Championship 2018-19

[Mattyblue]

These stats always make me laugh 

‘Worst start in history’  Wow, that bad?

No, just since the ‘Championship’ was ‘re-launched’ in 2004/05. They just re-badged it, you fool!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Seems winning League 1 didn't bring him much currency, when things go wrong. I had a strong belief we would do better than them this year. I felt we were the better team last year, they just hit the ground running, whereas we didn't. 

I remember some on here saying they did better business than us during the summer and would finish ahead of us. Come on, own up whoever it was  

I wasn't particularly impressed with their signings but I thought Cook would have them just above us. That was before we spent £10 million on strikers.

[47er]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I wasn't particularly impressed with their signings but I thought Cook would have them just above us. That was before we spent £10 million on strikers.

Surely you mean "after" we spent 10M on strikers?!!     

[DE.]

Lambert starting to take shots at the owner/board over contracts running down: https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/paul-lambert-on-ipswich-town-contracts-1-5837312

“He’s entitled to do what he wants, but this should have been taken care of with 12 months to go,” Lambert said of the Knudsen situation. “It shouldn’t have gone into six months to go.

“The club has to look at that. You can’t keep letting contracts run down otherwise you keep having the same cycle where eight guys go and eight guys come in and you’re building team after team. It doesn’t work. It’s the wrong structure. That’s my opinion.

“If you keep getting loans, loans, loans, loans then you may as well throw you money in the street. It’s not normal. The club has to have a stable base form which to build.

“Maybe get one or two loans, no problem, but you can’t keep relying on ones that are not your own players.

“You can’t bring in eight or nine players one summer. That’s sheer madness.”

[Bigdoggsteel]

21 minutes ago, DE. said:

Lambert starting to take shots at the owner/board over contracts running down: https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/paul-lambert-on-ipswich-town-contracts-1-5837312

“He’s entitled to do what he wants, but this should have been taken care of with 12 months to go,” Lambert said of the Knudsen situation. “It shouldn’t have gone into six months to go.

“The club has to look at that. You can’t keep letting contracts run down otherwise you keep having the same cycle where eight guys go and eight guys come in and you’re building team after team. It doesn’t work. It’s the wrong structure. That’s my opinion.

“If you keep getting loans, loans, loans, loans then you may as well throw you money in the street. It’s not normal. The club has to have a stable base form which to build.

“Maybe get one or two loans, no problem, but you can’t keep relying on ones that are not your own players.

“You can’t bring in eight or nine players one summer. That’s sheer madness.”

Things sound to be going just swell there. 

Could hardly blame the players for not signing. They all appeared very loyal to McCarthy and he was turfed out.

The players look to have made the correct choice not signing extensions 

[DE.]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Things sound to be going just swell there. 

Could hardly blame the players for not signing. They all appeared very loyal to McCarthy and he was turfed out.

The players look to have made the correct choice not signing extensions 

The sceptic in me wonders if he's already plotting his escape and making comments like these to make a sacking more likely. I get the feeling Evans won't bite though. If Lambert wants to leave I think he's going to have to walk. 

[JHRover]

33 minutes ago, DE. said:

Lambert starting to take shots at the owner/board over contracts running down: https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/paul-lambert-on-ipswich-town-contracts-1-5837312

“He’s entitled to do what he wants, but this should have been taken care of with 12 months to go,” Lambert said of the Knudsen situation. “It shouldn’t have gone into six months to go.

“The club has to look at that. You can’t keep letting contracts run down otherwise you keep having the same cycle where eight guys go and eight guys come in and you’re building team after team. It doesn’t work. It’s the wrong structure. That’s my opinion.

“If you keep getting loans, loans, loans, loans then you may as well throw you money in the street. It’s not normal. The club has to have a stable base form which to build.

“Maybe get one or two loans, no problem, but you can’t keep relying on ones that are not your own players.

“You can’t bring in eight or nine players one summer. That’s sheer madness.”

To be honest we have form for those sort of issues here - letting contracts of better players run down, large scale changes every summer, constantly building team after team, keep getting loans rather than permanents. Lambert is spot on - you can't build a successful side on those foundations.

