deep blue

I thought exactly the same. Was disappointed. Young players need advice in certain situations.

I feel that Faes has the qualities to be a good defensive midfielder, a position where we're lacking at the moment. I'm surprised he hasn't been tried in that role unless he flatly refuses to play it,

Our last 2 managers clearly commanded no respect from the players, and maybe this contributed to the bad personal qualities we saw coming out in some of them last season. Apart from Soumare, who looks to be beyond redemption, it's not unreasonable to hope that a decent manager who commands respect, has clear plans in playing style and who shows good tactical in-game decision-making, could turn round the "bad egg" attitudes and get these characters buying into his management. There are signs that Cifuentes has those qualities and is a good man manager, and he certainly seems to buy into the club and fans. He needs to be given some time to see if his positivity rubs off onto the players and we get improved performances and attitudes from them.

Looking at those 2 games of theirs v York & Man City U21s I see 6 goals and 6 different goalscorers. Interesting to wonder if anyone can name 6 players from our squad who seem capable of scoring.

It's a fair point of view, but I can't agree. One of the factors that carried us over the line in 2015-16 was the strength of character that Pearson brought in with his signings, of which 5 or 6 were "captain material". Part of the reason for our downward track over the last 5 seasons has been the weakness of mentality and commitment in our players.

It was. We played a weakened side but beat Liverpool. As I remember Rodgers heaped great praise on Hamza for his outstanding performance in an unfamiliar role .. and promptly dropped him for the next game.

That is exactly the reason they should be putting effort in - they will be looking to impress other clubs for their next move.

Agree

Your attitude aligns exactly with mine

Can't we dip into the youth squad for covering FBs?

Absolutely the way to go!

If Cifuentes is good at finding raw (I.e cheap) talent from Scandinavia, as was suggested earlier on here, then he might have enough influence on the signings for us to get in a gem from that area.

Me too, but part of the reason is that I've managed, with persistence to find the more specific hospital numbers to ring and have been prepared to myther them (politely).

Well done Lynn and the rest of the group involved in setting up the webinar. It was very well run and presented. Let's hope you can have more of an impact with the club on some of those issues. (I was the anonymous "Neil" on the Zoom; my camera driver packed up ... no loss).

But your assertion of "mediocrity" in all the earlier years is way off the mark. We have had the period of the Ice Kings, 3 appearances in the cup final, occasional skirmishes in Europe, league Cup wins, etc etc. The fact is that in the decades from 1955 to 2005 we have switched between the old div1 and div2 with regularity, which has involved mediocrity in div2 but mixed with the many successes of promotion to div1 and several successful spells in the top division (e.g. the Bloomfield era when we had 3 England internationals in the team). One of the endearing aspects of supporting City is that it's rarely been boring .. a few spells of bad management but mostly good. What's different now is how abject is the whole mismanagement running right through the club, the apparent "don't care" attitude and the disdain shown for supporters. The way that this neglect has seen us throw away a great opportunity to take a more permanent step up is infuriating to all true fans no matter how long they've been supporting the club.

Just for perspective, I've supported the club for over 70 years and have never been as unhappy and disenchanted with the club (I.e. the owners) as I am now.

Just want to echo this. I'd like to thank SecretPro for his best efforts to keep us informed. Hardly his fault if, on occasions, his source turns out not to be 100% or the situation (and the club's mind) changes. I hope you ignore the few barbed comments and keep giving us what info you can.

Re the theory that Sheff Wed owner is making negotiations very difficult : if it's true that Rohl has a release clause of £2.5 mill then surely it's straightforward, with no negotiation required, if we simply cough up that sum? If that's true and our owners are reluctant to pay that much, either because of PSR or simply meanness, then I would suggest those considerations are much less important than getting the right manager in, and as soon as possible.

No we don't. We take the PSR hit and keep all our better youngsters. That's the better long term strategy.

I've never forgotten that, and yet it was largely ignored by the media at the time. It was a miracle piece of control. Had it been a Man U player it would have been heralded much more.

I'm sure a year ago some people on here were predicting as much as a 16 point deduction. We ended up with zero. Just saying...

David Moyes, maybe?

Oops, bad original reply...I misread that comment.

And, unusually, not in his own goal.