We're in exactly the same position 12 months ago. Nothing has changed. We are still trying pathetically to build an actual squad for the bare minimum. If this club was serious about promotion did they think they would do it signing 3 players who have long-term injuries (and were accordingly injured most of the time), some kids who will never play for their parent clubs and some bloke who we signed coz he scored a couple of goals against Bristol City in a friendly? Maybe one or two had a fee attached to it but that was that. Our "bridge to the first team" strategy started and ended with one kid who got injured without kicking a ball. Our youth set up is still a joke and a disgrace. Our coaching staff must be serial subscribers to LinkedIn because they can't wait to jump ship.
I still don't know why the Eisner's bought the club. To me, they would have been better off buying a Cheltenham or a Burton Albion. The kind of club that is happy existing at a certain level with the occasional good season thrown in for a reasonable spend. Instead, they grabbed a bigger club like Pompey for a bargain - not even having to bid higher than the minimum. From the start, they've squinnied about the cost of running the club and repairing the ground etc - all of which were pretty clear from the outset - and the cost of players. The latter is remarkable given their background in US Sports. They may have supported the club during Covid but they were also protecting their asset - like buying ROKO and their pathetic attempt to own the "Pompey" trademark.
If you're going to spend comparatively nothing on players then at least pick a management team that are used to be spending feck all. John Colman gets his players taken off him every season and still he gets around the same position as us in the table most of the time.
Mark Catlin was clearly no fool. He knows this lot know feck all about football. Can you imagine Catlin posting videos about the new "exciting" drinking kiosks in the North stand as something we should look forward to? Now we have a yes man from MK Dons who tells us we should be grateful for what we get. There's no point having a nice stadium when nobody wants to come any more because nobody at the club gives a feck about what goes on out on the pitch.
We don't want to overspend like Ipswich and be sack-a-manager every 3 months like Sunderland, but we want an actual squad of players that are contracted to OUR club. They then might have a bit of more incentive to perform over than to get an occasional win bonus and also might develop some loyalty along the way. Most of us don't even pine for the PL any more we just want people who try - and that goes from the top of the club right down to the bottom. We need to stop the excessive signing of loan players that, at best, benefit the parent club and sign core players in key positions that we can build upon. How can anyone say the Eisners are ambitious when we don't have an actual striker of our own at this club? For all the good of Bazooka this season, who'd want to be in Bass' shoes next year??
Every year, the spirit in this club is declining and if the owners don't do something it's going to get worse. It's getting harder to turn up and I honestly can't believe people are still following pompey away from home. Must be mad because going to FP is like having to book a GP appointment. Can't imagine those who went to Burton, Cambridge (twice), Wimbledon, Bolton, Cheltenham etc etc. It's painful.
Sorry for long post. At least it'll keep you busy until the next time an Eisner pops his head out of the hole in the ground and says hello.
Play up Pompey.
We aren’t in the same position, come June we’ll have a squad of about 6 players.
Just look at the table and the clubs that are out performing us on and off the pitch.
It really is sad, the dire situation this club is in and sinking deeper and deeper.
I'm far from convinced that the current management duo can get value for money. We have off loaded players on high wages and replaced them with loanees on champ wages (paying a proportion) but don't seem to have improved.
Given that we have what is said to be a wage bill in the top part of the league, we seem to be under performing points wise.
(09-04-2022, 09:33 PM)Lawrence Wrote: [ -> ]We're in exactly the same position 12 months ago. Nothing has changed. We are still trying pathetically to build an actual squad for the bare minimum. If this club was serious about promotion did they think they would do it signing 3 players who have long-term injuries (and were accordingly injured most of the time), some kids who will never play for their parent clubs and some bloke who we signed coz he scored a couple of goals against Bristol City in a friendly? Maybe one or two had a fee attached to it but that was that. Our "bridge to the first team" strategy started and ended with one kid who got injured without kicking a ball. Our youth set up is still a joke and a disgrace. Our coaching staff must be serial subscribers to LinkedIn because they can't wait to jump ship.
I still don't know why the Eisner's bought the club. To me, they would have been better off buying a Cheltenham or a Burton Albion. The kind of club that is happy existing at a certain level with the occasional good season thrown in for a reasonable spend. Instead, they grabbed a bigger club like Pompey for a bargain - not even having to bid higher than the minimum. From the start, they've squinnied about the cost of running the club and repairing the ground etc - all of which were pretty clear from the outset - and the cost of players. The latter is remarkable given their background in US Sports. They may have supported the club during Covid but they were also protecting their asset - like buying ROKO and their pathetic attempt to own the "Pompey" trademark.
