The "do they mean us?" thread pt 4

[ceebeefox]

On 16/09/2026 at 09:29, AKCJ said:

I'd add El Khannouss and Castagne.

Castagne?????

[dmayne7]

20 minutes ago, ceebeefox said:

Castagne?????

He's a Belgian full back. Used to play for us.

[AKCJ]

39 minutes ago, ceebeefox said:

Castagne?????

Fullback we sold to Fulham when we got relegated. Played about 200 Premier League games. Good player signed for about £14m so decent signing.

[ceebeefox]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Fullback we sold to Fulham when we got relegated. Played about 200 Premier League games. Good player signed for about £14m so decent signing.

Well he’s remained a premier player so fair play to him and Fulham, but at the time I’d have driven him to London myself. Good start at Man City but poor from then on I thought. But we did have a very high bar at the time.

[ceebeefox]

2 hours ago, dmayne7 said:

He's a Belgian full back. Used to play for us.

Yes I know I was just astounded that he was down as a good signing in some eyes, we all se the game different I guess.

[AKCJ]

3 minutes ago, ceebeefox said:

Well he’s remained a premier player so fair play to him and Fulham, but at the time I’d have driven him to London myself. Good start at Man City but poor from then on I thought. But we did have a very high bar at the time.

As I say, he's made nigh on 200 Premier League games. You don't do that if you're a poor player.

 

You don't regularly get that sort of a bargain for a capable mid-table level fullback.

[The Year Of The Fox]

2 hours ago, ceebeefox said:

Well he’s remained a premier player so fair play to him and Fulham, but at the time I’d have driven him to London myself. Good start at Man City but poor from then on I thought. But we did have a very high bar at the time.

I never took to him either 

[ealingfox]

On 19/08/2026 at 15:43, AKCJ said:

Based on the fact we've got one of the strongest sides in the division and a manager that has no real business managing a club this low down the pyramid.

 

One month on - how are we feeling?

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

 

One month on - how are we feeling?

Very confident that if the manager realises the way he's getting the squad to play (or if/when he's sacked and replaced by someone else that will) that we will shoot up the league. The squad doesn't compare with the rest of the division.

 

Martin is clearly a manager with one major flaw, he's wedded to an ideology that relies on your players being consistently exceptional. The goal we scored the other day proves that it can work and it can be devastating. But it relied on the entire squad moving the ball quickly and to the right man. That's why it's so inconsistent.

 

I'd urge Martin to stop playing in a style that's so reliant on the players being exceptional all of the time and appreciate that they only need to be half-decent to win this division. The standard is woeful.

 

 

Thanks for thinking of me on your Sunday evening though.

[honeybradger]

5 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Very confident that if the manager realises the way he's getting the squad to play (or if/when he's sacked and replaced by someone else that will) that we will shoot up the league. The squad doesn't compare with the rest of the division.

 

Martin is clearly a manager with one major flaw, he's wedded to an ideology that relies on your players being consistently exceptional. The goal we scored the other day proves that it can work and it can be devastating. But it relied on the entire squad moving the ball quickly and to the right man. That's why it's so inconsistent.

 

I'd urge Martin to stop playing in a style that's so reliant on the players being exceptional all of the time and appreciate that they only need to be half-decent to win this division. The standard is woeful.

 

 

Thanks for thinking of me on your Sunday evening though.

Outside of the 5 academy lads who in this squad is far too good for this league?

 

Riis maybe but outside of that we have a lot of mediocrity. Burns, Faes, Watson, Okoli, Souttar, Cullen, Thomas, Chaplin etc is a team that on paper looks too good for this league but in practice has a lot of error prone players and players past their sell by date.

 

We are very lucky we have the academy lads coming in otherwise this season would have likely been a horror show. Imagine having to rely on Watson as a starter if we didn't have Alves for example.

[ealingfox]

10 hours ago, AKCJ said:

Very confident that if the manager realises the way he's getting the squad to play (or if/when he's sacked and replaced by someone else that will) that we will shoot up the league. The squad doesn't compare with the rest of the division.

 

Martin is clearly a manager with one major flaw, he's wedded to an ideology that relies on your players being consistently exceptional. The goal we scored the other day proves that it can work and it can be devastating. But it relied on the entire squad moving the ball quickly and to the right man. That's why it's so inconsistent.

 

I'd urge Martin to stop playing in a style that's so reliant on the players being exceptional all of the time and appreciate that they only need to be half-decent to win this division. The standard is woeful.

 

 

Thanks for thinking of me on your Sunday evening though.

 

 So when you said Martin had no business managing in this division that was with the caveat that he had to change his playing philosophy and management style first? Surely your evaluation had to be based on how he actually manages rather than a fictional version of him.

 

Easier to just admit you overestimated his (and the squad's) ability?