Bet it's been interesting on here...

...avoided it last night, thought there'd be too much drivel typed up and posted.

It seems the club can't win. They've kept us informed RE their search, they've approached who many thought was the best man for the job who was out of work pretty quickly but he turned us down for personal reasons. Fair enough. We've then head hunted a man who had a lot of support on here, doing a good job elsewhere and he's turned us down at the prospect of taking his team into Europe. Again, fair enough.

If we're promoting from within, it should be Flitcroft. I know his links to Hill but all along I've said we need some stability. The consensus on here for months has been that we play well and lose, often playing better than the other side etc. That means we're not far off and our style only needs a couple of tweaks/players to come back into form. He's brought in Mellon & Scott, we have seen more width, a new system etc. Ask Flitcroft to do it for the rest of the season. He keeps us up, give him a deal. He doesn't, we start again for L1.

There seems to be a feeling that we should now go out and give it to someone like Redfearn, Hignett etc. I get that, the fans want someone they like in charge. I'd prefer we didn't - always makes me nervous. But I think the club should be applauded for keeping us informed throughout. If they'd not said a word, they'd be in the wrong and be called all the names under the Sun.

But as I said, they can't win.

And to end, f.ck Terry Butcher. F.ck Sean O'Driscoll. Flickon's red and white army. At least until Saturday.

You reds.

 

I agree. I think. Glad its not my decision tbh.

 

I agree with you here Dyson regarding Flitcroft. I think he has the respect of the players, he seems willing to detatch himself from Hill and his head hasn't dropped.
He accepts he needs help and given the right help he could make a go of the job. Let's see after the weekend.

 

It weren't that bad to be fair, if you listen to the TB interview he cannot praise the club highly enough, especially the enthusiam of the board and how they are selling the football club, he especially mentioned that. I don't doubt that anyone on here feels that The Don & Co aren't trying their hardest to get the best possible manager in for the football club, the point is they're trying to flog a dead horse and why that "horse" is dead is another matter.

 

Sidekick? Really?

So we retain one half of our worst management team ever, someone that the vast majority of supporters don't want here, purely because we need some stability? We are rock bottom. Reight stable. And he's half the problem.


Higgy or Redders get the job, and the fans will give them time, unlike Sidekick. The stayaways may return, they wouldn't if Sidekick was named manager. If Higgy or Redders got the job, they'd be hard-pressed to fare any worse than Hillcroft. They'd fetch new eyes, new ideas. They may not work, but Sidekick has already proven to be a failure.
They'd almost certainly have better contacts. They'd definitely reach out to the community. And you suggest that if we go down, we then dismiss Sidekick. So back to square one....

I suggest we appoint a new man. Clean slate. And yes I want that man to be Higgy. Or even a Redders or Barnard etc. And should we still go down, we stick with him, for at least 5 years unless he's as bad as Hillcroft. As in, can't score, can't defend, can't come from behind (oooo er) or win a game of football now and again.

I just think Dyson is still clinging to the whole 'Hillcroft' thing. Let it go, pal. I did, and feel so much better for it. Mainly, because I love my club and want us to do well. Under Hillcroft, it went terribly wrong. It's not being wrong by admitting you backed the wrong man/men. It's being honest.

Blackwell, Flitcroft, even Megson, and the BFC board are really playing with fire.
Much riskier to appoint someone such as those, rather than an Higgy, Redders, Barnard etc etc.

Up the Tarn, Up the League!

 

Viv Anderson pulled up no trees whilst he was at Oakwell, his "sidekick" didn't do to bad though. Most weren't happy back then an all.

 

How much time would Redfearn get if we're bottom half of League One next season? Because if you look at his previous first team manager record it suggests he's not very good.

I'm not clinging on to anything mate, I just think it's the best decision. I wanted SOD or Flitcroft from the start if you check back, wasn't adverse to Terry Butcher but sceptical. Now Flitcroft is the logical choice - but would he take it? Debatable. But new ideas have been brought in with Mellon & Scott. Why would Redfearn/Hignett have better contacts in the game than Flitcroft who's been involved with sides from League 2, League 1 and the Championship. Say what you want but he's pretty well respected - 2 clubs wanted him to manage them while he's been here these last 18 months.

Don't understand this 5 year thing either - so we get relegated we stick with an unproven manager for 5 years? If we're doing that we should've kept Hill.

Let's be right mate, fans knock f.ck all. We don't know how good those applications look, whether a couple have been interviewed, how they came over etc. Most popular choices for manager are usually **** too.

 

Appointing managers is a complete lottery and from the outside we've no idea who the best candidate and the best fit would be. Our more successful (all relative) managers in my time as a fan have been Clarke, Wilson, Ritchie and Robins. All relatively inexperienced as managers.

This is where a decent interview process should come in. We shouldn't be interviewing managers, we should be getting managers to pitch to us.

The one with most hunger, passion, plans, principles and style that meet our criteria should be getting it.

It's not the name, it's the person.

 

Dunno why people refer back to the past, as if the fact it's happened before means it will happen again. This is real life, not fantasy.

I mean, if we're using that theory, we appoint someone as player/manager, like Wilson/Clarke etc.

 

I hope the feeling is mutual, but you're one of the lads on here who I always read. You talk a lot of sense. And even when we are arguing, I often agree with most of your points.

But I can't fathom how you see Flitcroft as any better a prospect than Hignett/Redfearn etc. They'd all be risky appointments, in their own ways. But only one of them would go against what The Don outlined as the 'realigning' plan.

Do you not agree with my last post, that an ex-red would help get fans back onside etc? And conversely, that appointing Sidekick would further dent the club/fan relationship?

 

Most popular choices for manager are usually **** too..... see, I agree with that 100%. I wanted Spackman, and Hill.

 

I think if we get relegated and end up bottom half of league one then regardless of if Hignett is in charge or not the relationship will be soured.

The board need to take a strategic decision. We've spent 18 months restructuring the wage bill, trying to develop a certain style and during that time we've sold about £2 million of player that Flitcroft has helped coach and develop. He's experience of working in League One if we need it too.

Considering the clamour to get an appointment in quick, I'd ask Flitcroft, Mellon & Scott to continue working with the players (who all trust Flitcroft considering each one has said they'd not lost the dressing room despite all the rumours RE Hassell etc) and hopefully turn it round.

We weren't that far away with Hill, performances were usually good. With a couple of tweaks to that and players like Mellis/Cwyka coming into form we'll be fine.

 

@Merlin Usually I'd agree Re. Flitcroft, but I think he's shown since Hill's dismissal that they are different. He's brought in new eyes and he's changed the formation we play. He knows the players and the players seem to respect him. I'd say we've taken a different direction, I just don't know if it's the right one yet.

Had he just continued in he same vain as Hill then I'd be completely against it. But if we beat Leeds and score more than 1 goal then he's certainly worth considering.

I think that whoever we bring in now, will get more support from the fans than if we had appointed them immediately, simply because it now looks as if we're struggling to attract good candidates so people can no longer say "uh we should have appointed so and so".

 

That is real life. Referring back to the fact that the season under Anderson was ****, we appointed his number 2 who had a completely different approach once his master's hand had been pulled out of his arse.

Have we been playing terrible under Flitcroft?

 

i think its Flitcroft till the end of the season , then new start in league 1, i,d like some young new guy in whos been at the top like Clarke & Wilson.
Whoever is the new manager he needs financial backing , hes needs some money to spend

 

And herein lies the problem Mark my friend, we haven't got any. Which is a big explanation as to why we are where we are.

If we had a bit more I don't think we'd be bottom of the league, Hill would still be the manager and I'd still be all excited about his coats.