Sormaz has to go before Clarke

But how much of that is due to the coaching? Gent and Nwakali are probably above average for this league but the coach doesn't seem to be able to use them effectively. The choice of coach is down to Sormaz and is a much bigger factor in how this season has gone than the recruitment. I don't think any other DoF ends up with us having a much better squad.

 

I think Gent has the potential to be good & probably will get there but I don’t think he’s anywhere near being above average for this league. I think he’s one of our weakest players when he starts. Having said that I think he’s has got a bit better. He was getting dragged off early in the season he was that poor at times.

I like Nwakali but he plays the same position as the captain. To get both in the side you’ve got to play a back 4 & we don’t have any natural full backs so I can see why he hasn’t done that.

 

If you don’t accept at this point that the recruitment has at best been shambolic and as worse been a castatrophe I’d start watching a new sport.

 

The only unqualified successes been DKD and Roberts.

For experience it’s not hard to spot say that Lee Gregory at L1 level call do an ok job.

 

You are right of course…

There wasn’t one centre forward in all the whole wide world who we could have afforded and brought to the club. None in league one or two, none with even a semi decent record in the national league. None abroad either, we had an available slot in the squad to sign someone from Europe or beyond.

All that was available to anybody at all was a lightweight winger from the MLS, and someone from the French lower leagues who doesn’t look like he’d stand out in the national league north and who couldn’t successfully disprove someone who thought he’d won a competition to play for a league club…

Of course recruitment has been catastrophic. In two windows he’s failed to bring in a single centre forward to the club.

DKD is a fantastic player and a big success - but he isn’t a centre forward.

Making signings and them not working out happens. Taking a punt on players doesn’t always work. If he’d brought someone in that wasn’t working, that’s one thing. Not signing anyone at all in the position you require isn’t just catastrophic, it’s full on negligent.

Especially when you consider he dictates the shape and style we have to adopt as well.

Any post defending Sormaz is short sighted in the extreme in my view.

 

Yeah but we're not employed and paid handsomely to identify signings.

 

Gent had a solid season for Motherwell last year and would be a decent left back for a lot of teams in this league. I think it's Clarke's management and tactics that have failed to get the most out of him, same with Nwakali.

And again, if you don't know what's out there how can you know there was a better possible outcome? If there was an obvious signing that we'd clearly missed then perhaps I'd agree, but the majority view on here was that names like Ashley Fletcher and Niall Ennis were useless. Maybe we should have signed one in hope rather than expectation, but that's what landed us with Cosgrove and Watters.

 

In the same way that I don't know the first thing about transplant surgery, but I'm pretty confident in saying there must be a better possible outcome than replacing someone's failing liver with a jacket potato.

 

Well I would play both defensive midfielders with the back 3. It doesnt have to be a back 4.

 

Keep hearing about head coaches not knowing how to get the best out of players. It's a bit of a throwaway comment IMO.

Take Gent for example. What does that mean? He is played in his favoured position and expected to put quality balls into the box. How does a head coach stop the constant poor delivery into box? Clarke has dropped him from the starting lineup a few times. Didn't one of his former managers describe him as one of the best crossers of a ball he had seen? Where has that gone? Surely a head coach can't stop one of the fundamental things about a player like that.

Not trying to single Gent out really, just used him as an example having been mentioned previously. Take that Blackpool game the delivery of that final ball was Sunday league at best across the team.

Clarke has promotions under his belt, so he can't be such a terrible motivator / tactician.

If you compare him with say Duff, they both have a 43% win ratio over their managerial careers and Clarke has managed double the number of matches that Duff has.

I just think if we sack him, it's the easy deflection option. Out of all our recent managers he has been given less to work with and deserves a bit of a chance given better support from the spreadsheet and our DOF.

It won't happen though. I suspect he is Probably 2 games away from being given the push and then the whole things resets and we criticise the next manager for the players not taking accountability and stepping up to the plate to earn their wages.

 

Clarke has said on a number occasions now of players not playing to the plan/tactics, that comes down to either recruiting the wrong players or the Coaches ability to train,develop, motivate and manage the group of players.

In the Summer they have to either back him with a mass clear out and recruit players he wants or let him go.
The same should be said of DoF, Neerav has to take responsibility and decide if he is happy with what has gone on and where we go from here.
It’s said on here many times but a big big Summer for everyone.

 

It’s as simple as he has to go before the much maligned early bird renewal letters drop! Could be a major own goal if people are expected to buy blindly knowing this clown may have involvement players we sign from wherever but certainly leagues below our level.

 

Have said it on another thread somewhere...if Clarke is sacked rather than Sormaz then Sormaz can hide. Sacking Clarke partially deflects from Sormaz' poor recruitment. It gives him more time and shields him by offering Clarke as the lamb to the slaughter. Whatever one thinks of Clarke he HAS been let down by recruitment. Unless Neerav has somehow imposed considerable restraints on Sormaz that we aren't aware of then the poor recruitment is definitely down to Sormaz. He's making the entire squad weaker over time and he's adding to unsustainable long-term costs by doing so. There's always the possibility Sormaz may learn from his mistakes I suppose but he's been a disaster to date. Sacking Clarke before Sormaz would be a smokescreen and actually allow Sormaz further say in what happens next (as the op suggests).

 

Bit of an odd analogy this, if you don't replace the failing liver (Cosgrove, Watters) or replace it with a baked potato (Rodrigues, Lewis) then the outcome is the same. And people die all the time because a suitable replacement couldn't be found, it doesn't mean the surgeon is to blame.

I'm not claiming the recruitment has been good, my point is that the best case scenario for our recruitment probably isn't much better than what actually transpired, and wouldn't have been much different no matter who was in charge. The best case scenario for me would have been to sign Langstaff and Woodrow on loan, but Langstaff didn't go anywhere and Woodrow ended up at a Championship playoff contender despite people questioning if he'd make us better. The next best scenario would have been to get Hourihane to convince his former teammate to sign. Beyond that it's a bunch of players who haven't shown much more than what we already had. People can blame Sormaz for that, but they're going to be disappointed when it doesn't get any better after he's gone.

 

Totally agree on Fletcher. Some players just fit a club.
I was against Rhodes due to age but he'd have been better than our chosen alternatives. As would Collins.

 

If we don't change our current model of DOF/Mladen next season maybe a relegation battle

 

Collins is a really weird one in that he would have been perfect in this team and how they want to play and there is no way if Lincoln can afford him we couldn’t.