Liam Manning - CONFIRMED NEW HEAD COACH

[Zuni]

7 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Mate.

You joined the forum on Saturday night. You’ve mentioned Luke Williams either directly or indirectly on multiple posts. 
 

You’ve supported and given positive reactions to people who praise the Lansdowns.

If you’re a BS employee and trying to soften us up for an underwhelming appointment just say so. It’d be better than this charade of “long time lurker just decided to start posting” you’re engaging in now.

7 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

Do you really think they are THAT clever ?

Possibly ?

[DaveInSA]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

So, Liam Manning. 
No doubt a name many City fans aren’t very familiar with. 
Not much of a playing career which he finished early to focus on coaching. Spending 4 years with West Ham’s under 23’s during the period when Declan Rice was coming through. 
Manning’s style of play is very much focussed around a style of player such as Rice, so I have no doubt that his coaching and way of playing would have been a good influence on Rice. 
 

His first proper job as a manager was in the Belgian 2nd division with Lommel. He took them from bottom of the league to 3rd in his one season there. However, this really needs to have a caveat - he spent over £11m as well as benefiting from a number of loans from Man City as they are a partner club. 
That level of transfer spend is highly unusual in the Belgian 2nd division, so I think it’s fair to say he had a significant amount of help to get them from bottom to 3rd. 
 

He took the job at MK Dons for the 21/22 season after Russell Martin left for Swansea. 
As regular readers will know, I was very keen on City signing Scott Twine. It’s for that reason that I saw a lot of MK Dons that season as I was keen to watch as much of Twine as I could. 
They had a superb season. 89 points, finishing 3rd and losing in the playoffs (rather craply to Wycombe). 

I watched a number of their games that season and they were a joy to watch. 
I am a tad bias here, because I absolutely loved watching Twine play. 

He’d mostly set up with 3 at the back (usually Darling, O’Hora and Lewington). All 3 were encouraged to play and they enjoyed vast amounts of possession. McEacheran and Matt O’Riley were a beautifully balanced midfield and then Twine creating in behind a striker - usually Eisa. 
They were superb to watch but their passing from the back style did get them into trouble a few times. 
 

As much as they played beautiful football that season, I can’t actually put it all down to Manning. He’d inherited a team which was already set up to play that way from Russell Martin - I think Manning just carried on his good work. 
Martin had signed Fisher (the keeper), Darling, O’Hora, Harvie, McEacheran, O’Riley, Kasuma and Twine. 
Martin had basically assembled this stylish squad. 
 

He lost the keeper in January to Swansea. The keeper was the catalyst to the playing out from the back style. 
He also very crucially lost O’Riley in January to Celtic. 
I thought this would be a massive blow as O’Riley was quite simply excellent. 
Manning signed a couple of loans to replace them - A keeper from Chelsea and a midfielder from West Ham (so clearly using his contacts from his West Ham u23 days). 
Twine was outstanding for the rest of the season and they didn’t miss O’Riley as much as I thought they would. 
 

So, a beautiful football team that season but one which was assembled by the previous manager. 
 

The next season didn’t start well. Won 4, Drew 3, Lost 13!! 
He’s lost the nucleus of the team though. Darling & Twine both leaving - probably the best 2 players in the league the season before. This was always going to be a massive blow. 
He also lost Kasumu in CM, who gave a tonne of legs and energy. 
 

He replaced Darling & Twine with Jack Tucker and Conor Grant. 
2 players who I was actually quite fond of myself, but they were nowhere near the same level of quality as those he lost. 
It was always going to be a bit of a struggle but quite how they went from the most beautiful team in League 1 to losing 13 of 20 is baffling. 
 

Onto Oxford. He arrived at the back end of last season when they sat 19th and in danger of the drop. He managed to keep them up but I think that was more down to other teams being so poor. He only won 2 of 12 games but got enough draws (5) to stave off relegation. 
I watched Oxford a couple of times last season before he arrived and I thought they were awful. I wouldn’t have been surprised had they gone down. So he kept them up, but only just in reality. 
 

