[cite]Posted By: incorruptible addick[/cite]What is disturbing is that while we are patiently waiting for the team to ''gel''', we currently seem to be moving in the opposite direction.
Almost half our season's tally of 15 pts came in the first three matches and were in the bag by Aug 21.
In the six weeks since then, we've got 8 pts from 7 games which suggests a distinct lack of any forward motion...
Parky and Breaker have both told us that the team will get better as players bed in. But there has not been the faintest hint of it yet, versus Tranmere, D&R and Brentford or even in the fortuitous wins v Notts County and MK Dons. I dont want to seem impatient. But I think we are entitled to ask how long it is estimated we will have to wait before we notice the first signs of this promised ''gelling'' .
[cite]Parky and Breaker have both told us that the team will get better as players bed in. But there has not been the faintest hint of it yet, versus Tranmere, D&R and Brentford or even in the fortuitous wins v Notts County and MK Dons. I dont want to seem impatient. But I think we are entitled to ask how long it is estimated we will have to wait before we notice the first signs of this promised ''gelling'' .
This.
Very well put.
This is the route of the problem for me, as a long term charlton fan it is ingrained in me that I don't follow the team for the glory, but what I have seen by teams up until the Dowie era is teams with fight and determination, something I thought we were going back to with the new crop of players, but there appears to be a reversal and we seem to be going backwards. With so many new players you would have thought even if they had not geled they would be showing more, but no. if you can't give me points then give me effort and die for the shirt - thats all (?) I ask.
Simple answer is you will not win matches away when one of your central midfielders thinks his sole job is to run out of position hoping for the perfect prayer ball. You can play Racon at home where MK Dons offer nothing incisive in open play, but at any match away you're not going to win hardly any phases when Semedo is doing everything for the team. Simple answer is move Jackson inside who creates more, scores more, tackles more and understands positional play.
Racon proved last season like virtually all Pardew players he is so suicidely errant, he can only consistently play in a midfield 5. Drop Martin back to the left wing, and then you have Kyle Reid and Anyainsah who can come in when fit. Martin does not work as in the hole striker, not because he doesn't have the talent but because he doesn't have the end product atm and is ultra-ultra lightweight. With Abbott up front it takes the pressure off Benson, and we have another player in the front 6 who can consistently destructively tackle through the middle; not just good ol' Semedo doing it for the team, though if we played Jackson there he'll be positionally correct to help out Semedo.
Yes for Racon playing some home matches, and maybe some away in a midfield 5. BUT A BLOODY BIG NO, to letting Racon anywhere near a cm 2 when away or the opposition are competitive. Isn't it bloody obvious if you can't defend leads, it's your midfield two that aren't setting their stall out. We all now know Semedo is competent in this div. So why is he having to make multiple tackles in single phases of play? Where is his central midfield partner to help after the first tackle is not cleanly won?
I don't think Jackson is the answer in centre midfield. He isn't really creative anymore than Racon is and isn't as mobile as Racon is. If anything he'd be more of a Spring/Hughes type does a job but won't change a game imo.
I also think Racon has been our best player overall since he got back in the team, so I wouldn't want to see him dropped.
I do think from what I've seen from Ayinsah that he will be good for us, if he can get fit. The few times he's played his been very direct with his play unlike Benson who really hasn't added anything to the team apart from the MK Dons goal he hasn't won headers, held the ball up or created anything for himself or others.
I think the important point which has come out above is that far from improving, the team is getting worse! What the hell is going on? Why do the players look like they couldn't care less?
[cite]Posted By: queensland_addick[/cite]If you want an insight into what is being worked on in training (or not, as the case may be) look no further than our dead ball routines. When did we last score from a free Kick? OK Big Mig got one towards the end of last season, but only due to a terrible goalkeeping error. There is absolutely no inventiveness or imagination in our play, it's no wonder we are so easy to defend against. That is down to poor coaching and poor management. Even in far weaker leagues such as the A league here in Oz we see some great goals scored from free kicks.
I was thinking about this only this morning and was going to post something similar. I can't think the last time we scored from a direct free kick.
If you replayed the Notts County game another dozen times we would lose it 12 out of 12 !!!
Nobody would have complained that day if we came away with a 3-0 drubbing and only that fact that Hughes obviously had his boots on the wrong feet is the reason we didn't.
