Doubts....

[Son of Fred]

Long term project-ok..man to fit that brief-ok..cutting the cloth to fit,again-fair enough.is it now about to be 20 league games without a win?.even the most patient of you must have your doubts about the suitability of Sean o Driscoll?..all things considered you must have your doubts????

[Andy082005]

Said on another thread. Lose today...he has to go

[And Its Smith]

Amazed that people have these opinions. Do you want two managers every season?

[hortonred]

Amazed that people have these opinions. Do you want two managers every season?

No just one who is capable of doing the job would be nice.

[chinapig]

The OP referred to doubts, There seem to be 3 types of fan. Those who want the manager sacked at the drop of a hat, those who can see no wrong and those who live in hope but harbour doubts. Constantly sacking managers rarely seems to work. Refusing to see anything wrong and insisting the master plan will pay off at any minute (a position taken by many during much of Millen's reign and one he was still insisting on as he emptied his desk) is blind faith and leads to genuine problems being ignored until it is too late. In the circumstances a sceptical position seems the most rational one to take.

[Smokey]

You have to ignore last season. You have to

[Alex_BCFC]

After today I do have doubts but definitely not the time to be sacking SOD.

[Loco Rojo]

I say we should be a club that sacks the manager after every bad result. Think how happy this forum would be then.

I wish the club could start sacking some fans

[BristolCity?]

I say we should be a club that sacks the manager after every bad result. Think how happy this forum would be then.

I wish the club could start sacking some fans

Its not after every bad result , its now 20 games without a league win. Why are we the villains for wanting some success?

[AshtonGreat]

I say we should be a club that sacks the manager after every bad result. Think how happy this forum would be then.

I wish the club could start sacking some fans

In a roundabout way, that's what they've been doing for the last five years

[chinapig]

In a roundabout way, that's what they've been doing for the last five years

Let's face it most clubs would like to get rid of fans. They're a necessary inconvenience but a bloody nuisance, not just wanting their team to win but expecting ticketing to work, decent food at reasonable prices and actually want to be treated as important. If only games could be played in front of corporate guests and an otherwise invited audience who didn't give a toss about results. And every game (or rather "match day experience") on TV. Bliss.

[AshtonGreat]

Let's face it most clubs would like to get rid of fans. They're a necessary inconvenience but a bloody nuisance, not just wanting their team to win but expecting ticketing to work, decent food at reasonable prices and actually want to be treated as important. If only games could be played in front of corporate guests and an otherwise invited audience who didn't give a toss about results. And every game (or rather "match day experience") on TV. Bliss.

Haha you hit the nail on the head there

[Slack Bladder]

I say we should be a club that sacks the manager after every bad result. Think how happy this forum would be then.

I wish the club could start sacking some fans

I thought they have been sacking some fans because the attendence keeps going down.

[Loco Rojo]

Its not after every bad result , its now 20 games without a league win. Why are we the villains for wanting some success?

Absolutely nothing wrong with wanting success and I'm not slating that. What is getting tiring though are those fans that constantly start negative threads about sacki g the manager and continually slam the team after every game.

It's up there with posts about Curbishly buying flats in Clifton.

I don't think some fans will ever be satisfied even when we do start winning.

[SydneyCity]

I don't have any doubts. I'm certain we'll be safe this season, even if we only scrape it by a couple of points

Doubts are placed on expectations. So far we're about where I expected us to be this season - bottom third. I expect we'll finish there too.

Next season, however, my expectations are very high.

[Slack Bladder]

I don't have any doubts. I'm certain we'll be safe this season, even if we only scrape it by a couple of points

Doubts are placed on expectations. So far we're about where I expected us to be this season - bottom third. I expect we'll finish there too.

Next season, however, my expectations are very high.

My expectations were not high, but I will confess they were a bit higher than this.

My god this season is painful.

Next season I will expect much more too.

[chinapig]

I don't have any doubts. I'm certain we'll be safe this season, even if we only scrape it by a couple of points

Doubts are placed on expectations. So far we're about where I expected us to be this season - bottom third. I expect we'll finish there too.

Next season, however, my expectations are very high.