This season, the Oxford I see now are chalk and cheese to the Oxford I saw last year who were awful. They are now playing the good stuff that Manning had at MK (perhaps it wasn’t all down to Russ Martin after all??)

He’s made some decent signings that fit his style. 
He’s loaned in a keeper from Brighton to help him play from the back. 
He brought McEacheran with him from MK - a good ball retainer for league 1. 
He brought Rodrigues in from Notts (this is his Twine, the creative roaming attacking midfielder type). 
He brought in Greg Leigh who has been an absolute revelation at wing back. 
He’s got McGuane playing well (I wasn’t overly impressed with him the year before but Manning seems to have lit his fire). 
He’s also made another couple of loans from Prem clubs to supplement his squad.  
 

Add Cameron Brannigan to this and with a tandem of either Brannigan/Maguane or Brannigan/McEacheran and he’s got a dominant ball retaining midfield. 
I think he’s still mostly playing 3 at the back as he did at MK, but he’s played a 4 sometimes too. I think he’s mostly switched to a 3 after the arrival of Leigh at wing back, so he seems open to changing his formation to suit his players. 

I must say, the transformation of the awful Oxford team last season to the stylish and winning team of this season is a remarkable one. And there is no doubt about it that this is 100% down to Manning. 
 

I can understand why many fans will see this as a rather underwhelming choice, but he is exactly the sort of person who fits the remit of how we are wanting to play. 
But ultimately, Manning’s style of play requires the right players to be able to play it. 
He’s always favoured a keeper who can play from the back - we don’t have that. 
He likes 2 deep CM’s who can control and dominate possession - we don’t have that. 
He likes a creative AM - we don’t have that. 
He likes high wing backs - we kinda half have that. 
He likes 3 CB’s who can build from the back - we don’t really have that. Naismith yes, but the others no. 
 

So he may be the right man for the way we WANT to play, but I actually don’t believe we have the players who can fit that style. 

Excellent and balanced analysis @Harry. He could be good, but it seems like he will need to adapt unless it’s a complete rebuild of the squad.

This appointment could be peak Lansdown.  I.e. opposing the complete philosophy of the prior coaching team and less than ideal fit of players we currently have.

Good job we have a nest egg. And patience.

 

[Spud21]

I quite like the idea of a coach like manning were we at seasons end having just finished not top 6 and not bottom 6 with Nige, then bring in a Manning or Williams etc etc, give them a summer to build and work with the players to get where they want. 

But now? It feels like a huge risk with our situation as it stands. 

Obviously people who's words I trust say he played good football so happy to take thst as read, but the type of good football he players concerns me in the sense, is it Martin type ball where retaining possession is more important than attacking (if it is I think this would be suicide) , as its a style that does not work very well at this level, the amount of teams that play a high press, and try to win the ball in transition and attack quickly are common, with the squad he has Martin is doing a shit job at Southampton, primarily because of the teams that are able to exploit Martin ball are common. 

If he plays good football in the same way Ipswich do I'm not sure we have the players to execute it in midfield, as it requires the players to move the ball quickly and we are relatively ponderous, don't think Williams could play again if you are playing that way as don't think he's moved the ball quickly in his career, think it could work with James and Naismith as the 2 sitting but if you are going to play out at the back I think you have to have Naismith in the back 3 / 4, and then I think you are missing the roaming number 10, but maybe Knight can be that player, he can pick a pass so it could work. 

So in conclusion I don't have a clue weather I'd be happy or not with this appointment

[xerox6060]

2 minutes ago, DaveInSA said:

Excellent and balanced analysis @Harry. He could be good, but it seems like he will need to adapt unless it’s a complete rebuild of the squad.

This appointment could be peak Lansdown.  I.e. opposing the complete philosophy of the prior coaching team and less than ideal fit of players we currently have.

Good job we have a nest egg. And patience.

 

Quite like the concept of an appointment like this or Luke Williams but I can see us short term dangerously treading water in the division as players are changed and systems are adapted too... all a bit unnecessary compared to letting NP continue his project...

[Chrizzler]

Not sure why he would want to come here, he's doing well with Oxford & would surely want to finish the job there. 

