Season summary…

[PATRIQT]

Dreadful season, with arguably the worst manager we've had.

You must be very young.

[URZZZZ]

It’s been one of the oddest season’s I can remember. The way we finished last season and with virtually losing our strike force before a ball was kicked this season I thought we’d be in a relegation dogfight. However, after a poor start we hit a bit of a purple patch and there was even talk of gate crashing the playoffs. It all then deteriorated after a points deduction and a worsening injury list.

The lowest point for me was the 2-0 home defeat to Luton because they barely had to break out of neutral. However, upon reflection it’s no surprise based on the team we were able to field that evening and Luton’s current position in the table.

I liked Pauno but he was tactically inept but history might show that he did well under the circumstances. Based on how he’s done so far I’d have no problem with Ince becoming the permanent manager. He’s had more options available to him than Pauno had for many months this season but he seems to have the respect of the players and after the comeback against Swansea I felt proud of the TEAM again.

We still need to make ourselves mathematically safe but with the players we’re being linked with, along with the valuable experience some of our youngsters have picked up this season due to necessity I am looking forward to next season.

Agree with pretty much all of this - although didn’t like Paunovic with his awful antics on the touchline, his constant lies added to being an abysmal tactician

What’s been impressive more recently, as alluded to, is the reaction to goals conceded/defeats. Too many runs under Paunovic of consecutive defeats and so many occasions of conceding quick fire goals and taking ourselves out of the game. Still evident to an extent now (Cardiff, Swansea etc) but at least there’s hope of getting back into the game

[Wycombe Royal]

Dreadful season, with arguably the worst manager we've had.

There has been worse......

When you look at the quality of the players at his disposal in comparison to results it is hard to find worse than Paunovic. Bullivant was of course pathetically awful but so was our team. Paunovic didn't have that excuse.

Yes Paunovic had a squad of very capable players, but this season he regularly had many of them missing due to injuries. This season would have been vastly different if key players had remained fit.

Bad luck, poor training methods, who knows, but you can't ignore the impact the injuries have had.

[URZZZZ]

There has been worse......

When you look at the quality of the players at his disposal in comparison to results it is hard to find worse than Paunovic. Bullivant was of course pathetically awful but so was our team. Paunovic didn't have that excuse.

Yes Paunovic had a squad of very capable players, but this season he regularly had many of them missing due to injuries. This season would have been vastly different if key players had remained fit.

Bad luck, poor training methods, who knows, but you can't ignore the impact the injuries have had.

Might be a valid point (ignoring his impact on the injuries) but what explains the run of 1 win in 11 at the tail end of last season with every player fit (Swift returning halfway through that run of games)?

[Snowflake Royal]

When you look at the quality of the players at his disposal in comparison to results it is hard to find worse than Paunovic. Bullivant was of course pathetically awful but so was our team. Paunovic didn't have that excuse.

Yes Paunovic had a squad of very capable players, but this season he regularly had many of them missing due to injuries. This season would have been vastly different if key players had remained fit.

Bad luck, poor training methods, who knows, but you can't ignore the impact the injuries have had.

Might be a valid point (ignoring his impact on the injuries) but what explains the run of 1 win in 11 at the tail end of last season with every player fit (Swift returning halfway through that run of games)?

Even Bullivant knew it was a good idea to have more than one senior player to cover positions.

We stacked injury prone player on injury prone player, then trained them badly and wondered why we had injuries.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

When you look at the quality of the players at his disposal in comparison to results it is hard to find worse than Paunovic. Bullivant was of course pathetically awful but so was our team. Paunovic didn't have that excuse.

Yes Paunovic had a squad of very capable players, but this season he regularly had many of them missing due to injuries. This season would have been vastly different if key players had remained fit.

Bad luck, poor training methods, who knows, but you can't ignore the impact the injuries have had.

Might be a valid point (ignoring his impact on the injuries) but what explains the run of 1 win in 11 at the tail end of last season with every player fit (Swift returning halfway through that run of games)?

I think we needed a better squad last season. We had a good core of 12/13 players, but we were also relying on players like Baldock and Aluko to come and make the difference who are both plying their trade at the top end of League One, our squad wasn't good enough really and that's where our lack of reinforcements in January didn't really help Pauno or the team.

Agree in general though, we should have still done better than what we did with the XI we had out each game.

[Hound]

Stam almost pulled off a miracle and then totally and completely lost the plot.

