McKINNA OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wombat]

BJ's in Pauline's camp, ask him.

Do you have an opinion or not!

 

[David Votoupal]

On the marquee player ... when JA was with us he put my guess is 5, 000 extra bums on seats... a top quality player will put bums on seats ... our crowd for the round one final was poor by any standards ...

The crowds will come back if we get as many are saying some top quality players in.

Just a tho do you think Micheal Beach would come back as a marquee 

It's not as simple as signing a quality player. What use is that alone when coaches continue to show the same incompetence time and again???

Raising the quality of football will help improve crowds. And only when there is a coaching revolution in this country, that foreign coaches are brought in to raise the level of the local game and local coaches, will we see a major uplift in our league overall.

 

[tuftman]

Conservative recruitment policies are what's holding the club back. The team has lacked one special player who can be a real match turner, this has been a problem since the start.

How do you draw the line between stability and stagnation?

Stability was last season

This season was stagnation, the core of the squad was exposed when the leader of our defence retired(Vidmar) and wasnt adequately replaced. Tommy P left, and while Caceres showed the potential to replace him, he ultimately doesnt have the consistency in his game to do it...yet. Aloisi IMO wasnt so much replaced, as much as Matty stood up and took on the mantle. Jedi, well..nuff said really. IMO our recruitment in the off-season needs to contain a CB who either partners Wilko, and leads our defence, or has him moved to RB or the bench. As everyone else has said, a replacement for Jedi. And a creative attacking midfielder with consistency, as opposed to the very occasional moments we see from Caceres. I think the core of this squad, whilst not the best in the HAL, will suffice, assuming we can get some 'star-power' for lack of better words, around them.

Barring that, perhaps a clean out?? Any suggestions to who stays and goes in that situation?

 

[Sacko]

Now I'm not going to jump on the LM band wagon, but I would like to know his thinking behind dropping Sasho to the bench, from memory he has started on the bench for all of the games since our last win and when he has come on looked the most likely to change the game, has he been carrying an injury? It doesn't look like that's the case when he has come on and he doesn't look like he's going to throw up like Disco does after making a couple of runs forward, or is something to do with the contract issues, either way I think we deserve an answer...   

 

[Penrith9103]

What a ridiculous topic.
Lawrie has done wonders for the club on and off the pitch and people want to get rid of him just because we haven't played well over the past month ??? Wake up to yourselves !!!!
What we have lacked over that period is someone who can control the midfield and some steel in our back 4.
In my opinion we should have started with 3 up front tonight and put pressure on QLD, but that's the way it goes. Let's put the season behind us and concentrate on the ACL.

It wasn't Lawrie who missed tackles, made the poor passes, gave the penalties away or missed the chance to put the ball in the net !!!!

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Yes there are a lot of other factors, but at the end of the day, the manager wears the responsibility for the teams results. He knows that, we know that. And he has delivered tripe all season.

Yes, how dare we support a manager who's gotten us into the finals every year bar one...clearly he's no good for our team.

IMO, he couldn't have done much better with the players he's got. 

 

[JT]

Yes there are a lot of other factors, but at the end of the day, the manager wears the responsibility for the teams results. He knows that, we know that. And he has delivered tripe all season.

Yes, how dare we support a manager who's gotten us into the finals every year bar one...clearly he's no good for our team.

IMO, he couldn't have done much better with the players he's got. 

 

[LFCMariners]

From the looks of it tonight the boys put in an effort but the squad is a class player or two short of really cutting it at the top. I think if Lawrie has made no improvement next season then it might be time to shop around for a new coach, otherwise I'd say in the meantime it's just a matter of recruiting some quality players.

If we could go back in time and not have lost Jedi when we did, it'd be very interesting to see how the past months' worth of results may have gone.

