Who’s going to take the hit?

[Malago]

A few chants of 

sack the board 

sack the board

sack the board 

wouldn’t go amiss.

 

 

[Baldyman]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

There are only 3 people at the club who feel this is a “top end” squad. 
 

Nige didn’t think it. Liam hasn’t said it. 
Most of us were happy with 9th-13th ish this season.

ALL flak should only be going in the direction of the idiotic ones who came out with such bullshit about the quality of this squad and therefore heaped 100 tonnes of pressure onto the new manager. 

I can see the Coppell situation arising again here where he walks to protect himself . 

[Northern Red]

7 minutes ago, Malago said:

A few chants of 

sack the board 

sack the board

sack the board 

wouldn’t go amiss.

 

 

What board?

[Harvey86]

11 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

I can see the Coppell situation arising again here where he walks to protect himself . 

I actually hope he stays and (gets the team winning OR) gets the payout he’s due. This one is all on the board

[Davefevs]

21 minutes ago, BristolFox said:

Leicester fan (originally from Bristol) so had a great interest in what’s happened with Pearson and felt the need to pass on my condolences for what a shitty decision your board has made (not the first one either, huh).

 

Now I think there’s a couple of obvious points to make here as to why this has gone badly so far.

 

In terms of Pearson’s style of management, he tends to build a family type atmosphere, with the project not just being about him, but about his coaches, the players, the fans all being as one - almost making him like a father figure (and I have no doubt that is why a lot of you liked him despite treading water in terms of league position for 3 seasons running).

 

Now I don’t know much about Manning, but he is certainly a lot younger and nowhere near as imposing in terms of character when compared to Pearson, so that is straight away a big and unbalancing change to have in the dressing room (especially as Pearson has always been very shrewd when it comes to appointing his coaches and some of those left too).
 
 

But that aside, Manning was doing alright at Oxford, did ok at MK too and got a great result in his first game for you against the Boro, so I figured ok - maybe he’ll do alright with you.

 

However, alarm bells did start to chime when I heard about Manning’s desire to shift in style of play, because whilst it’s commendable to want to play progressive passing football - if you had the calibre of players to pull that off it’s unlikely Manning would have been getting the job in the first place (you’d have attracted much more experienced and qualified managers to the job).

Add in the fact it is mid-season (where training time is scarce) and you had god knows how many players out injured to begin with anyway, trying to make changes to a style of play that clearly requires a lot of coaching before you’ve even had time to asses your squad, seems silly.
 

To properly pull that off and embed the team structure, the patterns of play, the way you want to press, how you want to defend, etc, etc, etc - you need a pre-season.

 

It’s not something that can be done in 3/4 training sessions inbetween playing 2 to 3 games in a week. This is the worst point in the season to try and pull something like that off. There’s a reason chairman hit the Allardyce button when a season becomes desperate! 
 

So in summary (TL/DL)

• The board has compounded it’s bad decision in sacking a manager that seemed to have the players on board by appointing a manager with such a stark deficit in character.

• Manning has then added to this issue by attempting to change to a footballing philosophy he doesn’t have the coaching time to implement.

 

One final point

 

Pearson had two spells with us.

 

He got unfairly treated when booted out for Sven BUT our owners clearly realised they had made a mistake and he came back - and that was the beginning of the fairy tail, so who knows… but you would probably need to get rid of Tinnion first! 

Welcome.  Come back and post more often.

[Baldyman]

1 minute ago, Harvey86 said:

I actually hope he stays and (gets the team winning OR) gets the payout he’s due. This one is all on the board

I agree . But in that interview he looks like a man who has just spent two seasons trying to keep a team up and is failing ! No manager should look like that after 6 weeks ! 

[W-S-M Seagull]

19 minutes ago, BristolFox said:

Leicester fan (originally from Bristol) so had a great interest in what’s happened with Pearson and felt the need to pass on my condolences for what a shitty decision your board has made (not the first one either, huh).

