1. Losing 3-0 at Sunderland is a calamity with no positives to be derived. None. Forget the talk of playing well for much of the game, and just look at the state of that scoreline. It’s absolutely terrible, and it’s difficult to stomach any hard luck stories. 2. City did look neat and tidy outside of the two penalty areas, and looked wretched inside them. From practically ushering Jermain Defoe to our goal to ineptly passing up every chance that came our way near their goal, we looked feeble, weak-minded and afraid when it came to the crunch. 3. Let’s throw some blame about, because again, just look at the state of that scoreline. It’s becoming tougher to support David Marshall, for at least one of the efforts that flew past him was eminently saveable. Ahmed Elmohamady is frankly not bothered and a waste of a shirt (we miss Moses Odubajo terribly, if only for his impeccable attitude). Ryan Mason looks frighteningly lightweight for a £13m investment, while Markus Henriksen appeared troubling distant from being Premier League. 4. What of Mike Phelan? There’s no doubt he’s been dealt an appalling hand thanks to the wilful damage that Ehab Allam and his dismal father are inflicting upon the club (of which more shortly). However, we’re in freefall and near-certain to be relegated, and he cannot be entirely exonerated. 5. It’s clear that City need additional investment in January, without which an instant return to the Championship is overwhelmingly probable. Meanwhile, Phelan must labour on with what he has, and somehow he needs to get his sorry-looking charges to improve at both ends of the pitch. 6. Given that three of the players criticised in point 3 were recent signings, there might be some who question the wisdom of giving Mike Phelan a wad of cash to spend in January. However, we’ve no idea just how many of the signings made near to the transfer window’s closure were actually Phelan’s choices, or if all of them were on a Post-It note left in Steve Bruce’s office after he’d grown tired of the Allam machinations and done one. 7. It would be a disaster if Abel Hernández were sold to Aston Villa in January. However, it’s a story that refuses to die, and even if it’s only been kept alive by a mischievous agent it’s still very much there. Dieumerci Mbokani has done extremely well up front, often alone, but if we’re to score the goals we need to reach the promised land of 17th, he needs a partner – and Hernández can score goals. Don’t even think about it, Ehab. 8. In his own mind Ehab probably thinks he’s really clever. In the real world, where publicly stated stupidity is easily searchable on the Internet, his previous utterances keep coming back to show just how dim he is. Remember this? “Clubs should be encouraged – by a penalty system – to ensure crowds are close to capacity. If, for instance, a game is not televised and played at 3pm on a Saturday then the attendance should be at least 90 per cent of capacity, maybe 95 per cent. Anything less and the club will be penalised financially. That would encourage clubs to improve their marketing, pricing structure and the standard of facilities. Get these right and supporters – both home and away –will want to come along. At Hull, it would put the onus on us to get things exactly right. If the prices were too high, we could miss the 90 per cent threshold.” How’s that onus going Ehab? Have you contacted the Premier League asking them to penalise the club financially for the empty seats as each passing month sees another record set for lowest Premier League attendance at the KCOM? 9. It’s increasingly apparent that the hateful Allam family are not going to relinquish their chokehold on the club voluntarily. It’s also obvious that they cannot be reasoned with, for they are not reasonable men, and it’s a waste of time trying – the name change fiasco demonstrated their total inability to comprehend logic that’s civilly imparted. The time has surely arrived for a greater directness in our attempts to usher them out of the door, before the damage they do ends up taking a generation to repair, and it’s going to take a lot more than protests at the game to achieve this. You don’t cure cancer with aromatherapy and Gregorian chanting, after all. We’re open to all ideas and happy to speak with any interested parties in bringing this about. 10. Thanks to Art of Football for trying to mitigate some of the gloom by offering a reader some free merch. Enter the competition here. http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2016/11/things-we-think-we-think-235-2/?
Item 9 - spend Boxing Day with your family - don't attend - its on tv anyway - make sure the grounds as empty as possible - the only ones left will be the sit down shut up Premier League whores
Well. Finally. Well done AN. Calling out ALL of those culpable for this current state. Well done AN for calling for more direct action too. As well as offering to support it.
