How do we Clear the Air & Move Forward?

Insider said:
Don't tempt fate.
Peterborough's game was postponed mid-week for a waterlogged pitch. Not sure what the weather has been like down there subsequently.
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It's not raining now according to Google weather... (nor up till kick off)
 
td53 said:
I find this the hardest bit of all in a way. We're literally lower in the league then when we had Terry Mcphillips and Gary Brabin and Phil Horner as basically the football staff. The commercial staff was a skeleton too.

We're spending a shedload on a plethora of positions and roles and yet, I don't really feel like we make entirely clear what it's all for and about.

The danger is, we start sounding like Karl - but it does strike me that football is full of people who will do a 'job' whether that job really is essential or not. I dunno. I'm happy to pay my money on wages for players. I know those players need a coach and a physio but you get to a certain point and wonder 'how many recruitment people, video people, media people, strategy people, finance people does a league 1 club need?'

@Insider made a good point the other day - we don't even have a staff directory on the website. The community trust does. Every job and role and employee is listed there with a picture and what they do.

It's kind of boring and I'm much happier debating why people are wrong about Sonny or whether Critchley is stuck in a kind of weird in between state where his tactics say one thing but his philosophy says another - but there is this sense that the club has transformed into something different and undefined.
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I think I'm an advocate of neither approach - the KO skeleton staff (if you can call Matt Williams a skeleton staff) ,that is under paid and over worked, the not giving a toss methodology. Or the new wave, data driven, specialists everywhere, tactical maze, double speak methodology.

But if i had to pick one i think i'd go for Kazball tbh. As long as the Oystons were nowhere near the club obviously. Kaz left us 8th in L1 with a tiny budget and hardly any staff. A lot of money is being spunked down the drain. Angst dripping off the walls. People earning good money and not producing. The wrong people, perhaps, the wrong approach, maybe. For us.

There is a middle ground. We have to define what sort of club we are. And we have to be realistic. We aren't equipped to do a Brighton. Or a Bournemouth - they have very wealthy owners. I do think some people expect to much. All I want to see is football that is fun to watch. And success is more likely when it's not being demanded, and people getting screamed at when we have a bad spell. I'm 62 though, the modern game seems to have lost the soul football once had. There's so much money in the game that everything is being measured and every individual is under intense pressure and scrutiny. That won't change while so much money is involved.

I never expected the oystons to spend their own money, tbh, i just wanted them to run the club like it mattered. With some pride, care and attention. Proper custodians. For the people of Blackpool. I don't expect SS to spend millions either. I think investment into clubs should be stopped, personally, wages returned to normal, and have clubs living according to income generated. Run more as a club, better communication and cooperation, everyone pulling in the same direction. Part of the problem is that SS got rich and that gives him the power to own the club and do what he wants. So there is a wealthy guy who gets to pull all the strings. And say nothing if he wishes. Answer no questions. I think he means well and wants to give back to the area. it's just not that simple is it? Some of the locals are revolting....
 
voyeur said:
I think I'm an advocate of neither approach - the KO skeleton staff (if you can call Matt Williams a skeleton staff) ,that is under paid and over worked, the not giving a toss methodology. Or the new wave, data driven, specialists everywhere, tactical maze, double speak methodology.

But if i had to pick one i think i'd go for Kazball tbh. As long as the Oystons were nowhere near the club obviously. Kaz left us 8th in L1 with a tiny budget and hardly any staff. A lot of money is being spunked down the drain. Angst dripping off the walls. People earning good money and not producing. The wrong people, perhaps, the wrong approach, maybe. For us.

There is a middle ground. We have to define what sort of club we are. And we have to be realistic. We aren't equipped to do a Brighton. Or a Bournemouth - they have very wealthy owners. I do think some people expect to much. All I want to see is football that is fun to watch. And success is more likely when it's not being demanded, and people getting screamed at when we have a bad spell. I'm 62 though, the modern game seems to have lost the soul football once had. There's so much money in the game that everything is being measured and every individual is under intense pressure and scrutiny. That won't change while so much money is involved.

I never expected the oystons to spend their own money, tbh, i just wanted them to run the club like it mattered. With some pride, care and attention. Proper custodians. For the people of Blackpool. I don't expect SS to spend millions either. I think investment into clubs should be stopped, personally, wages returned to normal, and have clubs living according to income generated. Run more as a club, better communication and cooperation, everyone pulling in the same direction. Part of the problem is that SS got rich and that gives him the power to own the club and do what he wants. So there is a wealthy guy who gets to pull all the strings. And say nothing if he wishes. Answer no questions. I think he means well and wants to give back to the area. it's just not that simple is it? Some of the locals are revolting....
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That's the old Voy I know and love, best post you have written in ages, welcome back buddy!! 😂😂
 
voyeur said:
I think I'm an advocate of neither approach - the KO skeleton staff (if you can call Matt Williams a skeleton staff) ,that is under paid and over worked, the not giving a toss methodology. Or the new wave, data driven, specialists everywhere, tactical maze, double speak methodology.

But if i had to pick one i think i'd go for Kazball tbh. As long as the Oystons were nowhere near the club obviously. Kaz left us 8th in L1 with a tiny budget and hardly any staff. A lot of money is being spunked down the drain. Angst dripping off the walls. People earning good money and not producing. The wrong people, perhaps, the wrong approach, maybe. For us.

There is a middle ground. We have to define what sort of club we are. And we have to be realistic. We aren't equipped to do a Brighton. Or a Bournemouth - they have very wealthy owners. I do think some people expect to much. All I want to see is football that is fun to watch. And success is more likely when it's not being demanded, and people getting screamed at when we have a bad spell. I'm 62 though, the modern game seems to have lost the soul football once had. There's so much money in the game that everything is being measured and every individual is under intense pressure and scrutiny. That won't change while so much money is involved.

I never expected the oystons to spend their own money, tbh, i just wanted them to run the club like it mattered. With some pride, care and attention. Proper custodians. For the people of Blackpool. I don't expect SS to spend millions either. I think investment into clubs should be stopped, personally, wages returned to normal, and have clubs living according to income generated. Run more as a club, better communication and cooperation, everyone pulling in the same direction. Part of the problem is that SS got rich and that gives him the power to own the club and do what he wants. So there is a wealthy guy who gets to pull all the strings. And say nothing if he wishes. Answer no questions. I think he means well and wants to give back to the area. it's just not that simple is it? Some of the locals are revolting....
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Yeah. It's back to stuff we said last year and even year before to a degree.

It's no use having all the data monkeys and the recruitment process and all that if you don't have a crystal clear sense of function.

It's not just about money - it's about clarity and I'm not sure we have that. I'm convinced we're missing someone somewhere who is permanent and who knows the score.

I swear Mick Harford is fundamental to Luton. He is the vision. They've basically done the same thing from non league to prem. Recruited really well, played hard, direct and skillful and gone for certain attributes in players.

We kind of talk that talk but it's all a bit surface level.

I'd just say 'skillful football, played at a decent pace with an attacking intent and always the aim to have a young player in the squad from our own youth system' or suchlike as our goal.

I'm not saying that's a better goal than any other but for it all to work, you have to have one. You can't keep shifting that based on immediate circumstance.

