January Farewells

[russell_anderson]

You have a memory like an elephant Russ! And your prediction is looking pretty accurate so far.

My mistake was to ignore my own scepticism and forget that with BAFC the difference between what turns out to be acceptable and what ends up looking very poor is wafer thin.

I still think the basic elements are better than this time last year both on and off the field but our status as an EFL club still looks uncomfortably fragile.

We all have opinions about football, SB, and none of us, including managers, get things right all the time which is why I certainly don't subscribe to the believe that managers' signings, team selections and transfers can't be questioned.

You are, of course, correct that the difference in doing well and doing badly can be very thin. My forecast was based on the belief that once Quigley left, we didn't have a forward player better than poor NL level and, I believe, that has been proven in spades. However, we do have a adequate goalkeeper, a decent central defence, a decent left back and a decent midfield when all are fit. We have good players at this level in Platt, Brough, White, Banks and Gotts plus a couple more who are decent. However, in attack we are completely bankrupt and it's difficult to pick up many points if you hardly ever look like scoring a goal!

[Suffolk Blue]

Wtf. This is a man who knows the club and town, local community and coached all his life. Nige I'm in agreement. Tictactoe I really don't see sense in your post. Just my opinion. Mark did and continues to work hard for the club.

I just think at league 2 national league, unless you have Wrexham/Stockport budgets you're limited financially so Mark would only need to liaise with Manager to discuss budgets and the positions/ players that are needed ,then work from there, I don't believe that he wouldn't have knowledge of how it all works !
I don't think as a club we need to spend money on someone when we could use that on a player.
My decision is based on finances that club's at our level have to be careful with and I'm sure our board will surely recruit better having their fingers burnt on numerous occasions!

You make a valid point here Nige. We often forget that our traditional marketplace for recruitment has been massively distorted by the likes of Wrexham, Stockport, and to a lesser extent Salford and Fylde. Its hard enough attempting to do decent business as it is without being third or fourth in line for any footballer that fancies a decent payday including the ones in your own team. There is no comparable example in the South of England.

I used to think that Uncle Dave at Fylde was the epitome of the plaything owner. However whatever his perceived personality defects, he has at least always run Fylde with a plan and a purpose. What we see at Wrexham and Stockport is what happens when the lessons of the past are not learned, business models are corrupted and rather than starting afresh club finances are inflated built on the ruins of the existing entity.
It is the footballing equivalent (no pun intended) of a pyramid scheme as neither of these clubs have easily definable business strategies other than pumping cash into the system and sometimes well beyond the point whereby its effective. But it creates massive disruption for those in their vicinity whilst being almost certainly non-sustainable.

[HenneysKnee]

Stockport and Wrexham get huge crowds at least; Fylde definitely do not

[mickycarrol]

Massive clear out needed in an ideal world I’d be getting rid of numerous players costing us a fortune and replacing with better quality :

Sea
Devitt
Beadling
Luke James
Kosi
Zanzala
Arthur

Why make posts like this when you should know most are on 2 year contracts, to mention Beadling is very unfair he had a decent first season and is out through no fault of his own, Devitt's contract is supposed to end in January, Arthur is a loan player, the rest I know we are stuck with, so leave it, nothing we can do but put them out on loan if they would even go.

5 pages of discussion on it so far would show it’s a subject people want to discuss, you then in your final sentence totally over ride what you say by stating they should go out in loan? Which is it?

[jaycarter]

Why make posts like this when you should know most are on 2 year contracts, to mention Beadling is very unfair he had a decent first season and is out through no fault of his own, Devitt's contract is supposed to end in January, Arthur is a loan player, the rest I know we are stuck with, so leave it, nothing we can do but put them out on loan if they would even go.

5 pages of discussion on it so far would show it’s a subject people want to discuss, you then in your final sentence totally over ride what you say by stating they should go out in loan? Which is it?

You were wanted them out all together, I have tried to explain you cannot do that so the only answer would be loans, but who is going to take them.

[tictactoe]

So he was OK when Evatt was here but not now ?

Why we've a budget you see what players we need then you fit them in in to suit can't believe it's as complicated as people make out !

Wtf. This is a man who knows the club and town, local community and coached all his life. Nige I'm in agreement. Tictactoe I really don't see sense in your post. Just my opinion. Mark did and continues to work hard for the club.

That he has, but that doesn’t make him an experienced director of football. I stand by my opinion and I’m not sure a director of football is even what we need

[Suffolk Blue]

Stockport and Wrexham get huge crowds at least; Fylde definitely do not

Very true HK. I'm not saying Uncle Dave is not driven by his own narcissism - just that the man has a plan, in fact he has several and they all involve him making money. And he does.

RE gates the same could be said of both Wrexham and Stockport. Despite gates in the thousands there is absolutely no way either club would ever break even on gate receipts. Indeed that would probably be the case even if their gates were higher. They are totally dependent (as are Fylde) on benefactors, not corporations or consortia but individuals. This will increasingly become a problem for the EFL as these funds are used to propel a team into the EFL at which point the financing has to get ramped up again. At some point limits are reached. This approach very nearly killed Swindon. Plymouth are another example more inteesting because they are still moving forward. But they carry a huge debt. If they flop they will be in financial trouble. If they get promoted they will need huge additional investment to maintain status adding to their huge debt. At some point the balloon will pop.

