Clouded by Promotion?

This may go against the grain, and the spirit of euphoria that seems to be echoing through exewebland, but I am not afraid to speak out as a lone voice where I see fit.
I am extremely concerned about the lack of signings, the decisions to give one year contracts, and the players these have been handed to.
Carlisle going is a blow, the decision not to replace him is seriously flawed. Saunders may be able to fill the void, but that is still an unknown quantity, and having spent an entire season out injured, one wonders whether he can step up.
We haven’t strengthened up front, a serious oversight. Yes, the York guy may be the answer, but I would be looking for a quality striker proven at League level. When Stansfield helped Hereford to promotion he couldn’t go up with them, and they went from strength to strength.
Goalkeeper- Tis has stated that the goalie he wants will only be third choice- it is obvious that we desperately need a first choice goalie- the mistakes made by both Marriott and Jones could have cost us- compare other quality goalies that we saw last year- Nikki Bull, Alan Julian, and you will see what an advantage they can give.

Don’t forget we only finished fourth last season, we didn’t rip up trees, but did well in the playoffs (although the jury is still out as to the extent that we relied on mistakes by other teams- had we come across Morecambe again would we have won??) I can’t help thinking that, if we had not gone up, would people be happy about the signings and re-signings, and why therefore, given that we need to strengthen, not stay the same, why no-one else seems to be worried about this??

denzel said:

This may go against the grain, and the spirit of euphoria that seems to be echoing through exewebland, but I am not afraid to speak out as a lone voice where I see fit.
I am extremely concerned about the lack of signings, the decisions to give one year contracts, and the players these have been handed to.
Carlisle going is a blow, the decision not to replace him is seriously flawed. Saunders may be able to fill the void, but that is still an unknown quantity, and having spent an entire season out injured, one wonders whether he can step up.
We haven’t strengthened up front, a serious oversight. Yes, the York guy may be the answer, but I would be looking for a quality striker proven at League level. When Stansfield helped Hereford to promotion he couldn’t go up with them, and they went from strength to strength.
Goalkeeper- Tis has stated that the goalie he wants will only be third choice- it is obvious that we desperately need a first choice goalie- the mistakes made by both Marriott and Jones could have cost us- compare other quality goalies that we saw last year- Nikki Bull, Alan Julian, and you will see what an advantage they can give.

Don’t forget we only finished fourth last season, we didn’t rip up trees, but did well in the playoffs (although the jury is still out as to the extent that we relied on mistakes by other teams- had we come across Morecambe again would we have won??) I can’t help thinking that, if we had not gone up, would people be happy about the signings and re-signings, and why therefore, given that we need to strengthen, not stay the same, why no-one else seems to be worried about this??

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and you know that our current team wont cope, how?

We have a team that has not played in the league week in week out how can judge if we are not good enough?

We got promoted that was the aim and we did it!

We play a good brand of football and our team is steadily improving all the time.

denzel said:

This may go against the grain, and the spirit of euphoria that seems to be echoing through exewebland, but I am not afraid to speak out as a lone voice where I see fit.
I am extremely concerned about the lack of signings, the decisions to give one year contracts, and the players these have been handed to.
Carlisle going is a blow, the decision not to replace him is seriously flawed. Saunders may be able to fill the void, but that is still an unknown quantity, and having spent an entire season out injured, one wonders whether he can step up.
We haven’t strengthened up front, a serious oversight. Yes, the York guy may be the answer, but I would be looking for a quality striker proven at League level. When Stansfield helped Hereford to promotion he couldn’t go up with them, and they went from strength to strength.
Goalkeeper- Tis has stated that the goalie he wants will only be third choice- it is obvious that we desperately need a first choice goalie- the mistakes made by both Marriott and Jones could have cost us- compare other quality goalies that we saw last year- Nikki Bull, Alan Julian, and you will see what an advantage they can give.

Don’t forget we only finished fourth last season, we didn’t rip up trees, but did well in the playoffs (although the jury is still out as to the extent that we relied on mistakes by other teams- had we come across Morecambe again would we have won??) I can’t help thinking that, if we had not gone up, would people be happy about the signings and re-signings, and why therefore, given that we need to strengthen, not stay the same, why no-one else seems to be worried about this??

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It took a lot of guts to write that denz.

At the moment though, its all about "in tiz we trust", so you might be wasting you're time.

Bit early to be saying we haven't replaced him, haven't signed someone in that position or that position.

Plenty of time till the season starts yet, blimey, haven't even started the Euro's yet, and you know all our potential signings won't want to discuss moving till after they've represented their country!!!

