I'd rather sack the players tbh and I'm sure Cooper would to

So Cooper must go, to be replaced by a manager who has experience of being successful in League 2
(but who isn't too expensive and who would be happy to come to a club that is 2nd bottom of the league with resources to bring in only one more player, and not an expensive one either. However Cooper and Hignett would need to waive their severance pay, because that would probably use up the money for the wages of the player that we are allowed to bring in.)

Also Hodcroft and IOR must go, because they refuse to bankroll the club out of their own pocket
(or at least with any more than £1million per year, also their presence at the club is preventing any of the Russian Billionaires who are lining up outside the gates from taking over. Because they all want to be abused for giving away £1m of their own money every year)

But the fans are doing their part,
(average crowd of 3,472 this year, 15th in the league for attendances, but mostly with 1/2 price season tickets so we're probably around 22nd in the league in terms of supporter income).

The reality is that in terms of the income of the club, we've been batting well above average for quite a few years. I'm not a fan of the way that Hodcroft or Green work, I completely disagree with them giving contracts to players before appointing managers and I think their communication is dreadful. But this is the reality of the situation and this is what FFP is all about.

We can't compete financially with clubs with higher incomes, it's as simple as that. We need to increase our income if other ways than football, by making money from the ground on non-match days. We can't do that without either owning the ground or having support or investment from the owners of the Ground (the Council). Hull Council paid £42m to build the KC Stadium for Hull, Rotherham Council gave a £5m loan to Rotherham to build their new ground, we can't even get a decision from ours on building a new stand.

All I can see happening is that we get to a level where we are self sufficient, and don't require the £1m per year funding. Based on the incomes and attendances, that's going to be bottom-half of L2 or Conference.

Jonny, you keep mentioning Hughes, I don't think we won in his first 7 or 8 games in charge. How the fuck was he an experienced manager by the way? He'd never managed a game in England. Colin Cooper I'm pretty sure has more experience in football league than Hughes. He was hung out to
dry and never given a chance and I felt sorry for him but he was hardly Jose Mourinho either.

Cooper has been manager for six fucking league games, if you seriously expect massive change in six games after what has gone before I question your brain power. Have a bit of patience.

The sole objective for this season must simply be to stay in the football league. Hopefully Cooper will be able to supervise that so we can start to make a more realistic assault on promotion next season or even the season after by releasing some of the current players that we recognise need to be removed. Am I right in thinking that Howard will be out of contract at the end of this season? Apologies if this has already been mentioned.

As it has already been pointed out it will take time and, from what I've seen, Cooper is doing a reasonable job with what he has at his disposal. Bringing Walton on yesterday with Dolan already on the pitch was undoubtedly a questionable move and it definitely bit him on the arse in the second half when we almost immediately fell into a position where we had to chase the game. But on the other hand the majority of the football we've seen at home has been good and even yesterday it would be hard to argue that we didn't deserve to go into the break at least a goal up. Unfortunately we then run into the problem of having a forward line that isn't capable of producing on a regular basis. Something that most would accept Cooper can't do anything about at this moment in time.

The other signings he has made have made encouraging starts and with any luck we may be able to get some of them to move here permanently.

The only concern is that the club will act as they have done in recent history and remove Cooper if there hasn't been any significant upturn in results in the near future. Which will ultimately achieve squat all except for ushering in more instability.

Pj - hughes had managed hundreds of games played by men not kids, and he had also experience of promotions and getting teams to the Europa league and cup finals i believe. To suggest Hughes was less experienced than Cooper is daft. Not one person can list any of Coopers successes, the lazy presumption was made that because he looked after Boro youth and they won a cup about 10 years ago then he must be good.

Hughes took over a team losing every week and he got rid of the losing mentality to an extent. Cooper took over a team that in recent months had played Yeovil, brentford, tranmere etc and got respectable results. Cooper had a full pre season with the squad but results have got worse.

I know he's only had 6 games, I am not saying sack him now but is it not fair to say we will have a good idea if things will work out in another 6 games? How long would you give him ?

I don't think we can think too long term in this situation, we need to look after things now.

No we don't we need some sort or long term vision and a bit of stability, if we struggle for the next six games then sack Cooper we've sacked a manager after 12 games and we'll have to start again with someone working under the same restrictions with the same players who the the same thickets will give about ten minutes before they start blaming him as well...

The 'experienced' Hughes started in terms of results just as badly as Cooper has, and our form at the back end of last season was poor.

A reasonable job ? I suppose that depends on what your expectations are.

Flinders, Baldwin, Dolan, Poole, James are all good players who have done well at league one level in the past.

Duck worth, walker and compton have looked encouraging in spells.

Surely there is a nucleus there worth more than the points we have on the board.

Add in monkey, franks, Austin, & Walton - some of who many would have got rid of but are they bottom of the fourth players ? I don't think they are .....

Yeah pj - 4 games unbeaten at the end of last season was shite form ......

We won 2 of the last 12 games and went a spell of 8 games without scoring in that run.

Great form.

Won 7 of the last 19...

Even 2 wins in 12 in league one looks decent compared to none in 6 in division four.

Can't argue with any of that

Chip hits nail on head in that there post

I reckon if Cooper goes Hignett will walk. That will leave our most likely caretaker management arrangement being Collins & Hewitson in some arrangement. Now I'm sure Collins is an experienced player & Hewitson isn't a bad coach, but that can't be a better option than what we have.

I genuinely think Cooper is trying to get the team to move the ball around quickly, and players running off the ball, to try and get the opponents turning on their heels and in patches we've looked really good doing it

I'd much rather see this any day cos it does produce chances

It will take time cos the team for some reason reverts back to default setting and abandoning this approach as soon as they go a goal down

This is the real problem what Cooper has to address... he knows it and he has to be given the chance to show he can give the players the belief to overcome this psychological barrier

Greg Abbott is looking for a job.....

You can understand why Cooper ends up trying a change of style as a last resort, he needs to get some more points on the board very soon or he'll be under very serious pressure so when the passing game fails he gives the long ball game a shot.

I'm sure he'd rather change things around without going long but he hasn't got the squad to do it. Dolan and Walker looked like an ideal central midfield pairing to me- one attack minded the other sitting deeper and both with the ability and vision to pass well. Who else can do the attacking bit if Walker goes off though? James Poole is a possible but I've never seen him do the tackling and link up play that you need for a genuine central midfielder. That isn't a criticism, it just isn't his position so putting him in there leaves you short in midfield. Even a fit Walton is a defensive midfielder so him coming on alongside Dolan costs you the speed and attacking intent you need from somewhere in a midfield. Who else could Cooper have tried?

If we can get a decent striker in on loan we'll be fine. If we don't we are going to have a long hard season and will struggle. Both of those statements will be true with or without Cooper so I'd rather give him a proper chance to build a team that can win while playing well. The weaknesses in the current squad aren't down to him.

We're more likely to end up with his brother...

Same shite ,same comments as last season.WHATS CHANGED BOT ALL!!!!

CONFERENCE CALLING!!!!

Wheres Rae?

Starting Saturday isnt he?

dimi in goal rae upfront

With Curtis Good in defence.

And Dimi?

Hello everybody new member 70s poolie very interesting stuff.

Fuuuuuck right off.