Can anyone make a case for sticking with LJ

[South Somerset Red]

13 hours ago, bearded_red said:

Get this man as far away from my club as possible.

Has he completely lost the plot 

[swanker]

2 hours ago, glen humphries said:

No it hasn’t been 1 game , Rotherham , Wigan, Hull was poor , on the whole it’s poor , that yesterday wasn’t good enough 

You missed out Sheffield Wednesday. They’ve lost nearly every game since beating us easily a month ago. 

[Bazooka Joe]

17 hours ago, hoxton casual said:

Everyone seems to be in agreement his tome has come, but maybe his supporters are not posting. I would be interested to hear any views on why we should persist. I cannot think of any myself but maybe I am missing something?

The case is closed.

Johnson should pack his bag and go.

Next !

 

[Davefevs]

13 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

Good thoughts and helps me see where you are coming from.

Referencing what I said before 

and expanding slightly (not applicable to yourself). I cannot recall which game, possibly Forest or Boro, but there was some very harsh criticism given and when watching the game on BCTV what I saw was very different to what was being said on here, even by some of the more balanced posters.

I think (and this probably applies to fans of all teams) it has got to a point where if the team doesn't play excellently, it gets written off as rubbish.

 

RE losses and MA

The losses are hard to really comment on.

Firstly, losses of a club are, in footballs current financial state, always going to rise.

I get the theory, but if your strategy is to predominantly buy young and cheap, and sell high, then you should contain those losses.

I don't mean the loss will be bigger every season, but with the inflation in the game making transfer fees, signing on fees, agents fees and wages constantly rising it means when a club has a season where they spend, the chances are they are spending more than before, so when a club has a season where they take a bigger loss it will be more than the equivalent of 5 years ago.

Spending more, yes....receiving more in fees too.  Balances it out...again in theory.  Using that analogy, we bought Magnússon for £2m in summer 2016, you ought to expect more than the same £2m (ish) back for a player in an inflationary market, with 50 games behind him, a current international, to a Champions League team.  I thought that was poor value, albeit likely to have been influenced by Mag’s desire to move away.

(It's a bit like how the "he's spent more that any other manager" line some people use is an easy and slightly unfair one with regards to LJ- the depleted squad when he arrived meant recruitment was needed,

Yes, he had to bolster the squad numbers.

constantly inflating prices means bigger fees, certainly compared to when we were last a Championship side. However player turnover has been very high and that leads to more spending.)

However I certainly agree that looking at it at face value, the losses are a concerning number.

But here's why I find the finances a bit hard to comment on.

Partly because I don't know all the ins and outs.

Wages gone up £5m, income only up £3m!!  That’s not including the transfers!

Mostly because it's been a while since I looked at them and have some questions. But they don't include the summer sales where we are £15m odd up (I suspect I'm a little conservative there, but hard to tell with undisclosed fees), something I'd need to look at again to see exactly what time period they cover and what goes into it-

The 17/18 accounts include the sale of Tomlin (at a loss in terms of what we bought him for, possibly break-even in terms of amortisation)...that’s it.  It did include the incomings of Diedhiou (£5.3m), Baker (£3.5m ish), then loans of Leko and Woodrow, followed by Walsh (£1m), Kent (and his penalty clause) and Diony....plus all these signing on / agent / loan fees. In an ideal world, Flint or Bryan (or both) should’ve been sold in January to avoid SL having to stump on £18m during the season to avoid cash flow issues!!  However we gambled on keeping them....all it did was delay the sale of them...plus Reid (the big plus for LJ).  Re Reid, had we tied Bobby down to a new deal we’d be £9m worse off and probably paying him £0.7m more in wages.  It’s okay people and LJ saying we lost our best 3 players, they were the effect of poor recruitment elsewhere, where we’ve wasted too much £millions in fees and wages.

I have some questions like with the training ground development, has work started, if so would those costs be a part? Were the sell on fees we got last summer in it?

Not sure either.

We are allowed £39m odd of losses over 3 years aren't we, with a little extra allowed as investment? Year before last was something like £13m IIRC, last years was £20m (but with questions of how much of that was actually FFP relevant losses). I think it is something like £8m of investment allowed towards these numbers per season (@Mr Popodopolous might be able to help shed a little info here).

If the £8m investment bit is right then we have anywhere between £6m and £22m as our "allowable losses" for FFP this season

Yes, haven’t done the maths, but we are accumulating those losses already without investing in players!  Our wages were £23m versus £17m income, let alone all the other expenses.

