leadbitter actually looks a good prospect, he's not the finished article but he has the experience of being a full back from the start so his positional play is that much better, he's also got a good engine and a bit of pace which our backline is totally bereft of. I can't believe he's been axed from the squad, a totally mental decision that doesn't improve or benefit us in anyway.

Mansell and Nicholson, two absolute stalwarts, you could probably count their really bad game on one hand over the last few years but both have been poor, Nicho especially looks in the best physical fitness of his career yet it's been by far his worst season here. I am amazed Cruise has not been given any opportunity at all, he might not be the answer but we'll never know unless he gets 5/6 games to play. We wasted LRT and I think we'll waste Cruise because we are so scared to leave Nicho out.

Feel sorry for Rene Howe, our only good footballer, the only one with any football brain and technical skill because he gets nothing in support or return from his team mates. He gets it does something good, lays it off and doesn't see the ball again for 5 minutes as one of our dullard midfielders spaffs it out of play invariably. Rene gets frustrated goes wandering off after the ball leaving us with nothing and he tends to pick up cards as well but he's our only hope. The others like previously mentioned, I wouldn't keep a single one of them but we will keep them and lose Rene at the end of this year. Why on earth would he stay here? Unless by some miracle we finish 22nd and get some players in to help him out....fat chance.

Not lost interest because I'll go to Braintree on a tuesday night next year and see us lose 3-0 on our way to 18th place but i have lost all faith and hope in this group and also Knill. It's not his fault we're going to go down but he was never the right man to come in. His record is woeful with clubs in our situation and I don't see that spark where we could all rally round and get behind him and the team. It just seems like more of the same (although he has changed the system at least) and like Fonda says our answers aren't in the building. We have got to loan and borrow like Labour to have any remote chance of staying up.

It's a must, an essential to stay up this time because there'll be no coming back for a very long time if ever.