We've not even managed to properly be Rotherham.
 
voyeur said:
I am the same yesterday, today, and for ever more! 😆


God we miss him so much, even you can see that!
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This season yes, best player in the squad, I wonder if there were any shenanigans about him leaving or it was just a lifestyle thing, we'll never know but we are lot worse without him.
 
Blimey, this place would be interesting if we were second bottom and 10 points adrift from safety. Can you imagine?

My view only, but can we please stop hurling abuse at Sadler. Sod last season, it was depressing to know we were going to lose every week as yet another player got sent off early doors. We all had hopes big Mick would get us going but it fell flat on it's arse. But, as a club we are unrecognisable from 10 years ago, please remember how bad it was!

Critchley has got us promoted previously and clearly has a plan. The problem is however that the formation and the dominate the ball philosophy isn't consistent, for whatever reason. Teams have sussed us out cos we do the same thing every ** week. He will get sacked if he doesn't change his thinking, but it will be next season not this. Our squad is strong for this division and is probably right up there in terms of wages etc. We all know that is the issue, the rest is just bollocks. The club is fine right now and I've loved it since I was 15.
 
td53 said:
Yeah. It's back to stuff we said last year and even year before to a degree.

It's no use having all the data monkeys and the recruitment process and all that if you don't have a crystal clear sense of function.

It's not just about money - it's about clarity and I'm not sure we have that. I'm convinced we're missing someone somewhere who is permanent and who knows the score.

I swear Mick Harford is fundamental to Luton. He is the vision. They've basically done the same thing from non league to prem. Recruited really well, played hard, direct and skillful and gone for certain attributes in players.

We kind of talk that talk but it's all a bit surface level.

I'd just say 'skillful football, played at a decent pace with an attacking intent and always the aim to have a young player in the squad from our own youth system' or suchlike as our goal.

I'm not saying that's a better goal than any other but for it all to work, you have to have one. You can't keep shifting that based on immediate circumstance.

We've not even managed to properly be Rotherham.
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Yes, good post Matt. There is a lack of clarity. I think there is a lack of understanding, we are parroting what others are doing without knowing what it is that they do. Mick Harford knows what it is and he even is that thing in human form, and he exudes it to others. It seeps into the fabric of the club. We don't have that person or people. Critch himself is a mimicker, perhaps, and brought the swagger of liverpool with him, he had absorbed some o it, but he went and got robbed of it buy an actual scouser. Or it just ran out, or expired. His klopp battery is empty.
 
voyeur said:
Yes, good post Matt. There is a lack of clarity. I think there is a lack of understanding, we are parroting what others are doing without knowing what it is that they do. Mick Harford knows what it is and he even is that thing in human form, and he exudes it to others. It seeps into the fabric of the club. We don't have that person or people. Critch himself is a mimicker, perhaps, and brought the swagger of liverpool with him, he had absorbed some o it, but he went and got robbed of it buy an actual scouser. Or it just ran out, or expired. His klopp battery is empty.
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Yes, I think that's a good point. The very best skill Critch has I think is that ability to absorb from others.

So, when he had Mcall/Colin, plus big characters like Madine, Keogh, Maxwell, Keshi and such - he absorbed a lot and it turned into his tactical masterclasses.

He hasn't got that now. He's kind of alone. I just don't see in the body language of the other two the kind of intense brooding minds that might be feeding him alternative ideas.

I could see that in some of the players and staff we had.

There's a good blog someone did today about him having absorbed Stevie G's stubborn self belief that he's a genius. It might be a bit unfair but it's well written and interesting.

I honestly think Critch will end up managing Crewe for about 10 years. It's really sad because there's still this sense of 'what could have been' but time can't go backwards and unless he's going to go to the well and really throw everything he has at it and kind of let his hair down like never before, I just don't see it coming good.

You need a touch of madness in it all. I don't see that in the current set up. If anything, it's like they've exorcised any trace of that kind of instinctive stuff.
 
td53 said:
Yes, I think that's a good point. The very best skill Critch has I think is that ability to absorb from others.

So, when he had Mcall/Colin, plus big characters like Madine, Keogh, Maxwell, Keshi and such - he absorbed a lot and it turned into his tactical masterclasses.

He hasn't got that now. He's kind of alone. I just don't see in the body language of the other two the kind of intense brooding minds that might be feeding him alternative ideas.

I could see that in some of the players and staff we had.

There's a good blog someone did today about him having absorbed Stevie G's stubborn self belief that he's a genius. It might be a bit unfair but it's well written and interesting.

I honestly think Critch will end up managing Crewe for about 10 years. It's really sad because there's still this sense of 'what could have been' but time can't go backwards and unless he's going to go to the well and really throw everything he has at it and kind of let his hair down like never before, I just don't see it coming good.

You need a touch of madness in it all. I don't see that in the current set up. If anything, it's like they've exorcised any trace of that kind of instinctive stuff.
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Yes they seem to have tried to turn it into a formula. if it can be made into a formula, it at least needs to include some human qualities that are very difficult to quantify. Reminds me of my econmomics degree, learning about formulae that tried to quantify human behaviour. That was mind numbingly dull too!!!
 
td53 said:
Yes, I think that's a good point. The very best skill Critch has I think is that ability to absorb from others.

So, when he had Mcall/Colin, plus big characters like Madine, Keogh, Maxwell, Keshi and such - he absorbed a lot and it turned into his tactical masterclasses.

He hasn't got that now. He's kind of alone. I just don't see in the body language of the other two the kind of intense brooding minds that might be feeding him alternative ideas.

I could see that in some of the players and staff we had.

There's a good blog someone did today about him having absorbed Stevie G's stubborn self belief that he's a genius. It might be a bit unfair but it's well written and interesting.

I honestly think Critch will end up managing Crewe for about 10 years. It's really sad because there's still this sense of 'what could have been' but time can't go backwards and unless he's going to go to the well and really throw everything he has at it and kind of let his hair down like never before, I just don't see it coming good.

You need a touch of madness in it all. I don't see that in the current set up. If anything, it's like they've exorcised any trace of that kind of instinctive stuff.
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He is a Genius though (Critchley that is, not Gerrard - Gerrard is a Tool)..

I do think there's a lotto be said though for partnering that Genius with a bit of practicality...

I was thinking about this earlier in regard to the whole inability to win Away and in particular how we seem to struggle against the more physical anti-football sides.

You could see Critchley's frustration with the fact that the players had failed to 'implement the plan' and instead reverted to hoofing it long etc... In Critch Genius mind, that's an issue with the Players...Because the players aren't doing what he wants, and if they did do what he has asked of them, then all would be fine. And THAT is the problem with Genius insomuch as it often sees things in such Black and White terms and cannot get beyond the theoretical and understand the practical.... And that is where the Grizzled (Playing Experience) Assistant might come intio their own..... Someone who can say... "Yep Boss, you're absolutely right that it would work in theory, BUT the problem is that it rarely works in practice because........", "What you might find boss, is that you're better just going down this root....*At least until we get a proper goalkeeper and a couple of half decent centre halves*"

*I just threw this bit in for my own benefit and to further my agenda*
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
He is a Genius though (Critchley that is, not Gerrard - Gerrard is a Tool)..

I do think there's a lotto be said though for partnering that Genius with a bit of practicality...

I was thinking about this earlier in regard to the whole inability to win Away and in particular how we seem to struggle against the more physical anti-football sides.

You could see Critchley's frustration with the fact that the players had failed to 'implement the plan' and instead reverted to hoofing it long etc... In Critch Genius mind, that's an issue with the Players...Because the players aren't doing what he wants, and if they did do what he has asked of them, then all would be fine. And THAT is the problem with Genius insomuch as it often sees things in such Black and White terms and cannot get beyond the theoretical and understand the practical.... And that is where the Grizzled (Playing Experience) Assistant might come intio their own..... Someone who can say... "Yep Boss, you're absolutely right that it would work in theory, BUT the problem is that it rarely works in practice because........", "What you might find boss, is that you're better just going down this root....*At least until we get a proper goalkeeper and a couple of half decent centre halves*"

*I just threw this bit in for my own benefit and to further my agenda*
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I would have said his genius was his pragmatism at one point.

I wrote a piece for a QPR blog when he went there and I cited his flexibility and willingness to mould his plan to what he had as the biggest key to his success with us.

That weird take on 442 shouldn't have worked but it was at times verging on unplayable because it played to the absolute strengths of Keshi, Bowler, Madine and left the midfield to battle like tigers which players like Connolly could do brilliantly.

Then he comes back and is suddenly a total purist. It's like he's read 'Michael Appleton's guide to playing stubborn theoretical football regardless of outcomes or realities'

It's weird.

I dunno. Ferguson's brilliance was to realise how important the no2 role was and keep changing it up. For a man with an obvious ego, he had the humility to know he couldn't do it alone and his genius wasn't enough.
 
td53 said:
I would have said his genius was his pragmatism at one point.

I wrote a piece for a QPR blog when he went there and I cited his flexibility and willingness to mould his plan to what he had as the biggest key to his success with us.

That weird take on 442 shouldn't have worked but it was at times verging on unplayable because it played to the absolute strengths of Keshi, Bowler, Madine and left the midfield to battle like tigers which players like Connolly could do brilliantly.

Then he comes back and is suddenly a total purist. It's like he's read 'Michael Appleton's guide to playing stubborn theoretical football regardless of outcomes or realities'

It's weird.

I dunno. Ferguson's brilliance was to realise how important the no2 role was and keep changing it up. For a man with an obvious ego, he had the humility to know he couldn't do it alone and his genius wasn't enough.
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I'm not so sure....

I think there has been an awful lot of pressure from the Fans about this idea of 'Playing the Blackpool Way'... In fact I honestly rue the day when SS ever talked about the whole 'Attacking Entertaining Football' thing, because it has set a completely unrealistic expectation to my mind... Football is Football in my book and it's generally more exciting when you are winning and competing at the top of the League than when you aren't...

Listening to the Pod the other night I was sat there thinking to myself "What a load of utter bollocks" As each of the podcasters came out with the usual bullshit, that they'd happily accept losing if we'd put in a good shift and given it a good go.... What a load of crap... You can handle 'giving it a good go' and losing for an occasional match or maybe an FA Cup Match against Premier League opposition, but for the most part losing is shit and depressing, whether you gave it a good go (whatever that really means) or whatever else you might do that isn't 'giving it a good go' [I'm going off at a slight tangent]

So 4-4-2 was great and we did well in terms of results, but in the end it wasn't good enough and didn't meet the grade for "Exciting Attacking Football" and so I think that SS has felt the pressure to implement the plan.... Appleton came in and tried his hand at delivering to the plan and failed miserably....Then we ended up just doing what was necessary.

In the case of Critchley MK2, I think he's been given the objective to deliver to the requirement of 'Playing the Blackpool Way' ... We set u[p aggressively and with a view to trying to deliver. We are trying to play proper football and encourage a passing game, but for whatever reason we seem to be struggling (or struggling away from home)... However I think the persistence maybe has more to do with striving to achieve that objective and not just compromising and doing back to an effective, but limited system and instead being prepared to go through the difficult times and getting the plan to work - eventually.
 
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BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I'm not so sure....

I think there has been an awful lot of pressure from the Fans about this idea of 'Playing the Blackpool Way'... In fact I honestly rue the day when SS ever talked about the whole 'Attacking Entertaining Football' thing, because it has set a completely unrealistic expectation to my mind... Football is Football in my book and it's generally more exciting when you are winning and competing at the top of the League than when you aren't...

Listening to the Pod the other night I was sat there thinking to myself "What a load of utter bollocks" As each of the podcasters came out with the usual bullshit, that they'd happily accept losing if we'd put in a good shift and given it a good go.... What a load of crap... You can handle 'giving it a good go' and losing for an occasional match or maybe an FA Cup Match against Premier League opposition, but for the most part losing is shit and depressing, whether you gave it a good go (whatever that really means) or whatever else you might do that isn't 'giving it a good go' [I'm going off at a slight tangent]

So 4-4-2 was great and we did well in terms of results, but in the end it wasn't good enough and didn't meet the grade for "Exciting Attacking Football" and so I think that SS has felt the pressure to implement the plan.... Appleton came in and tried his hand at delivering to the plan and failed miserably....Then we ended up just doing what was necessary.

In the case of Critchley MK2, I think he's been given the objective to deliver to the requirement of 'Playing the Blackpool Way' ... We set u[p aggressively and with a view to trying to deliver. We are trying to play proper football and encourage a passing game, but for whatever reason we seem to be struggling (or struggling away from home)...
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I thought the Blackpool way was a Ben Mansford construct. I would argue that if such a thing exists it is not about gung ho attacking football or any other variant. It's actually about us refusing to accept that we should accept our place in the footballing hierarchy. I think that is part of the problem now. We know we can reach higher and we would like to hear that message coming loud and clear from all parts of the club.
 
Mark_GT said:
I thought the Blackpool way was a Ben Mansford construct. I would argue that if such a thing exists it is not about gung ho attacking football or any other variant. It's actually about us refusing to accept that we should accept our place in the footballing hierarchy. I think that is part of the problem now. We know we can reach higher and we would like to hear that message coming loud and clear from all parts of the club.
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I'm not sure who it was if I'm being honest mate, so it could well have been Ben Mansford. I absolutely agree with you though that the 'Blackpool Way' has nothing to do with the style of football though and everything to do with bucking the trend and refusing to accept our 'so called' place. We're absolutely unstoppable when we are 'together' and pulling in the same direction, which is why it's so difficult to see everyone pulling each other apart.... It's sad and it's pathetic..

And yep.... I agree that we need to hear that message loud and clear from the Club.... None of this "We'd love to be competing at the higher end of the Championship" bollocks and more of the "We'd love to be competing at the top end of the Premier League"... 👍 Less of the "we'll struggle to fill a 15,000 seater stadium" and more of the "We aim to be filling a 25,000 seater stadium and we're confident we can make it happen"
 

BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I'm not so sure....

I think there has been an awful lot of pressure from the Fans about this idea of 'Playing the Blackpool Way'... In fact I honestly rue the day when SS ever talked about the whole 'Attacking Entertaining Football' thing, because it has set a completely unrealistic expectation to my mind... Football is Football in my book and it's generally more exciting when you are winning and competing at the top of the League than when you aren't...

