• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Bradford

Boz

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Iain Hume
I agree and find PJs approach equally puzzling.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
League Two it is then. We would have won today with eleven men, not that it makes any difference.

Today's game summed up the season; everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I did not have a good view of the sending off but it looked harsh. We were clearly the better side in the first half and defended really well with ten men for the majority: until the last ten minutes Bradford had been pretty dire and created next to nothing and it was a deflection that got them back in the game. Their second, when we had to take risks and push forward, was hard on us.

I thought their staff and fans showed themselves to be pretty classless again today. The antics on their bench raised the temperature and contributed to the red card, and the constant goading from their fans was worse than we have had from other clubs in similar situations: one positive is we won't have to see any of that mob next season.

We now need some real positivity and ambition from the top of the club and a real show of intent to push for a top seven place next season.
 
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7 Mar 2012
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Backayogo
Despite the relegation, what a totally inept 'Manager' McMahon is. I watched Koumas visibly tire with 20 mins remaining. Jennings also was feeling it. The clown then puts subs on with a few minutes to go. The typical 1 man up front again. I have seen relegation a few times over 45 years and I will be there next season but please lets get a Manager.
 

Ian

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Aldo
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Kingy
Regardless of the circumstances, we lost to a team who had nothing to play for. It's sums up our season which has been rubbish for many reasons. Now our fate is sealed, the club need to have a serious shake up over the summer and come out fighting for next season.
 
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There were some interesting and honest comments from John Mac about the structure and running of the club in his post match interview. Quite rightly he is critical of the 'strategy' for player recruitment in this and the previous four seasons, the absence of a settled style of play and players capable of fitting in to a given system, the inadequate staffing levels at the club, the lack of strategic direction........... He also quite rightly states that a new - and appropriate - manager must be in situ soon if we are to plan effectively for next season and avoid a repeat of some of the disastrous decisions of last summer.

Lessons must be learned at board level if the decline of the last five years is to be arrested; it will be difficult for Butler to put a positive spin on the club's prospects unless there are root and branch changes.
 

Ian

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If nothing is done we'll just have the same struggles as this season. Zero money, dwindling gates. Where does it end? Will be interesting now to see what happens with recruiting a new manager and who stays and who goes.
 

Brightonian

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20 Mar 2012
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Ian Goodison, James Norwood
Yesterday was disappointing in the end but we made the 570 mile round trip with hope , optimism but with not much confidence and capped off an appalling season. Agree we need root and branch overhaul as the writing has been on the wall for a few seasons! How many players have we used this year, thirty odd? Doesn't matter what team sport you play you can't constantly change. The loan system does have a part to play but what does it do for the morale of the local lads when some often very raw loan players are played ahead of them?

Unless we change the business model of the club I fear for the future as Ian says we may be in a downward spiral.
 

bigmart

bigmart
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Ian Muir
A grim day yesterday and im still gutted that we have gone down. McMahon again proved hes not upto the job with some poor decisions yet again.

We need a fresh start and a new approach hopefully a new manager will provide this. Going to be a lot of changes to the playing squad just hope whoever is manager can make some good signings and we don't have to go through another relegation battle next season.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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McMahon again proved hes not upto the job with some poor decisions yet again
.

He is not up to the manager's job but it is unfair to single him out yet again when the major problems this season were not of his making at all.

I would not object to him remaining in some kind of coaching role as he understands the club's past failures and could provide valuable advice to ensure they are not repeated. Provided, that is, we appoint a decent manager and make the kind of off-the field investment that is necessary.
 
Joined
1 Oct 2005
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
Yesterday was grim, but I was expecting it. Having been optimistic for 45 games, I finally admitted to myself last week that we were going to go down. The three key results were no surprise. At least we gave it a go. It was just frustrating that we scored only one goal and took just a solitary point from our last six games. Just five points out of 18 would have seen us safe, but when only one of your players has managed more than three goals all season, you will struggle.

