Is it time for a 'Managerial Merry go round' thread?

[kieran_vale]

I was slightly surprised Vale got rid of him and thought they'd give him another go this season but they've managed to do well without him so far.

Just on this at the time I too thought it bizarre and used some rather stronger language about it on here and other places but in hindsight after the reasoning was explained in so far as possible I think it was the right time. He certainly left us with his head held high as we are far better off today than when he took over but it was only a matter of time before it would have happened even if he’d hung on into this season.

I’m pretty confident in predicting where Tom Conlon will be heading to in January now and quite probably Tom Pett as a free agent too.

 

[valefan16]

To be honest I expected Crosby to carry on with the same style etc as DC especially after his spell in the Promotion season but he’s a very different manager, we’ve changed our style to a football one; he has trusted younger players (helped by the best youth team we’ve had) and recruited different types of player.

It’s a huge task, when DC came to us he just had to hobble to May (in fairness after 7 without win we won 8 drew 1 of the next 9. Then he had a huge clear out and didn’t renew a single contract. He needs 48/49 points in 80% of the season with much of the squad in place. That said if they go down I hope they stick with him and give him chance to rebuild his own side.

Probably sign Tom Pett and as mentioned Conlon maybe one he’d look at but that said he didn’t massively recruit ex players with us.

 

[saddler78]

Sounds like Matt Taylor might be available soon.
No, the other one.

Or maybe both?

Bonkers appointment from the shrews he was clueless here very surprised he got another job.

 

[Si Robin]

Thoughts on Clarke saddler78. He wasn't as successful at Walsall, so I'm intrigued as it's understandable that Rovers and Vale fans love him.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Thoughts on Clarke saddler78. He wasn't as successful at Walsall, so I'm intrigued as it's understandable that Rovers and Vale fans love him.

It wasn't all plain sailing here at the start as DC had a very tough beginning as manager.
He had 8 games (i think) to keep us up and failed to, having stepped up from our no2.
Then the conference season started badly, lost to the likes of Braintree and there were calls for him to be sacked until he turned it around, then stuck with mainly the same players to get back-to-back promotions.
It might get worse before it gets better but he is the type of guy who players would do their best for.

 

[valefan16]

It wasn't all plain sailing here at the start as DC had a very tough beginning as manager.
He had 8 games (i think) to keep us up and failed to, having stepped up from our no2.
Then the conference season started badly, lost to the likes of Braintree and there were calls for him to be sacked until he turned it around, then stuck with mainly the same players to get back-to-back promotions.
It might get worse before it gets better but he is the type of guy who players would do their best for.

He didnt win in his first 7 games for us IIRC so it may take him time to access the squad.

The situation we had was it was a better squad than results at the time which he inherited so there was something to work with at least.

 

[saddler78]

Thoughts on Clarke saddler78. He wasn't as successful at Walsall, so I'm intrigued as it's understandable that Rovers and Vale fans love him.

Given backing he would have done ok here as well he wasnt bad as it was and has done better than anyone since him barring a small spell last season has managed in terms of league position. He was shafted by Pomlett then decided to leave i didnt blame him and still dont Vale fans know why he left us also.

 

[Guernica]

Looks like the Imps are looking for a new boss. Really surprised as granted we've had a poor month or so, we've not had any strikers. I presume it's more about his style of play but we're now not a knee jerk club and I thought he would be afforded more time.

 

[YEO YEO YEO]

Yeah i am on the fence. Kennedy talks a great game and we've signed some great players, but our play is very turgid and not great to watch at all. Club arent ones to make a decision lightly, i look forward to what is next

 

[Don Tonberry]

Surely Cowleys go back there now?

 

[Guernica]

Surely Cowleys go back there now?

I don't think so. They did an incredible job but we're a different club to the one they left. They found is a shell of a club still in mourning after dropping out the football league. They galvanised the City and dragged us back to the FL. We're now a sort of established L1 club who needs to develop and player trade should we wish to get promoted. I'm not sure that's there bag.

The Stone Roses reformed and it wasn't great.
The Jam never reformed and kept their legacy intact.

I think the Cowleys would want to keep to the latter option.

 

[Luke Imp]

EDIT - Sorry, that's a hell of a ramble. In short, he was at the start of the slippery descent towards being sacked!

