Morning all. Found this on another forum.
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Dougie Freedman has 99 problems right now... but Wilfried Zaha ain’t one.
His former Crystal Palace protégé may be standing by to make his debut for Cardiff at the Reebok tomorrow, assuming his proposed loan move from Manchester United goes through on time, but the Wanderers boss insists he has plenty of other things to occupy his mind.
Freedman might be forgiven for thinking the footballing gods are conspiring against him as the boy he helped through the Selhurst Park ranks to become one of the brightest young talents in the English game prepares to sabotage his chances of progression in the FA Cup.
But the Scot’s thoughts have been much closer to home this week, and in the aftermath of the club’s worst result in more than three decades there has been plenty of issues to address.
“It’s funny how things work out, though especially with the timing (of the move)," he said.
“I think someone up there doesn’t like me.
“But Wilfried is the least of my concerns right now. I haven’t really had to consider much about Cardiff this week because I’ve been working on what we are going to do, how we set up.
“Too many players didn’t play well against Reading but they have a responsibility to the football club to dust themselves down and go again.
“We have not got enough players to change things round. We have got four or five young lads on the bench but it would be very unfair to them to put them into a game of such importance.
“Also, I think some of those players deserve to be put back out there.
“They will play, they will get on with it, and hopefully they will show exactly what they are about and what kind of character they are.
“I’m quietly confident because they have done it in the past. They have bounced back – maybe too many times."
Things have hardly been going swimmingly for Cardiff just recently, with last weekend’s defeat at Manchester City causing them to slip to the bottom of the Premier League for the first time this season.
Freedman seemed to be relishing the idea of being the underdog, however, and reckons the pressure to win the fourth-round tie is largely on his opposite number Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“Being the Premier League side and playing week-in, week-out at that level is tough," he said.
“But coming down to a Championship side, they should be looking at this as a game they are confident of winning."
While he may not be making any special provisions for his former golden boy Zaha, he does believe a spell of regular top-flight football away from Old Trafford will be better for him and United in the longer term.
“He was in the Palace team from a very young age, 16, and so all he really understands is first-team football," he said.
“He only knows Saturday afternoons.
“If he goes to Cardiff, he’ll slip straight back into that. You are not getting a player who’s been used to kicking around in the reserves every week. This is a first-team player who’s comfortable in that environment.
“I’ve known him since a very young age. He’s come up to Manchester, a huge club, and not had the first-team opportunities he or anyone else would like.
“He’s never been tested in this way; this last six months will be a massive test for him but he’s a strong character and he’ll come through it.
“I still think it was the right move for him – you don’t ignore Manchester United rapping on your door.
“Maybe David (Moyes) thinks with results being difficult right now, it’s tough to put two young wingers in but there’s no doubt he’ll be a success.
“It takes time to adapt – Cristiano Ronaldo was the same. But this move to Cardiff is a great one for him, it will get him some Premier League football and he’ll be stronger for it."
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Dougie, wake up man. You just told a bunch of useless overpaid idiots that they're undroppable from now till the end of the season AND told the kids they'll never get a go because EVERY match between now and then is going to be VITAL not just important. If there are four or five kids on the bench then take them off it and put some of the fools who let our club and themselves down so badly sit on it for a few games, make them EARN their spot in the starting line up, you know, like REAL football managers do with REAL football players. Dear God, what you've said here defies belief! Do you ever actually LISTEN to yourself and stop to think before you run your mouth or are you Megson's secret love child after all?
Dougie Speaks. I scream!
posted on 24/1/14
Where does he say they're undroppable?
You cannot just lump a load of kids who haven't played at senior level in just because.
And anyway the Zaha deal kind of depends on them signing Rafael or t'other brother, I forget, permanently as they can't loan 2 from Man U.
But hey as Exiled said, could be lying.
posted on 24/1/14
Zat, where the heck is your head at mate? Given how woefully the normal starters have performed this season not just last week how could he NOT put the younger lads out there to give them a go?
And when he says they won't play because it's unfair to put them in an important match that effectively means they won't play at all because unless you think everything is just peachy and we won't slip down the table if our current form continues then EVERY game is going to matter from now until May.
And please, don't give me the 'we won't go down' guff because we could quite easily. we're not exactly miles away from the drop zone and a couple more bad results for us could see us slip into that bottom three way too easily for my comfort.
