losing the faith

[shrimpnsave]

ta

tara

[Sammy h]

Big news tomorrow.

[Bare Ben]

I thought I spotted you the other day mr potatohead, i wasn't sure though so I took a picture.

[mrpotatohead]

you know it then sammy h

[Bare Ben]

Big news tomorrow.

sssssshhhhhhhhh

[mrpotatohead]

thats me ben, running away as usual, from them nasty hurtful words

[P/T Indie]

with Sammy.
I have never felt so low in the 21 years i have been watching Morecambe, No doubt I will be told to get a grip and get behind the lads but I just don't enjoy watching Morecambe anymore.
We play with one man upfront, the fans hate and it does not work( only won 3 games )
but we are told that the lads enjoy playing that system. FFS Sammy it's your job to win games.
Stockport lost 5-0 at home to the bottom club today.
4-4-2 and we win, it simple but if we play with one man upfront and fail to win then we know that we have a team that is not good enough or we have a manager that is not good enough.
you decide

I know exactly how you feel it's the same for me for 20 years I have always enjoyed going to games even when we have had bad patches. I have seen some horror shows over the years (to many to list) but it's never bothered me and I was back the next week with the same enthusiasm and even if I knew it was a bad spell and the footy wasn't going to be great it's didn't bother me it was an afternoon out with my friends and I would still have a good time.

This year for some reason and I don't know why I have just lost all that enthusiasm and the thought of standing on the MBW stand for 90mins doesn't seem appealing and I have little or no motivation to go to games. Yes I turn up stand there but instead of enjoying it I am just doing it because I have to and going through the motions if you will. I don't know if it's the negative tactics and watching a dull game that isn’t appealing it sure doesn’t help and maybe a few wins and everything will be ok but like I said we have gone through bad patches before and it never bothered me. Although the thought of playing 4-5-1 against a side that got beat 5v0 at the weekend really isn’t helping.

Maybe it’s the new ground which I was very enthusiastic about hasn’t lived up to my high expectations and has left me very disappointed, maybe I haven’t fully settled in at the new place and need to try different areas of the ground as I really don’t like the MBW stand, maybe my pre match routine is still all to pot since we moved, maybe it’s taking longer than I think to get used to the new place and eventually it will all come good.

Who knows but for the first time in 20 years I am just not enjoying it anymore maybe it’s just me and eventually the old enthusiasm will come back and everything will be back to normal.

This weekend I didn’t even bother to check our result until Sunday evening and that was only because I was looking to see how Port Vale & Crewe got on. That’s unheard of I am always near a radio, listening to player, sky sports or even if I am away get the scores text to me.

I know I will be told to get a grip support the team and stop moaning because we have never had it so good and it’s true we haven’t. I do remember the trips to Leek Town, Blakenall they scard me for life so with a new ground, league football etc this should be the best it’s ever been so why do I feel so deflated?

[Christies Child]

P/T Indie I suspect you post the thoughts and feelings of a growing number of fans. However things will improve. There is no way that our Board will allow all that has happened in the club's structure over the last 2 years and more to be put at risk.

IF changes have to be made for the future of our club, then changes will be made, that I'm certain of. However it's a little too early for action at the moment, but come the New Year and things have not got any better.....?????

Like you the thought of staying with the present system of play is not one I look to with enjoyment. But the management seem intent on sticking with it. If that is the case, then all I would add is that football is very much a result based business. Those who fail to deliver are replaced.

MFC, much to its credit, is not a club who replace its management team on a frequent basis. But there comes a time when 'the sell by date' expires and change is needed, if only to rekindle the hope and optimism of its fan base. Sammy and Mark will always be remembered as the duo who took us to the promised land. I'd hate to think that they could be the ones to take us back to obscurity.

Keep the faith!

And by the way, Sammy has said that the players 'enjoy playing this system'.....I'm sure that they enjoy their win bonus a lot more!

[ezz]

Just been a boring season so far, maybe a bit of FA cup magic can change that. Been boring on this forum too, to be fair

[Duffman]

I have to echo what P/T Indie has said and I do wonder what affect the MBW stand is having. Tomorrow's game is a good example. We've all experienced bad runs/seasons in our time supporting the club but I always felt with the power of the North Stand the fans could really get behind the team. Against a local(ish) team who we could quite possibly grab all 3 points off and finally start our season (now we're in November) I should be more excited than I am. Normally as a fan you relish these type of matches as the atmosphere would be fantastic and you feel you could make a difference.

[rant] However I will turn up tomorrow, have a poor view of the game, watch us come out 4-5-1 against a team that got thrashed 5-0 days before, see scrappy non-adventurous football, watch Peter Risdale or another one of the prawn sandwich brigade win open the box, go for my half time pie which will have sold out and then wait until the 75th minute before we play 2 up front. [/rant over]

I know it sounds extremely negative but that's what my match day has become. The highlight is the pre/post match at the bar which I think is fantastic. I appreciate that we've reached the promised land of the football league and if you offered me safety at the start of the season I'd take but getting to the end of the season doesn't half seem a long way away!