[spirit of 1990]

No offence but Mark Hetherington isn’t really a director of football is he? We need someone experienced in that role to sort this shower out if that’s the route we are going down

A brief explanation off Mark of his role Lisa.

Helping the club with recruitment of players, medical teams, strength & conditioning coaches, analytical performance training facilities plus support around the football side of things & a link between the Board and management.

[Lightflood]

No offence but Mark Hetherington isn’t really a director of football is he? We need someone experienced in that role to sort this shower out if that’s the route we are going down

A brief explanation off Mark of his role Lisa.

Helping the club with recruitment of players, medical teams, strength & conditioning coaches, analytical performance training facilities plus support around the football side of things & a link between the Board and management.

Bet Mark Cooper loves that

[Bingo]

I think that, due to our limited finances (and competing calls for money to be spent on the ground etc), we have generally picked up people that not many other clubs wanted. On the other hand, we could spend a small fortune and still not buy success. The best signings have mainly been youngsters who could develop (although, before anyone says it, there have been failures there too - where is Callum Gribbin now).

We have a top ten budget jim. I'm sure some players will be off loaded.

[Barrowbrando]

We are club building. On the pitch & off the pitch. If we finish 1 place higher than last season. Have the ground to efl standards and future projects on the cards we are progressing.

Progression on the pitch comes in stages too. January might bring 4 players in that keep us up again and ready for the 21/22 season, ready to cut some dead wood and try some more players.

We are little old barrow at the edge of the country. We get to scrape the barrel for players and hope we find a few gems in there.

As for the board they came into and saved a club struggling at the bottom of the national league. And have transformed it into a sustainable football league club. All the while “not being football men” as some say! How dare anyone question them. They’ve been fantastic whilst learning on the job and managed to keep the club progressing.

Some people need a Reality check. We are going into 2022 as a football league club with a squad capable of pushing up the table with a couple of additions. Have faith.

[blue nige]

We are club building. On the pitch & off the pitch. If we finish 1 place higher than last season. Have the ground to efl standards and future projects on the cards we are progressing.

Progression on the pitch comes in stages too. January might bring 4 players in that keep us up again and ready for the 21/22 season, ready to cut some dead wood and try some more players.

We are little old barrow at the edge of the country. We get to scrape the barrel for players and hope we find a few gems in there.

As for the board they came into and saved a club struggling at the bottom of the national league. And have transformed it into a sustainable football league club. All the while “not being football men” as some say! How dare anyone question them. They’ve been fantastic whilst learning on the job and managed to keep the club progressing.

Some people need a Reality check. We are going into 2022 as a football league club with a squad capable of pushing up the table with a couple of additions. Have faith.

[cottingham bluebird]

We are club building. On the pitch & off the pitch. If we finish 1 place higher than last season. Have the ground to efl standards and future projects on the cards we are progressing.

Progression on the pitch comes in stages too. January might bring 4 players in that keep us up again and ready for the 21/22 season, ready to cut some dead wood and try some more players.

We are little old barrow at the edge of the country. We get to scrape the barrel for players and hope we find a few gems in there.

As for the board they came into and saved a club struggling at the bottom of the national league. And have transformed it into a sustainable football league club. All the while “not being football men” as some say! How dare anyone question them. They’ve been fantastic whilst learning on the job and managed to keep the club progressing.

Some people need a Reality check. We are going into 2022 as a football league club with a squad capable of pushing up the table with a couple of additions. Have faith.

Perfectly put good things take time to build and I think we are doing it very well

[HenneysKnee]

Very well said Brando. We are only 2/3 players away from a mid table starting 11 imho; last year we needed almost the whole squad ripping up and then still needed Rob Kelly to produce miracles as well

[Broughton Fan]

On the pitch it will take to the start of next season before Cooper gets his own squad in place ,let’s not forget that of the players he inherited only Banks from the Holley era is up to it and not one player from the DD era up to it possibly Beadling as a squad player so a manager is judged by his signings and so far he has a good track record with most of them being better than what we have and yes we need to make a couple of signings in jan and it doesn’t take a genius to see where we need new blood.Last two games we have been very lob sided in our attacking against Tranmere all the threat was down the right with Hutton and nothing from down the left obviously Hutton was carrying an injury so Brown went to the right but generally the ball was too slow coming across to him but on a number times there was chance to drive forward but chose the easy option to go back so no threat going forward,yes I accept that he is marginally better defensively but we lose out so much going forward.Getting the right few players in in January will be massive for us as it might mean that we see a better Gordon who will have someone to play off and share the load and Gotts and Stevens with more options in front and around them.let’s start the New Year with a bang and dictate the game to Bradford who haven’t played in ages and might want to ease themselves back,happy new year all bluebirds