The manager is only part of the wider problem.

The issue is, successive managers have given us Championship footie for as long as we have followed the Reds. The current manager is just about giving us the same, but I think it is the fans who have given up on the idea and are almost expectant of something less. It's almost like the town has done a bit of soul-searching and decided we can't compete at this level any more. We have a core that is around 5k less than when I started following us in the bottom tier in the late 70's. The potential has always been there to increase it back to those levels but lack of know-how, ambition and initiative from the hierarchy has meant that many, myself included, find other things to spend their money on these days.

Yes, the football itself is cause for concern - we have seen we can play good stuff but the reality is we can't get the players with the quality to perform well enough consistently enough to see us through to safety in good time. The managers decisions are getting more baffling by the week and that point alone is enough to show he is under pressure. There is something about him though you have to admit - he gets fans talking and he is certainly a personality in a game sadly lacking in personalities. When times have been good, the fans have realised this and "Keith is our King" ..... when times have been bad, he is the first one to be blamed (goes with the territory) but is that because fans don't want to be seen to be having a pop at St Paddy ? (Who I will respect eternally for what he has done but am disrespecting more and more daily as his interest / involvement wanes). Keith can only work with what he has got ! !

So to change manager ? Not so sure. Some of the names banded about on here (S.O.D being the latest) are quality managers, some of them proven at this level. But they are only proven because they have had Championship style funds and Championship quality players. WE DON'T HAVE EITHER. We could appoint Guardiola - it wouldn't miraculously mean that we would draw the calibre of players he has been used to. We could appoint an out of work Prem Manager such as Hughes - same story, he couldn't sign the players he would like. Ditto if we signed a Championship Manager - WE ARE NOT EVEN IN A POSITION TO BUY QUALITY CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS. We all know that, we have moaned about it since we came back up, but generally we don't seem to accept it ? So our option is to appoint a manager who can pick the best of the bunch from lower leagues and Championship cast-offs and mould them into a team of tryers. And that is what we have - a team of tryers. A new boss would only have the same tools as Mr Hill - who is to say that they can work any better with them ?

And have we got the time / money to start tinkering with new appointments and all that that entails ? I don't think so. I'm as disappointed as the next man that we haven't moved forwards an inch since promotion but a core of 8k is not going to see us move forward I'm afraid.

Seasons Greetings; Happy New Year.

 

A new boss could, and this is a calculated guess, could, get the existing players far more organised in the basics, in defence, in moving the ball quicker, in finding more space quicker. I for one think we are not too far off being a decent team but unfortunately Hill doesn't have the ability, at this level, to get the players, his players, to produce the goods.

 

Fair enough mate, but as you say it is a "guess" and are we really in a position to take a gamble ? Cos it will be hard to start in League One with all the cash spent on paying off Hillcroft.

Not a good situation all round to be honest. What to do ?

 

Are we in a position not to gamble.

 

That's the $64,000 dollar question mate ! And I don't know the answer. (although 64,000 is probably closer to a £1.5million solution in todays mad world)

 

Well if you set the cost of paying the current regime up against the publiscised cost of relegation it is, in today's language "a no brainer"

 

no-brainer indeed. If we stay up ! ! Is that guaranteed ?

 

Procrastination is the thief of time. And we are running out of time. As I've said on here before there is no evidence to suggest Hill can turn this around.

 

if any fans have given up on the Championship its probavbly because the manager has been doing his level best to brainwash them into believing it for fking months punching above our weight shopping at Lidl etc. He sounds as though he's given up before we have started half the time.

 

No there aren't any guarantees and yes there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that hill has the ability or nous to pull things round

 

it's the moronic statements like the lidl one that just serves to alienate fans. cos hill thinks this himself he's got no fkin chance!

 

We are second bottom enough said