Blyth Spartans

[Darlopartisan]

And another manager bites the dust.

[H1987]

They had a decent start but they're in freefall right now. I actually think this season they really shouldn't be, there's enough about their squad to stay up. Arguably they deserve to go down after the last few years, but I like the local away game.

[Darlopartisan]

Only one team relegated this season

[H1987]

They look more than capable of being that team, based on current form. They started ok, but they're in absolute freefall. Probably a good decision to move him on, but not sure who else they'll be able to get in. Wonder what Martin Grey is up to...

[Darlopartisan]

Steve Watson might be tempted

[Quaker85]

I think Alun made the correct decision in releasing the players he did in the summer that ended up back there. We have much better replacements IMO.


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[Old Git]

I think Alun made the correct decision in releasing the players he did in the summer that ended up back there. We have much better replacements IMO.


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Totally agree even if we could not replace them straight away we now have a stronger squad in place. Struggling to think of any of those players who left who would now be in our first eleven this season.

[PierremontQuaker03]

I can see Steve Watson going there (without Micky Cummings). His stock has fallen massively, as others have, failing at York. You basically have the best budget in the league, full-time, and they continue to play hoofball. York are seriously screwed, all the money that the owner is flushing down the toilet, he will want back at some point, they would probably have a better chance if they went part time, then they would be able to pick up the best part time players in the area.

[bga]

I think Alun made the correct decision in releasing the players he did in the summer that ended up back there. We have much better replacements IMO.


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Some players chose to leave of course not all were released.

[bigdavethemaddog]

I can see Steve Watson going there (without Micky Cummings). His stock has fallen massively, as others have, failing at York. You basically have the best budget in the league, full-time, and they continue to play hoofball. York are seriously screwed, all the money that the owner is flushing down the toilet, he will want back at some point, they would probably have a better chance if they went part time, then they would be able to pick up the best part time players in the area.

once Bootham Crescent is sold for housing then that is his money paid back or certainly a huge chunk of it.

[shildonlad]

I think anyone going to blyth is on a hiding to nowt. As for watson he did well at gateshead on a low budget and got the best out of a young squad, sad to see him go when he left but he obviously knew about the shyte to follow more than most. Who is actually in charge at blyth at the moment?

[AndyPark]

Who is actually in charge at blyth at the moment?

Nobody, as per the original post

[shildonlad]

Who is actually in charge at blyth at the moment?

Nobody, as per the original post

Must be someone in charge even as a caretaker

[Vokuhila]

I reckon some people will be saying Jos Gugullit.

Either that or Michael Barron and Stephen Turnbull maybe.

Your guess is as good as mine though.

[Ghost_Of_1883]

A certain sense of satisfaction is what I'm feeling right now.

I remember in the summer talking about the players that had left - at the time I genuinely felt the following and articulated it in a post...

Reid - Evostik player

Watson - see Reid

Liddle - over rated, good going forward but actually not that great a defender.

Maguire - maybe the biggest loss purely based on past reputation and not what he did for us.

I also talked about Adam "needs 50 shots to score one goal" Campbell in the same post as they all basically walked at the same time - though of course Campbell didn't come from Blyth nor go back there.

Basically no real loss, apart from "maybe" Campbell. But anyway...

When I said this, and others said similar, we were hit with "this is just a case of well I never fancied her much anyway" from a certain all knowing message board member - I won't name any names but he'll fight to the death over any trivia.

[Darlogramps]

A certain sense of satisfaction is what I'm feeling right now.

I remember in the summer talking about the players that had left - at the time I genuinely felt the following and articulated it in a post...

Reid - Evostik player

Watson - see Reid

Liddle - over rated, good going forward but actually not that great a defender.

Maguire - maybe the biggest loss purely based on past reputation and not what he did for us.

I also talked about Adam "needs 50 shots to score one goal" Campbell in the same post as they all basically walked at the same time - though of course Campbell didn't come from Blyth nor go back there.

