League Two Carlisle v Rovers

[Ian]

The catering is a joke imo. I know MP finds it all a bit of a laughing matter, yes there are bigger things to worry about but it is all part of the match day experience. I never buy food anymore, I've ditched the coffee and hot chocolate and now just about get through a tea with plenty of milk!

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

The point I am making is that it does not take much to get it right

I know mate!
Since before covid, the quality of catering has hit rock bottom, it's a joke!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Micky was unable to deliver with the more experienced squad last season though, so had we gone down that route again, how would he have changed? There was fan dissatisfaction at the time, which led to some of the remarks from the chair about a more adventurous style of play. With what's been seen since, people may have changed their minds now.

We were two points off the play-offs last season and would have made them if it had not been for the Morris suspension. A world of difference with the situation we now find ourselves in. Mellon achieved that with a flawed squad that was hardly a shoo-in for promotion, as you seem to imply. Mellon did well with the resources available.

We had the best home record in the division last year. Palios should not have caved in to alleged 'fan dissatisfaction' regarding the playing style (which only came from a minority anyway) and should have focussed on what would actually achieve results. In my view, that meant backing Mellon and giving him the tools he needed to succeed, within our financial constraints.

It is probably the case that promotion was never achievable this season, due to the financial situation and the quality of the squad. However, that was not justification for the sacking of Mellon when he had kept us in a reasonable position with those limited resources. He would have left mutually in the summer anyway, which would have been more dignified for all concerned.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

While agreeing that we have a reasonable back four, they don't seem to have been as reliable as last season's and post the January window, we've been similar to last year's defensive issue, having virtually no options for cover to replace jaded or complacent players.

I mentioned the first choice back four, not the cover. Our defensive record has been excellent again this season and I would argue that none of the first choice back four show the same frailties that Clarke did in the second half of last season.

 

[Am on mobile]

I have said this to palios before but they are not interested

 

[bigmart]

I have said this to palios before but they are not interested

Hopefully he will sell the club or we will just continue in a downward spiral

 

[Am on mobile]

Let us hope the food at the new fan park is good or it will fail

 

[Am on mobile]

Also the better the products the more you sell the more money you have to use on team but if the owners want out they are not going to put in

 

[Sparky]

RLC makes some good points. It is bizarre in some way to think how we close we were to the play offs last season, and not much further from automatic promotion.

The Palios have done so much for the club, but the significant change in policy was their decision, perhaps influenced by Vaughan. Micky effectively forwarned us that it might not work and that has proven true. The whole feeling around the club is miles away from a play off chasing one. We’ve fallen a long way and the more I think about it, the more I think it was a massive mistake by the club to make Micky work with a policy that went against everything he’d had success with over the years. Maybe that was for budget reasons but I agree that Palios was influenced too much by the claims of negative football.

We had the BEST home record in the division last season. We’re miles away from that now. Football is about winning and in league two it is very rare to win regularly and play open attacking football at the same time. I’d take a 1-0 win over a 3-3 draw any day of the week.

 

[ADD]

Sounds like the new investors will need serious money to make things work then. A few of the Palioi’s off-field projects were longer term when they arrived, but doubt they’ve got the staying power to see this through now. Looking like the rock/hard place option.

All this talk about lack of money is I feel a bit of an excuse from the MM fan club. We don't have a mega bucks wage bill that is true but I don't accept that our budget is as bad as our League position is or certainly as bad as some seem to suggest. The fact that MP sacked MM suggests to me he also knows that.

We brought in some decent players in January - Saunders was apparently a MM target in August but has been ineffectual. Turner - Cooke was his recruit in January also who is highly thought of at Newcastle but has hardly played which likely will not help us get loans from them/ others going forward . Chalmers was a MM selection who he knew from Dundee days (he did well I thought yesterday incidentally) but also wasn't being picked by MM before his departure - there are decent players here but clearly they weren't performing for MM for whatever reason whilst now many have clearly booked their holidays and are almost on the plane.

Now whether we have a decent budget next season I don't know - maybe things will be worse but the budget this year was good enough to be play off contenders in my opinion.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

All this talk about lack of money is I feel a bit of an excuse from the MM fan club. We don't have a mega bucks wage bill that is true but I don't accept that our budget is as bad as our League position is or certainly as bad as some seem to suggest. The fact that MP sacked MM suggests to me he also knows that.

We brought in some decent players in January - Saunders was apparently a MM target in August but has been ineffectual. Turner - Cooke was his recruit in January also who is highly thought of at Newcastle but has hardly played which likely will not help us get loans from them/ others going forward . Chalmers was a MM selection who he knew from Dundee days (he did well I thought yesterday incidentally) but also wasn't being picked by MM before his departure - there are decent players here but clearly they weren't performing for MM for whatever reason whilst now many have clearly booked their holidays and are almost on the plane.

