Something has gone very wrong this season. You can point to the set up, tactics, formations recruitment etc but this isn’t far short of the squad that would have had us in the play offs last season without the -10pts. That included playing some of the season with less than 16 players and at times with 1 sub with Vhilete and Brooklyn upfront. Despite another disrupted preseason and embargo there shouldn’t be any excuses now. For the first month or so Kev can point to lack of fitness and pre season. We had the same situ the year before as well yet we performed very differently. The likes Wes and Powell have left but neither were good enough and not many were disappointed they left. The loss of Cardwell and Kensdale for different reasons defo hit us hard. However that doesn’t excuse some of the performances. So many players are off the pace and not performing to the standards we expect. The likes of Gus, Husin, Miley, Bridge, Walker, Bonne, Muncur, Crowther, to name a few are so under performing. This isn’t to say they aren’t good players but at the moment they are way off. Yet they get picked
Week after week. Yesterday Miley and Bridge were dreadful yet stayed on and arguably our most consistent midfielders in Coker and Morton who TBf has been a good signing get taken off. Kevs reliance on the 5-3-2 which isn’t working is baffling. We don’t have bad players but the system and tactics is killing them. KAF doesn’t get a chance, Kendall brought in yet not starting despite our current forward line barely having goals to their name. Yesterday he came on in the 81st minute at 3-0 down. Wind has performed well and if we were going defensive he should have started ahead of Gus who isn’t a good defender. Play gubbins or Golding and push Ralph to LWB. Kevs decisions will end up
Costing him his job. I love the guy and for what he has done this past few years will and should never be forgotten but time is running out I’m afraid and unless he can become less loyal and stubborn to certain players and tactics then he has to go. 6pts are a must in the next two or there could be a very large fan revolt against the three amigos. Have the players themselves grown tired of the boring tactics? Some looked disinterested yesterday and that’s never a good sign
We're getting into treating players like robots again.
We all know how indifferent many on here were about Powell and Fonguck leaving, but what about how the players felt? Especially with Kensdale and Cardwell on top.
When you're majority cooking on team spirit and togetherness like we were last season, it makes losing one or two squad members, or a major breach of trust from someone you've been to war with, all the more impactful.
It's not all about ability alone, especially, as I said, in situations like last season. Powell and Fonguck were big, popular characters. Doesn't matter how good they are, or how often they played. Their effects on morale, togetherness and training pitch/dressing room atmosphere were enormous. Same with Dave Martin. Similar, then, with Kensdale and Cardwell. That's a lot of characters to lose from a small and tightly-knit squad in a short space of time, and that's before you even get onto being unable to replace them with the ability AND the personalities that you want.
Lose to ebbsfleet, who are woeful infront of over 8k and I can really see things getting toxic.
Didn't go yesterday or watch as I was at a wedding but the highlights are dreadful.
How is Miley getting game time? In the highlights he was literally just walking to close down.
I heard a rumour of Kev wanting to sweep the kensdale situation under the carpet and the players saying they would refuse to play in the same team. This forced kevs hand. We have been dreadful and I'm wondering if the players lost respect for him. This certainly isn't a side that is playing at 100% or anywhere close.
Something has to change. Either the style and or the starting 11 or the management. Worryingly, I can't see any of the above changing.
I hope Cosu aren't expecting 7k average next season and season card renewals. We will be lucky to get 5500 avergage playing this grade of football.
Maybe, maybe not. I think that those who are so vehemently "Maher Out" are very probably a vocal minority at the moment, so I don't think we're at a toxic stage yet. You could well be right though, and that the atmosphere won't be great if we lose to Ebbsfleet.
I have to say, I was told the same that Kev wanted it to just go away and carry on as if nothing happened. Apparently he didn’t even want to hear about it and the players should sort. It was only when players made threats that he finally stepped in.
Absolutely not what I've heard. There may have been a big dose of disappointment on Maher's side - both disappointment in Kensdale, and disappointment/worry in losing yet another of his top players. It's a natural human reaction to struggle to face up to such disappointment. I dont believe he ever wanted to sweep anything under the carpet though. The players caught wind of what was going on, they were in charge of the money stolen, and so it was logical that they should be the ones to get the proof and then present it.
What proof of that do you have? They’ve never had to make such a decision before and is it really a panic button when you’ve won just 6 games all season? Failure to win the next two games should trigger a change.
We are 8 points off the playoffs and 7 off the relegation zone, with 69 points left to play for, in a season that the club's hierarchy knew might be difficult/that we might be starting from a position behind other clubs who are gunning for playoff positions. So no, I don't believe it is time to **** the bed at the moment.
I think it’s clear that a (good) few new players are needed. One thing I can’t understand with Kev is that even when he signs players, often for players who are failing, he seems to want the incumbents to have a chance before the new player. It seems that even if we signed the Liverpool first team that they’d have to wait 4 games to get a start. The only explanations are that he feels they need time to understand the system - which should be made more simpler if that’s the case; or he is signing player to make up the numbers still - and maybe Golding is no better than Crowther after all.
He is very loyal to his players, especially the ones that gave him so much in dire circumstances last season, but not exclusively to them. You could say he's loyal to a fault, and perhaps needs to ease off a bit in that respect. I think that gets confused with having "favourites". If, perhaps, he does have some favourites, then there is a logical reason why. Like I said though, that can be a flaw.
Well I certainly don't claim to be in the know as much as you.
I heard that kensdale flat out denied any wrongdoing, even offering certain players out.
Maher told the players it would be dealt with "in house" not actually saying that the club would sack him but alluding he still had a part to play.
The players said to Maher that they would refuse to play alongside Kensdale and were unhappy at the notion that Kensdale may have a way back.
This is the point that things changed IMHO.
If anybody thinks he was alluding to him still having a part to play, then I believe they misunderstood.
From what I heard, Maher knew pretty early on what would ultimately happen.
He also used the phrase "it's being dealt with in house" in interviews. What I understand him to have meant by that, is that it was being dealt by people above him, namely Tom L as CEO. The club needed to go through the process properly from start to finish - investigation, and then due legal process around contract termination, and they wanted it hush hush so that it was legally watertight at the club's end, and there was no risk of them getting sued or taken to arbitration.
I don't doubt for a second that Maher was very happy to wash his hands of that and to leave it to other people, hence the "in house" comments. I think he'll also have been told to be very careful about what he says to anyone - including his players. None of that means he wanted anything swept under the carpet, and I'm confident that any rumour to the contrary is inaccurate and/or a misunderstanding/misrepresentation.
, anyhow happy Christmas 