Basically no real loss, apart from "maybe" Campbell. But anyway...

When I said this, and others said similar, we were hit with "this is just a case of well I never fancied her much anyway" from a certain all knowing message board member - I won't name any names but he'll fight to the death over any trivia.

Hmmm - wonder who you’re referring to.

Your recall isn’t that great either I’m afraid. I actually agreed with you on the first three, if you look back over the thread.

The two I questioned were Campbell and Maguire. Pretty much everyone said Campbell was the biggest loss out of those (albeit he hasn’t gone to Blyth). Campbell was averaging two attacking returns (a goal or assist) every three matches which was a pretty solid return. I still think you’re being harsh on him. Of those that left, I think Campbell would get into our current XI.

On Maguire, at the time I think the consensus was, if he was fully fit, he could have played an important role for us. But as time goes on it’s clear he’s not been the same since going to York.

I just find it interesting how whenever players leave, instantly fans come out saying they’re glad they’ve gone and they were never that good anyway. When Turnbull went, we had fans saying: “Well he never scored that many.”

It’s a form of tribalism, as if to say: “How dare they leave us, well we didn’t want him anyhow”.

[Old Git]

A certain sense of satisfaction is what I'm feeling right now.

I remember in the summer talking about the players that had left - at the time I genuinely felt the following and articulated it in a post...

Reid - Evostik player

Watson - see Reid

Liddle - over rated, good going forward but actually not that great a defender.

Maguire - maybe the biggest loss purely based on past reputation and not what he did for us.

I also talked about Adam "needs 50 shots to score one goal" Campbell in the same post as they all basically walked at the same time - though of course Campbell didn't come from Blyth nor go back there.

Basically no real loss, apart from "maybe" Campbell. But anyway...

When I said this, and others said similar, we were hit with "this is just a case of well I never fancied her much anyway" from a certain all knowing message board member - I won't name any names but he'll fight to the death over any trivia.

Hmmm - wonder who you’re referring to.

Your recall isn’t that great either I’m afraid. I actually agreed with you on the first three, if you look back over the thread.

The two I questioned were Campbell and Maguire. Pretty much everyone said Campbell was the biggest loss out of those (albeit he hasn’t gone to Blyth). Campbell was averaging two attacking returns (a goal or assist) every three matches which was a pretty solid return. I still think you’re being harsh on him. Of those that left, I think Campbell would get into our current XI.

On Maguire, at the time I think the consensus was, if he was fully fit, he could have played an important role for us. But as time goes on it’s clear he’s not been the same since going to York.

I just find it interesting how whenever players leave, instantly fans come out saying they’re glad they’ve gone and they were never that good anyway. When Turnbull went, we had fans saying: “Well he never scored that many.”

It’s a form of tribalism, as if to say: “How dare they leave us, well we didn’t want him anyhow”.

I was very much in agreement with Ghost of1883 at the time over the players that left us in the summer and nothing since has changed my mind. I disagree about Campbell getting in to current first team. Who would he replace?
Not as good out wide as Rivers or de Santos and certainly not as good as Charman or Cassidy in a central role. We also have Lambert as a creative advanced midfielder/attacker. At best he would have to settle for a place on the bench,possibly at the expense of Mondal.
Our current squad is an improvement on last season as long as we can defend our box better and with Cooper Ellis and Lawlor now in the squad that should happen.

[Beano]

I’d love to have seen Turnbull alongside Hatfield.

[Ghost_Of_1883]

I was very much in agreement with Ghost of1883 at the time over the players that left us in the summer and nothing since has changed my mind. I disagree about Campbell getting in to current first team. Who would he replace?
Not as good out wide as Rivers or de Santos and certainly not as good as Charman or Cassidy in a central role. We also have Lambert as a creative advanced midfielder/attacker. At best he would have to settle for a place on the bench,possibly at the expense of Mondal.
Our current squad is an improvement on last season as long as we can defend our box better and with Cooper Ellis and Lawlor now in the squad that should happen.

