Doe anyone think Slade should stay ?

My mind has only been made up recently but does anyone now think Slade will take this club forward ?
Please leave your honest reasons why ? I think we've heard enough already why he should go

Well there's been a poll on Twitter, a straightforward Slade in or out vote, and the result's a bit shocking..

91% want him sacked, the surprising part is that there's still 9% who don't..

https://twitter.com/NinjaMariner/status/952462926945845250

Nope

I was disappointed when he was appointed in the first place.

Quoted from Bigdog

Well there's been a poll on Twitter, a straightforward Slade in or out vote, and the result's a bit shocking..

91% want him sacked, the surprising part is that there's still 9% who don't..

Scunny and Lincoln fans have commented on it with laughing emojis which suggests to me most of the 9% are them lot.

In bed

He needs to go, now!

Surely there is an emergency meeting of the board planned for either today or tomorrow? They can't have watched yesterday's display or seen the form table and thought all is hunky dory?

It's blatantly obvious from most of their decisions in the last six months that the board couldn't give two shits what the fans think so social media, in my opinion, is unlikely to play much of a role in any sacking despite the near hysteria on there. However, given that Fenty and Co have found themselves in this very position before, you'd like to think that their footballing acumen is not so terrible that they can't fail to recognise a side that is in free-fall and is not playing for the manager? I won't hold my breath.

Quoted from Bigdog

Well there's been a poll on Twitter, a straightforward Slade in or out vote, and the result's a bit shocking..

91% want him sacked, the surprising part is that there's still 9% who don't..

How many votes have there been, which Twitter is it on?

I’ve been behind him as I didn’t think yet another change is what the club needs but fooks sake there comes a point when u just realise the blokes lost it . He’s coming out with complete bollox in his interviews and this is mirrored in his teams pathetic performances .

Slade out

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

How many votes have there been, which Twitter is it on?

Edited my original post for you SM

I don't exactly want Slade to stay but am not overly keen for him to be sacked atm.  I will add this with the caveat that I haven't been able to get to too many games this season so have not been too often suffering what sounds increasingly dreadful. My issuse is I simply don't have any faith in the board to get the right person in, to not just allow the new manager to overhaul the squad completely wasting more money as we release players signed by Slade and he signs his own bunch of useless mercenaries who take forever to gel and so the cycle goes on.

I don't know what we do to be honest with our current board and non-chairmen in place as think they are responsible for trying to undo all the good work we (and they to be fair for their parts) achieved in getting back into the league.   .    

Quoted from mariner91

Surely there is an emergency meeting of the board planned for either today or tomorrow? They can't have watched yesterday's display or seen the form table and thought all is hunky dory?

It's blatantly obvious from most of their decisions in the last six months that the board couldn't give two shits what the fans think so social media, in my opinion, is unlikely to play much of a role in any sacking despite the near hysteria on there. However, given that Fenty and Co have found themselves in this very position before, you'd like to think that their footballing acumen is not so terrible that they can't fail to recognise a side that is in free-fall and is not playing for the manager? I won't hold my breath.

Why would there be after this previously:

The Board met yesterday and voted unequivocally to support the existing management team financially in the current January transfer window and throughout the summer to continue their rebuilding exercise of the playing squad.

Nothing has changed apart from yesterdays result.
In my opinion RS wasn't the correct choice from day one  but I can't see any advantage of sacking him in the middle of a transfer window.

Quoted from Stadium

Why would there be after this previously:

The Board met yesterday and voted unequivocally to support the existing management team financially in the current January transfer window and throughout the summer to continue their rebuilding exercise of the playing squad.

Nothing has changed apart from yesterdays result.
In my opinion RS wasn't the correct choice from day one  but I can't see any advantage of sacking him in the middle of a transfer window.

You're right, I don't expect there to be a meeting with our current board but I think a board who had an ounce of footballing acumen would be having a meeting and promptly. The body language of our players and the apparent fragility of any confidence they have shows that the manager isn't getting the best out of the limited group he has.  Given the performances of late and the almost irrefutable fact that if we don't score first we'll lose, it's got to a point where you have to think that the man in charge is no longer capable of motivating his team. Once he's lost the ability to instill confidence and belief in a team, it's very rare that he'll be able to turn that around.

