Conor sez....

I agree. Unless, as you say, we have a really good summer.

I mean more if we have a slow start to the season and the usual suspects call for the sacking. We need some stability somewhere.

 

The board have got their man. He was recruited for this exact scenario. A total 100% yes man that is jumping at his first opportunity in management. He's repaying the faith, like a good little boy.

Absolute set of sly b******s, sly and incompetent, what a combination we have.

 

Forget tomorrow, anything less than four nil and it's a bonus. MDG marking any of their forward line isn't worth thinking about.

 

How can anyone be happy with the recent performances? We are shocking. Bet other managers love playing against us because we are so predictable in our build up and easy to get at. Hourihane not the answer-get shut.

 

He's willing to sacrifice short term results because he hasn't been able to get any, I don't remember him saying anything along those lines when he got the job.

 

We're still soft as shìt allover the pitch, defenders are still making stupid game-costing errors, we still look far too ponderous going forward and we're still not getting enough men in the box on the odd occasion a cross isn't overhit/doesn't beat the first man. And we've got 2 points from Conor's 4 games.

And all that has been against teams 17th and below. That the powers that be are content with that is just utterly and totally disheartening.

 

If the board are happy with anything about Barnsley Football Clubs performance on and off the field since they took over the club they really are not fit to run a professional football club. The club is going backwards at an ever increasing rate of decline and I see nothing being done that will reverse that decline they just seem set on a course and refuse to admit it just isn't working.

 

That's where I see our failings. We do the same thing, for 90 minutes, week after week, certainly in the defence. Patient sideways passing; Bland to MDG - foot on it - MDG to Robbo - foot on it - Robbo to O'Keeffe-Lemon (or occasionally to Humphrys if he has dropped back enough to take the pass).

By the time all the above has happened - the other team are in position and prepared. A chance to implement training ground procedures for them. Ready to rob the ball and get forward at pace. Exeter had 4 or 5 men in their counters; we could muster 2, with occasionally a 3rd trying to join.

Likewise, although Robbo did OK the other night, he was at least challenged by their forward. Put under pressure - forced to compete in his duals. As were the other defenders. Yet when we lump forward, their defence seem to have all the time in the world to win their header, and their midfield, knowing that is going to be the case, are intelligent enough to get in a position to receive the ball and make the next phase hurt.

That sideways patience from our defence is not only with the ball in play, it is from throw-ins too. Very rarely do we even attempt to throw it forward. MDG's mistake the other night was not just that he lost the ball - that can happen - but it stemmed from immediately putting him and the back line under pressure by throwing along the back line. He invited the pressure, from an intelligent attacking line up that knew exactly what was going on, and the ultimate mistake stemmed from that throw in routine. We were chasing a winner (one would have hoped) and Barnsley teams of the past would have been getting the ball up the other end of the pitch and going for it.

So aye, as you say .......... 'so predicatable and easy to get at'

 

He can’t get the job. He’s had an absolute nightmare. You can’t publicly call out players & then see performances like he’s had.

Apart from the Blackpool game which was dreadful we’re significantly worse under Hourihane.

It was only two games prior to Clarke’s sacking against Lincoln that we were outstanding for an hour until we rested our best players.

I just can’t see how he can be taken seriously in the dressing room after this week.

 

Not sure what else he can do. We are blooding Bland and the other young 'uns in the remaining dead rubber matches and the rest of the squad is dogs eggs. I'm not expecting any better performances because the squad isn't capable of it.

Mladen out.

 

True.

Blood the young ones.

Squad ain’t good enough to do what we want to do, so any coach will struggle.

Build for next 2 seasons now. Bring the youth on next year, and aim for top 6, but realistically it’s the year after where we’ll start to see it click.

And from a business point - we need the young ones in to raise their values - as we’ve not got a massive amount of value in the squad at the moment.

 

TLDR; I love Conor and anyone who doesn’t want him is a big stiff dosser.

I wanted Conor to get the job, and the results and performances since he stood in haven’t altered that opinion. It has absolutely nothing to do with his name or his prior success here as a footballer. And I’m laughing at the ‘yes man’ comment further up. In fact, some of the remarks are beyond funny. But that’s football. Opinions and all that.

99.9% of folk on here have blamed Sormaz or the board/ownership for the way this season has panned out. Plenty criticised Clarke too, whilst in post. The consensus was that the squad wasn’t good enough. It lacked balance, had a poor mentality but Darrell should have been getting more out of it. And the transfer activity in January was a disaster.

I wouldn’t disagree with such conclusions.

What I don’t agree with is this current trend of suggesting Clarke would have got more out of the last four games. We’d lost 7 of his final 11 games. The only result preventing 6 straight defeats was a 0-0 at home to Burton. Failed to score in three of the five home games. Turned over by Stevenage again. Battered by Blackpool. Just three weeks after being hammered 4-0 at home by Orient.

Granted, there was a three-game win streak mixed in between. One was a penalty deciding win at Rotherham in a shocker of a match. They completely limped to victory at Northampton. Another shambles of a performance. The brilliance of DKD made the difference. And the 4-3 against Lincoln where I’ve no idea how they held on.

