....... if you'd said at the beginning of the season that we'd be fighting for the title, I'd have bitten your hand off......
I did, you didn't
To be honest I expected the juvenile reactions to my thoughts before I expressed them. It seems some people have hang ups with regards to the previous regime which I campaigned against from day one and distinguished between certain elements of it with total justification.
Now we have owners to be proud of and I'm as grateful as anyone to have them. My own thoughts on the manager are perhaps tainted from his playing days and I don't buy into him being this untouchable mercurial manager we're so lucky to have. He's lucky to have us. He's also very lucky to have a galvanised support that seems quite forgiving of repeated poor performances riddled with questionable tactics. I fully understand the formation of a squad in such a limited time frame but we're a full time outfit in a league full of part timers and him constantly downplaying expectations is self serving not honest. Our squad is plenty good enough to get out of this division, it remains to be seen if he's the man to lead the way.
All that said, I hope he does succeed, I'm one of the few who have always maintained promotion should be our target.
This full time/ part time thing is a bit of a grey area
Officially we are full time like some other clubs in this division, but I believe we train 2 evenings a week and two mornings and less if we have a midweek match.
and we have players including one of our best players who also have other jobs, the official part time teams seem to match our fitness comfortably
Very impressed so far. Paul appears to have the character and ability to succeed in management.
He's quickly assembled a good squad and makes quick changes in games when things aren't working, providing his hands aren't tied due to fitness/injury like on Saturday where we had to slog out the game.
I think I probably sit somewhere in the SG camp here. Wotton has done an outstanding job with recruitment and team building that has brought stability to the club and I think everyone is delighted that we are challenging and we'd probably all have taken being well in the mix at this stage of the season.
However, I think it is fair to say that the squad does have decent depth now and with Thomas, Young and Morgan as recent additions it also has substantial quality and it doesn't seem to have moved into that different gear that I think it is capable. It's a tough division and I'm not suggesting it should be walk overs, but pretty much every game is a struggle. Wotton has done a great job of first and foremost making us solid at the back and a base to build on, but dare I say it there are almost Southgate vibes about the performances, when especially at home in front of bumper crowds there should be a bit more ambition and control. There are also quite a lot of chopping and changes in midfield and I think Morgan especially is being under utilized - he's clearly a talented player and I'd like him to be seeing getting more of the ball to feet and putting pressure on fullbacks and more ambition of centre mids to get into the box.
Absolutely the right appointment and has already proved why and whatever happens this season is a success, the question is at the moment 'how much of a success'.
CourtierGull wrote: 18 Feb 2025, 15:16
My only possible negative would be that I know a couple lads who have played for woots in the past, and haven’t had the nicest stuff to say about him, however if you aren’t good enough/don’t do stuff right he will let you know about it and as seen with a handful of players already this season, if you aren’t up too it you’ll be gone.
How is that a negative? We can't afford to carry passengers so having a manager who is prepared to castigate any shrinking violets is what we need.
Remember nice guys don't win anything.
I like the job done so far, I think from where we started from to be in the position we are is slightly above where I expected us to be. Wotton clearly came in to set us up tough to beat and prioritised those types of player to build his squad, alongside who was available.
Since the start of the season we have been able to add higher quality attacking options - Young, Morgan and Jay are all significant upgrades on the initial options available - and been able to move on some of the players who probably weren't his first choices.
He has shown adaptation to switch the formation and tactics from a back 5 to a back 4. Whilst I think it has improved us slightly going forward, I do think we should be getting more out of the options available. I will allow some time for this to click given the nature of our starting postition and those players being added mid season. I am expecting improvement in performances next season with a full pre-season, regardless of which league we may be in.
The comment above comparing to Southgate may prove to be a spot on analogy.
Abbotgull wrote: 20 Feb 2025, 17:29
How is that a negative? We can't afford to carry passengers so having a manager who is prepared to castigate any shrinking violets is what we need.
Remember nice guys don't win anything.
It is definitely a negative if that is the only management style and it causes fallouts with players in the squad.
I agree that there is a time and a place for that management style, but there also needs recognition that sometimes an arm around the shoulder is the better option. Every player is different, and the best managers will recognise that they need to adapt to each player and situation accordingly, not a one size fits all approach.
Being full-time/ part-time isn't working. Mentality of the team to concentrate for up to 100 minutes isn't there. The squad needs to practice together each day. Build up fitness and play organisation. Then Torquay United might see the game out.
jamestee67 wrote: 01 Mar 2025, 21:46
Being full-time/ part-time isn't working. Mentality of the team to concentrate for up to 100 minutes isn't there. The squad needs to practice together each day. Build up fitness and play organisation. Then Torquay United might see the game out.
Even premier league teams do not practice each day, they have recovery days and down days and mid week sun breaks , I do not think its the hybrid working that is the issue. There are several within our squad that could not cope with the physical demands of more training and besides pro footballers either have it or they do not. We also have several players that with a bigger squad would have been rested for the remainder of the season but are playing each week sub par out of neccessity.
Is this debate still rumbling on. Certainly less chatter after two wins! Two or three players short this year, our team is better now than at the beginning of the season.
numpte wrote: 11 Mar 2025, 12:45
Is this debate still rumbling on. Certainly less chatter after two wins! Two or three players short this year, our team is better now than at the beginning of the season.
Yes, it is still 'rumbling on'. As I previously said, this is nothing to do with slating the manager if we don't get promoted, more of a sounding out of poster's thoughts, so in that respect there's no time restriction on it.
Less chatter as views have already been aired; two wins don't really affect an overall impression.