I'm not going to say anymore about yesterday as I'm trying to concentrate on the Ryder Cup, apart from on the way out of the ground yesterday I happened to have the "pleasure" of walking past RM , who was walking towards us and in comversation with (i'm realiably told ) Andrew Mills.......Sorry to say I gave him a couple of verbals along the line of "sort it out, Richard, its getting embarrasing"
Have to say, jackson has been a real disappointment. I would never choose him over racon. Personally, I don't think racon is coached properly. Like most of our players I guess!
[cite]Posted By: BigRedEvil[/cite]I don't think Jackson is the answer in centre midfield. He isn't really creative anymore than Racon is and isn't as mobile as Racon is. If anything he'd be more of a Spring/Hughes type does a job but won't change a game imo.
I also think Racon has been our best player overall since he got back in the team, so I wouldn't want to see him dropped.
I do think from what I've seen from Ayinsah that he will be good for us, if he can get fit. The few times he's played his been very direct with his play unlike Benson who really hasn't added anything to the team apart from the MK Dons goal he hasn't won headers, held the ball up or created anything for himself or others.
For some reason people seem to rate Racon. Whilst I enjoy watching him when he get's on the ball in the right areas, I for one can not understand how people rated him so highly against MK Dons. Semedo worked his butt off covering the gaps Racon left all match, if MK Dons had have had any push in central midfield we'd have lost but fortunately Semedo closed down most breakdown danger. Semedo worked his butt off all match but still was involved in our two best offensive chances. Racon was constantly running out of position, on the rare occasion the ball did come to him from a breakdown - after he had initially run into a blind alley - he did some nice stuff on the ball. He spread play quite nicely and linked it OK near the final third. The point being that the good offensive play he was involved in, happened because the ball came to him through utter luck or someone else competing for ball.
Jackson is a central midfield player. Jackson has held a failing midfield together in the champ and been a pivotal player at turning Watford away from relegation. Jackson played mainly as a central midfielder for Colchester, and was their top assist player when they got relegated from the champ. Jackson will score 3-4 goals a season, but the main asset he has is that he'll bring players into the game and look to hit switch passes early. Whereas Racon goes loose, and pushes out away from Semedo who then finds it more difficult to get a pass off. Also the wide men are rarely brought in to the attack early as Racon wants to constantly get in the hole, not helping to absorb the oppositions central midfield. All that happened for the MK Dons was that they could sit back wait for Racon to run into a congested area, then pick the forced pass off. Fortunately MK Dons appeared to have nothing offensively through the middle; only threatening at from set pieces.
i said during the notts county game that this is not a team gelling, it is a team that has no coherence, no formular and no style of play that the players can try to gel in to. i said it was by far the worst half of a football match that i can remember for ages.
i stick to this view and anyone who thinks it will just pan out and be ok, please whisper me your phone number as the bird at the samaratans doesnt want to talk to me any more and she said i should seek solace in a foolhardy like minded soul
We have threatening wingers. Whether you like Francis or not he can hit a good ball in. Fry looks very comfortable on the ball. My question is why are the widemen so rarely found quickly or early?
Semedo has to do to much, and his passing isn't incisive. We need someone in the middle who takes the pressure off Semedo, and actually passes it out wide when something is on. Whether McCormack or Jackson does it I don't care, just Racon ain't ever gonna do it cos he's rarely in position. Plus Abbott gives Benson space, and then Benson can drop deep linking play a whole lot better than Racon.
Modern football's all about working in units, two men together. Unless you have magic Makele and the best offensive players in the world. We'll never have that.
The word to sum up the performance is pathetic. No one lifted a leg first half and you could have made a case for anyone of the outfield players to be dragged off.
The second half was a bit better, mainly due to the introduction Reid and partly Abbot. The fact we could have scrapped a draw on that performance proves what a wasted opportunity it all was.
Parky’s team selection was equally pathetic. Tuesday night we were poor at holding the ball up front (nether Benson or Martin are any good at it) so I would thought it was obvious Abbott would have come in from the start. Could not believe he went in with the same front 2 and was not surprised when the ball kept coming towards our defence.
Like Colin says, I like to watch Racon on the ball. Elegant, quite fast and in practice he strikes the ball well. But he does not create many goals (Jackson's apart) and rarely scores. He is a ball player rather than a goal maker. Maybe he worries too much about statistics and passing the ball safely and accurately. He was one of our better players yesterday but I'd also like to see Jackson tried in midfield. At Brentford, it was Semedo attempting long balls, none of which reached their target. He should stick to winning the ball and laying it off. Plus, Dailly is our best defender and should play as often as possible.
