Thank God It's Over

What have I told you about talking to kids about Covid?

2 Likes

If you look at our head to head results, combining home and away results, of the 23 teams in our league, we beat only 4.

Wins
5-2 Colchester
5-2 Oldham
3-0 Port Vale
2-0 Sutton

Draws
3-3 Barrow
1-1 Carlisle
3-3 Hartlepool
3-3 Mansfield
3-3 Salford
1-1 Tranmere

Defeats
2-3 Bradford
1-3 Bristol Rovers
1-2 Crawley
2-4 Exeter
2-3 Forest Green
2-4 Harrogate
0-2 Leyton Orient
4-5 Newport
1-2 Northampton
0-1 Rochdale
1-2 Scunthorpe
2-3 Stevenage
0-8 Swindon

4 Likes

Something to do with tractors so I believe :thinking:

Is he an Ipswich fan?

I don’t think it’s just tractor boys that he’s interested in so they say anyway.

Nice stats, although just to put a little context to it, if we were to win every one of our home games 1-0 and lose every one of our away games 0-2, all teams would appear in the ‘Defeats’ section but we’d be on 69 points - 15 points better than our actual tally and yet your table would look much worse.

3 Likes

Oh it’s not without it’s flaws for sure. But it does feel quite stark.

I wouldn’t even call it a flaw, it’s interesting to see just how crap we are among (what are supposed to be) our peers. The viewer just has to know what they’re drawing from it. I would say finding a common denominator between the sets is where that table shines.

1 Like

Only so many diversions from office work one can getaway with. But would be interesting where we placed in a table like this. I have us on 18 points from 6 draws and 4 wins!

1 Like

I have my fill of spreadsheets during the day as it is! Give it an intern to keep them busy. :grin:

1 Like

I am the intern! :joy:

1 Like

It’s been a hugely disappointing season for me as well.
Pre-season started off so brightly with a new young manager and the players he signed. We all hoped MT would manage how he played, unfortunately, neither the players or the fans adapted to his rigid formation and style of play. Matt was a nice man but he wasn’t the right fit for the club and LP had to let him go.
Flynn was hired to keep us safe and to move us forward for next season and beyond.
Most of us are saying Flynn is the man and I agree, but ONLY if he’s backed by the board. If he isn’t he’ll be off, LP and the board will get crucified.
We’ve all seen the results of pissed off people who gather collectively against a cause, institution or a football club demanding the removal of it inhabitants. If the protest(s) is done effectively it’s very powerful stuff.
There’s a lot of pent up anger amongst our fans, they’re just sick and tired of having absolutely nothing to cheer about since Deano left…nothing!
If the board don’t put their hands in their pockets the supporters are not going to put a hand in theirs.

2 Likes

The ramifications don’t bare thinking about David. I reckon plenty of supporters would not attend matches and that includes supporters who have been supporting this club longer than I’ve been on this planet which is desperately tragic.I’d hazard a guess that ISSA would act again with marches and even though they were well attended last time I’d put money on those numbers increasing hugely.I honestly can’t see where we go after Flynn a manager with huge knowledge of the league and with a book of contacts to match his years of managing at this level he must be backed as much as humanly possible I think we can all agree on that much.

3 Likes

I agree with most of what you say. But I do baulk at the idea being bandied around that Flynn will be off if “he isn’t backed”. He only joined relatively recently. I am 100% sure that part of the discussions which took place to secure his signature were around the level of budget he would be given. Whatever else Pomlett and Gamble are, I don’t think they are liars or the sort of people who would tell a manager he’d got a budget of £x then suddenly tell him it’s greatly reduced. So I don’t see that Flynn will be walking away anywhere because of that.

Of course, what we didn’t bargain for was Wilkinson and Ladabie being injured so badly and for so long, with them being two of the highest earners. There’s a call to be made there, as to whether we take a gamble at getting others in or whether the budget is effectively cut by the cost of their wages when they will be playing no part. Again, I would hope Flynn is pragmatic enough to understand the finances of a lower league football club but, potentially, that could be a sticking point for him if he feels the remaining budget can’t put together a decent squad.

Of course, if Flynn is expecting us to go all Salford, or even part way to that, he would be misguided, but he must know that from his time in the game already?

3 Likes

I agree the club can’t be stupid and go the Salford route and vastly overspend. Their fans have to be pulling their hair out after years of mediocrity
I think the board in the past have used every excuse to reduce the budget. Relegation, COVID and rent increases.
Now that we have a partnership with a company who is worth over a billion pounds there are absolutely no excuses not to back Flynn.
MF is not the type of person who suffers fools, he knows what he wants and will seek employment elsewhere if the board isn’t pulling their weight.
I’m sure he told Pomlett that he hired him to get us up, he can get us up with the proper back.
We’ll see in the next couple of months what kind of stuff MF is made from.

According to Clarke, that’s exactly what happened to him with the Adebayo situation…

3 Likes

Maybe that’s true, who knows. But we were operating under unprecedented circumstances at the time, so it would have been a rapidly changing picture, with no certainty for the future. I think we are in very different times now. As it stands, I don’t think there will be more lockdowns so fans will be able to attend games. We have a stable and excellent sponsorship deal. These things help the CEO to prepare a detailed budget and be able to stick to it, within reason. Of course, if Flynn could inspire Walsall to the type of cup run he had with Newport, that would boost the figures no end, since we budget every season for exiting cups in the first round and it’s one thing you can generally guarantee we deliver on!

Things that will be the same next season:

• Rent will go up
• Rent will be paid
• The budget will be cut
• The club will make a profit
• The board will be the same

Has been the same for decades.

Only our board thinks doing the same things they’ve always done will get better results.

13 Likes

There is some truth in your post , but regards the actual football team of the last few years I would seriously question the idea that the budget hasn’t been sufficient to get a better team on the pitch.
I’m sure that both Clarke and Fullerton/Taylor were more than happy with the budget before they came , what they actually did with the budget is a different matter .

3 Likes

Not saying budget isn’t sufficient for us to be higher up the league, but it’s almost certainly been cut every year