 

Now I think there’s a couple of obvious points to make here as to why this has gone badly so far.

 

In terms of Pearson’s style of management, he tends to build a family type atmosphere, with the project not just being about him, but about his coaches, the players, the fans all being as one - almost making him like a father figure (and I have no doubt that is why a lot of you liked him despite treading water in terms of league position for 3 seasons running).

 

Now I don’t know much about Manning, but he is certainly a lot younger and nowhere near as imposing in terms of character when compared to Pearson, so that is straight away a big and unbalancing change to have in the dressing room (especially as Pearson has always been very shrewd when it comes to appointing his coaches and some of those left too).
 
 

But that aside, Manning was doing alright at Oxford, did ok at MK too and got a great result in his first game for you against the Boro, so I figured ok - maybe he’ll do alright with you.

 

However, alarm bells did start to chime when I heard about Manning’s desire to shift in style of play, because whilst it’s commendable to want to play progressive passing football - if you had the calibre of players to pull that off it’s unlikely Manning would have been getting the job in the first place (you’d have attracted much more experienced and qualified managers to the job).

Add in the fact it is mid-season (where training time is scarce) and you had god knows how many players out injured to begin with anyway, trying to make changes to a style of play that clearly requires a lot of coaching before you’ve even had time to asses your squad, seems silly.
 

To properly pull that off and embed the team structure, the patterns of play, the way you want to press, how you want to defend, etc, etc, etc - you need a pre-season.

 

It’s not something that can be done in 3/4 training sessions inbetween playing 2 to 3 games in a week. This is the worst point in the season to try and pull something like that off. There’s a reason chairman hit the Allardyce button when a season becomes desperate! 
 

So in summary (TL/DL)

• The board has compounded it’s bad decision in sacking a manager that seemed to have the players on board by appointing a manager with such a stark deficit in character.

• Manning has then added to this issue by attempting to change to a footballing philosophy he doesn’t have the coaching time to implement.

 

One final point

 

Pearson had two spells with us.

 

He got unfairly treated when booted out for Sven BUT our owners clearly realised they had made a mistake and he came back - and that was the beginning of the fairy tail, so who knows… but you would probably need to get rid of Tinnion first! 

I've ran out of reactions for today so just wanted go say thank you for taking the time to post. 

What you've written is exactly the thoughts that myself and many others have. 

My worst fears when we were linked with Manning was that his style of football is a big departure away from what we were playing. There was some hope that maybe he'd come in here and not implement his style and choose to go along the lines of what we were already playing. Its safe to say those hopes didn't last long.

[BristolFox]

Just now, W-S-M Seagull said:

I've ran out of reactions for today so just wanted go say thank you for taking the time to post. 

What you've written is exactly the thoughts that myself and many others have. 

My worst fears when we were linked with Manning was that his style of football is a big departure away from what we were playing. There was some hope that maybe he'd come in here and not implement his style and choose to go along the lines of what we were already playing. Its safe to say those hopes didn't last long.

Thanks

As a side, I was intrigued to see who Manning had alongside him as coaches and it is worrying for you guys.

 

There is no significant grade of playing or coaching experience across them.
 

The guy you got from Arsenal never played it seems, I don’t think Manning played much, so it’s only your GK coach that played in Europe for Barry Town that’s had anything near high level !

 

So you’ve gone from older ex-pro’s that have seen it, done it, won stuff… to guys fresh out of college, in what is probably the most competitive league there is - so in fairness Manning probably has done ok, but he’s been chucked in the deep end, but he’s going to need some help and quickly.

[Bris Red]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Cornick or Weimann probably.

Definitely not the actual people to blame, the Lansdown’s & Tinnion.

100% and this is the problem. The amount of people (away from otib in boozers around Bs3) that continuously say we should be grateful for Steve and the stadium and training is painful.

After almost 2 decades of ownership and the funds he has available (whilst that him and his boy are a fan) is the bare minimum!

