Guess not so he's starting at the top and working his way down I guess. (oh God I feel another all about us coming on)
"starting at the top" now you see I get the joke there. It was meant to be one wasn't it? Short answer to your question Saints is no there aren't. Argyle are far too big to worry about those two. Anyway I'm standing in for SB3 who's having a couple of days off to knit you some underwear. Don't worry though he'll be back soon.
This is getting tiresome. Every single time we hit a bad patch of form you're on here calling for the managers head. You've not been patient at all. You started questioning his competance back in October last year when our form in the league, at that stage of the season, was DWWWLLLWDDDDLW. You re-stated your doubt in at the end of November six league games later when our league form was WLWLWL, and again one game later after another L. Then in late January you said you have been vindicated after six games had passed and we went through our worst spell of form all season of DLDLDL. You said nothing for the next month or so when our form was DWDWWWD, but now suddenly because our form's dipped to LDWDLLD you're calling for him to get sacked. For pity sake man! It looks like you wanted him to fail from the beginning and unless he won every single game he was never going to be good enough for you.
Doubt is not the same thing as wanting him go. It's only the last couple of weeks that I've come to that conclusion. Even before when I started this thread, I didn't want him to go, though as you say I was having my doubts, which became stronger over time but even then I wasn't calling for him to go. It's also not just enough to look at the results but also who they are against and even the wins have been a bit flukey in some instances (Cambridge aside), and looking the big picture, we have made no progress this season despite the huge amount of support from the board in terms of player signings, the ability to pay transfer fees and the off-field stability which make for little excuse for this overall underachievement, as well as the majority of players being Awford's signings. I never wanted him to fail and I still don't, and I stated my expectations for the season in the last page: top 10 with feasible hopes of the play-offs until fairly late into the season, so us winning every game was never an issue for me.
What? The last couple of weeks? You mean when the settled first team and formation he'd finally decided upon and was getting result was disrupted by losing two of his first choice defenders to injury for the rest of the season resulting in the form dipping? Yes, I can see how that could make you come to the conclusion that Awford's no good and has to go. Well, certainly it makes more sense that that would be the deciding moment rather than when Pompey hadn't picked up a win in over two months... I just dont get it, honetly I dont. I dont think we'll ever agree on this subject.
The thing is, my conclusion of him wanting The thing is, my opinion is not just based on results in the previous two or three matches but based on looking at the bigger picture and my belief and confidence in Andy to turn it around and for us to make progress. That is why I wasn't calling for him to leave even when my doubts emerged and even after our barren run, as I felt there was still a possibility of him turning it around and so I felt he should be given time. What's changed is my belief that he can turn it around, especially now as it's been nearly an entire season and not much has changed. Furthermore, after his many brilliant loan signings, I do not trust him to be able to revamp the squad in the summer as I don't think he has a good eye for a player for the most part. Maybe at youth level but not at senior level. Not to mention many of the mistakes that have been made seemed to be tactical. For example, we have lost both Jack and Paul to injury, by far our strongest defenders, thus would not the best form of defence be attack and keeping the pressure at the other end, rather than inviting pressure at our end with our weakened defense? Anyhow, that's fair enough that you disagree and I respect your opinion even if I don't agree with it. After all, football is a game of opinions, but I'm not saying mine is more valid than yours or anyone elses, it's simply just what I think.
I asked this question on your great support at the moment, that how much the ave 15,000 will go down if you flounder in league 2. I think the facts are simple, that once a club has been reasonably successful and played at the top level then like all clubs a percentage of fans quickly become disillusioned because expectations still run high, but in reality sometimes things that are broken can take a variable amount of time to fix. PL Possibly sounds one of those supporters who wants regular changes everytime things don't improve, my opinion is that running a club through supporters is admirable but will take a large learning curve to first manage it and then improve on those foundations.
