Discipline and the lack of ! !

[3spirit]

Felt impelled to put this on a separate thread from the Holyport v Slough thread, as last night's game proved to be the worst show of indiscipline and disrepect by players I have ever seen,in watching Slough for 25 years.

 

I felt really sorry for Steve Bateman last night, it appears that he is just too nice and isn't getting the respect he deserves, from some of his most senior of players. Steve is going to make a rod for his own back, if he doesn't make an example of someone soon. The players were all getting out of their pram last night.

 

For me,as I've said in previous threads on this forum,there are too many whingers and undisciplined players in the team, for Slough to be a championship winning side .The two players who I always criticize for being the worst, were at it again last night. Namely Paul Coyne and Sean Sonner but there were plenty of other offenders too.

 

Adam Logie got the brunt of the blame and he had a stand -up row with Steve Bateman but at least, he was man enough to sit on the bench and after tempers cooled, he had the decency to say sorry to Steve Bateman,at the final whistle. To my thinking,I thought Logie being hauled off was a tad unfair,as he seemed to be a scapegoat for Paul Coyne and Shaun Byrne's frankly out of order behaviour.

Paul Coyne should have been taken off straight away for a malicious,cowardly tackle from behind on a Holyport player. Steve Bateman was about to take him off, then Coyne started dissenting with the manager and so Bateman dithered and left him on ! Big mistake as this lead to these bloody prima-donnas throwing out their dummies. Sean Sonner starts moaning about being taken off, which is a ridiculous atitude to have in a friendly game ! when squad players and triallists need to be tried out and nothing is riding on the game.

We then have Sonner's mate,the new centre half Alex Brown,giving it large to a number of Holyport players. Then we have the Shaun Byrne incident,where to my utter disbelief, Byrne calls his manager 'a knob' and then says to the other players ' to just kick the ball wildly anywhere rather than passing '. Who the hell does he think he is? George Best ! He played absolute crap last night, is still as unfit as ever and apart from two good passes down the line, contributed very little. So I can't for the life of me,see why he even thinks he is God's gift to football !

 

If I was the manager, that would be his last game in Slough's colours especially after he walked straight to the dressing room like a spoilt kid. Sean Sonner then promptly gets off the bench to join him !

Danny Burnell had one or two gripes but for once, contained himself and knuckled down and looked keen to do well.

Well done,Danny !

 

I think Steve Bateman has a huge dilemma now and will need the backing of the Chairman, to halt this slide of petulence and player power, that is going to have a very detrimental effect on our chances of winning the title or getting to the play-offs. I personally think that we need a strong captain and perhaps,NBH, will be able to quell some of this unnecessary behaviour. If Steve doesn't get to grips with some of these loose cannons,we supporters can forget our dreams of being promoted and Steve Bateman may be looking for another job!

The problem is that certain players are getting away murder and this in turn leads to lesser characters jumping on the bandwagon. My solution is to get rid of Paul Coyne and Shaun Byrne thus setting an example. We still have some good midfielders to replace them and can always bring in someone new.

What do other supporters think?

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Its a toughie, Bates needs to get repect but i do feel it was only a preseason game, and i would imagine/hope that level of indiscipline would not occur during a proper match, I think Coyne will be a very important player for us this season and Byrne (when fit) plays very well.

 

I would imagine/hope that anyone giving the boss 'proper abuse' would be carpeted.

[Mark44]

I for one cannot fully comment as I was not at last nights game.

 

However, from reading some of the comments on this forum I am utterly disgusted at the behaviour I am hearing from some of our players

 

If we think back to last season we finished in 5th place some 12 points behind the winners Arlesey. We had that bad patch which was down to a lack of discipline where we got 1 point from a possible 18 before it all kicked off in the dressing room with Dave Anderson and then normal service was resumed.

 

If we would have not had that bad patch we could be gearing up for our first season in the Southern Premier now.