Listening to the Pod the other night I was sat there thinking to myself "What a load of utter bollocks" As each of the podcasters came out with the usual bullshit, that they'd happily accept losing if we'd put in a good shift and given it a good go.... What a load of crap... You can handle 'giving it a good go' and losing for an occasional match or maybe an FA Cup Match against Premier League opposition, but for the most part losing is shit and depressing, whether you gave it a good go (whatever that really means) or whatever else you might do that isn't 'giving it a good go' [I'm going off at a slight tangent]

So 4-4-2 was great and we did well in terms of results, but in the end it wasn't good enough and didn't meet the grade for "Exciting Attacking Football" and so I think that SS has felt the pressure to implement the plan.... Appleton came in and tried his hand at delivering to the plan and failed miserably....Then we ended up just doing what was necessary.

In the case of Critchley MK2, I think he's been given the objective to deliver to the requirement of 'Playing the Blackpool Way' ... We set u[p aggressively and with a view to trying to deliver. We are trying to play proper football and encourage a passing game, but for whatever reason we seem to be struggling (or struggling away from home)... However I think the persistence maybe has more to do with striving to achieve that objective and not just compromising and doing back to an effective, but limited system and instead being prepared to go through the difficult times and getting the plan to work - eventually.
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I feel there's a disconnect between his instinct and his tactical plan. It's not the joined up thinking that made you sometimes go 'how did he plot that?' first time round.

There may be something to what you say. There was at the back end of the Critch regime some quite vocal stuff (I was part of it) about how his constant switching of tactics, whilst effective, undermined our ability to recruit strategically because it was hard to build a squad based on the fact we could be one thing one week and another totally different thing the next.

Whether Critchley himself has reflected in a similar way or someone in the senior management has that vision that we play in a particular singular manner because it gives identity, I'm not sure.

What I don't think Critchley likes is chaos. Where I think someone like say, Darren Ferguson and to a degree Evatt sees chaos as a chance to overwhelm the opposition, Critchley wants control.

The problem is, I don't think this suits this squad. We play in squares. We don't move fluidly as we need to. The passing is fine, but the movement isn't there. I'm not sure we've got the players to make this work as when you add any formation up, it's lacking somewhere. Yet overall, the squad is solid enough.

It's possible Critchley's irritability comes from that - from being sort of trapped by the plan but if so, he's wearing the plan like a straightjacket and interpreting it in an extremely literal manner.

The thing is, he's brought all of these players to the club bar Lyons. If he was a.n.other manager, you might say 'well, give it time, we've seen good things (and we have)' but Critchley is different. Ok, he had a year away, but he's already had more time than everyone else combined in the Sadler era

I don't know what it is. I don't know if he needs an assistant or the players need that assistant to temper how he comes across to them or if he's just burned out or if we need a clear out and a refresh or everything.

My preference in summer was a clean slate. I genuinely, honestly think that had we been a bit more gung ho about how we play and had a higher, riskier tempo we'd all get more out of it.

We're not exciting and we're not especially good and I think it's fundamentally weird if our aim is 'good football' that CJ is the absolute nailed on first pick every week. God love the lad, he takes some unfair stick and he's done ok - but he's never, ever a division winning wing back cos he's just not good enough at basic footballing skills (i.e trapping or controlling a moving ball) to be that critical to a fluid, passing, footballing side. He absolutely has his place and value in a squad but I don't get why you'd bin off Owen Dale who is actually very good at those skills or farm out possibly the most skillful player bar Dembele if you were fulfilling a 'play good football' brief.

That's what confuses me. I can't work it out. I can't read what it is we're trying to do. I get we pass it about and try to draw the press. I get that we press quite well. How do we overload? How do we rotate and draw defenders? How do we change shape or drop tempo and raise tempo to unsettle opposition's?

The version of 'good football' seems quite limited. We play when we're allowed to basically.

Essentially, I think a lot of the frustration comes from how it feels as if there's stuff we don't do and don't try to do and it's quite similar to what Appleton didn't do. It's like 'we do this. End' and it's frustrating seeing managers like Neil Harris or Darryl Clarke outfox us on matchday by absorbing that and countering it with a seeming ease.

Basically, if you sit on Dembele and bully Casey or press Marv hard we're done for.

I think I partly agree with you, Critch is better than this. I don't get why he isn't showing it.
 
"The Blackpool way" is a Ben Mansford construct if you've supported the club for 4 seasons. The blackpool way was "if they score three, we'll score four" 15 years ago and "You lot defend and let Tom have the ball" under Paul Ince... In reality, there's no such thing as the Blackpool way.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I'm not sure who it was if I'm being honest mate, so it could well have been Ben Mansford. I absolutely agree with you though that the 'Blackpool Way' has nothing to do with the style of football though and everything to do with bucking the trend and refusing to accept our 'so called' place. We're absolutely unstoppable when we are 'together' and pulling in the same direction, which is why it's so difficult to see everyone pulling each other apart.... It's sad and it's pathetic..

And yep.... I agree that we need to hear that message loud and clear from the Club.... None of this "We'd love to be competing at the higher end of the Championship" bollocks and more of the "We'd love to be competing at the top end of the Premier League"... 👍 Less of the "we'll struggle to fill a 15,000 seater stadium" and more of the "We aim to be filling a 25,000 seater stadium and we're confident we can make it happen"
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Spot on. We find ourselves at a watershed, in my view the biggest since the Huddersfield pitch invasion and the boycott. I hope everyone plays their part from here on, fans, club, management, team. It's in all our hands to make it happen. I've seen a copy of what looks a quality statement from MSG this evening covering social media policy, acceptable behaviour and the club's role in accepting appropriate free speech. Hopefully the shape of things to come 👍

I should add, the real wild card in all this is the club itself. How they act, communicate and show leadership from here on will determine if we can turn a corner. Or we just throw our collective hands in and accept that this season has been a bit of a shitshow.
 
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BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I'm not sure who it was if I'm being honest mate, so it could well have been Ben Mansford. I absolutely agree with you though that the 'Blackpool Way' has nothing to do with the style of football though and everything to do with bucking the trend and refusing to accept our 'so called' place. We're absolutely unstoppable when we are 'together' and pulling in the same direction, which is why it's so difficult to see everyone pulling each other apart.... It's sad and it's pathetic..

And yep.... I agree that we need to hear that message loud and clear from the Club.... None of this "We'd love to be competing at the higher end of the Championship" bollocks and more of the "We'd love to be competing at the top end of the Premier League"... 👍 Less of the "we'll struggle to fill a 15,000 seater stadium" and more of the "We aim to be filling a 25,000 seater stadium and we're confident we can make it happen"
Click to expand...

Brilliant.
 
td53 said:
I feel there's a disconnect between his instinct and his tactical plan. It's not the joined up thinking that made you sometimes go 'how did he plot that?' first time round.

There may be something to what you say. There was at the back end of the Critch regime some quite vocal stuff (I was part of it) about how his constant switching of tactics, whilst effective, undermined our ability to recruit strategically because it was hard to build a squad based on the fact we could be one thing one week and another totally different thing the next.

Whether Critchley himself has reflected in a similar way or someone in the senior management has that vision that we play in a particular singular manner because it gives identity, I'm not sure.

What I don't think Critchley likes is chaos. Where I think someone like say, Darren Ferguson and to a degree Evatt sees chaos as a chance to overwhelm the opposition, Critchley wants control.

The problem is, I don't think this suits this squad. We play in squares. We don't move fluidly as we need to. The passing is fine, but the movement isn't there. I'm not sure we've got the players to make this work as when you add any formation up, it's lacking somewhere. Yet overall, the squad is solid enough.