[bs3]

We have been down this road before . They will employ him because they can control him .  

[Ian Pople]

Liam Manning, makes LJ bullshit sound mute. If he gets the job, bloody he'll. Certainly likes himself doesn't he. Can you imagine experienced pros listening to that bullshit? I'm done if they give it to him

[MC RISK77]

3 minutes ago, Chrizzler said:

Not sure why he would want to come here, he's doing well with Oxford & would surely want to finish the job there. 

See what you are saying but whilst they have had a great start I don’t see them getting promoted. After some slow starts it looks like the bigger more experienced and better resourced clubs in league one such as Pompey, Bolton, Barnsley, Peterborough and derby are starting to rise to the top and can see 3 of those 5 going up this season.

And to be honest as well as he is doing we are a much bigger job if he has serious ambition 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

7 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Mate.

You joined the forum on Saturday night. You’ve mentioned Luke Williams either directly or indirectly on multiple posts. 
 

You’ve supported and given positive reactions to people who praise the Lansdowns.

If you’re a BS employee and trying to soften us up for an underwhelming appointment just say so. It’d be better than this charade of “long time lurker just decided to start posting” you’re engaging in now.

There have been a large influx of new posters.

The majority seem to have joined in the vitriol against Lansdown and disgust at NP leaving whilst a small number have not. 

Those who haven't have to a man/woman been accused as being employees of Bristol Sport. Posters with long term dormant accounts now posting have similarly been dismissed as such when not joining in yet unquestioned if agreeing with the majority consensus of the NP: everything good/ BCFC:everything bad.

All members are equal but some are more equal than others so long as they join in with the consensus narrative.

But, hey Silvio, thanks for being a thought police volunteer. Keep making a list about anyone who dares think the Lansdown family have tried their best for the club with a quarter billion £ investment.

p.s For your records my name is Pike

 

 

[Barrs Court Red]

6 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

 the Lansdown family have tried their best for the club with a quarter billion £ investment.

 

 

 

This is their best???
 

Roll on when they foxtrot Oscar, and someone capable can really give it their best. 

[lenred]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

But ultimately, Manning’s style of play requires the right players to be able to play it. 
He’s always favoured a keeper who can play from the back - we don’t have that. 
He likes 2 deep CM’s who can control and dominate possession - we don’t have that. 
He likes a creative AM - we don’t have that. 
He likes high wing backs - we kinda half have that. 
He likes 3 CB’s who can build from the back - we don’t really have that. Naismith yes, but the others no. 

Thank you for the information. I’m still to be convinced tbh but I’d have reservations about anyone right now.  

However if it is to be Manning and his style and success is based upon this particular style of play, then to get players in place at championship level is going to take either: 

a) a huge amount of money. Players of the calibre you describe are going to cost.   A lot.  Transfers, wages, loan fees, lost value on players we have who will need to be transferred out to accommodate any movement etc etc.  

or 

b) a huge amount of time to coach the players to his style (less likely as I don’t think we have players who can adapt)  

Both options - time and / or money - we have been explicitly told by the owner and his ‘top team’ that we do not have in any way shape or form.  

So on that conclusion I don’t see how we can go for him. Which means we probably will…….

Edited November 3, 2023 by lenred

[Top Robin]

32 minutes ago, Ian Pople said:

Liam Manning, makes LJ bullshit sound mute. If he gets the job, bloody he'll. Certainly likes himself doesn't he. Can you imagine experienced pros listening to that bullshit? I'm done if they give it to him

Its probably not 'bullshit' as Oxford are 2nd in the league. 

[Shauntaylor85]

45 minutes ago, xerox6060 said:

Quite like the concept of an appointment like this or Luke Williams but I can see us short term dangerously treading water in the division as players are changed and systems are adapted too... all a bit unnecessary compared to letting NP continue his project...

A big name will get more time, a name like this will be under big pressure with the fans. A few bad results and the board will be under scrutiny again. Massive risk. 

[Red Skin]

12 hours ago, Red Army 75 said:

Sacked in his 2nd season at MK Dons, after they sold 2 key players.  

That would exactly fit with our model wouldn't it?

