LCFCJohn

You have outed yourself as either James McCarron, Martin Glover or Rudkin himself here

I said say first point you get to to be fair. I wasn’t saying Norfolk is a bad coastline, certainly much nicer than Lincolnshire and a large extent, Yorkshire until you get to places like Robin Hoods Bay or Whitby. But yeah Wells is nice. Sheringham not been for years but remember being a big meh about it. Not familiar with the other two you mention. Inevitably there will be many smaller places along the coast lines that are more pleasant. The bigger places tend to be less so, even in places like Cornwall, Newquay is a dump compared to many of the smaller places you can visit.

I think as a kid, there was some initial raw talent. That in the earlier days was in show on occasion. No doubt the development of him was shocking and he came through at the start of the Rodgers/Aiyawatt/Rudkin sabotage mission. By the time he got a loan, it was all wrong. We had been relegated and he needed to drop down to say L1, to get the benefit Barnes, Chilwell and KDH did. Instead he went to Sheff Utd in the PL who were a disaster. Then back here as the collapse was in full swing and double relegations later… Ultimately he is a completely broken player now and has been a while. If there was some raw technical abilities in his younger days, they are long gone and his mentality is not of a professional sports person anyway. As @Paninistickerssays above, if we weren’t handing contracts out for fun, he might have dropped out of football by now. An early retirement after he does eventually leave us would not surprise me at all. But all that doesn’t mean there was never some talent. There’s been players tipped as wonder kids (and I’m not for a second saying Thomas was ever that) who didn’t make it as ability was lost to poor discipline or mentality, or even just bad luck or timing.

It hadn’t previously. Something to do with the fact half the PL seem to be in Europe nowadays maybe? Edit: Yep, that’s the reason Because the 2026/27 Carabao Cup has an unusually large number of Premier League clubs playing in Europe. Normally, the EFL Cup starts with the 72 EFL clubs, with Premier League clubs joining in later rounds. But this season nine Premier League clubs are in UEFA competitions. That means those nine clubs don't enter until the third round, creating a numbers problem: there would otherwise be too many teams in the earlier rounds to arrive at the required 32 teams for Round 3.

Old town beach and cliffs are really nice yeah, the one in the town and up towards Searles Holiday Park and onto Heacham isn’t great as very pebbly. But whilst places up on the east coast can’t compare to other areas, such as Cornwall, Devon, South Wales etc, I really don’t think there is anything particularly not to like with Hunstanton. We have stayed at that Searles a couple of times including the late May bank holiday and it’s nice and family owned, stuff for kids and an easy walk on the promenade. We haven’t been off season when things have been closed though. It’d say it’s probably the nicest point you get to first from Leicestershire. Same for us from South Yorkshire really but that’s because I really don’t like the places on the Lincolnshire/Yorkshire coast. Filey isn’t awful but not much going on. Bridlington is horrible. Not a fan of Scarborough. Whitby is nice but too busy. Lincolnshire coastline is just…unfortunate.

Joseph/Aluko a right back as Gilbert was ok but not necessarily more talented than Joseph and Aluko. Braybrooke is unfortunate if we are comparing as we had King, Oakley, Davies and Cleverley which was quite a central midfield 4 to choose from looking back. Alves would have competition from Gradel and Dyer but would be in and around. But other than that, absolutely. Unless Bristvic turns out to be a beast to rival Fryatt or Howard!

Exactly! Per my combined squad thought above, genuinely, outside of the 4 youth players we have in the squad this season, who from this squad is getting into the one from 2008/09? None! Expensive and on high wages does not equate to being better. I think that’s what many of our fans struggle with.

Exactly. If I was doing a combined squad from both our L1 campaigns (as our squad it now), it’d be something like; Dave Martin Joseph Hobbs Tunchev Berner Gradel Oakley/Braybrooke Cleverley/Davies Dyer Fryatt Howard Subs Any of the keepers apart from McCarthy Aluko Michael Morrison King Someone from the centre mids above Alves Striker - maybe Bristvic if he’s any good and better than Dickov the sequel of DJ Campbell!

I mean the 2008/09 squad was clearly not weaker than this one but ok Tunchev, Hobbs, Berner, Gradel, Dyer, Cleverley, King, Oakley, Mark Davies, Fryatt, Howard even the goalkeepers like Henderson, Dave Martin etc. Or… McCarthy, Okoli, Thomas, Reid, Cullen, Skipp etc? Not to mention we had Nige not Martin!

Agreed. I found it surprising of all the coastal towns down the east, be that Norfolk, Lincolnshire or Yorkshire, to highlight Hunstanton of all places! Much nicer than most of the tourist towns down the east coast.

Vile vile stain on the club. Yet the young players who leave get criticised for wanting to? People having pop at the likes of Nelson for not signing a new deal. Why would any of them want to stay at the club whilst this oxygen thief is running the show?

