Can we have a reality check ? Have a look at the league table tonight. We sit in 21st place, with a laughable 7 points. Lets forget about the game that never was, we were 3-1 down at home to Donny. We have just fought out a 0-0 bore fest at home to a side who are in a false position ( unlike us) and will finish the season in the relegation zone ( like us). These are the games that we need to WIN to stay up. We need 50 points, maybe more. The Saviour himself has said that there is no more money for loans. So we are stuck with the Saviour and these same players. The very likely outcome, IMO, is a difficult relegation battle. Is it possible that another manager could get more out of these clodhoppers ???
I think it's fair to say that injuries played a part in the quality we saw. If it had been, say, Wilson, Gower and Church who were out instead of Solly, Jacko and Kermit then it wouldn't be an issue, but the 3 players who have been the top 3 in the POTY last 2 years, well that's surely a significant loss for any manager to cope with?
Lets be honest, Powell gets cut more slack than one of Sir Cyril Smith's suits. The puddles, the ref, the injuries, the wicked owners. I have just looked in my Crystal Ball for next weeks whopper .I can exclusively reveal on not 606 that after Jordan Rhodes bangs in a hat trick for Rovers in a 6-0 win, CP disciples ( motto "Hear No Evil,See No Evil") blame the roadworks on the M6. Scratching- you have a week to start rehearsing
V-a-V, you are a hyperbole man, I'm a euphemism man myself. There will be no sacking before the next 2 games. Let's see how we do when our best players are back. There's no point in calling other posters names just because they take a more moderate view, the managerial decision is nothing to do with any of us on Not606. If we still looked doomed this time next month there will start to be "speculation" about a change, and we know what this leads to. If the owners do sack him it will be a pragmatic decision, and one which will be tinged with sadness for all of us.
You are right, FHB, it will be a sad day for us all. But the day we are relegated back to League One will be even sadder, especially considering it was Powell (and the owners) who got us out of it. Sometimes, just sometimes, we have to say goodbye to someone we admire and (sort of) love. Before the injuries to Kermit, Jacko and Solly, we were hardly tearing up the league, and I just can't see things changing when they return.
Volly, for me you sort of answered yourself there. Apart from paying Powell off, which we would have to do in the event of sacking him, we then have to find a new man, hopefully prepared to commit to a club with no funds, probably not prepared to pay a great deal, and with a squad which we have'nt the cash to enlarge , but which a lot of our fans admit is horribly short of quality. Added to that is our club (admittedly under Murray), showed itself to be completely unable to pick a decent manager from the CV's on offer on a regular basis. All this is to suggest we should not be in a rush to sack CP. There is also the fact that in two seasons he won league one at a canter, and while he did it spending some cash, he showed he could when it was offered. Last season we finished ninth with by and large the league one squad. This year we have started badly (even worse than last year) but we are still technically with the league one squad, and no money to find reinforcements. I'm getting very weary of Powells inability to use subs, and some of his tactical decisions are horrible, but for all of the above reasons, plus my honest dislike of mucking around changing managers, I still don't see removing CP as much of a guarantee of a way forward. We may well go down (our form suggests we will if just one of the bottom three gets into gear) butthere are a lot of other factors here besides CP's possibly having reached his máximum potential with this squad.
All this because we drew , on Tuesday of last week celebrated a draw like we haven't since the 3-3 against Man Utd. We draw again keeping a clean sheet for the first time in nearly a year and everybody's calling for Powell's head again. It's not blind faith it's pragmatism. WHO ARE WE GOING TO GET AS POWELL'S REPLACEMENT?
Totally agree,, please don't come up with the standard list of out of work managers (we can't afford compensation to get someone already in employment). Come Christmas, if we are still in danger I will understand the owners making a change, any new manager would then hopefully be ale to make one or two key changes to put his stamp on the 2nd half of the season.
