The cycle of decline

So, we lost yet another game. The BBS is awash with bloodlust. The team has lost 6 in a row and somebody has to pay. Somebody has to be sacked. Sacking somebody will make everything all right.

What nonsense. Sacking someone does not make things all right. Working together, working even harder and using our brains to determine what is wrong, why it is wrong and what we need to do to put it right. That is what we need. Now is not a time for the hot heads and the anarchists. It is a time for a cool assessment, proper analysis and a plan. It is the time for everyone who cares about the club to get behind them, to support them both on the field and off it. It is the time to get behind them and help in any way that we can. Supporting is easy in the good times, it is a joy when things are going well. But supporting means more when you keep going when you do not really want to, when you keep believing when everything tells you to stop. That is what supporting is.

Of course, the club needs to communicate with us. They need to educate and inform and it is obvious to all that the club has once more left the manager to shoulder the whole of the blame. The people behind the scenes are distancing themselves from the situation. We have seen it before just before other team managers have been sacked. Just as a snake sheds its skin, football club directors shed managers in order to convince the fans that they are acting, that one reign is over and a better one is about to begin, that the problems have gone with the departing manager. It is an illusion. A better description would be that it is a deception. It is merely a way of satisfying the bloodlust of the fans. There is no instant solution. The next guy builds upon the work of the last, if he does not, if he begins again from scratch, then the 3 year clock that counts down towards a fresh period of success is set back to zero.

Sadly, in the end, it is the fans that are to blame. It is the fans who withdraw their financial support who put pressure on the directors to make rushed or bad decisions. A new manager, who is not able to build on the work of a previous manager, or who does not have a mega- rich backer to fund losses, will need 3 years to build a team from scratch. Unfortunately, the alarm clock that tick towards the breaking point of the average fan is set for just 1 year. There is a built-in mismatch between the aspirations of the fans, and the practicalities of football, a mis-match that ultimately destroys the creative process involved in building a team. It is the fans who exert financial pressure on boards, who in turn should know better than to yield to it. It is the impatience of the fans that is the underlying reason for the failure of their clubs to perform.

If LJ does go, and it looks increasingly like he will, I will not be the one who called for him to go. I will not be one of those who has to reconcile his future success at a club with lower supporter expectations and pressures, whilst my club drifts slowly down the football pyramid, because I have already done the thinking, and I already know the reason why. I am old enough to have seen it all happen before and old enough to have added 2 and 2 together. I am sick that yet another good man is about to go, and I am fed up about the whole inevitable cycle of decline.

 

Are you wholly convinced that LJ is actually any good?

Could it be that what is wrong at least in part is him? That no amount of working harder or pulling together won't change that?

 

L

LJ has to shoulder the part of the blame that he is responsible for, that is making the best of what he has got. I don't think he has done that with baffling tactics and team selections. Having said that,I don't think we should sack him, but surely he had to acknowledge the errors and see when things are not working.

 

And who has created the inevitable cycle of decline?

The impatience of the fans?

Fans will express patience if there's a semblance that progress is being made, slowly is better than none.
Also if we are entertained once in a while that would help the cause.

At present we are far from being entertained and the rudder that guides us is deep at the bottom of the ocean.

The choice is straightforward.

Get rid of what perpetuates the problem and try a different approach.

It may not work but if we don't try we will never know.

Or carry on as we are and head into Oblivion.

Your choice BFC

 

Please explain how fans are withdrawing financial support or exerting financial pressure? The vast majority of the club's income comes from season ticket sales and all this was banked six months ago.

 

Aye; alright.

It's all the fans' fault then. What a b@ll@nd

 

The only correlation is in s figure non of us are privy to... The number of dragon ticket holders not bothering to come. When this figure increases due to bad form (or perceived bad form) the club shits itself that the renewals will drop off a cliff and therefore they then look at how to arrest that.

 

I think they are already working hard.. it is still not working.. LJ talks a good game and seems a decent chap.. but that is not enough..