 

The conclusion we can make from this is that our team is good enough to win the league and so we now need to knuckle down.

 

A message to the players: We want to win the league and to do so we need to do it as a team. I would have no problem with one of you coming on here and telling the supporters when we havent been supportive enough so lets all work together and get the title.

 

There is no need for a lack of discipline and SB is the manager and he is who is to be listened to as he has the experience to get a side promoted.

 

UP THE REBELS!!!!!

[3spirit]

Its a toughie, Bates needs to get repect but i do feel it was only a preseason game, and i would imagine/hope that level of indiscipline would not occur during a proper match, I think Coyne will be a very important player for us this season and Byrne (when fit) plays very well.

 

I would imagine/hope that anyone giving the boss 'proper abuse' would be carpeted.

 

 

The problem is that it did occur in league games last season and now it's reared it's ugly head in only the 2nd pre-season friendly.Of course,we have time to sort it out before the league matches start, which can only be a good thing.

 

I feel Steve Bateman is struggling to stamp his authority on the team,which is why he needs a stronger,forthright coach beside him. Fred Cummings has now got that unenviable task. Even Dave Anderson struggled with this last year.

No player should be bigger than the manager, don't matter how good they are.

 

On the Hemel Hempstead forum, when Steve Bateman was appointed Slough manager, some of Hemel's supporters said many of Bateman's players were primma donnas and we were welcome to them. At least,the players he brought from Hemel respected him and knuckled down in his first season and a half. Last season,we started to see this dissenting behaviour more and more and so this current lot seem less convinced by Steve Bateman.

Steve Bateman needs to get tough and show them who is running the team.

If they won't listen,Steve. Show them the door !

Edited July 13, 2011 by 3spirit

[Cookham Rebel]

I think we all need to take a deep breath here, and not over react with calls for players to be shown the door etc... I wasn't at last nights game so I cannot comment on what happened!!!

 

If I'm honest, the rant from Shaun Byrne seems out of character and down to frustration (He didn't show dissent towards anyone last season), the Coyne booking down to frustration (After what I have read on here)... I think the problem with both these players is that they are too good for this level, the problem they have is (with being brought up at West Ham and Watford) that they are clearly 2 steps ahead of everyone else in the team, when they try something they are used to other players being on their wavelength and when they are not it frustrates them, I'm not saying dissent is the way forward when things are going wrong, I'm just saying players like Byrne and Coyne could be the difference for us this season, if we go up they will have a big say in the league above as well and could be the kind of players that get us into the Conference South....

 

I don't know what will happen this season, but lets just get behind the team and let Bateman sort the players out...

[Mark44]

Exactly cookham,

 

we don't want on silly argument to mean the end for certain players

 

We just want the team and supporters to rally round and work as a team and stay focused on the main aim.

[Mr Rebel]

its was frustration because most the players know they want to play good passing football but its not that easy and fair play to Holyport they stopped us doing that the majority of the time. seems whenever we get pressured we just end up being rash and hoof the ball anywhere making it even more frustrating

 

was definitely worrying the way that there seemed to be a lot of anger being vented around but to me it shows we have players that care even in friendlies matches that are only really fitness workouts

 

no doubt a few took it too far and i would be very shocked if those offenders were not given some sort of stern warnings just to calm the situation down. its only the 2nd game and things will be improved in terms of play as fitness increases and hopefully frustration will decrease as the team finds their flow again

[staines_rebel_Jr]

The whole situation could have been resolved if the ref had taken a grip of the game early on when tackles which would normally have seen yellow straight away went unpunished (some can be excused by it being a friendly but others could not) this then meant that the game got physical and Holyports number 2 and 10 would normally have been sent off in a normal game after most of the "tackles" they made, just got a talking to every time. Then the poor tackle on Brown added to this. This meant our players who were trying very hard were getting fustrated as the good build up play was being stopped to obvious fouls.

 

All of this meant our players got annoyed and fustrated and lead to the indiscipline.

