A few thoughts

I've not been to a game in a long, long while, so this is more of a general muse than of definitive statements...

Maybe Ritchie deserved to be sacked, maybe he wasn't up to the job of keeping BFC up and the board were right in agreeing with what seemed to me to be a reasonable percentage of fans (at least on here) who wanted him replaced. However as recent history has shown with fans calling for the head of a manager, it's an easy thing to do but then trusting the board to find a better one, and then having them actually do so, is a different story altogether. Far bigger clubs than BFC have tried and failed to do the same. Whatever the disagreements about Ritchie's sacking the fact was he brought stability to the club and then put together a side that got promotion, perhaps sooner than expected. No mean feat considering the number of managers and players we have been through in trying to avoid relegation and achieve promotion in recent years.

So suppose the club kept Ritchie and BFC ended up relegated at the end of this season. Down side - relegation and loss of money. Not so down side - keeping a manager who knows the club, the players, knows whats required to get out of the division we've been relegated back into and who has also gained experience of what's required in the division above us. After all the club has been through in recent years, would relegation with the same mananger who got us promoted been such a bad thing? Sure, no one wants to play in the division below us and financially it wouldn't have been great but neither would it have been, given the boards apparent prudence, such a financial disaster as in previous years. You might even argue Ritchie's achievement was far geater than Wilson's considering the complete mess that had come before him and the state of the club at the time.

Instead, whether you agree with Ritchie's sacking or not, in my view BFC took a step back to previous seasons and made a huge risk in sacking him. I was surprised at Davey's appointment, but I was more surprised that Ritchie was sacked in the first place. Not because I believed he could keep us up - having not been to games I couldn't know - I was just surprised at the fact that the board decided to take a massive gamble by actually sacking a man who had done so much for the club and believing that they could find someone who could do a better job.

So it seems to me we now risk the same old cycle again - Davey buys players, gets rid of ones he doesn't rate and then unless he keeps us up gets the sack. We end up back in the division below us with another manager, buying new players, dismantling the side and with the prospect that he ironically might not be as good as Ricthie! Cue more years of disallusionment.

Like I said, I dont know anywhere near enough, but from the sidelines, looking at things dispassionately, maybe we'd have been better sticking with Ritchie even had we been relegated - purely on playing percentages and looking at past history. Who knows, he might have kept us up anyway....

 

For somone who has not been, You got it in one mate

(casualty)

 

For somone who has not been, You got it all wrong

Which has to be expected cos you ant been
I would rather be in a state where I am now - feeling like ***** cos we missed out on potentialy a good striker such as Constantine than to be sat here thinking that the club were not even going to attempt to bring players in such as Constantine
I'd still rather have Davey than Ritchie
But it seems Davey is just the best of a bad bunch

 

Thats a really good post (clap)

 

RE: For somone who has not been, You got it all wrong

I'm genuinely confused as to why you wanted rid of Ritchie yet back a man who doesn't have any of the track record that he does. Im not being funny, but what makes you think Davey can do what Ricthie couldn't? I'm not saying he can't - I don't know, but looking objectively it seems odd to back Davey given his lack of experience in management at all, let alone keeping a side from being relegated with a disgruntled bunch of fans on his back.

 

Agreed 100%

You're much better at this than politics Andrew.</p>

Sorry, comrade.:$ </p>

 

Spot on.

The players, the same players that played tonight, were playing far better football for Ritchie. Maybe we would have gone down, but we would have gone down as a unit, fighting. Now it looks like we're going down with broken spirit, fans booing the team, the manager, the board, players looking dejected. How any one can say this is better than it was under Ritchie beggars belief.

 

quite possibly the best post I have ever read on here since I came here

very well thought and well put

 

I think one lesson we perhaps should all have learnt above all others as BFC fans is that sacking managers and replacing them at any point is a risky business. Out of interest, does anyone know how many BFC managers in the clubs history have got the club promoted and then been sacked halfway through the next season?

 

I'll explain

You probably ant been on here much either if yer asking me this
Here goes

Ritchie was a good motivator of players
But Shep last season said he wouldn't talk to the directors and he was regularly offered money for players and wouldn't accept it
Result - small weak squad with a sprinkle of good players

Shep tries to get him to strengthen the squad this season and AR still refused
AR gets sack
Brings in Davey, which is a massive gamble seeing that he is a rookie manager, but Davey could be a good manager (although it looks increasingly that he aint)
Straight away - 4 loan signings which strengthen the squad - although at the same time our best player leaves
So its 3 steps forward and 2 back
But Davey is now desperatly trying to bring players in
So in a nutshell Davey will strengthen the squad - unfortunatly it seems he hasen't got ARs skill to motivate players to their best ability
So at the moment we are as badly burnt as we are scolded
Although if Davey can get the new players to gel we have a better chance of staying up than relying on Ritchies buddy buddy tactics

 

RE: Agreed 100%

*throws beret away*

 

RE: I'll explain

Utter ******. </p>

Pure speculation about backroom events, with no evidence.</p>

Your own tainted opinions about a manager that was highly respected, rated and liked by all an sundry after the play-off final.</p>

&quot;So in a nutshell Davey will strengthen the squad - unfortunatly it seems he hasen't got ARs skill to motivate players to their best ability &quot;</p>

Motivation is football management 101 - it's everything. The generation of self belief far outweighs taking a punt in the transfer market in terms of being successful (See Wigan, Reading, et al).
</p>

 

RE: I'll explain

So it seems that you actually agree with me - calling for Ritchie's head as manager, as a fan, is fraught with danger because there's:

a) no guarantee as a fan who you will get in his place

b) no guaranatee that even if you like him he will do the job.

c) You run the risk of the club going backwards (again) if the resulting manager doesn't do the business.

Let's be honest here, there's very few managers available who could do what those thought Ritchie couldn't - keep us up. And even with them it's no guarantee. They might have succeeded elsewhere, but how many managers have we seen go to other teams and fall plat on their faces and fail?

 

E.I. Addio ...........get off my case.............school yard bully

As for speculation
Shep sat a few feet away from me and told me about Ritchie
And why should he lie
So no, not speculation, unless you are saying Shep lies in a public meeting

 

Of course theres the risk

A,B,C are all correct, but, and this is the gamble
Do you sit there knowing the squad int big enough - you are going into mid season with suspensions and injuries and in a relegation fight
OR
Do you try to get a manager in who will at least try to strengthen the squad even if you don't know if he can manage the players

I would go with the second option
But I would have brought an experienced manager in
Its looking like Shep as appointed the wrong man
Shep should do the decent thing...............but give it a few more weeks yet

 

RE: Of course theres the risk

So you backed Shep when he was appointed(?), backed Shep when he appointed Ritchie(?), backed Shep when he sacked Ritchie, backed Shep to appoint a new, better manager - but now he's appointed one you consider will be a failure you are suggesting he should stand down?

You do realise how silly that looks?

 

Why is it silly ???

I don't want Shep as Chairman, cos he aint a football man, but hes done a good job with the finance of the club
I didn't want Ritchie
I still wern't sure about Ritchie even on the bus back from Cardiff
and I didn't want Davey

As for Shep - he is responsible for the position we find ourselves in today
The buck stops with the Chairman
Give it a few more weeks, if it dunt change, Shep must go as Chairman
Could stay on board of director tho

 

RE: Why is it silly ???

Jesus, you must take some convincing.

 

We were clearly the 5th best team in that league.........but won on the day it mattered

I was saying all way through the end of last season we wouldn't get promotion
I was wrong
Luck was on our side
That luck has now done a runner

 

Don't suppose you fancy mounting a take-over bid? nt