THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

From WellDon's Meltdown thread... this is pure specualtion but just to throw it in the mix...

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

He does seem to be being allowed to jettison Lewington without much comment, which is surprising. I know he's now close to 40, but any fan on here who mentions that has soon been shut down with the whole 'every year we have this about Lewington's age / lack of pace!' Yet Williamson is omitting Lewington even when it means playing midfielders (struggling) at CB or LB instead, and not receiving much criticism about it. Not saying that's a bad thing. Just surprising.

Might be true. Though WellDon's meltdown also initially came to the conclusion that Williamson was picking him because he was 'his signing', and that he wanted to give him another chance to come good. Which also might be true. And which is not a clever way to manage team selection. And I'd be fuming at MW if that's true. Shit decision either way, whoever made it. As was signing him in the first place - which is definitely on MW.

I was thinking yesterday how much the situation reminded of Shaun Cummings. That got to a really toxic point eventually. I can't remember the away game, but he was pretty much being booed by our own fans, with a lot of 'F-off back to Chelsea' shouts. He ended up having a run in the Championship with Reading and Millwall, although finished his career with just 172 games.

I can't remember what alternative players we had at the time, but I still struggle to believe the club would put themselves in a position where there would be significant financial implication for not playing a player.

I don't doubt that that we pay a percentage of Marschall's wages, which may be higher if he doesn't feature (or the other way round) but surely not enough to jeopardise the success of the club?

Even if there is a clause like that in the loan contract (there are similar with PL clubs where they loan a player for free if he plays X number of games but there is a fee if they play less), the decision to bring him in is on MW. Blaming Sweeting/Winkie/etc is placing it at the wrong doorstep imo.
It's 100% on MW and we can only hope that Kelly comes back in to the team against FGR on Saturday . Unfortunately, most managers do seem very stubborn and will keep with their original decision even when everyone else in the world can see that it is the wrong one. Like a one man crusade to prove that they know better.

I'd hate to wish an injury on anyone but it might be best for everyone here. Not going to do FM any good with the crowd on his back every week and his own defenders not wanting to pass back to him. The players defying their manager and keeping the ball away from his feet is the only way we'll go up in the play offs imo. Bring Kelly back and we have a far, far better chance.

Disgraceful. No place for that sort of thing on here.
Now then, where's the paracetamol?

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

[/quote]
Might be true. Though WellDon's meltdown also initially came to the conclusion that Williamson was picking him because he was 'his signing', and that he wanted to give him another chance to come good. Which also might be true. And which is not a clever way to manage team selection. And I'd be fuming at MW if that's true. Shit decision either way, whoever made it. As was signing him in the first place - which is definitely on MW.[/quote]

I was thinking yesterday how much the situation reminded of Shaun Cummings. That got to a really toxic point eventually. I can't remember the away game, but he was pretty much being booed by our own fans, with a lot of 'F-off back to Chelsea' shouts. He ended up having a run in the Championship with Reading and Millwall, although finished his career with just 172 games.

I can't remember what alternative players we had at the time, but I still struggle to believe the club would put themselves in a position where there would be significant financial implication for not playing a player.

I don't doubt that that we pay a percentage of Marschall's wages, which may be higher if he doesn't feature (or the other way round) but surely not enough to jeopardise the success of the club?[/quote]

A quick Google tells me that we'd earn an extra £200k from the EFL (on average) for being in L1 rather than L2. We averaged about 2k more home fans in L1 last season which could be approx. £15 average per person (£690k over a season).

Even if we pay all of FM's £4.3k wages per week and a small loan fee, that comes to around £100k.

We are risking almost £900k to save £100k. Imagine doing that at work and keeping your job!

The biggest surprise for me is that anyone is surprised that Marschall started yesterday. I was shocked that he didnt start against Walsall.

Its seem pretty obvious to me that Marschall is MWs first choice. Whether thats by his own unhindered decision making or has external factors influencing him I dont know but either way, the pick seemed inevitable to me. Im much less certain who will play in goal against FGR. Everything but everything says it should be Kelly but with only 4 games left and hopefully a playoff campaign, I can totally see MW sticking with Marschall and hoping he can find some form.

The easy ride that MW is getting over not picking Lewington is I believe because most of the fans can see the decline. A near 40 year old, returning from one of if not the worst, then the longest injury lay offs of his career, to be kind he is at least a stone overweight probably more and when he did get back in the team, his form became poor and several bad mistakes were made.

I understand the love a huge proportion of the fanbase have for him and how difficult it will be when he has to hang up his boots but his career is very close to the end now and I would rather he were to finish at a relative high rather than plod on and finish a fantastic career with journeyman performances.

Agree about the realisation that Lewie is finally on the decline to an end. He's always bounced back to form relatively quickly but hasn't been great since coming back. He could still get there as he seems to defy his own age most of the time but has slipped behind Harvie in the pecking order. MW seems to like playing ex-full/wing backs as CB anyway which isn't helping Lewie.
If we do go up, playing in L1 might be the final straw for Lewie's playing days

He is out of contract in June. He has beaten the record for more appearences which is what I would have wanted him to do but let's be honest, 1 we can't rely on him forever. 2. He is not the man he once was and has been liable for some howlers this season. It's time for him to call it a day and I hope he gets a fucking good send off and a statue outside the club shop. The man will always be a legend and will always be welcome at the club I am sure of it