I dont know how many people saw the Shrewsbury game but we played 4 4 2 and both strikers scored. The 4 goals conceded were without prejudice defensive errors ,mistakes or what ever you want to call them, I honestly believe that on the night with a good left mid (Reid) and a back four of Solly Dailly Doc and Jacko we would have progressed in that competition and I would say could take that same team into the the league and fair better!
[cite]Posted By: BigRedEvil[/cite]I don't think Jackson is the answer in centre midfield. He isn't really creative anymore than Racon is and isn't as mobile as Racon is. If anything he'd be more of a Spring/Hughes type does a job but won't change a game imo.
I know what you mean, but Jackson has never player CM for us, can't judge him there based on what he does at full back.
Tuesday us the perfect opportunity to give him a game there. It's where he's played for most of his career. He might not change games but maybe he'd offer a more all round game than Racon. Can at least imagine him scoring more and having a bigger range of passing.
Up front I've not seen Benson and Martin together, but from what I've seen of them in other games we surely need a more physical player up front. So for me I think we need to go with Benson alongside Abbott or Sodje, Anyinsah perhaps in certain games.
Can't see Benson and Martin working, bit like Abbott and Sodje isn't quite right either. Wagstaff on the left is something else Parky has tried but I don't think we should be playing again.
Going to be interesting to see the line up on Tuesday. Dailly back captaining the team, Jackson in CM and a more physical striker in Abbott I hope might just improve a few things. Abbott should help the ball stay up the right end of the pitch, and Jackson might give us something a bit different in CM, that should get the wide players in the game more, who we need to create chances.
Not saying that would make it all better, but we saw last season how certain players coming back into the team could change things for the better.
2nd half v Dag & Red, pathetic. Home to MKD, pathetic. Ist half at Brentford, pathetic. A pattern emerging here I reckon.
I thought Abbott made a difference when he came on. At least the ball was sticking up front. Said in the car on the way he had to start, so why didn't he ? Things improved against MKD when he came on and it's obvious that Benson with Martin in the hole doesn't work. At least Parky realised that at h/t but that was way too late. At the moment I don't see where we can accomodate Martin in the team unless we play him up-top alongside Abbott, they played together at Shrewsbury and showed some understanding, something no other pairing has shown. I'd go with that at Plymouth unless Anyinsah is fit to play alongside Abbott. Abbott and Reid aside I thought everyone else was pants. Although Akpo when he came on at least caused probelms and got a couple of shots off, although not particularly well hit. Waggy showed his value with the goal at least. Think we should get off Francis back, he has only played ten games and is still playing fitness catch-up. Is he really a professional footballer ?
As someone said on the previous page I think we have enough good players to get out of this sub-standard league, you don't need to be that good after all, but they are being poorly coached and managed. There is only one way that will change but has RM got the balls to do it.
To those going to MKD I salute you but are you mad ??
The support was good. Players didn't turn up. Same old thing (with odd exceptions) for the last 5-6 years. Players (quite a few of which are good players), just not turning up, and not caring. This has been the problem imo for the last 5 years at least (starting in the last season or two with Curbs). The fact that this is *still* happening shows that the attitude, and mentality at the club is really, really bad. God knows where this stems from, but it's there season after season now. Most unlike the CAFC of old.
I really believe this squad *could* do well if they wanted to. That's the worst thing.
As for the game itself, Midfield was appalling, and no service whatsoever to the forwards. Wagstaff did what he could - seemed up for it, and I thought Abbot and Reid both played well when they came on at half-time. But how many times have we watched matches where just two players look interested. 2nd Brentford goal was beyond belief, literally no-one moved, the guy had all the time in the world to score. It's almost as if our team is playing shit deliberately somethimes, it's so weird. The players (generally) DO NOT CARE. And it's been like this for the last 5 seasons give or take a few games. Any other clubs would have had demonstrations towards the management and the board.
I am gutted, as the Orient game had me fooled as I REALLY thought it was a turning point. There is just SOMETHING radically wrong at CAFC still, and there has been for ages. We get the odd good player like Lee Martin, and it's pointless him playing as we are so poor. Why does Semedo get his name sung week in week out? Reid or Racon have a decent game or a decent 45 mins, fans think they're a saviour, you see them at the next game and they just don't give a toss.
