Going down…?

Tyldesley, I agree with what you are saying.

When you look at five of our players:

Koumas, De Ridder, Kapo, Bouaouzan, and Cho.

Just consider what wages they are on. Allegedly, Koumas is on 30k a week. I bet Kapo was on something similar. De Ridder, I’d guess at about 20k a week, and Bouaouzan and Cho, I’d guess about 15k a week.

That means that somewhere around 100k a week, or more, was being wasted on these players, who have been contributing nothing. And even though Kapo, De Ridder, and Cho have gone out on loan, I bet we are still paying something like 60% of their wages, truth be told, as the clubs they have gone to are small clubs.

In any other business, Whelan wouldn’t stand for that. It is rank-bad management from various sources at the club. And I feel that Roberto is actually, in many ways, the victim of it all. We have wasted so much money…..god have we! And we STILL are doing, with these players who are contributing nothing to the squad.
My main concern when Martinez took over, would be that he’d have ‘his hands tied’, and be made to scrimp and scrape to get cheap signings.(His early comments of “we will have to be clever with signings” was more than ominous)
That has happened, and will continue to happen for as long as Whelan can get away with it, I think. We need a big, BIG, clear out, regardless of what league we are in, next season. Free some of that wasted money up, and instead of wasting 100k a week on…well, nothing, use the money on 3 quality players rather than 5, sare I say ‘wasters’, and pay those 3 quality players 30k a week each, or something. If Scharner wants away….sell him. Same goes for any of this current squad, barring McCarthy, Diame, and maybe one or two others. But any player who wants away, may as well let them go.

The ‘doing it on the cheap’ mentality has all but caught up with us this season, ans survival will be more down to other teams failings, than anything else.

Also, look at the fixtures page in the programme. Look at the collumn that shows are league position at each game stage. I’ve noticed that it has got gradually lower and lower throughout the season, rather like a boat with a hole in it, where people are bailing the water out. Eventually, it will sink, and I’m afraid that the time could come for us in the next couple of weeks. That week when we are at City on the Monday and Fulham on the Friday, will, I fear, be the point where we slip down into the mire.

Seem to recall you saying “come back in a couple of weeks when we are in the relegation zone after the Birmingham and Liverpool games” a few weeks ago Vat. Well we’re not exactly better off but no worse off, still 4 points clear of the drop zone. I hope you keep predicting it up until mid June and hopefully it will never happen

“Roberto’s transfer signings have been poor I agree, he should have bought Terry for £30m, Gerrard for £40m, Rooney for £50m and Messi for £100m and put them all on £300k a week

Instead he has spent very little on players unproven at this level and gambled on cheap foreign imports.

Anyone would think that he can’t afford to go out and spend £100m on a top class squad.”

What a, quite frankly, pathetic, childish response – with the exception of the middle paragraph
I don’t claim he’s got an unlimited pot to spend but the original poster can’t claim that our current manager has been left with a load of dross he can’t shift (when most of it has been shifted) or indeed use the word dross to condemn the previous managers signings when the current manager’s signings are as bad – and in some cases worse

Neither, to be frank, does a lack of funding excuse our managers insistance on a style of play & formation unsuitable to the players we have nor his poor use of substiutions or his, at times, baffling team selections

Hmmn…….you’re not a young kid, are you? ;)

I take it you mean JAMES Beattie, rather than Kevin Beattie.**

His knee’s were knackered YEARS ago!!! :lol:

**Ex Ipswich and England player, from early 80’s, for the inunitiated. Cracking player, actually.

“TyldesleyLatic I have no problems with 5 of the 6 players you refer to as dross, but am amazed that Lee Cattermole is in your list, bought for £3.5 million sold for 6 million, yes he was hot headed, yes he had his head turned by Bruce, yes he turned his back on the club, but have never before heard anyone before saying he was dross, he was as well as our young player of the year, in the top four for player of the year only last season”

That’s why I put the word dross in inverted commas & why i also put in his 3 other signings. It was an attempt to show that whilst yes Bruce signed some rubbish he also signed some good ones who have since left i.e. Cattermole & others who are arguably 3 of our better players at present.
In my opinion Bruce also got players who are still here now (Bramble, Scharner, Figueroa, Boyce, Kirkland & Melchiot) playing far better than Bobby is managing to do. The notable exception being N’Zogbia – Rodallega wasn’t really given much of a run out until Bruce’s last few games

Its all personal opinion of course but my own is that its trying to make excuses when claiming Bobby is being hampered by the players he inherited

“It was only after the season started that he realised that the promise shown from Koumas, Cho, King, Cattermole, de Ridder, Kapo, Bouaouzan, Edman and Watson in preseason was to completely let him down once the season was underway by the players not being able to cope with his system or decided at the last minute that they wanted away”

IMO if it took him until after the season started to find out that Koumas, Cho, King, De Ridder, Kapo, Bouaouzan & Watson weren’t good enough then you’d have to question his judgement.
Hell even they guy that bought 5 of them realised they weren’t good enough & didn’t play them regularly (if at all) whilst the previous 2 had barely had a sniff under the previous 2 managers.
Surely the fact that they could hardly scrape together a handful of starts between them would indicate to even the most naive of people that they weren’t good enough.
To re-inforce that, its hardly as if our pre-season performances set the world alight is it? So to say he only found out after the season started is, again, for me making weak excuses

Let’s be honest, we’ve known from day one he’d be doing the job with one hand behind his back.

You could tell Cattermole wasn’t right at that St Mirren game. Tried his best to get sent off, and when he was subbed, he looked sheepish when he was applauded. He wanted away…..so good riddance.

However, as you say, Griff, most of us knew that we were lumbered with a number of players who were/are….for want of a better word….’wasters’. I think Roberto showed his naiveness by entrusting his faith in certain players…..players who let him down. And by the time he realised what a guttless bunch he had on his hands, he was lumbered with them, probably still hoping that they’d come good. Out of those players mentioned, only Watson, I think, has been unlucky, and not had a fair crack of the whip. A better player than Thomas, in my opinion. (I think Thomas is badly overrated, actually)

Bouaouzan has to be the strangest signing we have ever made. The mind boggles as to just what the point of signing him, has been?