Marti Cifuentes appointed new manager

[cityfanlee23]

14 hours ago, Leeds Fox said:

How have so many people mistaken Skipp for Winks 

I read your comment and thought what on earth is this guy on about?!? Then I read my own comment back and realised 🤣 

Not a clue why or how I wrote that 

[JonnyZeroFox]

He is doing a good job so far with the garbage he has had to deal with 

Edited 30 August 2025 by JonnyZeroFox

[dooflip]

I haven’t felt so positive about a manager in a long time.

 

Im making a conscious effort to share my positivity and praise on ft where it’s due, because there’s so many with a negative mindset.

 

Marti has been in the job just over a month. Hardly any pre season, no money to spend, and loads of deadwood that the fanbase can’t stand.

 

We’ve got 9 points from 12. Our youngsters and being shown faith by the manager, and are doing well. He’s shown he won’t take any nonsense by leaving BEK out. Winks is clearly out of the starting 11 for non footballing reasons too, which I have to admire because ability wise he is good.

Marti has got large cojones, which is refreshing and what we have been crying out for as a club.

 

Not for one minute saying he’s the best manager in the world. But for where we are as a club right now, I can’t really fault him, because there are so many positives.

Really looking forward to showing my support for the manager in the coming months, and seeing what he does with our squad once the deadline shuts and things become more cohesive with time.

[Guest Bilo]

3 minutes ago, dooflip said:

I haven’t felt so positive about a manager in a long time.

 

Im making a conscious effort to share my positivity and praise on ft where it’s due, because there’s so many with a negative mindset.

 

Marti has been in the job just over a month. Hardly any pre season, no money to spend, and loads of deadwood that the fanbase can’t stand.

 

We’ve got 9 points from 12. Our youngsters and being shown faith by the manager, and are doing well. He’s shown he won’t take any nonsense by leaving BEK out. Winks is clearly out of the starting 11 for non footballing reasons too, which I have to admire because ability wise he is good.

Marti has got large cojones, which is refreshing and what we have been crying out for as a club.

 

Not for one minute saying he’s the best manager in the world. But for where we are as a club right now, I can’t really fault him, because there are so many positives.

Really looking forward to showing my support for the manager in the coming months, and seeing what he does with our squad once the deadline shuts and things become more cohesive with time.

Agree here. If he's backed with the signings he wants in the final couple of days of the window, I actually think his ceiling is quite high. 

 

He stands up to the big names, is tactically pragmatic, seems to have them playing for him, gets the club and makes correct decisions in game. Quite honestly, based on his start, I do think he's the first manager who I'd trust with a rebuild since Maresca. 

 

Sunderland played a lot of young players last season and it worked out brilliantly for them, with them making a very solid start this season. I'd love to see us do more of the same with Nelson, Monga, Page etc getting plenty of minutes and building confidence by being trusted. If Seagrave is good for anything, it's home grown talent.

 

Of course, we still need additions. But I'm encouraged by some of the links coming through. Solomon, Ivanovic, Rego and some of the Scandinavian links are exactly what we need to build a financially sustainable reset with fewer egos and a bit of resale value. Get us back to being a unit again, as I suspect is Cifuentes's preference. Had we still been under Cooper, we'd have wound up with Ings, Bamford and every other overpaid and over the hill signing that would just smack of lazy recruitment. 

[foxinsox]

10 minutes ago, dooflip said:

I haven’t felt so positive about a manager in a long time.

 

Im making a conscious effort to share my positivity and praise on ft where it’s due, because there’s so many with a negative mindset.

 

Marti has been in the job just over a month. Hardly any pre season, no money to spend, and loads of deadwood that the fanbase can’t stand.

 

We’ve got 9 points from 12. Our youngsters and being shown faith by the manager, and are doing well. He’s shown he won’t take any nonsense by leaving BEK out. Winks is clearly out of the starting 11 for non footballing reasons too, which I have to admire because ability wise he is good.

Marti has got large cojones, which is refreshing and what we have been crying out for as a club.

