You can break the club transfer record to sign players who aren’t good enough to get in the team.
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Derby certainly wasn’t as they only got Catrgory 1 in 2014
As Kipper points out above, it is the intentions that have been questioned. Why is Mr Lomtadze throwing so much and for whom?
It’s all about pathways as they said repeatedly.
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Why?
As mentioned they cost a fortune to run. I don’t think we need or will ever have a Cat 1 academy, which is absolutely fine. An academy of any kind is great for a club like ours.
Nice to have @Kipper back.
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I interpreted the Cat 1 academy talk as aspirational and if we were established in the Championship for a good few years at least.
The academy is barely even up and running yet, it will have to prove itself as functional before we can even think about getting Cat 2, nevermind 1 status.
In the 2 months - 9th December until 8th February - we won 5 draw 4 lost 2 in the league. 1.72 points per game OR 79.4 pts over the season.
Compared to the two months before, won 7 drew 2 = 2.55 pts per game or 117.5 pts over the season. Realistically, given Birmingham just set a record points total for tier 3 with 111 pts, nobody was going to maintain that level of points over the course of the season. Yes, we dropped off but not even record breaking Birmingham maintained that level of points over the season.
Dodds record over 3 months was 7-5-7 or if you take the play offs out 7-4-6. 1.47 pts per game or 67.6 pts over the season.
If we want to compare his last two months to Bloomfields last two months:
Dodds was 6-2-6 = 1.42 pts per game or 65 points over the season.
Bloomfield was 7-4-2 = 1.92 pts per game or 88.45 over the season.
That’s right MBs drop off, went from 117.5 points to 88.45 points. Good enough for 3rd this season.
I agree we did have a drop off in the couple of months before Dodds joined from 110+ points in the season to over 75. Sam Grace did a great job in maintaining Bloomfields record of at least play off average over a two month period.
Since Dodds arrival we would have finished 9th on the same points as Blackpool.
MBs last two months would have been 3rd with 88 pts
MB/Grace 2 months would have been 6th with 79 pts.
Dodds last 2 months would have been 9th with 67 pts.
It was an almighty cock up to alienate MB so much that he felt his only choice was to leave the club he loves.
Whilst Mike should be given a chance to try and do his own thing, this sits firmly at the door of Dan Rice. (I know your thoughts @dancing yak so no need to point out I’ve missed EV and ML off this but I disagree 
)
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Don’t forget Shrewsbury away, where we were absolutely brilliant and won 4-1 but don’t let that get in the way of your narrative…
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And Mel morris pretty much busted them, it’s an white elephant for alot of clubs without serious revenues to support them, we are much better building a reputation of a club that gives youngsters chance and sells for profit, which I think we had started to. Then cherry picking the rejected elite club players.
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I’ve heard very similar to your first paragraph and am awaiting news of who gets signed for the academy.
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@Kipper - can you explain the intentions at all? Is it going to just be a front for Kazakhstani player development, for instance?
We know that there are going to be young Kazakh players in the academy, this shouldn’t be news to anyone, the owner said this about a year ago.
Surely they will still be assets of the club and would generate fees if they were to move on.
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I find the whole idea of ML investing in WWFC in order to create an academy for the purpose of then using that to benefit football in Kazakhstan a very strange thing.
However, I find it even stranger to believe that there will be no benefit to WWFC from the academy as was suggested earlier.
How are they going to all get visas?
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If I try and take any emotion out of the argument, then my current grip is more around a question of competence and character, rather than overt malice. I don’t think a successful businessman and people he’s hired (and presumably trusts) would wish to maliciously break their new toy (hmm).
But they could’ve quite easily (or not, maybe I’m being naive) have gone full strongman and removed Blooms at the start to lay down a marker. Or ridden the coattails of success and thought “hey, people love this guy and he’s doing quite well” while quietly building an academy project. And if it had gone belly up, there’s the justification (stay with me) for removing MB, and his staff, in one fell swoop.
But they’ve opted for neither hard tactics, nor pragmatism. Instead they’ve bungled their own bungling by making a series of subtle but insidious backroom changes, followed by a messy managerial change, followed by muddled recruitment, and ultimately a failed promotion bid. Which, as some say, may have still been the outcome under MB.
What really stumps me is some of the counterpoints I read (mainly on Facebook) such as “it’s not in their plan to get promoted yet.” I’m old fashioned but in what world would a football club not wish to preserve a fantastic opportunity at playing in a higher league and all that comes with it? Namely the potential to attract a completely new generation of fans, more sponsors, and more income.
My instinct is we’ll see wholesale changes this summer. Whatever the ‘Wycombe way’ is/was is clearly not compatible with the orthodoxy of the regime. The result could well be ‘taking us to levels we’ve never been before’. It could also be quite sad, and hopefully not disastrous if it doesn’t work out. I think that’s what many are wrestling with, and what many posts (including this one!) are trying to figure out.
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If that is the case then it very much is a question of competence and character. Bungle, bungle.
Please can you just tell us what you would hear from anyone connected with players from other clubs. Aside from the Bloomfield debacle, what other specific incompetence would they reveal? Are we being/going to be blacklisted in some way by players? This would be hugely concerning given your own assertion that most of the players want to leave - is that directly because of the way Rice treated Bloomfield? Or because they dislike Dodds, or both?
I am not certainly distrusting you at all, although in the past we haven’t always got along, I am inclined to trust what you are saying and am genuinely interested in what is happening to our club, but do not have any access at all to those circles so I’m completely in the dark.
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I have heard this too, and of all the asinine attitudes that are possible in football, this might take the cake. You take promotions where you can find them, as they are extremely hard to achieve! I think Rotherham’s bouncing between the divisions (which came with a healthy dose of luck if you look at the actual promotion seasons) perhaps lulled some into thinking being a yo-yo club is a feasible strategy, and you just “pick your time” to get promoted. Spoiler alert: Look at Rotherham’s past season.
If anything, we were “not ready” the first time we went into the Championship, with a laughably small wage bill for the division and no crowds to spur us on. But thanks to Ainsworth, Dobbo, Bloomfield, Bayo, JJ and many others, we actually could and should have stayed up, and had a very creditable season.
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I do not for one second buy the idea that no-one wanted promotion or that players were bought for next season.
We all look for reasons ( however bizarre) to explain inexplicable things so we can believe life is not just a disorganised shit show of random happenings.
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