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Why do we discard so many strikers? 07:39 - Aug 22 with 1655 viewsnoah4x4

Porter, Bonne, Sordell, Ibrehe all on Saturday's score sheet AGAIN

Our current crop don't even look like scoring.

Is it because our management team are all defenders? But that doesn't explain why we can't defend. I have never been this disillusioned at the start of a season.
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 10:08 - Aug 22 with 1643 viewsTheHappyGooner

I was at Woking on Saturday and Bonne took his goals well - maybe it's a wage issue.

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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 18:00 - Aug 22 with 1594 viewsLeadbelly

Just another question to add to the long list that need answering.

Discarded strikers - Why so many and why can they score goals regularly elsewhere when it hasn't always been the case at Col U. My Orient spy tells me Bonne is looking good for them and complements Mooney very well. Who'd have thought he would do well playing alongside an experienced striker...not Col U management, that's for sure. They will be pleased at how well they performed their duty of care though.

Defending - The only discernible difference in the weekly lowlights is the kit. The goals conceded look alarmingly similar, week in, week out. Both Essex sides performed badly on Saturday. Phil Brown was seething and ordered extra training at 07.00 Sunday. McGreal was slightly miffed at conceding before half time as he had to change his team talk. No doubt defenders at both clubs got the respective message.

Midfield - Those currently wearing rose tinted spectacles may not agree but I think our midfield, Slater apart, is sadly lacking in vision and passing ability and not one of them has the physical presence or mental attitude to control that area of the pitch and allow us to build from there.

The Academy - Whilst a production line of home grown talent sounds brilliant and is, indeed, a laudable ambition it is not an end in itself. Surely a youth academy should aspire to nuture and deliver talented players to the first XI not to satisfy some quota, as it feels is happening now, but because they are as good, or better, than we can sign from outside the club. I'm afraid that is clearly not the case at the moment.

We are told that £850k pa is ploughed into the youth set up and that is money the chairman is comfortable in spending/losing. We are also told focussing resources on this, rather than the first XI, makes the club sustainable. At one point I believed this but the more I think about it the more I think it is simply not true. If new ownership were to take over how does £850k pa no longer being paid by Mr Cowling make the club sustainable. Is spending that money on trying to develop young players good enough for the first XI any less of a gamble than using it to sign 2 or 3 experienced players each year?

Our chairman seems to have adopted a model for running a professional football club that is not used by many (any?) other chairman. Either he is a visionary, ahead of his time and those who have been critical of him will be eating humble pie at some undefined point in the future or he is leading us on a steady downward spiral until we reach the point where the Academy produces players of a quality commensurate for the position we then inhabit. How many supporters will be left when we get there?

Injuries - The last few seasons have been ridiculous and this season looks no different. "We have the makings of a decent squad once everyone's fit" Perhaps we do but, unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever find out. Some injuries are the result of bad challenges or simply bad luck but when it keeps happening to us and not to other clubs it begs the question "What can we do differently to improve the situation?"

Player recruitment aka Why do we keep signing oft injured players released by other clubs? - Is it really a surprise when players like Loft and Prosser (average 30 and 19 games over 9 seasons respectively) have injury problems? Or when players like Doyley and Grandison, released elsewhere due to injury problems, don't make a miraculous recovery and play every game? Sometimes it works out well, as in Porter's case, but too often it looks like a misguided gamble.

Player retention - Why do so many players seem intent on leaving the club at the earliest opportunity? McGreal said this is club players want to sign for but there is little evidence to support that of late. This off season was particularly bad but it's been going on for a while. Are we simply not paying enough? Is it the length of contracts on offer? Is it down to personalities?

Management - We have a had a high turnover of managers/first team coaches over the last few years. The chairman's vision for this role seems the same as for players...home grown, via the Academy, is best. But is it? Does being a good coach of young players necessarily mean you are the right person to manage the first XI? I'm pretty certain not every manager would be the best person to coach young players so I suspect the answer is "no". My own feeling is that a squad of relatively young players, particularly the one we have now with no obvious leaders on the pitch, would really benefit from someone who has far greater managerial experience than McGreal or any other of our coaches has.

Where are we (am I) going? - Events over the summer and the poor start to the season have really sapped my enthusiasm for the club. Not just attending matches but the club itself. I'm increasingly of the opinion that things are getting worse and will continue to do so before they get better. I have numerous call on my limited leisure time and I can't do everything I would like. Repeated poor performances by Col U since we moved to Cuckoo Farm do little to persuade me that spending every other Saturday there is better than other things I could be doing (If Essex ever decide to play cricket at weekends again then it will be an easy decision!)

