Alex Moss

I saw someone mention on here that Knutsen apparently doesn’t have a Plan B. According to this interesting little article that is not the case at all, he is not afraid to mix it up, and in fact he has a rather unique formation he switches to at times. He just keeps ticking the boxes as far as I’m concerned. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.footballfancast.com/celtic-news/kjetil-knutsen-bodo-glimt-hoops-bhoys-norway-spfl-manager-gossip-rumours-analysis/amp

Cheers for that, TY - yep I don’t think they have the best reputation from past experience but sharing the speculation is a bit of fun. Knutsen at 1/7 now so it looks like there’s a lot of people lumping money on him the last few hours.

Football Insider claiming we’ve opened talks with Lampard just to throw a spanner in the works. He’s not my choice but I respect Webber for exploring the opportunity. Think Knutsen will get it myself, the Pink’un have even run a full page about him now so maybe they’re now ‘aware’.

Welcome back, Bethnal. Who do you fancy for the job then out of interest?

Knutsen now the new favourite for the job 👍

Frank Lampard has been ousted from top spot as the bookies favourite… it’s Knutsen.

Interesting. He might be a month or so from a potential league title, but hasn’t he already won 2 on the spin? If so, chasing a third might not hold enough lure so I’m not convinced this is good enough reason for him to turn down a job in the Premier League.

It’d never happen of course despite him having a good relationship with Delia and Michael, and a known respect for our club, but I’d love to see Arsene Wenger here for the season if he fancied the challenge.

I’m happy to agree to disagree about Farke’s circumstances here, and whereas I think you make some fair points, my rule is never debate with those that put words into other posters mouths. I don’t have time for that I’m afraid. There’s too much of that in there, but I will address your final point (which I also didn’t say or even remotely suggest) - no I do not want us to be Burnley! Ever!

Roy Hodgson has retired and as he says here, it wasn’t an overnight decision after 45 years in management so I’m very confident we can rule that one out. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11706/12309876/roy-hodgson-crystal-palace-manager-to-leave-the-premier-league-club-at-the-end-of-the-season

Very good point regarding the potential new coach wanting to do due diligence themselves, BF 👍

In one, Bob 🎯

Firstly, I haven’t ever dismissed Webber’s contribution, so we’ll clear that one up right now. I would only counter what you’ve said with my original points again, and the fact is we will never know either way for sure. Most certainly don’t agree with your second paragraph for sure. We definitely had back luck on the Covid front, both timing and quantity of players affected. So it’s all very well playing the cards you are dealt, but that’s kind of the point, he was dealt an impossible hand to get out of. The Covid situation affected everyone the first season and I won’t be using that for an excuse around then, however the facts remain before the season was curtailed we had started coming into some form again and weren’t playing badly at all. That curtailments not unlucky or anything, it’s just a shame that it knocked our rhythm out again whilst we also saw some defensive injuries creep back in then. I do agree on your last part, those players need regular game time and certainly should not be written off. I certainly haven’t at any point and believe there’s some real talent to be unlocked there. Farke was chopping and changing, searching for answers and I can understand that given how things were going, but bit part games aren’t ideal for anyone unfortunately, especially bedding in new players. Personally I am sad to see Farke go. There are some interesting names on the shortlist, but I won’t be happy if we go for Frank Lampard. His defensive record whilst at Chelsea alone was woeful, I’d hate to think how that would play out here but I’d put money on it he’d relegate us.

Wouldn’t be disappointed by Favre at all 👍

Brilliant 😂😂😂

Cheers for that TJ. I think the aspect I liked the most from that tweet was that the final 2 contenders are being put through a week or so long process before the final decision is made. It is absolutely crucial we do our due diligence and get this appointment right. God knows what they’re being put through over the course of a week, but if this info is true, then I’m all for it. Stuart Webber bring meticulous to his attention to detail as always 👍

I think even the start to this season wasn’t ideal to be fair, Jimbo - and I’m not talking the fixture list which could be seen as an excuse, and shouldn’t be used as such in my opinion. Where I do give him leeway is the curtailed preseason and Covid outbreak that hammered our squad, having had it myself I can completely sympathise why many of those affected were not at the competitive levels they should have been, especially lacking match fitness on top of that. I’d just be very interested to see what Farke could do with a relatively fit squad and a fully integrated preseason that’s all, but of course we’ll never know for sure either way now.

I can just see it now, Ken - we’ve had Farkeball and now there’s every chance we’re going to be playing (K)Nutball 😝

Yep, in all honesty Jimbo I don’t know enough about it to understand how the bookies system works fully, but it’s interesting that Knutsen is getting closer to Lampard quite quickly now. That said, I wouldn’t even mind betting it’ll be someone who isn’t even on the bookies list of candidates. Would be interesting to go back on here to around the time of Farke’s appointment and see how similar threads were for context - was Farke one of the favourites with the bookies then, did we know about it? Or did he come straight out of left field? I honestly can’t remember now!

That’s just it. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t without his faults as we all know, he’s human. But to me when you factor in how ridiculous that all was with literally zero spend and then the *insane* amount of injuries etc, it feels impossible to truly know without any doubt whatsoever what his true capabilities were at that level had we have had a ‘normal’ season. Never seen anything like that season before in all the years of supporting my club, he was on hiding to nothing.

Nearly right, he was a woefully hampered Premier League coach in his only full season at that level. Klopp or Guardiola wouldn’t have done any better.

It wasn’t for Burnley last season though, was it? Didn’t win a game for their first 10, Dyche under massive pressure, but then they won their first game, got the monkey off their back and the rest was history. Regardless, we’ll never know now either way, and can only hope we get someone who can hit the ground running 🙏

No worries buddy, and what happened was there for all to see. The worst phrase in the world is ‘you make your own luck’. That is only true to a certain extent. There is too much that happens in life that is beyond our control. I still maintain Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola wouldn’t have got us through that season under the same circumstances.

People have short memories, or perhaps shall we say, selective memories. Alex Neil did not have *major* injury problems nor a pandemic to contend with in his maiden season of Premier League football. And although he didn’t exactly have a massive transfer kitty, he did have more at his disposal than Farke’s paltry 3 and a half quid. The Pukki toe injury in December was the final nail in the coffin - and again not Daniel’s fault. For me, and for those reasons, the jury will always be out as to what Farke’s true capabilities were as a Premier League manager. Farke was on a absolute hiding to nothing that season from all angles, and why so many fans bury their head in the sand and not acknowledge those very genuine reasons, I’ll never ever know.