3 out of 6 to go down?

[City123]

Out of interest why?

City at best will be treading water for the foreseeable few seasons. I don't see Tan investing heavily again and I don't see any innovative coach coming to a club which looks from the outside to be an absolute basket case, to develop a team which could challenge in this league.

I get the feeling that the current regime will be happy to avoid relegation this season and make it the target for next.

If that isn't their objective? They're more clueless than I've feared.

I think that a lot of our problems stem from the senior players at the club many of which are out of contract this summer. They are almost all past it, not good enough or overpaid (most of them all three). Their departures would cut the amount spent on wages massively, giving us greater room to find player more suited to the new way Morison/the board want us to play. Our ability to make many changes is hugely constrained by these players, most of them on big contracts and severely limited as footballers. When they go we'll be down to the bare bones sure, but with players perhaps more suited to the way we want to play. I imagine SOME of that saved money will be available for reinforcements.

I'm also encouraged by our recruitment, it's less scattergun than previously and there's clearly some sort of plan as our signings have been markedly different to in the past as we're bringing in cheaper, younger players from lower leagues. A cynic may say it's cost cutting and it may be, but I think it could prove to be successful for us. As long as we don't revert to signing older players on bloated contracts I'm happy.

If we stay up then that means a few of the youngsters will have proven themselves to at least be decent enough players at this level, they will only improve as time goes on and they get more experience. The change in Mark Harris (a player I really like, but don't rate that highly) after a year of being a Championship player is incredible. He looks far better than he did when he broke in to the side. If similar happens to players like Davies, Colwill etc (who are all a few years younger) then that's really promising for the future.

I also don't think we're that much of a basket case, we've certainly been in a bigger mess of the pitch in the past previously and there are growing signs that those at the top are listening to someone who knows what they're on about. The re-structuring of the academy seems to be working, we're investing in expanding that and gone are the days of giving the manager free reign it seems. That's all promising imo as for me the main reason we're in a mess is a certain Neil Warnock, it's no coincidence that almost all of the players running out of contract were signed by him

Also if we somehow manage to stay up with this horrific side who lost 8 on the bounce then we've clearly been cursed to stay in this division forever

[Chris Pontprennau Blues]

[QUOTE=City123;5265038]I think that a lot of our problems stem from the senior players at the club many of which are out of contract this summer. They are almost all past it, not good enough or overpaid (most of them all three). Their departures would cut the amount spent on wages massively, giving us greater room to find player more suited to the new way Morison/the board want us to play. Our ability to make many changes is hugely constrained by these players, most of them on big contracts and severely limited as footballers. When they go we'll be down to the bare bones sure, but with players perhaps more suited to the way we want to play. I imagine SOME of that saved money will be available for reinforcements.

Sensible post 123

[jon1959]

I think that a lot of our problems stem from the senior players at the club many of which are out of contract this summer. They are almost all past it, not good enough or overpaid (most of them all three). Their departures would cut the amount spent on wages massively, giving us greater room to find player more suited to the new way Morison/the board want us to play. Our ability to make many changes is hugely constrained by these players, most of them on big contracts and severely limited as footballers. When they go we'll be down to the bare bones sure, but with players perhaps more suited to the way we want to play. I imagine SOME of that saved money will be available for reinforcements.

I'm also encouraged by our recruitment, it's less scattergun than previously and there's clearly some sort of plan as our signings have been markedly different to in the past as we're bringing in cheaper, younger players from lower leagues. A cynic may say it's cost cutting and it may be, but I think it could prove to be successful for us. As long as we don't revert to signing older players on bloated contracts I'm happy.

If we stay up then that means a few of the youngsters will have proven themselves to at least be decent enough players at this level, they will only improve as time goes on and they get more experience. The change in Mark Harris (a player I really like, but don't rate that highly) after a year of being a Championship player is incredible. He looks far better than he did when he broke in to the side. If similar happens to players like Davies, Colwill etc (who are all a few years younger) then that's really promising for the future.

