How can we stop this downward spiral and survive this season?

[Spike]

two things need to happen the board need to get the cheque book out. not break the bank but at least give us more hope.

The second thing is the fans need to show our desire. We rarely lose when the Turf rocks. all this moaning is hitting the players confidence especially the Right Backs

[summitclaret]

I bet the board wish now that they had been prepared to pay more to secure Kelvin Philips. More importantly, they must have had a discussion about Mooy. Why was he not considered seriously? It was a no brainer and a perfect fit for us.

[summitclaret]

two things need to happen the board need to get the cheque book out. not break the bank but at least give us more hope.

The second thing is the fans need to show our desire. We rarely lose when the Turf rocks. all this moaning is hitting the players confidence especially the Right Backs

I agree with that, but don't think anything will effect Bardsley. I know going forward he ain't up to much overlapping, but we need his fight more than ever. If we had another rb, I would be tempted to put him in a 3 man cm and let him do a Kevin Ball.

[Right_winger]

Getting rid of Dyche and signing some good younger players with a bit of pace wouldn’t go amiss.

[houseboy]

You do realise that the current board have spent more on players than all the rest of the boards put together in the history of our club ?
And that our wage bill is the highest in our history by a significant margin ?
You might think that if the board sold all the players you mentioned and received £100m in transfer fees that they would just let it sit in the Bank doing god knows what but that’s 100% not what I believe.
As I said nobody is happy with the current position we find ourselves in but that doesn’t mean it all doom and gloom for ever and a day and that we should start re-writing history.
What good do you think not investing in the team would do the current board of directors ? Do you think they would suddenly start to take money out and paying themselves big dividends when they have not taken a penny out so far ?
Do you think it would increase the value of the club if we had all this money in the bank and a team drifting towards division one ?

None of us can predict the future of the club. But you can look at what they have done in the past and either hope they will continue to act in that way or assume they are going to act in a completely different way - you seem to be opting for the latter.

And my monthly council tax is more than my annual one 30 years or more ago. It's not a great argument comparing past expenditure with current because inflation in football surpasses even that in Venezuala. As for the actions of the board I really don't know, none of us do, but they haven't spent the money required on an ongoing basis to sustain PL football, that is obvious. And when they have they often sit on the bench waiting for an opportunity that never comes. Vydra and Gibson come to mind. How much did we spend on those two players never used (or hardly)? 25/30 million (can't put an exact figure on it without looking it up). Gibson doesn't get a chance even when the current incumbents lose form (apart from the odd cup game). The Vydra situation is nothing short of farcical. Of course that's not the board's fault but it may I suppose explain why they are loathe to spend money to invest.
Something needs to change at the club, it's no good saying that what we have done in the past has served us well, things move on and you have to move on with them or get left behind. Personally I won't lose any sleep if we do go down because it may be more fun in the Championship. I don't WANT us to go down but it's not the end of the world if we do. But if we do want to be a PL club for any length of time then the old conservative way of doing things needs to be drastically changed. We may yet survive this season and I am still kind of hopeful but if we do we will need to spend a king's ransom to avoid a worse situation next season. To think that we can continue running a PL club on a shoestring is just plain niaive.
By the way mate I'm not having a go, it's just like everyone else I'm concerned by the current situation which doesn't look like getting any better any time soon.

[Woonderbah]

I bet the board wish now that they had been prepared to pay more to secure Kelvin Philips. More importantly, they must have had a discussion about Mooy. Why was he not considered seriously? It was a no brainer and a perfect fit for us.

It's equally frustrating that Mooy went to Brighton on a season long loan so no need to gamble £20m (?) of the budget in one go. Would imagine Huddersfield's wage structure not too dissimilar to our own.

[jrgbfc]

A new signing or two would give the whole club a lift. As would coming out on Sunday and playing a bit more positively, instead of sitting off and letting Leicester get control of the game. If we're going to get beat anyway let's at least go down swinging.

[Corky]

two things need to happen the board need to get the cheque book out. not break the bank but at least give us more hope.

