I wonder what Appleton makes of all this?

[Philbfctrois]

To answer the OP he probably thinks he's in a parallel universe where the lunatics have taken over the asylum

 

[Wilburrabbit]

If he thought at all about his credibility he would admit he is out of his depth and resign. However like many in the games he will keep trotting out post match garbage and keep the wages coming in until it’s too late.

 

[JJpool]

yep, good post and good points. It's barely a month since everything seemed bright, with good performances, good results and people singing his praises.

Yep, thats football though, in truth we haven't put any sort of consistency together, even with enough players available.

It starts with an improper backing, bad luck etc but also the players did it before under another manager, that doesn't help him.

Not sure we survive without fans onside.

 

[Camberwell1]

I’ll start by saying I didn’t want him, like pretty much every Blackpool fan. No issue with what what happened in his last reign, just didn’t think he’d done that great at Oxford, Lincoln and had an idea of his demeanour and the way he interviewed etc. That said, he’s out of work, gets the gig at a Championship Club. He must be buzzing, despite everyone moaning about his appointment.

I’m guessing the night he took his top off at the Armfield Club with Mansford and Brett Gerrity accompanying him he probably thought WTF is this about. He probably had that same feeling when we missed out on Simms and Hirst and god knows who else in the striking department as well as managing to create an issue on a medical with Colby Bishop, who’s looking really medically unfit as he scores most weeks in League 1.

We win the first game, but everyone moans about the 2nd half and there’s loads missing a good old fist pump at full-time. Results after that are mixed but a great win at QPR and comeback at Burnley are dampened by injuries to 3/4 of our midfield. We still didn’t sign a midfielder & we’re left short for a month that resulted in a formation change, forced on him and away from his 4-3-3 principles. Appletons tangerine army isn’t going off much. Loads aren’t buying it.

The Bowler saga drags on for weeks and ends on deadline day, but it’s all good apparently as we’ve already sorted his replacement in Poveda and brought in Callum Wright. Oh & where are those whoppers who dismissed the criticism of our recruitment by countering it with the signings for our development squad? That’s a bit daft now isn’t it looking back, as was said at the time.

Anyway back to MA. Because we’ve not been able to sign a midfielder because we make stupid bids that don’t get accepted or we get played completely like Brannigan did (very stupid we didn’t work this out), we end up going for ex-Prem midfielders with no club. I’ve noticed the past week or so there’s been digs galore from the board at the mentality of these players who have earned lots of money and don’t want to play anymore. Here’s a thought… why are we ending up going for them?? So after Drinkwater and another say no, we end up with Bridcutt. Whilst this has been going on Grant Ward has been hanging round the gaff but MA says a few times we won’t be signing him.

Injuries and suspensions hit hard after a great display at Sheff Utd. Because we are so short, we sign Grant Ward, that’s the guy we didn’t want to sign btw.

The Knobber game comes. A tactical masterclass from Appleton, I’ve never seen us score 4 v those before, what a moment. This is followed up by Coventry away. There’s a bit of a connection at full-time as Appleton’s tangerine army is cranked out and he shows a bit of emotion.

It then goes completely tits up. We’ve got Grant Ward right back in a game. We’ve no option at centre forward bar for one with one groin (see then summer balls up). We’re depleted but we’ve not strengthened correctly to cover this and left ourselves short on quality. Most our loans have flopped. Permanent signings in Thompson & Wright, haven’t hit the ground running.

Defeats follow, the support from 2 weeks ago is waning completely & lots who didn’t want him in the summer have been waiting for this moment that culminates in a good chunk singing to our own manager, that’s us who claim to be such brilliant fans, “you’re getting sacked in the morning!” WTAF. This is despite by the way, playing 73 minutes plus with 10 men & Kenny Dougall centre back as we’ve nobody else!

In an even stranger plot twist, he then claps the fans at the end and people give him a load of shit and say he was taking the piss clapping. He usually has his hands in his pockets apparently? People say he’s passionless and doesn’t motivate etc. He’s made changes in the middle of numerous games to effect the results positively but that’s not good as the West Stand say he’s got his hands in his pockets. Jeez.

I’ll end it by saying like I started it. The board knew nobody wanted him. This is on them. He’s come in and been dealt shit hands on suspensions, injuries and failures from the board to sign players. He’s definitely made mistakes, I’m baffled why we’ve still got Chris Maxwell in net letting in corners, but if you think this is all on Michael Appleton and changing him changes the problems then you aren’t thinking logically.

The mindset needs to change fast. You can’t not spend money in this league and you are only as good as your recruitment. There’s some very well paid people who are involved in this process. They need to get it sorted because even if the Manager changes, that won’t. Not stupid money but not by making stupid bids.

To emphasise this point, we went pretty mad in the January window in 2019… Madine… Thorniley.. KDH… Ronan etc and a couple more then sacked the Manager weeks later. Ben Mansford was in charge then btw. Suppose that was Appletons fault.

Same as Boris Liar - won’t give a flying hoot

 

[Adams Kebab]

Whether he stays or goes to me is less important than the board needing to realise that if we want to remain a Championship club we simply cannot do it on the cheap.
I understand our financial limitations but you can't expect to stay at this level unless you give your manager/head coach the tools to do the job, whoever he may be.

This is it in a nutshell.

I’ve got a moody feeling this is how we ended up with Appleton in the 1st place.

 

[FLATBACKFOR]

The reality is we have a lot of injuries, that happens in the game and it affects the end products.

 

[Memphisboy]

It’s a bit of a myth that the board haven’t spent money because they have, big squad and it will be a big wage bill as well. Don’t forget SS bankrolled us through the pandemic when zero money was coming in. We don’t have a massive fan base so this idea we just pay everyone off doesn’t matter only a few million quid Simon will find it. Personally think Appleton done ok but been dreadfully unlucky with injuries and every team we get a head of steam up something crops up to derail us. For the money the club gets we are more than competitive on the wages front and that’s forgetting the new stand and training ground. How quickly people forget!

 

[TangerineBayern]

I wasnt unhappy to see Critchley leave as personally I thought he had run his course...my question to you is are we the second worst team in this division?...the answer for me is no we certainly are not and we are therefore under performing. The inconsistency in performances sends out massive alarm bells and we either seem very good as in against Burnley, Sheff Utd, Coventry, QPR or abject as in Hull Rotherham Barrow Boro etc etc.

Agree with that TPP the shit show at Peterborough was the writing on the wall for me with Critchley. Playing like Barca some games and then slipping to performances well down the non league pyramid was dumbfounding at times in equal measures! Not really sure what the next few months hold for us but we’ve got to get the players back in the right frame of mind in terms of attitude, motivation and commitment and believing in themselves again. As I’ve said on other posts with the exception of Fiorini I’m not sure whether the other long term injuries are going to be the answer to a stronger squad, and l can’t see either Stewart or Gabriel being back before Feb at the very earliest. It’s essential that we strengthen in the Jan window otherwise we will find it difficult to get a string of good results together.