As usual with the current regime, without any narrative provided by the club, agents and journalists are able to fill the void. Either the club have a plan that they are keeping close or they have no clue, allowing every unemployed coach/assistant in Europe to gain a few column inches. I presume the truth is somewhere in between however the longer this goes on the more I feel it is the latter. The bold step of moving Cif on with a game to spare yet still not have a replacement 4-weeks later, in my opinion, doesn't suggest there's a masterplan in action.
It looks like a disaster to me. 1) Effectively pushing out a good, successful Manager, while as yet not replacing him. A Football disaster. 2) Putting him on gardening leave and paying his salary, making receipt of decent compensation unlikely. Risks paying for 2 Head Coaches if we appoint a new one while MC remains on gardening leave, or we have to pay him off. Possibly harming season ticket sales. So a Financial disaster. 3) A potential Legal disaster if MC takes legal action if a new man is appointed in his position. 4) A PR disaster. The Club look stupid.
Really is beginning to look like a knee jerk reaction from owners who had their pride dented by the manager so wanted to sack him but can't really afford to. None of the names I've seen fill me with much hope, and if we leave it much longer we'll be scraping the bottom of the barrell and appointing whoever will come to us.
It's really difficult to gauge the potential of any of the names linked with the job. Basically we are looking for a man willing to just say yes to whatever is asked of him. These are the players we are providing you, this is the way we expect you to play. It's not a manager we are looking for, it's a coach.
It's not even that. Coaches are expected to use their initiative to get players to perform to their best level. What is actually left for the coach to do when the players are selected for him based on some Fantasy football algorithm and the CEO dictates the style of play? Add to that the most obvious of all - who are the talent spotters and how do we get in those players who have the potential to thrive and push on - they cost money don't they? All successful managers are willing to have a plan B and change tactics when it ain't working. They are less inclined to be willing to do so when they know they will either be sacked or if they are lucky, put on garden leave.
That's a very good post Yorkshire. Hence why I say the club are just looking for a 'yes' man. Generally speaking, players don't improve through coaching after their teen years. All we seem to be looking for is someone to sit in the dug out and not veer away from the hierarchy's plan of play.
If that is the case, and of course it may very well be, it is equally depressing and extremely worrying.
Just a little on the flip side, consider the likes of Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Huddersfield and Birmingham. Brum promoted back after just one season in L1. It seems to me that we've perhaps achieved quite a bit by remaining in the Championship, despite flirting with relegation in multiple seasons, when compared to the teams above. You could take the view that relegation is inevitable as we swirl around the plughole year by year. Alternatively, it might all just click one season and we get a shout at top 6 (I mean scrapping into 6th, not anything more), ir even just finishing comfortably in the top half for a change. Time will tell and I agree the current fiasco is not encouraging.
The only reason Brum got promoted last season was because they threw a shed load of money at players knowing they'd blow the rest of the division apart.... they spent North of £10m on Stansfield from Fulham and were able to offer Dykes more in wages than we could.... they did it knowing that they were not constrained by FFP last season, different rules apply in L1 & L2.... basically they did the same as Hollywood Wrexham have done for the past 4 years.... it's worked for them but it won't work for them in the Championship.....
I'm confident that we'll make a sound managerial appointment and will build a title-chasing team around Nicolas Madsen next season. In Nourry we trust.
Ok, but I was also making the point that, somehow, we're still in the Championship compared to others who've been in the PL more recently than us, and now languish in L1. That can't solely be due to luck.
Lots of talk about Julien Stephan taking the 'not so' hot seat. Never heard of him but that doesn't mean anything. Would love to be a fly on the wall in the interviews process, unless they don't actually do one and it's all just algorithms.
No, no, no. We must reinstate Cifuentes on an improved contract and give him full control of everything to do with the club. Including the concourse food franchises. Where else are we going to get a genius who can achieve a 30% win rate playing sparkling football and with the incredible integrity to only try to set himself up in a new job behind the backs of his employers and the fans who chanted his name every game the once, as far as we know? Good job he squeezed a new contract out of the club last autumn, because, man, does he deserve to sit at home wondering why no big, medium or small clubs are prepared to buy him out of his contract. And I for one don’t believe for a second that the anti Nourry ranting has anything to do with age envy.
Steelsy s just gone away for two weeks But then we will be ready to go Just as long as wherever and Ubers not got a trip planned