If we had a few  more points on board you could argue that it would make sense in terms of stability to give the manager until the summer, allow him to clear out the deadwood and rebuild the squad (although that doesn't take into account how abject his recruitment has been, personally I don't want him to spend another penny). However, there is a very real possibility that we might go down. If that happens, I really fear for the future of the club in it's current form. Surely the board recognise the impending danger and would rather look slightly foolish and sack a manager so soon after backing him (it wouldn't be the first time anyway and it's not like we could think any less of our board) but in doing so could stop the unthinkable happening. Rather than sticking to their ill-advised and ill-thought out statement backing a past-it manager to try and create an illusion of stability and long-termism?

Those sort of statements are made by boards on the edge . I don’t see the backing they talked about happening so that tells anyone with an ounce of intelligence all you need to know .
Sladeys a dead man walking towards a nice little payoff the lucky t.wat

I’ll be honest actually thought he would be Alrite but clearly not my mind was made up yesterday

I think we should put the lad who was shouting at the top of voice saying “do something, change the formation” in the main stand yesterday in charge!

Well, you ask for honesty, in a way I think we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t

I guess on balance I would pay him (and Wilko) off, let Dave Moore run it until the end of the season, and pretty much work with the players we have, who with better motivation and some tactical nouse should achieve safety and relative stability

I’m afraid that’s the best we can hope for at this depressing and worrying time.

Quoted from OllieGTFC

I’ll be honest actually thought he would be Alrite but clearly not my mind was made up yesterday

I think you are like a lot of fans who thought he could repeat what he did for us last time he was here. That , coupled with his time at Cardiff and Orient, generated an opinion that he would be ok. The fact that he did nothing and was sacked at his two previous clubs seemed to have been ignored by his devotees. I never wanted him back based on his contempt for the fans and club when he finally left us and his last two appointments. He had " peaked " as a manager and he was becoming a " dinosaur " in his tactics and approach to the game.

just watch how comfortable he is in the interview with tonsure yesterday, sat down sipping a brew like nothings happened, continuously bullshitting his way through it all and won't even apologies to the fans for murder scene he's been putting us through all season. The guys a pillock and needs getting rid of asap along with his companion. RIP GTFC

Quoted from rancido

I think you are like a lot of fans who thought he could repeat what he did for us last time he was here. That , coupled with his time at Cardiff and Orient, generated an opinion that he would be ok. The fact that he did nothing and was sacked at his two previous clubs seemed to have been ignored by his devotees. I never wanted him back based on his contempt for the fans and club when he finally left us and his last two appointments. He had " peaked " as a manager and he was becoming a " dinosaur " in his tactics and approach to the game.

Yeah your probably right, thing is he knows these leagues I really don’t get it tbh something is not right at the club specially at the top it’s shambles, maybe right for Slade to take a break from football like most of managers do

Quoted from OllieGTFC

Yeah your probably right, thing is he knows these leagues I really don’t get it tbh something is not right at the club specially at the top it’s shambles, maybe right for Slade to take a break from football like most of managers do

He KNEW these leagues but not any more , judging by our performances of late. It's ok blaming what's at the top, to me that is another issue, but Slade is responsible for what players are at the club, who we play and how they play. Performances of late and in general demonstrate ( at least to me )  that none of these three criteria have been met by RS to produce a team capable of entertaining the fans and achieving anything other than mid-table ( at best ) mediocrity.
The most annoying thing is that JF didn't have to sack Bignot in the first place especially if Coventry hadn't sacked RS. I know there was talk of one or two senior players not liking Bignot's training regime but seeing as one of them went in the summer and the other is near the end of his career then surely that shouldn't really have influenced things. It seems more like a case of " the tail wagging the dog " and unfortunately JF appears to have listened to the " tail"

Quoted from rancido

He KNEW these leagues but not any more , judging by our performances of late. It's ok blaming what's at the top, to me that is another issue, but Slade is responsible for what players are at the club, who we play and how they play. Performances of late and in general demonstrate ( at least to me )  that none of these three criteria have been met by RS to produce a team capable of entertaining the fans and achieving anything other than mid-table ( at best ) mediocrity.
The most annoying thing is that JF didn't have to sack Bignot in the first place especially if Coventry hadn't sacked RS. I know there was talk of one or two senior players not liking Bignot's training regime but seeing as one of them went in the summer and the other is near the end of his career then surely that shouldn't really have influenced things. It seems more like a case of " the tail wagging the dog " and unfortunately JF appears to have listened to the " tail"

