Whose to blame?

[mickeypearce]

You can see the summit but you can't reach it
It's the last piece of the puzzle but you just can't make it fit
Doctor says you're cured but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain

No one ever is to blame.  Howard Jones said that

Weirdly I was singing that as I read the thread. It’s a very decent song.

His best in my opinion

Strangely I played the song this weekend. 
I actually helped him load his van once when he was at Ronnie Scott’s in the mid 90s.

I may have been at that gig

[Jack Halford]

You can see the summit but you can't reach it
It's the last piece of the puzzle but you just can't make it fit
Doctor says you're cured but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain

No one ever is to blame.  Howard Jones said that

Weirdly I was singing that as I read the thread. It’s a very decent song.

His best in my opinion

Strangely I played the song this weekend. 
I actually helped him load his van once when he was at Ronnie Scott’s in the mid 90s.

I may have been at that gig

Me too....small world!

[Baggie_Nick]

Weirdly I was singing that as I read the thread. It’s a very decent song.

His best in my opinion

Strangely I played the song this weekend. 
I actually helped him load his van once when he was at Ronnie Scott’s in the mid 90s.

I may have been at that gig

Me too....small world!

Just to buck the trend - I wasn't at that gig.

[Hopalong]

Seems looking on here its a mixture of opinion, lack of money, Bilic, the players, VAR, Johnstone, luck?

For me I really don't know...... in fact I would and have blamed a mixture of the above.

Few seasons ago when Ashworth was at the club we seemed to be the club (according to the press) everyone was to look to find upcoming talent and bargain players at low cost and how a club should be run.  Odemwingie, Mulumbu, Yacob, Lukaku etc. Yes some were unsuccessful Theieve, Thcyoi.

So is it the fact our scouts, backroom staff are simply not good enough? Does the club lack ambition and investment in other places than on the pitch? We seem to spend big on one or two individuals, e.g Burke who turn out to be carp. Are we bringing in players on reputation than actually watching them?  I remember reading years ago our scouts were constantly looking for new upcoming talent, even a shortlist for a head coach should the current one get sacked or leave. Is this still the case?

 It seemed to me it all went wrong when Lai took over?, We blame Pulis for "taking us backwards". But he was the right appointment at the right time it was the timing of his departure that was wrong we all know he should have gone previous season. Was our lack of shortlisting a suitable replacement the reason for keeping Pulis or simply behind the scenes we have people in charge who cant run a football club? Lets not mention Pardew! 


Or has football simply got to the stage that to get the right players or even the right coach you have to simply spend millions? Or are we a club that doesn't want to spend money anywhere it doesnt need to?

Would be interested in others opinions, because last couple of seasons have got me in despair at football in general.

It's a combination of the factors you highlight and almost impossible to come to a definitive answer. 

It's not looking good but not looking good for 3 other teams either - 2 who finished top arf last season. 

We just need to keep plugging away. 

Who'd have predicted that result today at 12.30? 

A draw or win and we'd all be reasonably happy tonight.  

We were 1-1 when Pereira was sent off so you could argue we've dropped a point, not the end of the world.  

Saints 0-9 Leicester
Citeh 2-5 Leicester 
Seals 7-2 Poo
Poo 4-0 D1ngles5 

Everything to play for.

[Hopalong]

No one?

3 teams invariably will always get relegated.

Doesn’t always have to be a fall guy.

We are still in the hunt.

1 point away from Fulham. I back us to beat Newcastle if game goes ahead

Cheap nasty wind up

---

No one?

3 teams invariably will always get relegated.

Doesn’t always have to be a fall guy.

We are still in the hunt.

1 point away from Fulham. I back us to beat Newcastle if game goes ahead

They could come on with 8 players and still our defence would fuck up

We will shit them next week (if games goes ahead).

1-0 Albion.

12 Games 9 Points. 

Reasonable start and everyone is happy.

Even if we were to beat them 9 points from 12 matches is in no way a “reasonable start”. Over a season that averages out at 29 points and certain relegation.

Not on the current table and relativities Duffers.

---

We were not excellent.

We were ok, against a team who are ok at this level.

If we were excellent we'd have been ahead

We were a tad unfortunate Birdy.

---

We are not going to beat Newcastle.

I'm not sure who we can beat, other than Sheffield United.

Utter tripe Birdman.

For 34 minutes today we were excellent. Had it been 11 v 11 we could potentially have won.

Admittedly we capitulated second half with the 10 men.

Have you considered a career in politics Ziz?

Yes

MONSTER Raving looney party

---

We are not going to beat Newcastle.

I'm not sure who we can beat, other than Sheffield United.

Utter tripe Birdman.

For 34 minutes today we were excellent. Had it been 11 v 11 we could potentially have won.

Admittedly we capitulated second half with the 10 men.

Did you not watch the first 8 min!? Excellent? No we weren’t

Ziz reminds me of Alecan’s famous “we did well until they scored” comments when we got thrashed 6–1 by Fulham and they scored after 90 seconds.

It was Chelsea, 6-0 and they scored in the 3rd minute 

This can happen to far better teams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyejR3q2YIA

[Peachy]

I think there's blame AOTS tbh. Bilic is not without blame. We have been poor since the resumption of the first lock down which ultimately led to promotion by the skin of our teeth. Skin of the teeth or not he did however get us automatically promoted which is no mean feat.

I think Jenkins leaving when he did was massive. Bilic and he had a very good working relationship. Bilic even went to great lengths in the press to state how much he enjoyed working with him. Jenkins leaving has definitely given Dowling a chance to establish himself more and I'm not convinced at all that he and Ken dealt very well with the summer market at all.

None of us expected to get Grady back at all but to use half our budget on him is now looking like a poor decision. We had Robbo and Grosicki so we could easily have loaned another player and saved a big chunk of money to spend on an area we really needed strengthening.

Then we had the Grant Saga where we ended up paying pretty much what we knew it would be from the outset. Kipre clearly was a Dowling strategic signing. And then you have the Hegazi disappearing act at the last minute. We have been ultimately left with a squad which is looking well short of quality at both ends of the pitch.

This season was always going to be extremely difficult but I do belive off the field the club is listing at the moment. It just doesn't feel like we have a cohesive plan.

Bilic really does need to starting stringing some wins together soon otherwise I can see Dowling and Ken looking elsewhere. At the end of the day the manager always carries the can.....

[MassDebater]

Any post that declares Pulis as the right man at the right time immediately gets my disdain and stops me reading further.

He wouldn't be the right man even if the aim of the game was to destroy fans' self respect, heart and belief in good football.

Who is to blame, that'll be the money in football increasing year on year whilst we were absent thus meaning that we were 2 seasons behind 18 of the clubs that were already in the Prem. The penalty misses against the Seals, cost us more than we will ever know.