Hopefully with Mowbray we've seen the end of those days but the period of 2014-17 was full of it.

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

The sceptic in me wonders if he's already plotting his escape and making comments like these to make a sacking more likely. I get the feeling Evans won't bite though. If Lambert wants to leave I think he's going to have to walk. 

He had an easy route out of here. The way is career is after nose diving puts him in a tricky spot. Get relegated or walk beforehand. It seems he is getting the PR train rolling anyway. 

[K-Hod]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Things sound to be going just swell there. 

Could hardly blame the players for not signing. They all appeared very loyal to McCarthy and he was turfed out.

The players look to have made the correct choice not signing extensions 

Makes all the Ipswich fans that wanted him gone look very silly imo. It all goes to show what a hell of a job he was doing with a poor squad and the players obviously knew that as well. 

Only him or Allardyce could have saved them. They’re finished for this season!

[Oldgregg86]

On 02/01/2019 at 10:15, Mattyblue said:

Thought Cook was the best thing since a pie sandwich over there...

https://forums.vitalfootball.co.uk/threads/surely-dead-man-walking.89371/

It's a Wigan kebab. 

Calling it a pie sandwich is like calling rovers Blackburn on here ?

[perthblue02]

Bolton placed under new registration embargo 

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/17334153.bolton-wanderers-embargo-leaves-three-players-in-limbo/

Edited January 3, 2019 by perthblue02

[JacknOry]

5 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Makes all the Ipswich fans that wanted him gone look very silly imo. It all goes to show what a hell of a job he was doing with a poor squad and the players obviously knew that as well. 

Only him or Allardyce could have saved them. They’re finished for this season!

They will find it tough to get out of L1 in my opinion too. Hurst shipped out loads of Championship experience from their squad and replaced it with L1 players so I really cannot see them walking that league like so many others that have gone down have. Think in hindsight many of them would have put up with a less exciting but effective brand of football under MM. 

[Mattyblue]

Middlesbrough game at Ewood moved to Sunday 17th Feb (1pm) for Sky.

(But it is FA Cup 5th round weekend, so maybe not).

[DE.]

9 hours ago, JacknOry said:

They will find it tough to get out of L1 in my opinion too. Hurst shipped out loads of Championship experience from their squad and replaced it with L1 players so I really cannot see them walking that league like so many others that have gone down have. Think in hindsight many of them would have put up with a less exciting but effective brand of football under MM. 

Most of their fans are still in denial tbh. I keep hearing them repeat the "it was his time to go" mantra like zombies, failing to comprehend that the only reason that's true is because the fans decided so. Neither the owner nor the players wanted him to go and Mick was happy to stay too. If anything their rapid decline and destruction seems to have made Ipswich fans even more delusional. 

As far as L1 is concerned, weirdly they might actually be quite well eqipped for it. Assuming they keep most of the current squad together they will already have a lot of L1 and L2's higher rated players so it should make them competitive in that division. A little investment from the owner will be needed too, and I guess that'll be the litmus test. 

[JacknOry]

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

Most of their fans are still in denial tbh. I keep hearing them repeat the "it was his time to go" mantra like zombies, failing to comprehend that the only reason that's true is because the fans decided so. Neither the owner nor the players wanted him to go and Mick was happy to stay too. If anything their rapid decline and destruction seems to have made Ipswich fans even more delusional. 

As far as L1 is concerned, weirdly they might actually be quite well eqipped for it. Assuming they keep most of the current squad together they will already have a lot of L1 and L2's higher rated players so it should make them competitive in that division. A little investment from the owner will be needed too, and I guess that'll be the litmus test. 

L1 and L2 rated players sure, but those that bounced up fairly easily such as us, Sheff Utd, Wigan and probably Sunderland had squads that at their core were Championship experienced players. They have 2 or 3 lads from Shrewsbury off the back of one wonder season, that Harrison striker who came from L1 and Gwion Edwards (who I would wager will be gone in the summer) who replaced some big money Championship standard departures.  Lambert is already moaning about players contracts being allowed to whittle down to the final 6 months - so those guys might decide to jump ship too.