Last season offered some respite in that we actually won some home games but the football on offer was generally of a poor standard and I felt somewhat disengaged. That feeling has grown significantly since this season started and I see nothing in the pipeline to make me think anything will change for the better.

Chairman - There are some that seem to believe the club is nothing without Robbie Cowling. Why? As far as I can tell, we have had numerous chairman and other directors throughout the club's history and I suspect very much there will be others after the current chairman departs, however that may happen.

I think he would do himself and many fans a big favour by seeking outside investment (there are people out there who want to do it) and expanding the board beyond Tony Humes and Richard Hall. Cowling's philosophy may bear fruit at some point but I don't think it would do anyone any harm to have new/different views expressed by people with other experience. At the moment I feel everything comes to what the chairman wants he gets and I'm not convinced we are heading in a direction I'm prepared to follow for much longer.

Final word to Albert Einstein - "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
[Post edited 22 Aug 2017 18:05]

Poll: Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

1
Why do we discard so many strikers? on 05:41 - Aug 23 with 1543 viewsthrillseeker

Why do we discard so many strikers? on 18:00 - Aug 22 by Leadbelly

Just another question to add to the long list that need answering.

Discarded strikers - Why so many and why can they score goals regularly elsewhere when it hasn't always been the case at Col U. My Orient spy tells me Bonne is looking good for them and complements Mooney very well. Who'd have thought he would do well playing alongside an experienced striker...not Col U management, that's for sure. They will be pleased at how well they performed their duty of care though.

Defending - The only discernible difference in the weekly lowlights is the kit. The goals conceded look alarmingly similar, week in, week out. Both Essex sides performed badly on Saturday. Phil Brown was seething and ordered extra training at 07.00 Sunday. McGreal was slightly miffed at conceding before half time as he had to change his team talk. No doubt defenders at both clubs got the respective message.

Midfield - Those currently wearing rose tinted spectacles may not agree but I think our midfield, Slater apart, is sadly lacking in vision and passing ability and not one of them has the physical presence or mental attitude to control that area of the pitch and allow us to build from there.

The Academy - Whilst a production line of home grown talent sounds brilliant and is, indeed, a laudable ambition it is not an end in itself. Surely a youth academy should aspire to nuture and deliver talented players to the first XI not to satisfy some quota, as it feels is happening now, but because they are as good, or better, than we can sign from outside the club. I'm afraid that is clearly not the case at the moment.

We are told that £850k pa is ploughed into the youth set up and that is money the chairman is comfortable in spending/losing. We are also told focussing resources on this, rather than the first XI, makes the club sustainable. At one point I believed this but the more I think about it the more I think it is simply not true. If new ownership were to take over how does £850k pa no longer being paid by Mr Cowling make the club sustainable. Is spending that money on trying to develop young players good enough for the first XI any less of a gamble than using it to sign 2 or 3 experienced players each year?

Our chairman seems to have adopted a model for running a professional football club that is not used by many (any?) other chairman. Either he is a visionary, ahead of his time and those who have been critical of him will be eating humble pie at some undefined point in the future or he is leading us on a steady downward spiral until we reach the point where the Academy produces players of a quality commensurate for the position we then inhabit. How many supporters will be left when we get there?

Injuries - The last few seasons have been ridiculous and this season looks no different. "We have the makings of a decent squad once everyone's fit" Perhaps we do but, unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever find out. Some injuries are the result of bad challenges or simply bad luck but when it keeps happening to us and not to other clubs it begs the question "What can we do differently to improve the situation?"

Player recruitment aka Why do we keep signing oft injured players released by other clubs? - Is it really a surprise when players like Loft and Prosser (average 30 and 19 games over 9 seasons respectively) have injury problems? Or when players like Doyley and Grandison, released elsewhere due to injury problems, don't make a miraculous recovery and play every game? Sometimes it works out well, as in Porter's case, but too often it looks like a misguided gamble.

Player retention - Why do so many players seem intent on leaving the club at the earliest opportunity? McGreal said this is club players want to sign for but there is little evidence to support that of late. This off season was particularly bad but it's been going on for a while. Are we simply not paying enough? Is it the length of contracts on offer? Is it down to personalities?

Management - We have a had a high turnover of managers/first team coaches over the last few years. The chairman's vision for this role seems the same as for players...home grown, via the Academy, is best. But is it? Does being a good coach of young players necessarily mean you are the right person to manage the first XI? I'm pretty certain not every manager would be the best person to coach young players so I suspect the answer is "no". My own feeling is that a squad of relatively young players, particularly the one we have now with no obvious leaders on the pitch, would really benefit from someone who has far greater managerial experience than McGreal or any other of our coaches has.