[Fuber]

27 minutes ago, BristolFox said:

Leicester fan (originally from Bristol) so had a great interest in what’s happened with Pearson and felt the need to pass on my condolences for what a shitty decision your board has made (not the first one either, huh).

 

Now I think there’s a couple of obvious points to make here as to why this has gone badly so far.

 

In terms of Pearson’s style of management, he tends to build a family type atmosphere, with the project not just being about him, but about his coaches, the players, the fans all being as one - almost making him like a father figure (and I have no doubt that is why a lot of you liked him despite treading water in terms of league position for 3 seasons running).

 

Now I don’t know much about Manning, but he is certainly a lot younger and nowhere near as imposing in terms of character when compared to Pearson, so that is straight away a big and unbalancing change to have in the dressing room (especially as Pearson has always been very shrewd when it comes to appointing his coaches and some of those left too).
 
 

But that aside, Manning was doing alright at Oxford, did ok at MK too and got a great result in his first game for you against the Boro, so I figured ok - maybe he’ll do alright with you.

 

However, alarm bells did start to chime when I heard about Manning’s desire to shift in style of play, because whilst it’s commendable to want to play progressive passing football - if you had the calibre of players to pull that off it’s unlikely Manning would have been getting the job in the first place (you’d have attracted much more experienced and qualified managers to the job).

Add in the fact it is mid-season (where training time is scarce) and you had god knows how many players out injured to begin with anyway, trying to make changes to a style of play that clearly requires a lot of coaching before you’ve even had time to asses your squad, seems silly.
 

To properly pull that off and embed the team structure, the patterns of play, the way you want to press, how you want to defend, etc, etc, etc - you need a pre-season.

 

It’s not something that can be done in 3/4 training sessions inbetween playing 2 to 3 games in a week. This is the worst point in the season to try and pull something like that off. There’s a reason chairman hit the Allardyce button when a season becomes desperate! 
 

So in summary (TL/DL)

• The board has compounded it’s bad decision in sacking a manager that seemed to have the players on board by appointing a manager with such a stark deficit in character.

• Manning has then added to this issue by attempting to change to a footballing philosophy he doesn’t have the coaching time to implement.

 

One final point

 

Pearson had two spells with us.

 

He got unfairly treated when booted out for Sven BUT our owners clearly realised they had made a mistake and he came back - and that was the beginning of the fairy tail, so who knows… but you would probably need to get rid of Tinnion first! 

Agree with all your point Fox.

However with regards to Leicesters decisionmto rappoint Nige meant your owners didn't have too big of an ego trip.

Sadly Lansdown seems to have such a fragile ego where he sacked NP in the first place, and the last time he attracted criticism he spieled the old "its MY club" card.

If he wasn't English there'd be more than one comparison with a certain Vincent Tan.

Sadly can't see him admitting any mistake. Wish he'd just sell. Him expecting what he values Bristol Sport at means thats not happening any time soon either. Delusional. Him, Tinnion, and his Son. None of them at all qualified.

[W-S-M Seagull]

2 minutes ago, BristolFox said:

Thanks

As a side, I was intrigued to see who Manning had alongside him as coaches and it is worrying for you guys.

 

There is no significant grade of playing or coaching experience across them.
 

The guy you got from Arsenal never played it seems, I don’t think Manning played much, so it’s only your GK coach that played in Europe for Barry Town that’s had anything near high level !

 

So you’ve gone from older ex-pro’s that have seen it, done it, won stuff… to guys fresh out of college, in what is probably the most competitive league there is - so in fairness Manning probably has done ok, but he’s been chucked in the deep end, but he’s going to need some help and quickly.

People can dress it up however they want by the fact is we lost Nige, Fleming, Euell and Rennie. 4 proper football people who have extensive experience of the game at not only this level but also higher. 

Numbers wise, we have streamlined things. The managers role was abolished and Manning and Hogg are simply replacements for Fleming and Euell. They are coaches imo who have been given a few extra responsibilities. 