Im not saying this is an excuse just a possible explaination.

 

 

You couldn't fault the players commitment as it was clear they wanted to win.

[3spirit]

I think we all need to take a deep breath here, and not over react with calls for players to be shown the door etc... I wasn't at last nights game so I cannot comment on what happened!!!

 

If I'm honest, the rant from Shaun Byrne seems out of character and down to frustration (He didn't show dissent towards anyone last season), the Coyne booking down to frustration (After what I have read on here)... I think the problem with both these players is that they are too good for this level, the problem they have is (with being brought up at West Ham and Watford) that they are clearly 2 steps ahead of everyone else in the team, when they try something they are used to other players being on their wavelength and when they are not it frustrates them, I'm not saying dissent is the way forward when things are going wrong, I'm just saying players like Byrne and Coyne could be the difference for us this season, if we go up they will have a big say in the league above as well and could be the kind of players that get us into the Conference South....

 

I don't know what will happen this season, but lets just get behind the team and let Bateman sort the players out...

 

 

I'm sorry,Cookham Rebel, but I totally disagree with your above post. There's no way Shaun Byrne or Paul Coyne are better footballers than anyone else in our team,If they were so talented why aren't teams in the Premier division trying to get hold of them. Paul Coyne is a Jeckyll and Hyde character.He plays well in some games and yet in others, he's an obnoxious,cowardly thug. To my mind,that's a liability to have around our team and detrimental to squad morale and team spirit.

 

As for Shaun Byrne, just what he called Steve Bateman was irreverent and totally unacceptable. I'm afraid we see different views in regards to Shaun Byrne, I just don't rate him and think that he just doesn't cover enough ground to be a central midfielder and is injury prone. After last night's performance regardless of it being his first match back, I would prefer to watch a younger,fresher,enthusiastic,polite 20 year old than an over-rated abusive, has been.

 

This has nothing at all to do with getting behind the team. We all want Slough Town FC to do well but there's no way I want to watch week in,week out whingers and thugs in our team.Even the Holyport management thought Slough were a bunch of prima donna's and whingers and if you had witnessed the game,you couldn't have argued with them!

I, and I'm sure most of the fans want to see Slough winning fairly, playing stylish football and representing the club in an impeccable way. What's so wrong with that?

[Cookham Rebel]

There is nothing wrong with your view 3spirit... Coyne and Byrne are not has beens at all, if they wanted too they would be playing at a higher level, a lot of players are like those 2, and they more than likely got sick of the pressures of the pro game but I don't know the actual reason they are no longer pros...

 

Neither of them are thugs... Can I ask, what triggered Shaun Byrne's reaction towards Steve Bateman? And what triggered Paul Coyne to get booked?

 

Having played at the level they have, along with Dave Woozely, they are the 3 most technically gifted players in our team, and that is a fact....

[3spirit]

There is nothing wrong with your view 3spirit... Coyne and Byrne are not has beens at all, if they wanted too they would be playing at a higher level, a lot of players are like those 2, and they more than likely got sick of the pressures of the pro game but I don't know the actual reason they are no longer pros...

 

Neither of them are thugs... Can I ask, what triggered Shaun Byrne's reaction towards Steve Bateman? And what triggered Paul Coyne to get booked?

 

Having played at the level they have, along with Dave Woozely, they are the 3 most technically gifted players in our team, and that is a fact....

 

 

I think you're a bit deluded on this. Paul Coyne started out out as a trainee at Watford and Shaun Byrne represented Eire at under 16 level and was also a trainee at West Ham but there's loads of non-league players like that.

As for technically gifted,I suggest you look at Steve Sinclair,Steve Perkins,Ben Abbey and to a lesser extent Chris Herron,Adam Logie and Danny Murphy in the squad profiles on Slough's website before jumping the gun about these so-called ' better players '.

Coyne got booked because a younger Holyport player went passed him and so he fouled him from behind.

