Cammell Laird

cityuntilidie wrote:Its a good job Stringfellow and Wainwright got us 34 points from 24 games (I think thats right) or we would be in a worse position. The Director of football has only got 12 points from 13 games. We have also been deducted 3 points. The sooner we get a proper manager the better.

Too right!

To be fair, Laird were everything that is wrong with football,despite having the best player on the pitch (#10). Disputing every decsion,however inconsequential, wasting time (with the help of hopeless officials).Their two goals were totally out of character with the rest of their performance.If they are pushing for the playoffs,it simply highlights the paucity of this league.No wonder they only get 40 or 50 watching them,once a season is one too many times for me.
We were that bad that we couldnt beat them.
Janb's summation of the game was quite acurate,except for the omission of hooooooof-head tennis-hooooooof-head tennis-boredom (perhaps with a little more boredom)

Not quite EVERYTHING that's wrong with football, which would have to lead with the total dominance of money and TV, embracing the Poxypremier League, the Finishwhereyoulikeand callyourselveschampions League and the Ropey League---but above all, money and TV which are destroying smaller clubs

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the over rated/over paid prima donnas of the Premier League Brocker, but then I couldn't tell you much about what happens outside of the non-league game these days. Big money & TV have been a disaster for smaller clubs but let's be honest a lot of our present problems have been self inflicted, I didn't expect much from this season when the PB/TH partnership was broken up by PB's commitments elsewhere and that was before the TH saga, but I have to say that the decisions made over the managerial side and the way forward on the field leave serious doubts for me as to where we are headed in both those areas. We still get a paucity of information on what is actually going on despite Stuart Houghton's commendable attempts to move us forward and it feels to me that the club is at a crossroads. Don't get me wrong I know that finances have a big part to play and money is hard to come by in the present climate but I hark back to self infliction even on that score, failure in the money paying cups, a woeful disciplinary record - where did our commitment to fair play go once TH left, our bookings and sending off fines total would be interesting to compare with recent seasons - and the fall in gate revenues, not all due to our own decisions because most clubs seem to have suffered but we have fallen much further than others percentage wise.
We had a momentum last close season on the back of the brilliant response to the idea of a fan's fund - would be interesting to know how it would have gone if it had been mooted in September - and it is a credit to all concerned that we have held that together given what has happened since. That momentum was carried forward off the field by Stuart's initiative but on the field it has been a completely different story, I've found it hard to remember watching two such disjointed performances, given the players on the park, as the last two home games and for my money something needs to change before the end of the season. Where are all the under18s who are knocking at the door and we were going to see given games, I know the bench has been full of them but they seem to have found it hard to get on, it's like we are drifting with no direction.
I'm desperate to see us appoint a new 'independant' manager, preferably this week, who can assess what he thinks of the crop he has available before the end of the season and make decisons about where he is going to take us on the field next season, if that doesn't happen I won't be expecting much before 1914/15 season.

By heck, dm, things really are bad if you are looking to season 1914/15. That really will be a case of "Back to the Future" (or "Forward to the Past").

Don't believe I could cope if I was really looking forward that far, I just think something fundamental has to change and I'm confident I'm not alone in that view.

alasher wrote:To be fair, Laird were everything that is wrong with football,despite having the best player on the pitch (#10). Disputing every decsion,however inconsequential, wasting time (with the help of hopeless officials).Their two goals were totally out of character with the rest of their performance.If they are pushing for the playoffs,it simply highlights the paucity of this league.No wonder they only get 40 or 50 watching them,once a season is one too many times for me.
We were that bad that we couldnt beat them.
Janb's summation of the game was quite acurate,except for the omission of hooooooof-head tennis-hooooooof-head tennis-boredom (perhaps with a little more boredom)