 

Not for one minute saying he’s the best manager in the world. But for where we are as a club right now, I can’t really fault him, because there are so many positives.

Really looking forward to showing my support for the manager in the coming months, and seeing what he does with our squad once the deadline shuts and things become more cohesive with time.

Yes, I am very happy that Marti is willing to make off field behaviour an issue for the players. Shape up or ship out. Someone else gets your spot.

[Swarles Barkley]

21 hours ago, Pick Good Name Later said:

He’s been dealt an unwinnable hand and is still finding a way. 
 

Judge him at Christmas, not now. 

Unless the shit really hits the fan like Ruud then I don’t think I could even judge by Christmas (assuming very little transfer business). We need stability and I think Marti is the right man even if we’re mid table by then

[Guest Bilo]

9 minutes ago, foxinsox said:

Yes, I am very happy that Marti is willing to make off field behaviour an issue for the players. Shape up or ship out. Someone else gets your spot.

Absolutely. We've said for a while that Seagrave is spectacular and, used correctly, a cheat code for a club of our size. The problem is that a succession of weak managers and a milksop hierarchy have allowed to become a holiday camp where players think they've made it by ending up there.

 

If Marti is letting them know who's in charge by telling them that they can just as easily end up having ice baths in wheelie bins at Barnsley if they don't shape up, then I'm all for it. Make it something they're scared to lose, not something they feel entitled to.

[HankMarvin]

26 minutes ago, dooflip said:

He’s shown he won’t take any nonsense by leaving BEK out. Winks is clearly out of the starting 11 for non footballing reasons too

Nothing to do with the club not wanting to risk injury to offload unhappy players?

[dooflip]

1 minute ago, HankMarvin said:

Nothing to do with the club not wanting to risk injury to offload unhappy players?

I doubt it, I think bilal being injured would actually work in our favour.

[whoareyaaa]

2 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

Nothing to do with the club not wanting to risk injury to offload unhappy players?

like Newcastle are doing with Isak ?

[HankMarvin]

4 minutes ago, dooflip said:

I doubt it, I think bilal being injured would actually work in our favour.

In what world, would having an unhappy player injured unable to leave be a benefit to a club that doesn’t have a pot to piss in to make transfers.
Sell a valued asset instead like Fatawu?

[dooflip]

Just now, HankMarvin said:

In what world, would having an unhappy player injured unable to leave be a benefit to a club that doesn’t have a pot to piss in to make transfers.
Sell a valued asset instead like Fatawu?

He wasn’t unhappy. He became unhappy following the palace interest. If he was injured, clubs wouldn’t buy him because he was injured. It wouldn’t be us not letting him move, therefore he couldn’t really hold it against us. He would then become fit again, and want to put himself in the shop window for a move and also for the national team.

[HankMarvin]

2 minutes ago, dooflip said:

He wasn’t unhappy. He became unhappy following the palace interest. If he was injured, clubs wouldn’t buy him because he was injured. It wouldn’t be us not letting him move, therefore he couldn’t really hold it against us. He would then become fit again, and want to put himself in the shop window for a move and also for the national team.

But it wouldn’t be of a benefit financially and no one knows quite how bad our situation is yet

[whoareyaaa]

8 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

In what world, would having an unhappy player injured unable to leave be a benefit to a club that doesn’t have a pot to piss in to make transfers.
Sell a valued asset instead like Fatawu?

Because he makes the team better if he is committed we don't really need to sell 

[HankMarvin]

3 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

Because he makes the team better if he is committed we don't really need to sell 

We do if it means breaching PSR and points deductions for potentially another season, there is a reason one free signing all summer 

[Dahnsouff]

We know how these primadonna type behaviours go, we have seen it a few times.

Get him gone and replace with the ‘next thing’ and go forward.

 

Edit sorry, assumed from previous posts that we were in the Bilal thread , but assume it’s clear who I am referring too. 

