Updated POLL After Southampton Debacle.

[windermere_royal]

[b]

I for one will be gutted to see him go.

The club will be here long after Brian leaves, good men come good men go, Gutted is something I will not be, passing ships in the night and all that...

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Problem with BM is that he's "too nice" a guy and no doubt that carries through to the training ground...he perhaps has got too close to the players and with it too friendly, and not kept the necessary professional detachment

It's the same concern I have with Anton and Him and BM seeing each other as drinking mates....

Everything has got a bit too cosy... and that has too change

no good being a nice guy in football ...better off being a tough ruthless b@@stard....cue Sir Alex

[Snowball]

It must be crunch time.

If we were to win our GiH at Sunderland, we'd be 12 points from 16
and will need to average a ppg for the rest of the season PLUS find
an extra win just to have a 50/50 chance of 4th bottom.

A decision will have to be made this weekend or Wednesday at the latest

We have to decide whether to accept relegation and look to build a side
that can come back up (with all the morale issues that relegation brings)
or splurge a lot of cash and hope.

For me, much as I like McDermott and appreciate all he's done for the club
I feel he looks very unhappy and lacking confidence and leadership, when
in front of the cameras. That APPEARS now to be affecting the players.

Either Pearce has to come back in (if he's good enough for the Prem) and we
may need another CB, and we'll probably need TWO midfielders, Sidwell and
maybe someone even better, a leader on the pitch.

It's hard to see that quality coming to us

[windermere_royal]

It must be crunch time.

If we were to win our GiH at Sunderland, we'd be 12 points from 16
and will need to average a ppg for the rest of the season PLUS find
an extra win just to have a 50/50 chance of 4th bottom.

A decision will have to be made this weekend or Wednesday at the latest

We have to decide whether to accept relegation and look to build a side
that can come back up (with all the morale issues that relegation brings)
or splurge a lot of cash and hope.

For me, much as I like McDermott and appreciate all he's done for the club
I feel he looks very unhappy and lacking confidence and leadership, when
in front of the cameras. That APPEARS now to be affecting the players.

Either Pearce has to come back in (if he's good enough for the Prem) and we
may need another CB, and we'll probably need TWO midfielders, Sidwell and
maybe someone even better, a leader on the pitch.

It's hard to see that quality coming to us

we would need to get some quality in on loan so if we go down they can go back to their clubs.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

The logical thing to do given the likely level of spending is to start re-building for the Championship.

Our teams average age is relatively high and whatever league we are in next year we will need to bring in a number of players across all positions (GK aside).

So a mixture of proven Championship players with a few promising youngsters would seem to be the way to go. The carrot of a shot at the Premiership with a good chance of a return in the next three years should give us some promising options.

Whether it is better to spend in January or wait for a more reasonable deal in the Summer is what NH gets paid for I guess.

[winchester_royal]

The logical thing to do given the likely level of spending is to start re-building for the Championship.

Our teams average age is relatively high and whatever league we are in next year we will need to bring in a number of players across all positions (GK aside).

So a mixture of proven Championship players with a few promising youngsters would seem to be the way to go. The carrot of a shot at the Premiership with a good chance of a return in the next three years should give us some promising options.

Whether it is better to spend in January or wait for a more reasonable deal in the Summer is what NH gets paid for I guess.

I'd be very disappointed if this is the attitude we take with over half the season still to go.

It would be incredibly disrespectful to the fans paying money to support them as well.

[windermere_royal]

Whether it is better to spend in January or wait for a more reasonable deal in the Summer is what NH gets paid for I guess.

We pay him?

[Royal Rother]

The logical thing to do given the likely level of spending is to start re-building for the Championship.

Our teams average age is relatively high and whatever league we are in next year we will need to bring in a number of players across all positions (GK aside).

So a mixture of proven Championship players with a few promising youngsters would seem to be the way to go. The carrot of a shot at the Premiership with a good chance of a return in the next three years should give us some promising options.

Whether it is better to spend in January or wait for a more reasonable deal in the Summer is what NH gets paid for I guess.

I'd be very disappointed if this is the attitude we take with over half the season still to go.

It would be incredibly disrespectful to the fans paying money to support them as well.

Incredibly disrespectful to the fans if they don't gamble their money on maintaining PL status? Do me a favour.

Spend a pile now, fail to stay up (which would be the most likely outcome anyway) and suffer the consequences for the next decade.

Or accept likely relegation and plan for life back in the Championship as one of the wealthier clubs with a great and expanding Academy and an excellent infrastructure.

I hope they make the right decision.

[winchester_royal]

The logical thing to do given the likely level of spending is to start re-building for the Championship.

Our teams average age is relatively high and whatever league we are in next year we will need to bring in a number of players across all positions (GK aside).

So a mixture of proven Championship players with a few promising youngsters would seem to be the way to go. The carrot of a shot at the Premiership with a good chance of a return in the next three years should give us some promising options.