[Bedred31]

Manning’s playing style can work well in the lower leagues- and catch the attention- but it tends to get found out in the Championship, where teams have players more capable of exploiting the gaps between the three centre backs and behind the wing backs. Cotts experience in 15/16 springs to mind. At the very least, hope this chap has a plan b.

[lenred]

10 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

A big name will get more time, a name like this will be under big pressure with the fans. A few bad results and the board will be under scrutiny again. Massive risk. 

They won’t care.   See how they supported LJ. If it’s their man they will back him to the extreme.   

[Globe Trotter]

24 minutes ago, lenred said:

Thank you for the information. I’m still to be convinced tbh but I’d have reservations about anyone right now.  

However if it is to be Manning and his style and success is based upon this particular style of play, then to get players in place at championship level is going to take either: 

a) a huge amount of money. Players of the calibre you describe are going to cost.   A lot.  Transfers, wages, loan fees, lost value on players we have who will need to be transferred out to accommodate any movement etc etc.  

or 

b) a huge amount of time to coach the players to his style (less likely as I don’t think we have players who can adapt)  

Both options - time and / or money - we have been explicitly told by the owner and his ‘top team’ that we do not have in any way shape or form.  

So on that conclusion I don’t see how we can go for him. Which means we probably will…….

My view too, I don’t know enough about Manning but if Nige was sacked for not getting us near the top of the table then how is it fair to expect someone less experienced (no experience at champ level?) to suddenly come in and achieve more than Nige did with the same players, budget, resources?

I totally disagree with the decision to sack Nige but if you’re going to do it for the reasons given then you better make sure you have the right man to come in and immediately show improvements. An appointment of Manning, Williams etc with that level of pressure is setting them up to fail

[TheJudge07]

Liam Manning is a promising and up and coming coach but I dont think he is the answer. I felt we always needed a manager who could build a squad of getting to the PL and who had done it. Experience is everything. We had that guy and derailed him just when he looked like he was getting somewhere. I still feel this is the DNA of the Manager we need now. I dont believe rookie managers are the answer at all. At least, our record of giving rookies a go is hardly breeding of any confidence.  Manning is untested at this level and although he did a decent job at Milton Keynes in his first season, this was off the back of what Russell Martin had built. His second season he was sacked and they got relegated. Oxford, for sure, he has started well and they are riding high in League One. But, the step up to the Championship is different gravy. He should finish the job IMO. McKenna has done it at Ipswich but he was been heavily backed and he has the squad. However, even he didnt win anything. If we are going to go for a young head coach then the no 1 candidate is Schumacher, but he is not even in the conversation.  We currently do not have the squad or the same quality of players, contrary to what the board are spouting. If the board go down this route it is a hell of a risk. It didnt work out for Johnson, Holden (who were also promising coaches according to them) and they knew the club and had experience in the division. Lansdown publicly backed Holden after I think the Watford debacle and that he "would get their help to be successful". Within 48 hours he was sacked. This is who is running the club.  Sadly, I think this is all going to end up in tears in the usual BCFC way. The best outcome is for the Lansdowns to sell the club and move on. We need an American investment firm or some dosh from the middle east. Dismantle Bristol Sport and focus on what should have been the priority - the football club.   We are further away from the PL than we were a week ago.  

[mozo]

9 hours ago, Harry said:

So, Liam Manning. 
No doubt a name many City fans aren’t very familiar with. 
Not much of a playing career which he finished early to focus on coaching. Spending 4 years with West Ham’s under 23’s during the period when Declan Rice was coming through. 
Manning’s style of play is very much focussed around a style of player such as Rice, so I have no doubt that his coaching and way of playing would have been a good influence on Rice. 
 

His first proper job as a manager was in the Belgian 2nd division with Lommel. He took them from bottom of the league to 3rd in his one season there. However, this really needs to have a caveat - he spent over £11m as well as benefiting from a number of loans from Man City as they are a partner club. 
That level of transfer spend is highly unusual in the Belgian 2nd division, so I think it’s fair to say he had a significant amount of help to get them from bottom to 3rd. 
 