That whole spell was a weird one looking back - superb when we had no money and then just made some very poor signings, got completely worked out and with it culminating being where we are now

[Zip]

Stam almost pulled off a miracle and then totally and completely lost the plot.

That whole spell was a weird one looking back - superb when we had no money and then just made some very poor signings, got completely worked out and with it culminating being where we are now

Stam's first summer was very productive. Swift proved to be a great signing. We know all about the club’s issues with him now but Moore was also a good signing and could have been a great one had we sold him when Brighton were interested. Blackett was decent and I think we also signed Yaks who has been an excellent addition.

2017 was dreadful and ended up bringing the club to its knees.

[windermereROYAL]

7 wins in the year wasn`t it.

[SCIAG]

Yes Paunovic had a squad of very capable players, but this season he regularly had many of them missing due to injuries. This season would have been vastly different if key players had remained fit.

Bad luck, poor training methods, who knows, but you can't ignore the impact the injuries have had.

Might be a valid point (ignoring his impact on the injuries) but what explains the run of 1 win in 11 at the tail end of last season with every player fit (Swift returning halfway through that run of games)?

Even Bullivant knew it was a good idea to have more than one senior player to cover positions.

We stacked injury prone player on injury prone player, then trained them badly and wondered why we had injuries.

We had less than no money. We could only recruit players who were prepared to come here on the relative pittance we were able to offer. That meant we had to get players with significant flaws. For Dann, Halilovic, and Carroll (and possibly some of the others, but those three come to mind), that was their injury records.

We could probably have chosen to recruit players who weren't as good but had better injury records. On balance I think gambling on good players with bad injury records was probably more likely to work.

[Royal_jimmy]

Player of the Season: Yiadom
Flop of the Season: Rafael
Most Improved Player: Swift
Unsung Hero: McIntyre
Signing of the Season: Ince

Ian disappointed we wont be playing Accrington Stanley at home on a Tuesday night.

[AthleticoSpizz]

For somebody who has spent this whole season whinging and whining Jimbo, you surprise me that you have any positive nominations tbh

[Notts Royal]

Not going to sound quite as negative as Snowflake haha but once the dust has settled, I’m sure that positivity people are currently riding on (which I’m not blaming them for btw) will have subsided & we can reflect on what a poor season it’s been.

A few weeks ago I was reading comments that the whole squad didn’t care & should all go. No link between the players & fans bla bla. All nonsense, as players like Holmes, Rino & TMac clearly care. But now McIntyre is close to cult hero status apparently. And Laurent is back to being a legend again.

The way I see it is that it’s a limited squad that has perhaps slightly underachieved. There’s still major work that needs doing & there’s enough recent history to suggest that’s not going to happen.

Talk of a positive transfer window to balance the books…Dai is still in charge, what confidence is there that he’s actually got the appetite to do that?

The decline is real guys haha, let’s not think the club has turned around just yet

[Sutekh]

Not going to sound quite as negative as Snowflake haha but once the dust has settled, I’m sure that positivity people are currently riding on (which I’m not blaming them for btw) will have subsided & we can reflect on what a poor season it’s been.

A few weeks ago I was reading comments that the whole squad didn’t care & should all go. No link between the players & fans bla bla. All nonsense, as players like Holmes, Rino & TMac clearly care. But now McIntyre is close to cult hero status apparently. And Laurent is back to being a legend again.

The way I see it is that it’s a limited squad that has perhaps slightly underachieved. There’s still major work that needs doing & there’s enough recent history to suggest that’s not going to happen.

Talk of a positive transfer window to balance the books…Dai is still in charge, what confidence is there that he’s actually got the appetite to do that?

The decline is real guys haha, let’s not think the club has turned around just yet

Agreed. Next season is going to be difficult and going to call on a management team that can make the right decisions and build something with a good solid base. Aim should be securing mid table obscurity and having a half decent home record for once.

[Notts Royal]

In fact, I should revise my analysis a bit. Last summer’s window was reasonable/good despite the circumstances. The acquisition of players such as Hoilett was good. And the Jan loan signing of Ince has worked out.

However, still plenty to be concerned about. The Hein & Barker deals stunk of Kia’s involvement and I don’t have faith those ties have been cut.

Drinkwater & Rahman looked impressive on paper, they looked flashy, but ultimately motivation has seemingly been an issue for both of them. Not been convinced With Rahman, obv has quality but whenever I’ve seen him he’s not looked like he’s got out of 2nd gear.