 

[Aden]

You fools who are saying we should get rid of lawrie are a disgrace to what our club stands for . He has been the most consistent coach in the league in terms of doing well with a team . him and merrick are the only managers  yet to be sacked. so obviously that is saying something about how he can handle a team. 
All teams  everywhere around the world go through rough patches but its upto us to not act like chelsea supporters ;p and not sack the coach after a few bad games. its time to stick by our manager and remember where he has taken us in the past 4 years . 2 GRAND FINALS .. more than any other team excpet maybe melbourne or adelaide this year. but still  wake up to yourselves and be decent loyal supporters to not only to the club but also to someone who has turned down much bigger offers  here and abroad to try and better  YOUR club.. foools

 

[David Votoupal]

I'll be as balanced as I can.

Lawrie McKinna has been truly wonderful for the club and the community. The club is one of the best-run in the league, a glaring contrast to the other two in this state, and has made the top 4 in all seasons bar one (due to an injury crisis).

Of course I'm loathe to play musical chairs with managers. It's not a good thing. V1 was a fantastic achievement to finish in the top 3 and make the Grand Final, in which the side suffered an unlucky defeat. In V3, a strong start to the season would ensure first place in the bag, and a Grand Final appearance.

However, we must also come to the realisation that the complexion of the league has changed, and will change yet again with impending expansion. The standard of the league, which had dropped last season, has picked up again. Whether it will be maintained with players going remains to be seen. The standard of the league has lifted this season, with three very strong sides presenting a strong case for the Championship- as opposed to last season's "best of a bad bunch".

The squad is definitely looking tired in some departments. The defence has been particularly poor, and both grit and invention is badly needed in midfield. It's not merely questions over the coach, but also of the squad starting to go stale in several departments, that can only be addressed with smart recruiting.

While the league has improved, it can only make true progress if clubs are willing to be progressive and think outside the box- and that also means not resorting to the "let's sign a player based on past reputation" or "he's xxxxx nationality he must be good" mentality either. Progressive thinking involves smart decisions in both coaching and recruitment and every fan wants his/her club to be at the forefront.

 

[Aden]

I agree however . look at a club like everton have been searching for  a champions league spot for years and years but cant  get in due to the top 4 of english football  yet they have stuck by there coach and to be honest is doing quite a decent job . now if  a club like that can show a bit of faith why cant we  with a coach who has taken us to 2 grand finals  and a minor premiership as well as qualified us for asia . Another point is if we sack lawrie we will end up like sydney..  how much now they  wish they hadnt sacked litsbarski .  we cannot be selfish and expect to be champions every single year because that isnt football..  the chance of us  becoming a dominant force like say manchester united and winning the amount of championships they have is  a million to one so we have to  accept we  miss jedi and not an easy person to replace but we have to be by the side of our coaches and know that they have our support in trying to better our team.  not  stab lawrie in the back after all he has done and demand him get the sack

 

[LFCMariners]

Interesting that you mention ManUre. In 1986 they appointed a new manager, who by the start of 1990 still hadn't brought a single trophy to Old Trafford while 30 miles west, Liverpool were still dominating. There were calls to sack said manager and ManUre fans were getting frustrated, having seen their team go without winning the title since 1968. In retrospect, it was just as well that the ManUre board stuck with that manager, because his name was Alex Ferguson.

 

[Aden]

exactly .. supports my point .. stick with lawrie and get stability in the club and im sure we will do well in the future.. 

 

[David Votoupal]

You can't compare because Everton are a club who have been ravaged by years of poor management leading to us falling out of the top bracket of top-flight clubs, a position we can regain with investment. (And anyway, the economic downturn could have the unintentional effect of levelling the playing field, but I'll get into that another day)

The point is, cracks are definitely appearing in the armour and you can only ever paper over them for so long. In our league, most if not every club has a reasonable chance of success. But it is also a developing league, as opposed to a fully matured one. And improving the coaching in this league, like has been done in Japan, is part of development.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Hardly a fair comparison because Manure knew they had a great crop of youngsters coming through and with their $$ could buy their way out of any trouble.

The Everton one is closer, they have no money and financially cant compete with the top 4/5 clubs. They therefore invest in youth (whereas we dont - witness the debacle of our NYL recruiting) and their coach has them amazing well organised and hard to beat (we dont bother with that do we). They also have two worldclass players (Timmy and Arteta).

