League 1 General Chat Thread

[EnglishRed]

Some pretty saddening stuff in The Athletic regarding Mo Faal (no, the other one) and his treatment by Crawley Town this summer.

Subscription required, but basically: Falsely told him that he'd failed his medical, the League seemed his contract invalid but the club refused to renegotiate, then they announced he'd signed for another club when he hadn't.

It sounds like a complete mess. That Tobias Phoenix bloke sounds a bit shady too

 

[Master D]

Which Mo Faal? I'm not convinced there's even 1 of them never mind 2.

 

[EnglishRed]

They are multiplying, like Danny Roses

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

There'll be Mo Faal-Peters along next.

 

[Super_horns]

Best wishes to Matt Taylor and his family at this tough time .

https://twitter.com/x/status/1862089056697393659

 

[Casey]

Which Mo Faal? I'm not convinced there's even 1 of them never mind 2.

Brazenly stolen from Crawley forum.

However, on August 12, one day before that cup match against Swindon Town, Faal was told by Lindsey that there had been a further setback. He did not go into details but the problem was that the contract which Faal had signed was for six months, with an 18-month extension option. Under EFL rules, an extension is not allowed to be longer than the initial contracted period. The issue meant Faal could not be registered."

“The manager told me it was something which the club needed to amend and change so they could get me playing, but he said I wouldn’t be registered for the game the next day. I instantly became worried because of what happened previously — I assumed the worst was going to happen.” Faal says he was affected by the update — and didn’t perform up to his usual level in training that day, misplacing passes and missing shots. He says the sight of Phoenix, who was watching the session, only added to that anxiety. Faal had paid the holding deposit on his dream home less than 48 hours before.

Faal says that the next day “I received an early morning call from Tobias. He told me what the situation was. I said, ‘OK, no problem. Can we change the deal?’ I thought we could make it six months plus six months or something like that. He told me, ‘No, the club doesn’t want to do that. This is the only deal the club wants to offer you. The decision is final’. “There was no other explanation. He told me that the club would pay me for the weeks that I had been in, but that was it, and I was free to find a new club.”

The Atlantic continues - He lost his deposit on the house, but bigger things were also at play. He was now jobless, with his mental health receiving a battering... In Faal’s mind, after signing that contract with Crawley, he has terms of employment with them — with it being the club’s fault that he cannot be registered, after they refused to negotiate on the extension length. According to Faal and his lawyer, his registration was not a key condition of the contract.

Faal says he was sent a 'proof of termination of contract' document to sign, which he has refused to do.

The Atlantic says - When announcing his departure, on September 13, Crawley said Faal had joined Worthing for an “undisclosed fee”. But they would have been unable to receive money for him as an unregistered player — and is instead classed as a free transfer.

I have no idea if Faal is good, bad or indifferent but Crawley come out of this like a bunch of w&£#£&+s

Casey

 

[masi51]

It sounds like a complete mess. That Tobias Phoenix bloke sounds a bit shady too

That is a blast from the past......He was DOF at Macclesfield before joining us in the same role
it was when we was in Administration, got shot of him the following season
Or Evatt did

 

[masi51]

That is a blast from the past......He was DOF at Macclesfield before joining us in the same role
it was when we was in Administration, got shot of him the following season
Or Evatt did

funny enough we signed Faal around that time,,,,And also let him go around the time hewent

 

[EnglishRed]

That is a blast from the past......He was DOF at Macclesfield before joining us in the same role
it was when we was in Administration, got shot of him the following season
Or Evatt did

There seems to be loads of these parasitic types that rock up at clubs do a terrible job (often that people can't really put their finger on exactly what it is they are meant to be doing) and then get a new job somewhere else. Football as an industry is very odd.

 

[Casey]

The way (it appears) Mo Faal sees it, is that Tobias Phoenix doesn't rate him, maybe for non football reasons and will seize any chance of getting rid of him.

I did watched Faal go through a fitness test in pre season. It would have killed me.

Tobias Phoenix worries me. No interviews, no real job title and it was only mentioned he worked for the club in passing.

Casey

 

[Gi Dalor]

The way (it appears) Mo Faal sees it, is that Tobias Phoenix doesn't rate him, maybe for non football reasons and will seize any chance of getting rid of him.

I did watched Faal go through a fitness test in pre season. It would have killed me.

Tobias Phoenix worries me. No interviews, no real job title and it was only mentioned he worked for the club in passing.

