Silvio Dante

Man U fans going on about Glazers. The amount of cash Ten Haag has had is obscene, yet he’s created an unlikeable, disjointed side. They’d have a heart attack if they saw Lansdowns current stewardship of the club (re investing in the team and supporting manager), and god knows how they’d react if they were fans of a Wednesday, a Reading or a Scunthorpe. Antony for 80 odd million is probably one of the worst signings I’ve seen, but more than that it’s the culture of the team (not the club necessarily) - support Greenwood, support Antony, ostracise Maguire, ostracise Sancho. Its objectively funny at least to see the Mancs “struggling”

Ah the Joey Barton argument. Top clubs give loan players to teams who pay them the most fees. And it’s not a market we’re shopping in allegedly so is moot. If that’s what we’re hanging our hats on with Lampard then it just shows what a nonsense appointment it would be.

Doesn’t stop Wally claiming he’s well in at Chelsea though.

The new man undoubtedly has a job on his hands, appeasing an unhappy fanbase while dealing with interference from boardroom and training ground personnel, all in handling a small squad with high expectations. It’s not a job for a light individual and therefore the only man for the job is former Leeds United frontman Arthur Graham.

Firstly - I wouldn’t be surprised if Lampard was interested. His reputation currently is such that he needs to look at this level and he is more of a coach than a manager. Albeit not a very good one. Surprisingly, as he is quite an intelligent man, I’ve always found his football intelligence lacking. If you look at that Golden Generation side, the reason him and Gerrard didn’t work is because Lampard just couldn’t play CM - he kept trying to play on top of the front men (as he did with Chelsea where it was one up top and him behind) and it left Gerrard isolated in the centre and overrun. Basic intelligence on positioning - other than in the specific role he played for his club - was lacking. That lack of intelligence has been carried forward into management - I’ve found his teams to be set up naively and without any real nouse, relying just on an individual doing well (as happened with Derby). Very good player in a specific system. Shockingly, no real nouse for the game outside of that.

I’d love to go to this but don’t own any Gary’s. Shame.

To be fair, if my posts were that long I’d only have the time and patience to post once every three years…

Okay, separating Eustace from Nige for a moment, and caveating that I really wish Nige was still here, it isn’t actually a bad choice on paper. He did well and was lauded for his football style at Kidderminster, so the Brum slightly more abrasive may have been horses for courses. I’m not dismissive of his 17th place finish last season as they were favourites to go down but he kept them up comfortably. Seemed also very well thought of by the squad there, and did start well this season - I thought at AG they played a bit less of a “spoiler” game than the prior season so it plays to the theory that he adapts dependent on what he has. Hes familiar with the division and will know some of the players from Ireland. Hes not Nige, who I’d rather have. It’s still Lansdowns out. It’s still Tinnion out. But my feeling is we could have been saddled with a lot worse

It’s an analyst fight! My moneys on Dave…

This looks to be the source. Fairly reliable - no shags, but fairly reliable:

I think your biggest hint to how the players will react is a lesson from history, namely Leicester. Nige built that side and when he left and Ranieri came in, the quality of the people and the spirit involved meant they didn’t think about giving any less than their all for themselves, their team mates, the fans, the old gaffer and the new boss. He’s built a side with that character here and I fully expect them to react as Leicester did - maybe not by winning the league but certainly by leaving it all on the pitch.

It’s clear the decision and the management of the response has gone down like a cup of cold sick. So, the question now becomes if the current regime (Lansdowns and Tinnion) can ever regain the faith of the fanbase, and if so, how. All options are fraught. If they sell, it’s likely to be a protracted process and they won’t be giving due care to the club while ongoing. If they give a new manager cash it’ll be sullied by the fact they wouldn’t do it for Nige, and if they ever reappointed Nige it’d render them neutered. So, is there now any way back, and how?

The key thing there is the name of the stand - the Williams stand. Named after a chairman who took charge during dark times, was at the tiller as we recovered and was part of a team where everyone worked together - things like TC driving to Darlington to pick Walshie up. We had bugger all money for a while but the club was together. The stand, known as the grandstand previously, was renamed after Des. I look forward to its rightful name being restored.

