With James applying for the role of manager and McInnes in the frame. (IMO both would be a massive gamble with the position we have found ourselves in.) IF you had the choice of either, who do you think you would choose and WHY? I have to say I would be split and would have to scratch my head a bit longer. Good things said regarding McInnes, doing what sounds like a good job for St Johnstone. But if I'm honest, I'd never heard of him until the managers position became vacant. Knows the Championship a bit in his playing career. James. Seems like a bright bloke, but has never managed before. Knows the Club, the set-up, the players, the championship...... (IMO James, weather it's our club or another, would need to get his coaching badges and be assistant manager first.) COULD the board be thinking McInnes Manager, with James as Assist???????? Views and opinions welcome!!!!!
The board don't appoint Assistant Managers, that's backroom staff essentially, and whichever man is appointed will choose who he wants as his number 2. We all know James is here for the free ride, he trains 2 or 3 times a week with us and collects his 20-25k wages, as soon as his payday is over he will go back to the prem as someones understudy. McInnes is my number 1 choice now.
Why is McInnes your favourite then? Dave Jones knows the league and players in it. He probably already has a reasonable idea of the quality (or otherwise) of ours. He has a track record at this level. No disrespect but the fact is that most of the Scottish Prem clubs are no better than L1 standard. Those players we have brought down have generally proven not to be up to CCC level. Look at the scoring sensation that is Paul Heffernan up there. A has been player who couldn't make it in the CCC but is a cut above up there. No - for me anyone moving down from Scotland will get a nasty shock at the step up in standards and I don't see why we would take that risk over someone who has been there and done it at this level. To me it's a no-brainer.If we don't appoint Jones it will be because we wouldn't pay the wages or couldn't persuade him that we have the finances to match his ambition. So basically bad news all round!
Just look at the current managers in the Prem and CCC and you'll see that there are a lot of Scottish managers who are doing very well and started as "unknowns". James has no experience at all and I think would be an awful choice.
I will be VERY disappointed if we don't hire Mcinnes, he's not going to PLAY for us, he's going to MANAGE us. THERE IS A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 2... Also, Scottish football really fell apart since the demise of Setanta - this is long afer he finished playing, it was still a very reasonable standard 5-10 years ago when Rangers and Celtic could still attract top pro's from Europe instead of the NPC so don't make the mistake of comparing and no, I'm not Scottish... Dave Jones has a track record no doubt but he doesn't inspire me and still failed to get Cardiff promoted despite having probably the best squad in the division. Listening to him talk is like listening to a Leonard Cohen record, you end up wanting to hang yourself and I just don't think he would get the best out of this squad. We've just come out of a period with a very downbeat manager and Jones is no different. We need some fresh and dynamic ideas to shake it up and spark this squad which is SOOOO much better than its current position. There is new blood coming into management with completely different ideas on the game and we need one of those to grab our club by the scruf of the neck and drag it out of the current malaise Dave Jones and his like are old school and will be left behind, I will put a wager on with you that he WON'T do so well with his next club and the path will be a downhill one for him from here on... Bring on the Coyle's, the Lambert's, the Adkin's, the Poyet's - Dave Jones is a dinosaur whose days are numbered... That answer your question...? EDIT:- obviously it will be up to the board to tell if he has the "star quality" from the interview, I have no doubt...
I'm on the fence over this one, if DJ and DM are the stand out candidates then there are pros and cons for both of them I think. DJ knows what it takes in this League and can spot a player, while DM may have the vigour and man-management skills to get us out of this mess and take us forward. I suppose it will come down to who impresses at the interviews (which none of us are privy to) so I'm praying we get it right this time. Third time lucky?
I don't want old school and I certainly don't want one from the boot room,my own personal preference is one of the new generation,new thinking,new ideas.... Derek Mcinnes would fit my bill but as Natch said,none of us are privy....Alan Curbishley would also be a good candidate...... Third tme lucky indeed.......?
So Wize if the board go for Mcinnes,and it goes tits up, you'll just accept it,and say "don't worry,he'll get us back up".I'm not writing this to be controversial it's just the dilemna facing the board.So for this reason i feel that they will go safe with someone like Jones. Tallpines,James has stated that he has not applied for the job.
well atm im 60/40 towards Jones but only because he has done this league and i feel he can A) Get us out of relegation and B) makes us the side we were in 07/08, but on the other hand i really do like the looks of Mcinnes he has done nothing but impress me from what ive read, but at the end of they day its the boards choice, lets just hope to god they make the ****ing right one because if they don't it will be "we should of took Jones/Mcinnes!!!)
But the point is that hiring Jones is also a gamble on the basis that "past performance is no guarantee of future success" Look at the squad he had at Cardiff, it virtually played itself, he was unnecessary in the process... Its not quite as simple as Jones = safety, what if he can't do it...? The board is damned if they do, damned if they don't - they simply have to make a decision which way they want to go, with the old or the new... As I keep saying on here (but no one listens), the Financial Fair Play Rules mean that there will be no big influx of players, one or 2 perhaps so the incoming manager will most likely have to make the best of what they have and personally, I believe that a new broom will be better to take us forward, to make us successful and to grow with the club. Its a gamble either way. The club has no crystal ball, this is what life is all about - making the right decisions and Millen aside, Steve Lansdown is usually good at that... p.s. I am interested to know why is it that when a player has lots of clubs, they are known as a journeyman player, does the same apply to managers...?
Prem - I take your point that playing and managing are different kettles of fish. However - DM is used to judging players against the league he is managing in. If he has proved himself able to spot players on the cheap who will do a good job in that leagure then great. But it doesn't mean he will be able to step up in class and do the same thing. We all know there are managers who do well in the lower leagues but don't get their chance higher up because everyone knows it's a different ball game. Just because he's a scot (and I've got nothing against them as some of my relatives have Scottish blood) doesn't mean he will automatically be able to step up in class. And my main point was that it IS a step up in class. With DJ these issues don't apply so by definition it seems to me he is a less risky bet given that we are in a big hole at the moment. We need a quick turnaround and don't have time for a new man to get to grips with a league that he doesn't know. IMHO. I really hope it isn't MR as he didn't exactly set the world on fire at Barnsley. For me it would be based on getting in someone who is cheap and would go along with the board's plan (to cut costs) without making a fuss, rather than an appointment to really kick us on.
I am in no doubt that the board do know that this appointment is THE BIG ONE... I'm spending his money for him here but I do believe that SL won't skimp in this respect in the same way that he paid a very high premium to get GJ in. The decision depends purely how they feel about what is the best way forward. Sure I don't want us to get relegated but I would rather have someone in charge who will build on an already highly successful start to his career and to take us with him and be here a long time and I feel that my candidate has a lot further to go yet. I would like to think that the sky is the limit in terms of his ambition and SL could certainly fund that if we are successful and the new stadium would stop him doing a Coyle... Of course, it may not work and go tits up and then we look silly but personally I think that if we appointed Jones, we will not grow in the same way as under someone with great ambition...
