Garner sacked

Ben Garner has been sacked after today’s 4-1 home defeat to Fleetwood and a pretty poor run of form under his stewardship.

I don’t like to see people lose their jobs but frankly it was about time.

Thoughts?

 

I agree about it being about time, things simply could not be allowed to carry on like they have been. Before we knew it, we would find ourselves playing catch up again at the wrong end of the table, (lose against Swindon, and we could be there quicker than we think). I don't actually dislike Garner, I think he will make a very good manager for someone, but the type of football he envisages, does not (in my opinion), work in the lower leagues, so although he was very well intentioned, and has made some very good additions to the squad, it's time for us to try something different, before it's too late. Thankfully our owner is very knowledgable about football, rather than just seeing the club as a business opportunity like some, and I think this is why he has seen the need to act now, before things deteriorate any further. Who knows, they might already have someone in mind as a replacement, but either way, I personally wish BG well for the future.

 

Sorry to see him go some of the players need to take a serious look at themselves and their performances.

I believe we need at least 3 players in the next window. Mark Little spends more time on the treatment table than the pitch, our no2 keeper is not good enough and we need a big strong striker to help Hanlan upfront.

I am not convinced that passing the ball along the edge of your penalty area is the best way to win matches, when we get the ball we are to slow in getting it forward and to slow to support the front man whether it was hanlan or Daly

Ayunga, Rodman, Barrett, Mitchell - Lawson, Little and Daviest 6 quality players all unfit and Jaakkola on international duty

Is it the tactics that are wrong or is it the players are either not good enough or needing more time. Personally I prefer playing 4 at the back and go forward from there.

Now I suppose we will look for a manager that has had more clubs than Tiger Woods and failed in all of them otherwise they wouldn't be looking for a managers job or do we take another newbie to the managers post. Interesting that our Chief scout Tommy Widdrington has the caretakers job

 

Graham Alexander would be my first choice. Good manager, no-nonsense sort with an average win rate around 46%, lower league experience and he got fired from Salford when they were in 5th!!!

When he was in charge of Scunny in L1 a few years ago they played really good football and reached the playoffs.

 

I am sorry that he has gone, but this is the result of trying to change every thing too quickly.These good young players need old heads around them and they also have to know and agree with managers views.Keeper problem has been around for past 18 months, we try young player out field why not have brought on the young keepers?

 

My view of our best manager in recent years was Paul Trollope, He was manager for 5 years, then when sacked, we had 5 managers
before Daryl Clarke nearly 5 years and then since two more in less two years.Paul Trollope tried us to play football ,not kick and rush.
but he did have better potential scorers.I do believe that with time Garner may well have proven himself, but time is not available.
Talk the talk was seemingly his strength as most of the current team say when signing .walk the wail is missing.
I expect our owner has plans inhand,I dont believe he will risk more by not having some succession in mind

 

We tried for Paul Hurst when DC left but I believe he was a friend of DC and wouldn't take the job. Good record knows the league, 2nd choice would Chris Hargreaves who has managerial experience with Torquay and Lee Mansell as his no 2

 

Some sort of recruitment from within would probably work best. Things need a bit of tweaking rather than a wholesale change. There are some decent players in the squad, and it's only a few weeks ago that a lot of people were saying how good this lot were.

 

Yes the squad’s good enough and very large too, that’s what makes the results all the more disappointing.

I like Hargreaves but not convinced now is the right time for him. I’d like an experienced League 1 manager to get the best out of the players. No more tippy-tappy stuff - more direct and the creation of far more chances please.

 

I read this morning (ironically on Portsmouth's website) that BG has only won 6 games from 33 starts since he took over. If this is actually the case, and I can't be bothered to check it's accuracy, although from recollection, it doesn't sound too far off the mark, then it's little wonder that Wael's patience has finally snapped, particularly after the eye watering sum of money he has poured into the club. That sort of win ratio would lead to the demise of any manager, probably a lot sooner in many cases, so I feel he was given more than a fair chance to prove his methods would work. We certainly could do with a more animated manager on the sidelines though, he always seemed quite emotionless and lacking in passion to me, and it always concerned me that this laid back appearance would transfer to some of the players. I still suspect that a possible replacement is already on the club's radar, but if the bar is set at improving on 6 wins from 33, then virtually anyone could be in the frame!

 

Steve Cotterill? (this is not a WUM - a genuine thought)

 

Ok, I have had time to take this all in. I am very split on letting BG go.