I don't know what the answer is. The blind hope thing is wearing thin. But if we replace Parkinson and things get worse, then god knows will happen to our club. It's just bloody depressing. But I think (especially this season) the fans have been more than patient - It's a new squad, and the same old problems are there. Let's face it, Brentford should have won 4-0, and our players are lucky they didn't get a hell of a lot of abuse.
Monday morning I've looked at the table, we're 4 points from automatic and 5 from relegation. I'm not in the Parky out camp but we need to improve and I fear a bad home game vs Brighton the boo's will be ringing out around The Valley.
Parky really needs to start playing to our strengths rather than try to stifle the opposition, we're not good enough to do that, we're better going at the opposition as we have some good attacking players for this division in Reid, Martin, Wagstaff, Ayinsah etc, the one time I've seen us do that this season was vs Dagenham for 20 minutes when we could've been 4 nil up. Passing it on the floor, quickly and with the pace we have we caused problems. I'm not expecting us to be like Arsenal I expect passes to go missing but that 20 minutes was a damn lot better than the constant long ball to Benson or the 5 passes it takes to get it to our widemen.
We rallied a little in the 2nd half, but it wasn't enough. The 1st half was a real team shocker, and altogether it was no where near good enough.
Hugely disappointing.
Good turnout on Saturday from the 'pick and choose' brigade. Once again they witness a dire performance, and don't be surprised in future you find people picking and choosing a lot less frequently.
Large Addick said; As someone said on the previous page I think we have enough good players to get out of this sub-standard league, you don't need to be that good after all, but they are being poorly coached and managed. There is only one way that will change but has RM got the balls to do it.
But if you were RM, what would you actually do? He's devoted a large part of his life and money to CAFC. His football world (and CAFC's finances) fell apart when the penny finally dropped that not all managers could, or would, behave like Curbs. RM was trusting and believed in the managers, didn't interfere and took a massive kicking. The financial gambles on promotion didn't pay off and admin. beckoned. RM has propped us up for the season, he's now got a manager he likes and trusts and was expecting good things. He's had a health scare, the pressures have taken their toll on him, he wants to be able to ensure his family's financial security but CAFC is yet again in deep trouble. The supporters are calling for a new manager and set up, with good reasons, but they don't seem able to agree on who might be the right person to get us out of this mess. Falling gates increase revenue pressures and so it goes on. I don't think it's a case of having balls, more that clear and affordable solutions are not immediately apparent. Unless you know different...........:-)
We served up another inept display that we as supporters are passively swallowing as the norm now. To be honest I didn't even care when we were 2-0 down, watching us used to be painful, now I just stand there & accept it like everyone else almost numb to the experience. All I hope for is improvement, all I have seen is us get worse game by game. Not Nearly good enough.
Comments
This.
Very well put.
This is the route of the problem for me, as a long term charlton fan it is ingrained in me that I don't follow the team for the glory, but what I have seen by teams up until the Dowie era is teams with fight and determination, something I thought we were going back to with the new crop of players, but there appears to be a reversal and we seem to be going backwards. With so many new players you would have thought even if they had not geled they would be showing more, but no. if you can't give me points then give me effort and die for the shirt - thats all (?) I ask.
Racon proved last season like virtually all Pardew players he is so suicidely errant, he can only consistently play in a midfield 5. Drop Martin back to the left wing, and then you have Kyle Reid and Anyainsah who can come in when fit. Martin does not work as in the hole striker, not because he doesn't have the talent but because he doesn't have the end product atm and is ultra-ultra lightweight. With Abbott up front it takes the pressure off Benson, and we have another player in the front 6 who can consistently destructively tackle through the middle; not just good ol' Semedo doing it for the team, though if we played Jackson there he'll be positionally correct to help out Semedo.
Yes for Racon playing some home matches, and maybe some away in a midfield 5. BUT A BLOODY BIG NO, to letting Racon anywhere near a cm 2 when away or the opposition are competitive. Isn't it bloody obvious if you can't defend leads, it's your midfield two that aren't setting their stall out. We all now know Semedo is competent in this div. So why is he having to make multiple tackles in single phases of play? Where is his central midfield partner to help after the first tackle is not cleanly won?
I also think Racon has been our best player overall since he got back in the team, so I wouldn't want to see him dropped.
