League 2 General Chat Thread

[The Jovial Forester]

Yep, we've got 5 players on international duty.

Shouldn't you add the banana dick smiley to that post?

 

[Luke Imp]

Disappointing result, that.

From what I can glean, not a lot happened during the game and with 4 of the top 7 to play in our final 8, we've put ourselves under pressure over Easter weekend with that draw. I suppose it could be argued that it's better being able to affect other PO chasing teams' results as well.

 

[CTFCfan99]

5-3 win at Crawley. Didn't see that coming, tbh.

 

[Davidimp]

Disappointing result, that.

From what I can glean, not a lot happened during the game and with 4 of the top 7 to play in our final 8, we've put ourselves under pressure over Easter weekend with that draw. I suppose it could be argued that it's better being able to affect other PO chasing teams' results as well.

Yep not good enough today , we just lack that killer instinct in those tight games and have done all season.
Our manager being a tight arse in transfer windows is his only failing and is probably going to cost us.
Granted rather be in our position than the cods...

 

[Casey]

Second game I've missed this week. We've let in eight goals! Yes eight in two games.

I'm sorry but letting in five goals at home to Cheltenham is just not good enough (no offence meant Robins). If a championship side knocked five passed us I wouldn't be happy. A team below us in the table and I'm spitting tacks!

Come on Charlton, take Kewell away.

Casey

 

[Luke Imp]

Yep not good enough today , we just lack that killer instinct in those tight games and have done all season.
Our manager being a tight arse in transfer windows is his only failing and is probably going to cost us.
Granted rather be in our position than the cods...

Yeah, those small margins will cost us.

Reading the Morecambe forum, their lot are slagging Bentley off for his approach today with too much timewasting, defensive football and refusal to attack. To be fair though, that'll make it twice they've done that to us this season and got two draws so they shouldn't be overly critical, especially with the position they're in.

 

[The Reverend Skyblue]

A good win for us today, our biggest of the season. By sounds of it Grimsby are really going to struggle to stay up but I really wish them well as most of my life they have been a real proper football club. They made the same mistake as us last season, employing Russel Slade. We wouldn't have gone down last season without his efforts, plus the fact we let one of the directors ran the team for four months.
Anyway I desperately want to avoid the playoffs especially with our keeper who basically is the worst keeper I've ever seen at the club.
Can we keep on this roll, we have some very big games coming up.

 

[ShrimpsMeltdown]

Yeah, those small margins will cost us.

Reading the Morecambe forum, their lot are slagging Bentley off for his approach today with too much timewasting, defensive football and refusal to attack. To be fair though, that'll make it twice they've done that to us this season and got two draws so they shouldn't be overly critical, especially with the position they're in.

It's because it happens nearly every home match, a main reason why we get 800 fans. It's just awful to watch.

 

[shoddycollins]

Anyway I desperately want to avoid the playoffs especially with our keeper who basically is the worst keeper I've ever seen at the club.

Yet you have by some distance the best defence in the division, so it's not hampering you unduly.

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

Yet you have by some distance the best defence in the division, so it's not hampering you unduly.

That’s probably because Burge is actually a totally fine keeper for this level and a decent shot stopper but Cov fans have an undying need to constantly call our own keeper shit. It’s happened with pretty much every keeper we’ve had in the past 15 years no matter how they perform.

 

[The Reverend Skyblue]

Charlie the only keeper I haven't liked in all my years supporting Cov is Burge and the distant fumbles of Eric McManus in the early seventies. We have always had a decent keeper, some great one back in the old days, but I really cringe when I see Burge near the ball.
I do agree there are witchhunts on some of our players over the years, the latest is definitely Biamou. Just give the lad a chance to settle in but some hate him. He a very decent header of the ball and that goal he scored was one of the best this season.
I'm sorry I just prefer O'brian

 

[Liam_SWFC]

Second game I've missed this week. We've let in eight goals! Yes eight in two games.

I'm sorry but letting in five goals at home to Cheltenham is just not good enough (no offence meant Robins). If a championship side knocked five passed us I wouldn't be happy. A team below us in the table and I'm spitting tacks!

Come on Charlton, take Kewell away.

Casey

Hasn't Kewell done a good job considering what he has?

 

[Luke Imp]

Tisdale leaving Exeter at the end of the season? There was an article on him in The Times at the weekend but the whole article wasn't available unless you paid for it.

