2024-25 Championship Match Day Thread

[That Fat Centre Half]

Norwich away today. Expecting another defeat here, they are a bit up and down but it’s think they will have too much quality for us especially with Sainz being on form at this moment.

Another moan for me but again it’s a Saturday away game where we have a days less rest than the home side, all of our last 3 Saturday away games have been like that. Norwich also played at home midweek whilst we were away. I assume it will work itself out and we will benefit in the same way at some point but why this can’t be worked out in the fixture list is a bit silly. At least this is a 12:30 kick off I guess.

 

[Super_horns]

We were lucky again tbh.

QPR should have won really .

Did better in the second half after a few subs

Caught out in midfield too much and passive at times.

 

[oakroader]

Pathetic…

 

[Super_horns]

Not a happy camp at Luton !

Players being called out .

Rob Edwards: Luton Town boss blames players for latest away defeat

Under-fire Luton Town boss Rob Edwards warns his players to stop making errors or be dropped following their defeat at Norwich City.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Surprised it’s taken him this long to call out the players to be very honest. He’s steadfastly stuck to the “it’s on me” line for the whole season and whilst he is very culpable, some players deserve criticism.

There's a few who clearly don’t want to be here and are unhappy they didn’t get a move post the relegation in the summer, Mengi being one of those. Then there’s a few who just look way below where.

Won’t be long until he rightly starts calling out the recruitment team and board as well imo, the January and summer recruitment have been appalling.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Surprised it’s taken him this long to call out the players to be very honest. He’s steadfastly stuck to the “it’s on me” line for the whole season and whilst he is very culpable, some players deserve criticism.

There's a few who clearly don’t want to be here and are unhappy they didn’t get a move post the relegation in the summer, Mengi being one of those. Then there’s a few who just look way below where.

Won’t be long until he rightly starts calling out the recruitment team and board as well imo, the January and summer recruitment have been appalling.

Can’t disagree with any of this. The club is a mess and there needs to be some accountability.

Not sure if it was mentioned on here last week, but in the Hull programme notes it was claimed by Gary Sweet that our “culture was under attack” and that our supporters were starting to turn on the club. Well guess what, when you’ve had a 2024 on and off the pitch like we’ve had, people have a right to question it.

I think the LLSC statement that came out about an hour after the final whistle was quite telling and will hit home. They HAVE to act without further delay. It’s go time.

I’m certainly not asking the 2020 consortium to sell up but the statements they were making 3-4 years ago were ambitious and progressive. Since when have we been happy to settle for mediocrity? Brabin, Harford MkI, Money and Buckle were never given these opportunities.

I also say the same to people clapping off the performances v Leeds and yesterday. How can people congratulate that?

 

[Tea Towel]

Never confident going to Derby, 1 win in last 20 years

They’re a big side, typical Warne team and we’re gash at defending set pieces, without Bernard and Ihiekwe today

Add to that 1 win in their last 8, I’m going 1-0 Derby

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Can’t disagree with any of this. The club is a mess and there needs to be some accountability.

Not sure if it was mentioned on here last week, but in the Hull programme notes it was claimed by Gary Sweet that our “culture was under attack” and that our supporters were starting to turn on the club. Well guess what, when you’ve had a 2024 on and off the pitch like we’ve had, people have a right to question it.

I think the LLSC statement that came out about an hour after the final whistle was quite telling and will hit home. They HAVE to act without further delay. It’s go time.

I’m certainly not asking the 2020 consortium to sell up but the statements they were making 3-4 years ago were ambitious and progressive. Since when have we been happy to settle for mediocrity? Brabin, Harford MkI, Money and Buckle were never given these opportunities.

I also say the same to people clapping off the performances v Leeds and yesterday. How can people congratulate that?

Those programme notes irritated me too. The reference to the “away form” being the issue when we have been quite poor everywhere, and as you say the call out of the fans. The holier than thou tone of “many of our fans don’t know what relegation feels like” and “we’ve had it much worse” was playing to the gallery of a certain type of fan who think because they watched us in some of our more down years there can be no constructive criticism because at least we aren’t losing to Hyde or Dartford or whatever. Well I was there and I witnessed all that and it’s not good enough right now

The match going fans have been remarkably patient i feel, the relegation was taken well despite us often losing in real gut punching ways, and this season they still get applauded off rather than booed by significant numbers. The amount of fans who still have patience despite no obvious improvement in performance, I’m not sure how many other places would be so patient. It’s certainly not turned ugly yet and there’s certainly not been a home game yet where the crowd have turned, and that is probably why Edwards is still here

People really want Edwards to turn it around because he is a nice bloke and it’s obvious he’s been struggling with the pressure of things.

