I am generally not a knee jerk kind of guy and like to give a bit of thought to my opinions so here goes.
MD was seemingly doing a great job as head of personal youth development and had built a team to help make our academy stronger whilst also managing to give a personal development schedule to younger players charting their path to first team success. It looks like he has ambitions which I applaud him for as he has become increasingly involved in first team affairs and is now Interim head coach for the third time.
My dilemma in all of this is that since he started becoming more involved with the first team (under Mowbray) and has apparently now left his former position within the club that has coincided with our change of tactics and formations which leads me to believe he may have had more influence on first team affairs than was first imagined.
The timing of our loss of confidence and poor for has coincided with the rise of MD from his former position to the one he holds now and TBH I am not sure it is all coincidence.
That said I do believe that he will have something to offer but believe he needs some help to get him where he feels he needs to be. That's not to say we need an older coach just somebody to re-invigorate the team and to instill new ideas and confidence into these players. If it is Will Still and he can make them believe then I am all for it and if it is Roy Hodgson and he can get them to believe then I am all for it. MB from what I have heard had lost the dressing room on his first talk with the squad and did not treat some of the players very well (this came from a players Dad) so I believe that we can maybe start to repair some of that damage and maybe just maybe manage a few rousing performances between now and the end of the season. As we all know confidence is a massive thing in football and especially amongst younger players.
Mike Dodds has got the job of Head Coach on a temporary basis. If KS and KLD thought he could do it permanently,he would have been given it already. The plus with him is that he knows the players,so can hit the ground running,and,as you say,worked closely with TM. From a tactical viewpoint,I'm uncertain about him. He got it completely right,for example, in the match against Leeds,but the first half ,particularly, against Swansea,by contradiction, was a total mess. Some of those players did not know what they were doing.
I think he may have tried to put a change of ideas in place,without the proper preparation,and,of course,we have suffered from injuries to some of our best players. Maybe he's trying to find an instant something that works and make his mark at the same time,I don't know. How his future will shape up when a new man comes in is anyone's guess.
I hadn't heard what you say about MB,but there's no doubt that his appointment was a huge mistake,and we won't be able to stand another one. I'm accepting a finish to this season,more or less in the league position we are now.
It's crucial we get the next Head Coach spot on,and we then use the summer window wisely in readiness for a serious effort at promotion next season. I'm also desperate to see a return to the fast,exciting,attacking play we had last year,when we were a joy to watch.