I also don't think we're that much of a basket case, we've certainly been in a bigger mess of the pitch in the past previously and there are growing signs that those at the top are listening to someone who knows what they're on about. The re-structuring of the academy seems to be working, we're investing in expanding that and gone are the days of giving the manager free reign it seems. That's all promising imo as for me the main reason we're in a mess is a certain Neil Warnock, it's no coincidence that almost all of the players running out of contract were signed by him

Also if we somehow manage to stay up with this horrific side who lost 8 on the bounce then we've clearly been cursed to stay in this division forever

Good post. I agree with almost all of that - apart from the curse!

[stan butler]

I think that a lot of our problems stem from the senior players at the club many of which are out of contract this summer. They are almost all past it, not good enough or overpaid (most of them all three). Their departures would cut the amount spent on wages massively, giving us greater room to find player more suited to the new way Morison/the board want us to play. Our ability to make many changes is hugely constrained by these players, most of them on big contracts and severely limited as footballers. When they go we'll be down to the bare bones sure, but with players perhaps more suited to the way we want to play. I imagine SOME of that saved money will be available for reinforcements.

I'm also encouraged by our recruitment, it's less scattergun than previously and there's clearly some sort of plan as our signings have been markedly different to in the past as we're bringing in cheaper, younger players from lower leagues. A cynic may say it's cost cutting and it may be, but I think it could prove to be successful for us. As long as we don't revert to signing older players on bloated contracts I'm happy.

If we stay up then that means a few of the youngsters will have proven themselves to at least be decent enough players at this level, they will only improve as time goes on and they get more experience. The change in Mark Harris (a player I really like, but don't rate that highly) after a year of being a Championship player is incredible. He looks far better than he did when he broke in to the side. If similar happens to players like Davies, Colwill etc (who are all a few years younger) then that's really promising for the future.

I also don't think we're that much of a basket case, we've certainly been in a bigger mess of the pitch in the past previously and there are growing signs that those at the top are listening to someone who knows what they're on about. The re-structuring of the academy seems to be working, we're investing in expanding that and gone are the days of giving the manager free reign it seems. That's all promising imo as for me the main reason we're in a mess is a certain Neil Warnock, it's no coincidence that almost all of the players running out of contract were signed by him

Also if we somehow manage to stay up with this horrific side who lost 8 on the bounce then we've clearly been cursed to stay in this division forever

This is probably the best post i've read in months on here
Keep the faith

[the other bob wilson]

I think that a lot of our problems stem from the senior players at the club many of which are out of contract this summer. They are almost all past it, not good enough or overpaid (most of them all three). Their departures would cut the amount spent on wages massively, giving us greater room to find player more suited to the new way Morison/the board want us to play. Our ability to make many changes is hugely constrained by these players, most of them on big contracts and severely limited as footballers. When they go we'll be down to the bare bones sure, but with players perhaps more suited to the way we want to play. I imagine SOME of that saved money will be available for reinforcements.

I'm also encouraged by our recruitment, it's less scattergun than previously and there's clearly some sort of plan as our signings have been markedly different to in the past as we're bringing in cheaper, younger players from lower leagues. A cynic may say it's cost cutting and it may be, but I think it could prove to be successful for us. As long as we don't revert to signing older players on bloated contracts I'm happy.

If we stay up then that means a few of the youngsters will have proven themselves to at least be decent enough players at this level, they will only improve as time goes on and they get more experience. The change in Mark Harris (a player I really like, but don't rate that highly) after a year of being a Championship player is incredible. He looks far better than he did when he broke in to the side. If similar happens to players like Davies, Colwill etc (who are all a few years younger) then that's really promising for the future.

I also don't think we're that much of a basket case, we've certainly been in a bigger mess of the pitch in the past previously and there are growing signs that those at the top are listening to someone who knows what they're on about. The re-structuring of the academy seems to be working, we're investing in expanding that and gone are the days of giving the manager free reign it seems. That's all promising imo as for me the main reason we're in a mess is a certain Neil Warnock, it's no coincidence that almost all of the players running out of contract were signed by him

Also if we somehow manage to stay up with this horrific side who lost 8 on the bounce then we've clearly been cursed to stay in this division forever

I’m in agreement with you. Whether we stay up or go down, the coming summer should be seen as a big opportunity to build a competitive, Championship standard squad.