What an earth is knapper waiting for ?…

[Worthy Nigelton 1,049]

23 minutes ago, Ulfotto said:

I think after Webber constant David Brett impressions I doubt we will be hearing much from him. 

I think he has to. Its the only way to take the heat out of the situation (subject he doesn't do a Webber and make it worse).

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

1 minute ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

He'll have to speak before. The club won't be able to dictate this in the same Webber had to go and not do a handover. The fans aren't going to be okay with another four weeks of nothing. They have no choice - he has to speak... 

Depends on results, I guess. A poor showing and result live on Sky next Friday night, and they might have to. Lose the replay in Bristol too, and it's going to be extremely hostile at the WBA game...

[canarycop 206]

24 minutes ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

He's on a one-year rolling contract, so always has one year left on it. It would cost one year's salary to sack him tonight, and one year's salary to sack him in May. 

This would actually make a caretaker manager pointless, unless it's someone promoted from within. Why pay someone else to coast towards the end of the season when it will cost the same to sack Wagner whenever we do it?

I thought that a 1 year rolling contract could be terminated by either party at the end of the first year. If it isn't it rolls on to another year in which case I agree a year's wages would have to be paid. His 12 months end today I believe. 

[Ulfotto 635]

3 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

I think he has to. Its the only way to take the heat out of the situation (subject he doesn't do a Webber and make it worse).

Well if he talks he either backs Wagner which no sane person can do or he sacks him or he sets some artificial target which is essentially kicking the sacking can down the road.

[Worthy Nigelton 1,049]

1 minute ago, Feedthewolf said:

Depends on results, I guess. A poor showing and result live on Sky next Friday night, and they might have to. Lose the replay in Bristol too, and it's going to be extremely hostile at the WBA game...

I think it's already gone too far. Knapper needs to say something... and it needs to be this week. Even if its just about January plans and saying "we know things need to improve" etc. Silence is not an option. It's not fair on Wagner to keep sending him out. Knapper looks like a wimp if he doesn't come out asap.

[Worthy Nigelton 1,049]

Just now, Ulfotto said:

Well if he talks he either backs Wagner which no sane person can do or he sacks him or he sets some artificial target which is essentially kicking the sacking can down the road.

He doesn't have to back or sack him. He can be very generic and give some indications of January plans... but to say nothing is not an option.

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

1 minute ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

I think it's already gone too far. Knapper needs to say something... and it needs to be this week. Even if its just about January plans and saying "we know things need to improve" etc. Silence is not an option. It's not fair on Wagner to keep sending him out. Knapper looks like a wimp if he doesn't come out asap.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Although silence absolutely is an option; just not a very palatable one!

 

[Virtual reality 709]

1 hour ago, The Raptor said:

You're out of touch. Football manager is the good one now! Apart from that. Sound idea. Like the last starfighter!

Woah. Let’s just clear one thing up here. No football manager game comes close to championship manager. It’s like comparing David Wagner to Daniel Farke 

Edited January 6 by Virtual reality

[PurpleCanary 5,562]

10 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

He doesn't have to back or sack him. He can be very generic and give some indications of January plans... but to say nothing is not an option.

Saying zilch publicly is a perfectly acceptable option. What matters is what Knapper has said or is going to say privately to the board of directors. Not least because he needs to tell them what his plans are for long past this month, Including how he intends to achieve his stated aim to reduce the average age of the squad, which by definition to going to take comfotably more than one transfer window.

[Capt. Pants 4,237]

1 hour ago, FenwayFrank said:

 

Well we finished 13th last season, 7 pts off the play-offs. So I'm not holding my breath on those KPIs. 

[Michael Starr 519]

Vote of no confidence now with both the board and the head coach. Completely unacceptable position to be in to throw away the chance of a potential top 6. We have quality players here still. Sara, Rowe, Sainz, Sarg, Hanley, Gunn, McLean are all top performers at this level. It's actually unforgiveable what's going on.

