No 2024 end of contact and possible retirement way to go yet. It's open for voting and represents the long term views of those following the thread. No need for a new poll.
People don’t change their vote though, so it’s by and large a reflection of how people felt when this thread was started. I think the majority of these votes aren’t people regularly looking at this thread.
Yeah 74% definitely isn't an accurate reflection anymore imo and a lot of votes aren't regulars so are less likely to change. 50/50 at best. I'd also be interested in a fresh poll, but probably worth waiting til mid-end September.
It’s like he’s overthinking everything. He’s moved away from his style, he’s not even doing the basics. I assume from the amount of CBS we have that 5 at the back is going to be the plan all season. It’s insane
There is no point in backing Ralph to manage preseason and oversee new signings, to then sack him when we inevitably lose games in our tough start to the season. It’s pretty frustrating that despite being awful for much of the past two seasons; particularly in defence and attack, we played with the same players that we know are not good enough today. Big surprise…they’re still not good enough... I’d prefer we had all the players we want and need by now, but we still have a month of the transfer window yet. So long as we do the business that we need to do then we should hopefully be fine. If the transfer window shuts and we fail to improve then Ralph’s time will be up.
I said the other day that I could see fans turning on Ralph. Difficult start or not, the back end of last season has lost him a lot of goodwill. We're one game in so far. It will still take a few more games yet for things to get really bad. The home game vs Brentford next month could be the big one on that front. I would be amazed if he is sacked in the next few weeks - but I wouldn't be shocked if we continue losing during that time (maybe with a draw or two thrown in). And in that scenario, it's really not difficult to envisage loud cries of Ralph Out.
Just said similar in match thread. It'd raise serious questions about the decision making at the top if a manager they backed 3 months ago (and gave the biggest transfer budget in the clubs history) was sacked after only a few games. 8-10 matches seems about right as a minimum for me.
Interesting that you say eight matches. Lots of people highlight the WC break after 16 games (and for completely understandable reasons). But there's also an international break after eight games. If we sack Ralph anytime in 2022 - whether that be after three games, nine games, or 18 games - it strongly suggests that we've been very poor for the entire 2022-23 season up until that point. So if it wasn't to happen until the WC break, we'd be looking at a run of poor form of almost 30 games. That's a massive period. As I said above, like you I also don't see anything happening in the next few weeks. But that international break after week eight looks ominous to me.
Not meaning to dig individual players out, but does anyone here (apart from Ralph) think that Valery has what it takes to be a premier league centre back? No clue what he sees in him. No clue why he didn’t start che. Just baffling. He has lost the plot completely
No, absolutely not. I've got a mate from my old work who is a Birmingham fan and he just sends me piss taking messages every time he sees Valery getting minutes in a PL game. And rightly so.
I know Poch isn’t coming back, I mean, I wish he was, but of course he’s not. It’s quite telling though that I do think he could get a really good tune out of this team (if we got a half decent striker in).
I actually think what does for Ralph in the end will be the negativity. When we are winning he's all smiles and cuddles but defeat in the first game of the season and he is throwing the team under the bus and bemoaning the 'big gap' between the two squads implying that we have no quality. I sure as **** wouldn't want to hear that and to be brutally honest if he can't get a tune out of this squad VERY soon I fear he will be out the door. The new guys will be particularly off-put. He needed to own that performance because it was a big tactical shift from the way we used to play and he played players out of position against an excellent side. Too many times I am hearing about how poor we are and its not good enough from a manager. We beat them not that long ago and he went with a very different approach this time out. It didn't work at all and he should be putting his hand up.
Very good post SNZ. Wreck-It Ralph has been bemoaning his squad since early 2022 and l find that trait in him unpalatable. He is responsible for his teams performance, as he is for his coaching staff. He is responsible for the teams training, the team selection and the tactics to be adopted. Yet, he seems unwilling to share any blame when we take a heavy defeat. I declined to renew my season ticket this season because l am tired of dire performances under Wreck-It Ralph. I do wish he could turn this around but l felt towards the end of last season that he had lost the dressing room and l am not seeing any signs that he has regained their faith. The new management chose to effectively blame his coaching team, which was a massive cop-out. They have chosen to stick with him, so be it. But he needs to take a long look at himself and with what he has got to work with and make it work because that is HIS job. Management has not addressed the fundamental problem with the team - we have no spine running through it. We have bought potentially very good players, but there is no leadership on the pitch. We need both an experienced defender and a striker. Not cheap, but will make the difference between staying up or going down. Their choice is to spend now or pay the consequences. As for Wreck-It Ralph, we have to stick with him for 2 months minimum to see if he proves me wrong. Sadly, l don't think he will.
Oh look, Will Smallbone putting in a man-of-the-match performance for Stoke: https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/spo...s/will-smallbone-stoke-city-blackpool-7431515
It’s things like this that also have made my mind up that he has to go. Spuds did not start one of their new signings yesterday. IMHO, if we play badly at home to Leeds and lose by 2 or 3 he could be gone. More likely I feel the Brentford game at home could be the game. A new manager would then have a couple of games before the international break.
