Having had and actively sounded my misgivings on the debacle to date its time to look forward and wish Kevin and his team all the best and welcome them to Crawley. No more negativity from me for now as we need to get behind the team and move forward.
Thad's been entertaining me for a week or so but its time to give the guys a chance.
I even just heard I won a competition to get some luxury popcorn - is it an omen I ask!!!??
I have no issue whatsoever with the Manager (if indeed we have one) But someone has been (by accident or design) less than truthful... why should they not have to be answerable for it...?
By coincidence, I genuinely got a news alert a few hours back, stating: "Close allies concede that Johnson cannot be trusted"
Not a complete transcript but for anyone that did not listen to the Twitter announcement here are the notes I took:
50 applications, 12 interviewed. Style of play key decision factor no long ball. How the manager would incorporate data and analysis. Wanted analytically driven and open to use of Twitter (interviews?); discussed how they evaluate payers and discussed the B team (sounds like the manager will also play a key role here) discussed player development because of success KB had was mentioned. Collaboration was key with WAGMI, scouts etc. Said with data its not down to one person to interpret and said scouting has an input. Refers to in USA manager recruiting and head coach and that it’s a lot for one person (Then makes it very clear the vision is SEPERATE roles and KB is the head coach day to day with his assistant Dan. That was crucial (this collaboration thingy pops up again). KB stood out because he was methodical, details and nuanced on everything. then goes on to say playing out of the back possession style football. Talks about KB developing younger players to fit in. LOL “see if your wife is in a better place” (you need to appreciate the voice to text was trying to add ‘wifi’ not wife but hey it’s a good laugh all round so a bonus LOL). Um biggest benchmark more goals for than against (shows arguably a lack of appreciation that teams that do on achieve that can still finish the season higher than teams that do achieve that). SEASON TICKET NEWS IN NEXT 24 to 48 HOURS. PRE-SEASON calender confirmed later this week. Questions: Delay announcing manager two-fold, one Queen celebrations, two, announce Dan as assistant at same time. Later was the main reason. Questions how much reign will KB have with the general manager over player recruitment and development? Reply was collaborative key also with players part of collaboration, group effort, wisdom of crowd! Says will lean on KB. Last questions references Tony Bloom and WAGMI and betting – make of that what you will! Stuff about growing Crawley as a brand.
[ I have highlighted a few thins that stood out for me, anyway I'm interested what the forum's thoughts are on all this?]
Here are my thoughts: Football is played on grass not paper and you can shove your data ... Playing this possession football and out from the back WILL NOT WORK AT LEAGUE 2 WITH CRAWLEY you are not working with top u16 players and future top 6 PL players Betsy! Seriously why not apologise for the delay because of the Queen's celebrations.
Last Edit: Jun 6, 2022 22:50:24 GMT by peespottage
I, too, have concerns with no long ball, especially at L2 level. Even if wanting to play out from the back, there is always a place for long passes when the situation is right for it.
I, too, have concerns with no long ball, especially at L2 level. Even if wanting to play out from the back, there is always a place for long passes when the situation is right for it.
I think we were too reliant on the ball over the top for Ashley but you can also argue we played to the team's strengths in that respect. have watched a lot of Brighton last season too and one of the frustrations there is lots of stats of possession but even when they advance to the final third sideways passes and lack of penetration resulting on goal-scoring opportunities and a cat and mouse game of teams matching each other isnt always the most attractive to watch even at the top level. Brighton also play the ball around a lot at the back and I cannot tell you how often they get lucky that they do not mess up overplaying it (sound familiar to not too distant Crawley days of these tactics?). Early days, lets see but I have some concerns here.
Blimey - there has been a lot of stats & percentages flying about - C57away must be delighted - and it all boils down to the Moneyball approach... fine, but it is all a spot condescending & unnecessary.
I am not sure that WAGMI are fully aware, that most Crawley Town fans don't need any education in analytics, sabermetrics or metadata... cos we have actually seen it in action, for ourselves, on the field of play... a decade ago.
