THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Absolutely.

I believe you can only state that the current crop were more experienced in being involved in relegation threatened teams and true to form, it's want plannd out and with the unpredictability of unexperienced players it turned into a disaster. The issue with continuely losing best players and replacing them with relatively untested players is the variation in outcome. The club got away with it for a few seasons but playing Russian roulette with recruitment isn't goong to work in the long terms. Similary not a changing a team will have the same result in the end.

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Disclaimer: All my comments are my opinions unless stated otherwise. I'm just a fan following my club.

Grigg and Johnson the two experienced players had a lot of success at this level, Robson (3rd and 3rd), Holland (4th and 8th) and Kayode (2nd) were involved in largely winning teams. It was only Lawrence and Tucker (who spent 2 of his 3 seasons in the top half) that came from relegated sides. Just like Twine did, or to an extent Cumming was on his way to doing the previous January and how Watson played 24 of his 27 games in L1 for a struggling team. So I'm not sure if that argument stands up that well.

But got to agree with the rest of it. Not everyone will turn out well but that is true for somebody experienced from a higher level, a proven track record at L1 level or a youngster from the league below. Every signing will always carry a risk - sadly as you say it was a disaster this summer.

What concerns me the most was the inconsistency of the transfer approach in the summer and how tactically ill-disciplined we started the season. Now the injuries will have played a part, I can also imagine after our successful previous 18 months of recruitment some agents may have used our interest to offer players to other clubs where they can earn more. From apparently recruiting for a 4-2-3-1 yet only signing two actual wingers in Burns and Holland, to formally bidding for Bishop then not targeting a striker with similar attributes, to seeing how lost we looked on the pitch at Cambridge with players such as Johnson so happy to just punt the ball forward or Tucker looking like he'd never had a football near him before. I actually really don't know if we had a true on field strategy entering this season - a far cry from what Russ has introduced.

Alright, I've not told the truth until now. It's not Sweeting or Tucker or whoever but.....most of the players are very keen amateur ornithologists and that sparrowhawk pair regularly tearing Pigeon's to pieces during home games upset them. That's why our away form was (ahem) 'so much better'.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment