I read somewhere Holloway won a poll, as nutcase of the year !! Think outside the box TED, first Warnock, now Holloway, bleating on constantly doesn't validate or improve your argument !!
Well he seems to doing pretty well with the bit about recruiting young, hungry players and getting youth players into the first team. I don't think anyone's suggesting he's managing the club's finances, but it seems to me he has been instrumental in improving the club's finances through prudent player recruitment and offloading overpaid players (Sandro excepted). That must be a major part of his job surely?
Do you think he's doing well at the 'footballing philosophy' stuff as well? If we are imitating Ajax and Barcelona, getting teams at all levels from kids upwards playing with the same shape and style as the first team, God help us. As I said above I feel that the clock is ticking for him, but I'm not voting.
I think Les should put his football boots back on and replace Washington and Polter. Cant be any worse.
Hmm, the football philosophy bit could take a while. I do think that Ferdinand deserves credit for successfully implementing the more pragmatic player recruitment policy, but, having said that, another poor managerial appointment could spell the end for him.
Not voting in either this or the JFH poll...... My tuppence worth is that some fans can't wait to see the back of both LF & JFH so they can claim bragging rights in the "I told you so" line which is rather sad. As RTID posted on another thread we could be in this division for some time and to be honest that doesn't bother me, my only gripe is that the Championship is slowly morphing into a Premier League 2 with relegated teams having a huge financial advantage over the rest. Also 46 games is far too much, the league should be reduced to 42 games at most. As for footballing philosophy, this will take a few years to establish after many many years of neglect, the last time we had some sort of philosophy was pass the ball to Austin, prior to that it was pass the ball to Taraabt.......not very sophisticated. Somehow these 2 need to get every side playing the same way so there is a seamless movement from Youth team to Reserves to First team. The lead has to come from the first team but at the moment it seems to be hit and hope rather than a fluid passing/pressing game. Maybe this will develope over the coming months but I'm not holding my breath and maybe JFH isn't the best coach to do this. If so, we get rid and get in a coach who can do this, but the DOF position should be constant, that doesn't need changing just because the coach changes.
I believe he was appointed to get our Rangers back. Someone who knew the club and what it is/was/should be about. The club was rotten when he took over, and to implement the changes wanted you need longer time imo. Way to early to judge. SLF doesn't have the final word in manager appointment either so it's unfair to blame him solely for the failings of Ramsey and the (possible) failure of JFH. It's a definite stay for me.
It seems to me that both Ferdinand and Hoos are working very hard and doing good jobs. But I am not sure that the organisation with a DoA is the best, especially if it prevents us getting a top Manager in, who may not want to work under a DoA. On the other hand these "top Managers" often need someone to keep a knowing eye on them. It's something the Board needs to look at. It's a stay for me under the present set up.
I'm not so sure about the " I told you so" wish for many supporters. I'd love JFH to prove me wrong and get us playing some even half decent football. I think the problem for most fans is how **** the football is, a lack of tactical nous and tombola selections week after week. As for the TAARABT team. It wasn't just "pass it to Adel" although he obviously had a free role. There was a lot of defensive structure and attacking fluidity in that side imo.
There are certainly supporters out there who want him gone and will take great delight in telling anyone who'll listen that they were right all along. Some have posted on forums, some on this board, that they hope the R's lose as that will hasten the departure of JFH. Perhaps they're the vocal minority, but the minority always shouts loudest....... I agree with you Col that I'd like JFH to succeed and get us playing some good flowing football with confidence. A lot of the problems are of his own making but with time I'd like to think that he can work out were he has gone wrong and sort out the problem. The thing that is relevant is time and I'm not sure that the fans are prepared to give him that. I'm probably doing the Championship winning side a dis-service but the point about the Taraabt comment is that was that we had a plan in those days, we're talking football philosophy as a club, and between that side and the side that Austin was in we had none, that is down to the managers, Warnock, Hughes & Kneecap. Those 4 or 5 years that they were in charge have set us back 10 years. I know you'll not be happy with the inclusion of Warnock but it was him who brought in SWP, Barton, Ferdinand (Anton), Gabidon, Traore, Bloody Luke Young in a panic move, he sent Hill out on loan to Nottingham Forest and discarded most of the Championship winning side from the previous season. That was the start of the out of control spiral of spending that was continued by the other 2 with a total disregard to the structures within the club. It is this that LF is trying to address and the signs are ok, apparently we had no decent youngsters coming through, yet this season there are 3 that are good enough to be included in the match day squads and are getting game time, plus we also sold another for half a million quid. The main thing we all need is patience but in today's instant world that is the one thing some fans don't have.........
So, what about The 4 Year Plan? Patience has nothing to do with it. We're all Rs supporters here, it's not as if we're going to quit being supporters and jump ship to Stamford Bridge, FFS. We just want to see results, promised results, not this merry-go-round of words and shifty dealings in the background that our current manager got caught in. And the performance of the players on the pitch that we're seeing now: these boys just look lost. They just don't look like they have any plan, and no understanding of what they have been given. And to see and hear our manager support this with how he acts and what he says in post-match interviews, you don't have to be a psychologist to understand that JFH is just covering up his ineptitude. So how much if SLF really involved? That's the question.
Well said. While I am a Neil Warnock fan and feel it was a mistake to get rid of him, people do conveniently forget the vastly inflated egos and dross he brought in when finally unleashed in the last week of that transfer window, not to mention Jay Bothroyd who arrived earlier on a free. Perhaps his buys would have been better had it not been for the greed of Tango and Cash. But then let's not forget dear old Rob Hulse. Every manager has his pets - his tried and trusted who prove to be not that great. He is not without some blame for what happened since then so please take off the rose tinted specs.. They also forget, conveniently, that the overwhelming mood of this board was to get rid because he did not have the tactical nous. There seems little point to me in rehiring him in the hope he will get us up again only for the club to dump him and get in a 'proven' manager at Prem level to keep us up for good. We've given two the chance so far and they have failed abysmally. Why do people who clamoured for Steve Bruce with his stellar record for spending but getting relegated suddenly think he is the answer?
In your haste to smash rose tinted spectacles you forget most of those signings had to be made in a few days between The Club getting new ownership/funds and the Deadline closing. He had no funds all that summer and couldn't sign the players he wanted, Routledge for one.
I'm mentioning it as an example of how we're supposed to be patient. May be I should have mentioned how us supporters were bloody patient as we languished in League 1 for all those years, and how we hadn't made it back to the Prem in yonks. We were certainly patient then! But that doesn't mean we all can't spew our opinions here. I think it's OK to continuously mix it up and change up the management and directorship until something works in the short term to get us back to the Prem
Totally disagree. "mix it up ...until something works" ???? You are implying its random and unpredictable how steady progress is made. The Swansea/Southampton/Stoke/Crystal Palace models, all have stable senior management, NOT "mix it up ...until something works". Short term hit and hope management models - give me one example ?