It's possible Critchley's irritability comes from that - from being sort of trapped by the plan but if so, he's wearing the plan like a straightjacket and interpreting it in an extremely literal manner.

The thing is, he's brought all of these players to the club bar Lyons. If he was a.n.other manager, you might say 'well, give it time, we've seen good things (and we have)' but Critchley is different. Ok, he had a year away, but he's already had more time than everyone else combined in the Sadler era

I don't know what it is. I don't know if he needs an assistant or the players need that assistant to temper how he comes across to them or if he's just burned out or if we need a clear out and a refresh or everything.

My preference in summer was a clean slate. I genuinely, honestly think that had we been a bit more gung ho about how we play and had a higher, riskier tempo we'd all get more out of it.

We're not exciting and we're not especially good and I think it's fundamentally weird if our aim is 'good football' that CJ is the absolute nailed on first pick every week. God love the lad, he takes some unfair stick and he's done ok - but he's never, ever a division winning wing back cos he's just not good enough at basic footballing skills (i.e trapping or controlling a moving ball) to be that critical to a fluid, passing, footballing side. He absolutely has his place and value in a squad but I don't get why you'd bin off Owen Dale who is actually very good at those skills or farm out possibly the most skillful player bar Dembele if you were fulfilling a 'play good football' brief.

That's what confuses me. I can't work it out. I can't read what it is we're trying to do. I get we pass it about and try to draw the press. I get that we press quite well. How do we overload? How do we rotate and draw defenders? How do we change shape or drop tempo and raise tempo to unsettle opposition's?

The version of 'good football' seems quite limited. We play when we're allowed to basically.

Essentially, I think a lot of the frustration comes from how it feels as if there's stuff we don't do and don't try to do and it's quite similar to what Appleton didn't do. It's like 'we do this. End' and it's frustrating seeing managers like Neil Harris or Darryl Clarke outfox us on matchday by absorbing that and countering it with a seeming ease.

Basically, if you sit on Dembele and bully Casey or press Marv hard we're done for.

I think I partly agree with you, Critch is better than this. I don't get why he isn't showing it.
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Is he 'better than this' though?

It is certainly fair to say that we have previously seen him conjure up what seemed to be some tactical masterclasses and to vary tactics from game to game to maximise the impact against different opposition, but this time around it seems like he's completely out of ideas - either that or this group of players simply can't manage to implement the plan for whatever reason.

There's something missing for me.... this time around. There's been glimpses of some incredible football, but for the most part we've been pretty easy to deal with and have rarely been particularly pleasant on the eye. As you say, if the intention is to deliver exciting attacking football, then we seem to be failing miserably... However I do wonder if 'failing miserably' might be viewed as an acceptable (within reason) price to pay for getting to where we really want to be .... eventually....

I think there's been a bit of an issue with Owen Dale from pretty early doors by the way.... I don't think he has ever particularly settled at Blackpool, wasn't happy about not featuring regularly or playing in a preferred position etc... and I suspect it was a kind of mutually accepted thing that it might just be best to part company.

I hope he manages to turn things around, but right now, he feels like a man who simply can't translate his theory in to practical performances.... Whether the so called experience number 2 could work again this time around is open for debate.... Personally I'm not sure I can see him turning things around on his own / with the Boswell Brothers.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
Is he 'better than this' though?

It is certainly fair to say that we have previously seen him conjure up what seemed to be some tactical masterclasses and to vary tactics from game to game to maximise the impact against different opposition, but this time around it seems like he's completely out of ideas - either that or this group of players simply can't manage to implement the plan for whatever reason.

There's something missing for me.... this time around. There's been glimpses of some incredible football, but for the most part we've been pretty easy to deal with and have rarely been particularly pleasant on the eye. As you say, if the intention is to deliver exciting attacking football, then we seem to be failing miserably... However I do wonder if 'failing miserably' might be viewed as an acceptable (within reason) price to pay for getting to where we really want to be .... eventually....

I think there's been a bit of an issue with Owen Dale from pretty early doors by the way.... I don't think he has ever particularly settled at Blackpool, wasn't happy about not featuring regularly or playing in a preferred position etc... and I suspect it was a kind of mutually accepted thing that it might just be best to part company.

I hope he manages to turn things around, but right now, he feels like a man who simply can't translate his theory in to practical performances.... Whether the so called experience number 2 could work again this time around is open for debate.... Personally I'm not sure I can see him turning things around on his own / with the Boswell Brothers.
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Yeah. *sigh*

I suppose by 'better' I mean 'more flexible' - It's just weird that he's like a spectrum 48k football manager game where all you could do is swap the players randomly and hope for the best when previously, he was up all night on modern football manager games drawing lines and arrows and I don't know why it would take the presence of a Scottish bloke to make him able to do that.

Hey ho.

We'll win the next 14 games and we'll all look daft 🤣
 
hertfordseasider said:
I don't think he is, I think he is way too limited and too stubborn and he doesn't take responsibility. He is supposed to be this master tactician, well he may be on paper but he certainly isn't on the grass.
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Sometimes managers have a moment in time when it all comes together, but it becomes impossible to recapture that moment. Holloway is the classic example. I think Critchley's time has come and gone. Hope I'm wrong but that is how it feels. And that is from someone who is sad enough to have turned down an earning appointment this afternoon because it might clash with the playoffs 🙄
 
Adams Kebab said:
Good read this. I think we’re going to struggle to be honest.

We’ve definitely got some cases of Oyston PTSD & grown men acting dramatically.

Social media is a killer now 🤯
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Most of our fans are still stuck in the Oyston bubble of everything is fine at least we have a club

Until this mentality from large parts of our fanbase changes we will always be little Blackpool just feeding off scraps
 
Adams Kebab said:
Good read this. I think we’re going to struggle to be honest.

We’ve definitely got some cases of Oyston PTSD & grown men acting dramatically.

Social media is a killer now 🤯
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You’ll always have the odd idiot… That much has never changed and existed pre-internet. Of course, Social Media can certainly magnify the influence of one or two individuals… And in the case of football clubs, can provide a platform for rival Clubs to create a bit of havoc.

However I think this is where our ‘Fan Group’ Leaders or those who might have influence over others fir whatever reason, need to step up to the plate and show some proper character.

It’s easy to be a knobhead and to go along with stuff. Much harder to stand up and speak out against the stuff we all know isn’t right.

We’re all frustrated when things go wrong, but we need to look to these groups to show restraint and common sense… To help to engender positivity, rather than be a source of disruption and a constant thorn in the side of the club…

We’re going to lose football games and sometimes we might lose lots of them. We’ve got to find a way to cope and deal with that as a solid unit and not end up self-destructing ….

I have to say I’m at the point where we either ‘collectively’ sort this or I’m out, because I’m sick to death of seeing the Club and Fanbase being torn apart and our chances of any success continually undermined.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Most of our fans are still stuck in the Oyston bubble of everything is fine at least we have a club

Until this mentality from large parts of our fanbase changes we will always be little Blackpool
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To be honest mate, I think there’s the bubble of everything is fine and the bubble of it’s us against the world and Sadler is as bad as Oyston which is the stupidest shout going.