You’d have to look at the reasons firstly. Social media and living in a tech world doesn’t help. Young people have anxiety about the future, employment prospects, cost of living and political turmoil. There is so little advice for young people about what they could do. But if you asked people and could be sure the answers were honest, I would bet a massively large majority would actually want to work. Easier said than done, but it is about creation of opportunities and ensuring young people have the advice and guidance to support them into career paths that will make them want to work. Not being funny but the Reform agenda is literally going to do nothing to improve physical or mental health. It will make it worse as it is all about division and hatred.

Agreed. Well to be fair, I think Hunstanton itself is pretty nice for an east coast seaside town. But the beach at Old Hunstanton is much much nicer. But there are plenty of places I’d keep away from before Hunstanton, like Yarmouth and the like on the Norfolk coast, Skegness and Cleerhorpes etc in Lincolnshire and top my my vile east coast places, Bridlington!

Sounds like social media ‘challenges’ again…I’ve never even seen it myself but that TikTok sounds like an absolute cesspit. The ban for U16’s is great and hopefully has a positive effect over the years. Hopefully the people in the other car pull through. It might sound harsh but those in the other car, no sympathy whatsoever. For their families yes.

Gone 7th-10th as things stand, whilst realising a lot could happen in the remainder of the window. Unfortunately my predictions in the last few seasons, whilst appearing negative on the face of it, have ended up positive in light of what happens in reality….

Chaplin I think is 29. But yeah, McCarthy has no business being first choice.

One position which needs adding to as being might which is another striker. I think they would need to be proven in this country as we have already taken the punt on Bristvic. I’d even be happy if that was Danny Ormerod as he has scored for fun in the National League and is only 20. Others are needed to replace existing members of the squad that we need out. A holding midfielder, a type of player like when we signed Kante or Ndidi but level appropriate. We I’d rather we dipped into a market like the French or Belgian leagues as we did with those 2. And this would need Skipp and/or Choudhury out. Centre backs to replace the current rabble. Ideally Faes, Souttar and Okoli would go and we’d bring 3 in but I’d take 2 for 2. I’d like a new partnership that has one player with a few years under their belt that perhaps knows this league and a younger addition maybe from Europe. It is important that the centre backs and midfielder should address current weaknesses with physicality. Players like Burns and Cullen just have done nothing to address this. The final bit is goalkeepers. McCarthy is a liability and the Blackpool guy, when asked a colleague who is a Blackpool fan he didn’t know anything about him but referred to him as a young keeper (he’s 29)! So hardly a good reference. If Stolarcryk is not in the plans, with him being out of contract next summer, we should just cash in, pure profit. I’d be inclined to bring in a loan here if the right permanent deal is not available. Loans could be used for a striker, one of the centre backs or goalkeeper as well really.

29? He’s 36, 37 in December!

Actually very pro-sale, albeit a few with a heavy heart that are basically saying, and I para-phrase, it’s a shame Top ****ed it up and it’s sad for him and his dad. But not actually defending his or asking for him to stay. Just the one that went against the grain… Selling the club is the worse possible option. Just get rid of Rudkin and we will be fine 🦊 Always one right!

I’m one that defends most players longer than the majority of others, such as Daka and Thomas. But the best way I could describe McCarthy is ‘past it and never really had it to start with’. Bang average in his prime and not well past that prime. It’ll be a long season if he is first choice. That touch where he was closed down and it rebounded onto the bar was just awful. He will cost us a decent amount of goals I should think.

Given your budding reputation as Mr Positive, this is a hell of a reference or Luke

For me, we have done a lot of work on bringing players in the midfield positions, attacking wise. But we still have the same glaring holes as last season and before. Striker - a lot of pressure on Bristvic who may be good or may not. If he is, he can’t do it on his own all season. BDR and Cullen are not the answer. Centre back - ingrained failure from previous relegations and not suited to the style. Centre midfield - feel we are missing a presence similar to how Kante and Ndidi were at the time we signed them. But obviously not for a second saying anyone at their level but that type. Generally speaking, we just lack a physical presence. I think it’s fair to say we need to address these areas over the next couple weeks of it could be a long season where possession stats and passes are high but cheap goals are conceded at one end and chances are not created as frequently as they should or put away at the other.

I appreciate what you’re saying and I’m not myself going to go all reactionary and write the season off after 1 game. I expected a draw or defeat today. We may have a strong season overall but a slow start is hardly a surprise. But after years of the same old and failing to address our weaknesses, if you’re being objective and balanced in equal measure, you can surely see why people will fear the worst?

Not at all. Some people just have other things they want to do. I was all set to watch the game at home but the other option is going swimming with my wife and daughter at 1pm which particularly after the last few days is more appealing!

Are you new here? One bad game means some people on here have seen enough and want players on the scrap heap