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Thread | ‘Methodology’
at 19:46 26 Feb 2026
I’ve been thinking about this for a while and to me this is a question or questions that really should be being answered at ‘fake’ forums or otherwise .
Yes, I’ve been banging on about it for a while but what exactly is John De Souza’s role at the moment?
Because theoretically Stéphan made him redundant after the Coventry disaster didn’t he?
Pre Cov we all knew what the methodology was . It wasn’t working …but we got the idea . Play the same way across all the teams so it’s an easier step for all the players to move up and eventually into the first team .
But Stéphan threw that all in the bin immediately after that game .
So from that shellacking , until New Year’s Day, did JDS then get all the sides to play with a really quick striker to run in behind and have an incredible work rate so all the teams in the club could go much more direct ?
And what about right now ? No Burrell so what’s the ‘club method’?
Stink the place out especially away from home and try to get a 0-0? Because if the youngsters have to make the step up….?
Ok so I’m Being slightly facetious.
But you see my point ? If the head coach changes the direction of how we play then surely the methodology has to follow , doesn’t it ?
Otherwise what is the point ?
And if the answer to all the questions above is no , then what exactly is this role he is in?
For a home game we lost recently I sat close to the posh seats so I could see him during the game .
He couldn’t have looked more disconnected and bored if he had tried .
Didn’t talk to the laptop / stat bods (including Bould ) sitting in front of him once and was more interested in the TV above his head .
Now I might have that last paragraph wrong . I can’t know or see for sure from Where I was .
But we really need some clarity going into next season what on Earth his role is , especially when the head coach throws it all in the bin , because the rest of the club can’t surely be playing the same way it was when the first team aren’t doing that anymore ?
If we are, then Stéphan isn’t seen on being here very long either.
Feels like a shambles to me . But maybe I’m wrong.
Would be good to find out . |
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Reply | Walsh
at 19:20 26 Feb 2026
The more I think about it the more I think there is a chance that Hamer plays on Saturday . |
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Reply | Five-star Saints whitewash wretched Rangers – Report
at 14:17 26 Feb 2026
Tough report to do i’d imagine , but spot on as usual.
Something that alarmed me this week was my non reaction to the result and performance.
Admittedly I was doing something else Tuesday evening and I had it on in the corner of the room to check every few minutes , so I wasn’t completely entrenched in the match as I normally would be , but after Coventry I was absolutely livid…fuming …over the top if I’m honest.
But Tuesday was a shrug and moan under my breath .
I thought about it over the last 48 hours and I think it’s just the fact that I know this team under JS has this result and performance in them . It’s not a surprise. The Cov game was at the beginning of something new and I had hoped that the gob-bumming 2 or 3 times a season had stopped (stupidly I admit after that pre season). But it hadn’t and here I (I can only speak for myself ) am again resigned that under another head coach and another group of players, we will do this and it really is no surprise.
However, upon catching up with people’s responses and reading different angles from different fans on here this week I’ve felt myself getting more annoyed again.
I know it’s easy to write the word ‘standards’ sarcastically after another lacklustre performance or heavy defeat, as some do, but it’s relevant . It really is .
Clive hinted at it but how many more times must the incredible support inside the stadium and thousands and thousands elsewhere have to feel the embarrassment we do on such a regular basis? How many times must we put up with the upper school end celebrating wildly as we trudge off in silence numb to result and the noise still inside LR ?
I know it’s football and everybody gets thumped occasionally.
But ours are now really regular and I’m utterly sick of it .
I was really happy after the result Saturday but I wasn’t under any illusion that we were now heading for sunlit uplands. Let’s be honest .
This team for the most part , not always , but for the most part has to wait for an opponent to have a bad day at the office to get a result especially away from home.
We were bang average for a lot of the match and yet I come on to this message board afterwards and fans are being moaned at for simply pointing out things that could be done better by players and staff.
It’s what being a fan is .
A lot on here , myself included are told we are too negative.
And perhaps we are?
But flipping ‘eck, it’s surely only a natural human response to 30 years of mostly poor football and terrible business management and day to day running from a veritable army of mostly useless t*ssers.
And the one or 2 good’uns we looked too as shining rays of hope out of the gloom have for whatever reason, been moved on too now.
I love this club . But boy sometimes it’s hard to answer why at times .
Apologies .
I told you I was getting more annoyed as the week went on 😊. |
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Reply | Stephan
at 17:22 25 Feb 2026
Hmmm. I think a lasting legacy is 1 season of incredible highs out of about 30 seasons of absolute chod.
Can’t speak for anybody else but as a fan that’s the sort of legacy I crave . |
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Reply | Special mention for the kits last night
at 15:46 25 Feb 2026
It’s about the 3rd or 4th time this season that that pink and black kit has been worn but it has certain similarities to our opponent .
Just because half the shirt doesn’t clash doesn’t mean the other half doesn’t .
From the right , our players at a glance last night looked similar to red and white and black shorts .
All very well having these ‘fancy designs’ but if we can’t play against a team in red and white , with 3 kits available to choose from without a bit of a colour clash then something has gone wrong hasn’t it ? |
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Reply | Is it time to give Jimmy a rest ???
at 00:17 25 Feb 2026
Maybe starting to show signs of fatigue .
Very poor tonight and against Blackburn.
Understandable to a degree .
