RevidgeBlue

As always when he can't answer it. You should do a Paxman "WHO exactly is going to score the goals? Name names!"

This expectation that the strikers and midfield are going to just miraculously double or treble their goals output from last season baffles me.

These original minutes don't give a true representation of what went on at all. Whoever agreed them with the Club should be ashamed. Unsurprisingly there is no real mention of the two points I flagged up, Suhail saying the owners were solely responsible for the appointment of the CEO - he's put them under real pressure there - and him throwing them under the bus regarding the women's team by saying it was their decision. Or the "Smoking gun" that proves what we've all long suspected, his admission that the owners' goal is merely to be "sustainable". I do hope someone gives the owners the opportunity to read the "real" minutes at some point! If Fans Forums are usually like this but all we see is sanitised minutes on the official website then my apologies may be due to the likes of K Hod for for accusing the members of being too passive over the months. If that's the case though whoever is recording what's gone on should be ashamed of colluding with the Club in producing doctored or heavily censored minutes for the official website. If however this meeting was a complete departure from the norm due to the introduction of a few feistier members then many congratulations are due to them - you've finally given the forum some teeth and made it relevant for the current situation. I bet the "Who are we playing in pre season" contingent were choking on their tea and biscuits!

But he's giving it the spiel about "transition periods" and how they wanted players to extend contracts etc..... none have! If the penny hasnt dropped with him yet he's either not as bright as he appears or he's simply here to collect his pay check as long as possible.

Must have twisted his hairband. Good to see he's carrying on from where he left off last season. Or maybe just maybe Vi's seen enough? I certainly wouldn't blame him.

PSR.

Do we still have pay on the day facilities or is it you must have bought your ticket digitally seven days before the start of the game sort of set up?

It was a distressed sale at an extremely knockdown price to the only bidder in town at that particular point, probably because of PSR considerations not because of doubts over the player's talent. But you know that already Im sure.

On that we agree. First time for everything! But hang on.....are you therefore now saying we need 5? Seems to strongly contradict what you've been saying previously.

They would have done - had we hung on for 12 months!

In the context you wrote it, "or" means the same as "and". ie "both" not either/or. Straying way off the point though which was that I can't imagine we'll have learnt too much about how we're going to set up for the action proper from pre season and secondly despite efforts to complicate it football is basically a very simple game and within reason Id have to agree with Souness in that football is not won and lost by formations but by the 11 players out on the pitch winning their individual battles.

1) It remains to be seen IF we have been playing that way AND 2) IF that will be the preferred way of playing this season Which isn't too far from the point I was trying to make in a light hearted way. But I should be watching another sport or something. I haven't seen any of the pre season warm ups and couldn't care less whether we set up 2-2-2-2-2 or 4-4 fucking 2 in good old Mike Bassett fashion as long as it works. All that matters is that whatever formation we try it works, we score more goals than the opposition, and we win football matches.

Ooo bitchy. You just contradicted yourself twice in the space of 4 lines there though.

Lol. I'm impressed you managed to deduce all that from a few kick abouts pre season.

Goals win games. But also to provide competition for places, cover in case of injuries and suspension, and to provide options off the bench. Using that argument we'd be Ok with 3 CB's or 3 Central midfielders.

It's ok jim. Didnt take it the wrong way and enjoyed the Mandy Rice Davies reference for the teenagers! I genuinely think that out of all the players, with the possible exception of Scott Wharton, Travis is the only one who cares about the Club and has Blackburn Rovers running through him which is why he will be such a loss if sold. This lot don't care about that sort of thing, or success on the pitch though, all they're bothered about is the bottom line in the short term, so I expect him to be sold unfortunately.

We can nit pick all day long about what you actually call them, the bottom line is we're massive overloaded with midfielders and desperately short on attacking options. Using Mr. Mani's descriptors we have TWELVE "midfield" options of one form or another - but still amazingly find ourselves without a RW worthy of the name - and only TWO senior (sub 10 goal) strikers potentially backed up by a 21 year old who hasnt really cut it yet and a 17 year old he's inserted as an option in both midfield and attack. 2 more strikers and a decent RW and the squad would look balanced. Until then.....

Fair point.

There aren't 11 different segments in a team. You play with at least 2 CB's, at least 2 central midfielders and sometimes even with 2 strikers.

I like the way you've divided "midfield" up into FIVE different segments to try and justify the number of midfielders. Lol. We agree on the pressing need for a new RAM as you call it (or RW as I would call it) but where are the 2 senior alternatives for Ohashi and Gueye? IF we got all those 3 (currently we have none) then we'd be looking a lot better placed to tackle the season.

Correct. I've been saying for a while that we are no longer a football Club (where the idea is to win football matches) but a place where certain people (mainly management and agents) go to earn (a lot of) money. Edit: Ironically the only way to become truly "sustainable" is to invest a bit, try to win a few football matches and get into the Premier League.

Why, what do you think has changed since Waggott left? The answer appears to be, absolutely nothing save that Suhail isn't as skilled at lying/covering his arse as Waggott was.

Completely agree. On the basis that actions speak louder than words that's become patently obvious since the Court case hasnt it? Let's not pretend though that anything has changed due to Waggott leaving, His MO was always to discourage increasing bums on seats but instead maintain revenue levels by exploiting the loyalty of the hard-core fan base to the limit. "Squeeze 'em until the pips squeak" as Denis Healey once infamously said about the "rich". Seems like nothing whatsoever has changed in that respect.

Thanks for this Glen. It's wonderful to see someone finally giving the bastards a genuinely hard time. Absolutely jaw dropping stuff. You could drive a double decker bus through the holes in most of what Suhail said. I dont think the situation has necessarily suddenly got better or worse, it's just that Waggott was considerably more adept at lying through his teeth. Even amongst all the nonsense, one or two things leapt out at me: I find it astonishing that Suhail would claim that the owners were solely responsible for appointing the next CEO when it seems to be common knowledge that they never even spoke to Eustace and I was led to believe that years ago Suhail was solely responsible for the appointment of Lambert and he never spoke to them either. I know football is a business but even so that smacks of ignoring the organ grinder and wanting to speak to the monkey. Wrong way round. The manager is by far the most important appointment at any Club. Without success on the pitch everything else fails. Secondly if the owners ever get to read the minutes Im guessing they won't appreciate Suhail throwing them under the bus as regards the women's team.

The problem is not that he "wants out" it's that we either wont offer him any deal at all or one which reflects anything like his true value. It's correct in a purely commercial sense to say that under those circumstances it's the pragmatic option to take the money if anyone comes in for him. It's clear where the true blame lies however and it ain't with the player.