After those defeats at Charlton and the aforementioned Blackpool b*mming, I didn’t see him getting anything out of the season. I never called for his head like many were doing. Not my style. But I understood the decision the club made to remove him. It wasn’t just the results, his tactical decisions or performances. It was his whole demeanour, the body language and shirking of responsibility, shifting blame etc.

Like I say, most folk think the main culprit for this poor season is Sormaz. Based on what I read on here at least, plus the stuff friends tell me. In fact, there are folk in this thread who hammered Clarke, who also hammer Sormaz.

If anyone thought Conor - zero experience - would waltz in on two days notice and kickstart a winning sequence that would shoot us into the playoffs, then you can’t have been watching this group of players very often. It was never going to happen. The fact that Flavell and Bland, complete novices, have not looked out of place tells you all you need to know about this squad.

Do folk trust this regime to recruit a good head coach? Nobody seems to trust them on player recruitment. The chairman expects the club to lose three quarters of a million pounds every month next season. There have been no players sold in two years, other than Styles which would have been cancelled out by DKD arriving. They’re paying off two coaches now. Both jettisoned within 10 months of each other. Is the answer really to appoint another external coach, plus whoever he wants to bring in with him? Then a load of players in and out. More transition. And if he has the team outside the top six by the new year, does he get the boot too?

I want Conor.

He knows the club. He knows the fanbase. Understands the way the club operates. Knows more about the players than any outsider would. Young, hungry and knows what it takes to get out of the division, and the next one.

Give him a long term deal. Let him reshape the backroom staff as he sees fit. Include him in the recruitment conversation. The retained list. All that jazz. The pre season plans. Friendlies. Training camp. The lot. Announce it now and make it clear we are in transition, they got things wrong and that this is a proper project and there’s no demand to finish top six.

For the record, I don’t imagine this happening. I truly believe they’ll appoint a Luke Williams or Rob Edwards and go through the same journey we’ve experienced the last two years to end up back at square one. Even worse off financially. And God knows what else.

Nor do I think my own opinion is right. On Hourihane. It’s just opinion. I’ve seen little from Conor so far to suggest he’s any good. I’m biased, my mate says, because I know him and had a good relationship with him. Maybe.

I just think the club needs a reset and finances are shocking. Who better to lead us into a new era? Maybe it’s the romantic in me also.

I’m intrigued to know who folk would prefer? I see people against the Conor idea and I understand that. But who would you go for?

 

This should have been the approach after relegation. We would be in a far better position now but hindsight’s a wonderful thing

 

I wasn't there so obviously I've not heard what was said. What did people expect him to say they said I'm doing a crap job and I have been told to clear my desk after the Reading game. I suspect he will still be here next season in some capacity so won't what to rock the boat at all. To give him the main job surely would be too much of a gamble for what for me is the biggest summer for many a year.

 

You are preaching to the converted. 100% get this part, but trouble is, who will pitch it to Neerav, Sormaz & Flatman? Cos they're the ones that need convincing.

 

Ironic thing is that our best young ones got loaned out in January.
It seems that we can't plan very well for 3 months so I think that a 2 year plan is a tad optimistic.

 

I understand your sentiment. I do strongly believe if this was anyone besides Conor, most people wouldn't be entertaining it as a credible choice. Indeed, if it were Clarke, and he'd kept his job til the final minute of the Exeter game, there'd have been universal expectations that he would've been sacked. Which maybe paints a different light on the last 4 games.

I've been thinking about the state of things quite a bit, and I'll be honest, there are so many things wrong, fundamental things, that I'm really not sure whoever we appoint will make much difference. That could be used as an argument to go with the path of least resistance, though I'm rarely in favour of easy choices.

I think the first change that needs to happen is the mindset of our off field leaders. They just need to make better decisions and that starts with who we can let go or offload in the summer and put together a sensible balanced squad that aligns with whatever coach we have in place. There's going to be a lot of flux in the summer, again, and thats just the way it is.

There's enough examples through the years that whoever you choose as manager/coach, it's still a gamble. Sometimes experience works, sometimes naivety and not knowing something can't be done is better.

Do I think Conor would give his all, be ruthless, be keen to learn, expect high standards, be sacked if he fails and move on if he succeeds? Yes to all. Just like I'd expect that from any coach coming in.

I don't know what the answer is, I'm not sure the owners and execs do. I'm not sure they'll go with Hourihane. But it also wouldn't surprise me if they did.

 

And this is where the glitch in the matrix really kicks in. Part 1 of your statement, youth / top 6 would be great. What a scenario that would be. But if it happens, part 2 of your statement becomes almost impossible as it means we will have sold some of the youngsters who got us so close in the first place. Cos their value would be high.

An ever more vicious circle we need to navigate.

 

If they were to give him the job I think they would need to give him a experienced side kick. What about Steve Agnew loads of experience and they would know each other from Villa. He's at Blackpool with the flat nosed geordie. He's never shown any ambition to be a manager so seems happy to be a number two obvious links to the club all be a good few years ago.

 

I’ve come around to thinking CH should remain at the club and continue his coaching ‘education’ under Warne and his chosen assistant. That’s assuming he and Warne aren’t arch enemies or anything. If Warne did a good job he would probably be poached and then we would have a hopefully more wiser and ready coach to step up.