He took the job at MK Dons for the 21/22 season after Russell Martin left for Swansea. 
As regular readers will know, I was very keen on City signing Scott Twine. It’s for that reason that I saw a lot of MK Dons that season as I was keen to watch as much of Twine as I could. 
They had a superb season. 89 points, finishing 3rd and losing in the playoffs (rather craply to Wycombe). 

I watched a number of their games that season and they were a joy to watch. 
I am a tad bias here, because I absolutely loved watching Twine play. 

He’d mostly set up with 3 at the back (usually Darling, O’Hora and Lewington). All 3 were encouraged to play and they enjoyed vast amounts of possession. McEacheran and Matt O’Riley were a beautifully balanced midfield and then Twine creating in behind a striker - usually Eisa. 
They were superb to watch but their passing from the back style did get them into trouble a few times. 
 

As much as they played beautiful football that season, I can’t actually put it all down to Manning. He’d inherited a team which was already set up to play that way from Russell Martin - I think Manning just carried on his good work. 
Martin had signed Fisher (the keeper), Darling, O’Hora, Harvie, McEacheran, O’Riley, Kasuma and Twine. 
Martin had basically assembled this stylish squad. 
 

He lost the keeper in January to Swansea. The keeper was the catalyst to the playing out from the back style. 
He also very crucially lost O’Riley in January to Celtic. 
I thought this would be a massive blow as O’Riley was quite simply excellent. 
Manning signed a couple of loans to replace them - A keeper from Chelsea and a midfielder from West Ham (so clearly using his contacts from his West Ham u23 days). 
Twine was outstanding for the rest of the season and they didn’t miss O’Riley as much as I thought they would. 
 

So, a beautiful football team that season but one which was assembled by the previous manager. 
 

The next season didn’t start well. Won 4, Drew 3, Lost 13!! 
He’s lost the nucleus of the team though. Darling & Twine both leaving - probably the best 2 players in the league the season before. This was always going to be a massive blow. 
He also lost Kasumu in CM, who gave a tonne of legs and energy. 
 

He replaced Darling & Twine with Jack Tucker and Conor Grant. 
2 players who I was actually quite fond of myself, but they were nowhere near the same level of quality as those he lost. 
It was always going to be a bit of a struggle but quite how they went from the most beautiful team in League 1 to losing 13 of 20 is baffling. 
 

Onto Oxford. He arrived at the back end of last season when they sat 19th and in danger of the drop. He managed to keep them up but I think that was more down to other teams being so poor. He only won 2 of 12 games but got enough draws (5) to stave off relegation. 
I watched Oxford a couple of times last season before he arrived and I thought they were awful. I wouldn’t have been surprised had they gone down. So he kept them up, but only just in reality. 
 

This season, the Oxford I see now are chalk and cheese to the Oxford I saw last year who were awful. They are now playing the good stuff that Manning had at MK (perhaps it wasn’t all down to Russ Martin after all??)

He’s made some decent signings that fit his style. 
He’s loaned in a keeper from Brighton to help him play from the back. 
He brought McEacheran with him from MK - a good ball retainer for league 1. 
He brought Rodrigues in from Notts (this is his Twine, the creative roaming attacking midfielder type). 
He brought in Greg Leigh who has been an absolute revelation at wing back. 
He’s got McGuane playing well (I wasn’t overly impressed with him the year before but Manning seems to have lit his fire). 
He’s also made another couple of loans from Prem clubs to supplement his squad.  
 

Add Cameron Brannigan to this and with a tandem of either Brannigan/Maguane or Brannigan/McEacheran and he’s got a dominant ball retaining midfield. 
I think he’s still mostly playing 3 at the back as he did at MK, but he’s played a 4 sometimes too. I think he’s mostly switched to a 3 after the arrival of Leigh at wing back, so he seems open to changing his formation to suit his players. 

I must say, the transformation of the awful Oxford team last season to the stylish and winning team of this season is a remarkable one. And there is no doubt about it that this is 100% down to Manning. 
 