 

MA- Like everyone else I'm not overly fond of him, however he is pretty consistent with when he make an appearance IMO. We generally hear from him around each transfer window as far as I recall.

So I'm not 100% sure what the criticism of him not saying anything right now is about.

I don’t have an issue with his role as the money man / operational lead....it’s when he gets involved with the true football but I have issues.

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

43 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

Good thoughts and helps me see where you are coming from.

Referencing what I said before 

and expanding slightly (not applicable to yourself). I cannot recall which game, possibly Forest or Boro, but there was some very harsh criticism given and when watching the game on BCTV what I saw was very different to what was being said on here, even by some of the more balanced posters.

I think (and this probably applies to fans of all teams) it has got to a point where if the team doesn't play excellently, it gets written off as rubbish.

 

RE losses and MA

The losses are hard to really comment on.

Firstly, losses of a club are, in footballs current financial state, always going to rise. I don't mean the loss will be bigger every season, but with the inflation in the game making transfer fees, signing on fees, agents fees and wages constantly rising it means when a club has a season where they spend, the chances are they are spending more than before, so when a club has a season where they take a bigger loss it will be more than the equivalent of 5 years ago.

(It's a bit like how the "he's spent more that any other manager" line some people use is an easy and slightly unfair one with regards to LJ- the depleted squad when he arrived meant recruitment was needed, constantly inflating prices means bigger fees, certainly compared to when we were last a Championship side. However player turnover has been very high and that leads to more spending.)

However I certainly agree that looking at it at face value, the losses are a concerning number.

But here's why I find the finances a bit hard to comment on.

Partly because I don't know all the ins and outs.

Mostly because it's been a while since I looked at them and have some questions. But they don't include the summer sales where we are £15m odd up (I suspect I'm a little conservative there, but hard to tell with undisclosed fees), something I'd need to look at again to see exactly what time period they cover and what goes into it- I have some questions like with the training ground development, has work started, if so would those costs be a part? Were the sell on fees we got last summer in it?

We are allowed £39m odd of losses over 3 years aren't we, with a little extra allowed as investment? Year before last was something like £13m IIRC, last years was £20m (but with questions of how much of that was actually FFP relevant losses). I think it is something like £8m of investment allowed towards these numbers per season (@Mr Popodopolous might be able to help shed a little info here).

If the £8m investment bit is right then we have anywhere between £6m and £22m as our "allowable losses" for FFP this season

 

MA- Like everyone else I'm not overly fond of him, however he is pretty consistent with when he make an appearance IMO. We generally hear from him around each transfer window as far as I recall.

So I'm not 100% sure what the criticism of him not saying anything right now is about.

FFP losses are 13m per season, 3 year rolling. Headline losses I believe are 13m plus allowable costs, hence if we assume that allowable costs this year will be the same as last then as per Kieran Maguire, in FFP terms I think we can lose 16.3m.

Add on 4.7m to allowable costs and in headline terms we could lose 21m. The flipside of that is if we did that and stayed down, then in summer 2019, we would have lost Bryan and Reid (Magnússon and Djuric too maybe) on a free.

Hence, would have only been able to lose 2.7m in FFP or 7.4m headline figures with very few saleable assets to do so, we'd have been in a real, real mess.

@Davefevs Think to call the losses scandalous is a bit harsh, this division is a shitstorm financially tbh. Think the average club had a wage bill in 16/17 at this level had wages of 101% of turnover- may have been 15/16 but in recent times anyway.

@swanker A game we didn't deserve to lose. That Sheffield Wednesday game? A Sheffield Wednesday who in recent weeks had drawn with WBA, Leeds ad won at Villa?

@glen humphries That would be Wigan who have one of the top 6 home records in the division? That would be Rotherham who  beat Derby and Swansea at home this season, that would be Hull who drew with Boro and beat WBA this season- zero easy games.

[Davefevs]

@Mr Popodopolous - yeah, you’re right, bit harsh...it’s just that we could easily save £5m of that by not wasting it on players who don’t get a game!

[JamesBCFC]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

Not a lot I disagree with there.

I would say that with the "buy young, sell high" there needs to be a few years between to make the player worth selling. It might not even be LJ who gets the benefit from selling some of the young lads he brought in.

As a club we aren't enough of a name that a player being here gives them pedigree, so they need to show with us that they are worth money.