No managers gets transfers right all the time, every one has hits and misses - one would think this would be self-evident for a club that not one but twice had Harry Redknapp at the helm - the question, I suppose, then is whether Awford's signings have been more bad than good or visa-versa. These are the players Awford signs since taking over as caretaker manager at the end of last season: 1 - Danny Hollands (loan-to-perminant): important first team player, good midfielder, generally consistant - success 2 - Paul Jones: first choice goalkeeper, generally consistant - success 3 - Craig Westcarr: didn't live up to the goalscoring hype he came with, inconsistant but has contributed positively now and then - borderline failure 4 - Nigel Atanagana: decent midfielder, shown nothing special overall, good squad player - neutral 5 - Michael Poke: back-up goalkeeper, not seen anything of him really - neutral 6 - James Dunne: important first team played, generally consistant, could play at a higher level - sucess 7 - Alex Wynter (loan): inconsistant, played out of position sometimes, was useful sometimes - failure. 8 - Miles Storey (loan): useful squad players, provided a bit of a threat, but nothing great - borderline failure 9 - Paul Robinson (loan-to-perminant): important first team players, good defender, generally consistant - success 10 - Peter Brezovan: back up goalkeeper, saw nothing of him - neutral 11 - Micheal Drennan (loan): decent squad player but didn't really contribute much - failure 12 - Marcus Bean (loan): decent squad player, contributes positively now and then, nothing great - borderline success 13 - Matt Fish (loan): hardly featured - failure 14 - Lee Holmes (loan): dont remember him having much of an impact - failure 15 - Matt Tubbs: important first team players, good goalscorer at this level and got a good goals-to-game ratio for us - success 16 - Paul McCallum (loan): sent off in his first appearance, hasn't really featured and when he had he's not had much impact - failure 17 - Josh Passley (loan): done well as a right winger and defender - success 18 - David Cornell (loan): backup goalkeeper, ot really featured - neutral 19: Nyron Nosworthy (loan): defender, played a few games - undecided 20 - Cole Kpekawa (loan): defender, played a few games - undecided. I'd say Awford's transfers have been pretty good overall. Certainly room to improve but not really something to despair over. You'd prefer the Kevin Keegan approach would you? I honestly read that as "I'm not sorry mine is more valid than yours" for a moment then. But, yeah, I think on the matter of Awford continual employment its better if were just agree to disagree - as the saying goes - and respect each other's differance of opinion.
Well obviously my opinion is more valid than yours, but I didn't want to say that And honestly, I would want nothing more than to be proven wrong and for Awford to lead us to the Championship (and perhaps further). I just don't believe that'll be the case, but if it is.... then fantastic. After all, we both want what's best for Portsmouth FC, that we can agree on And as for the signing of Tubbs, he was top scorer in the league at the time, so I wouldn't say that was a case of Awford unearthing a decent signing. We was already well on the radar of several clubs and has been banging them in for years. I'd say more credit for that signing should go for Mark Caitlin.
If your Manager has been allowed the luxury of signing 20 players in so short a time then firstly he must be responsible for player performance as they are his choices and secondly how the whole team performs. Given the number then I would still say Portsmouth have under performed under him and should have done much better. That would be an entire squad at some clubs in league 2. Considering the league you are in then your fan base is holding better than a lot would. As pointed out that is a lot to do with your more recent history and successes and fans tend to stick behind the club when it hits adversity. Our numbers held up quite well for this league in comparison given we never had multi thousands in the first place. They have put up with loads of dross for a couple of years but you can see in their internet posts that patients is beginning to run thin given the standard doesn't change. We need a bit of success to quell the mumblings for a while longer. If it doesn't come then I can see there being a dropping off in numbers with the resultant consequences that would bring financially. It's still quite new comparitively for Portsmouth but unless you find somebody to change the fortunes on the pitch then eventually numbers will fall away for you as well. I still say that novices are not the best answer in this league.
I will hasten to point out that Wynter, Storey, Brezovan, Drennan, Bean, Fish, Holmes, McCallum. Passley, Cornell, Nosworthy and Kpekawa were all short-term additions and two of them were only brought in as back-up keepers. They weren't all at the club at the same time and many of them never played together in the same team - some of them never played at all. Perminant additions to the squad that Awford has made are Hollands, Jones, Poke, Westcarr, Atangana, Dunne, Robinson and Tubbs. That's slightly over half a team and not a whole squad. I feel Awford should be held accountable for how the team has performed, but I dont believe we've underperformed. I believe we're about where we should be at this point in time. The only reason I can see that people are saying we've underperformed is because of club of Portsmouth's stature shouldn't be in League Two. The squad we had was not strong enough to be above mid-table and if people had judged the squad on its own merit they would have expected that. Awford's perminant signings have improved it and we should be looking to be in the top ten next season provided everyone stays fits. Had we had Tubbs from the beginning of this season I would say we had underperformed but we didn't have a reliable and regular goalscorer until we signed him - Westcarr was signed on the strenght of his goalscoring in League One last season but he failed to live up to his hype.
You dont have to unearth a hidden gem for it to be a good signing. Frankly, going after the league's top goalscorer and getting him showed good judgement and ambition from the club and the management. As far as "credit for the signing" goes, I dont think you can just give it all to Caitlin considering Awford specifically singled him out as a player he wanted to sign as December drew to a close and claims to have been interested in him since the summer.