From the outside, it'll look more of a surprise than to us Lincoln fans - something has felt a little off the last couple of weeks in my opinion. I didn't expect it to come quite so soon, but things were starting to point to it being the beginning of the end. He started calling players out over the last three weeks or so for a start, which is never a great place to be as a manager and when you go on a mini post-match rant live on radio about one of your best players, who admittedly got sent off for a stupid tackle, then you're digging yourself a hole. But that aside, and as I posted in the weekend match thread the other day, when your attacking stats are like this then alarm bells start ringing:

xG for - 22nd
Possession - 22nd
Shots - 21st
Crosses - 24th
1v1 dribbles - 21st
Corners - 24th
PPDA - 24th
Key passes - 20th
Smart passes - 19th
Progressive passes - 20th
Progressive runs - 21st
Touches in the opposition box - 24th

Then throw in 2 wins in 11(?) (against Cheltenham and Wolves U21's), never won a game when conceding first in all his time here (the flip side of that is I think we only lost twice when taking the lead), turgid football, atmosphere at flat as a fart, individual mistakes etc. Nothing actually happened in our games - you could go for a pie, a pint, a piss and a smoke safe in the knowledge that you won't have missed anything in your absence. We're a fine margins side by design, and the first goal being so important in our games is as a result of that. Even though we're risk averse in terms of how we play, the by-product of that is actually quite high risk i.e. one mistake undoes everything. A first goal shouldn't be *as* important in a game as they were in ours.

By his own admission, he was hired on the basis of providing attacking football and showed nothing in his tenure here to suggest he could coach a team to deliver that, and actually delivered the exact opposite. Excellent at defensively organising a side (we were consistenyl one of the best in the league for xG against) but we don't have a clue what to do with the ball when we've got it, which is criminal with the likes of Erhahon, Hamilton, Mandroiu, House, Walker and Bishop in the squad and it was starting to look like the players had lost faith as well. They were starting to bicker a bit on the pitch, body language was all wrong - it was starting to look like your typical 'lost the dressing room' type of scenario.

We overachieved last season with the squad we had, and we currently should be getting more out of the squad we have at the minute, even accounting for injuries in attacking areas. We were in this situation this time last season r.e. performances and scoring problems and we're arguably not as good defensively this season either so progress is at very best, minimal.

Our Chairman isn't a trigger happy one in the slightest so that's the main surprise, albeit he's pretty ruthless at the same time. But as a numbers man (the Chairman and American investor are both Hedge Fund people) the underlying numbers will be sticking out like a sore thumb despite our relatively comfortable position so far this season - it's not sustainable.

This is actually the first time as a Club we've sacked a manager since 2014.

Don't think we'll see Cowley return. It's probably the logical step for him in terms of Club size having been at Portsmouth i.e. the next step down is probably our kinda size Club in L1. Kennedy was appointed out of nowhere and so really was Appleton and also Cowley so who knows!

 

[Luke Imp]

Oh, and it was only this morning that papers in Ireland were suggesting he was in the running for the upcoming ROI managerial vacancy in November!

 

[Super_horns]

Oh, and it was only this morning that papers in Ireland were suggesting he was in the running for the upcoming ROI managerial vacancy in November!

Maybe Millwall too as Rowett has left them.

 

[saddler78]

Bad news for us regarding Draper a new man may want to take a look at him but honestly he should anyway been class for us only just turned 19 as well.

 

[Luke Imp]

As the hours have gone by today, it seems like we're getting a clearer picture of what happened.

This morning, the local media and a couple of reliable bloggers were suggesting there had been fall-outs behind the scenes between manager and staff/players, probably around the time he started calling players out three weeks ago.

The CEO did an interview this evening and said that "...this isn't purely about results. Far from it." and that his Saturday post match interview criticism of Danny Mandroiu was part of the reason he's been given the boot, so that escalated things fairly quickly, but also areas such as style of play and developing players, or lack of, due to having so little of the ball game in, game out.

Like everyone I suppose, we're a buy, develop and sell club, something we've had been good at since around 2016 and we have three or four who we should be able to sell on in the next year or two but Kennedy was effectively working against that (not intentionally, just how he sets his teams up). The irony is that when he took over, he ticked the two boxes he's now been dismissed for not actually doing and following through with. Suppose it's a lesson for him to not say one thing in an interview and then do the opposite.