Edited January 6 by Michael Starr

[The Real Buh 3,437]

3 minutes ago, Michael Starr said:

Vote of no confidence now with both the board and the head coach. Completely unacceptable position to be in to throw away the chance of a potential top 6. We have quality players here still. Sara, Rowe, Sainz, Sarg, Hanley, Gunn, McLean are all top performers at this level. It's actually unforgiveable what's going on.

You’ve hit the word spot on there

Its unforgivable 

[NFN FC 1,123]

1 minute ago, The Real Buh said:

You’ve hit the word spot on there

Its unforgivable 

Trigger(s) needs to be pulled

[FCC 76]

Knapper is a novice and has inherited a complete mess. 

A board happy with stagnation and missing his predecessor, a squad of ageing, overpaid, unmotivated old pros.  Young players with few role models to learn from, and an expensive academy that isn’t producing quality young players and where the best get poached by other clubs anyway.

Fans who have lost any connection with the team and club, not helped by criticism of them from the board, and apathy amongst many.

In my opinion he can only get in a Coach he can trust, and hope for time to rebuild the playing squad and the change in ownership.  If we keep Wagner I hope we don’t waste more money and sign anyone for him in this window.  

Forget the playoffs, imagine, by some miracle, sneaking into the playoffs - and then going up.  This squad and manager wouldn’t reach double figures in points in the Premier.

 

 

[mannings bandy legs 389]

Knapper's waiting for the phone signal to the Himalayas to improve so Webber can contact him and tell him to"ignore the noise".........

[mannings bandy legs 389]

8 minutes ago, FCC said:

Knapper is a novice and has inherited a complete mess. 

A board happy with stagnation and missing his predecessor, a squad of ageing, overpaid, unmotivated old pros.  Young players with few role models to learn from, and an expensive academy that isn’t producing quality young players and where the best get poached by other clubs anyway.

Fans who have lost any connection with the team and club, not helped by criticism of them from the board, and apathy amongst many.

In my opinion he can only get in a Coach he can trust, and hope for time to rebuild the playing squad and the change in ownership.  If we keep Wagner I hope we don’t waste more money and sign anyone for him in this window.  

Forget the playoffs, imagine, by some miracle, sneaking into the playoffs - and then going up.  This squad and manager wouldn’t reach double figures in points in the Premier.

 

 

Delia hates the EPL. She's a nobody in that league,whereas in the Champ and below chairpeople still fawn over her,and tickle her ego. Thats why Wagner is here. No fear of being promoted. Knapper probably told this when he came,and towing the line nicely.

[Sooty57 403]

14 hours ago, NFN FC said:

At this point he could hold a championship manager competition and give the job to the winner

Or just give the manager's job to the next golden goal ticket winner - they probably won't to any worse than the current incumbent

[Yellow and Green 334]

13 hours ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

I think it's already gone too far. Knapper needs to say something... and it needs to be this week. Even if its just about January plans and saying "we know things need to improve" etc. Silence is not an option. It's not fair on Wagner to keep sending him out. Knapper looks like a wimp if he doesn't come out asap.

I actually disagree and I think it raises the question about how much a Sporting director should speak publicly during a season. He can't just speak to the press whenever we've had a few bad results. When you think about it, there's nothing that he can say that would appease fans right now, apart from 'I agree he's rubbish.. I'll sack him tomorrow'. It's not going to happen.

If I were in that position, I would make it clear that I would speak on dates x, y and z so that there's no uncertainty. Speaking at the end of the season and at the end of the Jan transfer window is fine for me. 

I do agree that he seems a bit of a wimp though. He didn't give much of an interview when he first started and his AGM stuff was quite low key.

[Yellow and Green 334]

And, for what it's worth, I have a feeling Delia's comments during that interview explains the delay in Wagner's sacking, when she said that the press had underplayed the impact that the injuries had on the performances and results. 

I think Knapper is waiting to give Wagner a few games with a fully fit Sargent / Barnes partnership up top. If performances and results don't improve soon then he'll be gone for sure. 

