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

[valefan16]

Cowley bombardment is a bit unfair. He didn't really play that way here, although I know he has in the past. With us, he tried a high press, high energy approach. It still wasn't all that easy on the eye though granted. Just didn't want you picturing us as a team of giants. Absolutely not the case.

No just in general his style is far removed from say Garner Ball which Swindon have been working with in recent seasons.

 

[Chris FGR]

Plus Swindon tend to go with a DoF/head coach type set up don’t they? Are the Cowley’s the types to be happy for recruitment to be done for them or are they more hands on?

 

[K-Win]

Plus Swindon tend to go with a DoF/head coach type set up don’t they? Are the Cowley’s the types to be happy for recruitment to be done for them or are they more hands on?

Definitely more hands-on. We didn't have a DoF when the Cowleys came in and so they handled all the transfers. In fact, I think they left Huddersfield because they were going to lose control of transfer dealings.

We're currently active in the transfer market so it looks like we are finally shifting to a Sporting Director / head coach model which we haven't really had before. If so, that would definitely rule out some of the contenders. Anthony Barry would make sense. Young, ambitious, highly- regarded coach who would be happy to work with a DoF/SD type.

 

[Laker]

Now in 2nd half of season pressure intensifies on team managers to win matches in attractive manner.
Already there has been seven changes with Burton, Derby, Exeter, Charlton, MK Dons, Peterboro & Portsmouth making changes since August.
Currently the managers are: -
View attachment 18132
Who is next can possibly be gauged by league position. Usually the higher up table the more secure a manager might feel. The promotion / relegation betting odds might therefore indicate a managers future career (or not)
View attachment 18133

Could be us. We won’t sack Bonner but I can see him walking if he felt he couldn’t turn it around. Desperate for him to get us going again though, would be so sad for it to end like this.

Mental he’s now the fourth longest serving manager in the division according to that table.

 

[Luke Imp]

Cowley bombardment is a bit unfair. He didn't really play that way here, although I know he has in the past. With us, he tried a high press, high energy approach. It still wasn't all that easy on the eye though granted. Just didn't want you picturing us as a team of giants. Absolutely not the case.

They weren't as bad as made out here either after getting out of non-league but it didn't fit in with what people thought of them.

You only need to look at how sides usually get out of the NL to know the most common way to do it, and it's not pretty football. Lincoln under Cowley, Mansfield under Cox and you look at Wrexham now under Parkinson who are probably more Cox and Cowley. It's not that often a team gets out by playing free flowing football (Notts County are giving it a good though this year, York did under Mills as well).

He was more direct at part time Braintree when they finished in the PO's but that was the spell at brought some more attention to them both and it's difficult to then shake off the tag of that extreme of direct football.

Plus Swindon tend to go with a DoF/head coach type set up don’t they? Are the Cowley’s the types to be happy for recruitment to be done for them or are they more hands on?

Definitely more hands-on. We didn't have a DoF when the Cowleys came in and so they handled all the transfers. In fact, I think they left Huddersfield because they were going to lose control of transfer dealings.

We're currently active in the transfer market so it looks like we are finally shifting to a Sporting Director / head coach model which we haven't really had before. If so, that would definitely rule out some of the contenders. Anthony Barry would make sense. Young, ambitious, highly- regarded coach who would be happy to work with a DoF/SD type.

They did the transfers here for the first 2(?) years but then wanted to appoint a DoF here to help them, which they got (DoF's obviously do more than just transfers, though). Can't speak for other Clubs but here it's not necessarily a case of a DoF signing players and that's it. Manager says I want this kinda player for 'x' position, he gets given a list of those within the budget and/or Club model and the manager picks or doesn't. Not quite as black and white as that I'm sure but it's not a case of someone else signing players (although given some of our signings in the last two or three years, you do wonder if they're all singing off the same hymn sheet!).

 

[Indian Dan]

Maybe the air raid siren was a bit of a clue to an immediate bombardment! You lot revelled in it!

 

[K-Win]

The book has been all over the place on our next boss. Seems to be a different favourite every 6 hours or so. Current situation is:

9/4 Chris Wilder
11/4 Robbie Keane
6/1 Lee Bowyer
10/1 Liam Manning
12/1 Grant McCann
14/1 Leam Richardson
16/1 Luke Williams

Basically, nobody knows anything.

 

[coronakopite]

They weren't as bad as made out here either after getting out of non-league but it didn't fit in with what people thought of them.

You only need to look at how sides usually get out of the NL to know the most common way to do it, and it's not pretty football. Lincoln under Cowley, Mansfield under Cox and you look at Wrexham now under Parkinson who are probably more Cox and Cowley. It's not that often a team gets out by playing free flowing football (Notts County are giving it a good though this year, York did under Mills as well)..................

