Cifuentes OUT

[Foxdiamond]

With our squad and leadership not sure who could get us going. Must admit thinking we should have looked at Mark Robins

[Freddy]

2 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I don’t know, I half expect Top to interview in his underpants, he that useless. 
 

I suspect you’re right though, I think Top says I want this, Rudkin then goes and finds who he wants, and Top says “brilliant choice gromit”.

Agreed..... I can't see the wood for the trees, I've read so many theories, but i noticed that it seemed to start going tits up around 2020 more or less....coincidentally the same time Seagrave opened its doors.

[Bob Weasel Fox]

5 minutes ago, Freddy said:

Agreed..... I can't see the wood for the trees, I've read so many theories, but i noticed that it seemed to start going tits up around 2020 more or less....coincidentally the same time Seagrave opened its doors.

I wonder if it's the following syndrome

 

"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times". I

 

regarding Seagrave making the players weak men effectively 🤔

[honeybradger]

38 minutes ago, Larry_LCFC said:

The only thing that can get this squad of misfits playing to an acceptable level is by having a manager that they fear, commands respect and takes no prisoners. We have had too many soft as shit managers that the players clearly dont respect. 

Ayew summed it up the other night just swaggering around in the last few minutes. Quite clearly couldn't be arsed to defend the throw in and put any effort in to maintaining the lead. Was happy to stand around after the final whistle throwing his arms round and moaning. The attitude in our team is toxic. Never seen so many players look like they couldn't find a flying ****.

Is the answer to try and get our players playing to an acceptable level or to have a clear out of the players.

 

It won't be pretty but I think it's the latter, getting a run of form out of this squad is like putting a plaster on a gaping wound. We dont need results we need a manager to tell half this squad to find a new club.

[Foxmeister]

4 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Is the answer to try and get our players playing to an acceptable level or to have a clear out of the players.

 

It won't be pretty but I think it's the latter, getting a run of form out of this squad is like putting a plaster on a gaping wound. We dont need results we need a manager to tell half this squad to find a new club.

Lovely idea but nobody wants them anymore than we do.
 

Winks will earn circa £2.5m from Jan to the end of his contract in June, his current market rate will need a good 2 seasons to get him that. By that point he’ll be 31 and he’s on a rapid decline as it is. From his POV it would be massively counterproductive to do that.
 

The same can be said for Faes, Vesty and Daka. The situation with Skipp is considerably worse.

[honeybradger]

Just now, Foxmeister said:

Lovely idea but nobody wants them anymore than we do.
 

Winks will earn circa £2.5m from Jan to the end of his contract in June, his current market rate will need a good 2 seasons to get him that. By that point he’ll be 31 and he’s on a rapid decline as it is. From his POV it would be massively counterproductive to do that.
 

The same can be said for Faes, Vesty and Daka. The situation with Skipp is considerably worse.

We apparently had an offer for Faes from Besiktas in the region of £8mil but turned it down. Similarly there was strong interest in Kristiansen.

 

There are opportunities to sell these players but we overvalue them and ask for too much.

[Pliskin]

14 minutes ago, Freddy said:

Agreed..... I can't see the wood for the trees, I've read so many theories, but i noticed that it seemed to start going tits up around 2020 more or less....coincidentally the same time Seagrave opened its doors.

You’re not wrong. Seagrave is definitely an issue….. I remember being told Brendan had to get the players off the training pitch to take their dirty plates back after lunch. 
 

I mean, as trivial as it seems, that’s self entitlement at its finest…….

 

And I think this can also transition to the managers too, Cooper, Marti, I get the feeling we’re and are just ‘happy to be here’ vibes!
 

I mean, my suggestion would be, seam the men’s and the women’s team around. Have the academies and the ladies at Seagrave and send the men back to Belvoir drive. There’s no room for self entitlement in sport, not at any level because everything can crumble…. We see it time and time again with teams like Man City et al, but they’ve got the finances, and the dirty tricks to refresh, and their finances. We on the other hand can’t miss a beat, otherwise, well the proof is in the pudding……… 

 

Seagrave is an elite facility, so players with ego’s that surpass their desire for their football will just get too comfortable…. They’ve everything they need and work for nothing….. as pipes said “no hunger in paradise” that’s it in a nutshell……

[filbertway]

24 minutes ago, Bob Weasel Fox said:

I wonder if it's the following syndrome

 

"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times". I

 

regarding Seagrave making the players weak men effectively 🤔

Man City, famously known for their weakness  

I think it simply boils down to personality types, we've not done due dilligence on that aspect of players since Nige got sent packing. 