I admire your loyalty to your Manager and club I really do but take it from one who had to swallow a lot of humble pie a while back, it doesn't do to have too strong a pair of blinkers on when it comes to what's happening or not happening. I defended the Board and Managers time and time again. I defended players as well in the face of a lot of people slating what was going on here. The end result was that I wasn't facing facts and we went tits up and got relegated from Championship to this league where we very nearly went out of it twice. I am no longer so forgiving even if I would still go whatever league, including Conference, they ended up in. I am no longer so trusting either. It took me a while to get there but I can see the merits in questioning and complaining when I pay up every season and am expected to put up with dross. We may not be premiership material but we are better as a club historically than this league and for the size of our City and support should be getting out of it sooner rather than later. Sp should you with your resources which are way better than most others.
Given that I've been one of the few dissenting voices concerning Pompey's seasonal expectations and performance - and I have been saying all season that we're a mid-table side and shouldn't expect to be more than that at the moment - I think the last thing I can be accused of is being unrealistic to what is or is not happening. See, my perspective is that that clubs which face dramatic collapses financially and are relegated from a few leagues in quick succession take a long time to find their feet, and some never do, and Pompey's collapse was rather spectacular and we were relegated rather quickly and have only just started the rebuilding process - it was only in September last year that we officially came out of debt. Therefore I concluded that to expect an immediate push for promotion and to be a stable top ten side was far too optimitic and instead expected only a mid-table season. My belief was and is that it will take five seasons, at least, after we cleared our debt before we became regular promotion challengers in League Two because we would have to rebuild the squad and have a settled core to build around, establish a proper youth development system, invest in facilities, get a training ground and maybe even improve the stadium, all to build the framework to secure Pompey's future for years to come and to increase our chances of returning to the higher leagues. This is nothing like being "blinded" by "loyalty to the manager and club" and everything about have a cautious but realistic approach to how long a process it would be to recover from our dramatic downfall. As I have said, too many people expected too much from Pompey too soon just because of the stature of the club.
You know your club far better than I do and the details of what made you go tits up in the first place etc. All I'm saying is that in this league resources are far more important than anything else and with the size of your's, despite Admin, you should find it easier than most other clubs would. Teams have bought their way out of this one. Fleetwood and Crawley are good examples. Neither have a huge gate but had owners who were prepared to spend their own money for the cause. They had much more than most and it showed. In the Championship this is less of an issue although it still helps I know. If your Manager is any good he will be able to use those resources to good effect and do well irrespective of how you got here. If I could turn the clock back I would be far less forgiving and accepting than I was although I accept that your Admin may well be far different from ours.
The circumstances around our admins - plural - are so complex that the company doing the investigation has said it will take probably another 2 years before they can report on it. That's what happens when an owner sells to a foreign crook, who gets into a dispute with another foreign crook, who sells to another foreign crook. One day there will be a film, or a trilogy! To my mind it's quite easy to see how we've ended up at this point. With 3 players contracted (kids), brand new board of directors appoints a rookie manager, because he's a legend, (a legend who had a disastrous run the previous season) seemingly because they thought he deserved the chance. He put together a squad very quickly, on a small budget, because he had little choice really. He continued his disastrous run although the board kept increasing the budget as quickly as they could. He got sacked, they advertised the manager post, appointed another rookie, mainly because he was bringing Steve Coppell with him - can't blame them for that - he was getting nothing out of the players and didn't endear himself to the fans either, so they sacked him. Gave Andy Awford the last 7 games of the season, and everyone wanted him. Another rookie who is a 'legend'. Straight out of the academy. He has really floundered this season, tinkering with the team, stubborn with his formation and tactics, playing players out of position. Finally he was forced (probably by the board) to bring in someone with experience to be his assistant. I have to agree with MAJR on a lot of points. He should be allowed to use the summer to get in some decent players and be given at least until November/December. If we are still languishing at 13/14 then maybe he should be replaced. But I would give him time to see how much he's learnt from his first full season in charge. He can be stubborn but he's not stupid, he does learn, eventually.
It does seem to be a theme with hiring and firing Managers whilst in or around Administration. We got through a few and a couple of them were less experienced than rookies. I suppose the main difference is we ended up with another Owner whereas your's is Fan led. Our Owner hasn't particularly spent anything that I can see and even acquired the club for a bag of crisps and half a bitter. I guess I'm less tollerant of him now that he's had his feet under the table for a few years. Promised us a new Grandstand with money making facilities to support the football and delivered nothing at all. When the plans were made public mind you he was about to trouser most of the money from what he proposed anyway. The only thing he has made us is more self sufficient financially. We have to be because he isn't about to splash any of his own money. At least your Board isn't in it to fill their own pockets and even if they make mistakes they do what they do with the best of intentions.
