" Horrendous, Dreadful, Shambolic "

Just three of the adjectives I often read that are used to describe the situation when Slade took the reigns at Cardiff.

Sorry but he took over Cardiff not Blackpool. We have the best keeper in the league, several players who 15 months before he arrived were champions of this league, a striker on 37k a week who had played in the Premier League all of his career and been transferred for several millions of pound on more than one occasion, and we had also just spent around 15m in the transfer market including 5m on a centre half from the Ligue 1.

If thats 'horrendous' and 'dreadful' then I dont think there are words invented to describe Blackpools situation!

Much is made of him shaving money off the wage bill but we had a squad of over 40 first team players so even after getting rid of players who were nowhere near the first team picture he still had the nucleus of one of the better squads in the division. Also, even after shaving money off the wage bill you can bet the remaining budget is still one of the highest in the division.

Another thing people over play is our league postion. When Ole was sacked we were 16th or 17th from recollection but we had only played 7 games, 2 of whom we lost to, Boro and Norwich, contested the play-off final. Hardly enough games to get a true reflection of the league position when you hadnt even played a third of the teams in the division!!!.

At that point I believe Forest were top of the league and look where they finished. Co-incidently when we played the same 7 teams under Slade in the reverse fixtures later in the season we scored the same amount of points - 8.

This argument over how much he has improved our league position would have more meat on the bones if we had just finished 17th in the championship after a 46 games season and then finished the following season in the play-offs. As it stands a 7 game season is being compared to a 19 game season to quantify the improvement?!?!

Im not getting too carried away with currently sitting in 6th we are not halfway through the season yet and its so tight between 6th and 14th that points wise we are just as close to Burnley in 5th as Wolves are to us and they sit in 14th.

We will have to play with far more consistency, and play far better than a scratchy, probably undeserved win against the bottom team in the division before Slade can convince me that he is capable of getting this side into the play-offs and promoted.

Not sure if you'd watched many games from oles reign (Pl included)... But you should be able to work out where we were heading and just how dreadfully disjointed and uninspiring we were. The improvement on the pitch is obvious for anyone to see.

What is a squad of quality worth when 50% of them dont wana be at the club? Slade didn't just have the pick of the bunch he was told you had to go and then he had the challenge of getting these players playing for him.

Slade has tightened the group and solidified a sinking ship imo. I don't think he's the man to take us forward but sacking him now would be ridiculous.

Not sure if you'd watched many games from oles reign (Pl included)... But you should be able to work out where we were heading and just how dreadfully disjointed and uninspiring we were. The improvement on the pitch is obvious for anyone to see.

What is a squad of quality worth when 50% of them dont wana be at the club? Slade didn't just have the pick of the bunch he was told you had to go and then he had the challenge of getting these players playing for him.

Slade has tightened the group and solidified a sinking ship imo. I don't think he's the man to take us forward but sacking him now would be ridiculous.

Well I dont think it was a sinking ship, we clearly didnt have a good enough squad to stay in the Premier League but a more than capable squad for the championship. We had a solid start winning both of our home games and drawing 2 of the 3 away games, the only loss a last minute own goal to Wolves. Then we just happened to run into 2 of the 4 best teams in the division and Tan hit the panic button. The first half performance against Norwich was arguably our best we played all season under Ole or Slade, the 2nd half was the worst.

I dont think Ole would have got us promoted as he tinkered too much but neither do I think we would have remained in the bottom third of the league with the squad at his disposal, even if hed agreed to get rid of the likes of Cala, Guerra, Kim.etc as no doubt instructed by Tan.

I dont think it was 50/50 who wanted to be at the club, we had plenty of good honest proffesionals and we had a few bad apples plus the Norwegians, who I dont believe to be bad apples, but were obviously only at the club because of Ole. This still left us plenty of quality players for this division. Most of the players that were sent packing were not getting a look in anyway so its not like the first team got ripped up and Slade had to start again like the Blackpool manager did when he only had 8 players report back for pre-season training!!!

I stand by the OP and if our situation was horrendous and dreadful then what the fook was Blackpools?!?!?