The important thing now is to look forward and make sure we learn from the mistakes of this season. In many ways we were unlucky, as we were to a certain extent last season, but things were going wrong even before the season started. Our pre-season was disastrous – worse than even the Barnes era. We simply didn’t get quantity or quality (Foster, Horwood, Sodje) and were forced to start with a makeshift defence who had not played together. Some of the loanees we found turned out to be decent (Ridehalgh) but a lot were not. Even when we found a good young loanee, he would often be recalled just when he was settling in. We should have learned our lesson from last season, which started to go pear-shaped when Gibson and Cassidy were recalled, although Wallace’s injury was another major factor. I am not against loanees, but they need to be planned and not brought in in panic. We also need to be wary of clauses stating that they must play every week. I was pleased to see in Jeremy Butler’s statement on the OS that our whole recruitment policy is under review.

I am not downbeat. How many other clubs would have stayed up after what we’ve been through? All teams lose key players through injury from time to time, but having one fighting cancer, losing the manager after he admitted betting offences and having two players arrested must be pretty unusual. And in the background, all the uncertainty about the future of the club. A change of luck would go a long way to improving our fortunes.

Yes, next season is critical as we don’t want to do a Stockport. But if we can get a good manager, keep some of our key players and start to put a few good results together, we should get better gates and hence more income.
 

Ian

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Good summary there BBTC, but I'm just reluctant regarding the manager. Not sure how much quality we can bring in with little to no money. Catch-22 really. Just keeping my fingers crossed because I feel this is going to be one of the most important decisions the club will need to make going forward.
 
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Backayogo
Thought that Butler was spot on with all he said. Lets hope it happens. Changed my opinion about McMahon after watching his interview. The man is a human being and is visibly shaken. Keep him on the coaching staff and get a new Manager. Look at every position on the field, evaluate and if possible better that position.
 

bigmart

bigmart
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Ian Muir
McMahon will stay as he has another year on his contract. Lets be honest whoever comes in is going to be a cheap option as that's all we can afford.
 
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Lets be honest whoever comes in is going to be a cheap option as that's all we can afford.

Of the likely candidates my preference would be James Beattie who we surely could afford, unless we pay lower wages and have less ambition than Accrington.
 

bigmart

bigmart
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If Beattie is under contract then I doubt we would get him
 

Higgy

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1 Jul 2010
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Dave Higgins
Not much money and not much choice.
Goodi player manager? Was timing of Coleman leaving Southport significant - may be he is being lined up?
I think most of our "stars" who are out of contract will leave - so wish lists will be wishful thinking. As a result I think the need for resourceful and clever recruitment to provide a starting nucleus to bolt the obligatory loanees onto is more key than ever.
 

Boz

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30 Sep 2005
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Iain Hume
Not much to add really. Like BBTC, I'd kept hope until the failure to take anything from the Orient game coupled with the way the other results went then. However, I would have preferred not to have bowed out from L1 by losing the final game. While there are some grounds for sympathy with McMahon's post-match remarks, his delays in substituting tired players and the players he chose to take off and bring on denied us a rousing departure and were typical of the failings of his time in charge.

One positive from the game was the crowd. Allowing for 2k from Bradford, we still got about 2.5k more that the average attendance, despite no cut-price tickets and the bulk of the returning extra support gave some great additional backing to the team.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
One positive from the game was the crowd. Allowing for 2k from Bradford, we still got about 2.5k more that the average attendance, despite no cut-price tickets and the bulk of the returning extra support gave some great additional backing to the team.

Strangely enough, the atmosphere on Saturday was probably the best it has been at Prenton Park for several months. The attendance gives some hope that crowds will increase if we are challenging at the right end of the table next season.

Full marks also to the couple of hundred diehards who stayed to applaud the players when they made their belated lap of the pitch (I won't call it a lap of 'honour' !).
 
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