I do think from what I've seen from Ayinsah that he will be good for us, if he can get fit. The few times he's played his been very direct with his play unlike Benson who really hasn't added anything to the team apart from the MK Dons goal he hasn't won headers, held the ball up or created anything for himself or others.
I was thinking about this only this morning and was going to post something similar. I can't think the last time we scored from a direct free kick.
Brighton on the 16th will be real test of where are in terms of progress and personally, I am dreading it.
If we played either of them tomorrow though, would we win by an even bigger margin (indicating that the team is begining to gel) or would we lose?
Nobody would have complained that day if we came away with a 3-0 drubbing and only that fact that Hughes obviously had his boots on the wrong feet is the reason we didn't.
I'm not going to say anymore about yesterday as I'm trying to concentrate on the Ryder Cup, apart from on the way out of the ground yesterday I happened to have the "pleasure" of walking past RM , who was walking towards us and in comversation with (i'm realiably told ) Andrew Mills.......Sorry to say I gave him a couple of verbals along the line of "sort it out, Richard, its getting embarrasing"
nuff ss
I thought that was the reason for the limp!
For some reason people seem to rate Racon. Whilst I enjoy watching him when he get's on the ball in the right areas, I for one can not understand how people rated him so highly against MK Dons. Semedo worked his butt off covering the gaps Racon left all match, if MK Dons had have had any push in central midfield we'd have lost but fortunately Semedo closed down most breakdown danger. Semedo worked his butt off all match but still was involved in our two best offensive chances. Racon was constantly running out of position, on the rare occasion the ball did come to him from a breakdown - after he had initially run into a blind alley - he did some nice stuff on the ball. He spread play quite nicely and linked it OK near the final third. The point being that the good offensive play he was involved in, happened because the ball came to him through utter luck or someone else competing for ball.
Jackson is a central midfield player. Jackson has held a failing midfield together in the champ and been a pivotal player at turning Watford away from relegation. Jackson played mainly as a central midfielder for Colchester, and was their top assist player when they got relegated from the champ. Jackson will score 3-4 goals a season, but the main asset he has is that he'll bring players into the game and look to hit switch passes early. Whereas Racon goes loose, and pushes out away from Semedo who then finds it more difficult to get a pass off. Also the wide men are rarely brought in to the attack early as Racon wants to constantly get in the hole, not helping to absorb the oppositions central midfield. All that happened for the MK Dons was that they could sit back wait for Racon to run into a congested area, then pick the forced pass off. Fortunately MK Dons appeared to have nothing offensively through the middle; only threatening at from set pieces.
i stick to this view and anyone who thinks it will just pan out and be ok, please whisper me your phone number as the bird at the samaratans doesnt want to talk to me any more and she said i should seek solace in a foolhardy like minded soul
Semedo has to do to much, and his passing isn't incisive. We need someone in the middle who takes the pressure off Semedo, and actually passes it out wide when something is on. Whether McCormack or Jackson does it I don't care, just Racon ain't ever gonna do it cos he's rarely in position. Plus Abbott gives Benson space, and then Benson can drop deep linking play a whole lot better than Racon.
Modern football's all about working in units, two men together. Unless you have magic Makele and the best offensive players in the world. We'll never have that.
The second half was a bit better, mainly due to the introduction Reid and partly Abbot. The fact we could have scrapped a draw on that performance proves what a wasted opportunity it all was.
Parky’s team selection was equally pathetic. Tuesday night we were poor at holding the ball up front (nether Benson or Martin are any good at it) so I would thought it was obvious Abbott would have come in from the start. Could not believe he went in with the same front 2 and was not surprised when the ball kept coming towards our defence.
Plus, Dailly is our best defender and should play as often as possible.
Tuesday us the perfect opportunity to give him a game there. It's where he's played for most of his career. He might not change games but maybe he'd offer a more all round game than Racon. Can at least imagine him scoring more and having a bigger range of passing.
Up front I've not seen Benson and Martin together, but from what I've seen of them in other games we surely need a more physical player up front. So for me I think we need to go with Benson alongside Abbott or Sodje, Anyinsah perhaps in certain games.
Can't see Benson and Martin working, bit like Abbott and Sodje isn't quite right either. Wagstaff on the left is something else Parky has tried but I don't think we should be playing again.