Where are we (am I) going? - Events over the summer and the poor start to the season have really sapped my enthusiasm for the club. Not just attending matches but the club itself. I'm increasingly of the opinion that things are getting worse and will continue to do so before they get better. I have numerous call on my limited leisure time and I can't do everything I would like. Repeated poor performances by Col U since we moved to Cuckoo Farm do little to persuade me that spending every other Saturday there is better than other things I could be doing (If Essex ever decide to play cricket at weekends again then it will be an easy decision!)

Last season offered some respite in that we actually won some home games but the football on offer was generally of a poor standard and I felt somewhat disengaged. That feeling has grown significantly since this season started and I see nothing in the pipeline to make me think anything will change for the better.

Chairman - There are some that seem to believe the club is nothing without Robbie Cowling. Why? As far as I can tell, we have had numerous chairman and other directors throughout the club's history and I suspect very much there will be others after the current chairman departs, however that may happen.

I think he would do himself and many fans a big favour by seeking outside investment (there are people out there who want to do it) and expanding the board beyond Tony Humes and Richard Hall. Cowling's philosophy may bear fruit at some point but I don't think it would do anyone any harm to have new/different views expressed by people with other experience. At the moment I feel everything comes to what the chairman wants he gets and I'm not convinced we are heading in a direction I'm prepared to follow for much longer.

Final word to Albert Einstein - "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
[Post edited 22 Aug 2017 18:05]


Very well put LB
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 10:49 - Aug 23 with 1509 viewsMoor_Pinot

I fear there may be much in what you write Whalers.
Indeed your last comment [quote] resounds as potentially a key.

Just hope it is otherwise.

For 4 or 5 seasons there has been a discernible pattern of management within the Club and it is hard not to attribute this fully or partly to the unavoidably clear decline.
Something fundamental is underpinning this and the resulting elements which you have listed and commented upon.

I remain grateful that Mr Cowling enables me to still have my club to follow. But if he is indeed building something that is only sustainable then I am worried.
If the laudable and enviable [to some] academy is so great then big clubs would be snapping up the resultant gems from our youth. So far this doesn't seem to be happening although I am grateful for Szmodics and Kent in particular. Instead it feels like we are producing from there a better version of Maldon & Tiptree FC to play at a SUSTAINBLE {?} step 2? If so we'll be in the National League South before long.
Bigger clubs than us - York City & Stockport County, along with Kidderminster Harriers already inhabit those places whether we like to admit it or not.
That may be a Colchester United the current club set-up would recognise but it isn't my vision.

It was sad to read your list of elements and the post from the normally positive and realistic Noah about his disillusionment and comment about strikers.
The striker issue is truly baffling and I suppose Jabo will score at least one when we play Cambridge. He was Colchester United through and through and should have been retained. It's history now and I don't want our history to show any more decline if we can help it.

We're 3 games in so I guess much can and could change. Let's hope it does.

Up the U's

Moor Pinot

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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 21:09 - Aug 23 with 1459 viewsLeadbelly

Why do we discard so many strikers? on 10:49 - Aug 23 by Moor_Pinot

I fear there may be much in what you write Whalers.
Indeed your last comment [quote] resounds as potentially a key.

Just hope it is otherwise.

For 4 or 5 seasons there has been a discernible pattern of management within the Club and it is hard not to attribute this fully or partly to the unavoidably clear decline.
Something fundamental is underpinning this and the resulting elements which you have listed and commented upon.

I remain grateful that Mr Cowling enables me to still have my club to follow. But if he is indeed building something that is only sustainable then I am worried.
If the laudable and enviable [to some] academy is so great then big clubs would be snapping up the resultant gems from our youth. So far this doesn't seem to be happening although I am grateful for Szmodics and Kent in particular. Instead it feels like we are producing from there a better version of Maldon & Tiptree FC to play at a SUSTAINBLE {?} step 2? If so we'll be in the National League South before long.
Bigger clubs than us - York City & Stockport County, along with Kidderminster Harriers already inhabit those places whether we like to admit it or not.
That may be a Colchester United the current club set-up would recognise but it isn't my vision.

It was sad to read your list of elements and the post from the normally positive and realistic Noah about his disillusionment and comment about strikers.
The striker issue is truly baffling and I suppose Jabo will score at least one when we play Cambridge. He was Colchester United through and through and should have been retained. It's history now and I don't want our history to show any more decline if we can help it.

We're 3 games in so I guess much can and could change. Let's hope it does.

Up the U's


Returning to the main topic, if Denny Johnstone does depart we are left with 4 first team strikers...Mandron, Guthrie, Issa and McKewon. With one league goal between the three fit players it's not an arsenal of weapons to strike fear throughout League 2.