Im sure more than half the managers in the division last year would have swapped our squad post cuts for their squads.

im fed up of hearing about the wage bill as well. Aside from 5 teams (burnley, QPR, Hull, Derby and Boro) i would be surprised if there is anyone else with a wage bill like ours this season.


I'm not as against slade as you are Polo, but i see no reason whatsoever why we shouldnt be aiming for the top 6 and its good at least to hear Slade say that.

People who talk Slade up for getting us into 6th "without spending a penny" are as over the top as the people saying he is out of his depth.

Anything other than a season long assault at a playoffs place this season is a failure.

im fed up of hearing about the wage bill as well. Aside from 5 teams (burnley, QPR, Hull, Derby and Boro) i would be surprised if there is anyone else with a wage bill like ours this season.


I'm not as against slade as you are Polo, but i see no reason whatsoever why we shouldnt be aiming for the top 6 and its good at least to hear Slade say that.

People who talk Slade up for getting us into 6th "without spending a penny" are as over the top as the people saying he is out of his depth.

Anything other than a season long assault at a playoffs place this season is a failure.

Agreed Paul.

Those who say he hasnt had a penny to spend conveniently fail to acknowledge how much has been spent on this squad and those who laud how much money he has shaved off the squad dont acknowledge how high the wage bill still is.

Shaving 12m off the wage bill I also believe includes the players we got rid of in the summer (Medal, Caulker.etc) and Slade is taking the credit for that.

i always thought the figure was a bit ott as it seemed to include players who at that time were out on loan.


i think Slade is growing into the job personally. he seems to be talking less nonsense (the o'keefe mess last season was terrible) doesnt seem to be talking the opposition up as much and has reiterated the aims of the club are top 6 which is a positive.

Some of his signings have worked, but the way hes handled some, particularly attacking players is a disappointment.

people will have a go at him tactically, but i think people on the internet get too hung up over formation sometimes. A team who play 442 are top of the premier league after all. but i do wish he would show some flexibility

i always thought the figure was a bit ott as it seemed to include players who at that time were out on loan.


i think Slade is growing into the job personally. he seems to be talking less nonsense (the o'keefe mess last season was terrible) doesnt seem to be talking the opposition up as much and has reiterated the aims of the club are top 6 which is a positive.

Some of his signings have worked, but the way hes handled some, particularly attacking players is a disappointment.

people will have a go at him tactically, but i think people on the internet get too hung up over formation sometimes. A team who play 442 are top of the premier league after all. but i do wish he would show some flexibility

Hmmm. Not so sure about the talking up bit, hes not as bad as he was but he was still doing his best to make Bolton sound like they were up the top of the table rather than rooted to the bottom last week.

I said yesterday 442 will work against a lot of championship teams who play the same way but its his inflexibility to change it to combat different formations.

You cant go to Derby and play 442 with the way they play and when we are getting the upperhand on another 442 side, and they change it he is not pro active enough in change it around, even though the game as swung the other way. Burnley last home game for example. As Nathan Blake said in his column you need to have many formations in the modern game.

Leicester have pace in their 442, Slade has been playing it for over a year with no pace in the side!!!

Just three of the adjectives I often read that are used to describe the situation when Slade took the reigns at Cardiff.

Sorry but he took over Cardiff not Blackpool.

I get where your coming from but we may well have been, or Coventry or Pompey but I think Slade has put a stop to that though I admit the football could be better. I know I'm in a very small minority but changing managers willy nilly has never done any club any good.

Just three of the adjectives I often read that are used to describe the situation when Slade took the reigns at Cardiff.

Sorry but he took over Cardiff not Blackpool.

I get where your coming from but we may well have been, or Coventry or Pompey but I think Slade has put a stop to that though I admit the football could be better. I know I'm in a very small minority but changing managers willy nilly has never done any club any good.

Im not sure Tan would ever allow that to happen tbh. Pompey in particular were shafted by owner after owner and regardless of the mistakes hes made I dont think Tan is out to shaft us.

He's done an 'okay' job. But we need more than okay. We need more attacking football and more goals!

Just three of the adjectives I often read that are used to describe the situation when Slade took the reigns at Cardiff.

Sorry but he took over Cardiff not Blackpool.

I get where your coming from but we may well have been, or Coventry or Pompey but I think Slade has put a stop to that though I admit the football could be better. I know I'm in a very small minority but changing managers willy nilly has never done any club any good.

