Griffin's Penultimate Stand - Division 2 2018-19

[ad hoc]

Thanks statto, very fair of you. Would be good if you stuck around too.

+1

[Nocturnal Submission]

Yes, please stay statto. Disagreements are ten a penny on here but everyone just moves on with only the occasional negative reference to events in the past.

[diggedy derek]

Yes yes!

[cantagalo]

I read that as a break from that particular discussion, rather than the whole board. It remains his most recent post, though...

Short break over. I'm back and feeling refreshed.

Normal service resumed but probably with fewer Leeds-related posts.

[ad hoc]

Short break over. I'm back and feeling refreshed.

Normal service resumed but probably with fewer Leeds-related posts.

Woohoo!
Very glad to hear that this was not a permanent disappearance.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Yes, good stuff Cantagalo.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Short break over. I'm back and feeling refreshed.

Normal service resumed but probably with fewer Leeds-related posts.

Oh good. I need to hear your thoughts on Warburton.

[cantagalo]

Oh good. I need to hear your thoughts on Warburton.

How long have you got? I'll try and do something tomorrow.

[Amor de Cosmos]

No rush. It'll be at least a week or two before we fire him.

[statto99]

Thank you all for the recent posts. I think you're being more fair to me than I probably deserve. I think I will try to be relatively quiet, but I will probably hover around a bit. As you were. And apologies if I was more of a pr*ck than is acceptable.

[ursus arctos]

Great to have you both back.

[cantagalo]

No rush. It'll be at least a week or two before we fire him.

Beware the Ides of February. He is always sacked or resigns in February.

I think it's a good appointment, certainly your best one in recent years and (with the possible exception of Appleton) he's streets ahead of the other candidates associated with the job. He'll certainly improve the viewing experience with attacking football building from the back. It was Uwe Rosler who started that at Brentford but when he left for Wigan, Warburton took it to another level. However, he did have an extremely talented squad to work with. I don't think Rangers currently have players of the quality of Gray, Pritchard, Judge, Tarkowski, Jota and Odubajo. He'll need time but he should be able to improve and develop some of your younger talent like Eze and Chair.

But there are some reservations. Can he adapt to working at a financially strapped club with a disinterested owner? Do QPR have the infrastructure to support him that he had at Brentford? His relationship with Les Ferdinand will be key. One thing you must not do is let his sidekick Frank McParland anywhere near the club. He left Brentford with Warburton and followed him to Rangers and Forest where his record in recruitment was less than impressive. And a surprising number of incoming transfers happened to be clients of Warburton's agent daughter.

He has good relationships with players. His departure from Brentford was precipitated by a row with Matthew Benham who wanted to strengthen the team in the January window, Warburton preferring to keep a smaller, tighter squad which ultimately ran out of steam and failed in the playoffs. He also gets on well with the media, though fans will be tearing their hair out at his constant repetition of stock phrases in press conferences, the most notorious being 'Plan B is to do Plan A better'. I wonder where Matt Smith fits into his plans.

He'll need time but until results improve, you should at least see some decent football.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Cheers. Much of what you say reinforces what we've heard from others, particularly regarding McParland, who isn't being hired apparently. And Eustace is staying which might provide a degree of continuity we've sorely lacked recently. There is a worry about how well MW will play with Les, but that's connected to no one being totally sure what Les actually does. MW does appear to fall out with upper management rather a lot, which doesn't bode well as our lot can't resist playing with their toys. Another worry is that tactically he sounds a bit like Mclaren, in that he plays the same small group of players until they drop. Both, it seems, can't/don't adjust their game plans to suit the situation. I guess this is indicated by "Plan B is Plan A done better." Anyhow there's cautious optimism around (as there was with Holloway, and Mclaren) based mainly on his track record at Brentford and ability to work with young players, as he's unlikely to have any money to buy from elsewhere.

[Eggchaser]

Bolton Wanderers have gone into administration.

[Patrick Thistle]

Will they be docked points next season?

[Eggchaser]

BBC radio said yes, plus the fallout from the missed game.

[Gangster Octopus]

Why couldn't it've been Millwall...

[Janik]

BBC radio said yes, plus the fallout from the missed game.

First they have to exit administration, don't they? A side still in that is in serious risk of being kicked out of the league. This still feels distinctly possible, much more so that in other recent cases, given the complete lack of interest of the current ownership.

[Patrick Thistle]

Bolton will be starting in League 1 with -12 points according to a discussion I've seen on Facebook.

[Simon G]

They're also looking at an additional 6 points for the Brentford game failure, so could be starting on minus 18.

[Gangster Octopus]

Ha! Take that West Bromwich Albion. By beating us at The Hawthorns for the first time in the league, you broke our mutual pact: We don't lose and stay up, you don't win and go up...

[Sporting]

I just read a tweet which said that the only teams in England to have finished in the top half of their league in each of the last 10 seasons are the big six in the Premier League - and Brentford.

I’ve been walking around all day with a big smile on my face because of this.

Keep smiling!

[Sporting]

...and I wonder which teams hold the longest streak of top-half finishes in any league. Liverpool are doing pretty well in this regard: They don't seem to have finished in the bottom half of their division since 1953-4, which is pretty remarkable.

[ursus arctos]

Barcelona haven't finished below sixth since the War, but I would guess that the big three in Portugal and Turkey can match that.

[ad hoc]

Fenerbahce were hovering over the relegation zone a couple of weeks ago, but just checked and they're up to 10th (in a 18 team league)