Phileas Fogg

If we are to take the two recurring themes from the main rumours going around.. Appointment today Someone fans will be excited about Given that there are 0 firm rumours circulating naming this imminent appointment - that would make it less feasible that it's someone in work a bigger name A couple of caveats to this is that theoretically, it could be someone in work at a smaller club (Luke Williams?) who are happy to keep things under wraps as we are paying them decent comp or a foreign coach with representatives that don't move in the same gossipy UK agent circles. When you add in the "someone fans will be excited about" - that also narrows it down. That statement implies fans "excited" at face value which probably rules out someone like Manning. Assuming both of these themes are true... that effectively rules out almost all the names in the current SkyBet odds either by being too high profile for the information not to leak, in work (which usually leads to leaks) and lots of the smaller name managers due to not being "exciting" enough. I think this may end up being someone completely left field that hasn't come on the bookies' radar - anyone checked PULA aircraft flight movements recently?!

Perhaps adds more weight to the theory it’s a foreign coach then

It’s an interesting suggestion but perhaps as with the transfer forum we could put ‘suggestions’ into the larger head coach thread rather than their own one?

Our board are more than happy for this to be the case, and have actively enabled it through their stadium plan. Yet another reason why I can’t wait to see the back of them. Gifting away teams a marginal gain in a ridiculously competitive league by allowing them to have their support en-masse behind one of the goals is sheer madness. To add insult to injury, they put our vocal fans physically as far away as possible which is terrible for atmosphere. A board who is competent would’ve recognised this. Multiple former managers have questioned the logic of it. If you extrapolate silly decisions like that across the entire club - it’s easy to see why we’ve underachieved with this lot in charge.

Adrian Mutu?

It’s Jody Morris. Lampard was spotted at HPC because he gave Jody a lift.

Is the correct person being discussed on the forum or is it someone who hasn’t been?

He’s the sort of appointment Brentford, Brighton or Swansea of a few years ago might’ve made in the Championship based on his profile. I don’t know enough about him to have a particularly strong opinion - but if they do go for someone like him at least they're being consistent in following their messaging from earlier in the week.

If Manning was coming here having coached 2 lower league sides from the continent, I think people would be pretty excited about him as an option. Had a read just now and he’s got a very interesting profile. Obviously nowhere near as glamorous as someone like Lampard, but could be very shrewd.

If they appoint any of those names mentioned above, attendance will drop off a cliff and I think there’d be a lot of momentum behind boycotting stadium based food/drink.

No new info there, just quoting the Post article which is based off speculation from here/twitter.

I think it’s also due to the Pearson sacking nicely summarising most fans’ issues with the current ownership in one sacking. - failure to deal with more difficult personalities - wanting his own people in positions of influence - the ineptness of video statements from 2 people who meet the above criteria - poor comms throughout with inconsistent messaging including about the entire club-wide approach to ‘identity’ - trademark aloofness and the perception of arrogance and disdain for fan wishes - appearing to never learn from previous mistakes - selling assets and not allowing the manager to replace them All of these factors are present in the perfect storm of the Pearson sacking. And it’s amplified by the fact Pearson was always so frank with fans in contrast.

Exactly. If we appointed Mark Robins suddenly the purse strings would loosen. Same would apply for Lampard.. and probably an any other appointment he wants that the fans are unsure of.. Williams for example.

Lampard is exactly the sort of appointment the Lansdowns would make

I forgot about him! Genuinely laughed out loud at the video, it’s like a parody.

I’d really enjoy it being Warnock actually. He’d probably do well here and at least it would be a funny appointment. Rather that than Rowett.

I don’t think there’s any way back from a PR/supporter relations POV. People just don’t trust the owners footballing judgement. Their track record with managerial appointments is poor and it seems they value someone who won’t challenge them too much.

Of course no context either - perhaps Pearson was ‘happy’ considering the constraints he was under financially.. but in an ideal world knew it wasn’t good enough. It’s clear why they didn’t want to put someone up on SOTC.. even in absence of twentyman they’d have got ripped to shreds. Amusingly, lickspittle Mark Kelly has posted some irrelevant propaganda about this time X years ago the Williams stand was demolished.

Yeah, in principle it’s not necessarily a terrible idea.. but I just don’t trust the club to appoint the right person or resist the opportunity to meddle.

I can’t see any serious manager working under the implied constraints which seem to be - a reliance on the youth system, using what we have, giving Tinnion plenty of influence.. all the while delivering a top 6 finish. I cannot see someone like Eustace, Beale Wilder or even Rowett seeing it as a realistic situation to manage under. The pair of them are suggesting that the club should be able to achieve something that looks incredibly ambitious.

I’ve got a horrible feeling based on his comments about the U21 coach that we might end up appointing a very green ‘head coach’ working in combination with Tinnion who will provide a more hands on role with the playing side. Ironically, it’s the sort of arrangement that may have worked well when we first appointed Lee Johnson. It’s so frustratingly obvious that Pearson needed full autonomy and the ability to bring in his own people. Watch us do a 180 on our strategy yet again in an attempt to give ourselves some sort of ‘identity’.

Is it a dream team of Jon and Steve picking the new manager? Who else has any input these days ?!

It’s the most admirable thing the club could do in this scenario.. which means they won’t. As always, they’ll bury their heads in the sand and take the path of least resistance.

What a shame, especially hiding behind "results" as the rationale. We can all see it's due to the Lansdowns finding Pearson tricky to work with. I suspect they thought the fans would be more sympathetic after a derby defeat, which once again shows how out of touch they are. I don't know who they can appoint who'd realistically be an upgrade. If it's Gary Rowett that would be incredibly underwhelming.

I reckon they'd prefer someone like Russell Martin, if he was available. I think it's likely that Lansdown's ego was a bit bruised after the Johnson saga (without getting into the success/failure debate) and really wants to achieve success with his own ideas about a preferred "type" of manager.