Wise words from Murray Toms

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/fa ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Nesty]

has he seen March fixtures ??

[Nesty]

Mayor Vaughn: And what did you say the name of this shark is?
Hopper: It's a Carcharodon carcharias. It's a great white.
Mayor Vaughn: And you don't have the tooth? Look, we depend on the summer people here for our very lives-
Hopper: You're not gonna have a summer unless you deal with this problem!
Chief Brody: We're not only going to have to close the beach, we're going to have to hire somebody to kill the shark! I mean we're going to have to tell the Coast Guard!
Hopper: Mr. Vaughn, you'll have to contact the Shark Research Panel. You'll have to ring this entire harbor!
Mayor Vaughn: I don't think either one of you are familiar with our problems!
Hopper: I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you IN THE ASS!

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

What is your solution to the current situation then Nesty? How would you deal with the shark?

[confused.com]

What is your solution to the current situation then Nesty? How would you deal with the shark?

RCS - surely that is just a very lazy argument to make. This is like taking your car to a mechanic and when you get it back it still doesnt run well. However when you bring it back, he asks you how would you fix it?
Fixing it is one man's job and one man's job only. I dont need to be a vet to recognise a lame horse, how to cure it, I havent a clue.

If I had a penny for every time I have heard .... too good to go down, I would have retired by now. the simple truth is, as the the article says, we are just not good enough and are in a relegation battle. If one of the plus points for your good self is seeing 'stoz' play in the league, then I am sorry, I would rather all 11 thought him a complete bar steward for releasing them in the summer and we have at least 15 more points in the bag.

Hope we do survive, but am I the only one saddened that I am just as preoccupied every saturday wondering how the other relegation candidates are doing, as I am with our own game ?

IMHO we need to play a strong midfield with our best players in their best positions, to protect the back 4 and particularly try and stop the amount of crosses coming in, as we need to face facts SB coming off his line to collect crosses was always rare and still seems to be.
Play 2 up front to keep the opposition honest at least.

[Johnsons Red Army]

To all the panickers:

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/eng ... relegation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/2 for relegation.

At the risk of putting words in his mouth, I, like RCS, wouldn't be taking 1000/1 if it were on offer as I don't think we are going down. There are just too many teams worse than us for us to drop.

But for those that are adamant we are going down (which appears to be quite a few judging by this forum any time we don't get 3 points) my advice would be to put your money where your mouth is and clean up with the 11/2 on offer as surely that is a MASSIVE price in your eyes? Surely we should be 1/100 or worse?

[confused.com]

To all the panickers:

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/eng ... relegation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

11/2 for relegation.

At the risk of putting words in his mouth, I, like RCS, wouldn't be taking 1000/1 if it were on offer as I don't think we are going down. There are just too many teams worse than us for us to drop.

But for those that are adamant we are going down (which appears to be quite a few judging by this forum any time we don't get 3 points) my advice would be to put your money where your mouth is and clean up with the 11/2 on offer as surely that is a MASSIVE price in your eyes? Surely we should be 1/100 or worse?

Oh do come on!!!! is that really the best you can put forward ???? Some of us seem to be in a camp where we believe there is a POSSIBILITY we could go down. Then there is the other camp that you belong in that these is no chance of us going down.
To follow up your puerile argument, maybe you will post the betting slip with your hundreds laying us to stay up? because according to you, it is a done deal

[Johnsons Red Army]

No need for bet slips when you have my post from Monday February 13th time stamped.

[Nesty]

not panicking - nor have a solution

[Nesty]

just surprised some people refuse to accept it as a possibility

[Johnsons Red Army]

Of course it is a possibility...so is the playoffs at this stage (until mathematically eliminated), however that doesn't mean we are going to make them...

[Robin]

We do not resemble a team heading for the drop, at least since the new players came in it's the mess we go in from October/December that has us looking over our shoulders. The first half against Notts was really poor performance especially given the low quality of opposition but I never once thought well that's us going down because on that evidence we will pick up more points than Newport and Notts County, probably Hartlepool and Accrington too over the remainder of the season - I feel Orient will definitely go given the turmoil there.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

It is a possibility of course. Does not mean I think it will happen. It won't in my opinion.

Confused, I will rephrase my question to Nesty, as I was not meaning it in the lazy way you interpret.

It is clear there are two options for the Board and Fans in order to stay up.

1) Stick with Gary and support him and the team without negativity and with unity.

2) Replace Gary and support the new manager and the team without negativity and with unity.

A third option exists for fans but would be most likely to make things worse and not better: 3) spend the rest of the season spreading negativity and making the players more tense and nervous.

