J. James

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How dare you have an opinion that doesn't include calling for a sacking!! This hoping we lose nonsense 'cos then this, that or the other will happen is high fantasy. We lose and the only certain or even likely thing to happen is we gain zero points - And make lots of fans even more unhappy The fact is people's capacity for patience is at an all time low, and if we did finish 17th those same reactionary people would be insisting it was despite the manager and with another (fantasy) manager in charge we'd have been in Europe!

Lol.. You may be surprised to know that l couldn't find people with a high enough level of skill to grow my business! My expectations were too high! But thats me with business head on, sport is just fun.. or should be.

For me there is could win, should win and must win.. Since we thrashed Man city at their place some months ago (about 48), l dont have a can't win anymore! Imao this one is a definite could win.

I aim to educate, inform and entertain... But not necessarily in that order. 😉😊

Ahh, your last point, i dont believe he would no, the Rodgers debacle points me in that direction ( l don't believe the "too expensive to sack him" thing, they deal in multi millions not just millions) also his decisions regarding the directors who by any measure are under performing. Frankly l think he believes what he's told by people with vested interests. First point, They chose Cooper when we the great unwashed believed we were getting a big points deduction, if they thought that too they either chose him believing he could avoid relegation by deduction + 1 or resigned themselves to the drop anyway, l can't believe this option. Did they believe that the case was won before the hearing? l think so, our council is clearly a very persuasive man and Top seems to be ready to be persuaded! As far as falling into the EFL again, that is like falling off a high cliff with crocodiles at the bottom, by the time you hit the rocks the crocodiles aren't a worry anymore! IOW dropping to the EFL now would be a disaster anyway. In any case no amount of fear and trepidation of the drop can influence your decision of who to appoint, you just pick the man you believe has the best chance of success. I thought and still think Cooper is the wrong choice, but we (they) chose him and l think he should be given a bit longer than 6 games, if he fails, then just like keeping the fraud it's mostly on them. And just to finish on this happy subject... So they sack him, how much confidence do you have in the selection of his successor? Who would be persuasive? A short list of two? Lampard or Gerrard... I rest my case m'lud.

Well, demanding wins is one thing, winning is altogether different. I said before the season started that there is a way for us to stay up, a formula that will work, but l also said it would take a tactical genius which Cooper or ANY coach who would come here is not. There are winnable games and l hope we go for it against Bournemouth but realistically no matter how attacking we are, they also want to win (obvs) so a draw seems likely and to me at least ok. I didn't want Cooper but C.C. however l think he should be given some slack as its down to our owner that we are here not him.

As well as confirmation bias (those people manically calling for sacking after a handful of frankly expected results), we are also seeing "mission creep", i.e. expectation being raised above pure survival to "must win" against a team like Bournemouth (over double our points total) who some describe as "dogsh*t"! Had we lost every one or had we picked up one point from seven (remember that?) - then some of the opinions on here may have been justified. This is clearly not a must win and Bournemouth are clearly not a bad side. A good performance will gain us a point i think, a win is very unlikely, much less likely than a loss. As far as Coopers job is concerned, A win = job safe Draw = job safe Loss = job safe And no amount of wishful posting on here is changing this position for months if at all this season.

Money is in my view the root of the problem, costs have to be passed on and fleecing the supporters is it seems the only way. However, with the unchecked rise of AI (## it's good news week) the traditional but inconvenient attendees at a game will sooner or later be replaced with AI crowds indistinguishable from us, stadiums as we know them will disappear and games will be played in basically blue screen studios. Much cheaper and controllable. There will be no decline in support, it just wont be us, it will be subscribers. And dont confuse this with the atmosphere free Covid games, this will be programmed, directed and edited? by professionals. This is the way the world is heading- or rather the way mega rich are directing it- in order to maximise their returns. Driverless cars - supporterless grounds, all to control and take out the inconvenient glitches that devalue the product (in their view) - otherwise known as people and surprises. Lots of us already feel that we are exploited and taken for fools, there is little or no chance of any team apart from the usual suspects winning anything now, VAR and the other 3 letter acronyms have stolen our excitement and it all feels set up and controlled just to make money, particularly for the greedy six. Wonder why lots of us traditional football fans feel a disconnect?

Sorry, but the players at this club are ALL top class aren't they? Any eleven should have beaten Walsall easily if they are indeed a class or two above the lower leagues players. The fact is there is a very small difference between prem and EFL players and an even smaller difference between coaches. Imao both results are mostly down to players and partly to the hopeless running of the club forcing us to sell our best players. Cooper takes some blame but he is not the main problem - if there even is one!