I've never seen Issa play and McKewon wasn't even listed as a first team player yesterday. Conspiracy theorists may have some ideas about what is going on.

As an aside, it's worth having a look at the photographs of the first XI on the official website. Youthful in the extreme.

Poll: Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 07:44 - Aug 24 with 1417 viewsnoah4x4

Leadbelly said.......Conspiracy theorists may have some ideas about what is going on.

Issa OK
McKwhoswon nothing.
Guthrie is no gut thrie more weeks
Johnson sounds like a Dun deeal?
Bring ya boots Lead!
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 10:00 - Aug 24 with 1405 viewsLeadbelly

Why do we discard so many strikers? on 07:44 - Aug 24 by noah4x4

Leadbelly said.......Conspiracy theorists may have some ideas about what is going on.

Issa OK
McKwhoswon nothing.
Guthrie is no gut thrie more weeks
Johnson sounds like a Dun deeal?
Bring ya boots Lead!


Going to a BBQ on Saturday rather than football but I'll be available for Cambridge. Bet I score too!

Poll: Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 17:55 - Aug 24 with 1364 viewsLeadbelly

https://www.cu-fc.com/news/2017/august/johnstone-to-st-johnstone/

And some more questions...

Why are we agreeing to a loan deal for one of our very few strikers when we clearly have nobody lined up as a replacement?

What happens if we can't/don't sign a striker in the week available before the transfer window closes?

What happens if Mandron gets injured?

What does the club think the fans are feeling at the moment?

Is Moody still involved in player recruitment or is the DoF now dealing with this?

What must McGreal think about his depleted options?

How do the remaining players feel about the situation?

How keen will Dickenson, Guthrie, Kent, Lapslie and Wright be to sign the new contract each has been offered?

What on earth is going on at Colchester United?

Poll: Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

0
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 18:49 - Aug 24 with 1348 viewsthrillseeker

Why do we discard so many strikers? on 17:55 - Aug 24 by Leadbelly

https://www.cu-fc.com/news/2017/august/johnstone-to-st-johnstone/

And some more questions...

Why are we agreeing to a loan deal for one of our very few strikers when we clearly have nobody lined up as a replacement?

What happens if we can't/don't sign a striker in the week available before the transfer window closes?

What happens if Mandron gets injured?

What does the club think the fans are feeling at the moment?

Is Moody still involved in player recruitment or is the DoF now dealing with this?

What must McGreal think about his depleted options?

How do the remaining players feel about the situation?

How keen will Dickenson, Guthrie, Kent, Lapslie and Wright be to sign the new contract each has been offered?

What on earth is going on at Colchester United?




Worrying times
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 22:12 - Aug 24 with 1313 viewsgerry_us

OK fellow boarders.
How many of you have still got your old footy boots in loft?
It seems we may be needed soon. I would fancy a spell between the sticks but if necessary can fill in at full back as my early club had a surfeit of keepers and so often played LB and RB.
I'm sure Noah could become the axis in defence while Durham could spearhead the attack.
I think we will still need a few more. Who is up for it?
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 13:12 - Aug 25 with 1250 viewsnoah4x4

Oi Gerry, don't make me the "axle" else people will blame me when its wheels fall off.

I am now convinced there is a radical announcement to be made next week. Having savagedly cleared the decks and reduced the wage bill, Humes can afford to sign somebody really decent, and there are dozens out of contract still available.

The transfer window only gets interesting, about now when the overpaid arrogant types realise they are soon out of work, start ignoring their agent and let their domestic circumstances not their egos dictate their brains.
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 13:42 - Aug 25 with 1240 viewsthrillseeker

Why do we discard so many strikers? on 13:12 - Aug 25 by noah4x4

Oi Gerry, don't make me the "axle" else people will blame me when its wheels fall off.

I am now convinced there is a radical announcement to be made next week. Having savagedly cleared the decks and reduced the wage bill, Humes can afford to sign somebody really decent, and there are dozens out of contract still available.

The transfer window only gets interesting, about now when the overpaid arrogant types realise they are soon out of work, start ignoring their agent and let their domestic circumstances not their egos dictate their brains.


I hope you are right Noah
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 11:11 - Aug 26 with 1165 viewsburnsieespana

So do I.
As u say a fair number of decent players still to find a club so hopefully we can pick a couple up.
Anybody know if the Sky money we got for the Cup game counts for this year or next under FP rules?
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Why do we discard so many strikers? on 16:53 - Aug 26 with 1141 viewsgerry_us

Johnstone could and should have been playing against Forest Green today but instead finds himself playing minor league football against Celtic. Strange innit?
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