There is a huge hole left now all that experience has left the building. 

I've commented on here a few times that during my career from time to time I've had a boss that has come straight out of uni, wet behind the ears etc and it never works out. And that's the same kind of vibe I get from Manning. 

I do feel Manning could have worked out for us, if it was done during the off season. Bit appointing him mid-season was a bit silly. 

[BristolFox]

4 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Agree with all your point Fox.

However with regards to Leicesters decisionmto rappoint Nige meant your owners didn't have too big of an ego trip.

I know all about Crayon boy, I’ve seen the memes

I was just trying to give you a semblance of hope, because I can feel things are pretty shit right now.

[W-S-M Seagull]

7 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Agree with all your point Fox.

However with regards to Leicesters decisionmto rappoint Nige meant your owners didn't have too big of an ego trip.

Sadly Lansdown seems to have such a fragile ego where he sacked NP in the first place, and the last time he attracted criticism he spieled the old "its MY club" card.

If he wasn't English there'd be more than one comparison with a certain Vincent Tan.

Sadly can't see him admitting any mistake. Wish he'd just sell. Him expecting what he values Bristol Sport at means thats not happening any time soon either. Delusional. Him, Tinnion, and his Son. None of them at all qualified.

I think it's worth pointing out that publicly, Steve Lansdown has had zero involvement in these decisions. 

This all seems very much Jon Lansdowns decision because suddenly he's decided his passion for the club has been reignited. 

Of course behind the scenes Lansdown Snr would have been involved in the decisions but to what extent who knows. 

It's very much Jon's club now.

[Dr Balls]

21 minutes ago, BristolFox said:

Thanks

As a side, I was intrigued to see who Manning had alongside him as coaches and it is worrying for you guys.

 

There is no significant grade of playing or coaching experience across them.
 

The guy you got from Arsenal never played it seems, I don’t think Manning played much, so it’s only your GK coach that played in Europe for Barry Town that’s had anything near high level !

 

So you’ve gone from older ex-pro’s that have seen it, done it, won stuff… to guys fresh out of college, in what is probably the most competitive league there is - so in fairness Manning probably has done ok, but he’s been chucked in the deep end, but he’s going to need some help and quickly.

Chucked in the deep end without any water-wings, when he’s previously only paddled the shallow end that is League One, while we all share a certain sinking feeling…

[Mr Popodopolous]

13 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

People can dress it up however they want by the fact is we lost Nige, Fleming, Euell and Rennie. 4 proper football people who have extensive experience of the game at not only this level but also higher. 

Numbers wise, we have streamlined things. The managers role was abolished and Manning and Hogg are simply replacements for Fleming and Euell. They are coaches imo who have been given a few extra responsibilities. 

There is a huge hole left now all that experience has left the building. 

I've commented on here a few times that during my career from time to time I've had a boss that has come straight out of uni, wet behind the ears etc and it never works out. And that's the same kind of vibe I get from Manning. 

I do feel Manning could have worked out for us, if it was done during the off season. Bit appointing him mid-season was a bit silly. 

Don't forget the structure above. Poorly run clubs higher up or disarray can eventually impact upon the playing side.

The less said about Jon Lansdown and Tinnion the better but a year ago we had an excellent CEO, he left. Alexander in albeit he didn't seem quite such a good fit but better than what we have now.

He goes, in comes Marshall Group CEO, a Comms Officer who doesn't communicate and a financial director and the aforementioned Tinnion who is obviously overpromoted.