I think, the whole Critchley leaving scenario and the clusterfuck that followed has made the powers that be think the club should accept what their level is and we’ve lost that bounce to punch above our weight…

Ultimately in life, your mindset is pretty much everything and what you can achieve. We approached last season happy to finish 21st and this season I’m not so sure? Because of the PTSD from the previous regime we have a fanbase who are pretty clued up on bullshit so when some CEO picking up his 6 figures tells us we’re aiming for the top half of the Championship but in a January window we’ve signed Coulson and Byers on loan and two youngsters whilst letting go Dougall and two of our 3 wide options, it doesn’t really follow the words.

Talks cheap, we all know it and the owner should be on it knowing what’s gone on before.

It all seems skewered in the vision and the execution.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
You’ll always have the odd idiot… That much has never changed and existed pre-internet. Of course, Social Media can certainly magnify the influence of one or two individuals… And in the case of football clubs, can provide a platform for rival Clubs to create a bit of havoc.

However I think this is where our ‘Fan Group’ Leaders or those who might have influence over others fir whatever reason, need to step up to the plate and show some proper character.

It’s easy to be a knobhead and to go along with stuff. Much harder to stand up and speak out against the stuff we all know isn’t right.

We’re all frustrated when things go wrong, but we need to look to these groups to show restraint and common sense… To help to engender positivity, rather than be a source of disruption and a constant thorn in the side of the club…

We’re going to lose football games and sometimes we might lose lots of them. We’ve got to find a way to cope and deal with that as a solid unit and not end up self-destructing ….

I have to say I’m at the point where we either ‘collectively’ sort this or I’m out, because I’m sick to death of seeing the Club and Fanbase being torn apart and our chances of any success continually undermined.
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Its been a good thread this mate, I'm glad you used my thread for your inspiration

I can imagine Blood watching these threads in envy, feet up broken bat next to him thinking what could have been whilst he's messing with the tape on the handle
 
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BFC_BFC_BFC said:
We’re going to lose football games and sometimes we might lose lots of them. We’ve got to find a way to cope and deal with that as a solid unit and not end up self-destructing ….

I have to say I’m at the point where we either ‘collectively’ sort this or I’m out, because I’m sick to death of seeing the Club and Fanbase being torn apart and our chances of any success continually undermined.
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We’ve got sections who’ve done this twice now with Appleton and now Critchley.

It’s complete self-destruction.

It’s not saying either appointment is right because the 1st one definitely wasn’t, but you can’t be acting like we did and expect anything but a complete fuck-up.

We have a part to play in it without doubt but I don’t think some can do it. The thrill of getting a few likes and a bit of status is too much for some.

The MSG was spot-on, completely rational. Hopefully people get it but ultimately we need a fanfare and motivation from the top.

Not sure Sadler is that guy though.
 
Adams Kebab said:
We’ve got sections who’ve done this twice now with Appleton and now Critchley.

It’s complete self-destruction.

It’s not saying either appointment is right because the 1st one definitely wasn’t, but you can’t be acting like we did and expect anything but a complete fuck-up.

We have a part to play in it without doubt but I don’t think some can do it. The thrill of getting a few likes and a bit of status is too much for some.
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I was fighting a losing battle with Appleton and you could argue that sacking him actually made us worse given the players we had just signed and the idiot we brought in to replace him
 
Adams Kebab said:
To be honest mate, I think there’s the bubble of everything is fine and the bubble of it’s us against the world and Sadler is as bad as Oyston which is the stupidest shout going.

I think, the whole Critchley leaving scenario and the clusterfuck that followed has made the powers that be think the club should accept what their level is and we’ve lost that bounce to punch above our weight…

Ultimately in life, your mindset is pretty much everything and what you can achieve. We approached last season happy to finish 21st and this season I’m not so sure? Because of the PTSD from the previous regime we face a fanbase who are pretty clued up on bullshit so when some CEO picking up his 6 figures tells us we’re aiming for the top half of the Championship but in a January window we’ve signed Coulson and Byers on loan and two youngsters whilst letting go Dougall and two of our 3 wide options, it doesn’t really follow the words.

Talks cheap, we all know it and the owner should be on it knowing what’s gone on before.

It all seems skewered in the vision and the execution.
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The thing is… The Club, Simon, Our Managers and Our Players all need to firstly be given the freedom to be able to fail or at the very least, the Feedom to Fail over a reasonable period of time.

As supporters that means we can’t project our historic prejudice and Oyston ‘hurt’ onto Simon Sadler… To develop a football Club properly can take 10-20 years… it’s not something you can do in 3,4 or even 5 years… It’s a massive job.

Similarity, A manager or coach needs a couple of windows and maybe more to get his squad and chosen tactics to work… sometimes it might happen sooner, sometimes it might be obvious it won’t work sooner, but as fans we need to give them time…

The same with players… Most of them thrive on support and confidence… So abusing them on their SM feed or accusing them of being knob-Enders before they’ve kicked a ball is probably not going to help them perform to their best.

As things is… Simon has basically gone into protectionist mode… And understandably so, because frankly he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t…. He’s not been given a proper chance

Everyone is all concerned about ‘Their right to have their say and challenge him’… Well yep.. you have that right… but maybe give the bloke a fighting chance to make a few mistakes and try and put them right, before we start threatening to burn him alive or accusing him of lying about the Stadium or Training Ground…

We need to just back the fuck off n my opinion and give these people a chance to breathe. Take our collective feet off their throats and allow them the chance to try and fail and try again to deliver the success that we all desperately want…. Because it’s bloody impossible to do so under the kind of pressure that we are placing on them all at the minute imo.
 
straightatthewall said:
A nice reposte that Biffy and there's a lot I agree with.

The board have to own their errors and recognize that football is an odd business that needs some odd thought processes at time. The last 2 proper managerial appointments (Apples and Critch) were poorly thought out precisely because of the grey cloud both carried with them due to history. Neither was at fault for that, but the board/Simon could have been more in-tune with what it would mean IF things weren't going perfectly to plan. What has happened recently in terms of supporter criticism of NC was ALWAYS going to happen if we didn't 'succeed' i.e. get ourselves right in the mix (top 6 minimum).
The board also have to stop pandering to some of the voices that shout the loudest but make the least sense. Taking a post I make about a first game of the season 6-pointer seriously is not a good sign. Neither is thinking it has to justify Appleton's reappointment with an exhibition of his tattoos in the local British Legion.

But by the same token, supporters have been acting like spoilt kids in their demands for what the club HAS to be and the inevitable conclusions of what's wrong when the club fails to be...Simon Sadler isn't Roman Abramovic, Jack Walker or even Valeri Belokon. He has bought the club and has quite obviously made investments - it's all there in the accounts. But whichever you want to spin it, we're a football club who's support-base 'naturally' places it roughly where we find ourselves. Competing to get out of League 1 and then struggling to stay in the Championship.
People say 'what changed?' The answer is simple; we didn't have the cash to compete against clubs that did and our attempts to find creative ways to bring in quality players on a budget didn't work.
This season, the budget for League 1 is self-evidently reasonable, but for whatever reason, things haven't quite clicked the way we wanted. But even then, the 'disaster' is a side that has been strong at home - implying something is going right - and a side that has struggled away - something that is not unique across football.

Do I enjoy watching the football and seeing us (almost certainly) lining up for another season in League 1? Of course not. But I also can't see any reasons to see why the club is slowly being demonized as the enemy. Efforts are obviously being made. They just haven't succeeded. It's football. It happens. There's plenty of other clubs all in the same boat.