Going to be interesting to see the line up on Tuesday. Dailly back captaining the team, Jackson in CM and a more physical striker in Abbott I hope might just improve a few things. Abbott should help the ball stay up the right end of the pitch, and Jackson might give us something a bit different in CM, that should get the wide players in the game more, who we need to create chances.
Not saying that would make it all better, but we saw last season how certain players coming back into the team could change things for the better.
I thought Abbott made a difference when he came on. At least the ball was sticking up front. Said in the car on the way he had to start, so why didn't he ? Things improved against MKD when he came on and it's obvious that Benson with Martin in the hole doesn't work. At least Parky realised that at h/t but that was way too late. At the moment I don't see where we can accomodate Martin in the team unless we play him up-top alongside Abbott, they played together at Shrewsbury and showed some understanding, something no other pairing has shown. I'd go with that at Plymouth unless Anyinsah is fit to play alongside Abbott. Abbott and Reid aside I thought everyone else was pants. Although Akpo when he came on at least caused probelms and got a couple of shots off, although not particularly well hit. Waggy showed his value with the goal at least. Think we should get off Francis back, he has only played ten games and is still playing fitness catch-up. Is he really a professional footballer ?
As someone said on the previous page I think we have enough good players to get out of this sub-standard league, you don't need to be that good after all, but they are being poorly coached and managed. There is only one way that will change but has RM got the balls to do it.
To those going to MKD I salute you but are you mad ??
I really believe this squad *could* do well if they wanted to. That's the worst thing.
As for the game itself, Midfield was appalling, and no service whatsoever to the forwards. Wagstaff did what he could - seemed up for it, and I thought Abbot and Reid both played well when they came on at half-time. But how many times have we watched matches where just two players look interested. 2nd Brentford goal was beyond belief, literally no-one moved, the guy had all the time in the world to score. It's almost as if our team is playing shit deliberately somethimes, it's so weird. The players (generally) DO NOT CARE. And it's been like this for the last 5 seasons give or take a few games. Any other clubs would have had demonstrations towards the management and the board.
I am gutted, as the Orient game had me fooled as I REALLY thought it was a turning point. There is just SOMETHING radically wrong at CAFC still, and there has been for ages. We get the odd good player like Lee Martin, and it's pointless him playing as we are so poor. Why does Semedo get his name sung week in week out? Reid or Racon have a decent game or a decent 45 mins, fans think they're a saviour, you see them at the next game and they just don't give a toss.
I don't know what the answer is. The blind hope thing is wearing thin. But if we replace Parkinson and things get worse, then god knows will happen to our club. It's just bloody depressing. But I think (especially this season) the fans have been more than patient - It's a new squad, and the same old problems are there. Let's face it, Brentford should have won 4-0, and our players are lucky they didn't get a hell of a lot of abuse.
Parky really needs to start playing to our strengths rather than try to stifle the opposition, we're not good enough to do that, we're better going at the opposition as we have some good attacking players for this division in Reid, Martin, Wagstaff, Ayinsah etc, the one time I've seen us do that this season was vs Dagenham for 20 minutes when we could've been 4 nil up. Passing it on the floor, quickly and with the pace we have we caused problems. I'm not expecting us to be like Arsenal I expect passes to go missing but that 20 minutes was a damn lot better than the constant long ball to Benson or the 5 passes it takes to get it to our widemen.
We rallied a little in the 2nd half, but it wasn't enough. The 1st half was a real team shocker, and altogether it was no where near good enough.
Hugely disappointing.
Good turnout on Saturday from the 'pick and choose' brigade. Once again they witness a dire performance, and don't be surprised in future you find people picking and choosing a lot less frequently.
And can anyone blame us for doing so ?
But if you were RM, what would you actually do? He's devoted a large part of his life and money to CAFC. His football world (and CAFC's finances) fell apart when the penny finally dropped that not all managers could, or would, behave like Curbs. RM was trusting and believed in the managers, didn't interfere and took a massive kicking. The financial gambles on promotion didn't pay off and admin. beckoned. RM has propped us up for the season, he's now got a manager he likes and trusts and was expecting good things. He's had a health scare, the pressures have taken their toll on him, he wants to be able to ensure his family's financial security but CAFC is yet again in deep trouble. The supporters are calling for a new manager and set up, with good reasons, but they don't seem able to agree on who might be the right person to get us out of this mess. Falling gates increase revenue pressures and so it goes on. I don't think it's a case of having balls, more that clear and affordable solutions are not immediately apparent. Unless you know different...........:-)