Agree and I think Slade is growing into the job now and I think the football has improved on Saturday and he is now starting to make good decisions long may it continue.

Just three of the adjectives I often read that are used to describe the situation when Slade took the reigns at Cardiff.

Sorry but he took over Cardiff not Blackpool.

I get where your coming from but we may well have been, or Coventry or Pompey but I think Slade has put a stop to that though I admit the football could be better. I know I'm in a very small minority but changing managers willy nilly has never done any club any good.

Agree and I think Slade is growing into the job now and I think the football has improved on Saturday and he is now starting to make good decisions long may it continue.

You'll be back to now.

Just three of the adjectives I often read that are used to describe the situation when Slade took the reigns at Cardiff.

Sorry but he took over Cardiff not Blackpool.

I get where your coming from but we may well have been, or Coventry or Pompey but I think Slade has put a stop to that though I admit the football could be better. I know I'm in a very small minority but changing managers willy nilly has never done any club any good.

Agree and I think Slade is growing into the job now and I think the football has improved on Saturday and he is now starting to make good decisions long may it continue.

You'll be back to now.

Hmmmm

More ins and outs than the okee cokee

Slade is growing on me slowly,but even if he does manage to take us up.There is no way I would trust him with a cheque book going on some of the players he has brought into the club

This was the table when he took over.

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This was the table when he took over.

6 points from play offs, 6 points from relegation zone.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

This was the table when he took over.

6 points from play offs, 6 points from relegation zone.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

Huge squad, poor form, no pronounced style of play, only going one way. Poor fitness levels. We really could have gone further downhill.

More ins and outs than the okee cokee

That's the groove.

This was the table when he took over.

6 points from play offs, 6 points from relegation zone.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

Huge squad, poor form, no pronounced style of play, only going one way. Poor fitness levels. We really could have gone further downhill.

Style of play?!? And what style of play has Slade brought to the party??!?

The form was inconsistent rather than poor. Won 3, Draw 4, Lost 4.

Like I said he took over Cardiff not Blackpool who's situation was actually dreadful and not a rewriting of history by the Slade apologists.

This was the table when he took over.

6 points from play offs, 6 points from relegation zone.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

Huge squad, poor form, no pronounced style of play, only going one way. Poor fitness levels. We really could have gone further downhill.

Correct.

The fitness levels were horrendous,

the heart/bottle/fight was non existent,

tactics were shambolic (changing formation 3 times during a game, putting four strikers on and changing 5/6 players from game to game).

Dont need stats to tell me where that season was going to end up. We were going downhill.

This was the table when he took over.

6 points from play offs, 6 points from relegation zone.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

Huge squad, poor form, no pronounced style of play, only going one way. Poor fitness levels. We really could have gone further downhill.

Correct.

The fitness levels were horrendous,

the heart/bottle/fight was non existent,

tactics were shambolic (changing formation 3 times during a game, putting four strikers on and changing 5/6 players from game to game).

Dont need stats to tell me where that season was going to end up. We were going downhill.

People forget.

This was the table when he took over.

6 points from play offs, 6 points from relegation zone.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

Huge squad, poor form, no pronounced style of play, only going one way. Poor fitness levels. We really could have gone further downhill.

Style of play?!? And what style of play has Slade brought to the party??!?

The form was inconsistent rather than poor. Won 3, Draw 4, Lost 4.

Like I said he took over Cardiff not Blackpool who's situation was actually dreadful and not a rewriting of history by the Slade apologists.

We had 13 points from 11 games. Over a season that would have meant 55 points which would have left us 17th. Poor not inconsistent that.

Style of play is solid much like Malky had us playing the season before he had 12 million to spend on players. At the moment Slade is matching Malky's 6th place.

There's 23 teams to face not 11 and we faced 5 of the top 9 so who knows how it would have panned out over 46 games?

In the reverse fixtures of those 11 games we took the same amount of points. 13.

Even using your 55 point logic that would have been 16th and mid table so not horrendous, dreadful or shambolic. People are massively exaggerating the situation when he took over to the point I swear he took over Blackpool not Cardiff.