If you're going to spend comparatively nothing on players then at least pick a management team that are used to be spending feck all. John Colman gets his players taken off him every season and still he gets around the same position as us in the table most of the time.
Mark Catlin was clearly no fool. He knows this lot know feck all about football. Can you imagine Catlin posting videos about the new "exciting" drinking kiosks in the North stand as something we should look forward to? Now we have a yes man from MK Dons who tells us we should be grateful for what we get. There's no point having a nice stadium when nobody wants to come any more because nobody at the club gives a feck about what goes on out on the pitch.
We don't want to overspend like Ipswich and be sack-a-manager every 3 months like Sunderland, but we want an actual squad of players that are contracted to OUR club. They then might have a bit of more incentive to perform over than to get an occasional win bonus and also might develop some loyalty along the way. Most of us don't even pine for the PL any more we just want people who try - and that goes from the top of the club right down to the bottom. We need to stop the excessive signing of loan players that, at best, benefit the parent club and sign core players in key positions that we can build upon. How can anyone say the Eisners are ambitious when we don't have an actual striker of our own at this club? For all the good of Bazooka this season, who'd want to be in Bass' shoes next year??
Every year, the spirit in this club is declining and if the owners don't do something it's going to get worse. It's getting harder to turn up and I honestly can't believe people are still following pompey away from home. Must be mad because going to FP is like having to book a GP appointment. Can't imagine those who went to Burton, Cambridge (twice), Wimbledon, Bolton, Cheltenham etc etc. It's painful.
Sorry for long post. At least it'll keep you busy until the next time an Eisner pops his head out of the hole in the ground and says hello.
Play up Pompey.
Not surprised that the usual suspects liked this post.
I agree we could do with a decent manager for this level, who can get everything from his players and doesn’t over complicate a simple game. I disagree with just about everything else.
People go to away games because they are supporters, a strange concept to some of you I know. Real support is not dependent on success.
Our budget is more than sufficient to gain promotion, it just needs to be used wisely.
As for improvements to FP, any CEO would trumpet those and Catlin would have done the same.
I understand that everyone is disappointed, but this constant blaming of owners who have done exactly what they said they would, is ridiculous. They have made mistakes of course but are one decent manager away from promotion. I remain confident that it will happen soon.
In the meantime, I will continue to attend FP and support the team as usual.
(09-04-2022, 09:33 PM)Lawrence Wrote: [ -> ]We're in exactly the same position 12 months ago. Nothing has changed. We are still trying pathetically to build an actual squad for the bare minimum. If this club was serious about promotion did they think they would do it signing 3 players who have long-term injuries (and were accordingly injured most of the time), some kids who will never play for their parent clubs and some bloke who we signed coz he scored a couple of goals against Bristol City in a friendly? Maybe one or two had a fee attached to it but that was that. Our "bridge to the first team" strategy started and ended with one kid who got injured without kicking a ball. Our youth set up is still a joke and a disgrace. Our coaching staff must be serial subscribers to LinkedIn because they can't wait to jump ship.
I still don't know why the Eisner's bought the club. To me, they would have been better off buying a Cheltenham or a Burton Albion. The kind of club that is happy existing at a certain level with the occasional good season thrown in for a reasonable spend. Instead, they grabbed a bigger club like Pompey for a bargain - not even having to bid higher than the minimum. From the start, they've squinnied about the cost of running the club and repairing the ground etc - all of which were pretty clear from the outset - and the cost of players. The latter is remarkable given their background in US Sports. They may have supported the club during Covid but they were also protecting their asset - like buying ROKO and their pathetic attempt to own the "Pompey" trademark.
If you're going to spend comparatively nothing on players then at least pick a management team that are used to be spending feck all. John Colman gets his players taken off him every season and still he gets around the same position as us in the table most of the time.
Mark Catlin was clearly no fool. He knows this lot know feck all about football. Can you imagine Catlin posting videos about the new "exciting" drinking kiosks in the North stand as something we should look forward to? Now we have a yes man from MK Dons who tells us we should be grateful for what we get. There's no point having a nice stadium when nobody wants to come any more because nobody at the club gives a feck about what goes on out on the pitch.
