I'm all for him showing a bit of fight but surely he could at least acknowledge it hasn't been good enough so far. Having said that there signs of improvement and definitely encouraging that Edozie can play in his system as we'll need Orsic to as well. I think 3-4-3 could be the way to go going forwards.
Well if TSP was correct, 75 long balls in one game would have me supposing the team was a 'long-ball team'. I'm not a 'football man' so I'm probably wrong.
Also he says that there were problems before and will take a while to fix. Well can I say that the idea of sacking a manager is to improve the team and turn around results. He says it will take time - he had one game ( a freebie v Liverpool) then SIX WEEKS with the team to get them into his groove. He has also had 3 Premier League games. Plenty of time IMO to make the judgement that nice bloke or not, his fault or not, he isn't good enough.
....and two cup games. The problems and his limitations were pretty evident in the game against Lincoln.
I guess this is the Jones bashing thread but he's getting it for everything isn't he. Bashed for tactics, bashed for results, bashed for success at Luton, bashed for being welsh, bashed for being christian, bashed for showing some fight.
As this keeps being repeated by various people and as I'm the one who spoke, I'll clarify again. I didn't criticise him for being Christian (note, I even respect Christianity enough to be bothered enough to capitalise it). I don't give a tinker's toss what religion people are. I criticised the fact that he says he asks God to make decisions for him. I want a manager who thinks about problems and looks for evidence when trying to find solutions, not someoone who just asks questions in his head and listens to the answers under the assumption they will be correct. If you can't see a difference then just keep saying that I criticised him for being Christian. And, as an additional point, I'm still very much on the fence, enough that I've bet a couple of people a foolish amount of beer that I think we'll stay up. Speaking as a foolish optimist, I suspect that in a few months people will be wondering what all the fuss was about. Vin
Tbf to him he has said he understands the fans frustrations, which is almost, slightly, maybe acknowledging that it’s not good enough. I was quite pleased to see him show some fight in the presser though, and maybe he can use his frustration/anger to push us on. However there is probably a fine line between that and causing more of a rift between himself and the fans. Having this City game so close to the Palace win is not ideal at all. We really could have used a free week leading up to Everton.
I’m an atheist…. But him talking to “God” could just be the voice in his head… so him thinking it’s God, to us atheists it’s just the voice of reason.
Indeed. However if you hear the voice of what you think is your reasoning mind I'm sure you'd change your mind if evidence later suggests you were wrong. If you think the answer is coming from an infallible supreme being then it's possible you're never going to doubt it. I really don't want to open this can of worms again so I'll leave it there. I just wanted to clear up the "criticised for being Christian" distortion. As I've said, I'm quietly optimistic that he'll come good. And that he'll do it soon. Vin
I wasn't calling you out mate but you also knew when you posted, that you were opening yourself up to a **** storm. Fine, but the evidence for the criticism is thin. The possibility of it being an issue exists. Having an evangelical (important point IF TRUE) leading a multi-faith team could be a de-stabilising factor but it comes down to the individual. If its kept personal and private and away from training and matches then it can't destabilise anything. For me, Religion is a problem when its used as a leadership tool - as a skill - 'I am the best at religion, therefore I should lead you'. I have yet to see any evidence that this is the case with Jones. Context is everything, he was criticised for using 'they' over 'we' but the context appears to have been in reference to past matches before he joined. Context for his comments about God? edit - having looked into the term evangelical, what I meant was evangelical fundamentalism. Evangelical is a catch all that describes a wide range of people's faiths. Still not sure that Jones describes himself or could be described as evangelical however.
He’s not someone the fans wanted, we’ve done badly and are staring down the barrel of relegation. Fans want a scapegoat and he’s the leading man. It’s not nice to see full blown character assassinations, but it’s almost inevitable. It’s fans frustration coming out, that’s all. When things are going well all manner of annoying oddities will get overlooked.
I linked to an article where he talked about his conversations with God. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/christianity-football-faith-nathan-jones-luton-town-137163 As I say I'm not stirring this pot any more. My post above was solely intended to clarify: My original comment was purely about his conversing with God, not (as repeatedly misrepresented - accidentally by some, deliberately by others) his Christianity.
I would agree with this. Jones is quoted as saying "Others will say it’s your gut feeling. No it’s not: it’s the feeling I get from my faith in God. And I believe that he guides me. Kept me safe, blessed me with so much." He doesn't refer to literal conversations with God or voices in his head though. The specific incidents the article refers to are more considered decisions, not occasions when he needed to make a quick decision, like which substitution to make. the article refers firstly to a passage from the Bible that stood out to him after a poor first leg of a cup tie and secondly that when deciding on a possible transfer to Spain "He turns to God and says, “Show me if this is the right move” and has a feeling it is and goes there." I don't think it's any sort of issue because I hadn't heard anything about his religion until this week when that link was posted on this forum, and I have no doubt that if he was pressuring players into praying in the dressing room, asking God for advice on tactics and substitutions or anything along those lines it would have been leaked to the press by now.
From the article: “I went to God after the game and said, ‘Why did you do that?’ It was a big moment. And all he said was: ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ I'm genuinely trying to extricate myself from this conversation but there he literally says he talks to God. I don't know how it could possibly be any clearer.