FWIW (but also an example of timescale) I think we could see Bakinson break into the side next season (though equally likely he'll be in League 1 on loan) and he'd need to show his ability with us to get the bigger money move, so it could be another 2-3 year for him as an example.

At the same time, not every young one will make it and that eats into the profit hen one does sell.

It only takes one gem to fund the signing of 10 young players, of those 10, there could easily be 5 who don't fulfill their expected potential. 

10 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

FFP losses are 13m per season, 3 year rolling. Headline losses I believe are 13m plus allowable costs, hence if we assume that allowable costs this year will be the same as last then as per Kieran Maguire, in FFP terms I think we can lose 16.3m.

Add on 4.7m to allowable costs and in headline terms we could lose 21m. The flipside of that is if we did that and stayed down, then in summer 2019, we would have lost Bryan and Reid (Magnússon and Djuric too maybe) on a free.

Hence, would have only been able to lose 2.7m or 7.2m- with very few saleable assets to do so, we'd have been in a real, real mess.

Thanks.

Honestly, I'm as confused as ever with FFP despite what you and Dave added, but think that's because I'm exhausted right now- barely slept all week from migraines so will revisit and reread when I can keep my eyes open without props.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Don't disagree that we need to improve recruitment and value @Davefevs but by the same token, LJ could utilise said squad players more effectively IMO- some of them in any case.

[Chappers]

It was always likely to be a tough season, losing 3 quality players, and the replacements are more hard-working than flair. Right at the start I pointed out that goals could be hard to come by, and after Bill Weimann's purple patch, that has proved to be the case. Yesterday was the first time that I thought Lee might need to go, with bizarre starting XI, changing formation, and poor subs. However, what worries me is that any new manager might ditch our youth work, and we go back to signing an endless procession of journeymen that achieve very little at great cost. We cannot afford to chuck big money around, in gambling terms, odds are not good, so patience, good scouting and development remains our best hope of moving forward. I give Lee a few more weeks, a good shape and consistency of selection would probably be a great help in that time!

 

[Portland Bill]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

I felt exactly the same when Senior was in charge but I carried on attending because I’m a SC holder and diehard City fan.

As was I for 40 plus years, but there came a time where I thought what am I watching here, and all the enjoyment has gone. 

We are completely different characters as well, let’s face it, you even find playing bowls exciting

[Portland Bill]

13 hours ago, bearded_red said:

Get this man as far away from my club as possible.

Steve Jones is warming up in a suntan booth for our next game!

[Robbored]

 

6 minutes ago, Portland Bill said:

We are completely different characters as well, let’s face it, you even find playing bowls exciting

We’re all different characters PB........and I’m assuming you’ve never played competitive bowls otherwise you’d know what an exciting game it can be.

In some ways it’s similar to football - some games are one sided, some really close others of a poor quality and some of an excellent standard.  When you stand on the green you never know who’ll win.....

[Portland Bill]

9 minutes ago, Robbored said:

 

We’re all different characters PB........and I’m assuming you’ve never played competitive bowls otherwise you’d know what an exciting game it can be.

In some ways it’s similar to football - some games are one sided, some really close others of a poor quality and some of an excellent standard.  When you stand on the green you never know who’ll win.....

No, I’ve never played. I haven’t ruled out giving it a go though, but there’s a lot of more exciting things I would prefer to do first. 

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, Portland Bill said:

No, I’ve never played. I haven’t ruled out giving it a go though, but there’s a lot of more exciting things I would prefer to do first. 

I got into bowling in the mid 80s after I stopped playing football. It filled the competitive void I lost after football finished. Obviously not so frenetic but even now 30+ years on lots of the older guys show thier competitiveness by getting stroppy when thing go against them.........

 

[BRISTOL86]

3 hours ago, Red Exile said:

In a nutshell.

This is precisely what's happening. And the more we all moan, or Geoff Twentyman asks him awkward questions when he gets the chance, the more SL digs in. He's determined to prove that he saw something that no one else did. Sadly its all going to end in tears. Frankly it would be funny if it was happening at any other club!

The irony is, as an outsider, you’d look at that other club and see that they’ve gone from L1, to three straight improved finishes in the championship, via league club heroics, and say ‘ooh, haven’t they done well’. 

Ask any outsider of their view of Bristol City and it’s largely very positive. 

I’m not saying we should be thrilled but I’m under no illusions that replacing LJ with another middle of the road coach is going to make anything incredibly different.