Now that Sargent is near enough fully fit, I'd imagine that he'll have Hull, Bristol Rovers and West Brom to show what he can do.

In all fairness, Wagner was shafted when Barnes and Sargent got injured; it completely ruined his approach, where JS and AB dropped deep. We had a blistering start to the season before they were crocked. DW failed to adapt and the life seems to have been sucked out of the squad / stands.

[Bradwell canary 109]

Waiting for Zoe Webber to give him permission?

 

[Number9 272]

40 minutes ago, Bradwell canary said:

Waiting for Zoe Webber to give him permission?

 

Zoe's waiting for Stuart to say when

[norfolkngood 1,087]

16 hours ago, FenwayFrank said:

 

i would be surprised if that was the case ,

a lower price what would that save us ? 250k 500k ? maybe even save us a million ? 

keeping wagner is damaging the club if you ask me and the players by not performing ,

the money in question after MA has committed so much is not enough to wait to get wagner out cheaper  ,

i

[City Stand Ultra 41]

Feedthewolf

I think that's a bit childish. What do you want him to do, squint his eyes and stroke his chin like an evil genius?

I do think we need to hear from him though, and soon, about what his plans are and why he is persisting with Wagner when the football and results are so bang average.

 

Moved to this thread as seems more relevant to the Knapper discussion - context from Feedthewolf comment was in response to my observations that Knapper had started being abused by fans in the City Stand and I laid into Knapper somewhat ungraciously. My response below

Perhaps it is a little harsh and i don't expect him to react in any other way than to perhaps consider why people are already turning their ire on him.

The answer is simple.  The complete lack of communication from him is concerning to fans who expected to see the new person hit the ground running and change the sense of decline and torpor around the club. In any professionally run organisation I would have expected him to have mapped out a timetable upon starting of what he expected to achieve in the first x days and publish this to all stakeholders (of which fans are a key and crucial group).  

Having conducted this process several times myself (in different exec roles) I would have expected him within the first two weeks to have engaged with representatives from all stakeholders and have asked those stakeholders to come prepared with their views and thoughts on the key challenges and opportunities the club were facing.  Certainly within 30 days I would have expected a strategy to have been made public so that everyone is clear on the direction of travel and some roadshows to gather that all important buy-in with supporting appearances from the board and other senior execs. If you cant discern the issues and corrective action plan within 30 days the organisation is in an even bigger world of pain!

From my perspective I see absolutely no engagement with the fan base apart from patronising comments from Delia and club sources about how Delia deigns to appear with the "little people" before the games as if that substitutes for proper fan engagement and opinion forming.  Again most customer facing organisations routinely gather their customers views as to how the organisation is performing. 

Perhaps he is busy whizzing away on his powerpoint deck and I'm going to be blown away by what I see but I am extremely fearful we have hired a guy who has precisely no experience of the much wider and much more strategically important role he is being asked to fill.  No visible fan/customer engagement does not bode well nor does the radio silence around timetables for vision/strategy to be communicated

The real evil (but not recently) genius Webber may have played his most hurtful card of all - saddling us with a guy he knows will not outshine him and doesnt have the gravitas or confidence to trash the legacy of recent years.  The best way to ensure your legacy?  Hire someone much worse than yourself

[For the future 65]

He’s waiting for both of them to get the sack 

[mannings bandy legs 389]

2 hours ago, Yellow and Green said:

And, for what it's worth, I have a feeling Delia's comments during that interview explains the delay in Wagner's sacking, when she said that the press had underplayed the impact that the injuries had on the performances and results. 

I think Knapper is waiting to give Wagner a few games with a fully fit Sargent / Barnes partnership up top. If performances and results don't improve soon then he'll be gone for sure. 

Now that Sargent is near enough fully fit, I'd imagine that he'll have Hull, Bristol Rovers and West Brom to show what he can do.