Now whether we have a decent budget next season I don't know - maybe things will be worse but the budget this year was good enough to be play off contenders in my opinion.

From Palios's own pronouncements in the Q&As it is clear we have a middling budget this season and that is where we are. Mid table. Whether we would have been mid table with Dawes in charge all season is debatable (to put it mildly).

As for the January recruits, we had to beg, borrow and steal to bring players in and it is clear that the squad has not been substantially improved by the players we signed. That is evident from performances under both Mellon and Dawes. Of course Mellon will have had a say in some aspects of the recruitment, but whether the players we signed were his first choices is doubtful. For example, we were linked with numerous other strikers before signing Saunders. We may have enquired about Saunders in August, but that does not mean he was top of Mellon's list in the summer either.

Regardless of who signed them, and how far up our list of preferences they were, it is quite clear that players like Chalmers and Turner-Cooke are not going to significantly improve us. The latter might have a good reputation in youth football, but that is not the same as League Two.

 

[Sparky]

From memory mark said a top half budget. If you believe he’s good at positive spin then it’s likely it was somewhere between 10th and 12th. As it stands we’re 14th so not a million miles away from what I suspect our budget is.

Now of course some teams punch above their weight but in most cases, money talks and eventually the quality money can buy will tell.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

All this talk about lack of money is I feel a bit of an excuse from the MM fan club. We don't have a mega bucks wage bill that is true but I don't accept that our budget is as bad as our League position is or certainly as bad as some seem to suggest. The fact that MP sacked MM suggests to me he also knows that.

Or a way of Palios keeping the heat off himself when it became clear that a promotion challenge - which was probably never realistic - was not going to materialise. Particularly when season tickets were put on sale.

 

[bigmart]

From memory mark said a top half budget. If you believe he’s good at positive spin then it’s likely it was somewhere between 10th and 12th. As it stands we’re 14th so not a million miles away from what I suspect our budget is.

Now of course some teams punch above their weight but in most cases, money talks and eventually the quality money can buy will tell.

We are likely to finish well below 12th.

Mark is good on spin alright, one of the most creative sides in the country being the latest in a long line.

 

[drwhoman]

The accounts for last season have been filed with companies House and will be online within 10 days.

The accounts will make interesting reading. Another loss I suspect. How long can M And N keep funding that? I strongly suspect that new owners with money are needed but that may be a problem given the local PL clubs. We can only hope!

 

[Ian]

They've already dipped into their own pockets very recently so I don't think it's a healthy situation for all concerned. There was talk a few weeks back of possible investors but not sure if that went cold..

 

[bigmart]

They've already dipped into their own pockets very recently so I don't think it's a healthy situation for all concerned. There was talk a few weeks back of possible investors but not sure if that went cold..

Rumoured to be in talks and want a decision fairly quickly but whether it will happen is debatable

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

Word on the terraces of new investment but it isn't certain of what it entails for the future of the club.
Will be interesting to see how the various 'parties' will come out of the situation.

 

[Boz]

We were two points off the play-offs last season and would have made them if it had not been for the Morris suspension. A world of difference with the situation we now find ourselves in. Mellon achieved that with a flawed squad that was hardly a shoo-in for promotion, as you seem to imply. Mellon did well with the resources available.

We had the best home record in the division last year. Palios should not have caved in to alleged 'fan dissatisfaction' regarding the playing style (which only came from a minority anyway) and should have focussed on what would actually achieve results. In my view, that meant backing Mellon and giving him the tools he needed to succeed, within our financial constraints.

It is probably the case that promotion was never achievable this season, due to the financial situation and the quality of the squad. However, that was not justification for the sacking of Mellon when he had kept us in a reasonable position with those limited resources. He would have left mutually in the summer anyway, which would have been more dignified for all concerned.

I think the expectations on here last season, with the squad we had, were of matching the play-off achievement, which the caretakers then Hill had managed to drag us into in the previous season. Why Micky couldn't manage that is open to debate, the McNulty shifting sands and not recruiting a proven/fit striker until January and the suspensions to McDonald and Morris in April were factors but feel it's still right to assess last season as disappointing.

I agree that with the squad we've had this season mid-table was a realistic expectation. Unclear of Mark's rationale for the sacking, but if Micky had already decided he was leaving at the end of the season, while it would have been more dignified to let him stay, but given the toxic atmosphere after the Newport debacle, maybe it was actually kinder to let him go then?

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

A mutual consent is the least Micky deserved, and surely MP would have given him that option first. I don’t think he’s spoken publicly since he left either, which adds to the feeling that it could have been acrimonious.

I didn’t buy his ‘first 100 days’ management book but I might buy his autobiography if he ever does one!