Scapegoat

[N'ZMAV]

So then, early guesses on who will be next seasons Scapegoat? Seems like Bennett and Bannan were neck and neck for first place for last season.

[bilsim]

Don't think Bannan will be about and not sure if Bennett or Luna will be preferred. Two or three iffy performances from any of the new boys and people will be calling for their heads, no doubt.

[JUAN PABLO]

clark

[Toronto Villa]

I don't get this scapegoat thing. It's not like Bannan or Bennett were the cause or ever blamed for all of our problems. They got picked out if they played shit which they did quite often. There were other players who played their part in our issues and were treated as harshly e.g Vlaar.

[paul_e]

clark

If he plays I agree, if not I'm going to pull a surprise name and suggest Westwood, I think the 'get it in the box' people will get on his back when they have no one else to blame.  I also predict myself getting very annoyed with people slagging him off.

[eastie]

Bit of a negative thread this one - i prefer to the new season in positive mood rather than looking at who is going to be the next scapegoat.

I agree with Toronto, several players were criticised last season when they didnt perform and Bennett and bannan recieved praise when they did .

[N'ZMAV]

Yes, it may be negative. Or, you could put a positive spin on it and say there will be no scapegoat.

[paul_e]

Bit of a negative thread this one - i prefer to the new season in positive mood rather than looking at who is going to be the next scapegoat.

I agree with Toronto, several players were criticised last season when they didnt perform and Bennett and bannan recieved praise when they did .

I disagree, I think a lot of fans were still slagging Bennett off right up to the end of the season, despite him having looked capable of being a good premier league player for the last 2-3 months.  Bannan was definitely a scapegoat, he could be having a great game, bossing things and being the key to all our attacking, then 1 bad pass and the match thread on here would have 2 pages about how shit he was.

[dekko]

Bit of a negative thread this one - i prefer to the new season in positive mood rather than looking at who is going to be the next scapegoat.

I agree with Toronto, several players were criticised last season when they didnt perform and Bennett and bannan recieved praise when they did .

I disagree, I think a lot of fans were still slagging Bennett off right up to the end of the season, despite him having looked capable of being a good premier league player for the last 2-3 months.  Bannan was definitely a scapegoat, he could be having a great game, bossing things and being the key to all our attacking, then 1 bad pass and the match thread on here would have 2 pages about how shit he was.

Go on almost any news site reporting on Luna's transfer in and you'll still find at least one person OUTRAGED that Bennett hasn't committed Seppuku on the steps of the Holte.

People love having a scapegoat, and they hate admitting they might be wrong.

Hopefully all the stick he got will spur him to prove the doubters wrong, but I think he's going to have to have a spectacular season to win over everybody.  I think he's got what it takes (once he bulks up a bit).

[supertom]

Most of our scapegoats tend to be the overpaid wasters in recent years. The players with reputations that they fail to match for us. Like Ireland. I also think in Bannan's case, he's been given a fair deal by the fans. He's had some stick but hes probably had a great deal of faith from some, and perhaps done less to earn the faith than he did to earn the moans.

I don't particularly see us getting on a players back too much in the next season. They're young players, they'll get some slack. I mean Bennett divides opinion but I wouldn't call him a scapegoat necessarily. I also think in the case of some scapegoats of previous seasons, it was quite hard to give credit when it was due. Heskey for example would get begrudging praise on the rare occasions he performed, like a brief spell under Houllier when he looked close to his best again. Bennett showed plenty of promise in the last few weeks of the season and that seemed to be recognised, largely, on here.

We're gonna have a moan on here I know, particularly if we have a poor run. However I think given this summer has been about as positive on the whole as I can remember on this forum, I think that'll hold us in good stead. We've a squad full of young, enthusiastic and hard working players. We've almost got rid of all the overpaid prima-donna's who have blighted us over the O Neill period and beyond.

[regular_john]

Same scapegoat as the last three seasons - MON.

[supertom]

Same scapegoat as the last three seasons - MON.

I'll settle for that.

[SoccerHQ]

Gabby when he doesn't score for the first 10 games again.

[robbo1874]

Bit of a negative thread this one - i prefer to the new season in positive mood rather than looking at who is going to be the next scapegoat.

I agree with Toronto, several players were criticised last season when they didnt perform and Bennett and bannan recieved praise when they did .

I disagree, I think a lot of fans were still slagging Bennett off right up to the end of the season, despite him having looked capable of being a good premier league player for the last 2-3 months.  Bannan was definitely a scapegoat, he could be having a great game, bossing things and being the key to all our attacking, then 1 bad pass and the match thread on here would have 2 pages about how shit he was.

they were slagging off both. Bannan didn't really feature for the last bit of the season if my memory is right and Bennett did improve after the Bradford and millwall debacles.

[pauliewalnuts]

The thing I find about the discussions of scapegoats on this site is that, more often than not, the people who drone on loudest on the subject don't really understand what the word means.

For starters, it doesn't just mean "person who gets slagged off", so criticising someone for not performing doesn't necessarily meant you're "scapegoating" them.