[Fox92]

1 hour ago, Foxdiamond said:

With our squad and leadership not sure who could get us going. Must admit thinking we should have looked at Mark Robins

Robins was mentioned but also got laughed off by many people. Probably cause it's not as attractive as naming some European as manager.

 

Not that I think Stoke will finish top 6 but he certainly knows how to work with budgets and how to build a squad, which is what we need. 

[Clever Fox]

17 hours ago, oxtonfox said:

Apparently they train really well according to MC and everyone gets on, there is a positive spirit. I am not sure he knows what’s best for this lot, they’ve become accustomed to not winning games.

One of the issues is that there are no leaders in this team now. 2 seasons ago we had Kiernan and Vardy who at least led by example. There’s no one now to calm down Abdul etc. 

I understand they're not his signings so I don't want to be to critical. But we're watching the same players making the same mistakes game after game. Why doesn't he try Okoli who is quick up top. Or Faes, Vesty. or Okoli etc.  Or try Fats or Mav in there where their trickery might create something or even win a Pen. I know our wingers get little or no support at times but why do they have to keep on trying to beat defenders, When they're double and triple marked and attacks break down. Wouldn't it be better to switch the play quickly to where the space is. 

Does nobody speak up at team meetings. ? It's a team game , they have to communicate what they want and expect from each other and this should be driven by the Manager.

 

On aseparate note we don't look fit enough looking at the teams we've played recently.  Too many basking in 5 star luxury.

[Freddy]

55 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

You’re not wrong. Seagrave is definitely an issue….. I remember being told Brendan had to get the players off the training pitch to take their dirty plates back after lunch. 
 

I mean, as trivial as it seems, that’s self entitlement at its finest…….

 

And I think this can also transition to the managers too, Cooper, Marti, I get the feeling we’re and are just ‘happy to be here’ vibes!
 

I mean, my suggestion would be, seam the men’s and the women’s team around. Have the academies and the ladies at Seagrave and send the men back to Belvoir drive. There’s no room for self entitlement in sport, not at any level because everything can crumble…. We see it time and time again with teams like Man City et al, but they’ve got the finances, and the dirty tricks to refresh, and their finances. We on the other hand can’t miss a beat, otherwise, well the proof is in the pudding……… 

 

Seagrave is an elite facility, so players with ego’s that surpass their desire for their football will just get too comfortable…. They’ve everything they need and work for nothing….. as pipes said “no hunger in paradise” that’s it in a nutshell……

Spot on about ego's. LCFC forgot how it got to 15/16 season in the first place, wrapped up in the applause, we splashed out on a world class training centre and overpriced players, blindly expecting to sustain both. Pride comes before a fall and I thought even children understood what's happens to big heads. 

[Pliskin]

15 minutes ago, Freddy said:

Spot on about ego's. LCFC forgot how it got to 15/16 season in the first place, wrapped up in the applause, we splashed out on a world class training centre and overpriced players, blindly expecting to sustain both. Pride comes before a fall and I thought even children understood what's happens to big heads. 

Spot on! We got caught up in our own bravado and abandoned what got us to that place in the first place….. meticulous planning, and smooth operation throughout the hands on part of the club, from Physio to psychology we had experts across the board. Slowly that’s eroded and like you say, we resorted to blindly splashing out on overpriced players with an inability to sustain it….  

[JimJams]

If for whatever reason (financially really) we were only able to do one of the following, what would people prefer out of 

A)Replacing Marti

B)January striker signing

On the premise we can only afford to do one.

[RoboFox]

He said we were "excellent" against Middlesborough in his pre-match presser. Upolding typical LCFC standards then. 

 

 

Edited 7 November 2025 by RoboFox

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

Robins was mentioned but also got laughed off by many people. Probably cause it's not as attractive as naming some European as manager.

 

Not that I think Stoke will finish top 6 but he certainly knows how to work with budgets and how to build a squad, which is what we need. 

