Player of the season so far

[SloughFlyer]

3spirit - if you believe the comments I made are a "character assassination" then you must have read my comments wrong. As can clearly be seen, all of the comments I made were about footballing reasons and nothing to do with character. I'm sure Mcdonald, Webb and Mcclurg are all great guys.

 

Mcdonald was terrible for us. Doesn't really matter if he was the best player in non league football for everyone else, he was still terrible for us. Webb struggled and was rightly released, but I do agree he has time on his side. Mcclurg just wasn't good enough for the premier division. Whatever the reason he still wasn't good enough. We 100% let him go at the right time and looking at the players we now have in our squad and the change around since we made the alterations, not sure how anyone could dispute the changes made were exactly the right ones.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

Top 3 for me in no particular order;

 

Charlie Mpi, Lewis Putman, Mark Scott

 

Guy Hollis and Adrian Sear not far off.

 

 

Flop of the season has to be Gary McDonald - came with big expectations and hugely failed to live up to them.

 

Special mentions;

Warren Harris has been excellent since coming back from a one year lay off with injury.

Gokmen could have easily chosen to leave by now but has stuck by even when played out of position and always gives 100%

[3spirit]

3spirit - if you believe the comments I made are a "character assassination" then you must have read my comments wrong. As can clearly be seen, all of the comments I made were about footballing reasons and nothing to do with character. I'm sure Mcdonald, Webb and Mcclurg are all great guys.

 

Mcdonald was terrible for us. Doesn't really matter if he was the best player in non league football for everyone else, he was still terrible for us. Webb struggled and was rightly released, but I do agree he has time on his side. Mcclurg just wasn't good enough for the premier division. Whatever the reason he still wasn't good enough. We 100% let him go at the right time and looking at the players we now have in our squad and the change around since we made the alterations, not sure how anyone could dispute the changes made were exactly the right ones.

 

I recognise that Gary McDonald had a torrid time in centre of defence for us and the hype from his arrival failed to materialise, hence why I put him at number one in the turkey list too.

I feel he was expected to be another Dave Woozley, which clearly he wasn't but I don't for a minute believe he is as bad as you are making out.

Had he had the fortune of lesser expectations and a better functioning left back and a better functioning midfield and a team that was confident in themselves, he might not have been under the spotlight all the time.

 

I think we all recognised that changes needed to be made to get a better run of results.

 

That is your opinion about Jamie McClurg, I think it's an unfair statement, as you're laying our bad results squarely at his feet, when there were plenty of other players not playing to their best, and should be held accountable as much as McClurg.

My view is that you need a mixture of players in size and what they offer in the way they play.

 

The fact is just because these players didn't get the rub of the green for Slough doesn't mean they were bad footballers and another manager could just as easy get a player like Jamie McClurg to do the business at a club at our level or even above.

It's often just a matter of taste. 

[Reading Rebel]

As was stated at the time of his departure, Clurgy had too much going on off the field with his family life which had an affect on his game. This combined with the team not playing well at the time IMO exagerated his poor form.

[Irishadrian]

Gary McDonalds problem imo wasnt his fault in any way nor was it the fault of those playing around him Quite simply Father Time has  caught up with him as he does with all of us  In his 37th year he simply cant perform as in his halcyon days If he was really still excellent why didnt a good  club come in for him?  He currently plays for the toxic mess that is Farnborough who are relegation bound He has been playing at centre half regularly picking up yellows and was red carded last week  He was tried at full back today when Farnborough lost to rock bottom Lewes at the Dripping Pan .

[Gashimoto]

Mpi, putts then hollis

[Graham Cox]

If player of the year is the one who has made fewest mistakes then it has to be Sean Fraser.

[Reading Rebel]

If player of the year is the one who has made fewest mistakes then it has to be Sean Fraser.

 

 

Not saying it's Seans fault but unfortunately, so far this season, like last season, our forwards are bailing out our defence.

[Irishadrian]

ReadingRebel   You are so spot on  After todays games  only 1 team out of 24 has scored more goals  and only 2 out of 24 has conceded more

[3spirit]

Gary McDonalds problem imo wasnt his fault in any way nor was it the fault of those playing around him Quite simply Father Time has  caught up with him as he does with all of us  In his 37th year he simply cant perform as in his halcyon days If he was really still excellent why didnt a good  club come in for him?  He currently plays for the toxic mess that is Farnborough who are relegation bound He has been playing at centre half regularly picking up yellows and was red carded last week  He was tried at full back today when Farnborough lost to rock bottom Lewes at the Dripping Pan .

 

Agree about Gary being in the twilight years of his game. When he was playing last season at Hayes and Yeading he was being used as a holding midfield player, so throwing him into the heat of battle in the centre of defence, in what at the time was a poorly functioning Slough team was a tall ask but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It's easy to make these judgements about players after the subsequent actions happen but managers don't get that luxury.  

 

What we are failing to recognise is Dave Woozley mainly played in a three man centre of defence, alongside such good players as Nathan Bowden Haase and Steve Perkins, among others.

Something I think Gary McDonald would have benefitted from but Bakes and Unders prefer to play a traditional four man defence with two centre halves, and obviously thought Gary could cope with this, as he was dropping down a division and given his experience in the non-league game.

That it didn't prove successful is just one of those things.

 

Unless you experiment you never know, what will work or won't work. Gary McDonald was worth taking a chance on in my view.  

[SloughFlyer]

Thank goodness Neil and John didn't share that view 3spirit.

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Mpi putts scott