He is inexperienced and too young imo, it will still be a gamble even if we do manage to win a couple more. The two performances haven't been a massive improvement so far and this is a crucial appointment right now, we need a manager with more clout in the game in my view. The odds are massively against him being a success long term.
My main concern is that if we leave TE in charge for a few games, and it all goes tits, we'll likely lose the person (him) who was considered a long-term good coach. On reflection, putting Lallana or Trollope in interim charge, and leaving TE to continue managing the U21s and developing there would have been the smart move.* *presuming, not unreasonably, that this doesn't work as a long term thing with TE.
Yeah that’s why a deal til the end of the season could make sense. I know I’ve said it multiple times before but with the talent in the squad we don’t need the next Fergie managing them to win games, just need someone who can set them up in the right way and who will try for them. Completely get the argument that we shouldn’t be pandering to the players, but at this point we don’t really have a choice short term. The big question, if Tonda does get the job, is the reaction if he starts dropping more senior players. There was a huge correlation between performances/levels dropping and Still benching players after the Hull game. Longer term (if it’s believed that there are a core group of players who have been downing tools when they don’t like a manager etc) then we look to move those players on, regardless of the outcome of this season anyway. Even if we go up we should still look to shift whoever the players were in this group that has been alluded to by the various journos close to the club
I definitely agree that the performances have both been pretty crap, despite the wins. In fairness he would have had about 4 training sessions to change things so I suppose we couldn't expect too much. If we were to keep him longer term then I'd want to see us playing well and not just scraping wins against weaker opposition.
The only difference in the last two games is we took our chances, only made a couple of big mistakes at the back and luck went our way. If Still was in charge it would have been the same. This is a new group of players figuring out how to play together. A new manager will not bring a quick fix. It's going to take time
The result at QPR was excellent. I think we could have dispatched Wed earlier but we secured 6 points. I would have been happy with 4. We are turning the ship around. I can see us doing well in the next 3 fixtures. We are not going to finish anywhere near the relegation zone. I am more positive after the last 2 games. Whoever gets the job , we are on the up.
My eyes start to glaze over when someone uses the expression "mood music". They've lost all credibility after that.
The promote-from-within thing only really works if the candidate has been there for a year at the very very least and has had time to make an impact at the club already. Tonda has been here for how long? I’m rooting for him to do well, I really am, and he might very well be a brilliant coach. But I really can’t see the logic in the appointment. He does have a lot of experience as an assistant, but nothing of note. I would be interested to see an honest statement from the club justifying the appointment, but we’ll never get that.
I've been thinking, and I still think Eckert is the chosen one, and has been all along. SR are pulling us along for a ride. SR know they're on thin ice with the fans, and know his appointment will not be popular. They need to get this right. So they're putting out rumours that they're in no rush to appoint, GON etc. Little hints from the start that Eckert is in the frame. Players bigging him up. You know, classic PR puff. In the meantime they hope we'll pick up a few good results, fans will see someone who isnt GON and suddenly they'll think fans will be onside once again, and they can make the appointment permanent once the fans are more content having won a few. It's so ****ing obvious what they're trying to manoeuvre, its unreal. They can **** off with their stupid gambles, they really can.
Doesn’t say a lot for the managers they’ve interviewed if they decide this is the best option to go forward with? Wins 2 out of next 3 he will be made permanent in my opinion. But can’t see this working long term, smacks again of SR inadequacy, and it won’t take fans long to turn on them again if this doesn’t work, and rightly so.
Yeah, it would be interesting to know who has been interviewed for this reason. Although if he wins 2 of the next 3 (and we actually play well) then why wouldnt you want him to be given the job at least until the end of the season?
We did with Still after not much more than that. Although I do agree that it is premature to go and offer a long term deal, it would make sense for him to get a chance to see it out until the end of the season. Its not like we have world class managers as our other options. So choosing between someone that is currently doing a great job in this exact position or someone who has been mediocre at other clubs is a pretty obvious choice to me.
There's a difference between doing well as a caretaker to doing well as a permanent though. One doesn't necessarily lead to the other. As I said before I worry about what would happen as soon as we hit a bad period under him and whether he'd have enough authority to keep the players with him. Either way I don't see us winning at Charlton so the Leicester game will be interesting.