I have had my share of run-in's with HKP & Evans... but one put up the cash & the other could spot a decent player - okay, not always, but if they didn't work out he would move them on & try again - and basically we bought in players with a skill set that meant they were capable of performing at a higher level.
It did not come cheap... in our last season in the Conference we outspent everyone - famously more than the combined transfer total for all of league two - and the following season we went (just) straight to league 1. We also had financial windfalls with FA Cup runs to the 5th round in both seasons.
So we already know how it works... and we also know that you then need to at least sustain that level of expenditure to get higher than mid-table in League 1, which previously we were unable to do...!
It is at that point that the real Game-changer will become whether WAGMI's income channels, based on their ability to promote a parallel global "WAGMI Utd" brand with NFT's & incentives, can substantially increase the funding beyond our traditional income... and whether their spreadsheets can spot small factors that give us marginal advantages... which we are about to find out...(?)
But honestly chaps, you may have the advantage in Baseball, Ice-Hockey, Basketball & NFL... but when it comes to good old UK "Sawkah", please don't waste your efforts teaching granny how to suck eggs...!
I, too, have concerns with no long ball, especially at L2 level. Even if wanting to play out from the back, there is always a place for long passes when the situation is right for it.
Yes i agree with you as long as its a pass and not along ball punt .
I, too, have concerns with no long ball, especially at L2 level. Even if wanting to play out from the back, there is always a place for long passes when the situation is right for it.
Yes i agree with you as long as its a pass and not along ball punt .
Agreed, though even a last-ditch aimless punt has its place if clinging on very late in a game.
Sounds like its a rerun of the Kewell rain how many times did we play around at the back and the opposition pressed up and we lost the ball and the result was 1-0 to them.
I can't believe there is so much negativity toward the guy. He hasn't even started with us yet, but already we have the usual moaning and predictions of doom. Has the season started yet? Give the guy a f***ing chance! He's a highly respected and talented coach from Premier League Arsenal for god's sake. He's going to be a decent coach, able to get the best out of players whether they are raw kids, L2 journeymen or elite level U-23s.
We have no idea what style of play we will have, what tactics he will use, what formations he will prefer. No clue which players will be in the starting XI, what new signings will come in. Yet people on here have written us off already. Every season the bookmakers have us as favourites for relegation, and we all get rightly annoyed at that. But reading some of the comments on this thread, seems some of you are in agreement.
I know he is our fifth rookie manager in a row, but we haven't been relegated back to non-league under any of the previous four, and I don't think its going to happen under Betsy.
Sounds like its a rerun of the Kewell rain how many times did we play around at the back and the opposition pressed up and we lost the ball and the result was 1-0 to them.
The funny thing is Kewell afterwards admitted that he wanted to play this way but the players just couldn’t execute at the level he wanted them to! Who could have guessed at league 2 level…
Sounds like its a rerun of the Kewell rain how many times did we play around at the back and the opposition pressed up and we lost the ball and the result was 1-0 to them.
The funny thing is Kewell afterwards admitted that he wanted to play this way but the players just couldn’t execute at the level he wanted them to! Who could have guessed at league 2 level…
There is a revealing interview with the Old Bighead from December, it is only a 5 minute video...
...but from the get-go the Jolly Swagman tells us that it wasn't his coaching to blame & he wouldn't change a thing... ...no cobber... it was the "unprofessional" clubs that are to blame...
"I have been at four clubs, ONE WAS GOOD", wonder if that was also the only club that never actually sacked him...(?)
The funny thing is Kewell afterwards admitted that he wanted to play this way but the players just couldn’t execute at the level he wanted them to! Who could have guessed at league 2 level…
There is a revealing interview with the Old Bighead from December, it is only a 5 minute video...
...but from the get-go the Jolly Swagman tells us that it wasn't his coaching to blame & he wouldn't change a thing... ...no cobber... it was the "unprofessional" clubs that are to blame...
"I have been at four clubs, ONE WAS GOOD", wonder if that was also the only club that never actually sacked him...(?)
That says it all Thad😂 it wasn’t my coaching it was the players and clubs!!!