Farcical structure above plus inexperienced Head Coach who wants to change the setup too soon.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[PHILINFRANCE]

2 hours ago, Aipearcey said:

So if/when it goes badly again on Saturday, where do you think the fans will target their anger? The players? Simply, they’re not good enough to play the style that they’re being asked to. There’s a reason we didn’t play like this with Pearson and it shows! Manning…….. whilst some of his decisions have been questionable and I think he’s tried to change too much too quick, he was given an opportunity to take a job at a higher club doing ok, I don’t blame him for giving it a shot. The Lansdowns, now for me this is where the blame lies but they’ve also done a massive amount for the club and the grass isn’t always greener but does this give them the right to avoid criticism? Tinion…. Also had a big part to play in the switch and as others have mentioned, failed in the job that he now feels qualified to oversee, but has been a massive part of the youth players come through over recent years. 

I note that you are using the tekniccal spelling of his name, but I agree with your comment and also question why he has effectively been promoted to a position for which he proved unequivocally unsuitable just a few (Well, almost twenty) years ago. 

I think it is a great shame that he now appears to have vacated a position in which he has achieved some impressive successes, and I just hope that the Club don't pay for what I consider to be a series of extremely questionable, short-sighted and, dare I say, impetuous decisions. 

[Bris Red]

53 minutes ago, Malago said:

A few chants of 

sack the board 

sack the board

sack the board 

wouldn’t go amiss.

 

 

Would love this, but it won't happen.. Sleep walking our way back to League 1 it feels. A third tier league and cup double may get that masses on board again though.. rinse and repeat.. hard work this club man..

[Dr Balls]

12 minutes ago, BristolFox said:

I know all about Crayon boy, I’ve seen the memes

I was just trying to give you a semblance of hope, because I can feel things are pretty shit right now.

There is absolutely no way Crayon Boy is going to own this huge mistake that he has made. A sudden last minute withdrawal from his next speaking appearance to the Senior Reds is almost a certainty.

[Dr Balls]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Don't forget the structure above. Poorly run clubs higher up or disarray can eventually impact upon the playing side.

The less said about Jon Lansdown and Tinnion the better but a year ago we had an excellent CEO, he left. Alexander in albeit he didn't seem quite such a good fit but better than what we have now.

He goes, in comes Marshall Group CEO, a Comms Officer who doesn't communicate and a financial director and the aforementioned Tinnion who is obviously overpromoted.

Farcical structure above plus inexperienced Head Coach who wants to change the setup too soon.

So in essence - a nepo boy, a financial wonk, a failed manager, and an inexperienced coach. What could possibly go wrong!

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just checked 2016-17.

There are some strong parallels, apart from the patience for the incumbent.

1 win in 17 under Lee Johnson. Was he sacked? Was he hell. 1 in 6 and counting so far..Manning that is.

We actually had 27 points from 21 games. We have 26 now.

We had a bit of a mini splurge in January too.

Let's hope we have enough to avoid the need for unnecessary panic induced spending.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[REDOXO]

1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

I can see the Coppell situation arising again here where he walks to protect himself . 

I don’t know if that would happen, who does? BUT yes I see it as a scenario. Coppell clearly was a bit of a weirdo but I also think the whole thing with David worst goalkeeper in our history James was a massive factor

 

Mr Manning is public enemy number 3. BT club legend who can go do one and is number 2. Number one speaks for himself (hardly ever except when he’s talking utter shite). As the old joke goes…How do you know when Jon Lansdown is lying. His lips are moving!!

[Harry]

2 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

I agree - but - and I feel like a broken record here - Liam would have read the public proclamations from the morons above, he’d have done due diligence on both the squad and the expectations and would have understood the assignment (and if he didn’t he’s negligent or a moron).

He either believed he had the squad or was negligent in taking the job. There’s no way, even though I agree anger is more at those above, that he gets a free pass here.

I agree that he would have understood the nature of the situation he was stepping into with Nige’s departure and with the nonsense expectations the board created, but I don’t agree that he shouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t agree with them. 
The Bristol City job is a well respected one in football. It’s a Championship team. A relatively good sized club. Most managers would jump at the chance. 
He didn’t have to agree with everything the board said in order to take the job. 
 

I agree that he doesn’t get a free pass but I don’t agree that his expectations absolutely HAD to align with the drivel the hierarchy put out there. I think you’re being a tad unfair there mate. 

