Personally I wouldn’t sack him

He is the coach and is teaching them nothing

 

Yeah its pathetic to just dismiss him (or whoever is to blame) as simply being "crap".
Another win next time though and we're right back in the top six chase again, and we're not out of it yet actually.
But I admit, I'm offering absolutely no excuses here for this appalling home form.
For whatever reasons, its been going on for far too long now.

 

I think he is out of his depth at this level

 

I think he's in at the deep end. Our form has taken a nose dive.

 

Yeah ok maybe he isn't good enough, for what and where we should be aiming for. And that raises the question, as to why he (and Collins) was appointed in the first place, etc.
But I'm sick of this sack the manager because he's "crap" mentality now. And we'll never ever improve as a club while a lot of fans think like that, and keep demanding it.

 

The only way he's got a team out of L1 is down to L2. Just because a bloke can run a small corner shop successfully doesn't mean he can run a big supermarket successfully and likewise just because Clark had success with small clubs at L2 and below doesn't mean he can cut it with a bigger club in L1 every time he's got a team up to L1 they've gone straight back down.

 

Thanks for putting it more eloquently than I did. Happy Christmas

 

I've defended Clarke a fair bit up to now, mainly because he seems to assess outcomes much the same way as I do. But I've taken on board feedback from others and started to think about his own culpability in those outcomes.

I think perhaps I'm just desperate for a manager to stay for any kind of period that gives them a chance of succeeding, rather than falling for the short-termism of modern football. Funny story - my daughter (12) told me last week that until recently, she thought it was a rule that every team has to change their manager at least once a year, because that's what happens at Barnsley. She's only just realised that's not the case.

The problem we have here is that Clarke wasn't anyone's first choice. The board wanted at least one, probably 2-3 others before him. He was the best available (in their opinion) from the pool that were interested at the time.

What's to say that there are better candidates out there now, who want to come and manage a club that is turning over managers every 6-12 months? I don't consider him *so* bad that I'd take just about anyone else instead, and again that's why I'm just about in the 'stick with him' camp.

As so many others have said, our problems are much deeper than the head coach.

 

Wasn't that with Cheltenham who set a league record of not scoring in the first 10 games of the season, whilst conceding 17 goals? He then took over and took it to the last day of the season and very nearly kept them up. I'm not saying he's the messiah but I think he's a capable manager who's been sold short with the quality of the playing staff.

If we were a supermarket we'd be full of everyday essentials baked beans. They do a job, but they're nothing special.

 

That's a very good and constructive reply Kfc (and see, its not too hard to do is it!).
I definitely also want to see some longer term stability, instead of us needing a new manager/coach again, almost every single season.
I'm also one who has tried to defend Clarke, as much as I think is deserved. But yeah, its getting harder to do that now, and the obvious comparisons with the Collins season, are clear to see.
So if not Clarke then, do we want Hourihane to take it, for the rest of the season.

 

I don't want Hourihane to take it on. I have nothing to say whether he'd do well or not, but I don't want to see it play out.

There are multiple threads on here in the last few days that are littered with snide comments about him being a coach we don't need, judging him on how we attack or defend set pieces, or just filled with anger that he hasn't played. There's clearly a proportion of the fan base that would be just waiting for the first chance to slate him. I love the man far too much to want to see him take over in those circumstances.

I'd love nothing more than for Clarke to learn from some of the clear mistakes he's made, and to be given the time to learn and develop with us. I hope I'm not just being naïve and backing a horse that just isn't up to it, but until we try sticking with a struggling manager we're never going to find out whether some stability can yield rewards. I've said before I'd have liked us to stick with Collins, but since we didn't I'd still like us to back his replacement.

But it is getting harder by the week to maintain that position.

 

Collins wasn't sacked at Raith...

American side activates release clause for Rovers head coach.
Raith Rovers are searching for their third manager of the 2024/25 campaign after Neill Collins’ departure for Sacramento Republic was confirmed on Saturday afternoon.

Collins was appointed Raith’s manager on September 3, taking over from Ian Murray, who was sacked in August by the Stark’s Park board. However, his 109-day tenure is over after American side Sacramento Republic, who play in the USL Championship,

Collins ended his playing career with Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2018 and then was their head coach for five years. The 41-year-old has always harboured ambitions of returning to work in the United States.


The former Scotland B defender’s final match in charge was Friday night’s 2-1 win over Queen’s Park at Hampden, that leaves Rovers sixth in the second tier of Scottish football. Colin Cameron and John Potter will take temporary charge while Raith search
A statement from Raith read: “Last Sunday, we were informed that Sacramento Republic were prepared to activate the compensation clause in Neill’s contract to appoint him as their manager.

“We met with Neill to express our desire to retain him as manager, but he made it clear that his ambition has always been to return to the United States, and this opportunity was too good to turn down for him and his family.

 

Im the same as well there Kfc, like whenever Mick McCarthy's name often got mentioned. Its something I hoped wouldn't ever happen, for the reasons mentioned.
Hourihane will surely go into coaching/managing, somewhere eventually. But I also hope not with us.
Stability doesn't guarantee success does it, but surely its a better thing to do than how we go about dealing with managers these days.
And even that word managers, will we always employ people as head coaches now then, for whatever reason.

 

Couldn't agree more

 

Amongst a sea of ****, I appreciate this and your other contributions.

 

Personally I wouldn't have sacked Collins. I thought Collins over-achieved given what he was given to work with. Yes, the football was dull at times but I think Collins was intelligent enough to work out that with defenders as poor as the ones he had at his disposal, playing a possession based game gave him the best chance to reduce their exposure.

Similarly, I'm not sure I'd sack this fella simply because I'm not convinced anybody else would do much better with the 'quantity over quality' squad he's been given. It's so weak and unbalanced.

I would sack the bloke who came in the Summer and said 'there's no problem with the defence' or words to that effect, the same bloke who has left us with no competent and proven goalkeeper at this level, who is also the same bloke who has left us with four wide defenders/wing backs, three of which are right-footed but none of which can defend for toffee and none of which can play in a back 4, meaning the manager has to stick with a back 5 or play central defenders at full-back.

 

It’s funny you mention Mick because we were on about him last week.

Can you imagine telling Mick that he couldn’t have Terry Connor as his assistant & that he was been paired up with an ex-player in Devaney, another ex-player in Hourihane & a coach in Stead who’s who’s only here because we can’t afford to pay him off and / or Raith wouldn’t pay the compo to take him?

I imagine it’s a very short conversation. Just an incredibly dumb way to run a football club.

 

Yeah Django, and as much as I can't stand Colin Warnock, he and Mick Mac simply wouldn't take any nonsense like that would they.
And the idea that Colin would have been interested in the job here, in the Schopp & Asbaghi season, if it had been offered to him!.
That really annoys me because I'm convinced he would have kept us up. But this lot would be scared of those sort of old fashioned managers.
Because they like to speak out very loudly, and they like to bring their own coaches and staff in.

 

I agree.

I always think its unrealistic to expect a manager to join a new club with a new way of working, new staff etc and for him to hit the ground running immediately. He's never managed a club like ours with the expectations set and also with the structures and probably quality of player too. That takes time to adjust.

We're still top half, half of our best players are injured, recruitment he was given was poor and he needs some help in January imho. We should be looking above him as to who's the biggest failure this year so far imho.