We are more like a blackburn or bolton or fulham. Small clubs, limited $$ and if they are not organised and well coached (not managed, coached) they are likely to fail.

Hmmmmmmm

 

[skilbeck]

i agree this club has become stagnant, we have very poor recruitment policies, he plays the players he has in a boring and predictable way and is way too chummy with the players.

the issue that has got to me irecently is recruitment, our defense is one of the worst in the league so it is only logical that we improve the midfield i.e. huke, rizzo, kwasnik. it seems like if we made any offer to any of the 3 quality defenders signed by the jets last week (Topor Stanley, Costanzo, Milicevic) we couldve gotten at least one of them, but no. we dont go for foreigners, we dont go for a marquee, we like to play it too safe, its football! its a gamble! even sticking with the team you have is a gamble, the sooner we can admit that too ourselves the better

 

[Aden]

I do not see it as failing though . besides season two where  i guess u could call that season a failure we still reached the top 4.  Ok  maybe if we were in the jets position  then thats failing but  i am still yet to see that.Lawrie has built this team from a 'nothing' club to a club that  other teams are scared to play . maybe not in the last month but overall lawrie has brought us a long way . With less money then teams such as the glory and we still do better then them on a consstent basis with the little funds we have compared to the sydneys and melbournes

 

[FFC Mariner]

We did bid for Costanzo (so I'm told) but wouldnt meet his demands - scum did

Cockerill reckoned we were talking to Hyphen but to be fair, I am glad he up the road.

Happy to be contradicted though as this is only rumour

 

[David Votoupal]

Let's put it into perspective. The team was always going to go backwards from last season, yet earlier in the season (prior to Jedinak leaving) managed to get some very good results like beating Newcastle twice, beating Adelaide United 3-0 at home and battling from 3-0 down to draw in Sydney (a turning point for their season). But when you look at the bigger picture, it was the blatant incompetence of the 4 teams that didn't make it that helped the Mariners a lot, especially towards the end of the season.

skilbeck says more or less says what I said earlier, that the club's conservative approach to signing players is holding it back.

The club has such potential, that you have to ask yourselves if mediocrity is acceptable?

 

[David Votoupal]

Hardly a fair comparison because Manure knew they had a great crop of youngsters coming through and with their $$ could buy their way out of any trouble.

Man Utd have always been cashed up and well-supported. Just that over time, they either weren't good enough or were just unlucky. Docherty won an FA Cup and 3rd (in a season when they were contenders for a good part of the season), Sexton got them to 2nd and an FA Cup Final, Ron Atkinson a couple of FA Cups and challenges for the title. Docherty left for non-football reasons, but both Sexton (who despite building stylish teams at Chelsea and QPR gave United boredon) and Atkinson both ultimately lost it.

Ferguson came in, finished a distant 2nd the following season, but then a couple of mediocre years followed before that FA Cup win.

The Everton one is closer, they have no money and financially cant compete with the top 4/5 clubs. They therefore invest in youth (whereas we dont - witness the debacle of our NYL recruiting) and their coach has them amazing well organised and hard to beat (we dont bother with that do we). They also have two worldclass players (Timmy and Arteta).

Everton used to be one of the biggest players, but a lack of investment and some very bad decisions made since the late 80s resulted in a succession of nightmares that we are only just recovering from.

We are more like a blackburn or bolton or fulham. Small clubs, limited $$ and if they are not organised and well coached (not managed, coached) they are likely to fail.

Hmmmmmmm

Blackburn got back into the top flight after a decade of trying, albeit with Jack Walker's money in the end, and ultimately proved a flash in the pan that was never built upon. Though nobody could have predicted their relegation in 1999, and the squad was too good to be hanging around Division One (as it was then called) for two years.

Fulham have had a couple of major refits of the squad since Coleman left, Sanchez brought in his own cattle didn't he? And now Hodgson has more or less done the same, with far better results.