Bat Fastard

You can also add the evidence of our recruitment policy to get cheaper lower league players.

It is a game of opinions. Tins recruits well and develops player well. He doesn't need to be the best educated person in the club to do his job. Forget the snobbery and try to appreciate his contribution.

I'm saying that the club is owned and run by accountants. Work it out from there. This is the same reason that the academy is so important because it is a cheaper way to recruit and pay players. Those who don't quite make it can be sold or provide sell on clauses. There are no coincidences.

Nigel plus two coaches replaced by a manager and coach from the lower leagues. Go figure the cost and add in Rennie whilst you are there.

As you say, it's your guess.

Management was clearly not his best position but his vast football experience and devotion to the club are worth a lot in my opinion. I also reckon that he is part of a management team that costs a lot less than previous iterations. If he continues to recruit well, then he is doing his job. I very much doubt if he could sack someone like Nigel, but he would have been under some pressure from the bean counters to help to lower costs. After all it is a professional club.

Tins has very extensive football experience and is a loyal servant of our club. His involvement in the academy and desire to help players to get into the senior squad is incredibly valuable, even in cash terms. If we did not have his input we may have had to pay very much more in wages and transfer fees. I also have reservations about JL, who is shadow of his father.

We are not totally opposed in our views. We do not know what happened inside the club in terms of debate and discussions. Everyone assumed that Tins is the baddy, but they are only putting two and two together and maybe ignoring the fact that the answer is not 22. Of course Manning will hope to better himself by managing at a higher level. From what I can see he doesn't seem to stay in one job for very long, maybe that is an indication that he stays until he is "found out" but that might be unfair. Mehmetti certainly can be a frustrating player and I have said before that his main problem is lack of pace to go with his obvious skill on the ball but inability to consistently make good decisions. Hopefully he will come back next season as a better player.

The cup games were not a barometer reading but an indication of how the squad could perform over 4 matches. Tinnion the player was, in my opinion, very good. His sheer number of matches showed that he was a great servant. He was clearly not temperamentally suited for management but he has clearly distinguished himself as a top class recruiter and developer of young talent. His vast experience in the football industry has served us well and as I said before, he is paid to make decisions and like any senior executive, not all his choices will be correct or popular, but someone has to make those decisions. He deserves a degree of respect for his service to our club.

That may be right but, in fairness, he should be given a bit more time to see if he can turn it round. We seem to be out of any promotion race for this season, so I would expect him to be assessing the squad for next season. We may well see a few interesting team selections. Hopefully the results will improve, but I have reservations.

Playing at the same level achieved against West Ham and Forest, the team might have been good enough for a promotion shot, but Manning has not been able to keep them performing at that level. Can and will are two different things.

That is certainly a logical possibility!

I tend to agree and think that Nigel had the greater depth. Maybe Manning will surprise us all.

I think that every player in the squad would want to do better and become better players that is ambition. They have to believe that can achieve those ambitions - including maybe playing at the highest level. It is the job of the leaders in the club to nurture that belief and I find it disappointing that some on the forum, which I guess is representative of the fan base) are prepared to rubbish the prospects of a very talented 19 year old player making only his second sub appearance in a very demanding league. There are always those who look at glasses being half empty. The games against West Ham and Forest showed that there is great potential in the squad. It is wonderful what can be achieved with belief and positive reinforcement.

Then I suggest you look into the concept of ambition. It concerns a journey to a destination that does not yet exist. To that extent it could be described as a lie. Without ambition we can never get anywhere but some ambitions are not realised. All clubs in the league have ambitions but not all can achieve those ambitions.

That is cavilling. With luck and a following wind we probably have a squad that could scrape into the top 6 but only if everything went in our favour. Of course, life is rarely like that.

I did not want to see Nigel leave and I have reservations about Manning, but apart from that there are a lot of very young men who are caught up in the turmoil. It cannot help to criticise so many aspects of the club, including the man who managed to get their careers launched. I have always disliked managerial changes (apart from Pulis, who I really disliked) but we must never lose sight of the fact that we have a role to support and encourage the squad and those in charge of them. Delusion and promotion are sometimes close bedfellows, but belief can give people a massive lift - just what we need right now.

Well he could hardly say that we were relegation material, could he. The leaders in the club have to push the message that we are on the up. This should put pressure on players, managers and those hoping to break into the team. It may also sell a few more tickets. Please don't start canning a bloke because he is too positive!

Hope springs eternal. We have a small squad and a newish manager. If we miss out this season, it will be interesting to see how the summer recruitment goes. My main concern is the apparent lack of strength of character, but after Nige, most managers will seem that way.

Every time we chop and change managers, we are left with a residue of the squad who do not fit in with the new plans. The cost of carrying these players and changing them is exceptionally high, so it seems eminently sensible to have a strand of continuity in the management structure. Tins is that man. He may not get every decision right and others may not always agree with his opinions and he will never please all the people all the time. That does not mean that he is not making a massive and valuable contribution to the football side of the club.

If we are building towards the kind of team Tins described then it is not surprising that we have not finished the squad building yet. We are clearly a work in progress although that is probably a permanent state of affairs for a selling club.

And will probably be the plan for years to come.

If we are building towards the kind of team Tins described then it is not surprising that we have not finished the squad building yet. We are clearly a work in progress although that is probably a permanent state of affairs for a selling club.

That sounds very sensible to me. Clearly the big wigs in the club have all sat down and decided on a way forward. They may be frustrated by missing out on some of their targets but they certainly have a direction. The three players that we have recruited from Derby show how we have been carrying out the plan. I very much doubt if we will be buying many 30+ year olds who find it more difficult to press to the required standard.

Stories and rumours abound. Personalities do not always agree, but that does not mean that we should take sides. I liked Danny Wilson and I like Tins. Tins has been part of the club for so long that he now part of the warp and weft of the place. Many footballers owe a great deal to his wisdom and guidance but there are still many on this forum who seem content to rubbish his achievements. I believe that he has made a very significant contribution and I appreciate his efforts on behalf of our club.