I don't care about the Zaha deal one way or the other. I care about the fact Dougie is in la-la land, talking about how OUR players are going to bounce back and prove how committed they are when it's been clear all season they have no commitment and not much ability.
He even goes on to say in another article that he thinks our home form has been GOOD, that we've done WELL at the reebok. Seriously, by what measure is two wins at home all season good?
With our threadbare squad we don't have anyone BUT the kids to take over when things are bad and frankly this is as bad as I've seen it since the 80's so why not give them a go? They can't do any worse and they have to make their senior debut sometime or what;s the point in having them on the books to begin with? Wayne Rooney didn't do too badly did he? Alan Smith did OK and they were younger than our 'kids' playing in a higher league. I'm not saying we have someone THAT talented but if the kids are as good as Dougie keeps telling us then they're old enough.
The truth is that Dougie is making many positive can do statements that are clearly horse droppings and this is just one more of them. It has to stop being a soundbite and start being a real action now. Or we might well be in League One next August. I truly am starting to fear that's EXACTLY where we will be because it seems Dougie thinks everything is rosy and there's no need for change when Stevie Wonder could see that's wrong.
posted on 24/1/14
Whatever you think of the article and the undroppable comment, I would ask the question, is Freedman good enough to manage Bolton Wanderers?
My thoughts are that he isn't. One thing is for sure, if he doesn't turn things round very soon, he has to be on his way. I just hope Darkside goes with him. We need a fresh start.
posted on 24/1/14
Zat, SWIE and Exiled this is the level of the man's delusional state.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/boltonsport/10960211._/
Check out the comments about us at home, you won't believe your eyes.
SWIE, Phil and the board need to be swept out of the club, preferably all the way to the English channel and the pampered prima donna's on prem wages giving conference performances (sorry for insulting you conference) need to be shown the door as well as Dougie, Lenny and the dancing clowns.
Eddie has GOT to wake up and take personal charge or I fear there won't be a club for us to talk about in five years time.
posted on 24/1/14
If only Dougie had played for us. He would not have had to tolerate all this abuse. The fact is, he is making no more a mess of the situation than his predecessor although he has yet to leave us in the bottom three for the season. However he has NO money to fix this mess. He is dealing with a player like Ngog who cost £4m and £2.5m in wages. Has played 91 times score 16 goals in two and a half years. That's just the start. Throw in Knight, Ream, Mears, Pratley.
It is simply going to take time with some not very nice bits ahead before we see improvement. We can either give him time or swing the axe bringing in someone who will look at this club as a poisoned chalice. Carp players, no money and fans who have no patience.
That's my opinion of course.
posted on 24/1/14
comment by Cravies: is a Dougie Freedman guy. (U11848)
posted 27 minutes ago
If only Dougie had played for us. He would not have had to tolerate all this abuse. The fact is, he is making no more a mess of the situation than his predecessor although he has yet to leave us in the bottom three for the season. However he has NO money to fix this mess. He is dealing with a player like Ngog who cost £4m and £2.5m in wages. Has played 91 times score 16 goals in two and a half years. That's just the start. Throw in Knight, Ream, Mears, Pratley.
It is simply going to take time with some not very nice bits ahead before we see improvement. We can either give him time or swing the axe bringing in someone who will look at this club as a poisoned chalice. Carp players, no money and fans who have no patience.
That's my opinion of course.
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Cravies I do take your point about how Owen got more patience from many fans including me AND how Dougie has inherited a mess not of his making BUT I stand by my basic point. This article along with the other report posted in my last comment are not abuse, they are his OWN words.
Please tell me how you feel he can justify NOT using players because the team that got spanked in our worst defeat for a generation have done WELL at home with only two wins in the league by late January and how they DESERVE to be out there when the kids he keeps telling us are great and his priority are told 'No you aren't good enough to hack the pressure in an important match and the players I didn't sign who aren't good enough for the championship like I said last week are going to be rewarded for their failure by keeping their place against Premier League opposition at home where they've done brilliantly and won two whole games this term.'
I'm not abusing him by reporting his OWN words. I'd point out also that OC managed us in the Premier League and finished 14th there while taking us to an FA Cup semi final with some football we all really enjoyed along the way before we went down.