Byrne went off on one when Steve Bateman questioned his passing and position in midfield. Now do you think that warrants being called a 'knob'?

Admittedly Dave Woozley has a professional record but we're not talking about Woozley's conduct.

[Cookham Rebel]

Deluded? Coyne was a scholar at Watford and played in the Championship... Byrne was at West Ham for years, was in the same FA Youth Cup winning side as Carrick and Joe Cole, and played 3 games in the Premier League, and played 1 season for Swansea in Division 2, AND captained Eire when they won the European Youth Championships... There is the proof, none of our players have a better pedigree than those 2... Let me ask, was Coyne constantly being fouled and the ref did nothing? Was Byrne's passing not finding the mark because players were running away from him instead of coming to receive the ball (as you said he was shouting at everyone to play the long ball game!!!)... Sometimes the manager needs telling, as certain players seem to get shouted at more than others and quite frankly it's a joke... People rate Burnell, I don't, yes he scores goals but his all round play is shocking, he couldn't trap a 42" TV, it's not just Coyne and Byrne 3spirit, it's a team game and if the other players around them aren't performing then they have every right to lose their rag, they can't do everything, in games last season Coyne did more running than any other player... You say they are thugs and effect team morale, I don't think that is an excuse, Cantona was a thug and did he effect team morale!!!

[3spirit]

Deluded? Coyne was a scholar at Watford and played in the Championship... Byrne was at West Ham for years, was in the same FA Youth Cup winning side as Carrick and Joe Cole, and played 3 games in the Premier League, and played 1 season for Swansea in Division 2, AND captained Eire when they won the European Youth Championships... There is the proof, none of our players have a better pedigree than those 2... Let me ask, was Coyne constantly being fouled and the ref did nothing? Was Byrne's passing not finding the mark because players were running away from him instead of coming to receive the ball (as you said he was shouting at everyone to play the long ball game!!!)... Sometimes the manager needs telling, as certain players seem to get shouted at more than others and quite frankly it's a joke... People rate Burnell, I don't, yes he scores goals but his all round play is shocking, he couldn't trap a 42" TV, it's not just Coyne and Byrne 3spirit, it's a team game and if the other players around them aren't performing then they have every right to lose their rag, they can't do everything, in games last season Coyne did more running than any other player... You say they are thugs and effect team morale, I don't think that is an excuse, Cantona was a thug and did he effect team morale!!!

 

 

I still don't agree and so we will have to differ on this matter. I think I can see where you're coming from,in regards to their pedigree. They may well have been these talented players at a young age but as I said previously,Steve Sinclair, Steve Perkins and Ben Abbey have records to match and also are proven throughout their football shelf life unlike Mr Coyne and Byrne.

 

All of us know that we change throughout life and it's no different in football. Injuries,work responsibilities,family life can all dictate to the semi-pro. I will admit Paul Coyne and Shaun Byrne are both capable players. However,as I've said previously they are just not the sort of player I want to watch. I have to agree about Shaun Byrne,in the fact that he hasn't been a disruptive influence before but unfortunately this is what is happening to the team,in regards to the Paul Coyne dissension effect and Steve Bateman not getting to grips with it. Regardless of what you think of him as a footballer[Coyne],surely you must recognise that he is the catalyst that starts all these other players moaning because Bateman can't control him. Having Sonner,Swift,Burnell,Murphy as well, who all like to moan, is now rubbing off on players who aren't normally like that ie Logie,Woozley,Byrne etc and so leads to a disjointed,ununified, malfunctioning team.Luckily we've got quality players in Sweeney,Sinclair,A.Martin and NBH, to come back in who may or may not be able to bring some rationality to proceedings.

 

Before they do come back,though, I would ease this stupid situation by getting rid of the root cause of the problem - Paul Coyne. Thus setting an example to the rest of the players,that the team can not play well with all this negativity and it's not going to be tolerated in our worthy ambitions to get out of this division.