Yep.

Although we lost a class act in Sousa, and arguably a decent player in Campbell, I think the likes of Ellis and Cooper are a upgrade on the central defenders last season, Smith is an upgrade on Liddle, Purver an upgrade on Reid, Taylor an upgrade on Saltmer, Griffiths an upgrade on the aging McMahon, Dos Santos more than holds his own in the Sousa role, Lambert and Cassidy offer new dimensions.

It's a shame we've rarely been able to play our strongest team due to injuries to the likes of Smith, Griffiths, Nelson at different points.

[Ghost_Of_1883]

Hmmm - wonder who you’re referring to.

Your recall isn’t that great either I’m afraid. I actually agreed with you on the first three, if you look back over the thread.

The two I questioned were Campbell and Maguire. Pretty much everyone said Campbell was the biggest loss out of those (albeit he hasn’t gone to Blyth). Campbell was averaging two attacking returns (a goal or assist) every three matches which was a pretty solid return. I still think you’re being harsh on him. Of those that left, I think Campbell would get into our current XI.

On Maguire, at the time I think the consensus was, if he was fully fit, he could have played an important role for us. But as time goes on it’s clear he’s not been the same since going to York.

I just find it interesting how whenever players leave, instantly fans come out saying they’re glad they’ve gone and they were never that good anyway. When Turnbull went, we had fans saying: “Well he never scored that many.”

It’s a form of tribalism, as if to say: “How dare they leave us, well we didn’t want him anyhow”.

To be fair, I don't think you directly accused me of "well I never fancied her anyway", but you certainly said it to others.

Looking back with hindsight we can now add Maguire to the "no loss" category along with the first 3. I'd also controversially add Campbell in because we haven't missed him either.

In fact a Campbell infused team was synonymous with missing a glut of chances every single match.

I know people will say "assists!" - it's easier to score than assist, according to Michael Owen. Some will say "but he scored 16 the season before last" - yeah he did, but 2 or 3 was vs tin pot opposition in the cup, 7 was penalties. My point has always been since day one that he should have scored 30+ that season. Don't get me wrong, he was alright, with a good left foot - but meh, and always meh, on that one. Anyone know how he's doing at Gateshead by the way?

[Old Git]

I was very much in agreement with Ghost of1883 at the time over the players that left us in the summer and nothing since has changed my mind. I disagree about Campbell getting in to current first team. Who would he replace?
Not as good out wide as Rivers or de Santos and certainly not as good as Charman or Cassidy in a central role. We also have Lambert as a creative advanced midfielder/attacker. At best he would have to settle for a place on the bench,possibly at the expense of Mondal.
Our current squad is an improvement on last season as long as we can defend our box better and with Cooper Ellis and Lawlor now in the squad that should happen.

Yep.

Although we lost a class act in Sousa, and arguably a decent player in Campbell, I think the likes of Ellis and Cooper are a upgrade on the central defenders last season, Smith is an upgrade on Liddle, Purver an upgrade on Reid, Taylor an upgrade on Saltmer, Griffiths an upgrade on the aging McMahon, Dos Santos more than holds his own in the Sousa role, Lambert and Cassidy offer new dimensions.

It's a shame we've rarely been able to play our strongest team due to injuries to the likes of Smith, Griffiths, Nelson at different points.

Reading a match report on Grimsby v Southend last night, Sousa was given 9 out of 10 and rated Star Man. Would love to have kept him as he would have been a big fans favourite this season and I think he would have been a great source of goals for Charman and Cassidy. Great shame we never got to see him in the flesh.

[super_les_mcjannet]

Campbell's biggest problem was always felt he needed someone like Cassidy to play alongside him, he had a decent run with O'Neill. However many times due to our weak as piss defence and football has moved on we needed to play the 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, which Campbell done ok out wide but not where he wanted to play.