 

[Chris FGR]

Ian Evatt > Pep Guardiola

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Could be us. We won’t sack Bonner but I can see him walking if he felt he couldn’t turn it around. Desperate for him to get us going again though, would be so sad for it to end like this.

Mental he’s now the fourth longest serving manager in the division according to that table.

Ive seen you twice now and you looked decent enough. Ive certainly seen quite a few worse in this league and Smith always looks sharp to help turn it around. Maybe just a bit more quality in CB and CM positions

 

[Laker]

Ive seen you twice now and you looked decent enough. Ive certainly seen quite a few worse in this league and Smith always looks sharp to help turn it around. Maybe just a bit more quality in CB and CM positions

Yeah we’re missing two centre midfielders, two centre backs and two left backs through injury (and even the one who joined on loan got stretchered off on Saturday). You can tell we’re short in those areas and have been for a while.

 

[K-Win]

Joint 5/1 favourites are now Chris Wilder, Luke Williams (Notts County) and Ian Foster (England U-19s).

Looks to me like quite a few decent candidates are taking one look at our playing budget and saying "seriously?".

 

[Chris FGR]

Wilder would be a great appointment tbf.

 

[K-Win]

Wilder would be a great appointment tbf.

Agreed, but I think it's looking less likely. He's been high in the odds all week as an outstanding candidate and yet for whatever reason hasn't been given the job.

I reckon we're looking at a lower profile appointment - Liam Manning, Ian Foster or Luke Williams. Someone who's happy to work within the structure and top 10 budget.

 

[Indian Dan]

Steer clear of Luke Warm

 

[thewwfc]

Steer clear of Luke Warm

Nonsense, FGR fans will tell you that appointing Notts County’s sloppy seconds paves the path to glory.

 

[K-Win]

Steer clear of Luke Warm

I'm aware of his past works. Sadly, I'm not involved with the recruitment process.

 

[91SPP]

I'd imagine that Chris Wilder would want very decent wages and Ipswich-like backing to take a job in League One again. I could be wrong, but If I am then I don't anticipate Portsmouth being bold enough to make that kind of commitment to him. You would have to anticipate wages of around £15-20k + a week alone.

Middlesbrough's wage bill was in excess of £28m last financial year when he was manager, so you would anticipate that he would've been extremely well paid for his time there. Portsmouth, in comparison, have a wage bill roughly £20m less than Middlesbrough - for comparison.

 

[Bar Carousel]

I think Wilder talk is well wide of the mark, but as K-Win alludes to, very little is leaking out so in truth we are very much in the dark.

Earlier this season we appointed a sporting director (Richard Hughes) from FGR. Structurally we now appear to operate with a head coach who will need to buy in to the set up. Essentially to coach the players they are given and incorporate young players with potential as identified and signed by the sporting director. The manager will have a say, but there is a clear 'type' of player to fit the club philosophy. No way would Wilder agree to this.

Richard Hughes' record at FGR is to appoint promising coaches with little managerial experience. A risky strategy here given the huge weight of expectation as we sleepwalk towards our seventh season at this level. I just don't see the fans tolerating yet more transitional seasons while this plays out.

I don't envy the new manager if they are an 'underwhelming' appointment. They would need to hit the ground running to win over a pretty fed up fan base rapidly losing patience. I'm sure that people within football aren't stupid and know what they are potentially up against, which is likely to have an impact on who we can convince to recruit. It could be a career killer for some with a reputation to maintain.

Of all the names i've seen, I would expect Liam Manning fits the brief and would be keen to get another job asap.

Good luck to whoever gets it. You'll need it, unless our owners suddenly decide to offer a very competitive budget designed to achieve top six rather than hoping to get lucky.

 

[K-Win]

Still no head coach news. Definitely get the feeling that the "high fan expectations / middling budget" situation has put candidates off. Liam Manning is current favourite in the musical chairs market. Wouldn't be surprised, but I'd worry about his temperament in the hot seat.

It's depressing seeing other teams at the top really going for it in the transfer market while we're in limbo. Can't see anything other than a mid table finish and another wasted season at the moment.

 

[K-Win]

Manning has now hardened in the market to 6/4, which is the shortest anyone has been for a while.

It was interesting that a local journo close to the club, after being silent for a while suddenly tweeted yesterday about Manning being still firmly in the running. Wouldn't surprise me if the club asked him to do that so they could gauge public reaction. Must admit, the reaction wasn't great but I'm pretty sure they are running out of viable options. Wouldn't surprise me if he's announced in the next 24 hours.

 

[valefan16]

Manning has now hardened in the market to 6/4, which is the shortest anyone has been for a while.

