I have been dismayed by the outright doom and gloom amongst our fan base lately particularly after Sunday when we lost 1-0 away to one of the biggest Clubs in the league encouraged by promotion last year. We played a third of the game with only 10 men, conceded the goal during the reorganising period and until then had looked quite capable of getting a point. Although the performance was disappointing it hardly justifies mass panic unless of course you were misguided enough to think we would just walk out of this league. If you think that then look forward to a season of disappointments. There are a lot of big Clubs in the Championship all of whom expect promotion. To the Manager. I did not want Adams to be appointed when Hughton went but I could not think of anyone better. There was a shortage of candidates and the only ones available were those sacked for failures elsewhere. We all realised that at the end of the season Adams would be on the shortlist for the the full time job but we all agreed that a speedy decision had to be made and again there was a shortage of suitable available candidates. Once more I did not expect or want Adams to get the job. What went on is fairly well known and I have a reliable source who has since confirmed to me the sequence of events without disclosing names -I am sure Supers will say the same. The Board basically left it to McNally. He sent out feelers to those he wanted to approach and considered the responses received - all done verbally. He then spoke again in more detail to the people/their agents who he felt were suitable and from that drew up a shortlist of 3. Further detailed discussions took place over details of the job, salary, proposed structure etc with a view to arranging a full job interview. All three were offered an interview and one immediately withdrew his interest. Interviews were arranged with the other 2 and Adams was the first to ' go in' At that stage the other candidate withdrew his interest and Adams was given the job. It is doubtful whether he would have got the job if the other 2 had been interviewed but that is conjecture. The fact remains that he got the job and as such we have to accept it and give him the support we give to all new Managers. If we get on his back because we didn't want him to get the job then this will demoralise not only him but the Team. I know others will disagree but the disgraceful attitude towards Hughton at the Fulham game affected the Team greatly and largely contributed to that defeat and our subsequent relegation. If you want many more ' Fulhams ' start your ' Adams out ' chants - if not then give the man a chance. Adams out and then what - slide down the slippery slope like Wolves and Blackburn with a new Manager every 3 months. I know Carrabuh will disagree but to suggest sacking a Manager after 5 games of the run in from hell last year and only one game this year is ludicrous. His main crime appears to be lack of managerial experience. Roeder and Hughton had plenty of experience - look at the outcome. Curbishley had no managerial experience before going to Charlton - look at the outcome. Will Adams succeed? I don't know but ffs give him a chance.
I agree in respect of Adams. We are where we are and the only viable option is to give him a chance, but not as much of a chance as Houghton had.
My biggest disappointment on Sunday was not with the Manager or team selection,but with the seemingly lack of effort,fight,hard work etc from the Players. Having seen no warm up games,this was my first view of the "new boys".Nothing excited me there. The senior players,with the exception of Turner, Ruddy and possible Wes,IMO didn't show any real effort.It looked more like an end of season game rather than a new season. I hope I am proved wrong,and will support Adams and co,but I have a feeling that all is not well within the squad. Pilkington.Hooper,Tettey,Fer are all needed to allow us to perform well,where are they? The next 3 games will decide both Adams and our season. OTBC
You´ll get no disagreement from me on that one, and in regard to your general sentiments, I agree. He wasn´t my choice either, as I suspect he wasn´t from many on here, but he´ll soon find himself derailed if the general mood doesn´t soon start to lighten up. But then again he and the players know, that the best way for that to happen is to start producing much more than they did on Sunday, even if the results don´t start to come, performances have to improve, starting this weekend.
The problem is IMO is not the most people here think Adams is a bad manager. The problem is that is he really the BEST we could have done? I am not so sure there were more experienced, successful alternatives out there. Adams horribly unbalanced (IMO) team selection on Sunday hardly helped things either.
I agree with a lot of what you have said, so forgive the pedantry(!) Hughton wasn't in charge for the Fulham game. He was for the West Brom game and, in reality, that was the one which relegated us if you look at the table. Win or draw that and we would have had a fighting chance.
Who are you referring to as better DM and are you certain that they weren't the other 2 on the shortlist?
No, you do not have to support this decision. Why did the candidates withdraw? Neil Adams should not of even been considered, let alone on any final list.
Quite obviously multiple title winner Neil Lennon or Malky Mackay who strolled to the Championship the season before last. How were they not better options?
That is your opinion Carrabuh but obviously not shared by McNally. I know whose judgement I trust but only time will tell. The decision has been made and we all have to accept it whether we agree with it or not. Nothing positive will be gained by trying to mount a hate campaign against Adams. McNally is not daft enough to sack Adams now but with the Hughton experience fresh in his mind he will not give Adams more than a reasonable amount of time to prove himself. Will Adams be another Curbishley or another Gunn - nobody knows at this stage although we can all have our opinions as to the likely outcome. SAF, who knows far more than you and I about Managers, appointed Moyes to replace him. If his opinion can be wrong what chance is there for the rest of us. I don't know why the other candidates withdrew - thought they could get a better job? Didn't like the structure? So many different reasons but once they did withdraw at such a late stage it created a situation that, ideally, nobody would want.
How do you know that they were not the other 2 on the shortlist who withdrew at the last minute. I believe they were but I do not know that.
Football players get paid vast sums of money to perform well and get results for the manager, if they don`t produce the goods or the manager doesn`t like them they don`t get selected. Managers get paid vast sums of money to get results ,if they don`t produce the goods they are at risk of being replaced. The Chairman or CEO gets paid vast sums of money to keep the club stable and to appoint someone who can get results and select the correct players and if the people below him are not producing results then his job is under scrutiny. I don`t think anyone is calling for Adams head yet but if we have not put a string of wins together by October then it would make good business sense to re evaluate the decision to appoint him. I am of the opinion that Hughton should have been removed in December and the replacement to have the January window and enough games to make a difference. You can feel sympathy for Hughton but he was paid handsomely to get wins and keep us up but losses to our closest rivals home and away made this task impossible. I imagine he walked away with a hefty chunk of compensation too. Adams record from last season means nothing he was expected to perform miracles but he should be judged from the start of this season, we played one game against a buzzing Wolves team away from home and lost narrowly hardly a 7-1 Col U moment. Watford are a good team but we should be expecting to get 3 points and play our best 11, we always play much better at home and i`m certain the whole of C R will get behind the team and the manager . The 11 Adams picked for Wolves didn`t do the business so i expect widespread changes in midfield ,one of the most annoying traits of Hughton was selecting players week in week out even if the played badly. We can`t judge Adams after 1 game and i`m pretty sure with the quality players we have on our books his first managerial win is not too far away.
RBF - You've hit exactly the right note and it was the lack of effort from the players more than anything which disappointed me on Sunday, though I felt that to start with effectively 2 up front when away from home was not the best decision NA could have made. I want to see us fight for the ball, close our opponents down and pass to another member of our team on Saturday and again a week today. IMO, anything less than 4 points out of our 2 home games and I can see many fans baying for NA to be sacked, but I'm prepared to give him till the end of the month.
I don't know anything about any withdrawal but Malky 100% had meetings with the board. Having said that, turning on Adams after one game is mindless and not at all supportive. I turned against Hughton after 50+ games after (what was to me) insurmountable evidence that he could not succeed, both objective and subjective. Neil Adams has had Fulham (A), Liverpool (H), Manchester United (A), Chelsea (A), Arsenal (H) and Wolves (A). I was in attendance at three of those games. I would argue anyone calling for his head has been to as many or fewer. It is impossible to judge anybody on the evidence of one relegation six-pointer, four games against four of the biggest clubs in the world and a season opener. It's just illogical.
I really don't believe I am seeing things like this. 4 points from first 3 games or fans will be baying for a sacking. You are prepared to give him to the end of August - not even Wolves or Blackburn worked to those sort of timescales!! Unless we are floundering near the bottom no preliminary assessment can be made until the end of the year and no full assessment can be made until the end of the season. The Board won't be looking at anything shorter than that thank God.
We had this all last season and it was awful. Here we are 1 game into this season and already some are baying for managerial blood, this has to stop please now! I appreciate that we all set targets such as 6 points after 3 games or whatever, but these are largely superfluous and irrelevant. Providing we are at least in touch with the play-offs say at the end of the year we are probably best to stick with NA. It is hard for teams to come into a new league and no ex-prem side won their first game this weekend. It requires a different style of play and if any of our lot thought that turning up was enough well now they know.