It was significantly more than one or two and included one of his own January signings (Clements) allegedly. Getting rid of Bignot was not the mistake. This is the same Bignot who's Chester side lost against those part-time footballing giants East Thurrock United yesterday and has managed 4 wins from 20 games. And before you say "different club, different circumstances" or something along those lines, you've just spent the last half hour saying how Slade's last two sackings prove he was a "dinosaur". You can't have it both ways. Personally, I'm of the opinion that they're both shite but both manage to get jobs because they talk a good game.

As it stands our board has made one good managerial appointment in the last 16 years and that was made because their top targets (who are all much further down the pyramid than Hurst now) all said no. They made the right choice in getting rid of Bignot but Slade was a very poor appointment. They need to take their time when Slade is sacked (he will be eventually) and get some external guidance to make sure they don't make a third terrible appointment in a row

What's his payoff- £120,000ish?
A lot of money. We could buy a good striker for that
That's not to mention his back room staff of which there are what, 3?

Well where are those players now, with the performances worse than under bignot?

Why would all the backroom staff need to go, I assume the next manager will need a strength and conditioning coach and a sports scientist?

Also that 120k is quickly replaced when match day income returns to it's pre Slade level.

'Fenty' thinks so , by keeping Slade,  Fenty keeps the pressure off himself , if the current run continues ,then JF can then sack RS ,and then tell us he's listened to the fans

After my rantings of last week i decided to just sit back and see what happens in the window. The club made their statement and i thought, ok, let's see what you do, over to you. But i do worry about the direction we are heading and can see similarities to when we fell out of the league, so will air my thoughts on this.

I think it's more important to look at the appointment to begin with. The club must have known (and if they didn't, they should have) that the hiring of Slade would be massively divisive and that he wouldn't be afforded the same leeway as another manager would simply because of his past. We now have a manager who is deeply unpopular and is losing games too, which is an untenable position. I think it's more than likely we will lose the next 2 games as well and the pressure will just keep ratcheting up. I don't think i have heard manager out chants so quickly in a tenure as this one. All i hear at every game is, "we shouldn't have brought him back" and i think the board, not for the first time, have totally misjudged the fans feelings.

I also think it was a lazy appointment. The board decided for good or bad that Bignot had to go and from the rumblings we have heard, it seems he was causing havoc behind the scenes, so fair enough. We are safe in the league and have the rest of the season to find the right guy. But it is now apparent that instead of sacking Bignot and then looking for a new manager, the manager being available was the reason Bignot went when he did. A 'perfect' solution was there for the taking as far as the board were concerned and Slade could come in with no pressure and spend the rest of the season assessing the squad. I think the appointment of Wilko was to assuage the fans and i very much doubt he was requested by Slade. He looks like he was shoehorned into the job and i have no knowledge of him ever doing anything of note in the game on the management side anywhere else. Subsequent signings of players linked to Wilko's past have largely been a complete dud, so one has to ask about his role in all this too. In short, the club have got it wrong again i am afraid to say.

So where do we go from here? I'm certain that JF will be running all this through his head right now and i don't envy him. Do you stick, or do you twist when the future of the football club is once again on the line? It should never have got to this stage, but somehow at GTFC, it always does.

I never called for Hurst or Bignot’s head but I am desperate for Slade to get the sack. We play dreadful dreadful garbage football. Of his signings only Dembele looks quality. Hooper, Dixon and particularly the truly god awful Kelly wouldn’t get games in the national league north.

Since this time last year we’ve got rid of Bogle, Disley, Pearson and look where it’s got us.

If we don’t get rid of this of duffer now we’ll be stuck in a relegation dog fight.

SLADE OUT

Even if he does turn it around and we finish in the play-offs (extremely unlikely) I rarely do not like his style of football or how he sets a team up.

Quoted from horsforthmariner

I never called for Hurst or Bignot’s head but I am desperate for Slade to get the sack. We play dreadful dreadful garbage football. Of his signings only Dembele looks quality. Hooper, Dixon and particularly the truly god awful Kelly wouldn’t get games in the national league north.

Since this time last year we’ve got rid of Bogle, Disley, Pearson and look where it’s got us.