Spot on, it's yet more confirmation bias, and it is a self sustaining and self propogating effect. Posters hate an individual, look (and frankly invent) reasons why they are without question correct in their views conveniently omitting contrary evidence and frankly a million variables which may affect outcomes AND without knowledge of the real situation of players fitness/readiness and lots of other nesses! Our apparent inability to hold out in the last few minutes is 1% down to a manager and 99% down to the 22 fabulously wealthy players on the pitch. But this doesn't fit the narrative atm.

Hmmm.. The problem with this type of conspiracy theory - just like the "Americans faked the moon landing" one, is that hundreds of people would by necessity need to be a part of - in this instance- criminal enterprise. Someone would talk or be caught/killed if this was happening but frankly it's not. Don't get me wrong, yes they are corrupt, yes money obsessed and along with FIFA turning a beautiful sport into surprise free entertainment, but direct match fixing? No.

Spot on, certain players are now akin to artwork- particularly conceptual art from "artists" such as Tracy Emin... They are worth what some.. Investor.. Will pay for them and from that base, that's what their value is. Doesn't mean the art is anything other than worth what someone paid, likewise players, paying a world record fee means only that and nothing more. This non news story is truly pathetic BS.

Yep, its simply Columnists Rehashing Acquired Publications.. I'll leave the acronym to others. 😐

It's a tough game at the weekend for sure against a team likely to finish either first or second but l think we can nick it, penalty in the last minute or two and we hold out for a narrow win... GO TIGERS! Oops..

This is exactly correct but the confirmation bias that every one of us suffers from means that we tend to discount/forget the failures and only count/remember the successes. For me there is absolutely no doubt that none of the posters here or elsewhere could do a better job than Cooper, the question is whether there is a coach (who is prepared to come here) that could. The answer is yes there is, unfortunately the really difficult bit is who! Honestly, it's all a gamble but like all forms of gambling the more information acquired and the more intelligent the gambler the more chance there is of success. However the odds of survival increase greatly as the season wears on and the calibre of coach needed increases in direct proportion to the points required until a combination of Pep, Klopp, Paisley and Ferguson would be insufficient! They will stick with the donkey until he morphs into Shergar or fails, but frankly in the latter case, it will be too late.

I agree with some of this. Yes, We are playing Soton away and Bournemouth at home. But lose both of these and Cooper goes precisely nowhere. These wishful thinking comments are quite simply people giving themselves a bit of hope - understandably - that "everything is one man's fault and a new, wonder coach would turn our mediocre players into worldies". Cooper is l think pretty average, but then most are by definition, and it really is very likely we'd get an equally average replacement who would lose games in a different way. Our next coach will be a firesale failure like last time, brought in too late to perform miracles that are utterly beyond them. Those in charge cast the die when they chose dull mediocrity in SC over exciting potential in Corberan and they and we are seeing the consequences of yet another poor decision from an inept leadership. This thread and others is Rodgers out all over again and sadly the wait for the change will be precisely the same because the same fools will be making the same mistake of leaving it too late - as fools do.

Simply.. Dont hold your breath bud.. 🙁

Lol... Hows the tea lady?

And this opinion is based on? How quickly the owner realised that the fraud was taking us down before he took action? Like.. 6 months after it was blindingly obvious to virtually everyone except him and his useless advisers? Sadly, based on previous if Cooper fails to win a single game, he will still be in charge come March. Our owner has feet of clay and misplaced confidence in the wrong people.

Lol.. These people that the BBC employ as pundits are brilliant - At something no doubt - but just not what they are paid to do! Deeney can't pick a team and Sutton is useless at predicting results ( beaten virtually every week by musicians, actors reality tv "personalities" and 97 year old blind in one eye Alf from Basingstoke). *Ok the last one was made up but if he's ever on, Alf will wipe the floor with the tw*t. I don't mind paying my licence fee to fund these useless fools in the least.. 😐

Yeah, they get on my wick too... 😐

Lol... Man city, Chelsea and Everton it is then! Maybe dreams do come true.

Lol.. I don't think they would dare try, it would be so obviously a vindictive attempt at revenge any appeal court would laugh in their faces (again). No, sorry Forest and Toffees fans we won - get over it. 😎

The problem for genuine supporters is that the EPL is now not about football as much as it is about the cult of personality. People want to see these famous personalities in the same way that they want to see the Gallagher brothers, not because they are better than a good non - famous band but because of who they are. And ofc the marketing people to whom extracting as much money as possible is their sole aim know this. Whilst our unfashionable club is obviously devoid of "A list celebrities" we play the greedy six and people will pay over the odds to see their famous faces. Frankly, l enjoy a good tribute bands music as much, admittedly a packed arena adds to the atmosphere but the feeling of not being cheated compensates somewhat, and if you can't get/afford to see the original it's a good option. This kind of mirrors my feelings about being out of the EPL show, the pre match pint tastes just as good, the football is great and the crowd are football fans. English premier football unchecked WILL be given over to the rich, l just hope when it is we are in a lower league with reasonable prices.