I can vaguely remember him being given a two-year notice from the Trust(?).

 

[Devon_Lad]

Tisdale leaving Exeter at the end of the season? There was an article on him in The Times at the weekend but the whole article wasn't available unless you paid for it.

I can vaguely remember him being given a two-year notice from the Trust(?).

We can only hope. Nothing confirmed yet, but we're all hoping he'll be gone, especially after that ridiculous article.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

If anyone is interested, here's the article:

When he puts it into context — results, the challenge, a swallowing of pain, the money he generated for a club which depends upon it — Paul Tisdale regards last season as “the best I’ve ever had”, which is quite a statement when you consider it also featured his own dismissal. Exeter City are specialists in nonconformity, a partial explanation for why their manager is still there, but 16 months later, the longest of goodbyes is approaching.

Exeter and Tisdale have featured in this space before; a supporter-owned club crammed with idiosyncrasy, a professional footballer who did not enjoy football, who “stumbled” into becoming the Football League’s longest-serving manager and who serves as an ambassador for Ted Baker, the designer clothing company. It is a well-told story of difference, diligence and rare intelligence, one which is now drifting towards a conclusion.

Part of the story concerns the meaning of success. In Tisdale’s second season at St James Park, Exeter won promotion from the National League. In his third, they reached Sky Bet League One. In the fifth, they climbed to eighth, equalling the club’s highest position. They were relegated in 2012 and “started a new cycle”, he says, “making sure we stayed in the league with a very small base budget”. Each victory is a triumph, but so is survival.

Perception, expectation, reality; those tectonic plates crunched together in November 2016. Exeter were 23rd in League Two and had not won at home for seven months. “There was a lot of negativity,” Tisdale says. “No matter what the model of the club is, at 4.55pm on a Saturday afternoon, nobody looks at the big picture. People tend to focus on the fact that you’re second bottom and you’ve lost again.”

Amid discontent from fans and a petition calling for Tisdale to go, the club’s supporters’ trust ordered its board to serve notice on his two-year rolling contract. The irony was that Tisdale could sense a turnaround. “We had an incredible flurry of injuries and kept losing games, but I knew we had a fighting chance of getting promoted,” he says. “It was the best group of players we’d had for years.

“We just had to be patient, but we didn’t win at home for God knows how long, we were in the bottom two or three and it didn’t match up with what I was saying. The place with the most confidence and patience was the dressing room. It was very harmonious in there, albeit we were in real trouble at the wrong end of the table.”

Tisdale was right. His team recovered, climbed to fifth and lost to Blackpool in the play-off final. In the summer, he sold Ollie Watkins to Brentford and David Wheeler to Queens Park Rangers, raising well in excess of £2 million, while teenager Ethan Ampadu moved to Chelsea, with the fee still to be determined by a tribunal. Tisdale rebuilt his team, once again. Exeter stand fifth. The decision to end Tisdale’s contract was messy. At another club, he might have been sacked outright and paid off, but Exeter are a “cash-flow business” — they cannot spend money they do not have — and the compromise was awkward. In the meantime, both sides have signalled a willingness to renegotiate, but circumstances have shifted and, as things stand, they are “far” from an agreement.

“My notice comes through in November but the bottom line is I’m not going to start next season to then leave,” Tisdale says. “So it really means this summer.” In turn, that really means eight more matches, potentially a few more if they finish in the top seven. “Time is running out,” he says. “It’s been at least a year since we started discussing these things and they’ve not come up with anything.”

Tisdale cannot deny it; he has been bruised by the episode. “You understand supporters,” he says. “You understand that’s how it is, but it wasn’t nice. It’s been difficult. The whole thing has been hurtful and unsettling but you learn to live with that in professional sport. I don’t regret being here. I love it at Exeter, I love the players and the coaches I work with and we’re very close, but it’s unfair on them.

“It’s unfair on my colleagues, for the people who have given up their time to come and work with me because they love the environment. I don’t want to say it’s neglectful, because I know it’s not wilful, but it has had a knock-on effect for a lot of people who realise there’s a point coming soon where it all may change. It’s been hanging over our heads for so long it’s almost as if everyone has forgotten about it.”

After all this time, it has caused Tisdale to reevaluate. “Let’s be honest, I’ve put my career on hold for five or six years,” he says. “I’ve done the right thing by the club at every turn, selling my best players, never putting the club at risk financially, developing our facilities at the same time. You do feel particularly hurt when, in a period of bad results, they turn around and serve notice, but you have to be very focused and strong-minded.

“I actually feel it’s pre-empted a crossroads for the club. Without this we might just have trundled on in the same way. I love the club, I’ve committed 12 years of my life to it, but we’ve been standing still. On the one hand, standing still means that you’re safe and it’s a very considered environment, but the trouble is that everyone else is moving forward and the only way we’ve kept in business is by selling player after player.

“I don’t think I can stomach another five years of doing the same thing, hanging on. The crossroads is coming and I’m saying, ‘OK, I’d consider staying, but only if there’s a shift towards progression.’ Even just competing with our peers would be a start. This is a moment for the club to decide. The supporters’ trust was formed 17 years ago and has done a magnificent job, but we haven’t moved forward.”

As Tisdale says, it has given him a chance “to think about what I want to do”. In the past, he has been approached by Swansea City, Southampton and others but opted to stay, which should not be interpreted as settling for comfort. “It touches a raw nerve because I’ve heard the ambition question so many times,” he says. “I can take a lot, but not that, because to try and get a club like Exeter into the Championship is as ambitious as you’ll ever get.

“To create and develop a club from top to bottom culturally, to create credibility, to have a constant environment, takes dedication and management and focus. To say that’s not ambitious . . . it’s just an ambition that people don’t understand. Exeter has been my club and I’ve devoted myself to them. My ambition has been 100 per cent, it’s just not conventional. People think you should jump ship and look to better yourself straight away.”

He has huge experience, but in managerial terms Tisdale is still young. Nobody is more innovative or less cynical (he rails against “game management” and time-wasting), nobody more committed to being “proper”, a favoured word. He spends two days a month at the Ted Baker offices, “getting a different perspective and developing myself”, and it is natural to wonder how he would fare with more freedom, more money, less pressure on enduring.

“You ask if it takes a toll but you learn to live with the constant responsibility,” he says. “It becomes a lifestyle. You have to pace yourself, exercise, eat well, see your family and everything else. The only way you can do it is if you have control and a sense of balance. But I also see it as great training for the next step. I’m 45, I’ve had more than 600 games as Exeter manager and I’ve been running a business.

“To manage in the Premier League would be very different, but it will never be as difficult as this. I’ll be responsible for results, but I wouldn’t be accountable for every penny, like I am here. This might be a new beginning for me, which I’d look forward to. It would be nice to step into a role which was technically challenging in a coaching capacity. I see myself as having an affinity with some of the foreign coaches in this country.”

One of those is Arsène Wenger, the only serving manager in the English game to be in situ longer than Tisdale and, like Exeter, Arsenal have been wrestling with the definition of success, with who they are. As always, Tisdale will continue to give all that he is. Could he really leave? Really, truly? “Yeah, absolutely,” he says. “But I’m open-minded. The ball is in the club’s court.” Everything has its own context and everything ends. Even this.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

We can only hope. Nothing confirmed yet, but we're all hoping he'll be gone, especially after that ridiculous article.

Incorrect. I don't want him to leave. I don't think the article is ridiculous either, I find it open and honest which obviously our fans have a problem with.

He's our most successful manager ever, got us to the playoff final last year and has had us in the top 7 for most of this season, yet some fans want him gone? Talk about having an agenda.

 

[Trapdoor]

We served notice on that existing 2 year rolling contract.

We did not serve him notice.

If he is willing to accept a 1 year rolling contract or fixed term 1 year contract then I believe most fans would be OK with that. If he feels that is a bad deal then we will have to look for a new manager in summer. I imagine a 1 year rolling contract is not particularly uncommon in professional football and that if Tisdale leaves we will have a few decent applicants. We pay a pretty good wage for L2 as far as I understand (over 100k p.a. has been reported). But any future manager may have slightly more financial management work to do than at other clubs in addition to coaching work.

 

[Luke Imp]

When you say you served notice on that 2 year rolling one, is that because he's always had a 2 year rolling one and people want it reduced to a 1 year rolling?

Before reading your replies, I had a quick scan on Exeweb and I was a little surprised by some of the posts on there. I'd just assumed that everyone would want him to stay and he was well liked but that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[Luke Imp]

On a side note, they're are some crazy prices around for Friday's game. Accrington 11/5 at Mansfield, Luton over Evens at Colchester, Exeter nearly 4/1 at the Sin Siro, Chesterfield 3/1 at Vale...