We don't want to overspend like Ipswich and be sack-a-manager every 3 months like Sunderland, but we want an actual squad of players that are contracted to OUR club. They then might have a bit of more incentive to perform over than to get an occasional win bonus and also might develop some loyalty along the way. Most of us don't even pine for the PL any more we just want people who try - and that goes from the top of the club right down to the bottom. We need to stop the excessive signing of loan players that, at best, benefit the parent club and sign core players in key positions that we can build upon. How can anyone say the Eisners are ambitious when we don't have an actual striker of our own at this club? For all the good of Bazooka this season, who'd want to be in Bass' shoes next year??
Every year, the spirit in this club is declining and if the owners don't do something it's going to get worse. It's getting harder to turn up and I honestly can't believe people are still following pompey away from home. Must be mad because going to FP is like having to book a GP appointment. Can't imagine those who went to Burton, Cambridge (twice), Wimbledon, Bolton, Cheltenham etc etc. It's painful.
Sorry for long post. At least it'll keep you busy until the next time an Eisner pops his head out of the hole in the ground and says hello.
Play up Pompey.
Absolutely spot on.... far better than I could have put it.
(10-04-2022, 10:08 AM)Jizbag Wrote: [ -> ] (09-04-2022, 09:33 PM)Lawrence Wrote: [ -> ]We're in exactly the same position 12 months ago. Nothing has changed. We are still trying pathetically to build an actual squad for the bare minimum. If this club was serious about promotion did they think they would do it signing 3 players who have long-term injuries (and were accordingly injured most of the time), some kids who will never play for their parent clubs and some bloke who we signed coz he scored a couple of goals against Bristol City in a friendly? Maybe one or two had a fee attached to it but that was that. Our "bridge to the first team" strategy started and ended with one kid who got injured without kicking a ball. Our youth set up is still a joke and a disgrace. Our coaching staff must be serial subscribers to LinkedIn because they can't wait to jump ship.
I still don't know why the Eisner's bought the club. To me, they would have been better off buying a Cheltenham or a Burton Albion. The kind of club that is happy existing at a certain level with the occasional good season thrown in for a reasonable spend. Instead, they grabbed a bigger club like Pompey for a bargain - not even having to bid higher than the minimum. From the start, they've squinnied about the cost of running the club and repairing the ground etc - all of which were pretty clear from the outset - and the cost of players. The latter is remarkable given their background in US Sports. They may have supported the club during Covid but they were also protecting their asset - like buying ROKO and their pathetic attempt to own the "Pompey" trademark.
If you're going to spend comparatively nothing on players then at least pick a management team that are used to be spending feck all. John Colman gets his players taken off him every season and still he gets around the same position as us in the table most of the time.
Mark Catlin was clearly no fool. He knows this lot know feck all about football. Can you imagine Catlin posting videos about the new "exciting" drinking kiosks in the North stand as something we should look forward to? Now we have a yes man from MK Dons who tells us we should be grateful for what we get. There's no point having a nice stadium when nobody wants to come any more because nobody at the club gives a feck about what goes on out on the pitch.
We don't want to overspend like Ipswich and be sack-a-manager every 3 months like Sunderland, but we want an actual squad of players that are contracted to OUR club. They then might have a bit of more incentive to perform over than to get an occasional win bonus and also might develop some loyalty along the way. Most of us don't even pine for the PL any more we just want people who try - and that goes from the top of the club right down to the bottom. We need to stop the excessive signing of loan players that, at best, benefit the parent club and sign core players in key positions that we can build upon. How can anyone say the Eisners are ambitious when we don't have an actual striker of our own at this club? For all the good of Bazooka this season, who'd want to be in Bass' shoes next year??
Every year, the spirit in this club is declining and if the owners don't do something it's going to get worse. It's getting harder to turn up and I honestly can't believe people are still following pompey away from home. Must be mad because going to FP is like having to book a GP appointment. Can't imagine those who went to Burton, Cambridge (twice), Wimbledon, Bolton, Cheltenham etc etc. It's painful.
Sorry for long post. At least it'll keep you busy until the next time an Eisner pops his head out of the hole in the ground and says hello.
Play up Pompey.
Absolutely spot on.... far better than I could have put it.
To me we have a decent squad, we are rebuilding to have a decent enough stadium with longer term plans intimated but not trumpeted as is their way.
The glaring gap is a manager who can inspire experienced players or the crowd.
Kenny had is faults but had played and managed successfully at clubs at about our size. The Cowleys only have one success starting from non-league. A totally different thing to success at this level with a club our size, even Huddersfield was beyond them.