I never normally go on forums and post comments and I won't use this to comment on LCFC, however what I will ask is 'Alasher' what gives you the right to post such a disrespectful comment about another club. These are the harsh facts, we started this season after escaping relegation and expected to finish just outside the relegation positions this season, a feat in which we have accomplished. We have taken points from teams at the top and bottom of this division and actually find ourselves within touching distance of the top 5, that said we have a striker who has hit the net 31 times this season and have other players who themselves have hit double figures this on a budget which is considerably less than many teams in this division. I find your comments disrespectful to my club but more importantly my players. Whenever I have been back to the Axe I have treated the club with respect and dignity but your comments i feel are out of order. We have also managed to play Fc United In the Fa Cup beat Kendal away in the trophy and push Halifax all the way in the following round, oh and i forgot the semi final of the league cup losing narrowly to North Ferriby away but beatin Skem, Chorley, Marine and Northwich on the way.

I have a strong affinity to Lancaster and would love to see the club back where it should be however your comment about how we play and more importantly the standard of the league is uncalled for.

My advice if you want to take it on board is don't look through people's windows and comment on their furniture when your windows need a good clean themselves, as a player and a manager I have always been honest and respectful win/lose or draw and If I have took the post in the wrong context I apologise but how it reads is unpleasant and lacks the class of a Lancaster City supporter, I await your response !!!!!

By the way good luck for the rest of the season "once a dolly always a dolly"

Whilst I agree that those comments from alasher were ill-advised, I do feel that they come more out of frustration at the antics both on and off the field at the Axe this season but more importantly, the way we have been playing the damned game.
I'm sure he'll be the first to apologise when he reads your post Sully, but if not i'll do it for him.
I know myself on more than a few occasions this season I've cast an envious eye on your fixture and said to myself 'Bloody hell, that was a good result'.
And boy what we'd like more than anything is a lad like Jamie Henders who's been rattling them in all season, but not just him.
As you say, you are remembered fondly down here Sully so don't take offence too much, good luck for the remainder of the season and let's hope MH is opening your application just about now lol

I think Sully has a point here, and whilst I do agree that the comments about his side were raised more out of frustration at where we are headed than anything else I think we need to be careful about how far we go in criticising other teams performances. If we had played them off the Park and they had spoilt the game to bring us down to their level then fair enough, that's simply unsporting and deserves criticism , but we are playing very poor football, it's disjointed and lacks direction so personally I don't see that we are in a position to criticise anyone.
On the game itself I didn't think it was good to watch, there was too much head tennis, but the fact is that, in the second half particularly, Cammell Laird tried to keep the ball on the deck more and as a result looked the more dangerous side.
If you latch on to this Sully good luck for the rest of the season, you have a lot of respect from this quarter and we know as well as anybody what it's like running on limited funds - top job mate.

First things first, to take a bunch of no-hopers with small gates and get them on the fringe of the playoffs, you have to give Sully a lot of credit.

That said, the league this year is poor/crap/lower standard than previous years. Thats not a knock on Cammell Laird or any other team that are up there but Skem apart this has not been a year of Chesters, Chorleys, Fyldes, Halifaxs, 96 point Lancaster, Wittons, Curzons, Bradford Park Avenues etc etc. Last season, Skem and ourselves both had decent sides and missed out on the playoffs. Lets just reflect that this means Lancaster have been very very poor this season.

As for the game on Saturday,
Did Laird constantly whinge at the referee? Yes
Is it more noticeable because of the scouse accents? Quite possibly
Should their manager be attempting to defend them? No
However, did for instance Danny Gregson get away with leaving one on one of their players? Yes

However I would turn the focus on the refereeing first of all. We saw last night that Wayne Rooney can say what he wants and not get sent off. So if the standard of officiating at the top level is poor, then by the time you reach the Evostik it is an absolute joke. I will say this loud and clear to every referee/fan, YOU NEED TO USE YELLOW AND RED CARDS, don't be scared of them. The referee on Saturday needed to take control early on, he didn't, the players saw that they could get away with lots both physically and verbally, so the game degenerated into a bit of a childish, unattractive mess.