I can understand why many fans will see this as a rather underwhelming choice, but he is exactly the sort of person who fits the remit of how we are wanting to play. 
But ultimately, Manning’s style of play requires the right players to be able to play it. 
He’s always favoured a keeper who can play from the back - we don’t have that. 
He likes 2 deep CM’s who can control and dominate possession - we don’t have that. 
He likes a creative AM - we don’t have that. 
He likes high wing backs - we kinda half have that. 
He likes 3 CB’s who can build from the back - we don’t really have that. Naismith yes, but the others no. 
 

So he may be the right man for the way we WANT to play, but I actually don’t believe we have the players who can fit that style. 

Thanks Harry. Do you see our players fitting his style? Are any obvious gaps besides the keeper? A clever playmaker I suppose?

[Spike]

9 hours ago, Harry said:

So, Liam Manning. 
No doubt a name many City fans aren’t very familiar with. 
Not much of a playing career which he finished early to focus on coaching. Spending 4 years with West Ham’s under 23’s during the period when Declan Rice was coming through. 
Manning’s style of play is very much focussed around a style of player such as Rice, so I have no doubt that his coaching and way of playing would have been a good influence on Rice. 
 

His first proper job as a manager was in the Belgian 2nd division with Lommel. He took them from bottom of the league to 3rd in his one season there. However, this really needs to have a caveat - he spent over £11m as well as benefiting from a number of loans from Man City as they are a partner club. 
That level of transfer spend is highly unusual in the Belgian 2nd division, so I think it’s fair to say he had a significant amount of help to get them from bottom to 3rd. 
 

He took the job at MK Dons for the 21/22 season after Russell Martin left for Swansea. 
As regular readers will know, I was very keen on City signing Scott Twine. It’s for that reason that I saw a lot of MK Dons that season as I was keen to watch as much of Twine as I could. 
They had a superb season. 89 points, finishing 3rd and losing in the playoffs (rather craply to Wycombe). 

I watched a number of their games that season and they were a joy to watch. 
I am a tad bias here, because I absolutely loved watching Twine play. 

He’d mostly set up with 3 at the back (usually Darling, O’Hora and Lewington). All 3 were encouraged to play and they enjoyed vast amounts of possession. McEacheran and Matt O’Riley were a beautifully balanced midfield and then Twine creating in behind a striker - usually Eisa. 
They were superb to watch but their passing from the back style did get them into trouble a few times. 
 

As much as they played beautiful football that season, I can’t actually put it all down to Manning. He’d inherited a team which was already set up to play that way from Russell Martin - I think Manning just carried on his good work. 
Martin had signed Fisher (the keeper), Darling, O’Hora, Harvie, McEacheran, O’Riley, Kasuma and Twine. 
Martin had basically assembled this stylish squad. 
 

He lost the keeper in January to Swansea. The keeper was the catalyst to the playing out from the back style. 
He also very crucially lost O’Riley in January to Celtic. 
I thought this would be a massive blow as O’Riley was quite simply excellent. 
Manning signed a couple of loans to replace them - A keeper from Chelsea and a midfielder from West Ham (so clearly using his contacts from his West Ham u23 days). 
Twine was outstanding for the rest of the season and they didn’t miss O’Riley as much as I thought they would. 
 

So, a beautiful football team that season but one which was assembled by the previous manager. 
 

The next season didn’t start well. Won 4, Drew 3, Lost 13!! 
He’s lost the nucleus of the team though. Darling & Twine both leaving - probably the best 2 players in the league the season before. This was always going to be a massive blow. 
He also lost Kasumu in CM, who gave a tonne of legs and energy. 
 

He replaced Darling & Twine with Jack Tucker and Conor Grant. 
2 players who I was actually quite fond of myself, but they were nowhere near the same level of quality as those he lost. 
It was always going to be a bit of a struggle but quite how they went from the most beautiful team in League 1 to losing 13 of 20 is baffling. 
 

Onto Oxford. He arrived at the back end of last season when they sat 19th and in danger of the drop. He managed to keep them up but I think that was more down to other teams being so poor. He only won 2 of 12 games but got enough draws (5) to stave off relegation. 
I watched Oxford a couple of times last season before he arrived and I thought they were awful. I wouldn’t have been surprised had they gone down. So he kept them up, but only just in reality. 
 

