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Post by UpTheGas on Jul 4, 2017 14:27:13 GMT
Some people on here drive me mad. I haven't posted properly in God knows how long, but the constant negativity/moaning/complaining has driven me to comment.
After watching DC's interview, how can anyone be worried? The guy is relaxed, buoyant and positive. If he was frustrated in his transfer attempts we'd be able to tell, because DC is rubbish at hiding his emotions. The fact he is in a good mood and talks so optimistically about the future progression of the club says it all.
To the people complaining about our first team signings: he says he is excited about who we are wanting to bring in. This suggests we haven't missed out on any (or at least very few) of his preferred targets. He says he'll bring in 7 or 8 by the end of August (hopefully many of them will be in before the start of the season). With Liam Sercombe added to that, it would make 9 signings plus, as he says, money saved for a rainy day in January. We'll be getting two experienced goalkeepers in the building, so those worrying about that position shouldn't be concerned!
[To SteveK who mentioned about losing Hartley - it's blatantly obvious DC doesn't care one iota that we've lost him. We have Lockyer, Partington, Burn and J. Clarke who can all play centre half and he wants to add a left footed CB too. That is surely more than enough cover to start the season with?]
To those moaning about the budget 'clearly not being top six as was said in May': what are you on about? DC says we won't compete with the big spenders, aka the Blackburn's of this world who are spending massive fees and wages on players. If you ever thought we'd compete with them you are smoking something. It doesn't mean we don't have a top six budget (and even then, Hamer said that DC 'thought' it would be a top six budget when he was given the figure, not that it was guaranteed) so stop reading so negatively into everything. The smile on DC's face during the interview tells me he's happy with what he's got.
To the people moaning about potential loan signings: we all know DC doesn't like relying on loan signings - he's said this numerous times in the past. But find me any club at this level who won't have a few loan signings this coming season. I bet you can't. By the sounds of it we are interested in players who have taken part in the Euro U21 Championships, which suggests they are of a very decent calibre. City signed one last year and look what he did for them. You have to utilise the loan market well and DC knows this, so those who are absolutely, totally, unbelievably against loan signings just have to get over it.
To those moaning that we aren't producing our own young players by taking youngsters on loan: we are quite literally in the process of building our own U21/23 side. This with the purpose of, you guessed it, producing our own young players. It doesn't happen overnight and we have to put the time in before we reap the rewards. DC says we have 14(?) U21s on trial with the view to joining Chris Hargreaves' young team and that's an encouraging start. It shows we're taking that side of things seriously.
I don't for the life of me understand the negativity after watching that interview. Trust the greatest manager in our recent history (if not ever) and let him get on with his job. Rant over, I'll go back to observing now.
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Post by UpTheGas on Dec 27, 2016 18:07:56 GMT
Coventry seem to have had the right idea in the late 90s by planning an out of town new stadium and getting things right off of the pitch. Ok they went down in 2001 after 34 years in the top division,and things have been a bit bumpy since then,hopefully they will stabilise next year in division 2. Yes thats the answer get a stadium and forget about strengthening the team and attracting fans to games,they would rather go to a stadium with better facilities,remember evolution not revolution and think Coventry. I'm not sure what you don't understand about the situation. As we are at the moment at The Mem, it is absolutely not sustainable to spend loads of money on transfer fees and wages. We have to build the infrastructure in order to maximise our revenue streams and get more money into the club all-year round. Once we are doing that, we can spend larger amounts of money because we will have that money to spend. The training ground and stadium work isn't at the expense of 'strengthening the team' as you imply. Wael will back DC in January and the summer to improve the squad significantly I'm sure, but we aren't going to go OTT at this point because it is unsustainable. The last time the club spent big on wages, contracts and transfer fees we started falling down a slippery slope from League One all the way down to the Conference because it was money the club didn't have. We don't want that again.
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Post by UpTheGas on Dec 18, 2016 19:55:44 GMT
I hadn't posted on here for ages so thought I'd return earlier this week to see what was going on. Wish I hadn't after reading this and a handful of the replies.
I genuinely think some people are only happy when they are moaning, which is depressing. It has to be instant success, and if that doesn't happen then something is fundamentally wrong at the very top of the football club. Get a grip, for **** sake.