Also noticed that at Hull and at Oxford recently he went down and got up wincing in pain holding and clutching ‘that shoulder’.
I think he’s played with that injury all season . Wouldn’t be surprised to see him have an op in the summer, especially if Ireland don’t make the World Cup or he isn’t included in the squad . |
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Reply | Madsen hamstring
at 00:08 25 Feb 2026
Posted something very similar to the last 2 posts on the match thread .
We were all worried it was going to happen…but why?
Footballers should be conditioned and fit enough to play 46 matches in 9 months!
Ours are no where near it . 3 games in 8 days is way beyond our capabilities. Either physically or mentally .
Again, as I said elsewhere, the best thing CN can do in the summer is move his best mate and his team on, do some homework and get people in the building who are fit for purpose . I think he’d gain a lot of respect by doing so .
Something has to change . |
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Reply | I've not started a match thread before, but I thought f*ck it, why not? v Saints
at 23:55 24 Feb 2026
Spent the evening building an Ottoman bed and whilst I did have the game on the tv, I wasn’t fully engaged …and it seemed I wasn’t the only one .
From What I saw , and it was only bits and pieces, we didn’t look too bad first half .
Terrible second goal and that’s the game done there for me . Got torn to shreds after that .
Not going to pile in on who was to blame and who isn’t good enough.
It’s all been said and not just this evening . Goals around half time continue to kill us and we don’t seem to learn from our mistakes.
Madsen injury is a killer . Not just this season but for our financial future potentially. He has to be sold this summer, simply because there isn’t anybody else who is a sellable asset right now and that might be unlikely now . Unfortunately we come back to Ben Williams and his team really. The facts are there for us all to see. We say , with some truth that Madsen needed to be rested , but why ?
They should be conditioned and fit enough to play 46 games in 9 months .
But they are not and questions need to be asked ….and answered.
CN could gain a lot of favour this summer by doing his homework and growing the pills to move his best mate on, and get a performance and fitness staff in that are fit for purpose. Who have experience in working in the same sport perhaps ?
Seems unlikely though .
We were also told Cook was rested on Saturday ..? Rested for what ? |
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Reply | Most irritating and mutable commentaror
at 17:51 24 Feb 2026
Great thread this .
My stepdad (god rest his soul) had a somewhat strange hatred of John Motsen. He would always mute it when it was Motsen doing the game . I didn’t dare tell him that I quite liked his commentary.
He and Davies and Moore were just so much better than the nonsense we have now .
Weaver for me is unlistenable . Just so much tripe spewed out over not very much at all.
The other one I cannot stand listening to on Sky is Alan Smith.
I mean he must just sit wrapped in Arsenal garb . THE most biased commentator on tv. |
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Reply | Tomorrow's referee
at 16:54 24 Feb 2026
Completely agree .
Got straight on the phone to my son after the game , to crow about the win of course , but to also tell him that I thought I’d just seen the most ‘home favourable’ refereeing decision since Gavin Ward’s ghost handball decision about half an hour after Stoke (I think ) had just scored a winner .
No way we would have got that decision at the Bet365 and the same applied on Saturday . At LR he sends the guy off .
Really lazy and irresponsible bit of officiating I thought .
So did Madsen as he and Boaty McBoatface had to be separated after the final whistle. [Post edited 24 Feb 16:56]
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Reply | Do we not all want the same thing?
at 11:34 24 Feb 2026
Made the mistake of getting a Twitter account around 2009 as I was told the QPR chat was much better than Facebook. Expected it to be one big happy ‘we are all in it together’ family .
How naive and stupid I was .
Couldn’t believe the vitriol to one another . Some really strange characters (Scott Jones for example) .
Took a long time to realise we all get different things from supporting this football club and we all see things differently .
Catch myself at times arguing the toss on here over insignificant nonsense that really doesn’t matter and is just opinion after all . Sharing views and opinions is a great thing though and that’s what I love about this site. Some really intelligent and insightful posters and conversations.
A lot of the worries and concerns raised really are mostly fans damaged by previous owners, chairman etc and see the warning signs and genuinely don’t want similar mistakes made .
Dont really accept the rhetoric that some are only happy when we do badly .
I just don’t think people would be that passionate and emotional about it . You’d just do something else . |
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Reply | A Hulluva Hard Game Match Thread
at 12:08 22 Feb 2026
You misunderstood .
I meant the term in general. I already said I didn’t read this thread.
Some people waste their time on total nonsense . |
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Reply | A Hulluva Hard Game Match Thread
at 09:31 22 Feb 2026
Fantastic post .
I’ve not read through this thread past the last page or 2 as I often do as I’ve just not had time and I appreciate a few can go overboard good or bad.
But I see a lot of griping about people being overly critical or whatever and I myself hate terms like ‘bedwetters’ which are used by people to belittle the original post just because they don't necessarily agree.
It’s different if people are being abusive of insulting which a few were about Bennie last week for example , but this whole stupid sport and supporting a team is about emotion, good or bad .
Let’s try not to suppress that , just because you might not necessarily agree, either way . |
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Reply | A Hulluva Hard Game Match Thread
at 15:12 21 Feb 2026
Family over for a little belated birthday celebration and absolutely made up with that .
Last 20 minutes we could have had a hatful .
Well chuffed .
What a goal from Bennie !!!!
Pick that out |
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