This season, the Oxford I see now are chalk and cheese to the Oxford I saw last year who were awful. They are now playing the good stuff that Manning had at MK (perhaps it wasn’t all down to Russ Martin after all??)

He’s made some decent signings that fit his style. 
He’s loaned in a keeper from Brighton to help him play from the back. 
He brought McEacheran with him from MK - a good ball retainer for league 1. 
He brought Rodrigues in from Notts (this is his Twine, the creative roaming attacking midfielder type). 
He brought in Greg Leigh who has been an absolute revelation at wing back. 
He’s got McGuane playing well (I wasn’t overly impressed with him the year before but Manning seems to have lit his fire). 
He’s also made another couple of loans from Prem clubs to supplement his squad.  
 

Add Cameron Brannigan to this and with a tandem of either Brannigan/Maguane or Brannigan/McEacheran and he’s got a dominant ball retaining midfield. 
I think he’s still mostly playing 3 at the back as he did at MK, but he’s played a 4 sometimes too. I think he’s mostly switched to a 3 after the arrival of Leigh at wing back, so he seems open to changing his formation to suit his players. 

I must say, the transformation of the awful Oxford team last season to the stylish and winning team of this season is a remarkable one. And there is no doubt about it that this is 100% down to Manning. 
 

I can understand why many fans will see this as a rather underwhelming choice, but he is exactly the sort of person who fits the remit of how we are wanting to play. 
But ultimately, Manning’s style of play requires the right players to be able to play it. 
He’s always favoured a keeper who can play from the back - we don’t have that. 
He likes 2 deep CM’s who can control and dominate possession - we don’t have that. 
He likes a creative AM - we don’t have that. 
He likes high wing backs - we kinda half have that. 
He likes 3 CB’s who can build from the back - we don’t really have that. Naismith yes, but the others no. 
 

So he may be the right man for the way we WANT to play, but I actually don’t believe we have the players who can fit that style. 

Fantastic write up this and although it sounds like the bloke can manage a club with the right support he sounds like the complete opposite of what we need right now.

Jon Lansdown said in his interviews that we have a squad that should be up the top and that we're top 10 in budget. If that's the truth (something I doubt) then why would we bring in a manager who has a very specific style that doesn't match ours and who needs to buy in order to create that style.

According to Jon we already have a squad that is capable of being up the top, if that is the case we shouldn't need to spend any money to get into the play offs.

Also according to Jon we are already in the top 10 of budgets and NP wasn't allowed to spend so therefore Manning wouldn't be able to buy either right? 

Something just doesn't add up to me, I feel like Manning coming in would mean a rebuild, but we apparently can't afford that. We've also just heard Tinnion saying how we have a style and the new manager coming in would have to adapt to that style, not create a new one, so again this suggests that Manning would need to play the style already in place, not his own that has generated some of his success. 

Everything about Manning sounds like his appointment would be contradicting to JL and Tinnions statements, which is exactly why I can see it happening, because the board just can't seem to get their stories straight anymore. 

[supercidered]

35 minutes ago, Top Robin said:

Its probably not 'bullshit' as Oxford are 2nd in the league. 

2nd in League One is absolutely poles apart compared with the Championship and a sustained effort of regularly competing in and around the top 6 of the Championship.

 

[stortfordred]

20 minutes ago, TheJudge07 said:

 But, the step up to the Championship is different gravy. He should finish the job IMO. McKenna has done it at Ipswich but he was been heavily backed and he has the squad.    We are further away from the PL than we were a week ago.  

We do have a decent group of players who can play a bit. The first 20 minutes (for example) against Stoke demonstrated classy, attacking football with great movement. However, there is a flaky mentality that even an experienced manager like Pearson couldn't completely counteract. I really doubt whether our younger players are going to be able to respond to a young inexperienced coach who has all the tactical ideas but no clue as how to motivate players to play well when under the cosh.

Edited November 3, 2023 by stortfordred

[Harry]

13 minutes ago, mozo said:

Thanks Harry. Do you see our players fitting his style? Are any obvious gaps besides the keeper? A clever playmaker I suppose?

