Football 2011-2012

[eFestivals]

Hmmmm. I wonder how long before Fenway are worse thought of than G&H?

[Kowalski]

Regarding the England squad, are you guys not worried about shipping goals? The back four looks like a shocker. Terry? He's had a dreadful season.

[zahidf]

Hmmmm. I wonder how long before Fenway are worse thought of than G&H?

[eFestivals]

Regarding the England squad, are you guys not worried about shipping goals? The back four looks like a shocker. Terry? He's had a dreadful season.

shipping them and scoring them.

And passing straight, perhaps even them being able to tie their shoe-laces.

But what I'm not worried about is their egos.

[Benj]

[eFestivals]

Depends who they get in instead i guess.

If they get in someone better, then they will be some moaning, but i'm sure the fans will get over it.

that wasn't actually anything of what I was getting at.

I'd just written that piece up there - and then shot it down again when he was sacked - that even the worse corporate shark wouldn't have a face-to-face meeting and bottle the sacking, but then do it two days later when the manager was meant to have gone on holiday. If that's what they've done they're w*nkers that'll make G&H look good.

Then again, maybe he was sacked the other day, and had been given time to get back here and clear his desk.

Whichever it is, I reckon they've been hasty no matter who they might have lined up to take over. There's no guarantee of someone else doing any better, and a more than decent chance that Kenny would next season - the results have been worse than the performances deserved (it happens).

[eFestivals]

Looks like he may have had more to do with those signings that you thought after all!

lol, perhaps.

Whatever, he's taken the hit for them.

Fuck all to do with his 'legendary' status, I think they've been hasty. In football the grass is not always greener on the other side.

[Benj]

From a Club that had supposedly never sacked a manager, to one that's sacked 3 in the space of 2 years

LFC are the new Chelsea!

[kaosmark2]

I wonder what odds I can get on England not getting a single point.

[zahidf]

that wasn't actually anything of what I was getting at.

I'd just written that piece up there - and then shot it down again when he was sacked - that even the worse corporate shark wouldn't have a face-to-face meeting and bottle the sacking, but then do it two days later when the manager was meant to have gone on holiday. If that's what they've done they're w*nkers that'll make G&H look good.

Then again, maybe he was sacked the other day, and had been given time to get back here and clear his desk.

Whichever it is, I reckon they've been hasty no matter who they might have lined up to take over. There's no guarantee of someone else doing any better, and a more than decent chance that Kenny would next season - the results have been worse than the performances deserved (it happens).

[kaosmark2]

Maybe he lost the confidence of the players as well? Who knows!

[zahidf]

Which players had confidence?

[kaosmark2]

I can't see how the instability is going to help the club. Houllier and Benitez both made a large number of shocking signings but the club was able to get a reasonable level of success due to the consistency there.

[Steve P]

Fenway have obviously agreed with what a lot of us have been saying - that ignoring net spend, the money they released for new players was spent very poorly and they weren't willing to take the risk of the same happening again.

[Benj]

Fenway have obviously agreed with what a lot of us have been saying - that ignoring net spend, the money they released for new players was spent very poorly and they weren't willing to take the risk of the same happening again.

[eFestivals]

I can't see how the instability is going to help the club.

Me neither. And I still maintain that the play was better than their results, and that would have been likely to change anyway.

The only thing that seems to make a modicum of sense to me is, having just read that they're supposedly after Martinez, that they don't see Kenny is as giving too much in the way of long term stability anyway because of his age. A young manager would be able to see things thru on a long term basis which probably wouldn't be the case with Kenny no matter how successful he might have been.

But of course that only works if the young manager who comes in is successful. Martinez has been good in many ways, but he's far from proven at spending big money and managing big players.

[kaosmark2]

This.

Any football team that loses one player, spends £100 quid and actually gets worse, has to review the manager's position.

[kaosmark2]

Me neither. And I still maintain that the play was better than their results, and that would have been likely to change anyway.

The only thing that seems to make a modicum of sense to me is, having just read that they're supposedly after Martinez, that they don't see Kenny is as giving too much in the way of long term stability anyway because of his age. A young manager would be able to see things thru on a long term basis which probably wouldn't be the case with Kenny no matter how successful he might have been.

But of course that only works if the young manager who comes in is successful. Martinez has been good in many ways, but he's far from proven at spending big money and managing big players.

[eFestivals]

but it needs to be a long-term appointment where a bad first season will be allowed.

which I can't see being allowed, if they're going to be getting the chequebook out again.

And while they might not want to spend, I'm not sure that Martinez would be interested without a decent budget - he might as well stay at Wigan for that.

[Ed209]

I wonder what odds I can get on England not getting a single point.

[Benj]

By one player, do you mean Torres, Meireles, Joe Cole, Poulson, Ngog, Jovanovich or Aquilani?

[Benj]

which I can't see being allowed, if they're going to be getting the chequebook out again.

[kaosmark2]

The combined odds of them losing all their games is about 50-1, that's definitely worth a punt

[eFestivals]

Do you reckon they will get the cheque book out again?? I reckon one of the reasons they'd be getting Martinez is for his ability to sport a good bargain/ improve a player. That the club could then keep.

If you look at who Wigan have had to let go over the years, the current Wigan team would be pretty good.

the players that Wigan have had go back a long time past Martinez - they've clearly got a fantastic scouting network.

So they don't get that when they get Martinez, if they do. They only get his ability to get something out of those players. And from one angle, you could make a reasonable case for them having underperformed a lot of the time.

There's also been the stability that Wigan have given him in position, which must help the club atmosphere. He wouldn't get that at Liverpool.

And finally, if he's got to struggle thru with the players in front of him, why would he want to leave Wigan? He can muddle thru with existing players at Wigan, he doesn't have to go to Liverpool to do that.

[eFestivals]

The combined odds of them losing all their games is about 50-1, that's definitely worth a punt

I never bet, but I've VERY strongly tempted to spunk £50 on that.