Stephen Bradley of Shamrock Rovers is the favourite. Their season finishes in three weeks and is out of contract as it stands. We spoke to him after Appleton left so wouldn't be a surprise if he went in for him again. Cowley, unsurprisingly second favourite.

 

[Bar Carousel]

Visiting one your message boards I was surprised to read how little enthusiasm there was to reappoint the Cowley's. I'd just assumed that them being available and you looking for a new manager would've been seen as a match made in heaven.

Interested to learn that some of your fan base seem to have been fed up with them by the time they had left, for a multitude of reasons. Certainly not the impression I had when we appointed them, and even when we as a fanbase were starting to lose faith. Many of the reasons given mirror our experiences with them.

They were the next big thing 10 years ago, but football moves fast. Many of today's clubs are looking at a strategy with the manager only being part of that. The Cowley's approach of wanting control of everything from top to bottom is now outdated. They came in and reconnected a disillusioned fanbase, and added a modernisation to our off field set-up, which has since been expanded upon, but recruitment and results are where they're judged.

Will always love them for their enthusiasm and just being genuinely likeable people, so I hope they get a new job soon and have some success again. Plus they seem about the only people to rate Denver Hume, and we've been unsuccessfully trying to offload him since they left.

 

[Si Robin]

Darrell Clarke is set to bring in Adam Murray as his new assistant.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Darrell Clarke is set to bring in Adam Murray as his new assistant.

I believe that Murray was a big part of our promotion. Everyone spoke very highly of him.

 

[valefan16]

I believe that Murray was a big part of our promotion. Everyone spoke very highly of him.

He left for Besiktas didn't he quite quickly? Whitehead stayed on until the end.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Cant believe Clarke didn't wait for the Bradford job to become available, it was only a matter of time

 

[valefan16]

Cant believe Clarke didn't wait for the Bradford job to become available, it was only a matter of time

yeah that was one I thought would be a perfect fit, big club with potential to turn it around... or even Gillingham maybe when that came up.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

yeah that was one I thought would be a perfect fit, big club with potential to turn it around... or even Gillingham maybe when that came up.

MK Dons as well. Think Darrell jumped the gun bit even after a deserved break. I think Cheltenham will sack him if they go down, and where does he go from there?

 

[クレイグ]

MK Dons as well. Think Darrell jumped the gun bit even after a deserved break. I think Cheltenham will sack him if they go down, and where does he go from there?

I would have loved Clarke here. Think he would have been the perfect fit. None of the other candidates fill me with much confidence.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

I would have loved Clarke here. Think he would have been the perfect fit. None of the other candidates fill me with much confidence.

He knows how to win promotion from that league mate and is an all-round top guy. I would imagine most L2 sides would want him when he is available, but he made himself unavailable at the wrong time.

 

[The Evil Dead]

Clarke went to Cheltenham for locality reasons.

He's never gonna move all the way up to Yorkshire.

 

[Si Robin]

MK Dons as well. Think Darrell jumped the gun bit even after a deserved break. I think Cheltenham will sack him if they go down, and where does he go from there?

He currently has the safest job in football. He will only be sacked if we go down playing worse than we were before he took over, and that simply won't happen.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

He currently has the safest job in football. He will only be sacked if we go down playing worse than we were before he took over, and that simply won't happen.

How can you say that when your last manager had a decent season last year then gets booted in Sept.
I personally think DC will get the chop if you go down, as he would have had a transfer window to turn it around.
Not many managers better for L2 though, although I hope you stay up for DC and geographical reasons (just not at our expense!)

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Clarke went to Cheltenham for locality reasons.

He's never gonna move all the way up to Yorkshire.

Its only another 80 odd miles from Vale to Bradford? The pay cheque would have made up for it id imagine

 

[valefan16]

Its only another 80 odd miles from Vale to Bradford? The pay cheque would have made up for it id imagine

Bradfords an oddity though, would the wage be that much better than either Vale or Rovers pay? They get big crowds but the average fan probably pays half what we don’t get in so the overall income is probably not much better!

Does feel like we probably should of just taken the Portsmouth compo on offer in January in the end though, he’d have got his perfect location and we’d have not ended up with the situation we did in April. Would of been better for everyone in hindsight and sure he’d have done a decent job there.