I think we’ve seen quite clearly over the last few years that our players are suited to a counter-attacking style. Hence why our away record has generally been as good as our home record and we rarely have the majority possession (certainly never more than 55%). 
Manning’s teams haven’t been counter-attacking teams. They’ve been possession dominant teams - especially the MK team. 
 

The clever playmaker is the key one for me. We don’t have one. Manning had Twine at Mk and Rodrigues at Oxford. 
The other crucial element is the ability of the midfield to keep ball. O’Riley & McEacheran at MK, Brannigan/McEacheran/Maguane at Oxford. James can keep the ball ticking over but Knight isn’t in that mould (though has fantastic other attributes). 
And then the build from the back style may suit Naismith but I don’t think suits any of our other CB’s. 
Finally, the wing backs. I think Pring would fit but Tanner wouldn’t. Sykes might - but I don’t actually like him at wing back. 
 

Ultimately we have a counter attacking set up at the moment.  Which is not how Manning plays. 

[Abraham Romanovich]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

When I was first building out my vizzes in their current guise, I remember looking at the passing stats of O’Riley, and they were off the scale, but all the MK Dons players were.  One if the reasons I started to add some team-based metrics to my vizzes so you have that extra context.

.

No idea what this means but probably nothing to do with comics.

 

[FNQ]

Liam Manning is doing a good job at Oxford, things are going well for him at the moment. Why on earth though would he walk away from at least a couple of years job security and the very real prospect of championship football next season to join our lot? Surely he, or any other manager that currently have a job would have to be mad to throw it all away and join the Lansdowns.. People within the football community would be fully aware of what’s going on at Ashton Gate.

[frenchred]

1 hour ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Keep making a list about anyone who dares think the Lansdown family have tried their best for the club with a quarter billion £ investment

But most of that money spent was to cover up their fooking decisions on who to appoint and mistakes!

[Top Robin]

2 minutes ago, FNQ said:

Liam Manning is doing a good job at Oxford, things are going well for him at the moment. Why on earth though would he walk away from at least a couple of years job security and the very real prospect of championship football next season to join our lot? Surely he, or any other manager that currently have a job would have to be mad to throw it all away and join the Lansdowns.. People within the football community would be fully aware of what’s going on at Ashton Gate.

££££'s and career progression 

[Tinmans Love Child]

4 minutes ago, FNQ said:

Liam Manning is doing a good job at Oxford, things are going well for him at the moment. Why on earth though would he walk away from at least a couple of years job security and the very real prospect of championship football next season to join our lot? Surely he, or any other manager that currently have a job would have to be mad to throw it all away and join the Lansdowns.. People within the football community would be fully aware of what’s going on at Ashton Gate.

But also the Lansdowns do give managers time unless there is a very real and immediate danger of relegation, and people within football would also be aware of that.  We don't sack managers left right and Center like other clubs, Nige got 2.5 years and they hated him, LJ got 4 years.  Yes there are exceptions but if the manager is their sort of manager and they do even just ok, then they will get the time I think.

[Open End Numb Legs]

5 minutes ago, FNQ said:

Liam Manning is doing a good job at Oxford, things are going well for him at the moment. Why on earth though would he walk away from at least a couple of years job security and the very real prospect of championship football next season to join our lot? Surely he, or any other manager that currently have a job would have to be mad to throw it all away and join the Lansdowns.. People within the football community would be fully aware of what’s going on at Ashton Gate.

I think that is a very fair question though possibly through the eyes of a person with a 'normal' job (guessing here obv.).

As seen in his CV, moving jobs in football and the risk that entails is all part of the scenery. Personally, I hated moving jobs so I am with you here, but in football they just can't resist moving up a peg. Apologies to Oxford, no disrespect intended, just judging that historically.

[FNQ]

2 minutes ago, Top Robin said:

££££'s and career progression 

Well after the top six expectations from Tins and JL, there’s a high probability that Liam would be looking for work again before the season ends (he will have to shoulder the blame, not them).. so, false economy.