One thing to be trying to give us a reality check, but quite another to be a doom and gloom merchant!

denzel said:

This may go against the grain, and the spirit of euphoria that seems to be echoing through exewebland, but I am not afraid to speak out as a lone voice where I see fit.
I am extremely concerned about the lack of signings, the decisions to give one year contracts, and the players these have been handed to.
Carlisle going is a blow, the decision not to replace him is seriously flawed. Saunders may be able to fill the void, but that is still an unknown quantity, and having spent an entire season out injured, one wonders whether he can step up.
We haven’t strengthened up front, a serious oversight. Yes, the York guy may be the answer, but I would be looking for a quality striker proven at League level. When Stansfield helped Hereford to promotion he couldn’t go up with them, and they went from strength to strength.
Goalkeeper- Tis has stated that the goalie he wants will only be third choice- it is obvious that we desperately need a first choice goalie- the mistakes made by both Marriott and Jones could have cost us- compare other quality goalies that we saw last year- Nikki Bull, Alan Julian, and you will see what an advantage they can give.

Don’t forget we only finished fourth last season, we didn’t rip up trees, but did well in the playoffs (although the jury is still out as to the extent that we relied on mistakes by other teams- had we come across Morecambe again would we have won??) I can’t help thinking that, if we had not gone up, would people be happy about the signings and re-signings, and why therefore, given that we need to strengthen, not stay the same, why no-one else seems to be worried about this??

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Are you Gilesy in disguise? ;-)

I agree with some of Denzel's points and sympathise on the rest.

The long and short of it is that we just don't know. L2 is an unknown quantity to the management and most of the players and, conversely, to the other teams who will be playing us this season. Stepping into the unknown is always worrying and the glass half empty view makes equally as much sense as the glass half full.

I think it's fairly clear our budget hasn't increased significantly from last season, even if it has increased at all and I would expect us to have one of the smallest budgets in L2 next season - certainly in the bottom 5. If this means we have to cut our cloth accordingly and go for coaching the best out of players then I trust we have the right management in place. As much as we would all like to see some 'name' signings I don't think we a) have the money and b) don't think Tis thinks they are cost effective..

I think the key to surviving and then challenging in L2 is keeping veryone at the club hungry for success and I guess this is why Tis doesn't seem too keen in upsetting the applecart too much. It is interesting to see the teams that pushed on immediately in L2 (Carlisle, Donny) had money behind them which is something we just don't have the option of and Hereford last season who played the loan system very cleverly. They made wholesale changes to their squad but look at it now after the loanees left. Hardly brimming with talent for a L1 season, is it?

Tis seems to want evolution rather than revolution (thought you'd like that considering the Partridge avatar ) and IMO it's the only way we can sustainably run this club. Doing a Torquay and spending on wages/transfers simply isn't an option, nor is it going to give us success long-term..

Now that things have quietened down a bit following Wembley, I actually think the true mood at the moment is somewhere inbetween euphoria and misery.

Most posters seem to be reasonably happy with the ins/outs, with perhaps Carlisle's 'loss' causing most concern. But once again, it surely boils down to money, and the financial state of the club. It's already been made quite clear that we're not going to suddenly get some sort of golden cash windfall now we're back in the league, and the club is still striving to be financially prudent. Which again brings us back to one of the main points of employing Tiz - he brings success but doesn't do it spending big money.

In terms of personnel, the Stans / Hereford example especially is getting a bit hackneyed now. It's been made clear elsewhere that he was offered a contract to stay with Hereford when they were promoted, but only for a year. Thus, he chose to take the 'Carlisle route'. I suppose Manny Panther is going to be our 'big' signing, with a few others along the way to freshen up the team. Yes, it would be nice to bring in some more 'big-hitters', but I guess in reality it ain't gonna happen - at least not for 12 months when we've hopefully consolidated in L2 and started to realise some of the new revenue streams.

Just for Pete... In Tiz (and the board) We Trust.

Why shouldn't we trust Tis, Pete?

He got us promoted didn't he?

The one year contracts thing is clearly a club policy. After 5 years out of the League, the only three games (IIRC) which could give us a direct comparison of City v L2 sides were all in the FA Cup, versus Grimsby, Stockport and Bury, two of them before Tis's time at the club. Its uncharted territory and when/ if the players prove themselves at this level, I think we are going to be seeing negotiations going on to lengthen those contracts before the January transfer window opens. Wayne Carlisle could have been in that position as well.

One of the advantages of getting promoted out of the Conference is that you know exactly who your best opposing players are and you can offer them football at a higher level. We may have lost out on some possible signings following this principle when Stimson joined Gillingham, but I still have to pinch myself when I think that Manny Panther relocated to Devon from York, but it happened. Despite what Tis has said, I wouldn't rule out another player or two of a similar calibre arriving before the season starts and they wouldn't necessarily have to be local.

My glass may be half full, but I won't be relaxing until I see those 50 points against Exeter City in the table. The sooner, the better.

finetime said:

Tis seems to want evolution rather than revolution (thought you'd like that considering the Partridge avatar ) and IMO it's the only way we can sustainably run this club.

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Thought this was an old January thread, bemoaning the lack of signings and reluctance to strengthen the squad.

May have been Tis having supreme confidence, or may be he was hamstrung by the 'newly' discovered £300k debt, but whatever the reason the end justified the means.

A team is more than the sum of its parts, and post-Wembley Tis knows the current team is confident, know each other well, and will wait to see how they fare in the higher league.

If it doesn't work out, then I should imagine there'll be an overhaul in January.