A case for Johnson

On a bulletin board awash with negativity and cries for Johnson to be sacked, I appreciate I am going out on a limb here, but what the heck it is a fans forum after all, somewhere where we should all be free to debate and discuss opposing views? So here goes.

The stark facts are that Barnsley FC are in a dire situation, the worst run of form that I can remember and I've been supporting them for over 40 years. Relegation from the Championship hurt, but wasn't unexpected, it had been coming for years, but many of us felt League 1 would be the as low as we would go, that we would bounce back if not immediately, within a couple of years. And yet here we are, sitting one off bottom, with LLLLLLLL in our most recent ‘form’ column.

So what should we do? The obvious thing is to sack the manager. That’s what happens up and down the land in these situations, bring in someone new, so why should we be any different? I would argue this is a knee-jerk reaction which in most cases is doomed to failure. I can cite many more examples of managerial swap-outs that have failed than ones that succeed. Even more so if you take money out of the equation, and we should, because Barnsley are well and truly skint.

If you’re a big Premier League club there is a case perhaps for replacing the manager and buying in proven, experienced, managerial talent, and then giving that manager a war chest to invest in new players. But Barnsley are a million miles away from being able to do that. We can’t invest in a proven top flight manager and so all we can do is put our faith in either a) a journeyman manager who flits from club to club just about staving off relegation but rarely if ever forging a long term relationship with the club and certainly never effecting real deep root change, or b) a young, aspirational but unproven manager.

We have tried a) and it doesn’t work. We might stave off relegation but in 18 months he’ll be bored or have sufficiently pissed off so many of the team that we once again start to crumble and end up in our perennial relegation fight, at which point he buggers off or gets sacked with a substantial pay-off. It’s a short term solution at best and might work at an established successful club who is undergoing a blip in form, but Barnsley have much deeper problems.

Barnsley have been in decline since 97/98. In hindsight, whilst I loved every minute of the Premiership season, I can’t say it has benefitted the club in any way, shape or form. Firstly the fans got a disproportionate sense of expectation, making Oakwell in subsequent years a dour place to visit. I remember when we could laugh at ourselves.
At my wedding (1991), my best man (also from Barnsley) told a joke about watching the reds and what small crowds we got, the joke went like this:

“I phoned up Oakwell and asked what time the match starts, and they answered, ‘what time can you get here?’ ”

That’s quite funny and summed up the self-deprecating humour I think many of us had. We seemed to lose that during our post Prem years. The club also went into debt and our form went on a decline that we’ve been in since. We thought we had found our rightful home in the Championship, but several years of constant relegation battles underlined our lack of financial stature – for year’s we punched above our weight but eventually economics prevailed and I would argue we are now in our rightful home given the size of our club, in League 1. And during that time the only constant was that we chopped and changed managers, witnessing more manager transitions than ever before in the club’s history.

What I believe we are trying to do with the current board and manager is build in some much needed stability, something we have lacked for far too long. We are in effect building a new club, starting with youth – a policy I firmly believe in, but one that takes time and patience. We also sadly have to lean on loan players, always only ever a short-term measure hopefully, but a necessary one to keep us afloat. I watch Lee Johnson’s interviews every week and this guy cares. He’s the most open and honest manager we have had, he’s passionate, hard working and is prepared to try different things to try and find a winning formula with limited resources. The board, in bringing back Hammill (and possibly Colace), appear to be prepared to take risks and invest too, at a time when they could so easily just close the books and blame the manager.

The easy thing would be to sack the manager and bring in an a) or another b). If we bring in a) we have gone back 10 years and the future will be very bleak indeed. If we bring in another b) what have we gained? We will have lost 12 months of investment in the current regime and we will face starting again, yet again, with a very uncertain future.

I say again that Johnson is passionate, smart, hard working and hungry and the board in supporting him during such difficult times is admirable. And we have a core of very good players more than capable of holding their own in this league. Hammill, Winnall, Hourihane, Scowen, Pearson are already established and proven. Bree, Smith, Digby, Cowgill – these are just kids who need time and the freedom to grow and prove their potential. Yes there are risks – some of those will turn out to be rubbish, but with limited funds it’s the best we can do, and some will thrive and prosper given time. We will almost certainly need to bolster the team further and probably need to get rid of a few too, but I would argue we do have the kernel of a good side and wrapped around that is a manager that passionately cares, someone who has all the attributes but who is far from perfect and is still learning too. And behind him is a board who are prepared to invest (as much as they can and within reason) and give him the room to grow.

Barnsley will be a great club again, but to become great we have to go through some difficult times. There is no sticking plaster remedy here and ‘sack the manager’ is just that, especially when you don’t have funds to underpin it.

I say get behind the lads, the manager and the board. By all means continue to constructively question, continue to challenge, continue to care and to show passion, but give them the rest of the season to see what they can achieve, and then let’s judge.

 

So when LJ has taken them down, then what?

And it's all well and good talking about building but when 8 of the squad are not ours and could be gone in Jan it's hardly a positive is it?

 

All very well adopting this supportive and patient outlook, but it is currently running the very real risk of relegation, which would have a devastating impact on the rebuilding project. Lots of these players will leave and look for pastures new and we'll be starting all over again with new players, lower gates and a much reduced income. You might be right, but there's little evidence at the moment that Johnson will come good and pull the club away from the bottom of the league. And young players without confidence aren't the best types for a relegation dogfight...