WAQ doesn't go to every game because he lives in Jordan. Do people honestly think he's going to fly to and from for every single game? Ridiculous. The guy is transforming this football club the right way, so lets not get on his back because the team are suffering a poor run of form.
I'm confident DC was given the backing he wanted in the summer and could have had a larger budget, but chose to stick with the guys that got us here in the first place. They've all had 6 months in League One and a lot of them aren't good enough to challenge for the top six as Darrell would like - they will be moved on and new players will come into replace them. I thought it was pretty obvious, but clearly not to some.
We're in the top half of League One with a squad that isn't really up to competing at the top of this division. Imagine how good we can be with the improvements that will come in January and next summer, on top of (hopefully) some good news regarding the stadium and training ground.
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Post by UpTheGas on Dec 14, 2016 11:11:51 GMT
I think it was DC's choice to operate with a bottom 8 budget. He promised all his players new contracts and he was true to his word. That meant we already had a full squad of players, so there was only so much business he could do on top of that in the first place. Why, at that point, go out and spend fees and big contracts on players when you have told the players already in place that they will get a chance to show what they can do at L1 level?
They have all had six months now and DC knows who is good enough to fight at the top and who isn't, so is much better placed to work out what is needed. Plus, Rovers are in a better position now too. We are 9th in the league and just a couple of points of the play-offs which, regardless of what is going on off the pitch, will make us a better prospect than we were back in the summer.
I think we'll sign a few players in January as has been said, but the true test of how much Wael will back DC will come next summer. The squad can be overhauled with so many players out of contract and unlikely to be offered fresh terms, so we will see how good our budget truly is at that point when we replace the deadwood.
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Post by UpTheGas on Jan 7, 2016 11:09:01 GMT
Think he will play centrally for us as he has for Shrewsbury over the last 18 months. It makes sense, because we play 3 central midfielders a lot of the time and only have four genuine CMs at the moment, so adding another, much more attacking option to the mix can only be a good thing.
He will have a good footballing brain I imagine and I've always known him to be a good set-piece taker, so fingers crossed he can bring something different to the team and help us in our quest.
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Post by UpTheGas on Jan 3, 2016 13:52:05 GMT
Even if Darrell's comment about 'no money' was in reference to the club, it doesn't actually mean he has no money to spend. I've heard numerous bits and pieces that suggest the BoD are happy to back DC this month as they have a lot of faith in him and NH has said previously that we would look to strengthen the squad, so I would take the comment as being a standard managerial comment. He's not going to come out and say 'I have money to spend' because the clubs we are dealing with will think 'We'll have some of that then please' and bump up potential transfer fees/costs, which is precisely what we want to avoid. By telling them we have nothing, they may have to concede they aren't going to be able to rip us off.
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Post by UpTheGas on Sept 18, 2015 16:34:45 GMT
This, if true, is good news. The more information that comes out about the consortium and their investment, the more we can force the issue somewhat.
I think Higgs is DESPERATE to build a stadium - something, anything - and that is why he is fully focussed on delivering plan b (a cut-back UWE Stadium). Aware of this consortium and their wish to takeover the club, he has brought in CS to deflect attention and help go about delivering plan b. I am worried that Higgs is so determined to prove he hasn't wasted all his time, effort and money with nothing to show for it that he won't let go for the good of the club.
If fans are made more aware of the takeover from sources close to the consortium, we can ensure Higgs doesn't sell us short. We shouldn't have to settle for a scaled back UWE Stadium that we wouldn't own ahead of new blood coming in and delivering everything we have ever wanted.
Interesting times ahead.
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Post by UpTheGas on Sept 8, 2015 14:22:06 GMT
DC clearly has no real confidence in Mildy or he wouldn't have come out publicly and said he was no longer first choice. He would have been let go in the summer if his contract extension hadn't been triggered, make no mistake about it.
If DC had any faith in Mildy he'd play him and use the wages he is now using on Chapman on an outfield player to make the most of his budget. The fact he isn't tells you all you need to know about the situation.