If we don’t get rid of this of duffer now we’ll be stuck in a relegation dog fight.

SLADE OUT

We never really “got rid of Bogle” but we largely squandered the money IMHO.

I completely agree with you. What frustrates me is yesterday at least half a dozen times Dembele, Mills and Davis all got in good positions to put the ball in the box but amounted to nothing as they either did not have the composure or there was nobody in space that is purely down to poor coaching and nothing else.

Quoted from marinernige

'Fenty' thinks so , by keeping Slade,  Fenty keeps the pressure off himself , if the current run continues ,then JF can then sack RS ,and then tell us he's listened to the fans

I bet he doesn't, he's probably working behind the scenes sounding out replacements. Remember when Bignot went Slade was magically crowned the next day.  I don't think we even lost the final game under MB the decision had already been made. Personally, I would rather he advertised it properly to see if we can get some real quality candidates applying, this is still a good job in football. The last few managers we have approached, I don't think we have actually got anyone on the open market since Mike Newell.

[quote=2]

I bet he doesn't, he's probably working behind the scenes sounding out replacements. Remember when Bignot went Slade was magically crowned the next day.  I don't think we even lost the final game under MB the decision had already been made. Personally, I would rather he advertised it properly to see if we can get some real quality candidates applying, this is still a good job in football. The last few managers we have approached, I don't think we have actually got anyone on the open market since Mike Newell.[/

The problem isn’t the recruitment channel it’s the person doing the recruitment.

Quoted from mariner91

It was significantly more than one or two and included one of his own January signings (Clements) allegedly. Getting rid of Bignot was not the mistake. This is the same Bignot who's Chester side lost against those part-time footballing giants East Thurrock United yesterday and has managed 4 wins from 20 games. And before you say "different club, different circumstances" or something along those lines, you've just spent the last half hour saying how Slade's last two sackings prove he was a "dinosaur". You can't have it both ways. Personally, I'm of the opinion that they're both shite but both manage to get jobs because they talk a good game.

As it stands our board has made one good managerial appointment in the last 16 years and that was made because their top targets (who are all much further down the pyramid than Hurst now) all said no. They made the right choice in getting rid of Bignot but Slade was a very poor appointment. They need to take their time when Slade is sacked (he will be eventually) and get some external guidance to make sure they don't make a third terrible appointment in a row

I never said Slades last two sackings proved he was a dinosaur but his tactics and approach do. We will never know how Bignot would have performed this season but we certainly know how Slade has done. You say that you think Slade will eventually be sacked but also that he was a poor appointment . On that basis would you have sacked Bignot when we did or persisted with him until this season ? I maintain that there was no need to get rid of Bignot  especially after achieving his target set by the Board. It was a shoddy trick , much akin to a company giving a salesman his sales target for the year and then promptly sacking him when he had achieved it.

Quoted from rancido

I never said Slades last two sackings proved he was a dinosaur but his tactics and approach do. We will never know how Bignot would have performed this season but we certainly know how Slade has done. You say that you think Slade will eventually be sacked but also that he was a poor appointment . On that basis would you have sacked Bignot when we did or persisted with him until this season ? I maintain that there was no need to get rid of Bignot  especially after achieving his target set by the Board. It was a shoddy trick , much akin to a company giving a salesman his sales target for the year and then promptly sacking him when he had achieved it.

I would have sacked Bignot because it was so blatantly obvious he wasn't up to the job. What were his actual positives? He inherited a very functional and competitive side from Hurst. He went about completely destroying that and we were on the end of some absolute drubbings, not even always against good teams either.

He came in like a bull in a china shop and immediately alienated a good portion of the playing squad by claiming we weren't "technical" enough, whatever the hell that means. What sort of man management is that? You've just been gifted a team sitting in the play offs and you come in and tell them that?! No wonder a lot of the team never seemed to take to him and the spirit that had got us promoted and was evident at games like Luton away last season disappeared. That strikes me as someone who doesn't think about what they're saying and his interviews were further evidence of that. Talking a lot but saying nothing would be a generous way to sum them up. There was also the incident with Dean Henderson, which was such horrendous management that Man U thought it better to remove the lad so he wasn't around the idiot, even though it meant denying him game time.

