magicstag wrote:Most of the reactions on here, remind of how
Much tv as changed football.
Everyone thinks every player can do what the
So called superstars do .
I think we have under achieved. During the last 30 years our highest finishing position is 67th or 2nd bottom of the third tier. Name any other club who has been in the top four tiers for 10 seasons who can't beat us. Most teams have had their time in the sun at top league 1 level and some even reached the Championship like Burton, colchester, Rotherham, scunthorpe, Cambridge, grimsby, Shrewsbury. Hartlepool even reached a league 1 playoff final.Torrystag wrote:Really dont think stags are an under achieving club ,we have been through some terrible times but as a club and as a town we are really not doing to bad ,ok now with our owners we could be doing better ,but its all about evolution not revolution ,which hopefully we may see through our dealings ,in the current climate we are lucky to have cloughie as our boss and sharpe as the ceo its not going to be a barnstorming climb up the leagues ,but hopefully an ongoing improvement in our fortunes ,heres hoping
Sneag wrote:As this MB lurches from euphoric to depressed from game to game, sometimes from minute to minute during games. I find myself wondering what goes through the heads of your average football fan.
There seems to be a general expectation from football fans that their players be absolutely infallable week in week out. And ro my way of thinking this is totally unfair and borderline insane.
Can you imagine if in your own job you were held to the same standards that we expect of the players/management/staff of this club? Every single day you will be expected to be 100% on your 'A'' game, any slippage to 95% will be would lead to a bunch of people you don't know abusing you in terms that would make a Gunnery Sgt Major blush. Slip to 90% the same people will be demanding you are fired?
Before anyone hollers hypocrite I'm not exempting myself from criticism here, I've been just as bad at times. But it seems to me lately that the levels of criticism of players has reached a pitch I don't think I've seen before. Maybe it's a hangover from the failed 'project promotion' I dunno. But I do think it's rendered all Stags social media platforms very toxic environments, that seem completely divorced from the reality of supporting a tier 4 side.
We have limited resources, so our pitch isn't a retractable billiard table with an army of groundstaff.
Our bars are small, the choice in food kiosks limited because the club has no margin for wasteage.
We get unproven managers or managers that just got sacked. We don't get Pep or Jose, we don't even get Sam Alardarse. We have got Clough & probably for the first time since Ian Greaves a manager with a decent pedigree. Newsflash for those expecting instant success, it took IG a couple of seasons, he did it on a budget & it wasn't always pretty to watch. For me as long as NC improves us each season & doesn't spout raspberrys from the 'Big Bumper Book of Management Cliches' in quite content.
Our players are playing at this level for a reason, they will always have flaws to their games, we'll have keepers that drop crosses, get beat at the near post, shank clearances into touch etc.
We will have defenders who will sometimes get done for pace, get caught out of position, switch off occassionally.
We will have midfielders who will pick up stupid second yellows, or sometimes lose the battle, fail to beat the first man with a set peice.
We will have strikers who will fluff one on ones, miss sitters or have no grasp of the offside rule.
All these thing will happen and they are all things that would try the patience of Job. But are we really being fair?
I'm getting close to half a century as a Stags fan & in that time I've seen 3 outstanding sides and two grindingly efficient sides.
Oustanding:
Dave Smith's team is about as flawless as I've ever seen.
Peter Morris's team although one of the best managed to go 5 games without a win at the business end of the season, including 3 defeats. Stagsnet would have exploded, Morris doesn't know what he's doing, Randall, Moss ex Spireites, Arnold too short, Pate past it etc etc you know the drill.
Dearden/Watkiss promotion side. Great football but could defend for raspberries. Easy to forget some of the battering we got on the run in. No doubt that side was written off on Stagsnet, I can't remember I was mostly drunk.
Efficient
Greaves's teams. Dull as raspberry but the won games. Probably would keep our fans happy though. As someone said the other day in modern football Greaves would have been sacked before we got out of Div 4.
Cox's honest boys. Great to watch when you win, & the perfect means to an end. But ugly as raspberry when plan A fails.
What I'm rambling on about is the fact that they were some of the best sides in our history & 74/75 apart, they all had flaws, players made errors, managers made errors & the pies were still over cooked. Yet our mentality now as fans is to hold the current set of players to a higher standard than those great teams. It's madness.
This season is a write off, unless we lose the next 12 or win the next 12 which we won't. So maybe the mass hysteria when a 4th division player in a struggling side makes a mistake is all a little bit ridiculous.
Try to enjoy the season, see you all in August.
Gazmoose82 wrote:
Excellent well thought out post mate!... And im aware that i myself am guilty of this on many occasions
But also i believe you have missed one big factor in expectations off your list...the cost of football these days.
Im told (on many occasions) about the stags glory years by my dad everytime we go to the match he always goes on about how he could catch the train... Have about 10 pints & dinner.. And watch the match for under £10! Therefore (so he tells me) most people were happy even if dross was served up.
Lets be honest for an away day nowadays its the best part of £100 and about £50 for a home game all in... Your gunna be expecting more return for your big outlay right???!
Also the devils work that is social media has alot to answer for.
magicstag wrote:Most of the reactions on here, remind of how
Much tv as changed football.
Everyone thinks every player can do what the
So called superstars do .
PaulG wrote:My first match at Field Mill was on 29th April 1963, and I've been a season-ticket holder since 1973. You have to learn to be philosophical as a Stags fan of nearly 60 years! But you also have to work out exactly what it is gives you the most pleasure, and what the limits of your expectations should be (because if your expectations are unlimited, you are doomed to frustration; we'll never win the Premier League!). I was at every match of the '68-'69 cup run, and again the following year when we lost at Elland Rd. I was there, home and away, throughout the promotions of the 1970's, and the dire years of the early 80's (easily the most depressing few years, Conference notwithstanding), and at Wembley in May '87 (and again, less happily, a few years ago). But the team that warmed the cockles more than any other was the one containing six or seven players who'd come up through the youth team; the team of Bobby Hassell, Craig Disley, David Jervis, Liam Lawrence, Lee Williamson and Alistair Asher, who all came through together. Because that's the club we need to be. We need to find hidden gems, polish them up and send them on their way, to make way for the next lot. Where's the merit in buying your way to trophies? That just means you've got more money than the next club. So what? The term marquee, or statement, signing fills me with dread. The emergence of one or two of our youngsters, on the other hand, is, for me, the point of it all.
Good post awc.arsene wengers coat wrote:The expectation of the chairman and owner is that we should be a L1 club by now.
The reality is that he has pumped money in to managers, staff, players, facilities, academy, stadium etc... The list goes on.
While ever the reality is that we are a L2 club, JR has failed to meet his own expectations of what his return on investment deserves. This will hurt him.
A few bad decisions along the way we can put down to experience, but expectation has to be promotion, and we need to be patient while reality catches up as the bad decisions he made set us back. No one should lower their expectations and be happy or content with flirting with relegation in the bottom league.
I'd rather be around people with aspirations of betterment and progress than be around people who are happy with the status quo.
Return to Stagsnet Main Discussion Forum
Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Chris M, Leigh5t, stag324 and 42 guests