I agree and to some extent you are making my point. The previous Manager, Jack Ross had a 50% win percentage and Fan pressure got him sacked.
I wasn't really in favour of Ross being sacked to be honest. He should have been allowed to bring in a striker to replace Maja, rather than being lumbered with Grigg, Donald's vanity project. But you're right, fan pressure did do for him (or at least it was a big contributory factor).
Yeah I think we could have stuck with Ross and he'd have gone on to do a good job, like he's doing now at Hibs. The problem was the scale of the job I think, as the pressure got to him he increasingly tried to play it too safe. Not the worst managerial sin and something that could have been turned around imo. Better support staff and someone to replace Maja and he'd probably have been fine.
I think he was caught totally out of his depth in this league, The players he brought in were not as good as the ones shipped out, we were promised a fast attacking style of play, never materialised, and never looked like it would tbh. Big mistake was who we replaced him with, not that we replaced him, if anything it was done too late imo.
Someone who's actually done it to a relatively high level once told me that a manager only makes perhaps 10% difference. In retrospect, I think that was him being modest but the fact remains that a manager can only achieve what the ability of his players allows him to. Ross had no chance to replace Maja and only limited opportunity to get the players to play the attacking game he wanted. As Polyphemus says, we've sacked too many managers. In retrospect, I think that Ross should have been given longer to shape the team his way and, although we might not have gone up last season, we'd be nailed on to go up this.
His and Ross' stats should look good. They only managed us at League One level. Compare them to Micky Mac's and Keano's. Their stats are similar, but both of them managed us at a higher level. I'm sure if you look at Bowyers or Nathan Jones stats or even Barton's, they will all compare favourably with Ross and Parky.
I wouldn't like us to go back to any of our previous managers tbf as I think it's a bit like getting back with an ex. Seems like a good idea but you soon realise why you parted ways. I don't really care who it is tbh as long as they can get the team to play some good, attacking football while providing a first team pathway for the under 23's.
I reckon most managers would struggle if you took away by far their best goalscorer and spunked the entire transfer budget on a ghost. It's well known Ross didn't want Grigg and he was sure as hell right about that. I'm not saying he was perfect and he did make mistakes, lack of focus on fitness levels was one although I'm not sure how good the staff under him were who were taking care of that. Keep Maja or replace like for like and we're in the championship now imo. Also probably stuck with Donald but that's by the by.
Sticks in the throat that we sacked Jack Ross. I really believe that if SD had found a useful replacement for Maja, he would have still been here now
The thing that got me with Ross mate was that he started off trying to create an attacking line up, but the fact that we constantly failed to keep clean sheets seemed to make him more and more defensive.