Edited 30 August 2025 by Dahnsouff

[MGLCFC]

I wonder if the Foxestalk tone will change opinion on Marti should we lose 3 in a row? I see this as a project and don't necessarily see promotion as the yardstick to measure progress by. If funds don't allow us to improve the squad, then the positives I'm looking for this season are a team that has spirit, desire and that never quit attitude and is progressing as a squad. The old saying, there is no i in team was never more true for some of our players.

[Dahnsouff]

5 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

I wonder if the Foxestalk tone will change opinion on Marti should we lose 3 in a row? I see this as a project and don't necessarily see promotion as the yardstick to measure progress by. If funds don't allow us to improve the squad, then the positives I'm looking for this season are a team that has spirit, desire and that never quit attitude and is progressing as a squad. The old saying, there is no i in team was never more true for some of our players.

Of course it will, blimey it will change after losing a single game, but those will be reactive discontent, so would not signify a true pivot away from him.
 

You would hope people can see both the challenges faced under his blossoming tenure, and the optimistic nature of the performances seen in spite of those challenges.

[-sodapop]

10 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

I wonder if the Foxestalk tone will change opinion on Marti should we lose 3 in a row? I see this as a project and don't necessarily see promotion as the yardstick to measure progress by. If funds don't allow us to improve the squad, then the positives I'm looking for this season are a team that has spirit, desire and that never quit attitude and is progressing as a squad. The old saying, there is no i in team was never more true for some of our players.

i don't think it would take 3 games for the vibe on here to take a nosedive 

[Big_Nige]

25 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

I wonder if the Foxestalk tone will change opinion on Marti should we lose 3 in a row? I see this as a project and don't necessarily see promotion as the yardstick to measure progress by. If funds don't allow us to improve the squad, then the positives I'm looking for this season are a team that has spirit, desire and that never quit attitude and is progressing as a squad. The old saying, there is no i in team was never more true for some of our players.

The tone will change if we go 1 nil down against Oxford for some

 

The club is at a crossroads, we can’t throw money at the problem and for the first time since the Pearson era we’ve got to re-build the club. All the signs so far from Cifuentes points to he’s the man the lead the project.
 

Big positive for me is it seems like we’ve got a manager who can affect the game on the touch line with his little tweaks and substitutions. And he learns from game to game. Preston we were caught out with a high line so we’ve visibly sat 5 yards deeper. Charlton I thought we got bullied, against Birmingham who were just as physical we stood up to it, and gave some back. Loved that

 

There’s a tiny bit of positivity around the club (on the pitch) again, you could feel it in the ground last night and I’m here for it

 

Edited 30 August 2025 by Big_Nige

[CrazyKopCorner]

Yes I thought playing Skipp and Soumare was a disaster but he’s got performances out of them neither Cooper or RVN got close to. 
 

Im optimistic too but not sure if it’s just because I’m comparing him to those 2 buffoons 

 

I don’t think it is - he’s made several positive steps already 

[squidsworth]

We won again so M'Dog must be doing something right, sometimes you just got to find a way to get them points. And the guy has achieved that so far. 

But my god have the last 2 games been absolutely s**t to watch.

Our luck will turn for the worse sooner or later if we keep playing like we have thus far. So I'm hoping for a proper performance and a result in the not too distant future.

[dooflip]

1 hour ago, HankMarvin said:

But it wouldn’t be of a benefit financially and no one knows quite how bad our situation is yet

The fact that we don’t want to sell, and that it has been publicly stated that we do not need to sell BEK following the surprise sales we have made would point to us being fine for PSR for this period.

[HankMarvin]

10 minutes ago, dooflip said:

The fact that we don’t want to sell, and that it has been publicly stated that we do not need to sell BEK following the surprise sales we have made would point to us being fine for PSR for this period.

Publicly stated by anyone with any credibility?

[dooflip]

13 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

Publicly stated by anyone with any credibility?

I feel like you are just wanting to argue to be honest. If we were desperate for the cash, BEK would have already gone. We have sold lots of players and reduced the wage bill significantly, spending no money and stating we don’t want to sell BEK.