Keep the faith!

[Heysham_Shrimp]

It is terrible football, 6 goals scored in 7 home games says it all , but to me it is no worse than we played in August , September , October in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons.
Then somehow each season Sammy managed to turn it around , usually by realising that his best players should be in the team rather than on the bench.
He has 2 strikers on the bench that rarely feature. I assume that Spencer will return to his parent club when the loan period ends. If Sammy has doubts about Hendrie then send him on loan to a Conference or Conference North club to see if he can cut it at that level.
It is amazing that we have no recognised right full back on our books and that needs rectifying as soon as possible. No doubt scouts from other clubs will have picked that up as an achilles heel in our defence.
A fast , lethal striker and a fast tough tackling right back are urgently needed and if we could recruit both then we should be able to move up the table. It looks like a more compact league 2 than in any season we have been in it with no diabolical teams cut adrift at the bottom and no rich clubs running away with it at the top.
I am not sure who would be available and want our club to manage if a vacancy occurred. Coleman has signed a 5 year contract so thats the usual suspect off our radar.
On the assumption that we avoid being sucked into a relegation battle I believe Sammy and Mark have enough credit to see out the season and then review where we stand.

[Morecambe Jack]

I really don't think the football has been as bad as people are making out. I'm not saying its been brilliant but it hasn't, for me, got to the stage where it is a chore to watch. I travel from Manchester every home game and I still very much look forward to going to games.

So, perhaps the MBW is where a lot of frustration lies? Crap views, crap atmosphere and crap service from the facilities provided. But what can we do about it? We're stuck with it for the long term unfortunatley as surely the first side to ever be redeveloped would be the North terrace? We will probably never have the money to redevelop the MBW anyway.

[P/T Indie]

[rant] However I will turn up tomorrow, have a poor view of the game, watch us come out 4-5-1 against a team that got thrashed 5-0 days before, see scrappy non-adventurous football, watch Peter Risdale or another one of the prawn sandwich brigade win open the box, go for my half time pie which will have sold out and then wait until the 75th minute before we play 2 up front. [/rant over]

I know it sounds extremely negative but that's what my match day has become. The highlight is the pre/post match at the bar which I think is fantastic. I appreciate that we've reached the promised land of the football league and if you offered me safety at the start of the season I'd take but getting to the end of the season doesn't half seem a long way away!

Keep the faith![/quote]


My feelings exactly Duffman your match experience sounds the same as mine.

and also I think a lot of the familar faces from the North Stand have gone over to the PMG stand which has had an effect.

or maybe I am just starting to get old! I might have to fill an application out for CC's Saga Crew and go and join them in block C Where I can have a good moan and talk about how it's not as good as it used to be in the old days.

[Posh]

The home terrace debate has been done to death and there's little anyone can do except finding someone with more than one brain cell for the catering hatch (four people including a ten year old served the whole North Stand and yet we need about seven people for less).

I agree on the football front. I've not been to an away game this season so can only talk about home games. Shrewsbury has been the only game I've seen where we've played anything like our best but to follow up that up with the bore-fest against Stevenage was so disappointing. I agree that 4-5-1 can be as exciting as 4-4-2 but to do that you need the players and the tactics to pull that off and Sammy doesn't seem capable of making that happen.

One of the reason's for this is player acquisition - Capaldi and Shuker have been pretty lamentable; Spencer and Scott are now out of favour already; Brown is being played out of position; Rundle is a mixed bag; Fleming looked good but is starting to fade; and McCready is the best of the lot. We're told 'players need to be proven at this level' for him to bring them in (see loan article). Yet so proven were our new players that six of them were released by their clubs - so proven to be what exactly?

[Plain Peter]

....so proven to be what exactly?

Surplus to their requirements

[Keith]

I agree with most of what has been written and am feeling the same. I would also add that I'm getting increasingly p'd off with Sammy Mac's patronising comments on the radio. Coleman goes on Radio Lancs on Saturday and says that he wants to appologise to the fans for wasting their money, Sammy doesn't appear at all and when he is interviewed says that the fans know nothing, "most of the fans see these lads once a fortnight, I see them day in day out"... "fans talk about systems, its nothing to do with systems"... "oh it's a crisis Derek" was the sarcastic comment weeks ago which led to Gary Hickson remarking that "Sammy was having a pop at a few of the fans there".

For a whole host of reasons, this season, which should have been our greatest, is turning in to a damp squib for many of us. I've said before that fans will excuse dour, boring football when winning. And they will largely excuse exciting, entertaining football and losing. What they hate is dour boring football and not winning. If it is "nothing to do with systems", then play an adventurous system that is entertaining!

As I've said before, it is too early to be panicking and I do think it will be turned around. But for many reasons, the match day experience is poorer now than it was in previous seasons, so boring football and patronising the customers is unlikely to be accepted to the same extent as in previous seasons.