The second thing is the fans need to show our desire. We rarely lose when the Turf rocks. all this moaning is hitting the players confidence especially the Right Backs

I agree with both of these but can't decide which will be the more difficult to achieve. With regard to the first the Chairman may decide to risk doing nothing in the hope that 3 other teams perform worse than us. He is, after all taking a long term view to try to safeguard the Club and that means looking at us being a solvent reasonably successful Club in not just 5 years time but in 50 years time. On another thread someone was on about the Club planning for the Championship and of course they are and I hope they continue to do so every year. The Chairman has to take a pragmatic approach and if he doesn't think the risk isn't worth taking then he will not buy anyone this window. i would like him to buy at least one quality midfield player should one exist that fits our criteria!!!..but if we don't then so be it.

The second point is I fear equally difficult to resolve. Both my son and I travelled up to watch the Burnley - Chelsea match; frankly I wish we had not bothered. My son lives in Wandsworth and I live in Fleet Hampshire neither of us could be arsed to get tickets for the return match even though it is an
incredibly easy journey for us both. The football on offer that we have seen this season thus far has been little short of abysmal. So on Friday night I went to Teddington Soul night, had a skin full and a lie in on Saturday to recharge my batteries for another Soul night in Weymouth. As someone whose first love is, yes you've guessed it soul Music it will take a lot to win me back.

[Barry_Chuckle]

It's equally frustrating that Mooy went to Brighton on a season long loan so no need to gamble £20m (?) of the budget in one go. Would imagine Huddersfield's wage structure not too dissimilar to our own.

Huddersfield fan I know told me he was on £70k per week, they need to ship him out as they couldn't afford him in the Championship.

[summitclaret]

Huddersfield fan I know told me he was on £70k per week, they need to ship him out as they couldn't afford him in the Championship.

Well if true that's why we did not go there. I find it hard to believe that it is true though. If it is, then football really has gone mad.

[Stayingup]

I genuinely don't think it is personal, I just don't think Vydra's style suits the tactics that Dyche has decided to adopt. No point having Vydra up top or as a number 10 in behind the striker when the plan is to hit long, high balls into/around the box.

As for surviving this season, a signing or two would definitely help, but most importantly we have to get back to what we used to do best, not give teams time on the ball and be the hardest working team out there, every remaining match.

If Vydra doent suit the style and tactics why was he bought I wonder?

[Healeywoodclaret]

Drop down .
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I've missed you!
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Come back up.






Worse things have happened!

[Healeywoodclaret]

Haven't been on the board for months. But not sure whether Pope's firm has been discussed. Definitely not as confident or as good as he was before he was injured.

[burnleymik]

If Vydra doent suit the style and tactics why was he bought I wonder?

That's the 10 million pound question!

[agreenwood]

Personally I'd say the real issue is the lack of first team signings over the past few years. We have too many players who have been playing at the peak of their ability and there is only so long that you can keep that up week in and week out. You can't expect to maintain the same levels of effort and desire year in, year out, when there is little pressure being put on your position.

I think it's probably going to be a case of bumbling through this season and hopefully scraping enough points to stay up but the squad will need a serious overhaul in summer. People have been pointing out for a while that we have an old squad but we haven't really reacted to that.

Pretty much this ^^^^^ to sum the last two seasons up.

It’s gone stale. IF we survive this season and don’t make significant changes, relegation next season will be extremely hard to avoid.

The club’s reasons for struggling so badly in the transfer market may well be valid and understandable, but if they don’t find a way to overcome their recruitment challenges we’re not long for this division.

[jrgbfc]

If Vydra doent suit the style and tactics why was he bought I wonder?

He was a panic buy when we realised West Brom weren't going to budge over Jay Rod.

[JohnMac]

Had we beaten Villa on New Years Day I doubt the sudden current negativity would have existed at all.

It's one defeat in what most thought was a winnable game. I can't see why there was an expectation for the other games especially when Everton were under new management and the others were established top clubs.

[burnleymik]

Had we beaten Villa on New Years Day I doubt the sudden current negativity would have existed at all.

It's one defeat in what most thought was a winnable game. I can't see why there was an expectation for the other games especially when Everton were under new management and the others were established top clubs.

I think it was more about the manner of the defeat, at home, to a relegation rival. (the Villa match).

The Everton match, I agree it was unique circumstances, but I was there and we didn't even put up a fight.

I honestly think people are more concerned at how much we look like we are struggling on the pitch, than the defeats themselves.

[JohnMac]

I think it was more about the manner of the defeat, at home, to a relegation rival. (the Villa match).

The Everton match, I agree it was unique circumstances, but I was there and we didn't even put up a fight.

I honestly think people are more concerned at how much we look like we are struggling on the pitch, than the defeats themselves.

