[St Charles Owl]

Well we are exactly half way through the season after our win against Blackpool in the 23rd game!! And to boot we are exactly at halfway in the table in 12th position!!

So what can we say about the first half of the season?? Inconsistent results, on the whole good defence but lacking midfield creativity and definitely lacking a consistent goal scorer!! I don't think we will get relegated, not sure we will even get in trouble near the bottom, but I am not sure we will go any higher either with the current team.

Which brings me onto the January Transfer Window. We are currently 8 points off the play off places (Watford are playing Wolves as I type so could be 9 off them by the end of the day) and we are 11 points above the relegation spots. Question is where do we need to strengthen, who should we be offloading but probably more important is will MM give SG some decent money to spend anyway???? Not expecting to pay any transfer fees, but we do have space for some wages to hand out to freebies, especially if we offload 2/3 players.

We do not appear to be going anywhere currently under SG, so I suppose the other question is will MM stick with SG or will it take a dreadful run of results and a plummet down the table for him to make a change?? At the end of the day SG was and still is the cheap option for us, and we know MM likes that, but while it could be said he has stabilised the club and made us difficult to beat by improving the defence, we are sadly lacking any tactical nouse from him and have probably gone backwards as an attacking side!!

So what would you like to see happen, what do you think will happen and what will be our fate this season??

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

The first half we started well before the lucky tits were banned and our form dropped the tits were brought back, our form is picking back up and we're heading for the play offs before eventual promotion

[St Charles Owl]

The superstitions of crazy football fans!!!!

I also think the Man City mauling played a part, and its just sod's law that the New Year will see us back at the Ethiad for a "rematch"!!

[Maddix]

I wouldn't give SG a single penny to spend it would be wasted on more defenders and other dross All we can hope for is another 19 or so points out of 23 games because, as a club, we are going nowhere

It's nearly a generation since we had any ambition and flucking about in the lower reaches of the Championship isn't going to attract any new supporters The Xbox crew have passed us by and soon nobody will even remember our past glory's

Cheers MM we should have gone bust and added Plc to our name like numerous others did

[madsteve]

Our squad is the best bunch of players since our PL days. The problem we have is that other clubs are doing far more with similar or worse squads of players.

Look at the Ipswich, Bournemouth & Brentford squads & they are no better than ours but they have achieved far more.

Also, we are on the slide. We got some points early on but now we play boring football, rarely score and are going backwards.

First Eight Matches:

P8 W4 D3 L1 F8 A4 Pts15

Second Eight Matches:

P8 W0 D5 L3 F4 A10 Pts5

Next Seven Matches

P7 W3 D2 L2 F5 A7 Pts11

We shouldn't get complacent and think that we are back to our early season form. Two of our three recent wins were against the bottom two sides & the other was due to an injury time strike by Dielna. We don't score enough goals and we have started to concede more at the other end.

However, the margins are small. I do feel that if we got a new manager in today (the right one) then we could be at least Playoff contenders. However, MM is not going to spend money to lift us from 13th to 9th. He will save his money & invest it when it makes a difference to our division for next season.

[A57owl]

I think MM needs to make some big decisions quickly:

1. Does he drop SG back to coach and get a manager in to run and organise the team? or stay as we are?

2. I also think MM needs to sort out any appearance and win bonuses (if we have them). At Brentford, they only get bonuses when they win. They score goals WE don't. SG needs to get us scoring otherwise we are going no further up the league. I worry that we will slip places.

3. MM needs to have a plan of action for the transfer window. To spend or not to spend? I hope we get someone who can partner May in the transfer window. I hope May comes good but he needs to score and gain some self belief.

I will be pissed off if the 2nd half continues the way we are going right now. The odd win is masking our total lack of goals. We have a good squad which needs motivating and adding to if we are to progress 2nd half

UTO

[madsteve]

I think MM needs to make some big decisions quickly:

1. Does he drop SG back to coach and get a manager in to run and organise the team? or stay as we are?

2. I also think MM needs to sort out any appearance and win bonuses (if we have them). At Brentford, they only get bonuses when they win. They score goals WE don't. SG needs to get us scoring otherwise we are going no further up the league. I worry that we will slip places.

3. MM needs to have a plan of action for the transfer window. To spend or not to spend? I hope we get someone who can partner May in the transfer window. I hope May comes good but he needs to score and gain some self belief.

I will be pissed off if the 2nd half continues the way we are going right now. The odd win is masking our total lack of goals. We have a good squad which needs motivating and adding to if we are to progress 2nd half

UTO

I think we have hit a ceiling now because we are limited by SG's ability as a coach. If we had a decent manager (say MacCarthy, Howe or McLaren then I believe that we would be in the top six.

Our players are as good as two of the top three sides. We just lack the tactics and team work that could make us promotion contenders.

Bonus are such a small amount relative to wages that they are little incentive to players except at the smallest clubs.

The lack of goals is another limiting factor. It puts tremendous pressure on the defence when they know that conceding a goal means a win is beyond us.

Spending money in the January transfer window rarely gets value for money. Unless it is going to swing it for us in a promotion or relegation battle then I would keep the cheque book closed. If we can extend the loans of McGugan & Drenthe then we will be safe. Bring in a good manager as well then we could chase a top six spot.

[Maddix]

The only transfer activity will be the sale of Westwood early doors. We will then spend the rest of the month speculating on who we will bring in using the 'Westwood Money'. We will then wake up on the 1st of February with the same squad of outfield players, if we manage to keep Barry and Royston 'Chubby' Drenthe, and Kirkland in the nets

We all know this is what will happen it's the Wednesday way

[madsteve]

First siigning should be Barry    i cant see us signing drenthe though    but off course if we can then sign him    we need to ship out mcccrap and corry either on loan or sold    we should also get rid off  Madine to make way for 4 new signings 2 the above and 1 extra midfielder and striker of course  

I want SG to leave completly i dont want him as coach , it never works moving a man down and then asking him to be happy ? i want Pearson in and he will get the sack from his job as hes lost the fans and the chairman will become inpatient when they go another few games without winning    

It wont happen though as i think mandy wont want to be getting his money out either for new players or managers contracts    

so we will settle for midtable and pretty much keep doing the same season after season if mandy stays in power    is it a bad thing ? im not sure ? we are better than we where under dj and a season ago and anyone who says different isnt thinking properly due the the fact we are so **** boring it feels the same as being a bunch of **** losers , like we where under DJ  

No-one will want to sign Corry. Only Rangers will want McCabe & they will wait for summer when he is out of contract. Madine is a tricky one. He is lowest earner in our first team squad so we gain little by letting him go. Certainly it doesn't free up enough funds to bring anyone in. Coventry will take Madine if we let him go for free. Others will come in for him as well.

If we let him go, he will start scoring in the Championship soon enough.

If MM intends to get rid of SG, he will time it so that the new guy can't bring anyone in in the transfer window. So expect SG to be sacked in the last week of January & no-one appointed until February.

[Towinjustonce]

SG won't be sacked, MM will be happy sitting around mid-table having spent fook all. If there is a change it will involve a serious bad run or it will be in the summer and the change should be SG gone completely from the club.

Hopefully we can hold onto Westwood and maybe ship Kirkland and his wages out. And use that wages to get a player in.

Hopefully McGugan and Drenthe will stay on but again I think little chance of that as other championship teams will come in for them. Would really like to see McGugan alongside Hutch in midfield.

Another concern is the form of our "big" players. Lee and Maguire have been poor for half the season so far and show little recovery while Nuihu is getting worse.

Also we really missed a trick with Glenn Murray. Would have been the perfect player to bring Mays game on had we gone for him and been able to recruit him.