After nearly 30 games nobody knew what the game plan was, nobody could see any kind of approach or tactics or that it looked like he was working on the training pitch to get us to play a certain way. There didn't seem to be any sort of game plan and the players generally looked like they didn't know what their roles were, go on any just back thread from his time here and you will see countless comments pertaining to that. The argument that he was testing players capability to adapt to different positions is cobblers. He'd been playing people in weird positions almost from the word go, when he still needed to get points on board and there was still a very real possibility of getting in or at least near the play offs.

He showed zero tactical accumen, it would take me all day to list the number of basic and obvious errors he would make. But here are some that stand out. His insistence on playing with a back five for a while because we'd won a couple of games playing like that, despite the fact it was painfully obvious that we didn't have the players for it (on the right side) and it meant we had no width whatsoever going forward. His decision to just throw on four strikers away at Stevenage because we were losing but we lost all sense of balance or shape and it was literally Sunday league level management. His playing of a not fully fit, 35 year old at wing back against Portsmouth of all teams where he was so over-run it was embarrassing and painful to watch. Or his insistence that Gavin fucking Gunning was a good enough footballer to play in midfield.

On top of all that, his business in the transfer market was iffy at best. Yussuf, Gunning, Maxwell and to date, due to injuries, Asante were all abject failures. Osborne seems to lack the personality to make it as a professional which probably explains why he was 25 and had only been playing in the National League for a few months. Clements has the jury out but there's probably a reason why Mansfield were quite happy for us to take him. Leaving Jones as a good signing.

Bignot was the right sort of appointment; looking to build for the future with a young, ambitious manager. Unfortunately he showed very little whilst here to suggest that he was the person we should put faith in to do that. If the board had done their due diligence, they'd have seen that his success at Solihull was not due to some grand masterplan but due to being in the right place at the right time when financial problems at Kidderminster and Nuneaton allowed him to pick up some good players for that level who lived locally. He's showing at Chester exactly how good he is and if you venture on to their forums you read exactly the same sort of things that people complained about here such as "little tactical nous", "players unsure of their roles" and "alienating some of the squad". Just because Slade was the wrong man to replace him with does not mean it was the wrong decision to get rid of him in the first place.

I think that's absolutely correct.

Genuinely I'm torn.

Part of me thinks he needs more time. He's an experienced manager who should be capable at this level and, given time, he will shape this squad into something decent - perhaps he just needs a couple more pivotal signings, and it could turn things around for the better. We had some great form up until recently.. so surely the know how and the ability are there - they just need to find the right formula. Additionally, part of me thinks that one element of our failure is the negativity and pessimism from our own fan base - something I'm as guilty of as anyone else. I've said in other threads, I've no doubt some of the lads are out there reading this very forum, reading the criticism on Facebook and on Twitter - I'm sure it's extremely demoralising and disheartening. Many of them are not thick skinned, seasoned football professionals.. they're young lads. If we backed them unequivocally through rough periods like this, perhaps they'd rebound back a lot better?

But on the flip side of the coin.. part of me thinks that Slade was a poor choice. Looking at his record not only with Grimsby, but also with other clubs since, it's not exactly been great. I always liked Bignot but I take onboard the points made above in mariner91's excellent post. Slade has had the chance to build the squad he wanted and it's under performing badly. He continues to make decisions that the majority of the fan base cannot fathom, he seems to be in dream land when interviewed about how games were lost and seems completely alienated from the fans - in so much as he just can't accept he's not doing a good job and apologise.

So after all that - do I think he should go? I'm not sure at this point whether good results could win over the fans who want to see the back of him, but I think he deserves a bit more time. But if the results continue to be terrible, he's got to be booted before we get into a relegation battle as we just CANNOT go back down to non-league.

The 'good form' you mentioned coincided with back to back games against  the bottom two, something which isn't likely to happen too often.

Over the last 6 games we have the worst record in the entire division with just 1 point.

No matter what we think of him I cannot believe that JF would be so stupid to allow the club to get relegated again.

I would suggest or really expect JF to act if we were to drop within 6 points of a relegation spot, if not before.  

