Next Man In.

Marco Van Bommel for me. But that won’t happen
Cook I would like, gets a lot of promotions at clubs he managed. Wigan got relegated on a technicality so that will show on his CV when it shouldn’t.

 

Eddie Howe for me from the British managers, but maybe look further afield, it worked very well for Leeds!

 

It would make very little difference if the puppet master remains the same.

 

It certainly will..............

 

We find ourselves here yet again, and the one thing we absolutely do not need is another punt. So that's a no to the likes of Lampard, we can't afford to be another learning curve for a manager.

Outside of the delusional optimistic choices (Allegri, etc), Eddie Howe would be my choice too. Still optimistic, but possible.

 

The thing with this is, we, as the fans, all knew this scenario was the most likely, in that DH doesn't have any experience of being the top guy, and everything that comes with that. Shamefully short-sighted from Ashton, and he should pay the price, as DH surely will.

 

I do not see the point of interviews when it comes to managers, they are totally pointless, to me it's the club imposing their power over any applicant before he signs on the dotted line (in a know your place type of way) and to further stroke Ashton's already oversized ego.

Instead of seeing who applies have a target list. Maybe it's just me but I think that the Gerrard connection and the Hughton connection were both utter bullshit and never going to happen, it was always going to be Holden from day 1.

Whoever our next manager is he needs to come into the club with his eyes wide open and makes sure that he sets his red lines out before he signs anything, ensures that he knows exactly what his budget is and demands zero interference from Ashton.

Sadly it will never happen unless there is a huge sea change in attitude from our owner.

 

Howe and Tindall watch this space take us forward perfect match.

 

You've probably now put the mockers on it RR

 

I think it might have been Redprintt who said some while back that Guardiola (?) himself wouldn't be able to make the playoffs with our current team.
I think RP's statement was actually intended to be a swipe at LJ for 'leaving a mess behind', but I absolutely DO agree with the Guardiola bit.
I don't blame Holden entirely. He's (willingly) taken on the poisoned chalice of managing BCFC and is now finding it difficult - as LJ did before him.
Nothing will change at BS3 by simply replacing the manager - we've proved that.
Unlike some, I really don't think we're one or two players away from a great squad. I am more inclined to agree with RP on this (I need a tablet...) - perhaps not that we are utter ****e, but we are some way from having a great team and I don't believe that Pep or Klopp could deliver much more than Deano has with the current bunch - maybe a couple of league positions but certainly not top 6.
Out of the current bunch I would say that Kalas and Bentley are top 6 material - and maybe Semenyo if he can sort himself out. As for the rest, they are mid-table championship AT THEIR VERY BEST (I haven't seen enough of the new boys to judge them yet to be fair), so Deano is still living up to my own expectations at the moment.
Something is rotten at BS3, but I don't think it's Deano and as everyone on here knows that I don't think it was LJ before him. Yes, they made mistakes and poor decisions at times - LJ particularly towards the very end of his tenure, but the real core of the issue IMHO is with the higher management and the strict structure that seems to be in place, running things from the 'back seat'.
Even those who stick to their negative opinions of blaming LJ for everything, are indirectly blaming the board for appointing him - same with Deano.
The board needs to change - or at least, their approach, or we will tread water at best - or at worst end up in a relegation scrap.

 

See, I disagree personally, not to say I'm right mind. Just looking at the below:

Bentley
Hunt / Mawson / Kalas / Dasilva
Nagy / Lansbury / Massengo
Semenyo / Diedhiou / Wells

That to me is a team that will not win the league, but could get promoted, and that's just a random 'best' XI, missing out a fair few others (Weimann, Moore, Williams, Paterson, etc). A lot of the recruitment is based on potential and some of the players have bags of it but might not be anywhere near that yet.

On that front, I think the club has sort of done it right - we don't have the biggest budget and we're not the most attractive club in the league so we have to do it differently. Player sales and the stature of some of these youngsters suggest we're at least on a decent path regarding that, not to mention the youth players getting brought through too.

It's a clever way of doing it, ideally you'd get the right manager in and as the players all reach their best together, you then have a partly ready-made PL team. But you need the right manager for that to work.

Just to be clear, I'm not a fan of Ashton. He epitomises everything that frustrates me with people at work, the business lingo and all that stuff. But he's clearly done well as a negotiator, and bagged the club millions. It sounds like his range of responsibilities is too broad, particularly if it's interfering with management, but there should be a place for him at the club for him to do what he does best for City. Though that does mean paving way for a 'proper' Chief Scout, Director of Football, etc rather than giving him free reign. I'm not sure that SL or him will ever be willing to do that.

 

I disagree.
Kalas and Bentley that's all.
Mawson's a bully and likes to much 'leaving one' on strikers.
The full backs are weak, DaSilva WHEN fit, has all the ability but he's poor defensively.
TBF to Semenyo, Da Silva and Massengo, they might be decent in a few seasons.
Fammy can't trap cement and Wells needs an attitude update, tbf playing centrally would help.

I'm sure a better manager would help organising and providing structure, a game plan if you like.
In the short term, we're only heading one way and it' not up.

 

9 of those players have been with us for quite some time now and have played a lot of games, what makes you believe that they will suddenly gel as a team when individually and collectively those 9 have failed to do so far?

I am not going to write him off yet but I would be prepared to put money on Lansbury not being here next season, he is yet another 'he was a great player 3 seasons ago'. The side you selected will not IMHO supply chances for our strikers, Nagy has zero assists all season as does Massengo, in fact I suspect Massengo doesn't have a single assist in his BCFC career.

I agree about our budget but Brentford manage it on a significantly smaller budget, they scout and sign absolute quality, unlike us, so we know it can be done, but not in our hap hazard way.

Out of your 11, Bentley, Kalas, DaSilva, Semenyo (with some serious coaching) and Wells (as long as we play to his strengths, not force him wide and can provide chances for him). Massengo needs to seriously go out on loan. The rest for me can move on. I see you have left out our most consistent player so far this season in Vyner, I am assuming that is an oversight?

That is my honest opinion for what it's worth, I cannot not see the point of persevering with players who have already failed for us over a period of time.

 

As you know I disagree about DaSilva but that is just my opinion.

As for your comment about Wells, me I personally don't blame him for having an attitude problem, we have managed (and not for the first time Trundle comes to mind) to turn a 20 goal a season striker into mainly a winger, who gets ZERO service, we wasted 4mil on a player that David Blunkett's guide dog could have told us that we never had a midfield capable of feeding him with chances, I would agree with you if he was missing chances but he ain't getting any chances.

I agree about the manager but we need new coaches as well, I don't see any improvement to the past 3 years and we certainly need shot of Mr Wonderful SL's love child.

 

Brentford are the best-run club in this league by far.
The powers-that-be should look at why they've been so successful and emulate what they're doing

 

For all that Lansdown has given the club in terms of the vast funding and the revamped stadium, on the flip side he's just a control freak and nothing, and I mean NOTHING will ever improve on the field until he can see or is told to his face that his stubbornness, macro management, refusal to employ (and pay) a Manager that can really take us forward, his loyalty to Mark Ashton and the general running of the club has been detrimental to our progress on the field over the last 5 or more years.
And what about the 2 world beating Coaches we're supposed to have as someone else said ? I know we've a big injury list, but we're actually going backwards now.

A few weeks ago I had some confidence we could give Sheffield United a game in the Cup, but I am really not confident of anything other than a good beating now.