Funny enough he is playing wide I think for Gateshead with Langstaff and Scott soring most of the goals. Still would rather he had stayed but under the circs I struggle to see where he would play other than out wide, and with us probably opting for Cassidy and Charman more often than not then he would be down the pecking order and maybe his wage would be better spent having Rivers and Dos Santos.

Interestingly one rumour is we may be interested in bolstering our forward line, maybe Nelson's injury is a worry currently.

[super_les_mcjannet]

I was very much in agreement with Ghost of1883 at the time over the players that left us in the summer and nothing since has changed my mind. I disagree about Campbell getting in to current first team. Who would he replace?
Not as good out wide as Rivers or de Santos and certainly not as good as Charman or Cassidy in a central role. We also have Lambert as a creative advanced midfielder/attacker. At best he would have to settle for a place on the bench,possibly at the expense of Mondal.
Our current squad is an improvement on last season as long as we can defend our box better and with Cooper Ellis and Lawlor now in the squad that should happen.

Yep.

Although we lost a class act in Sousa, and arguably a decent player in Campbell, I think the likes of Ellis and Cooper are a upgrade on the central defenders last season, Smith is an upgrade on Liddle, Purver an upgrade on Reid, Taylor an upgrade on Saltmer, Griffiths an upgrade on the aging McMahon, Dos Santos more than holds his own in the Sousa role, Lambert and Cassidy offer new dimensions.

It's a shame we've rarely been able to play our strongest team due to injuries to the likes of Smith, Griffiths, Nelson at different points.

Reading a match report on Grimsby v Southend last night, Sousa was given 9 out of 10 and rated Star Man. Would love to have kept him as he would have been a big fans favourite this season and I think he would have been a great source of goals for Charman and Cassidy. Great shame we never got to see him in the flesh.

Watched a lot of the game, Sousa was always dangerous but his end product should have been better, he did panic Southend defence every time though. Would love to have kept him, he is edge of the seat type player.

[Darlogramps]

A certain sense of satisfaction is what I'm feeling right now.

I remember in the summer talking about the players that had left - at the time I genuinely felt the following and articulated it in a post...

Reid - Evostik player

Watson - see Reid

Liddle - over rated, good going forward but actually not that great a defender.

Maguire - maybe the biggest loss purely based on past reputation and not what he did for us.

I also talked about Adam "needs 50 shots to score one goal" Campbell in the same post as they all basically walked at the same time - though of course Campbell didn't come from Blyth nor go back there.

Basically no real loss, apart from "maybe" Campbell. But anyway...

When I said this, and others said similar, we were hit with "this is just a case of well I never fancied her much anyway" from a certain all knowing message board member - I won't name any names but he'll fight to the death over any trivia.

Hmmm - wonder who you’re referring to.

Your recall isn’t that great either I’m afraid. I actually agreed with you on the first three, if you look back over the thread.

The two I questioned were Campbell and Maguire. Pretty much everyone said Campbell was the biggest loss out of those (albeit he hasn’t gone to Blyth). Campbell was averaging two attacking returns (a goal or assist) every three matches which was a pretty solid return. I still think you’re being harsh on him. Of those that left, I think Campbell would get into our current XI.

On Maguire, at the time I think the consensus was, if he was fully fit, he could have played an important role for us. But as time goes on it’s clear he’s not been the same since going to York.

I just find it interesting how whenever players leave, instantly fans come out saying they’re glad they’ve gone and they were never that good anyway. When Turnbull went, we had fans saying: “Well he never scored that many.”

It’s a form of tribalism, as if to say: “How dare they leave us, well we didn’t want him anyhow”.

I was very much in agreement with Ghost of1883 at the time over the players that left us in the summer and nothing since has changed my mind. I disagree about Campbell getting in to current first team. Who would he replace?
Not as good out wide as Rivers or de Santos and certainly not as good as Charman or Cassidy in a central role. We also have Lambert as a creative advanced midfielder/attacker. At best he would have to settle for a place on the bench,possibly at the expense of Mondal.
Our current squad is an improvement on last season as long as we can defend our box better and with Cooper Ellis and Lawlor now in the squad that should happen.