Fair enough, but what if the likes of JET and Baldock decide they have had enough of 3rd Division football? And if season ticket sales and attendances fall significantly? There is no guarantee that SOD's job will get much easier. Could be a long haul yet.

[Guest]

You have to ignore last season. You have to

You mean we`re still in the championship;

[The Swan and Cemetery]

Long term project-ok..man to fit that brief-ok..cutting the cloth to fit,again-fair enough.is it now about to be 20 league games without a win?.even the most patient of you must have your doubts about the suitability of Sean o Driscoll?..all things considered you must have your doubts????

Think reasonably difficult to not have doubts, whether those doubts are best served by patience or drastic action is a difficult question to answer. Sometimes the supporters who stand out on here or at the ground, are those with the more extreme views - 'happy clappers' or the congenitally negative, neither of which are necessarily the majority. In my view, neither is particularly constructive. Blind faith tends to end in disappointment at some level or other; being constantly negative appears to show greater interest in being right than the good of the team, given two big advantages: a) hindsight "I knew SO'D would be totes dreadful" and b) having every other option open to you ("anything but this") and no way of measuring whether those alternatives would be better than what we've got - "If we'd installed Danger Mouse and Penfold after GJ, Bayern et al would be quaking"...

I've only seen two games (MK and The Gas) this season, so don't have the firm footing of experience to make particularly bold claims. Based on what I've seen, I think we're playing better football than in recent years, but there's clearly a lot of work to be done on defence/discipline/set pieces. I.e. hints of progress, but a long way from where we'd want to be (no s Sherlock).

Would I stick with SO'D for the foreseeable? Yes. Partly because I'm weary of constant managerial changes and I wonder if those managers who've been at clubs for a long time and been relatively successful (e.g. Ferguson, Wenger, Moyes), were successful because they were great managers or successful because they were given time. I.e. if a manager genuinely believes he'll be given time to get things right, does that increase the chances he will (eventually)? I've no real idea, but to be honest I'd be prepared to experiment rather than keep on the desperate treadmill of never giving anyone time to do anything other than panic.

Also think that for the medium term being patient with SO'D is a relatively one-sided (on the up side) bet. I.e. if we leap back on to "back 'em, sack 'em" bandwagon, in 5 years time we'll be lower half Championship/upper half League One (i.e. where we've spent 90% of our history - or certainly feels like that). If we back SO'D don't think we'll end up on the Downs, because if things go really tits up, patience will fade long before we head to Paulton Rovers for the Christmas Day/Boxing Day home and away double header... but, and I agree it's a vast but (bigger even than mine), there's a chance we might end up doing summut a bit special...

So, for now, twitchy patience.

[SydneyCity]

Fair enough, but what if the likes of JET and Baldock decide they have had enough of 3rd Division football? And if season ticket sales and attendances fall significantly? There is no guarantee that SOD's job will get much easier. Could be a long haul yet.

Yep, that is a big concern but it's a concern that every club has. If JET and Baldock have an opportunity to play a higher standard of football then I don't begrudge them. However, I would hope that in order to attract offers they play the best football they can provide. If they do this then we'll be in a good position.

One thing I don't get from the current crop of players is a lack of effort. For the past couple of seasons, that hasn't been the case.

Yes, effort doesn't equal results - as we've seen this season. But from my experience, effort always pays off... eventually.

[SydneyCity]

Fair enough, but what if the likes of JET and Baldock decide they have had enough of 3rd Division football? And if season ticket sales and attendances fall significantly? There is no guarantee that SOD's job will get much easier. Could be a long haul yet.

Yep, that is a big concern but it's a concern that every club has. If JET and Baldock have an opportunity to play a higher standard of football then I don't begrudge them. However, I would hope that in order to attract offers from a higher standard of football, they need to play the best football they can provide. If they do this then we'll be in a good position when they leave.

One thing I don't get from the current crop of players is a lack of effort. For the past couple of seasons, that hasn't been the case.

Yes, effort doesn't equal results - as we've seen this season. But from my experience, effort always pays off... eventually.

[JOSH17]

Any one know the worst win% SOD has 24.24 and Pulis 30.30 both after 33 games?

[longyears]

Must have doubts whoever you are - we are the only team in our division without a win. We have 5 points from 9 games. Based on last season we will need 50 points minimum to stay up. That equates to 45 points from 37 matches. As they would say in cricket the run rate is rising rapidly.