[Phil Anderer]

Can I just say, it's not just the MBW stand. From Block B in the PMG Stand the view's good, the facilities are good, it's the football that's disappointing! If something doesn't change, I can honestly see me not renewing my season ticket next season. As for being too early to panic iro Sammy, as someone else has already said elsewhere on here, IF someone new does come in, he needs time between now and the January transfer window to assess the squad and any changes he'd like to make - that's 2 months. (For those with rose-tinted specs, please note the emphasis on the word if.)
I want to see Morecambe win, and frankly I'm not looking for promotion. Success would be another upper-mid table finish in League 2, but I do want to be entertained. Stevenage was like watching paint dry.
Let's see what happens tomorrow, and what's said on here afterwards, but the faith is fading, if not lost altogether.

[essex_shrimp]

MBW stand I'll be here tomorrow.

And still think when Morecambe get a run of luck changing in football we'll go on a run.

And with out next 3-4 League games we could get 10/12 points out of this and with this could also go to Cheltenham and get a replay / Win

[Posh]

I agree with most of what has been written and am feeling the same. I would also add that I'm getting increasingly p'd off with Sammy Mac's patronising comments on the radio. Coleman goes on Radio Lancs on Saturday and says that he wants to appologise to the fans for wasting their money, Sammy doesn't appear at all and when he is interviewed says that the fans know nothing, "most of the fans see these lads once a fortnight, I see them day in day out"... "fans talk about systems, its nothing to do with systems"... "oh it's a crisis Derek" was the sarcastic comment weeks ago which led to Gary Hickson remarking that "Sammy was having a pop at a few of the fans there".

At the End of Era / Awards Night, a celebration of Christie Park, of our greatest ever season and the people including fans and players who got us where we are Sammy used his speech to criticise fans 'for not understanding what [he's] trying to do here'. It was the only downer on a great night but showed Sammy's intolerance of fan's (the people who pay his wages) opinions. You have to carry fans with you and Coley has the understanding and belief in his abilities that he can engage with fans in good times and bad. Sammy seems by his regular comments on Radio Lancs and elsewhere that the views of us lowly fans aren't worth anything. Not the wisest move in my book as the collective views of hundreds of fans count for a lot of money on the gate, however correct they may be.

[parkyboy]

Sammy is set in his ways and is not prepared to listen ,the sun shines out of his backside because along with the players at that time he got us into DIV2 ,but apart from a disastrous playoff match at dagenham we have done nothing is stubborness is beyond belief and we need change at the top ,We have good players but they needed guiding in a direction which will get us winning matches,The rest of the league no how negative we are and easy to sus out how to beat us ,our over crowded midfield is in need of change with an additional striker a must ,In my opinion 1 up and 9 mifield and back is suicide formation LETS MAKE IT KNOWN LOUD AND CLEAR HOW WE FEEL

[Plain Peter]

And still think when Morecambe get a run of luck changing in football we'll go on a run.

Hope you're keeping all your good bits mate.
Come the hour, come the moment, ram it down their throats

[ockers]

with Sammy.
I have never felt so low in the 21 years i have been watching Morecambe, No doubt I will be told to get a grip and get behind the lads but I just don't enjoy watching Morecambe anymore.
We play with one man upfront, the fans hate and it does not work( only won 3 games )
but we are told that the lads enjoy playing that system. FFS Sammy it's your job to win games.
Stockport lost 5-0 at home to the bottom club today.
4-4-2 and we win, it simple but if we play with one man upfront and fail to win then we know that we have a team that is not good enough or we have a manager that is not good enough.
you decide

i dont think its time to get the locoshed book out again just yet hodgie but i think enough people including myself respect your views from someone i'd call a diehard
id love to see us playing with two strikers in any game working as a pair but we havent seen that on a consistent basis in a very long time have we?
whatever side is put out tomorrow night im keeping everything crossed we get a win
hopefully everyone can play their part and get behind th elads we want to ge tthem going not get on their backs
going bottom would be a real setback me thinks considering we would be a third of the way through the season
i just hope everything clicks tomorrow for everyone concerned but appreciate your post
we need a scooby chant to get them all going tomorrow night

[Plain Peter]

i dont think its time to get the locoshed book out again just yet hodgie but i think enough people including myself respect your views from someone i'd call a diehard
id love to see us playing with two strikers in any game working as a pair but we havent seen that on a consistent basis in a very long time have we?
whatever side is put out tomorrow night im keeping everything crossed we get a win
hopefully everyone can play their part and get behind th elads we want to ge tthem going not get on their backs
going bottom would be a real setback me thinks considering we would be a third of the way through the season
i just hope everything clicks tomorrow for everyone concerned but appreciate your post
we need a scooby chant to get them all going tomorrow night

Use your shift key ockers, and Morecambe could become a capital city

[marky]

hopefully everyone can play their part and get behind th elads we want to ge tthem going not get on their backs

That's the interesting bit. There have been hardly any posts getting on the backs of the players. Just the management.

[ockers]

hopefully everyone can play their part and get behind th elads we want to ge tthem going not get on their backs

That's the interesting bit. There have been hardly any posts getting on the backs of the players. Just the management.

you obviously missed the darren moss debate then