Maybe a pity that number 9 wasn't expanded on, or written as number 1 to give it prominence, telling the story about Ehab turning down a more than reasonable offer from a clearly credible 'good home' buyer just before the weekend. This is important information for people to know, especially those that are still indifferent to the Allams. I doubt many people away from these boards know this information. They need to know so that they understand better the greed, the blatant lies, the lack of desire to sell, and the stupidity and stubbornness of the Allams. Or more to the point, the bleak prospect we are now facing of being stuck with them unless they are forced out.
Agreed. I don't think it will take much to persuade a lot of people to stay away. Perhaps a "give Boxing Day a miss" campaign by all the fans' groups could generate some momentum. It won't get everyone - there'll always be dissenters, for a variety of reasons (including "support the team, not the regime", for which I have some sympathy), but big holes in the crowd, shown globally on TV, would make the point well.
Absolutely disagree. Lots of people are staying away at the moment and is an empty ground getting us closer to selling? - no evidence that it is. If I were looking to buy a premier league club (not likely) or move as a player to a premier league club (even less likely) I wouldn't go to one where the supporters appeared to have lost interest. Who would you rather buy/[play for - Sunderland or Hull City? We need a full ground protesting against the owners and supporting the team (like the Leicester game), not 25,000 supporters going shopping. I entirely understand that some have been priced out, but those not going as a form of protest are just increasing the likelihood of us not selling and the Allams dragging us down the leagues.
If you have an empty stadium, people start asking Why? Then the press ask Why? They'll ask the fans Why? They'll get an answer. Then someone will eventually try to get to the Allams & ask Why they're doing what they're doing? #BoycottKComBoxingDay
Oh you want direct action against the Allams now do you ? Pity it took you so and some others so long to wake up to them as maybe if you had supported earlier action we wouldn't be in this situation now
I think we'll do well to get 15k on Saturday v West Brom And the Palace home game on the 10th Dec will be even less. Last home game before Christmas is always poorly attended. I'm past the angry stage now - apathy has taken over.
I would be all for a boxing day boycott, they only down side would be the players coming into the transfer window would probably be more inclined to want to leave. If you read Issac Hayden's piece in the Guardian in the last few days, he criticised Bruce's managerial methods and also said that all the off field problems did affect the players last season. http://www.footytube.com/news/guard...wcastle-on-a-high-under-rafael-benitez-L52793
Same here, just fearful as to what state the club will be in when these two walk if they ever do ( Blackpool keeps springing to mind) they really do have a " if I cant have it no body else can mentality" and I wouldn't put it pass these two to put the club into administration and then walk saying " you can have your club back as we found it".
Allam's love of money > hatred of fans But only just. The only debt the club has is to the Allam so Administration will only hurt them in the pocket, unless they can get some sucker bank/financial institution to lend them millions.
True I was thinking along the lines that they would recover as much as they could from the club (sky etc) then go .
Its not the first time Hayden's had a dig at Bruce or his time here, he's just a little bitter I think. I makes me laugh when he points out the team was unchanged for 9 games, not mentioning they were unbeaten during that time winning 6 and drawing 3 of those games. He thought he'd walk onto the team here coming from Arsenal, he was distinctly average and quite rightly our better, more experienced players were selected ahead of him.
That's the feeling I got, the point which did interest me was that is did affect the players all this off field nonsense.
Don't agree. Empty seats just give the message that we are a poorly supported club who's fans couldn't give a toss. How many are still talking and asking questions about the embarrassing empty seats at Wembley for the Championship Play Off Final ? The press are not interested. How long has this gone on and even the local press look the other way. As for the Premier League whores comment, I will be there on Boxing Day as I was on Boxing Day years ago when we played at home to Rochdale and lost, no Premier League whores there that day, in fact hardly any supporters at all because they had all chucked the towel in. Don't remember anyone in the media asking why there was only 3,000 at Boothferry Park either.
I can remember us losing away to Rochdale on a Boxing Day but not at home. The fans of the club care, there just aren't that many of them, unfortunately. It is more case of a city which is apathetic and always has been, not just regarding City either.Thinking about the number of people who support other clubs, the amount of people who seem to revel in their local club not doing well, something you don't see in other one football club cities, a local media which loves nothing more than highlighting anything negative whilst jumping on the bandwagon at other times, and you wonder does the city, as opposed to the hard core of City fans deserve a successful football club?