Don't disagree mate but it has kickstarted an unhealthy vibe. Loads of people have had this horrible bug that's been around since early December, it makes you feel lethargic amongst other things.

Of course that can't be a factor 'cause only paying fans are allowed to be ill not rich footballers

[UpTheClaretsFCBK]

Had we beaten Villa on New Years Day I doubt the sudden current negativity would have existed at all.

It's one defeat in what most thought was a winnable game. I can't see why there was an expectation for the other games especially when Everton were under new management and the others were established top clubs.

People were shocked we lost that game. We're usually very consistent against the bottom half sides, especially at home.

Otherwise we wouldn't get away with being so poor against the top 6.

[Devils_Advocate]

Pretty much this ^^^^^ to sum the last two seasons up.

It’s gone stale. IF we survive this season and don’t make significant changes, relegation next season will be extremely hard to avoid.

The club’s reasons for struggling so badly in the transfer market may well be valid and understandable, but if they don’t find a way to overcome their recruitment challenges we’re not long for this division.

aggi and agreenwood very much reflect my thoughts. I think we'll stay up this season coming 16th or 17th but I have no confidence we will make the significant improvements needed to our post summer 2017 recruitment performance to stop the decline.

I think next year we will find ourselves entrenched in the bottom three and the real worry for me is that we will drop back to the Championship with and ageing squad and a real air of despondency throughout the club that will really impact our ability to bounce back

The last time we went down under Dyche we went down fighting and full of spirit but if things continue as they are next time we might just drift away with little more than a whimper

[levraiclaret]

Bump

[ElectroClaret]

Getting rid of Dyche and signing some good younger players with a bit of pace wouldn’t go amiss.

[Dy1geo]

Don’t know if it was on here or the “book of face” but one Burnley fan put £100 on us being relegated at 4/1 after Villa game claiming it would sweeten the blow if we went down. Wonder how he/she is feeling now or if anyone else has done it.

[mdd2]

I think 37pts from 27 games is even better than what we had in the 17-18 season when we had 54points from 38 at the end
But If kept this ratio up we could have about 52 at the end of season
Our last 11 games in 2017-18 produced some great results let’s see if we can beat even that record
Six points off Liverpool and City would be fine

[FactualFrank]

Don’t know if it was on here or the “book of face” but one Burnley fan put £100 on us being relegated at 4/1 after Villa game claiming it would sweeten the blow if we went down. Wonder how he/she is feeling now or if anyone else has done it.

I did it a few seasons ago, and the odds were the same 4/1, but it was more than £100 I placed. I felt the same as I'm sure he/she does - glad I lost the money.

[Iloveyoubrady]

Six points off Liverpool and City would be fine

I don’t think so

[taio]

Some people will never learn...some hilarious comments

[burnleymik]

To be fair to some of the comments on this thread we were looking like we were in serious trouble, I can't imagine many people can disagree with that given the results we were getting and the way we were playing.

That said the turn around has, once again, been magnificent. A pleasure to watch that yesterday.

[Funkydrummer]

Some do look a bit silly now on here.

[BennyD]

That’s why, to me, SD can do no wrong; however bad it gets, he finds a way to flip it on it’s head. Sure, he has been forced into changing his starting 11, but the fact that those waiting to come in are champing at the bit shows how good things are behind the scenes. The team spirit is such that they are hurting a lot more than us when things turn bad, but work well together to get us out of that hole. MOTD got it bang on; Moanrinho was bemoaning the fact that his two best strikers were out injured whereas SD said it was a great chance for those coming in, to replace our best two strikers, to grab the shirt. It’s only a small difference but it shows what man management, not asset management, is all about.

[ksrclaret]

If you wanted to dig up a thread to have a 'look at me I told you so' moment, you surely could have done better than this one?

[taio]

If you wanted to dig up a thread to have a 'look at me I told you so' moment, you surely could have done better than this one?

Good point. He could've just searched against your posts.

[ksrclaret]

Good point. He could've just searched against your posts.

Good one taio. Yours too.

[Clarethalffull]

We have slipped to 9th with Wolves leading Norwich. Things have clearly become stale again.

DYCHE OUT!!!

[lakedistrictclaret]

We have slipped to 9th with Wolves leading Norwich. Things have clearly become stale again.

DYCHE OUT!!!

Yes, and we'll be 10th after the Arsenal v Everton game.

We're doomed, I tell you!