Millwall v Mighty Whites

Win this and i will start to get really excited.
The squad is starting to look very thin and I’m hoping McCann and Delap are back to add a bit of choice to the bench. I’ve still not seen much about Browne which would be a real bonus if can be back for Swansea.

With them not scoring for 4 games I’m not expecting a high scoring game but would love us to snatch a 1-0 win.

Delap back from being ill, too soon for McCann but he’s back on the grass. Browne 2-4 weeks.

Four points from the next two games and even I will start to believe but just how ironic would it be if we made the playoffs with what looked for a long time like the weakest squad we have had for years and with a manager that appears to finally be learning that it is not about him but the players that count

The cracks have been papered over by the loans oldun.

Don't get me wrong I'm delighted to be where we are and that we are now playing watchable football...but I'm under no illusions.

Basically this 'success' has been bought on the back of loans (not our own players) and the club's structural weaknesses (academy status, development, unaffordable wage bill, recruitment record with own own players, commercial income) are all still there and will have to be faced once the loanees have gone home and many before next season.

If this gamble succeeds then brilliant...crticism withheld. Whilst I totally understand , and indeed support, the current enthusiasm there's also a nagging 'been there before'.

Son in London , who has got tickets, tells me that the away end is sold out....I wish them all a safe journey becasue coming off that ground can be a nightmare.

I am delighted play offs are a talking point in mid April as recent previous interest has dwindled by March.
The impact of the loans is for all to see. Take Alvaro and Cannon out and we lose a lot of impetus.
I fancy us to get a result.
pneIAIN, thanks for the thread.

What an extraordinary contradictory two lines px6.

Maybe you need to ask yourself as to why it 'won't last forever?' and precisely who is 'whinging when we win'?

There is a fundamental difference between being thrilled when we win and recognising that a win is the outcome of 90 minutes and that a club's well-being and future are dependent on how it is run from one year to the next.

What we have at the moment is nothing but short-termism ....a reliance on loanees to get results. It may take some peoples eyes off the fundamental structural deficits over which PR presides but , then again, there are those of us who have a more fundamental perspective and recognise that , ultimately, without the shortcomings being addressed the club is going nowhere, that it would take an extraordinary run of good fortune to turn a short term strategem into long term stability and success. We'd need to win the play-offs to do that and what are the odds on this?

Miracles happen I suppose...but we've not had one at PNE for over 60 years. So, yes, enjoy the moment for what it is if you are staisfied with that....personally I can enjoy it (especially after the rubbish that has been served up this season) but I'm well aware that , without the miracle, the club needs to address the limitations and it has as yet shown no signs of doing so.

So what we have a few loans? We can’t buy the players to take us up. It’s not an option. We can buy players bottom half/league 1 standard, and guess what? You’d whinge at that too!

I guess you can’t please everyone.

In response I wouldn't follow PNE if I expected to win anything!!

What I would like to see is:

1. The club produce its own players. It is 12 years since the club signed a player who established himself in the first team...Ben Davies Instead of wasting £millions on punts I would prefer an improvement in Academy status and a player development programme.
2. It follows that I would like to see less reliance on loans. Whilst it is true that such are becoming the norm it is also the case that good ones are now costing as much as any transfer fee...hence we have a situation at Deepdale when action to bring in two of the current loans instrumental in the recent run has only occurrred past half way through the season and widespread public criticism. (Bosman remains a principal reason as to why there are fewer transfer fees as does the tighter financial scrutiny).
3. An improved standard of recruitment
4.Improved commercial income (it's abysmal).

The club is being moved in two ways to having to stand on its own feet (ownership and financial rules) and there's no way it can currently do this.

Within the last 20 plus years several times thew club has been in a better position (less debt, albeit what there was was external and a better playing squad getting to the Play-Off final). Regrettably rather than such occasiosn being a springboard the club has learned nothing...indeed such 'success' was followed by going backwards.

And unless we have some success thasi season that is what faces the club because the 'strategy' for running the club under PR and the Hemmings has alwaysd been short-term .........and there's a fan base that is predominantly (not entirely) satisfied by this.

I know from talking to PR in the past he is of the view that as long as you can win games then the fans are on board and everything else is forgotten. Abraham Lincoln had a riposte to this.
-----

Anyway back to tomorrow I note thst Bradshaw and Flemming have 27 goals between them....how Flemming got a post-Brexit work visa , after first being rejected, is anybody's guess. I wrote to the FA asking for an explanation but never got a reply. It really is unsatisfactory...at most it seems to me that he qualified for 12 points when 15 are required. Bradshaw always looked ordinary to me when at Barnsley but there's no denying his poaching ability at Millwall.

One player who always causes us problems is the 7ft 10 inch cb Cooper.

I've a feeling the game could be won and loss on set pieces tomorrow. Defend them well and we'll be OK.

Just a couple of interesting stats, only 5 teams have won more than us and only 4 teams have lost less than us!

Bloody huge this game tomorrow. Would be a real statement if we can go and get a result in such a finely balanced game away from home. COYW

Burnley can afford good loans....PNE can't. Even Gerrard referred to the position with regards to Archer and PR having to get the cheque book out' if he was to come back. We have simply been fortunate this season that half the loans have turned out well.

What has occurred in the past is irrelevant ...Prem clubs were not asking hundreds of thousands (even 7 figures) for a loan...and the number of loans a club can play is limited .

It also leaves a club with major problems if promoted,,,because if the players have been a success they are not going to come back......and one has only to look at the clubs that have gone up with a reliance on loans , such as Burnley and Forest, to recognise this.

No harm, indeed a benefit, in some good loans as Cannon has shown but really are the likes of Parrot and Delap adding more than what the club should at least be producing?

Loans are short-termism and entirely indicative of the way PNE is run...it looks great when it is a success, as it is at the moment, but ultimately they have taken us nowhere since they were first used in 1967!

Hopefully the laons will pay off again this afternoon ...bit if they take us anywhere it will be the first time ever.
They are no substitute for addressing the structural deficits within the club.

Good watch this week. Barrett is a fanatic! Very knowledgable about all things NE.

To be fair to the club - over the past 3 seasons we’ve had Iverson, Sepp, Archer, Canon, Fernandez and Parrott and Delap could still play their part. So whilst some fortune it’s also down to some good scouting and decision making.

As you say, easy to say when it’s all going well but I think loans are great option for us to compete and spend within our means

Or cannon for the season