Part of me thinks it was too soon to let BG go because....
.... to me, Wael ignored last seasons form under BG because he supported BG a lot (financially) throughout the summer with lots of signings. I Wael had concerns about BG then I doubt he would have been supported as much as he was. Just my opinion of course. To give that much support (and I don't recall any manager receiving as much support financially as what BG has had in a single transfer window) and then only give him 10 games or so, just doesn't make sense to me and it seems like a rash decision to let BG go. Lots of players, most who are young who is still learning and may have not played as much regular football before, needs time to click. I don't think they have been given anywhere near enough time. Throughout the summer and during the opening games of the season, I said time and patience was needed before we start seeing the benefits of what this squad can bring because is a young squad but there is bags of potential within it. 10 games or so just doesn't seem enough to me. I have been a supporter of BG as I could see what he was trying to do. I like his philosophy and the way he wants to play. If we want to be sustainable, bringing in youth with potential where we could sell on for huge profits, will make us sustainable. I think he has done this as we have a decent squad in my opinion. But we were never going to have instant success with this philosophy. So why only give them 10 games or so? Seems strange that Wael would making this decision so soon into the season. Most of the signings said they chose to join us because of BG. Wonder how they will be feeling now. Wonder how they will react to this.

However....

Part of me thinks this is the correct decision because....
.... although I have been calling for everyone to remain patient and that I have been a supporter of BG's, I still expected to see gradual improvements and we did begin to our patience pay off. Earlier than I expected too. At one point during a game, the live table had us in 5th, so what BG was doing was working. Of course we would expect to see set backs now and then throughout the season but over the last 3/4 games, I can see no improvements but instead it looked like we had no plan and was going backwards (apart from the Walsall game - who are a league below and they nearly pulled it back), and we are quickly slipping down to the danger zone. A big reason for this is after taking the lead, we just sat back and was more concerned not to let the lead slip than actually try to push for more goals to kill the game off and as a result, we have dropped a lot of points already. It was clear this was not a BG tactic going by his interviews but it was instead the nerves from an inexperienced young squad. I do rate BG but this is where I tend to agree with the decision that letting BG go was right because BG was clearly not able to stop his players from sitting back and inviting pressure which they could not actually handle. Performances were getting worse, results were bad. Players beginning to look more like strangers to each other than team mates. It was difficult to watch at times. I think when it gets to this point, it will only lead to one outcome - the manager losing his job.

So im split because I feel it is too early and we haven't given BG and his team enough time. Could he change our current bad fortunes? Given time, I think he could. But the way it currently is now and how it has been recently, I can see reasons why reacting now is better than before it COULD be too late. If you really think BG cannot fix this then why waste games? May as well give a new manager as much time as possible to fix things. So I understand the decision based on that.

That is my take on it.

 

No. Not for me. I cannot forgive his ragbag Rovers comment regardless of how good he could be for us

And don't say Lee Johnson either

 

It will be interesting to see what the next manager does with this squad. BG came in and changed everything from formation, tactics and style. The squad wasn't good enough to meet his demands and struggled as a result. The squad now is designed for BG's formation, tactics and style. If the next manager comes in and wants to change everything again, the team now probably wouldn't be able to play that different way. So will Wael hire someone who will get to change everything again or hire someone to stick with similar tactics and style and try to do a better job than what BG did with this players?

 

At the moment, the list of names that are favourites at the bookies is to me underwhelming. We have a young squad and most of these players have bags of potential to improve to a higher standard We have one of the best playing surfaces in our league and a brand new training ground with further improvements to come with that. No issues with the clubs finances either as debts covered. There should be a lot of very decent unemployed and employed managers licking their lips right now for the chance to be our new manager.

The current top 5 favourites from the bookies...

1: Tommy Widdrington........ 1/3
2: Paul Cook......................... 12/1
3: Paul Tisdale...................... 12/1
4: Danny Cowley.................. 14/1
5: Steve Cotterill................... 14/1

To me, only Paul Cook is note worthy. Surely we can attract better than this lot considering what we can offer them.

 

Nope to Cotterill.

Widdrington would be another cheap option. He has no experience.

Cowley could work.

Tisdale has done nothing since Exeter.

Paul Cook maybe but would he come to us?

For me Graham Alexander is the one we should go for.

 

new tarmac

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Nothing wrong with that tarmac - and there’s excellent pasties on offer to the right as well!

 

Tommy Widdrington has managerial experience with,

Salisbury City 2009 - 2010

Hemel Hempstead Town 2011 - 2012

Eastbourne Borough 2012 - 2017

 

Sol Campbell? Controversial, but I'm sure he would do a great job.