So unless we make a truly spectacular appointment, which we’ve not done in my time of supporting City, 30+ years, is it going to fundamentally change our fortunes?

[Red Exile]

3 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

The irony is, as an outsider, you’d look at that other club and see that they’ve gone from L1, to three straight improved finishes in the championship, via league club heroics, and say ‘ooh, haven’t they done well’. 

Ask any outsider of their view of Bristol City and it’s largely very positive. 

I’m not saying we should be thrilled but I’m under no illusions that replacing LJ with another middle of the road coach is going to make anything incredibly different.

So unless we make a truly spectacular appointment, which we’ve not done in my time of supporting City, 30+ years, is it going to fundamentally change our fortunes?

I agree that to an outsider things look rosy...lovely ground...local owner...media friendly boss...and when things have gone well that's all fine and dandy. The Man Utd match was up there with the best. But I fear that SL, for all his unquestionable business sense, lacks the knack of picking a managerial winner, knows it, and will be determined for Lee to come good...which I don't believe he will...

But hey, I'm hoping for the spectacular appointment! You can but hope...I little thought when I toddled off to university having seen City get relegated from the top flight that the best part of 40 years later we'd barely have had a sniff of a return.

[BRISTOL86]

2 minutes ago, Red Exile said:

I agree that to an outsider things look rosy...lovely ground...local owner...media friendly boss...and when things have gone well that's all fine and dandy. The Man Utd match was up there with the best. But I fear that SL, for all his unquestionable business sense, lacks the knack of picking a managerial winner, knows it, and will be determined for Lee to come good...which I don't believe he will...

But hey, I'm hoping for the spectacular appointment! You can but hope...I little thought when I toddled off to university having seen City get relegated from the top flight that the best part of 40 years later we'd barely have had a sniff of a return.

That’s what I mean, is there an argument that we’ve too quickly forgotten where we have come from? 

I don’t see the point of a new, average appointment given the track record of those who select our managers....(!) 

What’s the point of dismissing Johnson to replace with an Appleton or similar?

As I said in an earlier post, for me, Johnson in or Johnson out really depends on the true scale of our ambition and I don’t think we can answer that with any certainty? 

[Davefevs]

21 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

The irony is, as an outsider, you’d look at that other club and see that they’ve gone from L1, to three straight improved finishes in the championship, via league club heroics, and say ‘ooh, haven’t they done well’. 

Ask any outsider of their view of Bristol City and it’s largely very positive. 

I’m not saying we should be thrilled but I’m under no illusions that replacing LJ with another middle of the road coach is going to make anything incredibly different.

So unless we make a truly spectacular appointment, which we’ve not done in my time of supporting City, 30+ years, is it going to fundamentally change our fortunes?

For all my posts of “I think LJ’s time should be up”, I don’t know who we’d replace him with.

There will be a lot of people suggesting Moyes, and although I’ve not been a lover of his football at Everton, that is in the Prem, which is a different kettle of fish and he did a fantastic job against the money of the big boys.  I’ve no doubt he would be an upgrade on LJ, but I'm not convinced he won’t see himself deserving of another crack at a Prem club.  His Preston side played good football though.

I like Garry Monk, but I suspect many on here won’t, plus I wonder the attraction of Bristol City over Brum at the current point in time, unless purely financial.

I’m not sure SL would go with a German (Wagner / Farke) experiment either.

Nice thought provoking post though B86.

[Dolman Block B]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

For all my posts of “I think LJ’s time should be up”, I don’t know who we’d replace him with.

There will be a lot of people suggesting Moyes, and although I’ve not been a lover of his football at Everton, that is in the Prem, which is a different kettle of fish and he did a fantastic job against the money of the big boys.  I’ve no doubt he would be an upgrade on LJ, but I'm not convinced he won’t see himself deserving of another crack at a Prem club.  His Preston side played good football though.

I like Garry Monk, but I suspect many on here won’t, plus I wonder the attraction of Bristol City over Brum at the current point in time, unless purely financial.

I’m not sure SL would go with a German (Wagner / Farke) experiment either.

If available David Moyes

How anyone can back the current manager based on 2018 games is beyond me. 

He has to go 

[BRISTOL86]

9 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

For all my posts of “I think LJ’s time should be up”, I don’t know who we’d replace him with.