Really felt like Gary was trying to cover up for the clubs own failings in the last 2 windows and various other not quite right things that have been going on off the pitch and that does not sit well. In his defence I would assume much of his attention is with the new stadium but those notes did not strike the right chord for me, especially as he’s been so silent this season

 

[Kenneth E End]

Yeah whilst "all fans are donuts" in the words of a former manager of ours, considering I've had a season ticket since 1998 and probably been to 700 matches, I think I probably have a decent idea of what a good football team is.

I don't want Gary to go but he needs to do certain things...
-Replace Rob Edwards and Richie Kyle. Paul Trollope is vastly experienced and would be a handy FTC. It appears it'll cost Luton ~£1.5M to pay RE off.
-Recruit a Technical Director to sit above Harford and the new manager and be in charge of overall recruitment. Take Gary out of the recruitment process to continue being a liaison with the board and overall charge of Power Court.
-Downgrade Mick Harford's role to an ambassadorial role, but still having input into the recruitment team.
-Supplement the recruitment team to have some more overseas input.
-Recruitment a strength and conditioning team.
-Keep going towards EPPP2.
-Replace the commercial management.

The club needs an overhaul.

These are our resources this season, so we're not massively in trouble. This should clearly be attractive to someone (***these are all estimates from my brain***):
Premier League season income - £120M, of which I'd say £57M was spent on the squad.
Current season income - £78M, with £48M squad costs.
Next season income - ~£56M + any player trading income.

Bear in mind teams without PP will only take in around £12.5M from TV this season...

 

[Kenneth E End]

Duplicated

 

[Super_horns]

I guess they think it has been worse so fans ought to be happy but then no-one would ever complain if all you had to be for people to be happy is n a higher league or better situation than x years ago.

It's not like you are just mid table having a bit of a dip or tailed off as all teams at our level do.

Apart from the obvious game it's been pretty poor all season for you guys and well relegation might be possible given how tight and close everyone is.

I mean you did each the play-offs in your 2 previous Championship season and actually competed well at times in the Premier league.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Yeah whilst "all fans are donuts" in the words of a former manager of ours, considering I've had a season ticket since 1998 and probably been to 700 matches, I think I probably have a decent idea of what a good football team is.

I don't want Gary to go but he needs to do certain things...
-Replace Rob Edwards and Richie Kyle. Paul Trollope is vastly experienced and would be a handy FTC. It appears it'll cost Luton ~£1.5M to pay RE off.
-Recruit a Technical Director to sit above Harford and the new manager and be in charge of overall recruitment. Take Gary out of the recruitment process to continue being a liaison with the board and overall charge of Power Court.
-Downgrade Mick Harford's role to an ambassadorial role, but still having input into the recruitment team.
-Supplement the recruitment team to have some more overseas input.
-Recruitment a strength and conditioning team.
-Keep going towards EPPP2.
-Replace the commercial management.

The club needs an overhaul.

These are our resources this season, so we're not massively in trouble. This should clearly be attractive to someone (***these are all estimates from my brain***):
Premier League season income - £120M, of which I'd say £57M was spent on the squad.
Current season income - £78M, with £48M squad costs.
Next season income - ~£56M + any player trading income.

Bear in mind teams without PP will only take in around £12.5M from TV this season...

Agree on the football structure side of things. One of the things Nathan Jones doesn’t get a lot of credit for that I think he should do is he made that side of the club much more professional than it was under John Still. He built on the spirit with modern methods.

We have since lost our edge there and it needs looking at again.

 

[SF_]

As our game was called off due to Blackburn being tinpot, I went to Preston vs Derby instead. First half was League One standard barring the header for PNE's opener, second half was absolute dross.

Based on their last two showings, if we can't finish above Preston then we absolutely deserve relegation. Not convinced Derby won't get dragged into the mire at some point either. It's a very tight division at both ends.