 

[Trapdoor]

He originally had a 1 year roller. That was increased to a 2 year rolling deal after we got promoted to L1. We subsequently recognised that if we ever hypothetically wanted to pay off his contract we wouldn't be able to do so within our limited budget. Therefore we wanted to reduce it to a 1 year deal.

 

[Laker]

Yeah the deal doesn’t really work in football. But I like his ethos, he’s done a good job at Exeter. His long-termist attitude is something more clubs and coaches should look to.

 

[GTFCfish]

On a side note, they're are some crazy prices around for Friday's game. Accrington 11/5 at Mansfield, Luton over Evens at Colchester, Exeter nearly 4/1 at the Sin Siro, Chesterfield 3/1 at Vale...

And Stevenage to beat Grimsby at 23/10 is like printing money.

 

[BelizeHatter]

So the club, owned by the fans, offered him a better deal when he got you promoted, he took it and now he should leave because you can't afford it and it's his fault........wow. I suspect you lot will be totally fucked without him having read that and seen how he continually has you challenging.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I’d love Tisdale at Mansfield, the majority of the time we’ve come up against his Exeter sides they’ve played a very nice on the eye style of football and he’s done quite well there.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

So the club, owned by the fans, offered him a better deal when he got you promoted, he took it and now he should leave because you can't afford it and it's his fault........wow. I suspect you lot will be totally fucked without him having read that and seen how he continually has you challenging.

Yep, it's absolute shite. The fans whom supported the motion cite that serving him notice was to get him on a contract on more favourable terms for the club, from the majority that's rubbish. In reality they wanted him to be served notice as we were bottom of the league and they wanted him gone. He turned it around and now it was all about just adjusting his contract. Don't buy it in the slightest.

 

[Luke Imp]

So the club, owned by the fans, offered him a better deal when he got you promoted, he took it and now he should leave because you can't afford it and it's his fault........wow. I suspect you lot will be totally fucked without him having read that and seen how he continually has you challenging.

On the flip side, having been relegated, why should he not revert to the contract pre-promotion? It's alright taking the better contract but you can see it from the other side, too.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

On the flip side, having been relegated, why should he not revert to the contract pre-promotion? It's alright taking the better contract but you can see it from the other side, too.

He actually did take a pay cut once we were relegated. Think around 20% was mentioned by those in the know. He kept the two year rolling contract, however.

 

[Trapdoor]

Don't get me wrong - I am a massive fan of Tisdale and a complete toenailer/tinter, but a 2 year roller was not a good deal for the club. We should never have offered that in retrospect. The 1 year roller was stable enough and in the eventuality that change was required it was affordable.
Put it this way - if I was to be replaced at work I would only get 3 months notice and 1 weeks pay for every year I worked at the company. That's a lot less than the 1 year of pay Tisdale would get (and I earn less than Tisdale despite the fact I generate more revenue than he does for our respective organisations.)

 

[Casey]

Hasn't Kewell done a good job considering what he has?

Yes he has but the reason we have what we have is he had media duties in the summer and wasn't around to oversee recruitment. Our director of football, who was around, came from a marketing background.

He will have media duties again this summer.

Against Cheltenham we played with Bulman, a good defensive midfielder, as a centre back, McNerney, a stopper type centre half, as right back. He does have these brain farts occasionally.

Casey

 

[Chris FGR]

Had a fans forum with Vince, Cooper and Bartlett (head of academy) last night:

Pretty standard fare, these things normally are, rarely do the really difficult qurstions ever get asked but there was some interesting stuff come out of it.

• They admitted mistakes were made/we underestimated the step up/struggled to reruit in the summer but did better in January. We're bringing in an experienced head of recruitment to assist the management and our analytics people in getting transfers done more smoothly. MC will still have the final say though.

• Our finances are looking a lot healthier for this financial year, DV reckons they'll show a profit.

• We'll be putting some cover/seating for away fans on the West Terrace over the summer.

• We'll shortly be starting work on a new training ground and academy facilities on the site of our planned new stadium. Stadium still years away though.

• We're looking to get our academy upgraded to category 3 status.

The rest was just more general club & football stuff about players, tactics, the ambassadors scheme, community stuff etc. DV said he feels vindicated in sticking with MC and expects to do better next year.