Cannot see them walking it and playoffs might be their best hope.

[J*B]

18 hours ago, DE. said:

Lambert starting to take shots at the owner/board over contracts running down: https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/paul-lambert-on-ipswich-town-contracts-1-5837312

“He’s entitled to do what he wants, but this should have been taken care of with 12 months to go,” Lambert said of the Knudsen situation. “It shouldn’t have gone into six months to go.

“The club has to look at that. You can’t keep letting contracts run down otherwise you keep having the same cycle where eight guys go and eight guys come in and you’re building team after team. It doesn’t work. It’s the wrong structure. That’s my opinion.

“If you keep getting loans, loans, loans, loans then you may as well throw you money in the street. It’s not normal. The club has to have a stable base form which to build.

“Maybe get one or two loans, no problem, but you can’t keep relying on ones that are not your own players.

“You can’t bring in eight or nine players one summer. That’s sheer madness.”

Left back? 6 months left on deal? Good reputation?

Call 0800-MOWBRAY.

[JHRover]

26 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Middlesbrough game at Ewood moved to Sunday 17th Feb (1pm) for Sky.

(But it is FA Cup 5th round weekend, so maybe not).

Another few knocked off the away numbers. Unlikely to be a 6000+ following as in previous seasons. I'd expect 3000-4000. Bad news for Waggott and his bumper away followings.

[Mattyblue]

I doubt even 3,000. The novelty seems to worn off with Boro fans. 

[only2garners]

54 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Middlesbrough game at Ewood moved to Sunday 17th Feb (1pm) for Sky.

(But it is FA Cup 5th round weekend, so maybe not).

And I'm on a 6.25am flight to Palma that day (having booked the Sunday to go to the Boro game first).........

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just read we have won and scored the most penalties in the championship so far this season 

[Rogerb]

South Yorkshire police requesting Sheffield derby no longer takes place at a weekend but as a night fixture on a weekday . Source BBC news. This will be giving ideas to lancs.

[blueboy3333]

4 hours ago, Rogerb said:

South Yorkshire police requesting Sheffield derby no longer takes place at a weekend but as a night fixture on a weekday . Source BBC news. This will be giving ideas to lancs.

A night time fixture. What could possibly go wrong.

[SBlue]

49 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

A night time fixture. What could possibly go wrong.

Yeah a bit odd that.

They’ve done the last couple on Friday nights and mates in SYP say it’s chaos.

People will just take the afternoon off before the game, but I suppose they reckon weeknights are better than the aftermath at weekends (regardless of k.o. time)

Edited January 4, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[Ewood Ace]

Very interesting comments from the Forest Green chairman regarding the loan and now non transfer of Christian Doidge to Bolton. Bolton could well be in for a points deduction before too long.

[K-Hod]

Forest Green Rovers chairman comments below. Copied and pasted from Facebook...

From Monday morning, Christian Doidge is back with FGR.  We've taken the decision to recall him after his loan agreement expired last week amid continual contractual breaches by Bolton Wanderers.

It became clear to us that Bolton entered into a contract to loan and then buy Christian last August without the means to honour it, and perhaps the intention to do so as well. They haven't even paid his wages for the last four months (we have). 

It's not just FGR that have been let down badly by Bolton, but Christian too. 

Bolton's Chairman, Ken Anderson, made a lot of promises on the last day of the transfer window, both to Christian and FGR, and has kept none of them.  This is all his work and from talking to Ken he feels immune from the consequences - but some of these promises are written in legally binding contracts, and we'll be pursuing them.

When the dust settles, we'll talk to the EFL about how they regulate clubs like Bolton.  They already regulate the club to a degree, controlling all TV monies to make sure that football debts get paid. Hard not to wonder whether the league could also have a role in approving the terms of any contracts entered into - to make sure that they are actually within the means of the club.  We had no way to know, but the EFL should have the inside view on that. 

And finally (for now...) - Disappointing as it is to see this go pear shaped, both for FGR and Christian, I'm also excited by the prospect of the second half of the season with Christian back with us.  I'm sure all FGR fans everywhere will join me in welcoming him back ?