Under Dougie's tenure we are thirteenth in the CHAMPIONSHIP, not much better if at all from where he came in, we've played the most dire and boring football since Megson and with worse end results a full division lower down. He's been here well over a year already and there's no visible progress forwards but a worrying amount backwards.
I don't want him to fail any more than I want ANY BWFC manager to fail but I think he's incapable of changing things, especially with Phil and the board hadicapping his every move anyway.
In a nutshell DF is the wrong man for the job but not right one would want it and for my money the clearout needs to start in the boardroom and INCLUDE Dougie on its way down the hierarchy but not be limited to him.
posted on 24/1/14
You could say DF took us to 7th last season after stopping a huge rot and people writing us off. I also doubt the 7-1 to Reading was embarrassing as 5-0 to Stoke as we were favourites in that game.
posted on 24/1/14
Times up
Unless anybody on here or the club tell us why after a good run in last season dopey Doug has changed things in such a way as to cause a complete reverse in fortunes he should leave before the next kick off.
Since the final kick of a ball last season something changed he is the boss he carries the can. Amazingly to date he has not mentioned it or provided any logic as to why this has happened.
posted on 24/1/14
comment by Cravies: is a Dougie Freedman guy. (U11848)
posted 3 hours, 34 minutes ago
You could say DF took us to 7th last season after stopping a huge rot and people writing us off. I also doubt the 7-1 to Reading was embarrassing as 5-0 to Stoke as we were favourites in that game.
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It was MORE embarrassing. We were playing in the second tier and suffered the worst defeat in thirty two years with a craven and completely shambolic display.
As to our "Good run" last year so what? Those who wanted Coyle gone said exactly the same thing when it was pointed out he took us within touching distance of the Champions League before his slide started.
Seriously Cravies, the man is losing the plot more with every passing week, he makes soundbites like Owen Coyle but produces football worse than Gary Megson then comes out with stupid statements that he immediately contradicts himself on.
In all honesty I don't think we can get anyone better who'd actually want the job right now but in the summer when the high earners start to drop off the wage bill I believe we'll be a more attractive challenge for an up and coming manager to take on and we should already be looking for that person.
I agree the Reading scoreline was a freak, a one off but the display that produced it wasn't. We have been disjointed, disorganised and looked like we have no stomach for a fight too many times this season. I understand patience, I was one of the last to really turn against Megson AND Coyle and I always try to be a reasonable man with realistic expectations but Freedman isn't now skating on thin ice, he's already fallen through and is up to his neck in cold water.
In all honesty he's drowning in dismal performances and he's taking the club with him. I don't personally blame him for all our woes by any means but he is a very visible symptom of all that's been going wrong since the end of the Sam Allardyce era. Sam's own last year showed that the football was getting dire as the squad he built had to grind out results because they were all aging fast and no one of real quality was ever brought in to replace them because we could no longer afford it and besides, the sort of players Sam had brought in now had better options in the USA and Far East for one last payday.
I lay the main blame at the feet of Phil Gartside, I believe his disastrous mismanagement of the club including his woeful choices to manage the team have brought us to the brink of absolute catastrophe.
Eddie should start a root and branch restructure of the whole football club and stop messing about on the Isle of Man and fiddling with hotels and schools. He needs to start by bringing in a chairman and a CEO who actually know how to balance a set of books and how to ensure that a manager has something to use to strengthen the squad rather than having to wait to see what's in the bottom of the bargain bin and everyone else's rejects.
I actually don't dislike Freedman, I just think he's not up to the job and that even if he had money he still wouldn't be. In the summer he should go with our best wishes and the six out of contract players should go with him. The money freed up by that should be invested in picking the right manager and the right personnel to back him both on and off the field in order to make the most of what we have and get us in with a real shout at going back up.
posted on 26/1/14
Eddie Davies bankrolls the club; that's it - full stop. I doubt he knows anything at all about the footballing side of running a football club ... (nor does he want to I suspect) that's why Gartside makes all the decisions on how the club is run, who manages it, and which players come in / go out. ED relies 100% on him to make all the decisions, which surely means Gartside's position at Bolton is for life, or until HE decides to quit.
So, much as I'd like PG to be shown the door ..it's never going to happen ..