And one last point. What is 'the club'? Because it seems to me that it's all of us when we want things and it's Simon Sadler and the business when we want to criticise. Are we together or not? Or do we reserve the right to choose and then spout off when perceived divisions are created between the business and its customers?

I know I'm going against the grain here and I dare say a lot of it is because I'm coming out of year when I really couldn't have cared less about football results, but reading a lot of stuff on here recently has been as depressing as anything else. The insecurity, entitlement and complete lack of self-awareness of some of the fanbase has become cringeworthy and downright laughable at times. If I have to read that XXX is 'the worst player I've EVER seen' or 'I'm better than YYY' one more time, I swear I'll do time. This club has employed some absolute dog shit over the years, not least during the appalling Oyston-driven decline following the Riga Revolution. That doesn't mean we have to accept below-par effort or performances, but arguments around player ability in the current squad carry little weight when accompanied by such hysterical bed-wettery.
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Brilliant post that almost word for word replicates where I stand in this debate. When I started my love affair with Bfc during the 1961-2 season, going to a match involved getting the train from St Annes to Blackpool South, queuing to get on the Kop, watching us, more often than not, getting beaten, buying the Green and going back home. That was it until the next match. We did not know, or care, who the owner was. Nobody shouted "Suart out". We accepted, generally, that struggling to stay in the 1st diivision was where we belonged. Of course, social media has changed all that, but I think we should be aware that the loudest voices, on here, Facebook, X etc, do not, in all likelihood, represent the fanbase as a whole. They certainly do not represent my views. As things stand currently, it is clear that we do not gave a squad capable of competing consistently at the top of the table; we are where we belong - top half of the table, and that is fine. Our gates, commercial activities, etc. do not provide sufficient funds for us to make the journey from relegation to promotion an easy or straightforward one; and we should not be expecting SS to continally dip into his wealth to fund this journey. Look how long it took Sunderland, Wednesday, etc. to get out of this division with their comparatively huge resources. While, as an exile, I no longer go to Bloomfield road, I follow every match on TTV and feel just the same as I did over 60 years ago. Happy when we win, disappointed when we lose, then forget about it until the next match. I have no right to demand anything from the powers that be at the club so long as I believe they are doing their best they can. That might mean that NC is shown the door, it might not, so long as any decision is made in the long-term interest of the club, not on the back of an appalling display at Cheltenham or elsewhere. With our resources, we are doing OK, top half of the table, semi-finals of a cup, and continuing redevelopment of the clubs facilities. We have a local lad as owner who has already invested millions into the club. What' s not to like?
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
It's skewed by having played slightly more home games (one or two) more than others. If it was based on Points per Game, then we'd be third instead of second, so it makes no difference really.
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Thank you for that. It seems an awful shame that the abysmal away form, completely takes the gloss off it.
 
Adams Kebab said:
We’ve got sections who’ve done this twice now with Appleton and now Critchley.

It’s complete self-destruction.

It’s not saying either appointment is right because the 1st one definitely wasn’t, but you can’t be acting like we did and expect anything but a complete fuck-up.

We have a part to play in it without doubt but I don’t think some can do it. The thrill of getting a few likes and a bit of status is too much for some.

The MSG was spot-on, completely rational. Hopefully people get it but ultimately we need a fanfare and motivation from the top.

Not sure Sadler is that guy though.
Click to expand...
😧
 
straightatthewall said:
A nice reposte that Biffy and there's a lot I agree with.

The board have to own their errors and recognize that football is an odd business that needs some odd thought processes at time. The last 2 proper managerial appointments (Apples and Critch) were poorly thought out precisely because of the grey cloud both carried with them due to history. Neither was at fault for that, but the board/Simon could have been more in-tune with what it would mean IF things weren't going perfectly to plan. What has happened recently in terms of supporter criticism of NC was ALWAYS going to happen if we didn't 'succeed' i.e. get ourselves right in the mix (top 6 minimum).
The board also have to stop pandering to some of the voices that shout the loudest but make the least sense. Taking a post I make about a first game of the season 6-pointer seriously is not a good sign. Neither is thinking it has to justify Appleton's reappointment with an exhibition of his tattoos in the local British Legion.

But by the same token, supporters have been acting like spoilt kids in their demands for what the club HAS to be and the inevitable conclusions of what's wrong when the club fails to be...Simon Sadler isn't Roman Abramovic, Jack Walker or even Valeri Belokon. He has bought the club and has quite obviously made investments - it's all there in the accounts. But whichever you want to spin it, we're a football club who's support-base 'naturally' places it roughly where we find ourselves. Competing to get out of League 1 and then struggling to stay in the Championship.
People say 'what changed?' The answer is simple; we didn't have the cash to compete against clubs that did and our attempts to find creative ways to bring in quality players on a budget didn't work.
This season, the budget for League 1 is self-evidently reasonable, but for whatever reason, things haven't quite clicked the way we wanted. But even then, the 'disaster' is a side that has been strong at home - implying something is going right - and a side that has struggled away - something that is not unique across football.

Do I enjoy watching the football and seeing us (almost certainly) lining up for another season in League 1? Of course not. But I also can't see any reasons to see why the club is slowly being demonized as the enemy. Efforts are obviously being made. They just haven't succeeded. It's football. It happens. There's plenty of other clubs all in the same boat.

And one last point. What is 'the club'? Because it seems to me that it's all of us when we want things and it's Simon Sadler and the business when we want to criticise. Are we together or not? Or do we reserve the right to choose and then spout off when perceived divisions are created between the business and its customers?

I know I'm going against the grain here and I dare say a lot of it is because I'm coming out of year when I really couldn't have cared less about football results, but reading a lot of stuff on here recently has been as depressing as anything else. The insecurity, entitlement and complete lack of self-awareness of some of the fanbase has become cringeworthy and downright laughable at times. If I have to read that XXX is 'the worst player I've EVER seen' or 'I'm better than YYY' one more time, I swear I'll do time. This club has employed some absolute dog shit over the years, not least during the appalling Oyston-driven decline following the Riga Revolution. That doesn't mean we have to accept below-par effort or performances, but arguments around player ability in the current squad carry little weight when accompanied by such hysterical bed-wettery.
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Just catching up this morning. Brilliant post. Well said!
 
How on earth can you expect a disparate group of people like fans of any club to unite and lead the way?
Ridiculous!
Leadership has to come from within any organisation, in this case the club!
We need leadership that will find a way engage with a broad base of Blackpool fans not just the same click of people who have their own agendas!
Sadly SS (iMO) lacks the EI to achieve this and the people he puts in place view the world similarly to him this we have a very unbalanced team at the top level, this attitude cascades down and we are left with what we have!
SS needs to surround himself with people who have different paradigms to his and take on board their views to become the leader we need,
Until then , despite his best intentions, the organisation will never reach its full potential
 
Stanah said:
How on earth can you expect a disparate group of people like fans of any club to unite and lead the way?
Ridiculous!
Leadership has to come from within any organisation, in this case the club!
We need leadership that will find a way engage with a broad base of Blackpool fans not just the same click of people who have their own agendas!
Sadly SS (iMO) lacks the EI to achieve this and the people he puts in place view the world similarly to him this we have a very unbalanced team at the top level, this attitude cascades down and we are left with what we have!
SS needs to surround himself with people who have different paradigms to his and take on board their views to become the leader we need,
Until then , despite his best intentions, the organisation will never reach its full potential
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But BST and the MSG aren’t a disparate group of people?