There will be a lot of people suggesting Moyes, and although I’ve not been a lover of his football at Everton, that is in the Prem, which is a different kettle of fish and he did a fantastic job against the money of the big boys.  I’ve no doubt he would be an upgrade on LJ, but I'm not convinced he won’t see himself deserving of another crack at a Prem club.  His Preston side played good football though.

I like Garry Monk, but I suspect many on here won’t, plus I wonder the attraction of Bristol City over Brum at the current point in time, unless purely financial.

I’m not sure SL would go with a German (Wagner / Farke) experiment either.

Nice thought provoking post though B86.

I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong but I think people are in absolute fantasy land when they talk of the likes of Moyes.

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, BRISTOL86 said:

I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong but I think people are in absolute fantasy land when they talk of the likes of Moyes.

I tend to agree.  As above I still feel he’s waiting for another Prem chance.

[Red Exile]

14 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

That’s what I mean, is there an argument that we’ve too quickly forgotten where we have come from? 

I don’t see the point of a new, average appointment given the track record of those who select our managers....(!) 

What’s the point of dismissing Johnson to replace with an Appleton or similar?

As I said in an earlier post, for me, Johnson in or Johnson out really depends on the true scale of our ambition and I don’t think we can answer that with any certainty? 

Sadly I feel that the true scale of the club's ambition doesn't match mine! But you are of course right - whilst I think LJ lacks the ability to get us back in the top flight, which is what I consider should be our ambition I'd be no more confident that Appleton would have that ability either. What's needed, in my view, is someone who's achieved something similar in this country or elsewhere. Do I think such an appointment likely? No, not going by past Lansdown decisions. But I live in hope. I don't see Lee Johnson as the answer and the longer he stays the longer we're waiting.

Patience was mentioned in another thread. None of us are getting any younger...I think City fans have been patient enough down the years.

[Loosey Boy]

That team just wasn’t playing for the manager yesterday.

Then you hear his post match interview which struck me for the first time of him being under real pressure.

Can’t see SL being very happy with what he saw from all his investment yesterday......

We could easily be in the bottom 3 or 4 by Christmas

[Robbored]

10 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong but I think people are in absolute fantasy land when they talk of the likes of Moyes.

Of course they’re in fantasy land - there’s  no vacancy at AG.

[Bristol Oil Services]

5 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

That’s what I mean, is there an argument that we’ve too quickly forgotten where we have come from? 

 

For 25 years, we have watched as every club as big as us - bar maybe Plymouth - have taken their turn in the PL. And many not as big as us. There is no club any bigger than us left that has yet to play at least once in the PL. Only the tiddly ones (one or two of whom have beaten us to it). Most followed a similar route: very wealthy bloke takes over, builds new ground, pumps a few quid into the team, club soars to the top (and also, usually, tumbles out again). Some have done this without the new ground.

So, the combination here of very wealthy bloke - tick - modernised, income generating ground - tick - money pumped into the team (or at least debt covered making things easier for his manager/coach) - tick - and many public pronouncements of aiming for the top have led to an assumption, an impatience, that this will happen. And happen soon. 

I think we have lost sight of where we have come from but that is partly because we are unrecognisable as a club in 2018. No parachute payments but we want for little, compared to years gone by. It could well be that we are the one that never gets there and will have to watch as more, smaller, clubs do what we cannot. 

I believe all this is legitimately frustrating, and distracting. We could be more content and happier forgetting about the bloody PL, and try to enjoy this division, enjoy the here and now (once we rediscover our attacking "mojo" again/are not playing Preston). A collective reordering of our expectations would be hugely beneficial but this division is all about one thing, for any club attracting 20k plus crowds, and one thing only. 

44 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

 

I’m not saying we should be thrilled but I’m under no illusions that replacing LJ with another middle of the road coach is going to make anything incredibly different.

So unless we make a truly spectacular appointment, which we’ve not done in my time of supporting City, 30+ years, is it going to fundamentally change our fortunes?

Agree, absolutely. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

8 minutes ago, Robbored said:

 - there’s  no vacancy at AG.

Wrong, mate. There was plenty of empty space at AG yesterday. It'll be the same next home game.

[swanker]

2 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

 

 

@swanker A game we didn't deserve to lose. That Sheffield Wednesday game? A Sheffield Wednesday who in recent weeks had drawn with WBA, Leeds ad won at Villa?

 

Sheffield Wednesday have taken 1 point in five games since they beat us easily at Ashton Gate!