I hope Chapman stays as he is doing a good job and his team-mates have now got used to playing with him. Unless we could sign a really good goalkeeper on loan with a view to a permanent over the next week or two, it surely makes more sense to keep the big man on board.
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Post by UpTheGas on Sept 6, 2015 17:24:17 GMT
Our play isn't incisive enough when we play sides who put every man behind the ball like Oxford did. We seem to find it hard to break down teams who put two banks of four in front of their goal.
We look very threatening when we attack into space, but need to do more to create opportunities when teams have no intention of committing men forward themselves. Our only chances today fell to Parkes, who is the last man you want on the end of them.
I won't go into a rant about the ref, because if I do I genuinely won't be able to stop...
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 28, 2015 12:02:30 GMT
Have people still not worked out how DC manages yet?
If he was to tell the press about DL's injury, all it actually does is aid Orient's preparation. If they know he is definitely out they can set up knowing that we will be without our fastest player, but if they don't know one way or the other then they can't prepare with any degree of certainty, which is good.
I know everyone is keen to find out the extent of the injury, but we have to trust what DC wants to do. He is the same when it comes to transfers too.
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 28, 2015 10:17:05 GMT
It's all part of the way DC deals with the media. He gains nothing by saying he hopes to add a couple before the deadline, because if for some reason the moves fall through, he will have got supporters' hopes up only to disappoint them. By giving nothing away - and at no point during his interview does he actually say no players will be signed - he can get on with his business without further scrutiny from the press.
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 24, 2015 20:34:47 GMT
I think the fact that DC finds players that not a soul on here thinks of is a sign we have a better scout network than some give credit for. We do - him and Marcus Stewart. DC says we can't afford a full scouting system, so he, Marcus and Steve Yates go and do most of the scouting (except for match reports on future opponents; we have someone who does that for us).
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 8, 2015 22:30:47 GMT
We haven't got the rights to show our own highlights, so it'll be whether the FL/C5 allow us to upload any.
The new show was awful in comparison to the FLS. At least you knew where you stood with that.
No need to knock our media department, though. The online and social media content has improved tenfold in the last 12 months.
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 3, 2015 12:55:19 GMT
We've signed four players RD - Clarke, Lines, Montano, Bodin. You may have not counted Bodin as he is on a short-term deal, but you counted 'Ballbag' as a player who has departed so it's only right BB is counted too! When you factor in that we are close to signing a RW on loan from a Championship club (as per James McNamara), we will have made 5 signings.
I know what you mean in terms of wanting more, though. I thought we may have signed a couple more by now and had a bit more strength in depth, but obviously we don't have a massive budget like other clubs do and DC wants to save a bulk of what he does have for during the season. It's a wise move, but it's frustrating at this time of year when you just want some news.
I am not convinced by either Mildenhall or Puddy if I am being brutally honest. We cannot justify having another keeper on our books, though, so we have to make do with what we've got until next summer. I think Mildy would have gone at the end of the season if DC could have released him, but that pesky appearance trigger that we used to put in contracts has worked against us.
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 1, 2015 11:45:14 GMT
The club have to do what's in their best interests, not the player's.
DC has seen Bodin up close for a month and whilst he liked some of what he saw, he hasn't felt the player has shown he is worthy of a year's deal. DC has a budget to adhere to and he doesn't want to use a significant chunk of it on a player who may not offer enough to the first team squad. Very smart management in my book and it is exactly the type of thing we were clamouring for under previous managers.
We offered him a short-term deal as that is all he is worth thus far, and Bodin had the option to take it or leave it. To be fair to the player, he has decided to take it (for whatever reason, not our problem that he didn't have any other offers) and must now back himself to play well and earn an extension in November. I hope he does, because he has shown something different to what we already have and has a very good work ethic, but this is a calculated move from the club and exactly how we need to be in the transfer market from now on.
Jumping in gung-ho and offering long contracts to the first players we see is a thing of the past thanks to DC, and that is obviously a good thing. I cannot believe that some people still want to moan.