[3spirit]

Oh and by the way, I would get rid of Byrne and Sonner,too,while we're at it.. To start a radical different approach to the way the team is functioning, to rectify this unsavoury,unpleasant behaviour of the players and thus addressing the need for co-operation,unity,team morale and spirit, co-ordination, focused individuals and a happy place to be.

This atmosphere will lead to getting a successful team.

[Windsor Rebel]

Calm down chaps, I am sure the management team will sort out any issues before August 13th. Bit OTT to talk about getting rid of players after

two meaningless friendlies!

Edited July 14, 2011 by Windsor Rebel

[Mark44]

Totally agree WR

 

There will be arguments in a team and its how you deal with them. Last year we dealt with it and got on with it but it did affect us. This year its pre season so lets get it ironed out now and win the league

[Mr Rebel]

in the long term i think the quicker this discussion dies out now the better.

 

pointing the finger and talking about players who should be got rid of is hardly going to help us just a few weeks before the season starts

 

saying that 3spirit etc i do get what you are saying and its a problem that could escalate into something season damaging. season hasn't even started yet though and im sure the management had a word with anyone they deemed needed it just to snuff out the possible problem asap

[3spirit]

in the long term i think the quicker this discussion dies out now the better.

 

pointing the finger and talking about players who should be got rid of is hardly going to help us just a few weeks before the season starts

 

saying that 3spirit etc i do get what you are saying and its a problem that could escalate into something season damaging. season hasn't even started yet though and im sure the management had a word with anyone they deemed needed it just to snuff out the possible problem asap

 

 

I've said all I wanted to say and I do hope you're right, Mr Rebel, that the management snuff out this underlying problem.

Otherwise,we can look forward to another season of under achievement !

[3spirit]

Calm down chaps, I am sure the management team will sort out any issues before August 13th. Bit OTT to talk about getting rid of players after

two meaningless friendlies!

 

But it's not meaningless,Windsor Rebel, because even though it's only two pre-season friendlies, it's still a continuation of last season's not-so-nice failings of the team we support. As was pointed out previously by Mark44, this indiscipline is costing us points, which is why we're not getting close to being champions or even runners-up.

 

I don't expect us to be Manchester United and win every week but what I do expect is to watch a decent, fair playing non-league side, who endeavour to try their best and set an example to the youngsters coming through the ranks.

 

Some of these players appear to think that they are far better than are and perhaps, it's just another failing of this modern society, that these apparent reprobates [look it up in the dictionary-sums them up perfectly !] think this is what football should be about and that we supporters want to watch this low-life dross.

[Jacko]

"Paul Coyne should have been taken off straight away for a malicious, cowardly tackle from behind on a Holyport player."?

 

Should read "a tackle"

" He played absolute crap last night, is still as unfit as ever and apart from two good passes down the line, contributed very little. So I can't for the life of me,see why he even thinks he is God's gift to football ! "?

 

Does he think that?

"We all want Slough Town FC to do well but there's no way I want to watch week in,week out whingers and thugs in our team"?

 

"Whingers and thugs"? Hmmm

"Some of these players appear to think that they are far better than are and perhaps, it's just another failing of this modern society, that these apparent reprobates [look it up in the dictionary-sums them up perfectly !] think this is what football should be about and that we supporters want to watch this low-life dross"

 

"low life (a despicable person, especially a degenerate or immoral person. ) dross (waste matter; refuse). "

 

 

Im not sure if the above read the forum and they are probably out vandalising a bus stop at the moment with Brownie "giving it large" anyway (who incidently was kicked all over the place Tuesday before and after fracturing his wrist, he therefore had a right to be aggrieved) , so feel free to PM me 3spirit or grab me for a chat after a game. I am not looking to defend them but, in my eyes, none of the comments above are constructive, but they are most definitely offensive!

 

We are a team, they are part of our team, i take those comments more personally then any of those you have mentioned!!

Edited July 14, 2011 by Jacko