Sadly JF/Board oversaw us go 26 games without a win under Woods and appointed him Manager during this abject spell. I remember Woods first game in charge at home to Bradford and to this day it was the most shameful GTFC performance I have ever witnessed at home.To answer the opening question NO I don`t think he should stay but clearly JF and the board did last week.On that basis they need to back their man in this transfer window with proper cash for signings and clear the decks of deadwood from the playing staff. Woolford,Vernon,Hooper,Kelly,Mccallister,Dixon for starters cancel their deals by mutual consent and get them out.Then the next batch if they are not going to be played get them out Cardwell,Clements,Asante,Killip and Osbourne.I am saying get 11 out and probably 3 quality players in on decent money and that to me is Slade Managing and the board backing his judgement.This probably won`t happen it would take balls and cost money not a trait Slade or the board have shown previously.I also think Slade needs to either and again unlikely completely change his style of play or bring in players who are better suited.The most obvious Slade type battering ram forward I can think of is Rhead at Lincoln I can just imagine how that signing would go down lol.The man`s an out of touch dinosaur who`s greatest ability is to talk BS and some people namely our board buy into it.SLADE OUT

Quoted from chicaneuk

Genuinely I'm torn.

Part of me thinks he needs more time. He's an experienced manager who should be capable at this level and, given time, he will shape this squad into something decent - perhaps he just needs a couple more pivotal signings, and it could turn things around for the better. We had some great form up until recently.. so surely the know how and the ability are there - they just need to find the right formula. Additionally, part of me thinks that one element of our failure is the negativity and pessimism from our own fan base - something I'm as guilty of as anyone else. I've said in other threads, I've no doubt some of the lads are out there reading this very forum, reading the criticism on Facebook and on Twitter - I'm sure it's extremely demoralising and disheartening. Many of them are not thick skinned, seasoned football professionals.. they're young lads. If we backed them unequivocally through rough periods like this, perhaps they'd rebound back a lot better?

But on the flip side of the coin.. part of me thinks that Slade was a poor choice. Looking at his record not only with Grimsby, but also with other clubs since, it's not exactly been great. I always liked Bignot but I take onboard the points made above in mariner91's excellent post. Slade has had the chance to build the squad he wanted and it's under performing badly. He continues to make decisions that the majority of the fan base cannot fathom, he seems to be in dream land when interviewed about how games were lost and seems completely alienated from the fans - in so much as he just can't accept he's not doing a good job and apologise.

So after all that - do I think he should go? I'm not sure at this point whether good results could win over the fans who want to see the back of him, but I think he deserves a bit more time. But if the results continue to be terrible, he's got to be booted before we get into a relegation battle as we just CANNOT go back down to non-league.

With the run of poor results stretching back to mid-October and poor performances (barring a handful) stretching back to the beginning of the season, not scoring in 11 out of our last 17 matches, a dwindling support, strong evidence of lack of acumen in the transfer market, lack of funds, a very slow and un-athletic team, players clearly low in confidence, bottom of the form league table, predictable tactics, a manager with a very low win percentage in his last few seasons and still 19 games for the teams behind us to catch up.. does anyone still think we're not in a relegation battle?

Keeping one's nerve, hoping for the best or just seeing what happens over the next few weeks just won't cut it. This board have always been reactive and not proactive in everything, not just footballing matters, and still get it wrong. The game of football has always been won by proactive people.. but then again you've got to have a bit of nous to act with a bit of foresight..

Quoted from 1mickylyons

On that basis they need to back their man in this transfer window with proper cash for signings and clear the decks of deadwood from the playing staff.

Personally, I believe that the reason that RS has clearly got the backing of the board(ie JF) is precisely the opposite.

Most managers in this position would be pleading with the board for a chance to strengthen in this window.
As I've mentioned before, at the fans forum, talk of the Jan window was pretty much brushed aside by BOTH JF and RS and I did post at the time I didn't expect to see much happening.  Slade still doesn't seem to be overly bothered about getting anyone in (unless they are cheap), has pretty much indicated that this season is over (something for which Bignot was rightly vilified) and is looking to build during the summer.
From a financial view to 'the board' it's music to their(ie his) ears. Unless we are in absolute dire circumstances in the league (and I still don't think that will happen), nothing will be spent and RS will still be here.  I think that as long as he is prepared to stay cheap, RS's job is safe and he knows it.

Quoted from Civvy at last

Personally, I believe that the reason that RS has clearly got the backing of the board(ie JF) is precisely the opposite.

