Pennocks Axe Gone Blunt

[tictactoe]

Yussuf over Harrison any day of the week

[Rigger]

Yussuf over Harrison any day of the week

Yussuf was one of those players who would have had an extension had he played 1 or 2 more games. Cheaper to replace with a young loan player for a few months.

[barrowfan]

Yussuf over Harrison any day of the week

Yussuf was one of those players who would have had an extension had he played 1 or 2 more games. Cheaper to replace with a young loan player for a few months.

Never mind the fact that doing so could cost you your place in the league!

[DaveP]

Really not sure what is going on at all.

I expected when January came around we would see the players we needed and we made in my view a decent start.

New keeper in my view a better pedigree than we had and then a striker again with a better pedigree than what we had.

Next I was expecting a domineering centre half and 2 new good quality midfielders BUT it's all dried up.

Whatever the speculation I really do wonder why it seems to have stopped short of what we need.

[Rigger]

Really not sure what is going on at all.

I expected when January came around we would see the players we needed and we made in my view a decent start.

Its not as if the same thing happened this time last season.....

Adi Yussuf was a contracted player with 100's of appearances and many goals both higher, lower and including of this level being swapped for a 22 year old lad who has played mainly youth football who can be called back at anytime of his ONE MONTH deal hardly smacks of a better pedigree.

[Jim]

Whatever the speculation I really do wonder why it seems to have stopped short of what we need.

A question that must be asked on Friday evening.

[DaveP]

Really not sure what is going on at all.

I expected when January came around we would see the players we needed and we made in my view a decent start.

Its not as if the same thing happened this time last season.....

Adi Yussuf was a contracted player with 100's of appearances and many goals both higher, lower and including of this level being swapped for a 22 year old lad who has played mainly youth football who can be called back at anytime of his ONE MONTH deal hardly smacks of a better pedigree.

It seems at 23 Luke James has made over 170 appearances in the EFL. Wikipedia is sometimes wrong though!

[Rigger]

Its not as if the same thing happened this time last season.....

Adi Yussuf was a contracted player with 100's of appearances and many goals both higher, lower and including of this level being swapped for a 22 year old lad who has played mainly youth football who can be called back at anytime of his ONE MONTH deal hardly smacks of a better pedigree.

It seems at 23 Luke James has made over 170 appearances in the EFL. Wikipedia is sometimes wrong though!

My mistake Ive mixed him up with Lewis Walters.

Still though . 21 goals in 189 appearances is a pretty [SwearFilter] return for a striker.

[DaveP]

Agreed but he must have something perhaps as a winger to play so many games in the EFL at a young age.

[Wintergreen]

Yussuf over Harrison any day of the week

Harrison is a much better striker than Yuseless in my opinion.

Having said that he has been really out of sorts and de-motivated this season and should have been binned. Maybe it was the fact that of last season's relatively successful team he was overlooked by EFL clubs when they came calling despite being our top scorer. I don't rate any of our players and don't know why I still go and watch them.

[spirit of 1990]

Its not as if the same thing happened this time last season.....

So, Cox last season harped on about wanting/needing more players, the squad was lightweight, injuries piling up...and on and on and on at every opportunity to anyone who would listen to him, then he finds a club who are daft enough to actually believe & trust him - Cue 20 odd players signed in a couple of months (most, if not all on FT wages) including a transfer fee for ARH who was average season after season for us and has definitely not won over Guiseley supporters. Then he takes Hughes who we wanted rid of for long enough...again, no praise for him on their forum. Them two alone must be on £7-800 each PW, then add on the wages for the other 18 that he signed, it's madness.....and you think Paul Casson should have caved into Cox's demands.

Add on to that lot we had a manager actively looking for another job.

The club do sometimes make strange decisions - but that wasn't one of them.

[Rigger]

Its not as if the same thing happened this time last season.....

So, Cox last season harped on about wanting/needing more players, the squad was lightweight, injuries piling up...and on and on and on at every opportunity to anyone who would listen to him, then he finds a club who are daft enough to actually believe & trust him - Cue 20 odd players signed in a couple of months (most, if not all on FT wages) including a transfer fee for ARH who was average season after season for us and has definitely not won over Guiseley supporters. Then he takes Hughes who we wanted rid of for long enough...again, no praise for him on their forum. Them two alone must be on £7-800 each PW, then add on the wages for the other 18 that he signed, it's madness.....and you think Paul Casson should have caved into Cox's demands.

Add on to that lot we had a manager actively looking for another job.

The club do sometimes make strange decisions - but that wasn't one of them.

If Casson had spent money at the right time Barrow could have been a football league side this season. I understand that any investment is a gamble but when in the next 20 years will Barrow be in and around the play off places at Christmas? Think back before last January, when were Barrow in such a good position to potentially be 4 months away from the play offs and ultimately the football league? The squad they had worked, the style they had worked, the manager and his scouting team worked. Yet something was missing after xmas.

As I said at the time, there was no better time in the clubs history since being outside of the football league to push on for it. Im not saying for one second he should have been backed to the point of bringing in a new squad of players like what has bizarrely happened at Guiseley but I know for a fact Cox had decent players lined up and Casson straight refused to sign them.
The side then wasn't strengthened, it relied on youth loans (that some confused people will tell you cost £100k which would have meant they'd have been on £2/3k a week ).

Getting out of this league is extremely hard. It costs a lot of money to compete at the top end. Barrow had managed to get to the top 6 with a fairly modest playing budget, it just needed extra investment so they could push on and it didn't happen. The side wasn't strengthened to the point where it could maintain its good form so far and it slid and stumbled over the finish line.

The side hasn't be strengthened again this January in its time of need, it evidently has got worse and like last season is on a wild slide down to lower expectations. Solihull have strengthened and they have closed the gap up to Barrow to a point after an amazing run of 5 wins in 6 and a draw.

The instinctive defensive reaction of " Cox isn't doing so well at Guiseley" unfortunately won't change whats going on at Barrow AFC. Regardless of where Cox is now, his style of play worked at Barrow when he was here. His link up with Ogden worked . It gave Barrow the best finish in the league in recent memory.

Does the owner want to win promotion to the football league as cheaply as possible or does he want to actually win it? Barrow truly are the Newcastle United of non league

[Rigger]

“If we go and win this game in hand (which will be made up on most of their rivals on Tuesday against Sutton) and pick up two or three wins, get 10 points from the next few games, then you're looking at being in maybe 15th or 14th place, depending on how other results around you go."

Andrew Casson there aiming for 10 points in the next 3 games.

[SKIPPER]

Just pure unsubstantiated speculation but is it possible that players have been approached/made offers and have knocked us back.May seem strange in this day and age but not all footballers are motivated purely by money.Some of the reasons they could conceivably have given.
Too much travelling
Your ground and facilities are rubbish
I've read your forum. Your fans are fickle and very demanding.
Looking at your squad I don't think there are players there I could work with.They may even drag me down to their level.

Just saying.

[DaveP]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are not some signings before tomorrows meeting!