Whether it is better to spend in January or wait for a more reasonable deal in the Summer is what NH gets paid for I guess.

I'd be very disappointed if this is the attitude we take with over half the season still to go.

It would be incredibly disrespectful to the fans paying money to support them as well.

Incredibly disrespectful to the fans if they don't gamble their money on maintaining PL status? Do me a favour.

Spend a pile now, fail to stay up (which would be the most likely outcome anyway) and suffer the consequences for the next decade.

Or accept likely relegation and plan for life back in the Championship as one of the wealthier clubs with a great and expanding Academy and an excellent infrastructure.

I hope they make the right decision.

No, not suggesting anyone gambles anything.

Sensible spending is the way to go, however accepting relegation at this stage of the season would be ridiculous and tbh quite cowardly.

Everyone at the club should be ready to fight till its no longer mathematically possible to stay up, especially given the financial rewards of a place in this league next season.

[melonhead]

would not surprise me in the least if he was gone after sunderland.
but if brian was given 10 million in the summer, i dont think he could have done much better with it to fill the 5/6 positions that needed filling, and im not sure anyone else would either, and i dont blame him for our very poor start, thats just what happens when you get promoted with a team of championship players who probably arent good enough.


imo we do what we can in january, trade on experienced loan players in a last bid to stay up, but if it doesnt happen, so be it, we go down and build again with brian.(i have no idea if AZ will feel the same, and would understand if he didnt)


tbf we could have spent 30 million,replaced the entire team and still struggled ala QPR.

[ManchesterRoyals]

would not surprise me in the least if he was gone after sunderland.
but if brian was given 10 million in the summer, i dont think he could have done much better with it to fill the 5/6 positions that needed filling, and im not sure anyone else would either, and i dont blame him for our very poor start, thats just what happens when you get promoted with a team of championship players who probably arent good enough.


imo we do what we can in january, trade on experienced loan players in a last bid to stay up, but if it doesnt happen, so be it, we go down and build again with brian.(i have no idea if AZ will feel the same, and would understand if he didnt)


tbf we could have spent 30 million,replaced the entire team and still struggled ala QPR.

But the problem is hes bought the players and not even played them

[melonhead]

thats not really true.imo
shoreys played every game after harte had his chance at the start.

mcleary has had a decent ammount of game time, had a decent start, but faded and was dropped when kebe came back-i agree he should be playing now

gunter has played half of the games, was bought as cover/competition for cummings-which is exactly what he has been

marriappa didnt start(which was fair to pearce and gorkss) then in, then got injured, and then came back in

pog played for quite a while from the start of the season, but wasnt really doing anything, and when roberts came back from inury
he made a big difference so pog was rightly dropped.

guthrie made a boo boo with his attitude, and was rightly dropped, then got injured, but i agree he should be straight into that midfield as soon as he is fit

[ManchesterRoyals]

yeah i see that, i was mainly on about the Guthrie saga, give him a chance again to prove a point surly hes got to play better than Ledge

[melonhead]

Whether it is better to spend in January or wait for a more reasonable deal in the Summer is what NH gets paid for I guess.

We pay him?

i should hope so, brought unrivalled success to the club, on an abslute shoestring

[melonhead]

yeah i see that, i was mainly on about the Guthrie saga, give him a chance again to prove a point surly hes got to play better than Ledge

ledge has been poor for a few games, but before that he was doing ok. and hes not had anyone to swap him with since jem and guthrie were inujured.
now guthrie has apologised, and got fit again, i would now expect him to play. tuesday.

if not i will agree wholheartedly with you

[Sir Dodger Royal]

McDonet's purple patch of last season is well and truly over. It's a no brainer. One win at 15 attempts. Sackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[ManchesterRoyals]

yeah i see that, i was mainly on about the Guthrie saga, give him a chance again to prove a point surly hes got to play better than Ledge

ledge has been poor for a few games, but before that he was doing ok. and hes not had anyone to swap him with since jem and guthrie were inujured.
now guthrie has apologised, and got fit again, i would now expect him to play. tuesday.

if not i will agree wholheartedly with you

We shall see on tuesday

[Royal Lady]

Is it ever actually going to be worth trying to come back up again? If we don't intend to spend much in the way of buying in suitable players if we go up again, we'll just keep going down again and I'd far rather see us competing every week with a few wins and draws in the Championship than losing every week in the Prem. #justsaying

[melonhead]

thats what west brom did.

dont see why we cant do that.


but if you want to spend the whole time down there, just take the prem seasons off

[redscot]

What players are there to buy anyway? Good players do not need to take a chance on regulation teams they go straight to the better teams. You need to look at cheaper players from the championship whom are playing well now and would like to play half the season in the premiership. Or loans players.
The best plan is to consider the options before January. Either accept regulation as most teams do not stay up if they are adrift at Christmas. (If QPR are doing it why not Reading?) Of course the players might fight for survival knowing what that they will end up in Championship.
There will be a good chance to go straight up this way and Brian might be a good guy for that.