Most managers in this position would be pleading with the board for a chance to strengthen in this window.
As I've mentioned before, at the fans forum, talk of the Jan window was pretty much brushed aside by BOTH JF and RS and I did post at the time I didn't expect to see much happening.  Slade still doesn't seem to be overly bothered about getting anyone in (unless they are cheap), has pretty much indicated that this season is over (something for which Bignot was rightly vilified) and is looking to build during the summer.
From a financial view to 'the board' it's music to their(ie his) ears. Unless we are in absolute dire circumstances in the league (and I still don't think that will happen), nothing will be spent and RS will still be here.  I think that as long as he is prepared to stay cheap, RS's job is safe and he knows it.

I think exactly the same Civvy but the board said on last weeks statement they would back Slade and on that basis he needs 2-3 quality players in.This team does not function he has an absolutely massive pool of players to pick an eleven from but like the fans he doesn't rate them either.

My biggest fear is that the club is sleepwalking into trouble. There was mention of mid table in their statement and also of building in the summer. I'd like to remind the club that we have to still be in this league in the summer for that to happen and if we carry on with this form, that will become less and less certain. You could argue we have time to sort it out, but on the flip side, the teams below have plenty of time to catch us. They have already made up 2 of those points and some have a game in hand.

It is reminding me of the England set up, who keep telling us that we have great players coming through for he future, almost absolving them of any expectation at a tournament, and then they lose to Iceland. There always seems to be this mythical golden future, which remains just that.

The club need to act now, not in the summer, and if we go down again, that will be it for many fans.

Truth be told, I'm very surprised that we find ourselves in this position given Slade's huge amount of experience.

His style of football was relatively pragmatic, but during his first spell, he signed some decent players and we really ought to have won promotion, but just never quite got the one or two results against the better teams which would have clinched it. We had real pace in Reddy and Cohen, real footballing intelligence in Lump, experience with Whittle at the back, Macca, Croft and Newey as good quality full-backs, athleticism with Bolland in midfield and we ended up with two 6'7" centre-halves so we had set pieces at both ends covered. I'd actually say that the addition of Woodhouse didn't help a great deal because we went a bit too direct and became a team looking for him to put set pieces into the box for the heads of Jones and Futcher.

This time around, however, he hasn't signed anyone with pace, hasn't signed anyone with great physicality or athleticism (Osborne in defence aside), we don't have aerially dominant centre-halves (though they are decent enough players), the full-backs aren't as capable and we're just generally lacking. Given the make up of that team which lost the play-off final under Slade, I'm amazed he's signed many of these players.

My theory is that he's become blinded by science with all the statistical information available these days due to those little bra-type trackers they wear as you can hear in his interviews when he uses Opta-speak, for a better description. Conceding too many goals at corners/set pieces? Bring everyone back in defence and reduce the number slightly. The stats will no doubt back him up, but the obvious thing that everyone else can see - that we've got no chance of a breakaway goal and we're just putting ourselves under repeated pressure as the ball keeps coming back into the box - is just missed.

Similarly when he commented something about the stats showing Woolford being in all the right areas more often than not. As is obvious to most observers, it really doesn't matter what areas you are in if you aren't getting the ball or influencing the game!

I don't see him being sacked by Fenty in the immediate future (and who the heck would we replace him with in any case?), so my only hope is that he manages to sign a couple of players who would have fitted into the 2005/06 team. Ones more like Reddy/Cohen/Lump/Jones obviously and not the Mendes or Goodfellow sort! A couple of better players would improve things greatly straight away.

i believe uncle Fester, ( Mr Slade)  said he had some" unfinished business" when he took over, did anybody ask him what it was ? after screwing us at Cardiff in the play offs , what dastardly plan has he concocted for us this time.  I didnt want him, i dont want him, but he is here to stay, God help us.

Slade is either going to stay,resign or get sacked. Whatever happens we need contingency plans-do we have them-I very much doubt .How many supporters go along with Slades thoughts that we are still in with a chance of promotion.?  He is taking the pyss . Does he really think we are that stupid to take in anything that he says. Some of the things that he says makes me think that there is something seriously wrong somewhere. Come on J.F. offer the man a way out that he is able to take without losing too much face.  You know you want to.