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 1, 2015 11:34:43 GMT
A young winger from a Prem/Championship club is a joke. Was not Adam Dawson a young winger with a Championship/Premiership club and yet the very reason Clarke gave was that he was not experienced enough at League Football. This is a desperation signing within a very poor League budget. Thankyou Higgs and Co. Steve, what is your obsession with Dawson? He was alright and showed some very good touches/runs at times, but then on other occasions he was absolutely anonymous for 90 minutes. I quite liked him, but the furore about him on here is tedious and embarrassing now. No FL clubs and no top Conference clubs offered him a deal, and that should tell you everything you need to know. He is - and is viewed by other clubs - as an inconsistent winger who has only ever looked half-decent at Conference level. We didn't think he was worth signing, other decent clubs didn't think he was worth signing, and that is why he is now at Kiddy. He may go on to impress for them and improve, but right now he is not someone DC wants to spend some of his wage budget on, which is absolutely fair enough if you ask me.
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Post by UpTheGas on Aug 1, 2015 11:26:04 GMT
I wouldn't have Ollie Clarke anywhere near the first team as he simply doesn't do anything.
Lockyer, on the other hand, is a good young player and DC rates him very highly. For that reason he will always start when he is fit, but his problem is that he hasn't cemented his place in any one position.
Personally I think he's better at centre half, but both J. Clarke and Parkes have performed well there thus far. It will be interesting to see what DC chooses to do.
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Post by UpTheGas on Jul 28, 2015 14:13:09 GMT
Wouldn't have Brown anywhere near penalties again. He scored an important one at Wembley, but he missed his previous two. Manse's winner in the PO Final was emphatic, but DC said he missed the two he took in the practice sessions the team did before going to Wembley, so I wouldn't fancy him taking them full time.
I would have Lines or Easter personally. Easter has taken them during his career and Lines is a dead ball specialist, so I see no reason why he couldn't be a regular scorer from the penalty spot too.
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Post by UpTheGas on Jul 27, 2015 22:36:10 GMT
Many of the goals mentioned would easily rank as my best Gas goal.
It's a bit of an odd choice, but the Agogo equaliser against Yeovil back in 2004 sparked superb celebrations at The Mem (I know someone has already mentioned it but they didn't expand on it).
Gary Johnson's team arrived full of confidence and as they were flying high in the league, they brought a few fans up and expected to beat us relatively comfortably. It was the night most Gasheads first came across Johnson's underhand tactics, as he had his players diving, play-acting, throwing elbows and hounding the ref at every available opportunity from the first minute to the last. It worked a treat as the officials bought everything, including Johnson's whinging on the touchline, and as Rovers fans got more and more incensed with what was happening, the noise levels became as loud as I ever have ever heard them at The Mem.
They went 1-0 up and then, before half time, Steve Elliott and Dave Savage got themselves sent off (the latter for throwing a punch at Gavin Williams!) and we looked as though we were going to be obliterated in the second period. Williams then put them 2-0 up after an hour, but it sparked one of the most superb comebacks I have ever witnessed.
Gasheads got behind the boys still left on the pitch, wanting justice to be served against the scummy Glovers, and every single one of them rose to the occasion. James Hunt pulled one back and we pushed for the most unlikely of equalisers, until Agogo struck low to send us absolutely wild. The celebrations, noise and general atmosphere at that moment until well after the full time whistle was absolutely electric.
It reminded me why I am proud to be a Gashead, because we certainly played our part in supporting the boys and intimidating Yeovil.
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Post by UpTheGas on Jul 16, 2015 13:59:07 GMT
The court case doesn't affect the original budget DC was given. It is an entirely separate thing from the money being used in the court case and any subsequent appeal. His budget may have increased had the judge ruled in our favour, but it certainly won't have decreased as a result of what happened.
I can only assume that they don't want DC talking about the budget because in comparison to the high-paying teams it isn't all that big, but we all know that counts for nothing anyway because we always used to have one of the highest budgets and wound up relegated. Last year DC wasn't so secretive about his budget and it left the BoD receiving some criticism because it wasn't the highest in the division like people expected. If this year it is kept in-house, people can only speculate on how big/small it is in comparison to other teams and that prevents unnecessary pressure from building.
It also helps DC in his quest to strengthen his squad; if agents know the size of our budget, they will demand a higher weekly wage for their clients than they would if they didn't know. This can only be a good thing and hopefully result in us landing the players we want at a reasonable price.
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