Yeah that seems to be my view. IMO, we need a manager who really wants to be here & has the right credentials / philosophy. I really don’t care if he has a track record or is a newbie but has to tick those boxes.
All things seem to be pointing towards a Still announcement pretty soon.. Seems a pretty good appointment overall, his record of games managed in a top league despite only being 32 is very impressive.
If that’s the case, we need a Will Still song. I’ll start you off To the tune of “Will Grigg’s on Fire” Will Still’s our gaffer, your defence is terrified! WILL STILL’S ON FIRE!
Not sure if it means much , but on Wiki , it shows the lens manager position as vacant . You all know I am a pessimist etc . sadly I just feel this won’t workout . More than happy to be proved wrong .
Whilst I am not massively enthusiastic over Still at this stage, I also don’t get pretty much any of the negativity either. Guy has three mid table finishes in a major European top division at two different clubs (one considered to be overachieving and the other in challenging circumstances), we are in the Championship, what are people expecting? He’s more qualified for the job than RM was when he took us on. Unrelated but of interest - Looks like RM could be the new Rangers manager.
Yeah, I mean it’s risky, but then pretty much anyone is. Looking forward to seeing what he has about him.
For me it’s quite simple really, and I think you can make a solid argument from either side of the opinion. Next season we will be one of the richest clubs in the division, so this should enable us to build a squad capable of a top 6 finish and maybe even a top 2 finish. Do you say “let’s appoint the safest pair of hands we can find, someone who has got promoted before and has lots of experience so we minimise the risk as much as possible so we don’t **** up this huge advantage we have next season” and appoint someone like Cooper who gives you the best chance next year. When/if you go up that is when you take the risk on a young upcoming manager as you need some sort of “X factor” whether that be a player or 2 or a manager (or both) because survival is very hard. Or do you say “well we are one of the richest teams in the division so that should enable us to build a very strong squad for the division. This means that we can hire someone who is a much bigger risk, someone with no experience in the league/country but who we think can become a top manager. Because we should have such a strong squad the margin for error is much wider so whilst he is learning on the job the squad should be good enough to bail him out of most mistakes he makes. Then hopefully we get promoted and he can be that X factor we need in the PL as we believe he is going to be a top manager” I think there is a case for either point of view, and maybe Still is a top manager and will do great, he just is a big risk that we don’t need to take imo. We need to come straight back from the clubs perspective. Next year we will have such a huge advantage with only 3 clubs having parachute payments, that won’t happen again if we don’t go up. There is no “let’s take a couple of seasons to build something” in the Championship. If we don’t come straight back then the second season will be our last with parachute payments and we will have to compete with whoever comes down and maybe Leicester/Ipswich if they don’t go up as well, none of whom I can see doing a Luton whichever teams end up relegated. So we will probably be 4th favourites to go up at best in the second season. If we don’t go up then we just become another ex PL team that blew the parachute payments and now need a minor miracle to get promoted
Which seems an incredibly simple concept, yet one that has evaded many of our recent managers. "We're so close....." "Bravery..." etc.
I think option 2 would be my preference but overall I've got to the point now where I'm thinking, whoever it is, get him in asap and if it is going to be Still, get him in the stands for the Arsenal game so he can have an early look at the team and start his planning for what is a HUGE summer.