 

He's clearly very competent at this level and done very well at Stoke so far, but he also had what is broadly the same squad Lampard has putting their dick in the relegation zone. He'd lost it at Cov and people were quite right to be reserved about him as a potential manager 

[Foxmeister]

2 hours ago, honeybradger said:

We apparently had an offer for Faes from Besiktas in the region of £8mil but turned it down. Similarly there was strong interest in Kristiansen.

 

There are opportunities to sell these players but we overvalue them and ask for too much.

It takes more than accepting an offer for a deal to go through and a lot more than interest. Any deal is reliant on the player agreeing personal terms, when they’re are currently earning far more than they’re worth, and him and his family being willing to up sticks to Turkey.

[The Doctor]

3 hours ago, Larry_LCFC said:

The only thing that can get this squad of misfits playing to an acceptable level is by having a manager that they fear, commands respect and takes no prisoners. 

Except they'll go crying to Aiyawatt and get said manager sacked, because he's a child who wants to be friends with the players rather than being an effective CEO and chairman

[HankMarvin]

1 hour ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

He'd lost it at Cov and people were quite right to be reserved about him as a potential manager 

The average duration for a championship manager is 1.9 years, he was there for 7 years.

 

[Dahnsouff]

1 hour ago, JimJams said:

If for whatever reason (financially really) we were only able to do one of the following, what would people prefer out of 

A)Replacing Marti

B)January striker signing

On the premise we can only afford to do one.

Probably b as long as they are not rubbish 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

36 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

The average duration for a championship manager is 1.9 years, he was there for 7 years.

 

 

And that's relevant to my point where I said he'd done a good job but tailed off terribly how?

Edited 7 November 2025 by Miquel The Work Geordie

[Guest]

2 hours ago, JimJams said:

If for whatever reason (financially really) we were only able to do one of the following, what would people prefer out of 

A)Replacing Marti

B)January striker signing

On the premise we can only afford to do one.

Cop-out answer: I don't think there's any guarantee either has much of an impact and I suppose it depends largely on which replacement and striker. 

 

Actual answer: probably A. I remain unconvinced that a new striker is the silver bullet that gets us creating and scoring more chances (not that a new manager necessarily is, either). Improving on Carranza, Ayew and Daka should theoretically be really easy but I think we're unlikely to be able to identify/attract/afford a striker who is good enough and well-rounded enough to consistently score goals in a team this unproductive. I think it's more likely we could find a manager who is just better at coaching a team to attack.

[JacobLCFC1234]

11 minutes ago, Guest said:

Cop-out answer: I don't think there's any guarantee either has much of an impact and I suppose it depends largely on which replacement and striker. 

 

Actual answer: probably A. I remain unconvinced that a new striker is the silver bullet that gets us creating and scoring more chances (not that a new manager necessarily is, either). Improving on Carranza, Ayew and Daka should theoretically be really easy but I think we're unlikely to be able to identify/attract/afford a striker who is good enough and well-rounded enough to consistently score goals in a team this unproductive. I think it's more likely we could find a manager who is just better at coaching a team to attack.

Depends who the theoretical manager is, and who the theoretical striker is.

 

Under Marti-ball, we would probably starve this striker of balls into the box anyway so the point might be moot, whereas a more direct manager might get more out of what we have just by playing more percentage football

[LCFCJohn]

2 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

He's clearly very competent at this level and done very well at Stoke so far, but he also had what is broadly the same squad Lampard has putting their dick in the relegation zone. He'd lost it at Cov and people were quite right to be reserved about him as a potential manager 

He also has a Stoke side that’s been flapping around the relegation zone for years in the top 2.

 

He was at Coventry for years and got them from L2 to Championship playoffs and built the squad Lampard has inherited. It just got stale, it never made him a bad manager.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

30 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

He also has a Stoke side that’s been flapping around the relegation zone for years in the top 2.

 

He was at Coventry for years and got them from L2 to Championship playoffs and built the squad Lampard has inherited. It just got stale, it never made him a bad manager.

 

You aren't saying anything that argues my point tbh. I've said he's good at this level and did a good job there

 

As an FYI I don't tend to pay attention to people with LCFC in their username and no avatar - sorry John, you'll learn from this

[LCFCJohn]

3 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

You aren't saying anything that argues my point tbh. I've said he's good at this level and did a good job there

 

As an FYI I don't tend to pay attention to people with LCFC in their username and no avatar - sorry John, you'll learn from this

At least it’s not KPFC…

 

As for avatar. Na, waste of time.