I think it’s not so much “who is out there” as “who would be willing”. If someone decent is there in the second category, it’s worth the jump. You’d like to think SR are at least making some soft enquiries.
Staying in the Champ would have got progressively worse though. This season is going to be very painful. But in the long run, yo-yoing is better than slowly transitioning into a mid-table Championship side. Fulham needed three promotions before they established themselves as a Prem team. Bompey two promotions etc. I've no problem going down again as long as we can keep the squad together (obviously some outgoings). But we need consistency. We need a replacement who isn't just a 'quick fix', who will f*ck off again in May.
Going to be tough v Everton. Although I doubt their form will continue. I think we need to go back to basics, start with not shipping goals first and foremost, press, counter. And for god's sake, stop this obsession with possession. I hate to say it, but I'd take Puel right now. Not that I want him back but we at least were organised and knew what we were doing. That is the sort of manager I think we need, turn defeats into draws and draws into wins, as a starter. Build on the foundations.
The squad might not be good enough to stay up. But it has enough about it imo to at least be more competitive than it’s showing so far and maintain position with other relegation strugglers. It’s definitely not so bad that we should even be worried about Derbys points total. That’s on Martin. He makes weird selection decisions, doesn’t seem to be able to react to changes in the game or when the opposition changes something, and when he does make changes, regularly makes the strangest choices that make us even worse. He has always been ****ing **** (weirdly) at setting up a team defensively, and you can’t really do that in the PL. He continues to make the same mistakes, we don’t appear to be getting any better at defending set pieces. He has though, at least shown some flexibility in approach as we are noticeably playing less pointless possession football at the back in recent games. That’s not enough though with all the other negatives. He’s not keeping us up, maybe nobody can, but we should be doing better than we are. I like him, but he’s just not good enough.
Wasn't Fulhams down to getting in a good manager though in Silva. Same perhaps with Bournemouth. I think it is possible to do it sooner, easier, but we just can't seem to get the right manager, or play to the strengths of what we have at our disposal.
I think a lot shared this view, the issue is that by staying in the Championship you slowly become a mid table Champ team as the money dries up and then it’s exceptionally hard to get out of with every team coming down from the PL having so much more money than you. The best case scenario is you yo-yo forever in my opinion. I have no interest in becoming a solid mid table PL side as that is the height of boredom to me. Having every other season being a promotion chase would be entertaining even if you have to put up with the awfulness of getting battered most weeks in a relegation season
Have always thought that SRs intention was never to get up and stay up this season, although if it happens/happened, they wouldn’t argue. It was only ever about improving financials; we had very few players worth anything substantial and a were in a weak position financially. Although relegation again would impact us financially, with sellable assets, it would help prevent us from looking over the precipice as we were before due to nature, value and length of contracts, etc. That all said, even though he’s a very likeable bloke, did an almost impossible job last season and got promoted, it’s clear that we need some urgent intervention of some kind immediately. The squad is not that bad and I believe with the right person in charge, they could get a better and more resilient tune out of them. But that’s the million dollar question-who? The out of work manager list reveals very, very slim pickings; but that’s would indicate either a) a gamble on someone like Potter b) a gamble on an in work current probably European manager Neither great options unless I’m missing a trick, am attempting to add a photo of current out of work managers…. Only real shock is that Allardyce is 70…!!!
Not for me. I still maintain that winning at Wembley was the better result for us than losing. Sure, this season has been awful so far, and will likely continue to be so. But I accepted that before a ball was kicked. I see a few seasons a yo-yo'ing between the two divisions as a vastly superior option than remaining in the Championship, and progressively getting worse (whether quickly or slowly). That's a terrible scenario for me.
I'd love to know what the board are happy with. If what Russ says is true (and we don't know for sure) that he's not worried about his job after talking to Dragan, then I'd assume they are happy with relegation? Again, I like him but he doesn't seem able to win a premier league game for a variety of reasons. Realistically how patient are they prepared to be?
The biggest danger about being relegated, with RM still in situ, is that EVERY manager now knows that his style of play only works if the opposition doesn’t press our defence. Last season only a few teams really pressed and they caused problems and turned us over. We were also making mistakes in passing the ball out, just like this season, the difference being that the Championship quality players didn’t take advantage of the errors in the same way Premier League players are. He’s a nice guy but persevering with him and giving him another chance at promotion next season just prevents us getting another guy in and giving him time to develop a relationship with the squad before next season kicks off.
I said STAY in the Championship. I never said anything about yo-yo'ing. The football was far more exciting and entertaining, the clubs in the Chamionship are not 100% focussed on money and doing whatever they could get away with to screw people, and the fans were actual, real supporters of their clubs and not glory hunters...and so the atmospheres were far better. I stand by what I said - the premier league is awful, and it will get worse. I want us to be relegated, and I want our strategy to be to stay in the Championship...because the product is far, far, far better. And you know what? I think we have the right manager for the Championship.
I disagree. We have a fantastic academy...and have had for years. Our focus should be on that - we have always generated wonderful players. With the right focus that will continue. I want nothing to do with the premier league....it is no more a sport than F1 is.
Yeah, I'm aware of what you said. And my view is that it's unrealistic. No club continuously spends year after year after year in the Championship producing exciting football. They either get promoted, or things get worse. Relegation from the Championship does exist. It's a fantasy to think that we could just reproduce last season on repeat, but with the final result being changed. (Obviously if that was possible, that would be great - sign me up!)
if that is the case and being battered this year was to be expected.....then why are people whinging and moaning so much this season?
Because we're not being battered. We've been agonisingly close to picking up points in 3 or 4 games. We are very close to being competitive, and RM's inability to find the answers is infuriating.
Yeah, if we had managed to get over the line against Ipswich and Leicester then things would feel a bit different now. We have had good periods in most of our games this season but unfortunately it is a results business and they haven't been good enough and that ultimately falls at the feet of the manager, he probably needs more time but the fans won't give him it. I really don't feel that there is a quick fix and a new boss would be under pressure very shortly if things don't improve quickly and we simply have to make the right appointment otherwise it will be just a repeat of 2022.
I remember a few years back in the Championship we were skint and a lot of the team was made up of academy players and I seem to recall that didn't work out too well. If we do use academy players they will need experienced players to help them.
Don't disagree with your general point but didn't Bournemouth stay up 5-6 seasons after their first promotion? And are in their third now so never really yo-yo'd as such.
Not really in all likleyhood we were always going to get relegated, but we get a £100+mm of sky money and refreshed parachute payments, which will make us stronger in the champ next year, compared to what we would have been this season in the champ. We may just be a yo-yo club for a while, a season of pain, followed by a season of fun,
