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Invicta Pompey wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2019 9:48 pm
I think the way the clubs run financially and the constraints it has ( with which I agree with) there's no way that Jackett will be replaced this year. Our best chance of success this season is to get behind both him and the team.
Whilst Curtis was ****** yesterday and deserved to be subbed so did the 12th man. The 12 th man was rightly criticised for his lack of support and the twitter post just showed Curtis frustration and that he really does care. Its easy to support a team when its going well but good support doesn't evaporate and become negative after just 8 matches. Being raped by Scum is traumatic but we need to up chin. Team Manager and supporters need to pull together, roll on Doncaster. Its cold up north pack your hat and tracky. PUP
Agree about KJ. There were fans calling for the sack at the Bolton match last Saturday. We've only played 8 matches out of 44. It's more sense to give him and the team our support over the next few weeks and then review.
Even allowing for a mid-table position around the end of the year, Kenny is highly unlikely to be sacked this season in my opinion. It's just not the Tornante style.
We've got 2-3 games in hand for some reason this early in the season so the gloom might lighten a little if we take the points there.
As for KJ, I don't think he's going anywhere this season barring a horrendous collapse so the 12th man would do better to get behind the team.... but the complaints about the footy have been going on for some time, barring good spell at the end of last season.
Next up, can we at least get a decent bloke that looks like he might be enjoying himself and life at FP.
KJ seems like such a sourpuss I should think anyone might struggle to put in a good shift for the man.
The League 1 version of Klopp please. Yer at one of the best / biggest / well supported clubs....enjoy life ffs!
It cant be that hard to get 22 young men to play a decent brand of footy, put in a solid work effort, smile and have a good time doing it.
Mr D Nuts wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:25 pm
I agree he's unlikely to be sacked mid season . On the other hand This hasn't just been going on for 8 games . KJ ran out of ideas last January .
Not sure I understand about running out of ideas last January.
Surely we finished fourth in Div 1 in 2018/19 after a good run of games in early 2019?
Me neither.
In my opinion if it hadn't been for the termination of Thompson's loan from Millwall we'd have made promotion to the Championship. I think that was out of our control.
The price of that failure was we lost two of our best players at the end of the season as they understandingly wanted to better themselves, in a relatively short career you can't expect them to hang around hoping we will make it a year later.
Their replacements are probably the best that's available given our wage bill constraints. In the supporters owned era the most we could have provided in terms of wage budget would have set us in mid table in Div 1. That assumed we were not doing the improvements that are now happening to the Stadium that would have reduced the playing budget even further.
The way that the club was operating in the first year after the takeover suggests that that hasn't really changed that much, we lost around £600k in that year. We haven't seen the second year accounts yet but my feelings are that we are holding on a steady course with the investment being in the infrastructure. In my opinion thats good but I recognise that many of our fellow supporters don't really understand these issues.
The issue that is making things more difficult for us is that several other clubs are still receiving income following relegation that we spent saving our club (parachute payments etc)
So thats why I think there is no chance of KJ going this year even if we wanted to and I personally don't think we should want to.
Those that do are only making things worse by sapping the morale of the players.
Its a good thing that a football club is for life and not just Christmas.
If you can’t see that jackets time is up you haven’t been watching the team for the past 10 months and even before that the 2018 January window the cracks began to show.
Some lowlights people may have forgotten about (granted we won that tin pot trophy and it was a wonderful day);
April 2018, beating mr cooks Wigan side in a great game, pompey are now level on points with 5th place and looking like playoffs are on the cards with our fixtures.
The next 5 games we don’t win a game, we also somehow lose to a bury side who were god awful at the time. Last game of the season we beat peterbough, everyone forgets the ****** show in the middle.
2018/19 season;
Great start to the season (let’s not forget KJ didn’t fancy Ben Thompson at the start and stuck with his best mate Ben close)
We storm a league lead with Thompson at the helm, beat Sunderland and all looks well to saunter into the championship.
We then manage to eat all the mince pies and people shrug at the abysmal performance at Gillingham away.
After Christmas we manage to have a run of 8 games without winning, including the pinnacle of which that is Southend away, managing to screw up a comfortable away win by drawing 3-3 after being 3-0 up.
Later in the season we do manage to pick up some wins against average opponents. Then proceeding into the playoffs whereby I think jacket must of told them it was a testimonial for Nathan Thompson or something against Sunderland.
Then there’s the signings;
All this summer saying we need a number 10 (we have since Gary Roberts left) we end up signing 2 strikers.
The whole square pegs thing of late, all jackets doing, he’s had 2 years to build the team and it’s resorted to Oli Hawkins as the saviour at centre back.
I read a lot about the style of football being boring, but the football under cook was deemed boring too - what is it people actually want?
The game is all about the high press, procession or counter attacking football these days.
I feel confidence is shot to pieces, for the players that were here last season it's the ghost of Southend and throwing away promotion, for those from this season the ghost of Coventry mixed with the bad vibes from those players who were here last season.
Had we won our first game it could all have been different - I just think they are shot mentally. The games we have played well in are generally cup games one offs they go out there and play no expectancy and away games Infront of a smaller contingent of fans.
I believe the problems are in part Jackett (I've never been a fan) but mostly mental - the constant changing I think is jacketts way of getting players out there who are in the right frame of mind.
This is where I feel the fans could help by easing the mental burden on the players - Curtis a prime example here as much as I am sure he is a big time Charlie he will also know he hasn't been good enough of late he is trying to play through it and I do believe he cares but what I also believe is he has never been in this situation before and doesn't know how to handle it or get out of it.