But the signs were there. Not just on here, but on the more rabid social media like Twitter and Facebook, and importantly in the ground, it was clear Nige still had the backing of the vast majority. The players clearly backed him and a decent “dof” type (hi Brian) would have gauged the changing room and fed that back. In any business you do your research. If they didn’t expect this reaction they’re even more incompetent than we all feared.

And also, if he thinks the squad is good enough assumedly the puppet that comes in won’t be given any of the “nest egg”. Of course he will. Total bull and just because they didn’t like Nige standing up to them. A two minute “interview” on club TV. Spineless. Gutless. I understand now why Jon feels at home with the jellyfish in Bermuda.

“Wanting to get to the premier league” “Gives us the best chance of success” ”Think the squads good enough” Absolutely nothing of note. The only comment worth highlighting is when he says that this is the first time they’ve had an idea of what they’re looking for. If you’ve been in charge for 20 plus years as a family then that just shows how incompetent you really are. Get the **** out of our club

See, I always struggle with the narrative that Cotts had a lack of investment - he didn’t. We had a title winning squad that needed a couple of additions - people point to Andre Gray but we got Kodjia as an alternative so that’s moot. The other one that’s pointed to Maguire - we got Nathan Baker and I think Liam Moore in. We also added Callum Robinson and Ryan Fredericks, notwithstanding that the latter didn’t last long after Little lamped him. Cotts was backed in assembling the title winning squad and if you look at who came in (acknowledging some were loans) and their quality proven since it’s hard to argue he wasn’t backed in the championship - harsh truth is he probably had reached his limits with us and couldn’t kick on. This is one of the things that makes the Nige situation so infuriating- he is singularly the only manager who hasn’t been backed by Lansdown and has delivered the veritable silk purse from a sows ear but still gets the push.

There was one real sliding doors game in 1998/99 for me - I think around March time we played WBA at the Hawthorns and drew 2-2 with them equalising late on, after we’d lost Bell and Testimitanu (great Benny signing, think we had to include a piano?) to broken legs. We hang on in that game I’m sure we stay up. Nevertheless I think he was onto something, and the ripping it up just felt like an abysmal decision.

Ward left IIRC because he wanted help and his choice was Ray Harford but the board brought Benny in. I didn’t hold a great torch for Ward - nothing to do with ex Rovers but more that I thought he took Joes team up. It’s fair to say that if Shaun Taylor wasn’t injured it may have ended differently. There were only a couple I was truly gutted by - Joe obviously but surprisingly for some, Benny. I could see what he was doing; bringing youth through and wanting to play good football. I could see a plan, I could see shoots. I hated Pulis coming in because I knew what anti football he played but also because I knew it was a complete 180 and it would screw up what Benny was working towards. It’s no shock that in the first post Pulis game at Bournemouth several younger players came back in - Benny started the Hill, Brown, Burnell generation and it’s a shame he didn’t get a chance to finish.

…and as an aside, can I thank the OP for putting this in the general football forum where it has been seen and engaged with by many, as opposed to the ex players forum where it would have been missed by people.

Yep, we could do with another £10-£20m not to give to the manager.

This is spot on to me. Tinnion doesn’t touch my best city team (watching since 1984). It may be sacrosanct, but I don’t think he was exceptional - just good, nothing more. I don’t recall there being serious interest in him from elsewhere which does tell a tale. Great passer with his left foot but not above good at anything else, and that was largely division 3. He’s seen as he is for two reasons - longevity and moments (Liverpool, Cambridge etc). I might be wrong here but I believe it was reported in the 90s that there was a personal life reason why he never moved on.

Possibly financially in the plans but not as any planning condition would be my thinking. From a planning perspective, i can’t see one is contingent on the other. Therefore it’s totally plausible for SL to take the money from the Longmont development and sell off the land proposed for the sporting quarter with planning to let any new owner do what they wish

Yes. What he - or anyone - would want though (in respect of the rugby) would be a long lease, continued branding etc, club shop space at AG, ability to take the Bears matchday revenue and so on. That probably won’t marry with a new owners plans. He’d also want a pre contract for the Flyers to use the arena if built. Basically it’s feasible but the Bears are a nightmare logistically to split out.