I was there on Thursday night and was firmly in the 'Slade Out' camp before this upturn in fortunes, so i was looking for answers from him.
Some answers where forthcoming, some weren't.
Powerpoint Presentation:I have to dabble with this sort of thing for a living so weren't blown away by it and thinking we've got an Einstein as manager.
Presentation Contents:Yes. On the face of it Russell has got us being about as professional as we can be off the pitch. I don't doubt this for one minute.
Our training facilities look better, are better, and must make the players feel better. The staff we have in place seem very capable and seem to be in it not for the individual gain but for the team benefit.
Youth Setup:We get about £200k in funding per year for our tier 3 academy status, we drop another £200k on it ourselves and on the face of it, it all looks well setup and run properly. I think they mentioned extending it to Chigwell, East Essex, and maybe further afield.
Medical / Fitness:Again i think Russ has this nailed, we look pro in all but facilities available.
Statistics:Yep. We've all seem them before, think football manager and you've pretty much nailed it. Turnover rates, pass completion, heat maps, opposition stats and so on.
It's all very useful and Russ and one of his assistants (Glen?) proved a quite compelling argument that we've not been pasted by anyone this year, we're only 'inches' away from succeeding a few times, and ultimately the long-term plan seems to be bearing fruit now. Apparently at no point this season we haven't had the 7th worse defence in the division or something along them lines.
While the stats are good and easy on the eye, i reckon with full-access to the stats everyone on this board could have pointed out some counter-arguments about how dire we've been.
You don't need the stats to tell you that at the start of the season we were long-ball, very narrow, Cox was in the middle and Mooney wouldn't have been let in the front-door on a match-day.
Player Database / Scouting Network:
Nuge collates all the scouting reports (Local, North-East & Midlands) (which seems to be quite extensive now) and has the better players tracked through a database. Russ quipped that after Moses kept getting roasted by Shrewsbury's Taylor, he went straight to the top of the collated players.
Formations:We have three. A 442, a 442 (lopsided) and i think the other was a 433 though i could be mistaken. We've used all 3 in our unbeaten run. Half the time I'm not quite sure what formation we play so i can't argue that. Bit of a change from a year or two back when Russ said that 442 was dated and that 451 added more flexibility.
Personally i couldn't care how we line up. What is clear is that we need players in their right position and a tactic. I don't even mind long-ball if we play it right.
Prozone:This has angered me for three days now. For less than £20k we could get a product in that we've been using on the ponce for the last 6 weeks which has been hugely beneficial.
Let's have this straight, a £20k prozone isn't what skysports or Arsenal use. I reckon that's nearer to about £500k and comes with all the bells and whistles. For £20k you probably get a limited software package and a certain amount of resource from prozone. If we get this stuff in, we'll probably need extra operatives to use it correctly (as well as the Glen fella), so that's more money.
Is it really £20k? Who knows. But if it really is that beneficial and is under say £50k, Matt Porter needs to look at himself and the board and get this extra £50k of spend from somewhere.
We currently use this software - http://www.dartfish.com/en/software/index.htm
This is prozone - http://www.prozonesports.com/products.html
Lisbie:Is a different class and Russ was singing his praises. He ain't lost his legs at 34 years of age and we should be grateful to Matt Porter for getting him in.
Allsop / Keepers':We've offered him a deal. He's class and is on a massive learning curve every game. Someone asked if he was first choice keeper now, Dearden replied 'whoever gets the shirt on Saturdays is first choice' but Slade was nodding in response to the original question. Allsop looks our number 1 until he drops some massive clangers.
Jones is fit but can't get in the team, Butcher starts training this week. Amazing that we have three top-quality England Under-23 keepers on our books.
Dearden got angered by the fact that he was called up on whether Jones was put in vs Everton for sentimentality reasons but batted that one for 6 straight away. Although to me it looked a bit empty and i do think Jones was put in cos he's a Blues fan.
Cook / Rowlands:Two fantastic talents who know how to win football matches. Both offered deals.
George Porter:Not much to say really. He's lined his pockets but not really gonna progress as a footballer at Burnley. They're already looking to loan him out but as of yet, no takers. This is down to having no real pedigree on the greater game having come from Cray Wanderers instead of through an Academy.
Personally speaking here.. i thought we had a right result out of this deal. Again a personal view but i can George at Luton / Daggers in the not too distant future. Floating between conference and League Two.
The emergence of Moses:Everyone at the club seems to be impressed at how Mo has come along this year. They'll fight tooth and nail to keep him and is now an integral part of the team. Russ seemed to think that with the ball in front of him (full-back) he's a much better prospect than having to collect the ball and beat a man (winger). This could be down to his age, experience and maybe a lack a spatial awareness. Never really thought that much about it to be honest, but what Russ said seems pretty on the button.
Laird / Cureton / Andrew:For reasons you've all discussed anyway, it hasn't happened for any of these players at the O's. It happens in football. When this happens you try to move players out.
Loaness / Dickson:Aside from chronic injuries, the lack of team spirit last year was probably the reason we scraped over the line eventually. Slade said that the loanees had a totally negative effect and some choice words were used. I think the full-back from Southampton in particularly irked Slade.
Team Spirit / Griffith:Some get the hump when dropped (Smith), some rise to it (Cox) and then you have players like Griffith. A constant motivator in the changing room who wants the team to progress (i can imagine Dawson was like this). Griff doesn't moan about stuff, does his job as a pro, works his cobs off, gives 100% when called on, encourages those that are picked, gees up those that are benched and is a genuine all round nice guy.
Matt P said this is up there with the promotion team and the cup-run team in terms of togetherness and team spirit.
Mooney / Symes:Mooney is a fantastic talent, has responded well when called upon, very popular with the lads and enjoying his football once more. Symes can be a world-beater but hasn't set the world on fire when called upon. This will be looked at in January.
Xmas Do:Players all went to Ireland after the Bury match. All well-behaved and no issues to report.
Strikers / Free Transfers:Strikers / Attackers are a strange breed, especially when dealing with free-transfers. Nobody in football can really highlight who's a talent and who isn't, sometimes it just clicks for a player (Mooney), sometimes it doesn't (Cureton). At the end of the day it's a free-transfer, the players are free-transfers for a reason.
In summary (my words):Leyton Orient (all things considered) should be finishing in the top half of League Two to about the bottom half of League One. Let us not kid ourselves. Our first target of the year is 50 points.
Russell Slade seems to have made us more professional both off and on the pitch. Off the pitch we have a tidy setup, on the pitch we should survive each year. Like it or not, this is job done.
Here's the clincher.. and this might come back to haunt me.. Matt Porter (and Barry Hearn) are a godsend i reckon.
Of those 24 clubs between mid-table league one and mid-table league two, who would you join?
[b]We are one of the best, if not THE best setup club that you could ask to join in that bracket of clubs. We pay our wages, bills, fines, medical stuff regularly. We're stable. Our ground might not be to everyone's liking, but its generally, clean and looked after. Our facilities are on par with our competitors. And we're in a prime location.[/b]
What is also apparent, is that if we were to ever reach the Championship, i now feel the club is dynamic enough and in a prime position to grow to meet its demands and remain a permanent fixture in the division (sort of like Peterbrough, Barnsley, Bristol City):
1. We don't dish out silly contracts.
2. The training facilities and youth-setup would organically grow bigger.
3. The facilities could be upgraded.
4. The off-field staff could be increased in the right-areas.
I'm glad I went on Thursday night, not so much an eye-opener but i left with the feeling that we're in very capable hands. I would seriously advise everyone to turn up for the next one.
