Dean Smith sack talk grows

[chicken 2,605]

5 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Except Delia who no doubt is happy for him to stay until the very end of the season as she wants to prove we are not a sacking club etc etc..

Even though Smith was very much a Webber appointment.

[chicken 2,605]

4 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

Even though there have been 19 on her 26 year watch.

That includes caretakers tough doesn't it? It's 13 if you ignore those that have stepped in as caretakers.

And when you look at the list, the more successful the manager is, the longer they are at the club.

Worthington, for example, was with us from December 2000 to October 2006. He pretty turned us around, even before the arrival of Huckerby, he'd built a solid foundation. 

Lambert had three years and it's clear the club wanted him to stay but he went on to Villa.

Farke had 25th May 2017 to 6th November 2021.

They are the longest serving managers in that time. They account for 13 out of those 26 years. 

[Cowboy 197]

I misread the title as "Dean Smith's sac talks", and assumed it was referring to Shakespeare. He carries the balls, I believe?

What that leaves Deano as, I don't know.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

On 16/11/2022 at 19:46, GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary said:

Wait for the next few games after the world cup

Swansea blackburn luton watford

That should do for him. Once the crowd turns, its the end

All that will achieve is wasting more time and games. If they end up sacking him in a few weeks it will just show there is not a single person at that club who knows what they are doing. 

[Barham Blitz 652]

The difference IMO is that when we won the play-off against Boro we had a team on the up under Neil that was full of big characters.

For me we have to go up automatically if it is going to happen.  Given our record against the Championship top six this season (and indeed in recent seasons) I wouldn't be lumping the mortgage on us going up via the play-offs. 

It's twist for me managerially speaking. The squad by general consensus (not just the Pinkun I might add) is operating at less than the sum of its parts.  It's a gamble that needs to be made before automatic is out of reach.

[PurpleCanary 5,555]

7 hours ago, Barham Blitz said:

The difference IMO is that when we won the play-off against Boro we had a team on the up under Neil that was full of big characters.

For me we have to go up automatically if it is going to happen.  Given our record against the Championship top six this season (and indeed in recent seasons) I wouldn't be lumping the mortgage on us going up via the play-offs. 

It's twist for me managerially speaking. The squad by general consensus (not just the Pinkun I might add) is operating at less than the sum of its parts.  It's a gamble that needs to be made before automatic is out of reach.

Yes. There is an oddity that results started falling off as some of the injured players became available. But I would only be in favour of change if the new head coach was someone different to Smith, with the ability he seems to lack to energise and get the most tactically out of what overall is a talented squad.

[Barham Blitz 652]

2 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

Yes. There is an oddity that results started falling off as some of the injured players became available. But I would only be in favour of change if the new head coach was someone different to Smith, with the ability he seems to lack to energise and get the most tactically out of what overall is a talented squad.

Absolutely.  There is no point in change for change's sake unless it improves things.  And to be frank, I'm not sure who is likely to be the necessary combination of available, interested and suitable so I don't have the magic name to recommend.  Of the more likely names mentioned on here, Robins is doing a decent job but with two (in my view) excellent players doing a lot of the heavy lifting, Russ is doing ok without pulling up any trees and Nathan Jones who I had suggested has already moved on.  Steven Schumacher at Plymouth was another one who fitted the slightly leftfield type of recruitment that we tend to do well with but he has just signed a new contract at Plymouth.

Without commenting on his tactical ability (and recruitment decisions !) someone with the obvious drive of Alex Neil when he first came to the club would shake the things up that really needed shaking.  Whether it is just perception or the reality, it's as if the entire club just shrug their shoulders after another loss and move on to the next one.  At least with the early days of Neil - and in very different ways Farke and Lambert - you got the impression that matches were analysed, rockets given if necessary and that there was some sense of driven correction and improvement.  These days it seems to be a curiously flat observation of "we need to do certain things better" followed by the same thing the following week.  It just all seems so beige, lifeless and directionless.

But unless things improve soon, we are getting to the stage where the number who we worry couldn't do a better job are going to be outweighed by those who probably could.

[canarydan23 4,060]

On 16/11/2022 at 15:00, Sooty57 said:

Can we afford not too? 

Who'd be a Director of Football? 🤣🤣

If I got to **** off to pursue my hobbies for weeks regularly throughout the year and only had to put in 90% effort, I'd do it!

[rock bus 850]

When do they actually fly to the States? Sadly, if he hasn't gone by then I expect we are stuck with him until the end of the season whatever happens 😞

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,738]

2 hours ago, rock bus said:

When do they actually fly to the States? Sadly, if he hasn't gone by then I expect we are stuck with him until the end of the season whatever happens 😞

Even if we slip down to 10th or 11th come Jan...which could easily be the case?.  No chance

[CDMullins 436]

He'd have gone by now.

He'll be her to the end of season, leaving us after finishing 13th

[Capt. Pants 4,203]

5 hours ago, rock bus said:

When do they actually fly to the States? Sadly, if he hasn't gone by then I expect we are stuck with him until the end of the season whatever happens 😞

Yes I think that is the case. There's no huge desire to get promoted this season. Attanasio wants time to play around with some data and we'll see where we sit next season with a potentially new look squad. A step back first.