It was interesting that a local journo close to the club, after being silent for a while suddenly tweeted yesterday about Manning being still firmly in the running. Wouldn't surprise me if the club asked him to do that so they could gauge public reaction. Must admit, the reaction wasn't great but I'm pretty sure they are running out of viable options. Wouldn't surprise me if he's announced in the next 24 hours.

Looking fairly heavy favourite now, not only by him shortening but everyone else drifting.

 

[Chris FGR]

Is it really so much better to have a DoF/sporting director and a head coach rather than a proper experienced manager like a Wilder, who can run things the way he wants knows how to get results?

Clubs always act like they’re being all modern and clever with this set up, but tbh it’s still very hit and miss in both the recruitment of head coaches and signing of players. We’ve signed just as many duds with a director of football as we did in the past without one.

 

[valefan16]

Is it really so much better to have a DoF/sporting director and a head coach rather than a proper experienced manager like a Wilder, who can run things the way he wants knows how to get results?

Clubs always act like they’re being all modern and clever with this set up, but tbh it’s still very hit and miss in both the recruitment of head coaches and signing of players. We’ve signed just as many duds with a director of football as we did in the past without one.

Guess it depends on the DoF I suppose, we were rattling around the bottom of League Two when Flitcroft came in, followed by DC and Crosby, the idea behind it with the structure for us for instance is then if any manager departs the system still plods on with less disruption (probably massively helped us when Darrell had to take his compassionate leave for 3 months).

We set it up so the DoF does the football business side of it, contracts etc and works with a recruitment team to sign players (DC does get some say I believe).

Prior to that you had John Askey doing it all signing rejects from Macclesfield and wondering why we were struggling.

Oddly if you include Crosby for his stint managing for a large part of last season we have 4 EFL managers in our staff (DC, Flitcroft, Crosby and Dunn)

 

[Chris FGR]

I guess it’s all about the contacts and obviously the competence of whoever you’ve got doing the job/jobs? Just seems to me that if you can recruit a proven manager, with good contacts and a good eye for a player why not just let him do the job rather then paying two or more people to do the same thing?

 

[valefan16]

I guess it’s all about the contacts and obviously the competence of whoever you’ve got doing the job/jobs? Just seems to me that if you can recruit a proven manager, with good contacts and a good eye for a player why not just let him do the job rather then paying two or more people to do the same thing?

I cant talk for other clubs but we did it mainly because after the Askey debacle in the Covid season Carol realised she was a business woman and not experienced in football ownership so hired Flickers instead of giving him the managers job to essentially run the football side as a whole to give a structure so it incorporates a lot more than just signings for example.

 

[K-Win]

Is it really so much better to have a DoF/sporting director and a head coach rather than a proper experienced manager like a Wilder, who can run things the way he wants knows how to get results?

Clubs always act like they’re being all modern and clever with this set up, but tbh it’s still very hit and miss in both the recruitment of head coaches and signing of players. We’ve signed just as many duds with a director of football as we did in the past without one.

It's the direction most clubs are going now and it absolutely makes sense in my opinion.

Pretty much all European clubs have been running things on that model for decades, and in pretty sure all the current Premier League clubs and most of the Championship clubs are run this way. Two of the best examples here are Brighton and Brentford who have systems in place that mean they can switch to a new coach without much upheaval.

The old Fergie-style manager is a dying breed.

 

[Bar Carousel]

Manning has now hardened in the market to 6/4, which is the shortest anyone has been for a while.

It was interesting that a local journo close to the club, after being silent for a while suddenly tweeted yesterday about Manning being still firmly in the running. Wouldn't surprise me if the club asked him to do that so they could gauge public reaction. Must admit, the reaction wasn't great but I'm pretty sure they are running out of viable options. Wouldn't surprise me if he's announced in the next 24 hours.

I'm warming to the idea of Manning but he will need to have an instant positive impact or else he'll be getting hounded out by our fans before this season is out, Ritchie Barker style.

If we'd appointed him close season I think there would have been room for patience, but we are 9 points off the drop and won 1 in 14. The R word could soon come in to play if we don't pick up soon.

 

[valefan16]

Vale fans are getting increasingly nervous about this Portsmouth job. DC doesn’t appear to have been around the club in recent days, wasn’t at the FA Youth Cup tie against Liverpool last night (all the other coaches were and made a point of going in the dressing room at FT), Crosby has done todays press conference (talking about going for promotion which DC doesn’t do!) and in Brad Walkers farewell he doesn’t comment like he did on Hall last weekend.

Would be a humongous blow.

 

[Fuzzyvalefan]

Keep your bloody hands off our Darrell!!!!!!!!!!