[YorkshireSection]

1 hour ago, Fuber said:

Agree with all your point Fox.

However with regards to Leicesters decisionmto rappoint Nige meant your owners didn't have too big of an ego trip.

Sadly Lansdown seems to have such a fragile ego where he sacked NP in the first place, and the last time he attracted criticism he spieled the old "its MY club" card.

If he wasn't English there'd be more than one comparison with a certain Vincent Tan.

Sadly can't see him admitting any mistake. Wish he'd just sell. Him expecting what he values Brilstol Sport at means thats not happening any time soon either. Delusional. Him, Tinnion, and his Son. None of them at all qualified.

Tann has been extremely successful though, if it meant we got promoted to the prem and reached the fa cup final but played in say; yellow for a few months then I'd take that all day long. As far as football club owners go, Mr L is a huge failure.

[Natchfever]

7 hours ago, Aipearcey said:

So if/when it goes badly again on Saturday, where do you think the fans will target their anger? The players? Simply, they’re not good enough to play the style that they’re being asked to. There’s a reason we didn’t play like this with Pearson and it shows! Manning…….. whilst some of his decisions have been questionable and I think he’s tried to change too much too quick, he was given an opportunity to take a job at a higher club doing ok, I don’t blame him for giving it a shot. The Lansdowns, now for me this is where the blame lies but they’ve also done a massive amount for the club and the grass isn’t always greener but does this give them the right to avoid criticism? Tinion…. Also had a big part to play in the switch and as others have mentioned, failed in the job that he now feels qualified to oversee, but has been a massive part of the youth players come through over recent years. 

IF the fans vent their anger it will have to be directed at Manning who should be treated like any other manager.

He selects and sets up the team. If he ignores the inadequacies of the current squad to play the way he wants then he needs to hold off the transformation until he can bring in the type of player he wants.

If he persists then negative results are on his watch so he gets the stick, and after all, Tinnion and Lansdown aren't going to be looking over their shoulder anytime soon.

[Silvio Dante]

5 hours ago, Harry said:

I agree that he would have understood the nature of the situation he was stepping into with Nige’s departure and with the nonsense expectations the board created, but I don’t agree that he shouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t agree with them. 
The Bristol City job is a well respected one in football. It’s a Championship team. A relatively good sized club. Most managers would jump at the chance. 
He didn’t have to agree with everything the board said in order to take the job. 
 

I agree that he doesn’t get a free pass but I don’t agree that his expectations absolutely HAD to align with the drivel the hierarchy put out there. I think you’re being a tad unfair there mate. 

Noted, and not a million miles away from your thinking. I think the likely scenario is that he knew he didn’t have what was stated squad wise/agreed fully with public expectations (and I genuinely believe he would have done due diligence), but either underestimated the depth of the situation he’d gone into (for example I don’t think his DD would have gone as far as the Ashton shitshow and Holden to contextualise where we were), or overestimated the “coachability” of the players/his ability as a coach to change things quickly.

It’s undoubtably, even with the ownership, an attractive job so I can understand the motivation. However, I mentioned Michael Appleton a few weeks ago as a coach who tried to make too many moves to bigger clubs too soon and ruined his reputation at a higher level. Part of the skill is knowing if you’re ready and the fit for your skill set. It’s possible Liam has got this horribly wrong on those fronts - irrespective of his alignment with the boards aims.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Silvio Dante

[exAtyeoMax]

7 hours ago, Northern Red said:

What board?

That limp piece of cardboard behind the bins, it’s been left out in the rain too long

[exAtyeoMax]

5 hours ago, Harry said:

I agree that he would have understood the nature of the situation he was stepping into with Nige’s departure and with the nonsense expectations the board created, but I don’t agree that he shouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t agree with them. 
The Bristol City job is a well respected one in football. It’s a Championship team. A relatively good sized club. Most managers would jump at the chance. 
He didn’t have to agree with everything the board said in order to take the job. 
 