It’s hard to say who he’d replace because the roles are different. You can’t say he’s not as good as Cassidy for example, because they’re very different players. He’s also different to Rivers and Dos Santos so you can’t compare either.

The nearest of our current players would be Lambert I would say.

I actually think this season there’s a better balance going forward which we lacked last year. It all connects with a clearer gameplan. Put Campbell in this squad, and you get even more out of him. Super Les has made a good point about him needing to play with a second striker.

He put in enough quality displays for us showing the ability he has (e.g. Swindon). Two attacking returns in three games is good for any forward.

[Darlogramps]

Hmmm - wonder who you’re referring to.

Your recall isn’t that great either I’m afraid. I actually agreed with you on the first three, if you look back over the thread.

The two I questioned were Campbell and Maguire. Pretty much everyone said Campbell was the biggest loss out of those (albeit he hasn’t gone to Blyth). Campbell was averaging two attacking returns (a goal or assist) every three matches which was a pretty solid return. I still think you’re being harsh on him. Of those that left, I think Campbell would get into our current XI.

On Maguire, at the time I think the consensus was, if he was fully fit, he could have played an important role for us. But as time goes on it’s clear he’s not been the same since going to York.

I just find it interesting how whenever players leave, instantly fans come out saying they’re glad they’ve gone and they were never that good anyway. When Turnbull went, we had fans saying: “Well he never scored that many.”

It’s a form of tribalism, as if to say: “How dare they leave us, well we didn’t want him anyhow”.

To be fair, I don't think you directly accused me of "well I never fancied her anyway", but you certainly said it to others.

Looking back with hindsight we can now add Maguire to the "no loss" category along with the first 3. I'd also controversially add Campbell in because we haven't missed him either.

In fact a Campbell infused team was synonymous with missing a glut of chances every single match.

I know people will say "assists!" - it's easier to score than assist, according to Michael Owen. Some will say "but he scored 16 the season before last" - yeah he did, but 2 or 3 was vs tin pot opposition in the cup, 7 was penalties. My point has always been since day one that he should have scored 30+ that season. Don't get me wrong, he was alright, with a good left foot - but meh, and always meh, on that one. Anyone know how he's doing at Gateshead by the way?

“He’s meh because he should have scored 30+ goals” is a bit of a daft argument. There’s an awful lot of of meh strikers around if you’re using that logic.

And do I really need to point out he played in two seasons curtailed by COVID? It feels like you’re deliberately setting an unrealistic bar for success to justify your opinion.

And I don’t like the “penalties count less” argument. A goal is a goal.

[jjljks]

Campbell scored for 'Heid at Spenny today, so he is still doing us proud.

[LoidLucan]

Campbell scored for 'Heid at Spenny today, so he is still doing us proud.

Tommy Miller looks nailed on to be the next managerial casualty.

[Darlofan97]

Campbell was very, very good for us. There is a reason why every manager he has played under (including Alun) eventually shifted him out wide (due to his lack of physicality/clinical streak) but out wide and behind the centre-forward (a O'Neill/Charman type) he was excellent. A full season of Adam Campbell in those wide or deep positions, you were guaranteed to get at least 10 (non-penalty) goals and 10 assists across the season, not bad for someone who wouldn't be the main man.

Our loss is Gateshead's gain. Campbell would be our most creative outlet if he was still here, whilst still offering a higher goal threat than Rivers/KDS/Mondal.

[jjljks]

Campbell scored for 'Heid at Spenny today, so he is still doing us proud.

Tommy Miller looks nailed on to be the next managerial casualty.

Lucky that Solskjaer has just become available!

[Old Git]

Campbell scored for 'Heid at Spenny today, so he is still doing us proud.

Tommy Miller looks nailed on to be the next managerial casualty.

Lucky that Solskjaer has just become available!

So has Steve Watson. Perhaps a tad more realistic even if Uncle Brad does have deep pockets.