His performances have been poor for some considerable time but no doubt being dropped has been a huge shock to him. I was a little concerned that his reaction was said to be 'anger', it would have shown him in a far better light had he decided to get his head down and work to get his place back.

Despite my misgivings, I'd hope that DW puts him in at left back on Saturday, we have no better option available and to be fair RH does a decent job at left back. His midfield days are over in my opinion so he'd better get used to the fact thats its left back or left on the bench. We now have far better options in midfield with the arrival of Bolland.

I don't think anyone will disagree that Tinks has had his day which is a shame beause I always liked him battling in midfield but time waits for no man. Humphreys is a different kettle of fish but his attitude has to improve. You can only dine out on bubbling your eyes out for so long.

You really are thick as shit!! read what I said you arse.

I'd prefer you in midfield before him. Left back maybe, midfield - forget it!

Matty Robson. The lad needs a run in the team in that position and a bit less slagging off from the cheap seats.

i'd have robson in too, after he's learnt how to pass that is...

I'd has a capital I

Mr I you have now taken the lead in the copy and pasted by blue stripes table

i know

seems a bit personal all this

how can a bloke who was voted player of the year and players player of the year last season have been so bad for as long as you suggest?

If this little "rest" makes Ritchie take stock and come out battling it will only have done good.
Two wins in three games during his absence aren't really that much of an indictment against our leftist young'uns, so it's not as though we couldn't afford to rest him. Wilson and Butterworth will know best when he's ready to be thrown back in, which I'm sure he will be.
There's a reserve match on 19th September which will be a good opportunity to test his resolve. It remains to see how we use him once he's back.

It's not personal, how can it be when I am suggesting he is brought in at left back?

When he won player of the year he deserved it. Last year for anyone to have been voted top player was ridiculous, nobody deserved any acolades. The who team we shite, Ritchie Humphrey's included. Yes I've got an issue with the mentality in the dressing room but I'm satisfied that Danny Wilson is having none of it. With Bolland also in there then maybe our 'senior players' can get back to thinking about football.

It wouldnt have been that hard to won thr POTY last year, would it?

He won player of the year when the team performed like they did speaks volumes for a bloke that played so many positions last season
yet a couple of games into the season you started slagging him off and quoting un substantiated rumours of a dressing room mafia
if those senior players had not opened their mouths to criticise the last manager [Scott] then we could still be paying homage to his football ethics
senior players are expected to give opinions and as far as i know Mickey Barron led what ever revolt it took to bring things to a head in the dressing room which any good club captain worth his salt would do
now tell me who was captain in his absence
i will bet there is not one dressing room in the league that has total harmony and it is up to the manager to sort that other wise he has failed
exactly what happened to Scott and we were bloody grateful to the players for their actions in ridding the club of him
but to turn on them goes against the grain for me

I'm not going to get into this on here but the dressing did not only for Scott (agreed, that god he's gone) but for his two predessessors - particularly the cosy night time telephone conversations with Uncle Ken as you well know.

Consider the possiblity that one of the reasons Scott lasted so long was that Hodcroft was averse to giving into the union yet again.

Anyway, this thread started with me saying that he should be given a chance at left back.

Hardly unsubstantiated, these 'rumours' came from his own mouth into my ears.

I think Mr I's original point was spot on. We need to sort the left hand side out as soon as we can but until then, Humpty at left back and Robson in front of him is as good as were gonna get in my opinion.

Right, let's see about this Humphreys/Robson deal then.
Matty hardly played under Scott last season. He played in midfield in all but one of the games when Stephenson was in charge with Humps at left back. That's just from memory. I stand corrected if ever he inverted Robbo and Humps.

We conceded 18 goals in those 15 games. That's top 6 defending. You could argue that the reason was Darren Williams started playing well and Ben Clark got his game.
Humps had been playing left back in any case, so all you can say is putting Matty in front of him didn't make things any worse defensively.
We scored 15 goals in those 15 games, near enough the same as our season's average, so you can hardly say that Matty's presence helped us going forward.

That suggests that although Humps at full back is a viable option, Matty isn't really adding any quality to the midfield.
Having said that, are we sure Brackstone was at fault in the defeats against Walsall and Hereford, the only two games where our defence really came apart?

I suspect it's more important to add quality on the left of the midfield than at full back for now so we can batter all these weak teams into submission. Let's hope Ritchie's "shock treatment" has stung him into life and he can provide the real quality we need there. I'm no manager but I say let's try the Humphreys/Bracca option. Matty has had his chance to improve; now let's give Bracca his chance.

er ... once he gets back from suspension of course (how many matches?) :-(

it's all about serving the purpose at the time. Does anyone else think that those players who were instrumental in removing Scott have also served their purpose now?? Just a thought, like - everything has to move on eventually anyway,so a new broom is probably required this season in any case.

Without a doubt I'd rather see a real left back like a young Micky Barron but the window is closed and there are no better options available for a loan deal that we know of, if there is then bring them in.

So we are left with Robson/ Humphreys / Brackstone at left back. I still maintain that Robson needs a sustained run at left wing.

aye, in the reserves!!!! :sweet: