I disagree strongly that Ramsey should have been allowed the whole season. What would that have achieved? I think JFH has had a tough start and I hope he improves things but Ramsey had his chance to make a name for himself both last season and this and failed miserably. Ramsey played some of our young players last season and at times they played well but at other times, they cost us dearly. He then bombed them out on loan this season to lower league clubs when this was the season to blood them into a Championship team. Ramsey was also allowed to keep some of the better players at the club in the hope that we would challenge for promotion this season. From the off, to me at least that never looked likely. Not sure what your point is regarding the support of the whole club. A lot of the supporters never took to Ramsey as it was apparent from day one that the man was out of his depth. Our DOF obviously supported him and TF called him his dream manager although personally, I thought he was referring to Sherwood at the time rather than Ramsey. Are you suggesting there was some sort of internal strife? I remain to be convinced that JFH is the answer to our problems but I am 100% certain that Ramsey is definitely not a successful Championship manager. Warnock showed us in his short spell what could be achieved with a good manager. Hopefully JFH can stumble across that winning formula.
I always thought that our elusive dream manager was in fact Paul Clement, but it became evident in discussions that he was not available until end of season, which became our loss and Derby's gain since we prematurely threw our lot in with Ramsey. If TF were smart he should have lined Paul Clement up for this season and let Ramsey go, especially after we failed miserably to stay up. In his recent brief tenure, Warnock demonstrated that even with a disjointed squad, he still knew how to get the job done in this division.
The continual changes haven't got us anywhere and more won't help.We have dropped 3 places at least since Ramsey was sacked. The goals have dried up. We are more solid at the back since Colin came in as advisor, we needed to be, but the cost of that has been few goals scored and boring football. Ramsey never got the support he needed from the Support or the Club, and it is not looking promising for JFH. Hope he gets at least this season and next, with patience from his Management and Support. But I doubt he or in the end the Club, will be so lucky.
Why would Ramsey get support from the fans when it was obvious to everybody apart from TF that the man was a youth team coach and was completely out of his depth? The fans aren't stupid. They will support any new Manager provided they have faith in his ability to do the job and it was clear as day follows night that Ramsey didn't have the necessary skills to do the job. At least JFH has some experience at proving he can be a successful manager to senior professional players even if it was at League one and league two level. Ramsey never had such experience. I take your point that JFH needs everybody's support and I sincerely hope he gets it and turns things around. P.S. the continual managerial changes are as a result of TF and Co choosing the wrong Managers. There is only one way to change this culture.
Happy New Year Eamon, What I am really saying is in my opinion, we were never going anywhere this season and the brief at the beginning of the season was clear, well at least as I understand it, e.g. out with the overpriced players and rebuild over the next 2-3 seasons in order to mount a challenge with a sustainable club that could make a fist of it when/if we were promoted. I honestly do not think it should have been lost on anyone with half a brain that Ramsey was way out of his depth in the Prem, but given time IMO he could have learnt his trade "as a manager" this season and steadied the ship as I also believe he would of at least kept us in the division.(that answers your first question) However once TF/The board decided that we should mount a promotion challenge Ramsey was then lost as his plans had just been thrown out the window and the pressure was truly on, if this had happened to an experienced manager they would have found it difficult to cope let alone a newby. I don't think JFH is the answer either because he has even less managerial experience than Ramsey, he has a total of two seasons with small lower league clubs whereas Ramsey had been coaching/managing Spurs youth and reserves for 10 years and prior to this a further 8 years coaching experience. What do you regard as bigger Spurs reserves or Burton Albion? By the way that doesn't mean JFH could not pull off a miracle but I would bet a penny on it! I am a big Warnock fan and thought it was madness to let him go the first time round and we should have given him the reins until the end of the season if his personal circumstance were different. But would that really of solved the problem? I don't think so because the last thing we need at this moment in time is promotion, I couldn't bare to see another fortune spunked against the wall.
