Really can’t believe anyone is giving Keates stick for the lack of signings!!!
Place your blame squarely at the door of Jeffrey Bonser and Co who have been quietly asset stripping the club for years, failing to invest in the playing squad, and getting away with it because some out there are too thick to see past his constant lies, false promises, and his use of fall guys to deflect blame!!
As I’ve said before, Keates can’t be completely blameless because there are many factors for players not signing.
Yes, player X may have rejected a contract due to wages, but player Y may have turned down a contract due to Keates’ direct style of play. Keates may have also targeted the wrong players which would certainly be his fault.
I agree regarding JB though. He’s scum. Keates is heavily restricted due to our lack of ambition.
The Blame for the lack of signings…
80% the board
20% Keates
Already down though, just like the start of every single bloody season.
Don’t think that was mentioned anywhere.
Matt - people aren’t saying we’re down already. What they are saying is that the current squad is not League 1 standard - we’d probably struggle in league 2 at the moment. We need 3-4 more decent players. In fact, we’ve known this since January. Why hasn’t the club, and I don’t blame Keates for this, not looked to address this before last season finished? I’m sure we could have sorted out a couple of season-long loans for young players from bigger clubs earlier in the summer. I don’t understand why we haven’t taken up Gary Rowett’s offer or signed Brewitt - he looked okay to me and he can play in 3 positions and so is a good squad man. People have every right to be peed off and Keates hasn’t helped with his pr_ck-teasing about being “close to signing players” nearly every day in the E&S.
How can anyone say that its not a league one level team? Just because we haven’t signed established players doesn’t mean we aren’t capable. I don’t expect us to pull up any trees, but I think in Cook there is a striker there who will score goals.
I can say it because it isn’t a league one level team.
If folk say there’s not enough quality for a league one team, they’d just be echoing what the manager said last week. We have a defence where the three established players have major question marks over their league one capabilities, a vacancy, and no cover other than cockerell-mollett. Nobody could seriously make a case for that being good enough even before a ball has been kicked, and thank goodness one hasn’t yet, because although there is a few desperate couple of days to go (c Express and Star), a couple of signings should enable us to put a team out, then at least we could go from there, although DK said last week he needed 4 signings.
Are you joking? The majority of that squad avoided relegation last season by the skin of their teeth. From last season, we have lost our best player and top goal scorer (Ozzy) and our best defender (Fitzwater) plus any cover we had in midfield. That’s why I can confidently say it’s not a League 1-standard squad. If I’m proved wrong and we beat Plymouth on Saturday then I’ll be delighted!!
Nope, I’m not. we were over reliant on a player, whom I didn’t like and I believe had downed tools. We had a team that had no direction, signed players to play 3-5-2 - but couldn’t.
Dean Keates knows 4-4-2 and we didn’t have the players to play that way last season, that is why he’s signed two wingers and a big ■■■■■■■ up front.
Well that’s a relief. So all we’ve got to do is keep the ball in the opposition half for 90 minutes and we’re sorted.
We’ve signed one proven league one player in Ismail. Ginnelly and Cook are not proven at this level.
It’s perfectly reasonable to say that given the players left from last season and from what we’ve signed so far, this team isn’t a League One team. Without Oztumer we’d have been a League Two team. We are still that team but with the addition of 2 relatively unknown players at this level and one good one. Our depth is conference standard at best.
I honestly don’t know where you’re coming from with your points.
Whilst I’m not optimistic its quite interesting to see how my perception of an organised team does not fit in with the mould of many on this site. I actually agree the signings haven’t got the juices flowing in number or quality.
My main point is that a team that is set up in an organised manner, even with players who aren’t ‘proven’ at a level, can be greater than the sum of its parts. There are many examples in football, I’d say at this moment 14th is that success.
You can’t be an organised teams with 1 fit CB at the club. Our depth is laughable.
More likely: 24th
Dunno, there’s an awful lot of heavy inferencing going on. You may turn out to be right, and perhaps this is finally THE season, but it will be on the back of every season that has been before. Weren’t we odds on to go down in Graydon’s first season too? Different I know, but that’s the point: Not a single ball yet kicked.
I’m going to wait for a few games to pull the emergency cord, but I’m on the same train at least. 
You might argue Ismail is not proven having been relegated from L1 with Bury last season?
But we all know what he can do at this level. Bury were just ■■■■. Oztumer nearly got relegated with us remember and we know his quality.
Zeli has also played at this level before with MK Dons, Notts County and ■■■■■■.
On the surface I’m extremely worried with the lack of depth and experience in the squad so close to kick off… Deano’s honesty and openness was refreshing to begin with - he seemingly identified the weaknesses in the squad (lack of experience being one), he made it clear exactly the type of player he was after and a plan to get them. However, now for one reason or another things seemingly haven’t worked how he intended and I cant help but feel this intial honesty and lack of experience may come to bite him. His constant talk of imminent signings in the press is annoying, and ultimately now seemingly further highlighting his inexperience. Yes we know he is working against constraints, though as was every other manager previous and these constraints can’t have been a shock… That said, he’s a legend and should be given the season to survive and then begin assembling his own squad. He may have had a poor transfer window, but the work he did at Wrexham was about setting up a side that’s difficult to beat, and there’s no reason he can’t do the same here. For all the stick they’ve took, the likes of Morris, Kinsella and Baka had shown initial promise, and if Deano can get these playing - along with a couple of the other kids emerging (Cockerill-Mollett, Candlin etc) then we could suprise ourselves. Ultimately come Saturday evening anything could have happened, and some of the optimism could have returned. Let’s just hope the “You don’t win anything with kids” quote is proven wrong again!
I really hope you’re right.