“ACL injury is not an injury with a high incidence, with an average of 0.43–0.60 in-juries per team per season in football professional teams”
Would be interested if a resident Statto has our relevant cases over the last 5-10 years
Interesting worldwide study carried out from where I got the figures above from
Staggering. Completely staggering is your personal guestimate…facts on the other hand based ons tudies by clinical professionals are more reliable would you not think ?
Suggest you check the facts before letting your fingers rip
I understand your points APJ but I fail to see how yourself and others can relate what Ben is saying and his aims for the future to what has been happening in the past.
So many people are taking a completely negative view I am wondering what he could have said to satisfy these people. Clearly his positive and optimistic ideas for the club are not enough, before the season even starts. Of course he could have taken the safe route and said ‘he knows we have not been too succesful over the last 10 to 15 years and its obvious we are bound to be rubbish for the next few years, so we may as well all get used to it’.
I actually think that what people wanted to hear was that he plans to invest tens of millions of pounds in the playing side, bring a number of well known top players into the squad, keep tickets prices some of the lowest in the league and guarantee us a playoff spot at least.
That’s what it seems like reading some of the comments. I really hope people stay positive when the season starts, it may be tough going for a while, but this to me is the best option we have seen in long time and we should embrace it through thick and thin now because if this doesn’t work we are sunk.
It is if you aren’t very good. Every season 16.66% of clubs get out of the division in an upwards direction, and you can finish as low as seventh and still make it. And it isn’t a one-shot deal, if a club doesn’t make it one season they get to have another go the following season. We have had four goes so far and haven’t managed to come close even to that seventh place position.
I read the second letter and without wanting to be too negative I honestly found it quite dull if I’m being honest.
There’s plenty of words but it’s vague in detail, a sales pitch that for me didn’t quite lift my confidence much although in fairness there is a mountain to climb and that’s going to take time.
Mr Boycott seems a likeable man and I’m sure he’s a decent and honourable person.
The purchasing of the freehold was fantastic news as was the saddlers club being returned back to life.
As supporters we don’t know what is said in the boardroom but we do see the results of their decisions.
I’m not a fan of the current SLO mainly because he was appointed and regardless of his or the club’s view I don’t feel he truly represents us the supporters whatsoever.
I accept that Rome wasn’t built in a day and that much hard work lies ahead and perhaps I’m being naive when I say it’s what happens on the pitch that matters most to all of us.
I try to be optimistic but after season upon season of false dawns that optimism begins to wear thin. I read the express and dingle this morning and the manager talks about spending every penny wisely and I get that, I really do but my immediate thought was “in other words we’re skint”.
I’ll approach the new season full of hope but at this precise moment it feels like another dream that will fail to materialise. I hope I’m wrong and end up with egg on my face and we fly out of the starting blocks.
All while giving it a right good go. Amazing really.
I understand that there are more and more clubs that have money to spend, but I can’t accept that Walsall finishing 7th in Division 4 is some almost impossible dream that will take years to build.
I get the negativity. I am far more negative now about Walsall than ever before. The past 5 years have worn me down more than anything that has gone before.
Some did, others said the tried and trusted like Clarke and Flynn didn’t work. Others didn’t want Artell or Alexander. I’m not bothered who it is as long as it is more entertaining to watch.
The last 12 months haven’t been a roaring success have they, but hey they’ve had 12 months to get their feet under the table to give us a comprehensive plan via Boycott letter 2.
He could have started by dealing with some of the common denominators of that 10 to 15 years of abject failure.
Yeah, because this is what Walsall fans expect isn’t it, despite till the signing of a one goal Cypriot wonder our transfer record still sat in the 70’s with Buckley.
I can’t see anyone saying they aren’t prepared to give the club support, be that at games or from afar if they have decided not to renew. Given the investment many fans have put in over many years they are questioning matters after what can only be described as a period of being utter shite. I’m certainly not going to begrudge a fan doing that, they’ve earned it in all honesty.