Watching Sky last night informed me that it is actually worse since Jimmy's points rate is only 0.67 per game. Nevertheless. we must, and I will, get behind Jimmy and the boys. They are going to need the 12th man at home. In 12/13, Peterborough got relegated with 54 points!!
Would we have seen a lack of passion and intensity as last night's disgraceful performance under Pearson? No way. It is not clear yet what attributes JFH brings. I'm afraid it will turn out as none.
We've been in a relegation fight all season and will be until we can get enough points. The team isn't playing well - for reasons that I cannot hope to understand because I'm not inside the heads of everyone involved. All I can do is watch what they do on the pitch during games. Compared to Hull, we didn't seem to want the ball last night. My impression (not a studied analysis, that's too depressing) was Hull won every 50-50 ball and, when beaten to it, most of our players just watched them go away with it rather than chasing back and competing. I thought Chery did enough to get a run in the team. Decent ball skills and some passing vision. That's what I want to watch - win or lose. I enjoyed Faurlins performance, too. Assuming Polter keeps his place - and for his part in our goal I think he deserves to - I'd like to see him force-fed a diet of Alan Shearer videos. He's big and slow, so he needs to be more forceful with defenders and not expect the ref to give him protection. Defenders foul in most contact situations - moaning won't get the whistle blown, but upping the physicality that he is capable of might help. Also, he should be given a free pass to shoot on first touch. It doesn't matter if most them miss. Taking time to get a better touch just gets him closed down. I don't care how the manager behaves on the sideline. I'm sure he cares about being successful here because it builds his career. Shame I don't feel all the players feel the same way when I'm watching them play.
The appointments of both Ramsey and JFH (so far - I've always said I'd give him at least 10 games before I formed a firm opinion on him) seem to tell us that what the club really needed / needs is a manager experienced at Championship level (at least) However, regardless of the manager it also needs the 11 on the pitch to be committed and competent over the entire match, every match. This is a brutal league and we can have no room for passengers, either players or managerially Both these groups come and go - as fans we're here for the long haul Much as playing in L1 last time was frequently tough (though the odd new ground - R&D away anyone?), I'll still be following the Rs if we drop down another level
The simple fact is, there is a core group of players here that are consistently under performing. Call it laziness, lack of determination, hunger, desire etc etc. I think it's irrelevant what manager is here, several of these players simply don't care. They're lack of effort is clear for all to see. This has to stop and NOW. You can sense the crowd is on a knife edge. An atmosphere resembling a morgue. It won't be long until people start booing loudly or simply just not going. I wanted CR to be successful. The same goes for JFH. Success means our beloved club is improving. But it's not. The last two games have been among the worst I've ever seen as regards a clear lack of effort. It's a shambles. Several players have to go and now. Why? Because they're not performing and haven't consistently done so for years. I genuinely think we will be lucky to avoid relegation with this lot. So what have we to lose? Green, Sandro, Fer, Hoilett and Philips should be sold, loaned out or simply dumped in the reserves. That's what I will now judge LF and JFH on. They're ability to show serious leadership when we need it. What have we to lose? We've sacked several managers now who can't get them playing, we're not going to get promoted with them and we're in steady decline with them. Cut the cord. Let's get rid. If we can't sell or they won't go, then stick them in the development team and send a strong message out. The manager is in charge, not the players. I think the crowd would lift the roof off if we saw these muppets gone and our younger players (less capable I know) on the pitch at least trying. How long more are we going to watch this group of high earners take the absolute pi•s out of our club. Our management need to show some bal•s now. Some will see this as extreme and OTT. Is it!!!!! Our club has lost its soul paying ridiculous sums of money to average players. We're sacking managers at a serious rate, embarrassing ourselves in the Premiership with the lowest points total and now a total shambles in the championship with an insanely expensive team. Get rid NOW.
My sentiments exactly. Players should be picked taking attitude and work rate into account. Some fresh blood should be introduced from our homegrown players. Last night's performance was shameful. Sadly there is no evidence of this from JFH.