One is a fully constituted Football Trust with elected representatives and the other is an organised group with a leadership and influence.

These are the organisations who collaborated and successfully cooperated throughout the Oyston Out campaign with considerable success.

An organisation who has influenced Government Policy, campaigned for transformation I. Football Governance and achieved those objectives.

You think them incapable of rising to this challenge??

Why?

Oh and I agree with you 100% that SS should be surrounded by people who challenge him and contribute their own opinions and insights…. I’d like to hope that is the case and that all board members are free to express themselves, challenge each others ideas and get things wrong sometimes etc..
 
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Sack Critchley immediately.
Start talking to the fans directly without adversarial point scoring and virtue signalling…tell us the truth about what exactly is happening. The facts man…just the facts!
Do something to improve the mood generally…anything at all…an open training session at Bloomfield Road complete with a Holloway style direct address to the fans from the new manager promising to move hell and earth to get things back on track
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Its been a good thread this mate, I'm glad you used my thread for your inspiration

I can imagine Blood watching these threads in envy, feet up broken bat next to him thinking what could have been whilst he's messing with the tape on the handle
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Bottle of cheap vodka in a brown paper bag
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
Absolutely spot on Mate....

You have a choice in life to view everything with cynicism and negativity or to see it as an opportunity and treat it positively.


That was something that disappointed me from the recent Seasiders Pod, because there is almost certainly an attitude of "I'm not going to engage with this BSM shit, because it's not good enough or it's 'beneath us' "... We're going nowhere fast until we manage to drop that attitude as fans IMHO.

OK It's been a fuck-ing frustrating season... And mostly frustrating because of so many false dawns... Most of us can see that there is potential, but for whatever reason we can't seem to get our collective arses in gear to find a way to be successful. Yes... Obviously the Manager has to shoulder a big part of the blame, but there's a whole load of bullshit that sits around the manager (and the Managers of previous seasons) that are making his job a whole lot more challenging.
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The Podcast team have all been going to the games
A lot of fans haven’t been bothered which is a shame as along with the FA cup replay it’s been entertaining - the polar opposite of the approach to league games particularly the way games
 
TwelveAngryMen said:
The Podcast team have all been going to the games
A lot of fans haven’t been bothered which is a shame as along with the FA cup replay it’s been entertaining - the polar opposite of the approach to league games particularly the way games
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The Grim Reaper isn’t even going to Wembers unless his grandson begs him to go on bended knee. 😂😉
 
How much of ‘all this’ applies to a surprisingly small section of the fan base? Not living in the area and being open honest that I can only watch on telly these days I don’t have a feeling for how the majority of fans feel?

So genuine question. How much of this exists in the social media bubble?
 
td53 said:
I feel there's a disconnect between his instinct and his tactical plan. It's not the joined up thinking that made you sometimes go 'how did he plot that?' first time round.

There may be something to what you say. There was at the back end of the Critch regime some quite vocal stuff (I was part of it) about how his constant switching of tactics, whilst effective, undermined our ability to recruit strategically because it was hard to build a squad based on the fact we could be one thing one week and another totally different thing the next.

Whether Critchley himself has reflected in a similar way or someone in the senior management has that vision that we play in a particular singular manner because it gives identity, I'm not sure.

What I don't think Critchley likes is chaos. Where I think someone like say, Darren Ferguson and to a degree Evatt sees chaos as a chance to overwhelm the opposition, Critchley wants control.

The problem is, I don't think this suits this squad. We play in squares. We don't move fluidly as we need to. The passing is fine, but the movement isn't there. I'm not sure we've got the players to make this work as when you add any formation up, it's lacking somewhere. Yet overall, the squad is solid enough.

It's possible Critchley's irritability comes from that - from being sort of trapped by the plan but if so, he's wearing the plan like a straightjacket and interpreting it in an extremely literal manner.

The thing is, he's brought all of these players to the club bar Lyons. If he was a.n.other manager, you might say 'well, give it time, we've seen good things (and we have)' but Critchley is different. Ok, he had a year away, but he's already had more time than everyone else combined in the Sadler era

I don't know what it is. I don't know if he needs an assistant or the players need that assistant to temper how he comes across to them or if he's just burned out or if we need a clear out and a refresh or everything.

My preference in summer was a clean slate. I genuinely, honestly think that had we been a bit more gung ho about how we play and had a higher, riskier tempo we'd all get more out of it.

We're not exciting and we're not especially good and I think it's fundamentally weird if our aim is 'good football' that CJ is the absolute nailed on first pick every week. God love the lad, he takes some unfair stick and he's done ok - but he's never, ever a division winning wing back cos he's just not good enough at basic footballing skills (i.e trapping or controlling a moving ball) to be that critical to a fluid, passing, footballing side. He absolutely has his place and value in a squad but I don't get why you'd bin off Owen Dale who is actually very good at those skills or farm out possibly the most skillful player bar Dembele if you were fulfilling a 'play good football' brief.

That's what confuses me. I can't work it out. I can't read what it is we're trying to do. I get we pass it about and try to draw the press. I get that we press quite well. How do we overload? How do we rotate and draw defenders? How do we change shape or drop tempo and raise tempo to unsettle opposition's?

The version of 'good football' seems quite limited. We play when we're allowed to basically.

Essentially, I think a lot of the frustration comes from how it feels as if there's stuff we don't do and don't try to do and it's quite similar to what Appleton didn't do. It's like 'we do this. End' and it's frustrating seeing managers like Neil Harris or Darryl Clarke outfox us on matchday by absorbing that and countering it with a seeming ease.

Basically, if you sit on Dembele and bully Casey or press Marv hard we're done for.

I think I partly agree with you, Critch is better than this. I don't get why he isn't showing it.
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Some good points.

NC seems to have switched his instincts off and decided we need to keep doing the same thing til we perfect it. I can't believe that that is imposed on him.

I believe that football is about alchemy, a coming together of people with different attributes that contribute to the whole, in a time and place where people are pulling together to create the right conditions anbd environment for success. It's rarely one person's fault if it doesn't happen, but one person often shoulders most of the blame. In Critch's first spell we had all that stuff on TTV that was fun to watch. Do we lack the personalities to do that now, or do we lack the pople who film that stuff? Were Calderwood and McCall critical elements? They looked kind of peripheral at the time, I thought. Helpful tactically no doubt.

We really did need a clean slate in the summer. A huge error to bring NC back in my opinion, and i was a big fan first time round. I guess SS was in a bad place then, a horrible season and BG and the ceo departed in difficult circumstances. I thought letting Dobbie continue would be the simple thing, give him a go, everyone behind him, see how it goes in L1. Regroup in the meantime. Bringing Critch back has done nobody any good - he is better than this, but not in the circumstances in which he returned to us.

SS might be well advised to give the fans what they crave - a manager like Billy Ayre or Holloway, it almost feels like a culture war at the moment - some people just dont like little studious men who talk modern tactobabble and don't get angry and emotional like they do. Give them what they want, let them get behind it. If it doesn't succeed, at least you can refer back and say, "well, we tried that and look what happened."
 
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