In all fairness, Wagner was shafted when Barnes and Sargent got injured; it completely ruined his approach, where JS and AB dropped deep. We had a blistering start to the season before they were crocked. DW failed to adapt and the life seems to have been sucked out of the squad / stands.

When those two were injured Wagner said he was happy with squad he had. His mission was to find a way forward with the squad he had,and was happy with. Failed.

[hogesar 9,676]

16 hours ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

I think he has to. Its the only way to take the heat out of the situation (subject he doesn't do a Webber and make it worse).

I think you're right by the way, but I don't think the club will see it that way when they got a lot of stick for Webber coming out and talking - its only really accepted by fans when things are going well, otherwise they're called board puppets, delias best friend, lying to the fans etc.

 

[Mark .Y. 352]

7 minutes ago, City Stand Ultra said:

Feedthewolf

I think that's a bit childish. What do you want him to do, squint his eyes and stroke his chin like an evil genius?

I do think we need to hear from him though, and soon, about what his plans are and why he is persisting with Wagner when the football and results are so bang average.

 

Moved to this thread as seems more relevant to the Knapper discussion - context from Feedthewolf comment was in response to my observations that Knapper had started being abused by fans in the City Stand and I laid into Knapper somewhat ungraciously. My response below

Perhaps it is a little harsh and i don't expect him to react in any other way than to perhaps consider why people are already turning their ire on him.

The answer is simple.  The complete lack of communication from him is concerning to fans who expected to see the new person hit the ground running and change the sense of decline and torpor around the club. In any professionally run organisation I would have expected him to have mapped out a timetable upon starting of what he expected to achieve in the first x days and publish this to all stakeholders (of which fans are a key and crucial group).  

Having conducted this process several times myself (in different exec roles) I would have expected him within the first two weeks to have engaged with representatives from all stakeholders and have asked those stakeholders to come prepared with their views and thoughts on the key challenges and opportunities the club were facing.  Certainly within 30 days I would have expected a strategy to have been made public so that everyone is clear on the direction of travel and some roadshows to gather that all important buy-in with supporting appearances from the board and other senior execs. If you cant discern the issues and corrective action plan within 30 days the organisation is in an even bigger world of pain!

From my perspective I see absolutely no engagement with the fan base apart from patronising comments from Delia and club sources about how Delia deigns to appear with the "little people" before the games as if that substitutes for proper fan engagement and opinion forming.  Again most customer facing organisations routinely gather their customers views as to how the organisation is performing. 

Perhaps he is busy whizzing away on his powerpoint deck and I'm going to be blown away by what I see but I am extremely fearful we have hired a guy who has precisely no experience of the much wider and much more strategically important role he is being asked to fill.  No visible fan/customer engagement does not bode well nor does the radio silence around timetables for vision/strategy to be communicated

The real evil (but not recently) genius Webber may have played his most hurtful card of all - saddling us with a guy he knows will not outshine him and doesnt have the gravitas or confidence to trash the legacy of recent years.  The best way to ensure your legacy?  Hire someone much worse than yourself

Good post, I have to say that you have to love our club, even our Ultras are execs  🙂

 

Edited January 7 by Mark .Y.

[ridgeman 131]

1 hour ago, Bradwell canary said:

Waiting for Zoe Webber to give him permission?

 

Is that why she sits next to him at games?

[JayNCFC 14]

Not sure what he’s expected to say to be honest. There’s nothing to say. His speaking must be done by action.

Those that do speak, Deliah (20%) and Wagner post match are doing nothing but antagonising the fans. 

[nutty nigel 7,537]

34 minutes ago, JayNCFC said:

Not sure what he’s expected to say to be honest. There’s nothing to say. His speaking must be done by action.

Those that do speak, Deliah (20%) and Wagner post match are doing nothing but antagonising the fans. 

A lot of that is down to the way what is said is condensed to the most antagonistic tweet in order to get clicks.

Saying nothing becomes the only option. Apart from perhaps making very short statements every few weeks.