I agree that he doesn’t get a free pass but I don’t agree that his expectations absolutely HAD to align with the drivel the hierarchy put out there. I think you’re being a tad unfair there mate. 

But surely he has to adhere to their remit? He’s the coach not the manager 

[Numero Uno]

5 hours ago, Harry said:

I agree that he would have understood the nature of the situation he was stepping into with Nige’s departure and with the nonsense expectations the board created, but I don’t agree that he shouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t agree with them. 
The Bristol City job is a well respected one in football. It’s a Championship team. A relatively good sized club. Most managers would jump at the chance. 
He didn’t have to agree with everything the board said in order to take the job. 
 

I agree that he doesn’t get a free pass but I don’t agree that his expectations absolutely HAD to align with the drivel the hierarchy put out there. I think you’re being a tad unfair there mate. 

It’s important we win at least one of the next two games otherwise the guy is in trouble of Jon and Sid’s making. People need to remember that pair of absolute ******* clowns will recruit the NEXT Manager if this goes to tits up. A Technical Director who promised one type of football and recruited another.

[One Team]

7 hours ago, BristolFox said:

Leicester fan (originally from Bristol) so had a great interest in what’s happened with Pearson and felt the need to pass on my condolences for what a shitty decision your board has made (not the first one either, huh).

 

Now I think there’s a couple of obvious points to make here as to why this has gone badly so far.

 

In terms of Pearson’s style of management, he tends to build a family type atmosphere, with the project not just being about him, but about his coaches, the players, the fans all being as one - almost making him like a father figure (and I have no doubt that is why a lot of you liked him despite treading water in terms of league position for 3 seasons running).

 

Now I don’t know much about Manning, but he is certainly a lot younger and nowhere near as imposing in terms of character when compared to Pearson, so that is straight away a big and unbalancing change to have in the dressing room (especially as Pearson has always been very shrewd when it comes to appointing his coaches and some of those left too).
 
 

But that aside, Manning was doing alright at Oxford, did ok at MK too and got a great result in his first game for you against the Boro, so I figured ok - maybe he’ll do alright with you.

 

However, alarm bells did start to chime when I heard about Manning’s desire to shift in style of play, because whilst it’s commendable to want to play progressive passing football - if you had the calibre of players to pull that off it’s unlikely Manning would have been getting the job in the first place (you’d have attracted much more experienced and qualified managers to the job).

Add in the fact it is mid-season (where training time is scarce) and you had god knows how many players out injured to begin with anyway, trying to make changes to a style of play that clearly requires a lot of coaching before you’ve even had time to asses your squad, seems silly.
 

To properly pull that off and embed the team structure, the patterns of play, the way you want to press, how you want to defend, etc, etc, etc - you need a pre-season.

 

It’s not something that can be done in 3/4 training sessions inbetween playing 2 to 3 games in a week. This is the worst point in the season to try and pull something like that off. There’s a reason chairman hit the Allardyce button when a season becomes desperate! 
 

So in summary (TL/DL)

• The board has compounded it’s bad decision in sacking a manager that seemed to have the players on board by appointing a manager with such a stark deficit in character.

• Manning has then added to this issue by attempting to change to a footballing philosophy he doesn’t have the coaching time to implement.

 

One final point

 

Pearson had two spells with us.

 

He got unfairly treated when booted out for Sven BUT our owners clearly realised they had made a mistake and he came back - and that was the beginning of the fairy tail, so who knows… but you would probably need to get rid of Tinnion first! 

Superb post thanks for sharing your insight. 

Who knows maybe lightning will strike twice?! Board moves on, Nige comes back to finish the job, we get promoted, consolidate, bring in an experienced European manager who wins the Premier League!

[robinforlife2]

9 hours ago, Graham76 said:

They sacked most of the management team, so its either going to be the tea lady or Scott Murray 

Or hopefully Tinnion.