"We did everything but score"

[CarrowGirl]

What were you saying Trav

[ITFC Dudette6]

carrowgirl said:

Alot of teams in blue underperform

Always shit on the old blue n white ;D

Don't be so mean about Col U! They can't help it!

[Travis]

Well teams in all-white are still capable of ballsing it up against anyone!

[CarrowGirl]

Now that is true

[Travis]

itfcdudette6 said:

carrowgirl said:

Alot of teams in blue underperform

Always shit on the old blue n white ;D

Don't be so mean about Col U! They can't help it!

Ah right, I thought she was talking about Wendys.

[ITFC Dudette6]

trav said:

itfcdudette6 said:

Don't be so mean about Col U! They can't help it!

Ah right, I thought she was talking about Wendys.

Now there's a possibility! Perhaps even Reading?

[CarrowGirl]

Ippo the main one

[ITFC Dudette6]

trav said:

Well teams in all-white are still capable of ballsing it up against anyone!

Ah yes, true about Swansea!

[ITFC Dudette6]

carrowgirl said:

Ippo the main one

No? Seriously?! You're kidding!!

[Travis]

itfcdudette6 said:

trav said:

Ah right, I thought she was talking about Wendys.

Now there's a possibility! Perhaps even Reading?

I dare say that just 'under-performing' is something that Reading can only aspire to at the moment. ;D

[Travis]

itfcdudette6 said:

trav said:

Well teams in all-white are still capable of ballsing it up against anyone!

Ah yes, true about Swansea!

They're just having a purple patch. They'll be lucky to finish mid-table!! ;D

[ITFC Dudette6]

trav said:

itfcdudette6 said:

Now there's a possibility! Perhaps even Reading?

I dare say that just 'under-performing' is something that Reading can only aspire to at the moment. ;D

And for Derby, it's 'off the scale'.

[Travis]

itfcdudette6 said:

trav said:

I dare say that just 'under-performing' is something that Reading can only aspire to at the moment. ;D

And for Derby, it's 'off the scale'.

I hear that the club is running a competition for fans, they are looking to invent a new adjective for inclusion in the next Oxford Dictionary which adequately describes the side.

Winner gets a season ticket, runners-up get two!!

[ITFC Dudette6]

trav said:

itfcdudette6 said:

And for Derby, it's 'off the scale'.

I hear that the club is running a competition for fans, they are looking to invent a new adjective for inclusion in the next Oxford Dictionary which adequately describes the side.

Winner gets a season ticket, runners-up get two!!

I reckon a couple of Forest fans would enter, to give their least favourite Derby supporting friends/relatives a lovely birthday present!

[Travis]

itfcdudette6 said:

trav said:

I hear that the club is running a competition for fans, they are looking to invent a new adjective for inclusion in the next Oxford Dictionary which adequately describes the side.

Winner gets a season ticket, runners-up get two!!

I reckon a couple of Forest fans would enter, to give their least favourite Derby supporting friends/relatives a lovely birthday present!

A 9 month sentence!! No wonder people try and push for community service instead.

[PASTIE]

markbrandonread said:

Just because he writes columns for various websites/publications doesn't mean everyone believes what he says. He seems to have got this reputation for straight talking so thinks folk will take in what he says.

Don't believe anything that comes out of his mouth.

[PASTIE]

geofox said:

To be fair H, Plymouth were 4th when he left, so the foundations were maybe in place for Sturrock...though I'm sure the Plymouth fans would disagree.

Good point Chops. He is always talking about something when he needs to do the talking on the pitch. Frankly, his record has been dismal, and he has had more than enough time to find some sort of improvement. Hopefully our improving home form will carry us through to the end, though it is concerning that teams around us have games in hand.

I'm just annoyed that since being here he has blamed the players (collectively and individually), previous managers, the mood of the club as a whole, referees, luck, supporters, the Plymouth thing, the pitch and the weather for poor defeats, and not put any responsibility on himself.

I don't want a managerial change again (not yet anyway), but he really needs to keep quiet and buck up his ideas.

We were 4th when he left but he had very carefully put in place the foundations for our destruction. Also, most people at the time were saying that we were flattering to deceive - Hollowords made some fantastic signings and they were scraping us through. HOwever, we were drawing too many games at home and January was always going to hit us hard; Hollowords just made sure it had maximum impact. The fact that we have somehow just clawed our way back after a disasterous month is no way creditable to him - quite the reverse.

[GeoFox]

pastie said:

geofox said:

To be fair H, Plymouth were 4th when he left, so the foundations were maybe in place for Sturrock...though I'm sure the Plymouth fans would disagree.

Good point Chops. He is always talking about something when he needs to do the talking on the pitch. Frankly, his record has been dismal, and he has had more than enough time to find some sort of improvement. Hopefully our improving home form will carry us through to the end, though it is concerning that teams around us have games in hand.

