Strafford

I'm sure a few have met him though. Nice enough bloke for all that I totally disagree with a number of things that happened under his watch. I'm sure we will debate the pros and cons of his decisions now and into the future with I'm sure a fair bit of personal abuse thrown his way by those who don't know him, but I can't see the problem with at least acknowledging his efforts, as misguided as some of them were.

Sounds messy, but toot toot

I might be biased, but have no doubt Wells is red and blue.

And the rest. I know people like to think journos make everything up, but lots of leaking goes on.

What are you saying mate? Are we about to be demolished?

After being converted very early to the cause by my United mad grandfather I can actually still remember us being relegated. I think I was 7 or 8 at the time. I think those growing up in the Premier league era don't realise our struggles post Busby Babes and pre SAF. Bring on those trophies I say, because who knows when the wheel will turn again?

For the good of the club he had to step down and for all that he made a number of mistakes he tried to do his best for the club in difficult circumstances.

I think you can both consider his decline tragic, but at the same time abhor his recent actions.

Probably a good fit for Tebow. There isn't any doubt who the starting QB is so his legion of fans can't agitate to make him the no 1. If he is as good a locker room guy as most say he is then why not I guess. On my Bengals front. Our big boy right tackle Smith has scored his new contract and gone awol with private issues. The guy loves a feed so we may need to start moving him around with a forklift once he turns up.

Just a question mate. You know the Satyr. Do you think he presents himself well on the forums?

People shouldn't generalise, but they do. The Satyr himself who loves to generalise about groups of people with broad sweeping statements is giving you guys and girls a bad rep by association. Not fair, but it is what it is. Many on the forums don't have the benefit of interacting with him in the real world where I am sure he is full of charm and gentle wit. His on-line personna on the other hand does scream nutter

Hopefully it wasn't intended, but the first sentence of your post came across as pretty condescending mate. There have been a number of pretty thoughtful well articulated arguments by both those for and against Neeld being sacked. I don't see any reason to believe that what Neeld says to the media about experience is any different to what he tells players behind closed doors, as it does seem a core belief, which as I wrote isn't without validity.He certainly used it prematch last season against the Suns. I just don't think he recognises the negatives associated with continually making reference to something that is for the most part out of the players control. There are ways at AFL level to mitigate experience deficits in relation to player performance. One is, as we have done, bring in mature age guys from the lesser leagues. These guys generally have bodies up to the rigours of AFL football and have played in a better standard of comp than the various underage ones for at least a few years. Thus why players such as M.Jones and Terlich have been a couple of our better performers. I don't like how Neeld continually lumps our mature aged recruits and the kids into the same basket though.The mature agers should get it before the kids. Another is to have strong well defined roles within solid structures on matchday. I don't think we have that. Neeld continually refers to our inexperience yet overloaded them with theory with his "University of football" thus as Rawlings stated having to go back to the basics around the GWS game. If you have a number of inexperienced players you need to keep it simple. As you rightly say we probably haven't enough experienced players to show our kids the right ropes as that is another way to fast track development. I doubt anyone would have said Port had strong leaders last season or when Richmond were struggling with both a young and inexperienced side. Yes he did mention skill issues, but J.Viney and Terlich are actually averaging more clangers than the guys he probably means such as Dunn and Jordie. We have a number of guys whose clanger rate considering their possession average and disposal percentage for their position isn't great. Across all categories of players mature age retreads, kids, experienced players pre Neeld, those we have traded for and the mature agers from lower leagues. If we are training the house down why can't guys hit targets when in the clear? I honestly don't believe where we are is all Neeld's fault, but I also think he has exacerbated a few things. In my mind it has to be seen as a failure that we have been poor in our opening games, but more damning much worse in our second ones. Given his penchant for quoting history, surely he was aware that games with emotional significance can go a number of ways, one of those is badly once the emotional energy runs out. In my mind he badly mishandled the aftermath of our first game last season with predictable results. I continually have " say what" moments when I listen to him. For example his Toumpas comment, linking him with Hogan due to his hip problems. If Neeld believes Toumpas is behind the eight ball due to physical issues then why set him up to fail in round one. Why risk his confidence? I don't think it is as simple as Neeld sucks, but nor do I believe that he is just a victim of our club. He said himself " I do things my way"

A very good post Redleg. I could quibble with a few areas where I don't totally agree with you, but that would only detract from what I think is overall a very heartfelt addition to the discussion

Rawlings said prematch that we went back to basics around the West Coast, GWS game so I'm not sure we can be confident that the structure we are seeing now is how Neeld sees us playing in the future. Does that mean that how we set up in the Port and Bombers game is more indicative of our future structure, again hard to tell because there was undoubtedly a great deal of confusion with the structures, coupled with poor execution.

To me the experience issue is a double edged sword. It does have validity as a reason as to why we play as do, although our expectations of mature aged recruits such as M.Jones should be higher in the here and now, thus they should be viewed as a different category. I believe the experience mantra, (which is obviously a key message that Neeld uses) is a double edged sword because it is something the players have little control over. The players also can't add 100 games experience in the here and now by training hard etc etc that is down to time. To me part of a coaches job is to sell self belief and to build confidence, which is vital at the elite levels of any sport. If you continually tell them why they are unlikely to win and that reason is beyond their control, is it any wonder that their self belief is so fragile and that they so often lack the confidence to execute?

Where are you going here mate? Do you want the mods to remove the keep the coach posts in the sack Neeld threads as well? A statement is made let the debate begin pro and con.

That was part of the reason for the tension between Clarkson and himself I would imagine, although they are both strong personalities so some butting of heads would have been inevitable. Pelchen probably should cop a bit of a whack as well. He certainly was given a nice foundation by the recruiters before him, but rolled the dice on few high draft picks with injury and character concerns. Two pick sixes down the tubes etc etc despite some successes.

I'm sure he does, but it does indicate that he is a bit liberal with the truth. Personally I think a bit of beating bushes is going on to find some alternative leaders at the club. Surely the AFL, for all that he does have some traits skills etc that could help us, realise how divisive he could end up being.

Unfortunately his political views are relevant, just because of the polarising impact they have. I do think he possesses some attributes and skills that would be very desirable for us to have in our president, but he also has more than a few traits that could be very harmful. Not to mention the baggage attached to his previous comments about the club and of course his public life.

You mean the Demetriou who fined us for something he doesn't believe exists

Which is why the AFL will not let us fold.

Stranger things have happened The Pies aren't travelling that well and a few of the guys, still with us from back then, can reflect on how well a young inexperienced Demons outfit did against them twice when they won the flag in 2010. I'd be gobsmacked if we did win and I do realise that we didn't actually win one of those games in 2010, but at least we were in the contest dammit. Did I mention we were young and inexperienced back then...

Great post FerdDaDee. Now get down to the club and inspire the troops

Bored, slinging mud....You aren't by any chance fighting orcs?