Quoted from Maringer

My theory is that he's become blinded by science with all the statistical information available these days due to those little bra-type trackers they wear as you can hear in his interviews when he uses Opta-speak, for a better description. Conceding too many goals at corners/set pieces? Bring everyone back in defence and reduce the number slightly. The stats will no doubt back him up, but the obvious thing that everyone else can see - that we've got no chance of a breakaway goal and we're just putting ourselves under repeated pressure as the ball keeps coming back into the box - is just missed.

I think Newport proved with their second goal (from our poorly executed corner) exactly why you don't bring 11 men back at a corner.

As a football fan, i still have to believe we have a chance at promotion, otherwise what is the point? It's not beyond the realms of possibility to have a change in form and sneak into the play offs and i would expect any manager to make noises to that regard. We slated Bignot last season for giving up on them too early. Immediate worry for me though is to start moving back up the table away from danger.

Whether we actually think RS is capable of moving us in the right direction is another matter entirely. Of course he has to point out how average this league is and how any team can suddenly move up with a bit of a run. He can hardly come out and say, "this season is done and it's all about survival" can he?

Appoint a Director of football e.g Buckley or someone similar whom Slade is answerable to which piosses Slade of so much he resigns Simples.

Just a couple of weeks ago despite our drop in form I wasnt unduly concerned with our league position. The football was dull (no boring as intercourse) but i felt we had enough to stay out of trouble. i have never been a fan of Slade . One of the most overrated managers around imho. How on earth did he get as far as the Championship???? Beggars belief.

He's never achieved anything in over 20 years and is certainly not the guy to take us forward. But we were nearer the play offs than the bottom so I felt a change could wait until in the summer.

However our alarming decline tells me something needs to be done now. Chesterfield have started to pick up and i think they will finish above Town come May. 34 pts from 28 games for Town now. Probably need 5/6 wins from the last 18 games. You'd think that would be well within our means but the way the things have really gown downhill in the last month you wonder where the wins will come from. A message for Slade..you have to score goals to actually win games. Our hopes I think now rest on Barnet and FGR remaining shite enough to save us.

The board (Fenty) talk about backing the manager and bringing in better players. But I dont trust Slade to identify these players.

The 'tactics' arent effective. The football on show is amongst the worst I have seen in over 40 years of watching Town. I have tried to forget the football under Mickey Lyons , but this drivel we are having endure I actually think rivals that .The players look like they've lost belief in the manager, the fans are voting with their feet.

The worst part is that Slade does not know how to change it. He has no in game management at all. It's not working yet we continue with the same shite. Substitutions are always like for like. No change in formation or change in what we are doing. I dont think anyone on here would do the job any worse quite frankly. Same goes for the rest of the coaching staff. Either they dont have any ideas themselves or Slade isnt listening. Either way the whole lot need to go. And go now. I dont have any real answers right now as to who to appoint next. Dave Moore as caretaker until the end of the season if needed. Does anyone think that  could be any worse than what is happening right now?

But ultimately John Fenty needs to admit to himself that this latest in a string of bad decisions he has made over the years has shown it is time for him to step aside. He might say he isnt the Chairman but he is clearly the man in charge. The rest of the faceless board need to look in  the mirror  and ask themselves WTF am I doing for this club?

I understand Fenty's financial hold on the club is probably a hindrance on any potential new investors (if they are indeed any out there). I dont doubt Fenty genuinely loves the club and wants it to progress. He must realise he needs to  let someone else take control of the running of the club whether he remans in the boardroom or not.

Back in 2016 we were a club with long term strategy and a strong, supportive and united fanbase. Paul Hurst left and to my suprise they stuck with their vision, employed another up and coming manager, we were a  revitalized club that had learned many lessons from relegation and were going to be a gateway for none league talent to come into the football league where other league clubs were leaving resources untapped, as we used to. This was a succesful and profitable strategy. Then when Bignot turned out to be niave and seemed to think it would be ok to use over half a season as an experimental mess about season, we scrapped all that, everything we had learnt and decided to hope for a more successful repeat of 2006. Except everyone will remember 2006 was a blip in our spiral out the football league,and now were looking more like 2007/8, the pour cash on the flames approach, if we were 5 points lower in the table I think we'd have seen double the transfer movement, if we were 5 points higher, possibly within an outside chance of playoffs and success, I think we'd have seen no transfer activity whatsoever.

There needs to be changes on our board, new heads with new ideas