Yeah, which is why I think if our form does continue then the board need to act. I just think he deserves a couple more games to turn it around considering he has done a good job for 4 years.
He did well to keep us up when he first came, then had 1 good season. His next 2 seasons were ok-poor, depending on how you feel about survival as success.
A couple more games, I mean each to their own and I admire your dedication, but you not think he has had enough of this bad spell? Our form is as worse as i can ever recall a team having. Ralph seems a broken man, surely is better for this to happen now, certainly for me it is. we have a couple of games where we need points, right now keeping him i just cant see us getting anything from. I actually pretty pissed off the board haven’t acted yet, surprised they haven’t, and wonder what the hold up is. Nothing to do with not liking him btw, very likeable, but surely it has run its course.
I can only imagine (hope?) the hold up is trying to ensure a smooth transition, and have someone ready to come in at the point of sacking, rather rather leave us with a caretaker for an unknown amount of time.
Not for me (even if that does sound harsh). For me, that loyalty for his service is what kept him in the job after last season. That defeat to Leicester on the last day would have been the end for most managers. But we kept Ralph - choosing to get rid of his coaching staff instead - and have duly given him nine extra games. It hasn't worked, even though I so wish it had.
It’s time for Ralph to go, but with or without him our squad is poor and definitely in the mix for relegation when compared with the rest of the league. New manager needs to be of a similar mould to Ralph was in the first couple of years when he gets them to buy into a style of play that benefits them
How can survival not be success when we spent less than every other side in the league? (Apart from Norwich and Sheff Utd who both went down). It isn't about ambition or what we want as fans. Of course i want us back to pushing to be best of the rest - but as far as Ralph is concerned he can only work with the resources the club give him - which until now has been **** all. We should have been relegated long ago but Ralph kept us up.
I mean on paper I’m struggling to think of a squad I wouldn’t swap for ours apart from Bournemouth and maybe Fulham. Couple of close calls but overall I think the others are all better
Fair enough, and I more or less agree with you apart from the 1 extra game as I really would like to see if he can turn it around because I do think there is a good manager in there.
It depends on whether you think the final PL table has to be in direct order of spend. Or whether good recruitment, excellent management and a thriving academy can make a team punch above its weight. I get we no longer have Leibehr and Cortese but the past 2 seasons have felt like saints in the 90’s. But without MLT.
Good point and is exactly why I rate Ralph. Whilst spending has a huge impact, it doesn't dictate the standing completely. But we haven't had good recruitment and our academy hasn't produced anyone since JWP/Targett. So how have we managed to beat the odds and survive for 4 seasons despite spending less than everyone else...
And there lays the problem…. It’s been the case for years now that we can’t keep pace with the improvements at other sides in the close season. We invested heavily in youth but lost experience; whilst even lower PL sides invested in quality. We’re about 5 years behind in terms of quality because of the Gao years.
I would be excited to see a young manager come in to replace Ralph, the likes of Arteta who I think is brilliant or Nagelsmann (not those 2 obviously). Matthias Jaissle would be a good pick if we are to stick (go back) to the Ralph playbook. Would be very brave and unlikely but hey, why not, we've gone very young with the squad! I think some posters are conflating the poor results with a poor squad which I don't agree with at all. Very good squad, very talented individuals, poorly motivated and managed at the moment IMO.
It has to be a certain "type" of manager. The club can't bring in a Dyche or Big Sam style manager because they'll want to bring in their type of players - who wouldn't fit the long term project - and the best outcome leaves you with another headache. Essentially what happened with Mark Hughes in 2018.
Very good squad? Sorry. Totally disagree with that. Championship strikers & not even league one wingers. No holding midfielders apart from an injured 18 year old because we let our decent one go back to Spain for pennies. Due to lavia’s injury, I genuinely think this current team loses to any of our other teams since we were promoted tbh. if we do make a change the new man will have his work cut out.
Bringing Hughes in wasnt the mistake. It was actually a perfect appointment, he was getting a big bonus for keeping us up and we should’ve said thanks, see you later. The mistake was giving him a new deal after keeping us up. There were even fans calling for him to be kept on at the time, utter stupidity. I’m fine with getting in a manager in the short term to keep us up, just need to make sure we don’t appoint them long term
Cant agree with “very good squad”. We have some hugely promising players (Livramento, Salisu, ABK, Lavia, possibly Larios, Edozie, Mara and Bazunu) but none of those I would call “very good” for PL teams right now, they may become that. The only player in our squad id describe as very good in his position compared to other PL teams’ options is KWP, and even that might be a reach
Agreed, at the time Hughes was fine. The problem is the bit in bold. Your best case scenario is the guy keeps you up and you suddenly have people calling for him to be given the job full-time. That was also a different situation. Firstly he was appointed much later in the season, giving the whole thing a different feel. Secondly, we hadn't just spent something like £70m on a squad overhaul that mainly involved signing teenagers. And finally, he had no opportunity to sign players - if we appointed a short-term manager now I'm sure they would want assurances they could sign players in January. After the stop-gap leaves we could easily be back to the situation where the club has a bunch of players in the squad we don't really want but can't get rid of. That's what's screwed club after club - chopping and changing between managers with different styles of play who want different types of player often leaves you with a messed up squad.
Not singling you out particularly but I don't recall many if any complaints about the signings and business we did over the summer? I don't recall anyone calling the squad awful up till now. Pre the wolves game it looked rosy. But now we want Ralph out AND we have a chamionship/league 1 squad. ??? Its a good squad playing poorly and not being used to the best of its ability. IMHO.
Hmm, not sure. I remember a lot of fans, myself included, saying that whilst it was great to finally see investment, the fact almost all our signings were teenagers is a big risk. Not only did many think they will likely take a while to get going but also that the lack of experience may be costly. I believe our squad is in much better shape after that window but its clear that regardless of who is in charge, we still need a goalscorer and that our youthful squad will be fairly inconsistent and take time to gel and really excel in this league.