I'm just annoyed that since being here he has blamed the players (collectively and individually), previous managers, the mood of the club as a whole, referees, luck, supporters, the Plymouth thing, the pitch and the weather for poor defeats, and not put any responsibility on himself.

I don't want a managerial change again (not yet anyway), but he really needs to keep quiet and buck up his ideas.

We were 4th when he left but he had very carefully put in place the foundations for our destruction. Also, most people at the time were saying that we were flattering to deceive - Hollowords made some fantastic signings and they were scraping us through. HOwever, we were drawing too many games at home and January was always going to hit us hard; Hollowords just made sure it had maximum impact. The fact that we have somehow just clawed our way back after a disasterous month is no way creditable to him - quite the reverse.

That was forseeable. The debate has already been had but you make it sound like he put cyanide in the coffee machine before he left, or left unexoploded mines on the training ground.

Of course you know how you're team has been playing more than me but sorry mate, I can't help but think you're mindset is dominated by bitterness towards the guy beyond all sense of objectivity on some matters.

I know, from Leicester fighting relegation 4 years in a row, how much of an improvement I would have to see from my side to even see the top half let alone be in the playoffs for any period of time. You can't have been that bad and by your own admission the signings were good. Ultimately, his responsibility is what happens on the playing field, and whilst it may not have been great or exciting, from the outside looking in, it would be hard to say that by taking you from league 1 to challenging for promotion in the championship, that he didn't do a decent job on the whole. Falling attendances and people poaching your players are mainly the problem of the chairman and the board.

Lets face it, if he hadn't done ok, Plymouth fans would not be so worked up by his departure. He's done pretty poor at Leicester, and if he left to go to Hinckley United, Hartlepool United or Manchester United tomorrow, I don't think I'd be that fussed.

[PASTIE]

I can never deny by bitter and twistedness! However, whilst avoiding the debate that has been had, I do need to pick you up on a couple of things!

Holloway's popularity rested far more on his projected persona than on his impact as a manager, I believe. A lot of our football was dour but efficient. I honestly think that there are many reasons our attendances have plunged and whilst much of that is down to the expense I also felt that too often people were turning up and not being adequately entertained.

He also did not get us promoted. He inherited a crap situation from another man for whom we have little fondness, that being Tony Pulis, who stayed a year, got us to 11th I think, let contracts run down and then wandered back to Stoke with what he thought was his great signing for Argyle (Vincent Pericard, ha ha ha). Holloway took over an unsettled side and made some good signings, there is no doubt about it. We were competent and consistent, not easy to beat and could successfully play negatively away and occasionally sneak three points. An astonishing proportion of our points this season have been earned away. It was actually QPR he got promoted and I remember travelling down to plymouth with a load last season who said that he would do a fair job for us but was tactically inept and they felt that he had taken them as far as he were able. PilgrimfrumProbus and I sat on the train and listened to this with a certain foreboding after what would have been another game of long ball punts.

Regarding players being poached, I honestly believe our Chairman's version of events regarding how Holloway undermined our stability before we went. I am certain that he would have paved the way for Halmosi to leave also had we not already secured him on a long contract. Our Chairman has a good reputation and has never made an outburst like that to my knowledge and I trust integrity over Holloway every time.

Which leads to my final point - yes he was successful at Argyle, but it was the lies that preceded his departure that got us so "worked up". We would all have otherwise understood had he just been straight about it, but clearly "straight talking" is more image than practise. Even before then, had most Argyle fans been given the choice between Holloway and Sturrock I think most would choose Sturrock, so ultimately I think we came out of it OK. Our tactics have improved, our good players are starting to look better and our inconsistent players are more steady.

Again, there is no bitterness towards Leicester City or the fans; however I would be genuinely considering whether Holloway is the type of man you need to get you out of trouble and that if there was an alternative it would be worth considering before it is too late

Good point about the coffee machine though - I'll pass your message on to the club and get them to check

[GeoFox]

A lot of that I agree with, identify with and can understand. I agree that his popularity rests on his style, character and persona. He hasn't a brilliant record anywhere, without it being bad so I can buy that. The difference I suppose is that the football is dour and inefficient here.

Sorry the promotion thing was my mistake. I can agree and identify with the negative playing stuff, though our away record is shambolic and we look very incompetent which is why people are not happy at all up here.

I would disagree slightly with you over your chairman. I still think he was wrong to say it in the manner in which he did, before the game, and question his motives. He may be right in some or all of what he says but there are 2 sides of the story and only 1 has been said. And even so, as chairman of the football club, the things he was moaning about fall squarely under his role. And if you did sell, was the money reinvested etc.

And however unhappy I am with Holloway's leadership at Leicester, I don't think he should go yet. Although listening to the local football phone in tonight, I suspect I am in the minority. He is doing a very poor job and has to improve performances and results but we have changed players and managers many many times, with no effect. Stability is probably worth a try so long as we don't get sucked into the bottom 3.