 

I'm not. But I'm not convinced he's ***** either. In such a situation you don't make a decision that will cost your business the many £hundreds of thousands that a managerial change brings about. You support the manager to the best of your abilities, as if he is any good it's the speediest way to success, but if he's not, at least you did your very best to sort things out.

 

Bollard?

 

True, but these supporters have already given their financial support for now. Of course the club will be fearful that ST holders not attending will not renew next season but it's up to the club to convince them to do so.

 

All that is well and good if you could point to any indication that in his time here that LJ ( in essence an unproven manager) is actually building to something? He favours a style of play that drives fans to distraction (or sleep whichever you prefer) , we are heading to a situation where there could be nothing to build on, (parent clubs recall loanees from a struggling club or said loanees prefer to ply their trade elsewhere, any players that we own are ripe fort picking by more successful clubs).
Building is great if you can see the platform being created and as for patience I think we are pretty much up there with the best, its just that the level of patience has been eroded after season upon season of utter mediocrity.
There is obviously something seriously wrong somewhere

 

I'm convinced that at our level you in reality build for one season at a time. Anyone any good will inevitably be sold and then you start again.

 

Correct.

There's only two ways to do that; chop the manager and hope for the best or keep the manager and hope for the best!

 

Hourihane and Winnall weren't sold, who were both very effective last season. We had a good base on which to build upon. Unfortunately, we took the decision to rip all up of our own volition, not because another team poached our players.

 

I don't disagree. I do think that both of those will be looking to go this summer

 

The problem we have is that we have a management set up that is trying to reinvent the wheel, no experienced players, bomb alley, 6 loans before a ball has been kicked, not having a clue who is choosing the players that we bring in. Its not such a surprise that we are where we are.

 

Don't forget the drones in all this!

 

It is fair to say that I expected an adverse response to my opening post, and I have not been disappointed. My post was an appeal to all those who share my love of the club to re-think what is within their own and the clubs best interests. My starting point is to say that I will look for excuses and explanations for our current predicament, rather than just restate the mantra, the team is losing and someone must pay. With this simple action, I ally myself with the club and not against it. For me it is always "we" and it is never "they" when the team loses.

So try to answer the following question with a reasoned argument, rather than just a refusal to accept excuses. The question is, "Why might the team not be performing according to my expectations".

I have come up with the following possible explanations. Feel free to add your own.

1. When we dropped out of the second tier, our spending on wages in the lower division was restricted to 70% of turnover by SCMP. This meant that we had to release all those players at the end of their contracts and attempt to sell those on high wages that were not. This external pressure forced upon us a requirement to build from scratch.
2. We sacked our experienced manager when his rebuilding was not an immediate success.
3. After the first season in this league, SCMP lowered our budget to 60% of turnover and any remaining quality players were released.
4. The summer rebuilding process was not a success. We found it hard to attract the right players at the right price and at pay rates that we could afford.
5. Because the rebuilding process had not gone well, and rather than acquire players that were not of the right quality on long term contracts, we elected to use the loan market. This has not been successful, but at least it has given us the time to identify new targets for the next transfer window.
6. There is no doubt that too many of our players are very young, and that this is a risky policy, but what alternative was there. Young players offer the opportunity for improvement and an increasing transfer value. Young players expect lower pay because they are still learning. Using more young players helps the allowed budget to go further.
7. Recently, the team has been hit by a spate of injuries to the few key players that are important to the team structure.
8. Recent injuries have limited the manager's options in term of team structure, which were already very limited by weaknesses in key positions resulting from the unsuccessful summer recruitment policy.

The question is, are you prepared to accept any of these reasons as explanations, or do you view them simply as excuses. Your answers to that question will lead you to the fundamental difference between your position and mine. You see, I regard these as explanations and am prepared to be patient until those in positions of control are able to sort them out. If you see them as excuses, then you will want to sack everyone including the owner, take over the club and run it yourself. This in turn points to another difference. I am not arrogant enough to believe that I know enough, or indeed have enough talent, to do the job better than the present incumbents, given the restrictions placed upon them by the SCMP, the fans and the balance sheet. If you think that you can, then you are a fool.

 

But when Danny's team were in a similar position ie relegation zone it wasn't his fault ?