Yes we may be 6th now but the season ends on 46 games not 19. If Dobbie hadn't missed that open goal just before we scored the winner we could very well be sitting in 12th that's how close it is.

As for style of play Malky was total football compared to what was served up last season and parts of this season. Wurzels home I could have pulled my eyes out.

You've both proved that you can twist stats in favour of either argument but like I said it only took a bit of common sense and football knowledge to see we were utterly useless under ole.

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

"horrendous, dreadful or shambolic" are YOUR words as you haven't actually attributed which individuals made those comments.

It appears to me your having an argument with yourself, very strange.

As for Blackpool they beat us 1-0 in the game preceding Slade's appointment so using your logic we were in a more horrendous, dreadful and shambolic state than them at that point

Not what I would describe as horrendous, dreadful or shambolic situation to be in considering the squad he inherited.

"horrendous, dreadful or shambolic" are YOUR words as you haven't actually attributed which individuals made those comments.

It appears to me your having an argument with yourself, very strange.

As for Blackpool they beat us 1-0 in the game preceding Slade's appointment so using your logic we were in a more horrendous, dreadful and shambolic state than them at that point

Nathan Blake uses one of the words in his column yesterday and Rob Phillips used two of them on the phone-in on Saturday.

Smakerzthebluebird and Tonteg Bluebird are two posters I can think of straight off the top of my head who made out Slade had been appointed Blackpool manager not Cardiff.

Slade was in the stands for Blackpool away, it was his presence in the drssing room before the game to wish the lads luck that caused that defeat.

You've both proved that you can twist stats in favour of either argument but like I said it only took a bit of common sense and football knowledge to see we were utterly useless under ole.

My initial point is not that Ole was any good. My point is that the situation after Ole had gone, and we replaced him with Slade was not the dreadful situation that has been made out to excuse Slade, and make out how wonderful a job he is apparently doing by his apologists, for the many reasons given in my opening post.

We were not cut adrift at the bottom, we were not having to build a team from scratch, and our players were all being paid on time.

Im sure Neil Lennon this season, or Lee Clarke last season, would gladly swap their circumstances to ours when Sla-Doh! took over us as that is what you really call a "dreadful" situation!!!

You've both proved that you can twist stats in favour of either argument but like I said it only took a bit of common sense and football knowledge to see we were utterly useless under ole.

My initial point is not that Ole was any good. My point is that the situation after Ole had gone, and we replaced him with Slade was not the dreadful situation that has been made out to excuse Slade, and make out how wonderful a job he is apparently doing by his apologists, for the many reasons given in my opening post.

We were not cut adrift at the bottom, we were not having to build a team from scratch, and our players were all being paid on time.

Im sure Neil Lennon this season, or Lee Clarke last season, would gladly swap their circumstances to ours when Sla-Doh! took over us as that is what you really call a "dreadful" situation!!!

However when it suits the Slade and Tan badgers they have said worse about our current position. Your logic makes no sense.

You've both proved that you can twist stats in favour of either argument but like I said it only took a bit of common sense and football knowledge to see we were utterly useless under ole.

My initial point is not that Ole was any good. My point is that the situation after Ole had gone, and we replaced him with Slade was not the dreadful situation that has been made out to excuse Slade, and make out how wonderful a job he is apparently doing by his apologists, for the many reasons given in my opening post.

We were not cut adrift at the bottom, we were not having to build a team from scratch, and our players were all being paid on time.

Im sure Neil Lennon this season, or Lee Clarke last season, would gladly swap their circumstances to ours when Sla-Doh! took over us as that is what you really call a "dreadful" situation!!!

Yeah your right we still had alot of good players to choose from. But realistically bringing in a manager on 120k a year was with the aim to cut costs and stabilise.

I am by no means Slades biggest fan, my biggest gripe is with the hierarchy as I believe they hold responsibility for issues such as overspending, manager choice, keeping the fans onside etc.

My argument for Slade is that given where he has come from and the targets he has been given - he has or is meeting those targets in terms of budget cutting and league position (points are the most important stat after all)

So if there's anyone to moan at its not our humble 120k a year manager who's doing his job, it's the club for not employing someone else. But then we have the paradox that it will cost more and we're in debt. So what's the immediate solution? Do you honestly think we need to sack slade right now?