 

But if we ditch the supportive and patient outlook we revert to sacking managers annually, and look where that has got us? All I'm saying is that I see no credible alternative. And if we don't rely on our young players how are we going to fund these experienced players you say we need for our impending dog-fight?

 

I agree loan players are a worry and far from ideal, but in an environment where money is scarce, needs must, and if all we did was rely on loan players and not develop youth I would agree, but we aren't doing that. As I said in my original post, loan players are a necessary evil in my view, but I do agree they're a concern if not managed properly.

And if LJ gets us relegated we need to start again, all I'm arguing it replacing him now would be short-minded in my view and actually increase our chances of relegation, not lessen them.

 

Two players out of 11 yesterday were "our" young players.

Digby has been banished by the head coach for one mistake yet someone else's young player has now done the same thing twice and remains untouchable.

A side that gets relegated or narrowly avoids it isn't one with saleable assets

I applaud you for your faith in LJ I really do. I just don't see anything from him and think he ran out of any idea of what to do weeks ago.

We are now hoping that a barely fit Adam Hammill will pull us out of the ***** before someone better comes along in Jan.

His team selections are often inexplicable and frequently contradict his pre match talking. Like Jackson being dropped for the pathetic Watkins.

 

Hold on, look at the statement when Wilson was sacked, look at the season ticket selling propaganda, none of this indicates more is scarce.

Whilst there is still a chance of staying up all must be done to take it. I've nil faith on what I've seen Johnson serve up, especially including and since the Blunts game last season that he had anything about him except patter.

 

Unless the next manager shows something worth backing. Then we'll not necessarily be back to sacking every year.

Who knows how the next appointment will turn out?

 

Thanks for that pal. Finally a bit of objectivity and reasoning..



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Heres another..



Get it packed and **** off.




(unless things improve drastically **10 wins on bounce**)

 

I'm with you all the way on this.

Personally prepared to accept relegation as part of a long term plan for stability. As you say our manager is bright and passionate, but still learning. He's honest, prepared to admit to mistakes, lacking in ego and wants to learn. I think we all agree that he 'talks' a good game, lets give him time to learn how to translate that onto the pitch. I have no doubt that Lee Johnson will become a very good manager, but it will take time. The only question in my mind is have the club got the b*llocks to stand up to those baying for him to go. I hope so. If we ever want to get back to a decent level we have to show maturity & patience.

Sacking the manager is a short sighted response that is 90% certain to fail.

We sacked Keef... cos he was sh*t...but it turns out he isn't.
We sacked Flicker... cos he was sh*it... but it turns out he isn't

People place too much emphasis on managers, I think they believe that they have total control of a clubs fortunes. Other than an elite 20 or so (e.g. Wenger, Fergie, Mourinho etc.) they don't. They are all pretty much the same. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don't. The list is endless.

Danny Wilson ... unbelievable first time round ... nowt to shout about anywhere he's been since.
Ian Holloway ... terrific at Blackpool ... other than that the archetypal journeyman manager.
Atkins .... thought deedars would walk the league when he was appointed ... they're not.
etcetera etcetera ... ad infinitum

Football is a confidence game... with it a team can be world beaters, without it that same 11 can look like a pub side. That team that got promoted to Prem weren't the best players in that league (we were favourites for relegation), we didn't have some magical formation, what we had was a team high on confidence which grew from the first match, and continued to grow through the season. I love DW, but that wasn't solely down to him, things just happened that way.

Right now our team are lacking in confidence and it shows. But I honestly believe that the team we have is very decent for this level. They just need confidence.

We're like addicts looking for the quick fix that's just not there. That manager that knows the mystical secret of success. Its not out there. Changing manager might see a change in fortunes, but it will be more about a change in confidence than any great managerial acumen.

What we need now is b*lls as big as a bus, patience, some humour and a little slice of luck. It'll come, just hold your nerve,

 

To be honest and to my knowledge Johnson has not shown any of the attributes you have listed. He is indeed the worst manager we have had in my lifetime, and as such he needs to go on his own merits (or should I say lack of them) and we must not get distracted by our penchant of firing past managers. He's the worst and will surely take us down or ruin the club for a generation. So what is the right thing to do I ask you? Stay with a co-co the clown or move forward and at least try to better the situation.?

 

"I say again that Johnson is passionate, smart, hard working and hungry" .....

I'd like to take issue with smart.
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Barnsley have been in decline since 97/98. In hindsight, whilst I loved every minute of the Premiership season, I can’t say it has benefitted the club in any way, shape or form. Firstly the fans got a disproportionate sense of expectation, making Oakwell in subsequent years a dour place to visit. I remember when we could laugh at ourselves.


Am with you on this...

 

Right, you've convinced me. Despite what my eyes have seen since he came in apart from the first few matches.

I now also think he'll become a very good manager. There's little or no evidence but ok I'll take it.

I'm also convinced that he is prepared to admit mistakes. I've not heard it happen but there you go.

If maintaining stability brings a consequence of relegation, so be it. He will get it right. One day.

 

cases are on offer at Dunhelm Mill....get him a couple and get his stuff packed

useless I am afraid

 

Sounds like we are lucky to have him. If the day does come when he gets it right a bigger club will come in for him and he will be off like a shot

 

Jesus wept.

 

I'd say a cry for LLLLLLLLJ to be sacked is not at all negative, indeed it is the necessary first step on the way back to positivity, positivity in playing style, positivity in selection and some 'effin positivity in the points column.

 

The pathetic Watkins who has the most assists in our squad?

 

Not saying much is it?