I do think it will click at somepoint if we can get some things right a win at the weekend could be the start we need.
Might be a load of crap but it's what it looks like to me.
No confidence, so not trying things, playing it safe and slow, rabbits in headlights all leading to poor performances and additional pressure from the fans, themselves and each other.
The contributions to this thread are VERY interesting and make a fascinating read seeing where all the Pompey fans are coming from. I'd like to say it is indicative of how our overall fan base is feeling but I am not sure it is - I saw a poll on Twitter yesterday with over 6,000 votes (statistically significant!) with over 80% wanting him out. I have never been one for chopping and changing managers but I do think KJ is past his sell-by date. It's his decision making that worries me. He sticks with players who are blatantly out of form (eg. Curtis, Close) when he has others he could easily replace them with (eg Williams, McCrorie). Like others have said, the team's confidence is shot to pieces, and there's no doubt the dressing room has been lost at times (Pitman & Evans stripped of their responsibilities a few games in didn't help). What we really need is to get on a run. If we won our 2/3 games in hand we could end up in the top 10 just 6 points off the top. The thing is, with our squad I believe we genuinely could get promoted still, just not sure KJ is the man to make that happen. Overall, barring Clarke, I think we are no worse off than last season and I think Harness is more than an ample replacement for Lowe (who isn't exactly ripping up the Championship). I do also wonder how much help KJ gets from Joe Gallen. I always thought Leam Richardson was a great foil for Paul Cook. Anyway, I've stuck with Jackett up until recently, but now wouldn't be sad to see him go, depending on who we replaced him with. Finally, the Eisners are no mugs. You don't get to be multi-billionaires by being just nice! They will have a very close eye on all this and in constant contact with Catlin. I suspect Plan B is being formulated just in case it is needed.
I keep hearing that the squad is better than our league position suggests. Well it's the manager's job to get the best out of the resources available to him. Team selection, tactics, motivation, are all his responsibility. He's not delivering and, frankly, I'm not convinced he ever has. Not getting promotion last season was probably a good thing (as I said at the time we'd have been cannon fodder in the Championship), but if the Eisners want to continue to steer the good ship Pompey on a slow and sustainable course of improvement then they need the fans to row in the same direction. Time for someone new to take the managerial helm me thinks.
Also, no end of fresh paint and steel staircases (a safety requirement I suspect) can ever turn a pig's ear into a silk purse. If we're ever to sail into higher divisions and compete without putting the club in the same mess it was in so recently, the club needs a new ground, fit for the 21st century, that provides profitable income streams 365 days a year, not just 25 or 26 days a year. That, along with staying in League 1, should be the board's priority. If the fans know that League 1 life is our current ambition, but that a new stadium is no longer just a figment of delusional imaginations, I suspect the vast majority would be happy with that.
Mr D Nuts wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:25 pm
I agree he's unlikely to be sacked mid season . On the other hand This hasn't just been going on for 8 games . KJ ran out of ideas last January .
Not sure I understand about running out of ideas last January.
Surely we finished fourth in Div 1 in 2018/19 after a good run of games in early 2019?
We got 5 points from 8 games in Jan & Feb , picked up a bit then lost at home to Blackpool & Peterborough . We had that League won then it all went to pieces , this is just a continuation of that form
The fact is that the Eisners bought Portsmouth as a money focused investment.
Whilst I'm sure they want the fans to be as happy as possible, the bottom line is ££ and $$.
Under the new structure the fans really only have one influence and thats whether they renew their season ticket in the summer. Last Saturdays attendance after a poor run was only 325 down on a Saints Derby Cup Match.
The Club shop after the game on Saturday was rammed, financially the club seems to be performing well.
I can't see that a decision on a new manager would be taken before spring next year.
Given that is the case I think the best hope for success this season is to try to lift the team and reserve my opinion on the manager, what was happening on Saturday from the crowd was just making a bad situation worse imho.
We don't have an influence on the manager decision at this time of year but as confirmed by the Curtis twitter the players do care how we feel.
Invicta Pompey wrote: ↑Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:34 am
Last Saturdays attendance after a poor run was only 325 down on a Saints Derby Cup Match.
Don't forget the attendance figures quoted included season tickets whether those who 'own' them are there or not. My sons and I have 5 STs and none of us were there on Saturday due to other varying commitments.
Absolutely but financially those seats are paid for whether you are there or not.
From my seat in the Fratton End the ground still looked pretty full. I had to queue up about 15 mins in the club shop afterwards to buy some tracky bottoms because it was so crowded.
Was talking to some Bolton Wanderers Fans on the train afterwards and they were well impressed with the attendance given our recent form and our 4-0 thrashing to Scum midweek.
Mr D Nuts wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:25 pm
I agree he's unlikely to be sacked mid season . On the other hand This hasn't just been going on for 8 games . KJ ran out of ideas last January .
Yep ran out of ideas as we made the playoffs and won a trophy
Porchesterblue - the point here is that we were top at Xmas but as a direct result of the poor run of form in Jan/Feb we could only muster a play off place. The poor run of form has clearly followed us into the new season - in no small part caused by the loss of the best CB in the division.
I was as happy as anyone that we won the trophy, don't forget the first half of the final though....we were pants. Fair play though we came out fighting in the 2nd half and the rest is history. How much credit is due to KJ for the improvement or was it simply the occasion & the supporters that lifted the team.
My big concern is the head in the sand approach that KJ has, square pegs in round holes etc...we need to see an improvement and quickly !