It’s painfully obvious that some fans don’t get that because they simply don’t do it. I saw one person saying that fans are upset because the ticket prices aren’t cheap anymore when have they ever been cheap? I’d say they were reasonably priced, but next season that has changed. If you’re going to charge top tier prices for this level then you best produce top tier football.
Both Flynn and Clarke suffered catastrophic January windows. The latter saw the opportunity to jump ship and then got his new club promoted, Flynn stuck around and it fell apart, not in getting thrashed every week sort of way, but in so much that the boring, scrappy single goal wins became scrappy draws and that negative momentum gathered pace over the course of 7 draws and two 0-1 defeats following DJ’s departure culminating in the first real “wheels off” showing at Stevenage. I believe that if DJ had remained we would have taken a hell of a lot more than 7 points from those 9 games, and even an extra 6 points would have seen us finish tenth and would have fitted like a glove into the “incremental progress” bullshit narrative that would now be the basis for “off season” optimism. Just 6 points more and I wonder how different Boycott’s letter would be reading? All this nonsense about having had 12 months to formulate the great plan for which Mat Sadler just so happens to be the jewell in the crown more than likely wouldn’t have even crossed their minds with a top 10 finish and a cup-run, so I reckon its just something they’ve knocked up on the back of a fag packet. It bears remarkable similarities to the initial fag-packet narratives that espoused Brian Dutton as being the next great young coach, and the need for a DOF to which Jamie Fullarton was recruited. You could even go back to the appointment of Mullen following guess what…a catastrophic January window that resulted in DD leaving, it all looks and sounds very familiar.
That’s just my opinion, but I would say that at no point did either Flynn or Clarke seriously look like getting us relegated, the same can’t be said of the last two rookie managers, and we now have a third rookie manager. Hopefully its third time lucky.
Edit - not sure how well you know the area, but Benahavis is pretty close to you and also Estepona. Two really nice places, the latter with more going on as it is bigger.
I don’t think anyone wanted this as it is totally unrealistic.
A restructure of the board and the clubs backroom staff would have been a positive start, along with a broader staffing structure in place regarding sports science, analysis, data etc. I don’t want him to say things to placate fans, but for him to say things which we already know isn’t groundbreaking.
As i’ve said, the proof will be in the pudding. I hope they do achieve their plans and ambitions, i’m just cynical due to what has happened since Smith took his plan and left us for Brentford.
Over to BB and Trivela to prove the happy clappers are right and the doom-mongers were wrong to doubt them.
If you picked out a team at random, and knew nothing about it, the probability of it not getting promotion is 83.33%, The probability of being relegated to the National League is 8.33%, so the probability of remaining in the division is 75%.
We have now had four seasons in league two, so if everything was random the probability of us remaining in this division for four years without promotion or relegation would have been just 32%, or in betting terms about 11 to 5 against.
Of course, while football does contain a lot of random, chance events in every game and in every season, it is not just a lottery. Results depend on the quality of the leadership and the quality of the players. And past performance is a good guide to future events. Having been in this division four years in a row without really being close at any time to relegation (except for a brief period) or promotion, makes it more likely than 75% that we will do the same next year.
We stayed there some years ago, an all inclusive hotel where we had to walk over the road to the pool i think it was Pueblo Andeluz?
We met a Welsh couple there, he was in the army, he moaned about the food all week, until one evening, as we sat down to eat with them, i said to him " have you found anything you like yet Anthony?"
He was eating a bowl of soup at the time, and he said " yes this soup is the best i have ever tried"
And just as he was saying it, a Spanish waitress whipped it away from him as she was cleaning the table, leaving him sitting there holding an empty spoon
B B dos nt want to continue going down the road repeating the same strategy and inherant way of doing and responding to issues that arise on the run and applying quick fixes i.e treating the symptoms and not dealing with the actual defined causes.
His approach is more strategic and bold and is a severe gamble to an organisation with limited resources.
But this journey will be difficult and is not without set backs , it is major surgery not without risks but offers a long-term life expectancy for the patient ( Walsall Football Club ) .
when have they ever been cheap? I’d say they were reasonably priced, but next season that has changed. If you’re going to charge top tier prices for this level then you best produce top tier football.