0.66 points per game under Hourihane

That would be 30 points after 45 games. We'd be bottom of the table and relegated a few weeks ago.

1.44 points per game under Clarke. That extrapolates to 65 points after 45 games, three points outside the playoffs with a game to go.

We even got 10 points from Clarke's last 9 games which got him the sack. Hourihane has managed 6 from his 9.

Whichever way you look at it, sacking Clarke and replacing him with Hourihane was an umitigated disaster. Got to be favourites for relegation next season.

 

a bit like their unmitigated disaster last season of sacking Collins before the play offs.

They’re not doing too well at this directing of a football club lark, are they.

 

I didn’t want Clarke sacked but I’m not convinced he’d have done loads better. We’ve been poor since the Christmas period with the exception of one week at the end of Feb where we got 3 wins before reverting back to loosing. I could see Conor going either way next season, but regardless of who the head coach is recruitment has to be good.

 

Recruitment has to be miraculous.

 

We're the League 1 version of Man United. Shockingly run, shambolic recruitment and owners who feel entitled to be at the top end of the table despite their shortcomings. Managers' poor performance isn't the source of the problem, it's a symptom.

But we just sack managers without fixing the underlying problems and get slightly worse for it each time.

 

If there was a league table for decsion making we'd be bottom.
I keep thinking the penny will drop with them at some point, you know like learning from their mistakes.

 

I posted similar on the thread questioning why he was given the full time job Jay.

I’m with you. I don’t get the level of acceptance of Hourihane and the unmitigated disaster of results he’s produced.

The root of the main issues isn’t the head coach - we can all see that. But it wasn’t when we had Collins or Clarke either.

The squad is exceptionally poor for this level. For us as a club at least.

But I find it absolutely dumbfounding that CH is getting free rein to be so poor. He seems to have a ‘not his fault’ pass from a high proportion and I don’t understand it. It can only be sentimentality due to the cash in the bank he has from his playing days.

But the bare arsed facts are as you have said in the OP here. He is doing a massive amount worse with this same poor squad than his predecessor did.

In fact, if the squad is as bad as is made out by these defending him so stoutly, Darrell Clarke having them as close to the top six as we still were when he was sacked ought to be viewed as some kind of minor miracle.

I thought Collins was doing a pretty poor job with the tools he had, though results overall were ok - but that the momentum had set against him and we were getting worse, so i wasn’t disappointed he was let go - but was flabbergasted at the timing.

I wasn’t a fan of Clarke, so I wasn’t exactly gutted he was sacked either. Though it didn’t seem exactly fair. Another fall guy for another man’s failings. But again, he was no master tactician or leader of men, so he isn’t a huge loss you’d imagine.

But it is abundantly clear that he did a hell of a lot better with these players than Hourihane has. That is just a statistical fact. His points per game is more than double Hourihane’s this season. Even when we ‘fell off a cliff’ towards the end of his tenure, his results in his last nine games leading to being sacked were better than Hourihane’s in his nine games. Ten points to CH’s six as you say - three wins to Conor’s one. The previous nine games before that garnered five wins. Clarke’s problem was inconsistency of result - not really something you can accuse Hourihane of.

People keep going on about these so called improvements under Hourihane. I was called out for deliberately omitting positives on a different post yesterday. Nobody could tell me what the positives have been.

 

You don’t think Clarke would have done better than one win in nine? Including games against the bottom two, a total of three of the bottom six teams, and six of the nine against teams well below us in the table?

I think he would have done. By some margin. And I don’t rate him.

 

Was a ridiculous appointment. Lost at home to bottom of the league after one win in 8= 2 year deal.

 

Steadily managed decline

 

Hourihane will definitely need an experienced assistant manager and hopefully another DOF in place of Sormaz.

 

Great news. We might have pretty much scored no points under him but, given the chances we create and fluff, he has an xPPG of 2.1

So by applying the Watters principle, that's alright then.

 

I think you're being very generous here. I don't think they ever were considering other candidates, they were just expecting Conor to not do so badly that the appointment would look so daft.

 

My assumption is that they never existed and it was simply one in a long list of lies. The decision had already been made to have hourihane as manager back in the summer but in order to try to look at least a little bit professional they have had to spout a series of mistruths to give the impression that they were making reasoned decisions rather than simply pushing through a decision that had been made before the season had started.

 

Beats me how folk can be writing us off for next season before we even know our squad !
I still think the lack of points and results has been down to the ineptitude of the players, i.e. slack defending and inability to accept relatively easy chances at the other end.
Can't see any of our managers being able to correct that, God knows enough have tried!!

 

Our defence has been slow and crap all season so no idea why you would have them standing on the half-way line. If we lose ball 70 yards from our goal the alarm bells start ringing. No point playing the high press without the players to do it. Those are the kind of coaching decisions that worry me.

 

I agree in part but it can't be denied that we have gone backwards under hourihane and if he was anyone else people would have been livid at him getting the gig full time after a disastrous trial period

 

Think a lot is down to changing to 433 when we don’t have the players to play it. If he’d stuck with 352 we’d probably have gained a few more points. Admire him for being brave enough to change it but if we don’t get better defenders and a presence in midfield it won’t work next season either.
I’m behind how he wants to play but if he doesn’t get the tools it’s doomed to fail. All on Sormaz I’m afraid and that’s the worry.

 

I still suspect when Hourihane got the gig ( and lets be honest it was happening since we signed him) some of the squad have seen the writing was on the wall regarding their future and dropped off even more.
I've only seen the 'highlights' from yesterday and the defending ( including the keeper) was pain embarrassing that even a school kid would have been embarrassed to be involved in, that's not down to the manager, the players were kind of in the right area, just not exactly and were just not capable of doing their jobs. Up front Watters continues to defy belief and not in a good way!!