We'll see. Absolute embarrassment at your place but I'll put it down to a depleted first 11 and just being one of those days. Derby will grind out plenty of away points like that this season, scoring from set pieces and being organised.

Can't say I'm overly concerned about going down right now, it will click under Heckingbottom but we could do with it happening soon. It'll be yet another dull mid-table season IMO, but probably a few places lower than last year.

Anyway, crap first half against West Brom but we were much the better team in the season half, was a decent watch. Thordarson's best game for us so far, I'm confident he'll become a good player for us, and he should resign Ben Whiteman to the bench going forward.

We edged it away at Stoke too but again couldn't find the killer touch. Just too many draws right now but we should have more firepower when Keane and Osmajic get back up to speed, and maybe Bowler playing a bigger role, who came here ridiculously unfit.

 

[SF_]

Not sure why Cardiff binned off Ebou Adams. Always looks decent when I see him.

 

[Tea Towel]

Get in!

Shite first half, fortunate to still be in it after an hour but ballsy change by Rohl paid off

We played that second half without a recognised centre half and were the better team

 

[SF_]

Think I'll head to Sheffield Wed next weekend. That away win has got to come soon. We certainly should have more points on the board but have been denied by shocking refereeing decisions (Burnley) and some shitness in front of goal (Stoke/ Osmajic).

We could do with getting Lindsay, Brady, and Frokjaer back soon. 6 games this month, plus one on NYD.

​

 

[Tea Towel]

Think I'll head to Sheffield Wed next weekend. That away win has got to come soon. We certainly should have more points on the board but have been denied by shocking refereeing decisions (Burnley) and some shitness in front of goal (Stoke/ Osmajic).

We could do with getting Lindsay, Brady, and Frokjaer back soon. 6 games this month, plus one on NYD.

​

Talk of Bannan being suspended too. Local journo reckons its 5, but most stat sites have him on 3 yellows

 

[SF_]

Talk of Bannan being suspended too. Local journo reckons its 5, but most stat sites have him on 3 yellows

Whoscored says 4 and Flashscore says 3...

Strange thing to not know.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

I’m pretty sure he got booked after the final whistle in the game here. Those sites like FotMob and flash score often miss those sort of bookings but the local journos and stattos keep a better track

 

[Tea Towel]

If he is suspended then it doesn’t half give PNE a boost. He’s 35 today and still comfortably our best player. When Rohl first game in he was keen to stop the reliance on Bazza but he’s too good not to be the main man

 

[SF_]

Should get 5 yellows for holding on to that hair.

 

[BarrieOwl]

If he is suspended then it doesn’t half give PNE a boost. He’s 35 today and still comfortably our best player. When Rohl first game in he was keen to stop the reliance on Bazza but he’s too good not to be the main man

If he got booked after the whistle that's his 2nd yellow in the game.

 

[Super_horns]

Plymouth v Oxford off and just been announced ours is at Cardiff too.

 

[SF_]

Plymouth v Oxford off and just been announced ours is at Cardiff too.

Southern fannies

 

[91SPP]

Not sure why Cardiff binned off Ebou Adams. Always looks decent when I see him.

He's been unbelievable for us. He's not the best technical footballer, but his ability to get around the pitch and just get involved in games is like nothing I've ever seen before - especially in a team that doesn't play heavy-possession football.

I think he's got a case for being our best player in more than half the games he's played and we wouldn't have got promoted without him last season, no chance. He bought everything we lacked, in an unassuming loan move most of us had never heard of.

I think we will notice his absence a lot tomorrow - especially with no Ozoh either.

 

[Super_horns]

Southern fannies

And Liverpool..

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Swansea at home for us today. Back to back home games coming up with Stoke here Tuesday, desperately need to build some momentum

Weather is going to be a factor and with some of calamitous defending I do worry.

 

[Super_horns]

Stoke fake already wanting their current manager out.

Northern version of us !?

 

[SF_]

Abysmal result that. Potts has cost us 2pts with that pathetic miss. Absolutely threw the game away.

Need a LWB/ LB so Kesler-Hayden can play on the right when Brady is missing, and a centre back who isn't useless on the ball.

 

[Tea Towel]

Christ that was as bad as we’ve been this season

Preston really should have been 3 up after 20 minutes, and 4 just after half time but for a horror finish

They played really well for 70 minutes, would have had no complaints if we lost