I personally believe in 1). Some may prefer 2), which is fine and valid.

For me, anyone who takes up option three and knowingly harms the team is not a supporter of CTFC and should stay away.

My question to Nesty is does he think the answer is to back the manager and encourage the team, or sack the manager and encourage the team?

[I-Love-CTFC]

I'm sure the majority would like to back Gary but it gets harder when you watch performances like Saturday's. Tactically poor and negative against a fellow relegation rival. The continuous dropping of Barthram baffles me, I think him and Davis should play wing back. Also our top scorer sitting on the bench. I hope we are up for the fight tomorrow evening or it could be a long night.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I'm sure the majority would like to back Gary but it gets harder when you watch performances like Saturday's. Tactically poor and negative against a fellow relegation rival. The continuous dropping of Barthram baffles me, I think him and Davis should play wing back. Also our top scorer sitting on the bench. I hope we are up for the fight tomorrow evening or it could be a long night.

Doesn't matter how hard it is to back Gary; the players will benefit from united and positive support no matter what. Fans may be baffled by Barthram, but getting angry and negative at games, or creating a hostile atmosphere on social media won't help. Nor will abusing and criticising individual players.

The match day squad and players on the pitch need encouraging support each game, no matter who the starting eleven are. Anything less than that and I would say the negative fans are more likely to cause relegation than survival, and I and others would be on the players' side aiming for safety. And a divided fan base helps no one.

[Reliant Robin]

For the sake of our season, our Football League status, The Club and most definitely the Players and Management, we all need to stick together. We must not even contemplate changing our Management at this stage of the season, either.

Notts County on Saturday, with that Club having the worst defensive record in League 2 and in some people's eyes a near certainty to go down, and what happened? Their fans got right behind their team and helped them get over the line against us. We have to keep believing, as the Notts County fans are doing with their side. All this 'woe is me, I must face the relegation reality' will do us no good whatsoever. We have to keep believing.

[horlickfanclub]

Notts County have been given belief by a new Manager and owner.

[I-Love-CTFC]

They also had a very good ticket offer for their supporters for Saturday's game. 'Be our 12th man for £12' and it worked for them.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

They also had a very good ticket offer for their supporters for Saturday's game. 'Be our 12th man for £12' and it worked for them.

We could try the same although the danger is we just get twice as many groaners and boo-boys in which will make the players play worse.

[Del Boy]

Ah the old you can't criticise Golden Gary - if you do you are obviously a traitor. We may have only won six games but how great it was to win those six? We should be eternally grateful.

Funny how when we were making the play-offs a few years ago the rules were different and it was fair game to stick the knife into the manager and players because they failed to get promoted. Funny old world.

I'm fairly confident we will avoid relegation but that shouldn't disguise what a dreadful season this has been. Hopefully we can have a mass clear out in the summer and the manager can prove he's up to the job. Because at the moment there isn't many I would keep. Oops - more negativity. I meant to say we should put all players on five-year contracts and back them every week cheering and clapping another dire performance.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Ah the old you can't criticise Golden Gary - if you do you are obviously a traitor.

Incorrect - you will see above I explicitly said above it is fine and valid for fans to want Gary sacked, so no one is saying he is golden.

The simple thing is this: encouraging, united and positive support helps players, whilst divided, hostile and negative support does not help them. Then as you say, if come the end of the season we clear the lot out and rebuild, then so be it. But the transfer window is now closed, so at this stage doing the best we can to support the existing squad is the best option.

Regardless of who the manager is and despite the awful season so far, the club needs a positive and unified atmosphere. Why any fan would think otherwise is beyond me.

[confused.com]

Probably fair comment RCS, it is what it is. Just needs a sense of realism as well as unification. We are in a dog fight, some refuse to believe that or admit that. But with any luck we will pull through. Lost track of your how many wins to be safe. Just aware we haven't reduced it by too much

[Reliant Robin]

...

Funny how when we were making the play-offs a few years ago the rules were different and it was fair game to stick the knife into the manager and players because they failed to get promoted. Funny old world.

I was one of Mark Yates' staunchest supporters right the way through his time here. If you can find one past post of mine which can be verified (not doctored in any way) where I got the knife in to Mark Yates or any of his Players, I will retire from this Forum, never to return.

...
I'm fairly confident we will avoid relegation but that shouldn't disguise what a dreadful season this has been....

That's positive enough for me. We all need to be confident we will avoid relegation. However, I don't think anyone is saying that this has not been a dreadful season - it's now about consolidating and getting sufficient points to ensure we stay up. For me that will represent a successful enough end to the season.