What shabby said A change of manager will do nothing to lift us.. it is down to the players to commit and give a toss about performance. We know they can play better than they are, so show some nuts and put in.
The manager did procure the production equipment of course but the analogy breaks down if you blame him for the damage (the injuries). I would fear for any company that changed management as frequently as football clubs seem to. Unless they are extremely lucky it usually leads to a disrespect for this week's manager by the workforce. Our owners brought in a young inexperienced manager and invested in him. He has produced a step up, they cant afford to bring in a top flight manager who might be able to turn iron into gold and they can only afford iron. Alchemists are very rare. They are hopefully pragmatic enough to realise that some of the iron procured as scrap from other companies has impurities and some of this can be smelted out but some should be sent to the scrap heap. As a manager cp has to buy in the second hand stores and not the showrooms. The impurities are not always visible and no manager at this level gets it right all the time. In second hand car terms Sod all is a hot hatch that appears to have a good engine and leather seats. Unfortunately its previous owner allowed it to run on inferior fuel and did not get it serviced properly or regularly, so it runs but doesn't drive properly. However, analogies have limitations since the reality iswhat you are faced with on a day to day basis. CP may not be the best manager out there but changing him without the equity to invest in a new team is an exercise in futility.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul is the life of just about every manager outside of the Premier League. If you don't believe me, have a read of Clarke Carlisle's new book. Chris Powell is fishing in the same pool as 90% of other managers. Accepting that his overall record in the transfer market is just in the positive, his recent signings have not been good. Button and Wilson were duff ones ( if you class LW as a defender), Gower and Church don't look great and have added to our wage bill when both are at the *** end of their careers. And Sordell is on very high wages at Bolton, and we must be picking up at least some of that.
I will never ever call for Chris Powell's head, simply because I respect the man too much, and if I ever met him I would like to be able to look him in the eye.Never called for Parky's head either, but I did with pardew. The Doctor is, I think, the second longest-serving manager in the Championship after Tony Mowbray, and there is a reason for that. I'm not saying no-one could have done a better job, but he could have done a lot, lot worse. He may have made mistakes, but who hasn't? S.A.F. paid £30m. for Veron, Mourinho paid more than that for Shevchenko- managers are human therefore fallible, and their job is not an easy one. By not pushing for a new contract, CP has opened the door for the owners to push him out, which they may well do. And if that happens then we'll see what we'll see.
It's a tough one. The past 2 results will be positive if we can go and secure a few wins, not great if we lose a few after the international break. People asked for us to go back to basics and we've done that in the last two games. The players spoke about low confidence and they are gaining some of that back - especially in the midfield area where Stephens and Cousins are looking the part. Gower, whilst not setting the league alight, seems to have bought a calming influence with his experience. Look around him, we have two teenagers and Stephens only has 1 year experience at this level. Also Vol, I wouldn't say Chruch is at the *** end of his career, he's not even 25 I believe?
One other point before I go off on my hols-we do need to have a manager who believes he can do a successful job here. Only CP himself really knows whether or not he believes he is that man.
Keep Powell and get the owners to sell at a reasonable price to somebody who is going to grow the club. The owners have got us promoted, which I am grateful for by backing CP in the transfer market. CP got us to 9th last Season despite very little backing. But we have stagnated as a club, because it was obvious to everyone that we needed to improve the squad in the Summer, which didn't happen. What didn't help was the bringing in of Church and Sordell in the week of the first game of the Season.This was not Powell's fault as before the money wasn't there. He had to wait for the Sky money. A number of his targets had gone, is that Powell's fault? You could say that it was his fault for bringing in Church and Sordell. But I remember people on here and other forums being very happy to bring in Soedell. I still think there is a decent footballer in there somewhere. What I don't like about him is his attitude. A number of people are saying get rid of Powell. It is always the reaction of some when things are going badly. If I thought that things would get better under another Manager I would say yes. It didn't work when Curbs left and there is no guarantee that it would work now.
