With regret

[Lowestoft Canary]

I am today calling for the immediate and unconditional resignation of the entire board of Directors of NCFC

They appointed this buffoon against most people's better judgement and now must pay the price.

Time for a new board and a fresh start.

 

[splutcho]

Sacking the board would be ridiculous. Sacking Adams however...

 

[Surgeryman]

I feel that the board do have a lot to answer for and chose Adams, spouting all that searching Europe rubbish, so they don't sit too well with me. Adams was the cheap option they hoped would come good ( as we all would like to see) but the pressure is building as our form continues to slide. If we did change manager I would not be too upset TBH. As for the board they need to start making sharper decisions on managerial issues and stop treating fans like idiots.

 

[Yellowfuture]

Sacking the board would be ridiculous. Sacking Adams however...

I think we will have a better view of how the land lies after the game on Saturday.

I had us down for a top 6 finish and the way things are looking at the moment I can see us hanging around 6/7 place in this league.

Would that be good enough for the Board?

 

[Lowestoft Canary]

Wise words surgery man

 

[SussexYellow]

The board are hardly going to step down in their entireity and leave a void. That would be totally irresponsible.

At the moment it is one terrible game on the back of an indifferent run, However another very poor performance on Saturday and there will be a clamour, and probably rightly so, for them to make a decision out side their comfort zone to remove the manager. But do we really think they will act?

We are now facing the consequences of the board's decision to sack Hughton at entirely the wrong time. As you will recall professional commentators at the time were calling the decision bonkers. Well just maybe they were right. Adams has been excused the last 5 games of last season as never having a chance, in which case just what was the point of replacing Hughton. But what is really important in all this is that if Adams had not been given those last 5 games there is pretty much zero chance that he would have been appointed.

 

[Wiz]

I simply cannot support a failing manager who should have never been appointed full time, or indeed the Board who appointed him.

However, Smith and Jones are in effect the owners and their removal would open a whole new can of worms.

 

[SussexYellow]

Good to see you back Wiz, you have been quirt recently!

 

[Sharonb]

The board are hardly going to step down in their entireity and leave a void. That would be totally irresponsible.

At the moment it is one terrible game on the back of an indifferent run, However another very poor performance on Saturday and there will be a clamour, and probably rightly so, for them to make a decision out side their comfort zone to remove the manager. But do we really think they will act?

We are now facing the consequences of the board's decision to sack Hughton at entirely the wrong time. As you will recall professional commentators at the time were calling the decision bonkers. Well just maybe they were right. Adams has been excused the last 5 games of last season as never having a chance, in which case just what was the point of replacing Hughton. But what is really important in all this is that if Adams had not been given those last 5 games there is pretty much zero chance that he would have been appointed.

I thought sacking Hughton with five games to go was playing russian roulette. I thought the board had a business plan that saw us going up, getting relegated then going up again, and assumed they appointed him with that in mind, bearing in mind he got Newcastle back up. The thing is that some Hughtonesque tactics would probably have got us some more points. Oh the irony!

 

[Wiz]

Good to see you back Wiz, you have been quirt recently!

Hi Sussex, 

The whole Adams situation has got me a bit down just lately so I've done little posting, as fans, we just seem to be banging our heads against the walls atm .

 

[hogesar]

I think it's important not to jump to rash decisions.

Before last night, regardless of our form, we've been amongst the top 4 teams. Pretty much where I saw us being. We've been dreadfully inconsistent but so have many others.

One result in isolation means nothing in the championship, even if it was as poor and depressing as last night. A good win against forest and Boro will be soon forgotten.

As for sacking the whole board, that's on a whole new level of stupid.

 

[bloodwagon]

to call for N.A. head is just silly, how many games we played ? How many to go ?. I think people just need to calm down.
Theres lots of football to go before the end of the season. I have faith in Adams. (may be misplaced but thats how I feel).

 

[Din]

Yes, just 1 win in 8 games is a really poor record for any team, yet alone for a team that wants to win the league. There have been games where we were simply unlucky, Charlton, Rotherham, and Sheffield Wednesday the obvious ones. We only collected 2 points from those games, when we could easily of had 9. If we had of got 9, then we'd be 5 points clear at the top, possibly even more if the wins had boosted our confidence and we'd played better in games in other games where we've dropped points. I'm not going to say that if we sack Adams now it would be an absolute disaster, because depending on who we get in it probably wouldn't, but he deserves more time than this. We lead the table for over a month before the Fulham game, which clearly shows that he knows how to get us up there. There's no reason this run can't be a small blip, which pretty much every team will go through during the season, and in the next couple of games we completely turn our fortunes round and see the team that we saw at the start of the season. Obviously if this poor run continues, and we lose more ground on the teams at the top then he obviously should go, but when you're currently just 4 points off top spot then I don't think that we need to do it yet. 

I won't even comment on the notion of the entire board resigning.

 

[GazzaTCC]

To me, at this stage of the season, league position is almost irrelevant, as long as we're, either in or around the top six.

Of much greater importance are performances, selections, the team set up and how the manager reacts when things aren't going to plan. To my thinking, these leave far more questions unanswered than answered at the moment.

I don't think we're at the "press the eject button" stage just yet, but there are plenty of reasons for concern. Let's see where we're at by the end of November and review thereafter.

 

[Canaryboy]

One result in isolation means nothing in the championship, even if it was as poor and depressing as last night. A good win against forest and Boro will be soon forgotten.

I wish I could agree with this, unfortunately it isn't just an isolated result. Last season the two teams to gain automatic promotion lost 5 games and 6 games all season.