Quite doable of course but if we lose another 10 games ( very possible ) then we will need 45 points from 27 matches which is pushing towards an average of two points a game.

I reckon we have another month and if our points ratio has not improved by then we are in real trouble

and I think SOD will get dumped whatever the fans think. We really cannot afford another relegation.

IMO if you do not have doubts you are a nut case.

[SydneyCity]

The run rate is rising rapidly. Quite doable of course but if we lose another 10 ( very possible ) then we will need 45 points from 27 matches which is pushing towards an average of two points a game.

I reckon we have another month and if our points ratio has not improved by then we are in real trouble.

I really like this analogy but personally, still fall in the "quite doable" camp. You're right though, the next month will be very important.

[Mendip City]

Absolutely nothing wrong with wanting success and I'm not slating that. What is getting tiring though are those fans that constantly start negative threads about sacki g the manager and continually slam the team after every game.

It's up there with posts about Curbishly buying flats in Clifton.

I don't think some fans will ever be satisfied even when we do start winning.

Curbishley's buying a flat in Clifton??

Well that's it - SOD's for the chop and Curbs is coming in.

You heard it here first!!!!

[Son of Fred]

The OP referred to doubts, There seem to be 3 types of fan. Those who want the manager sacked at the drop of a hat, those who can see no wrong and those who live in hope but harbour doubts. Constantly sacking managers rarely seems to work. Refusing to see anything wrong and insisting the master plan will pay off at any minute (a position taken by many during much of Millen's reign and one he was still insisting on as he emptied his desk) is blind faith and leads to genuine problems being ignored until it is too late. In the circumstances a sceptical position seems the most rational one to take.

thanks for clarifying my OP..wasnt advocating to change manager as of now.as you say im living in hope but concerned that maybe SOD isnt the right character for what is undoubtably a tough task..classic album cover by the way!.

[italian dave]

Its not after every bad result , its now 20 games without a league win. Why are we the villains for wanting some success?

I think we all want success, we just disagree about how to get it!

For me, you don't judge success by 20 games, it's over a much longer period than that.

[Chappers]

Tough call, I thought he was the right man, but not sure, and quite honestly, not seeing much sign of anything positive on the pitch. Also depends who else is available, certainly would not mind Clough if we could attract him.

[cider city red 81]

Not quite sure abt all the 20 league games stuff...weve won 3 cup games and approx 12 of those league games were last year with majority of different people..it seems quite an odd stat to talk abt. Some may say well weve lost only 2 at home to the two best teams in the league and two pretty unlucky away games lost in last minutes isnt so bad. From what ive seen, i wouldnt be suprised if this all clicks soon. i remember being in bottom when GJ lost those approx 9 in row, and ended up abt 9th and seeing a banner GJ is superman on last home game.

[LondonBristolian]

Not quite sure abt all the 20 league games stuff...weve won 3 cup games and approx 12 of those league games were last year with majority of different people..it seems quite an odd stat to talk abt. Some may say well weve lost only 2 at home to the two best teams in the league and two pretty unlucky away games lost in last minutes isnt so bad. From what ive seen, i wouldnt be suprised if this all clicks soon. i remember being in bottom when GJ lost those approx 9 in row, and ended up abt 9th and seeing a banner GJ is superman on last home game.

This basically. Obviously it's really worrying but I genuinely think the only major issues - and don't get me wrong; they are major issues - are the defence not clicking and making too many errors and the fact we aren't winning being a monkey on the players' backs. There is a third issue that we're not clinical enough upfront but I don't think that's been the main problem this season. Both of first two those are major worries and I accept the board might ultimately need to do something if it drags on more than another month and we still aren't getting things sorted.

But I also think they are fixable and, if we can get a win from somewhere and the confidence returns and if the defence can find some form - neither of which I think are at all impossible - we've got a team that can control possession and create chances and I think we'll be absolutely fine.

In the last days of Millen and McInnes it felt like the team had no strategy, no direction and we were just getting over-run week-in and week-out. I honestly don't feel that to be the case at the moment.

So yes, I've got doubts but I certainly don't think it's anywhere near time to panic.