Casey

We sometimes don't understand how fit footballers need to be. I have to say that Crawley keep releasing videos of training sessions which look like a breeze. I suppose they feel it would be unfair to show what the players really have to do. I suspect that was the problem with Taminu, and why he didn't play for the first month. He wasn't prepared for the level required. (It's an educated guess. Rob Elliott more or less said it, and Taminu's one Insta during that first month done in The UK was him in a room on his own with a treadmill).

Both faal and phoenix come with reputations, fair or otherwise. Phoenix's is that he is really bad at judging player ability. (Unfortunate). Faal's is that he is not a model professional. (Falling back on Football Manager attributes here). Reading between the lines in Faal's interview, I think he knows that he let himself down a bit in training. we know that Scott Lindsey is not a fan of players turning up late and phoning in training sessions. I suspect that Rob Elliott is the same, because 'training culture' must have been high on the wish list.
Basically, whatever your 'gifts' , if you want to succeed at L1 / L2, you need to be able to jump straight back up when life knocks you down. Because it will.

 

[masi51]

Going to call it now Birmingham, Wycombe, Wrexham, Bolton, Huddersfield and Stockport are your top six this season.
The rest can now start the mid table cup apart from the bottom six who have survival on their hands

 

[Master D]

Still only seen one team outplay us and be conclusively better and that's Birmingham at their place.

The enormity of what we're going for in terms of 3 in a row might hit home in second half of the season but we're definitely not going down so that's something.

 

[Conker]

Funnily enough I’m finding it difficult to tell you a side who’s comprehensively outplayed over 90

Only lost more than one goal twice so far, Bolton last night where we fell apart after the sending off but beforehand didn’t feel like they were capable of applying any pressure in that 2nd half to seriously worry us. Lincoln are probably the best bet because they put 4 past us but it was a bit of a self inflicted 2 goal lead handed on a plate.

Birmingham outplayed us in the first half but only created one chance with it, and we probably should have won that in the second half, it was a well deserved draw.

Wigan away was the game we were chasing shadows for quite a lot of it, but we scored two beauties outside the box and won!

 

[Stocky]

Still only seen one team outplay us and be conclusively better and that's Birmingham at their place.

The enormity of what we're going for in terms of 3 in a row might hit home in second half of the season but we're definitely not going down so that's something.

I thought we outplayed you the other week if I'm being honest. Wasn't a battering but was more comfortable than the 1-0 suggested and you were probably one of the worst teams that have come to E.P in terms of being a threat going forward. That's a one off game though and you obviously don't play like that every week.

I think the top 6 will be Birmingham, Huddersfield, Wrexham and Wycombe with two from a number of teams below. I would agree with Bolton, they've had a pretty up and down start but despite that I was surprised at how well placed they actually are after looking at the table last night. Barry going in Jan may effect us so I will go for Peterborough for the last spot.

 

[Pilot_Phonic]

I thought we outplayed you the other week if I'm being honest. Wasn't a battering but was more comfortable than the 1-0 suggested and you were probably one of the worst teams that have come to E.P in terms of being a threat going forward. That's a one off game though and you obviously don't play like that every week.

I agree to a point, although we had a bit of a go in the 2nd half in the last quarter of an hour or so, we didn't hurt you at all so was comfortable. If anything, it was our undoing rather than Stockport outclassing us. Birmingham is the stand out where they actually turned it on against us, but on the whole, no-one else has in this division.

 

[Hudders]

Selles in talks with Hull apparently, that’s going to be a huge blow to Reading if it happens. Him and Bloomfield the standouts so far this season I’d say.

 

[Casey]

Barnsley completely stuffed us when they came to Crawley. We weren't bad but they were just better in every position. By far the best team I've seen us play this season...and for a couple of seasons more.
When we played Northampton we were crap so it was hard to judge Northampton.

Casey

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

May sound odd given the result, but Barnsley are the best side that have visited the Abbey this season. Probably the best overall even.

 

[masi51]

We are shit but are grinding out results.....The Derby of last season
We are getting results when we dont deserve them....Fancy us Saturday against Bristol Rovers but after that we have Wigan, Wycombe and Barnsley.
If we are top 10 and within 3 points from the play-offs we will cruise the second half of the season we cannot do worse......Not good enough for Automatics because the manager is clueless and it seems we are sticking with him, we will get there despite him
Play-offs again and another lottery