[Ralph]

Notts County have been given belief by a new Manager and owner.

That's good Who do you have lined up then?

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Probably fair comment RCS, it is what it is. Just needs a sense of realism as well as unification. We are in a dog fight, some refuse to believe that or admit that. But with any luck we will pull through. Lost track of your how many wins to be safe. Just aware we haven't reduced it by too much

Will bring you up to speed after tomorrow's victory!

I agree. Realism is needed. And currently we are more points above the bottom two and closer to some above than we were in early Jan. A team who are third or fourth bottom will always be inconsistent, else they would not be down there. This is why I avoid knee-jerking in a different direction each week. Regardless of the dire show at N. County, over the medium/long term I am confident of survival. The general trend compared to when we starting to become adrift at the bottom is up. Of course there will be defeats and dips week to week but there is no reason why the trend won't continue in my view.

[Malabus]

Who was that Iraqi spokesman who was being interviewed on live TV and said "there is no USA attack of Baghdad" when an American tank drove behind him.

[asl]

Comical Ali. He was fantastic value for money.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Comical Ali. He was fantastic value for money.

Used to love dual screening during that liberation..Comical Ali live on one screen, and the liberating Allies blasting through the Imperial Guard on the other. Up there with the night vision shots of the Nato airstrikes In Kosovo in terms of viewing visuals. Will never forget the latter - the night of one of the epic Liverpool vs Newcastle 4-3s, and 5Live sport was interrupted to report on affairs in the Balkans.

[Nesty]

Probably fair comment RCS, it is what it is. Just needs a sense of realism as well as unification. We are in a dog fight, some refuse to believe that or admit that. But with any luck we will pull through. Lost track of your how many wins to be safe. Just aware we haven't reduced it by too much

Will bring you up to speed after tomorrow's victory!

I agree. Realism is needed. And currently we are more points above the bottom two and closer to some above than we were in early Jan. A team who are third or fourth bottom will always be inconsistent, else they would not be down there. This is why I avoid knee-jerking in a different direction each week. Regardless of the dire show at N. County, over the medium/long term I am confident of survival. The general trend compared to when we starting to become adrift at the bottom is up. Of course there will be defeats and dips week to week but there is no reason why the trend won't continue in my view.

I agree - realism is needed, and realism is all I seek

[Nesty]

Who was that Iraqi spokesman who was being interviewed on live TV and said "there is no USA attack of Baghdad" when an American tank drove behind him.

akin to the captain if the titanic saying "what iceberg"

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Probably fair comment RCS, it is what it is. Just needs a sense of realism as well as unification. We are in a dog fight, some refuse to believe that or admit that. But with any luck we will pull through. Lost track of your how many wins to be safe. Just aware we haven't reduced it by too much

Will bring you up to speed after tomorrow's victory!

I agree. Realism is needed. And currently we are more points above the bottom two and closer to some above than we were in early Jan. A team who are third or fourth bottom will always be inconsistent, else they would not be down there. This is why I avoid knee-jerking in a different direction each week. Regardless of the dire show at N. County, over the medium/long term I am confident of survival. The general trend compared to when we starting to become adrift at the bottom is up. Of course there will be defeats and dips week to week but there is no reason why the trend won't continue in my view.

I agree - realism is needed, and realism is all I seek

And being realist, things have been improving since January and players do better when the fans are united and getting behind them.

Not sure there is much more to it than that.

[Robin]

Ah the old you can't criticise Golden Gary - if you do you are obviously a traitor. We may have only won six games but how great it was to win those six? We should be eternally grateful.

Funny how when we were making the play-offs a few years ago the rules were different and it was fair game to stick the knife into the manager and players because they failed to get promoted. Funny old world.

I'm fairly confident we will avoid relegation but that shouldn't disguise what a dreadful season this has been. Hopefully we can have a mass clear out in the summer and the manager can prove he's up to the job. Because at the moment there isn't many I would keep. Oops - more negativity. I meant to say we should put all players on five-year contracts and back them every week cheering and clapping another dire performance.

I don't see anyone suggesting this season hasn't been anything but a poor one, we have hugely underachieved largely down to poor summer recruitment but at times GJ has also got it wrong. I want to see this club back in league one and expect a top half finish next season to show we are moving in the right direction, that is surely realistic even with a mid-table budget.

[Nham68]

Does Murray want to edit his story ?

[Chinnamasta]

The joking around should cease. We are in a serious situation, it's happening all over again, see the same mistakes.