[BCFC11]

I’ve heard from numerous people from within the academy that LJ really is a superb coach and his training sessions really are that good, I’ve backed LJ to the hilt but I really am beginning to wonder if he’s really got it to make a decent manager, despite being told how good of a coach he is, doesn’t mean he’s got it to be a manager and these last few games for me is certainly pointing that way.

Tactically I don’t think he’s got it, first of all he’s setting up to stifle the opposition, and secondly after he realises that it’s not working he’s changing the shape 3 or 4 times a game, by then we’ll be losing said game and usually it’s too late. If he’d stop worrying about who were up against so much and concentrated on our strengths which we do have then he/us would be in a much better position.

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, BCFC11 said:

I’ve heard from numerous people from within the academy that LJ really is a superb coach and his training sessions really are that good, I’ve backed LJ to the hilt but I really am beginning to wonder if he’s really got it to make a decent manager, despite being told how good of a coach he is, doesn’t mean he’s got it to be a manager and these last few games for me is certainly pointing that way.

Suspect he is a very good coach on the training ground too.  We’ve seen snippets of video that seem to show this.

But that is a very different skill to being the “Manager”.  And before everyone says that he’s a Head Coach not a Manager, maybe that’s part of the problem.

Even Deano and Macca are Assistant Head Coaches, not just Coaches, not even Head Coach Assistants.

In some respects, we’ve not appointed the person to the role of selecting the team, choosing the tactics, making the subs, dealing with player issues etc.  That role is the Manager.  In some ways it abdicates some responsibility.  Ferguson used to leave the training to Kidd.

I think it is these tasks that he struggles with.  How do you tell the media that your Callum O’Dowda’s biggest believer and that you want him to sign a new contract and then not start him, or even bring him off the bench?  How does that affect Callum and the other players?  He has a lot to learn in dealing with the media.  I love listening to him, because he gives me lots of info, but he’s too open, too honest.  That impacts players.

He needs some help, but bringing in an experienced man as a DoF (like a Lenny Lawrence type) would I'm sure be seen as undermining him.  I think it would be a show of strength, an admission that for all his bright ideas who is there to tell him that some of them are wrong.  Can’t believe Deano or Macca do.  He has mentors in Dalglish, Marwood etc, but they aren’t there with him daily.  

I actually felt for him hearing his post-match interview (this morning).  He spoke differently, it was LJ on the spot, under pressure, and you heard it in his voice.  He spoke from his heart.  Fair play to him.  That doesn’t give him a free pass, it was however his Julia Roberts / Notting Hill moment.  What happens next I don’t know.

I certainly didn’t take any offence to him saying they might be better off next game being away at Leeds.  I tend to agree with him.  Sink or swim though.

 

[glen humphries]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Suspect he is a very good coach on the training ground too.  We’ve seen snippets of video that seem to show this.

But that is a very different skill to being the “Manager”.  And before everyone says that he’s a Head Coach not a Manager, maybe that’s part of the problem.

Even Deano and Macca are Assistant Head Coaches, not just Coaches, not even Head Coach Assistants.

In some respects, we’ve not appointed the person to the role of selecting the team, choosing the tactics, making the subs, dealing with player issues etc.  That role is the Manager.  In some ways it abdicates some responsibility.  Ferguson used to leave the training to Kidd.

I think it is these tasks that he struggles with.  How do you tell the media that your Callum O’Dowda’s biggest believer and that you want him to sign a new contract and then not start him, or even bring him off the bench?  How does that affect Callum and the other players?  He has a lot to learn in dealing with the media.  I love listening to him, because he gives me lots of info, but he’s too open, too honest.  That impacts players.

He needs some help, but bringing in an experienced man as a DoF (like a Lenny Lawrence type) would I'm sure be seen as undermining him.  I think it would be a show of strength, an admission that for all his bright ideas who is there to tell him that some of them are wrong.  Can’t believe Deano or Macca do.  He has mentors in Dalglish, Marwood etc, but they aren’t there with him daily.  

I actually felt for him hearing his post-match interview (this morning).  He spoke differently, it was LJ on the spot, under pressure, and you heard it in his voice.  He spoke from his heart.  Fair play to him.  That doesn’t give him a free pass, it was however his Julia Roberts / Notting Hill moment.  What happens next I don’t know.

I certainly didn’t take any offence to him saying they might be better off next game being away at Leeds.  I tend to agree with him.  Sink or swim though.

 

Do you think it might be dawning on him Dave , that he could be out of his depth a bit ?