Anyone know if we’re allowed to hand out contracts beyond 1 season in the summer?. That should help somewhat

[Zip]

In fact, I should revise my analysis a bit. Last summer’s window was reasonable/good despite the circumstances. The acquisition of players such as Hoilett was good. And the Jan loan signing of Ince has worked out.

However, still plenty to be concerned about. The Hein & Barker deals stunk of Kia’s involvement and I don’t have faith those ties have been cut.

Drinkwater & Rahman looked impressive on paper, they looked flashy, but ultimately motivation has seemingly been an issue for both of them. Not been convinced With Rahman, obv has quality but whenever I’ve seen him he’s not looked like he’s got out of 2nd gear.

Anyone know if we’re allowed to hand out contracts beyond 1 season in the summer?. That should help somewhat

Agree with a lot of this. I have not been convinced by Rahman either. He has looked a lot more vulnerable on his flank than Yids in the other side.

We should be able to sort out more than one year contracts as a TMac signed a long term deal. EDIT did his new deal go through before the embargo was applied? There may have been a few days in it.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

In fact, I should revise my analysis a bit. Last summer’s window was reasonable/good despite the circumstances. The acquisition of players such as Hoilett was good. And the Jan loan signing of Ince has worked out.

However, still plenty to be concerned about. The Hein & Barker deals stunk of Kia’s involvement and I don’t have faith those ties have been cut.

Drinkwater & Rahman looked impressive on paper, they looked flashy, but ultimately motivation has seemingly been an issue for both of them. Not been convinced With Rahman, obv has quality but whenever I’ve seen him he’s not looked like he’s got out of 2nd gear.

Anyone know if we’re allowed to hand out contracts beyond 1 season in the summer?. That should help somewhat

Agree with a lot of this. I have not been convinced by Rahman either. He has looked a lot more vulnerable on his flank than Yids in the other side.

We should be able to sort out more than one year contracts as a TMac signed a long term deal. EDIT did his new deal go through before the embargo was applied? There may have been a few days in it.

Were we not under an embargo before this anyway? It would explain why we couldn't bring any players in during the January window last year despite being linked with many players. I think both Bowen & Pauno have both mentioned that they knew the embargo was in place at the club last season as well which made recruiting players difficult. I don't know how/if this impacted tying players down to new contracts however.

[Snowflake Royal]

In fact, I should revise my analysis a bit. Last summer’s window was reasonable/good despite the circumstances. The acquisition of players such as Hoilett was good. And the Jan loan signing of Ince has worked out.

However, still plenty to be concerned about. The Hein & Barker deals stunk of Kia’s involvement and I don’t have faith those ties have been cut.

Drinkwater & Rahman looked impressive on paper, they looked flashy, but ultimately motivation has seemingly been an issue for both of them. Not been convinced With Rahman, obv has quality but whenever I’ve seen him he’s not looked like he’s got out of 2nd gear.

Anyone know if we’re allowed to hand out contracts beyond 1 season in the summer?. That should help somewhat

Agree with a lot of this. I have not been convinced by Rahman either. He has looked a lot more vulnerable on his flank than Yids in the other side.

We should be able to sort out more than one year contracts as a TMac signed a long term deal. EDIT did his new deal go through before the embargo was applied? There may have been a few days in it.

Were we not under an embargo before this anyway? It would explain why we couldn't bring any players in during the January window last year despite being linked with many players. I think both Bowen & Pauno have both mentioned that they knew the embargo was in place at the club last season as well which made recruiting players difficult. I don't know how/if this impacted tying players down to new contracts however.

We've been under embargos for most of the last 3 years.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Agree with a lot of this. I have not been convinced by Rahman either. He has looked a lot more vulnerable on his flank than Yids in the other side.

We should be able to sort out more than one year contracts as a TMac signed a long term deal. EDIT did his new deal go through before the embargo was applied? There may have been a few days in it.

Were we not under an embargo before this anyway? It would explain why we couldn't bring any players in during the January window last year despite being linked with many players. I think both Bowen & Pauno have both mentioned that they knew the embargo was in place at the club last season as well which made recruiting players difficult. I don't know how/if this impacted tying players down to new contracts however.

We've been under embargos for most of the last 3 years.

Yeah I thought we were. I just don't think it was as "public" as the one for this season has been and there will have likely have been some differences involved throughout them as well.

[SCIAG]

However, still plenty to be concerned about. The Hein & Barker deals stunk of Kia’s involvement and I don’t have faith those ties have been cut.

What makes you think that?