We've already lost 4 games, out of 16, the halfway point doesn't arrive until we've played another seven. At this rate I'm concerned that we will blow our chances of automatic over the next couple of months.  Under Lambert we lost 8 all season, after a difficult start, but we are still on course to lose more games than that. 

If we don't get promoted this year then our chances will decline every season, including next. We've sold players to balance the books this summer, despite carrying over a £6m profit, no doubt we will do the same again next summer if we don't go up. 

Yes we are within touching distance of the top two, but watch how quickly that can change. Once a team gains momentum in this league there is often no stopping them. Yes, it could be us, but based on our form over the past 7 or 8 games it looks increasingly unlikely. We had the top spot but couldn't keep hold of it, I'm not feeling confident that we'll even see 1st place again this season. We just don't look like we have a winning mentality and the belief, perhaps even the desire, to do this under Adams. 

Is Adams tactically naive? He has said that he wants to play attacking football and score lots of goals, but all promoted teams (including the Lambert one) knew that they had to grind out an ugly and scrappy 1-0 every so often. One of the common sights that season was shoving Wilbraham up with Holt for the last ten minutes and lumping the ball in the area, and it often worked, equalisers and winners in extra time became one of our specialties. 

One win and three defeats in seven games is simply not good enough. The decision to loan Elliott Bennett out has really made me question Adams, because if he were prepared to grind out wins, or defend leads away from home, like all promoted teams realise they have to do occasionally.... he wouldn't have left himself with Redmond as his only right midfielder. Bennett is a strong player defensively. 

The Middlesbrough radio commentator observed that our game plan was lump it to Lafferty on the left, because he could beat their right back in the air. If that is the depth of our strategy then we have no hope. Buying a 6ft 5" striker and sticking him on the left wing, and then playing long balls to him, that isn't tactical creativity or a touch of genius. It's stupid. 

I'm sorry that I feel so emotive about this, and I was feeling pretty good about Adams after the first five or six games, but he just doesn't have enough in his locker to pick up the number points required for us to mount any serious challenge to the top two. 

 

[Personal Trainer]

To me, at this stage of the season, league position is almost irrelevant, as long as we're, either in or around the top six.

Of much greater importance are performances, selections, the team set up and how the manager reacts when things aren't going to plan. To my thinking, these leave far more questions unanswered than answered at the moment.

I don't think we're at the "press the eject button" stage just yet, but there are plenty of reasons for concern. Let's see where we're at by the end of November and review thereafter.

At the moment it is the points total that is the more relevant, while the Club is within six points of the leaders then all is not lost.

In the summer I spoke with fans of Cardiff and Fulham about their hopes for the season, Cardiff fans said they would be happy with a play-off place and Fulham fans accepted it might be a struggle. I am not sure why so many City fans thought we could "walk" this League, two of last years promotees spent ages creating "good" Championship teams.

 

[SussexYellow]

Hi Sussex, 

The whole Adams situation has got me a bit down just lately so I've done little posting, as fans, we just seem to be banging our heads against the walls atm .

Hi Wiz, well hope you get back to posting again soon. Enjoy reading your posts even if some of them are a bit out there! Enjoy the banter.

Agree that we are on a down on the Adams rollercoaster. I was not pleased when he was appointed to say the least. Then I thought give him a chance, then it looked like he might just do it despite being on a learning curve, now it feels like the bubble has burst.

 

[Boyerboy]

ok.  I am going to be controversial because I really do not understand some of the comments on here.  To deal with the easier one first, you cannot sack owners.   Even if they deserve sacking, it cannot be done.  Just look at Hull or Leeds or Cardiff etc. etc..

As for Adams.  I am mystified.  There was little wrong with the teams he has selected for the last few games.   For the last 2 matches, he reverted to the 4231 that most informed observers consider our strongest formation.  It is certainly our most successful.   He has made decent substitutions in good time.  He has changed things.   Against Boro he did both at once by taking Tettey off at halftime and going 442.  When 2-0 down that was a bold and laudable move.

On the specific issue of Lafferty, any one who has actually seen him play will know that he has remarkably good close control and a turn of speed that scares the Bejesus out of defenders.  On the wing and cutting in he is a real menace.   He is unlucky not to have scored although some of his decision making has been questionable.

We have all seen the failings in the last few games but I really don't understand how it is Adams's responsibility beyond the manager carrying the can for what his players do.   If Turner makes a double error which gifts Leeds a goal, Grabban is criminally negligent with a penalty and Ruddy drops a corner, that means we don't win games.

This current predicament is really down to the players and not a competent manager.

 

[splutcho]

I just can't get away from the fact that getting pumped 4-0 in this league, by anyone (even the better sides like Boro), is totally unacceptable. Like somebody else said, we've already lost 4 games, and you'd put your money on 5 and 6 coming soon. This was an experiment, and it is very close to failing. I didn't want him to start with but was prepared to give him a chance given that we achieved the results we should be getting with this squad. He did have a good start, but I do wonder how much of that was down to just how much better our players are than other teams. We're starting to get worked out and to me, it doesn't look like he has the answers.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Exactly splutcho, nobody in this league should tonk us 4-0 even when we are away from home, and up to that point even our better results, whether some want to believe it or not, did flatter to deceive. Even though I didnt want NA and then genuinely wanted stability at the club and have supported him.........it is even this early looking like a HUGE mistake. The style of play is really nothing special, I have been calling it "ploddy and predictable", I have watched and still watch a huge amount of football and can't recall seeing a team with our quality of players play sooooo slowly for so much of the game, even on the bad days under Chris Hughton. We can do so much better, deserve so much better and I am praying that our Board, who I actually dont think get much wrong when looking at the bigger picture, make a big and brave decision and do something very soon, regardless of the Forest result. This squad is good enough for an automatic place with the right man at the helm, simple as that!!