Spineless leaders

I’ve got to say the pre & post match interviews this season have really worried me. I’ve not heard Hurst ever blame refs before to the level he has (he’s right, but it’s very unlike him) and the excuses for the performances this season really don’t seem to reflect what I’m seeing every week.

He was also asked if he can understand why fans don’t see this season as progress, instead of answering he went on some weird tangent about Saudi owners & how great everybody else is.

I really want it to work for him and especially us, but something feels off and he seems to be really struggling to address it. Even if we do something against the odds (and it riles me that it’s so unlikely), I still think we’ve got some big issues that aren’t very fixable unless he completely changes his style.

Clearly he'll be low on confidence and be all too aware of the mounting pressure on him.
As a manager he's got to be diplomatic in his answers and that's where it can come across as a lack of enthusiasm.

He's more of a calm nature.

And let's face it, our last venture with a larger than life media dream manager didn't do us any favours.  

Quoted from 141269

My sentiments exactly, only when you call somebody out for it the spotlight gets turned on you.  

I just wish people would think before they speak or type.  People aren't robots, they have feelings.
The players don't go out to lose and the manager does care.

If you wouldn't say it to somebody's face then don't say it at all.

My thoughts are that he always has to make a pointed remark about someone, whether it’s the fans or the players. He says he’s an experienced manager - he is - so he should be looking to get the best out of everyone, from the fans to the coaches.

Just wish he would be a little more honest about the previous match. I would feel more confident in him if he had said it was a poor game played by two poor sides on the day and had Eisa scored we may have gone on to win, deserved or not.

His suggestion that we had played quite well and we reacted well to going one down are just not an accurate reflection of what most of the fans thought they had witnessed. Not sure how he can address our poor form if he believes we are playing ok?

Anyway let’s just hope we see a sea change in the next three games and we can start breathing a little easier rather than looking how close to the bottom two we are getting!!

I don't think he's ever going to front up in a pre or post match interview and admit "yeah we've been shite and keep continually conceding rubbish goals" because of concerns about the impact of publicly admitting that on the players. He'll occasionally make shrouded references about players not doing what he wants and I'm sure behind closed doors he's been very clear about how unacceptable many of our performances have been this season, but he's always been very guarded with both his public praise and criticism of his players.

Now I'd argue that on occasion as a manager there are times when it does pay to be honest about individual and collective performances by the players (as well as your own as their manager), and now would be one of those times if only to keep the fans on board a bit more, but he's not that sort of manager and we'll just have to put up with his approach (unless he can't turn it around and does eventually get the sack).

What we forget is that managers at high level have a trained eye for things.  They see things differently to armchair managers like you or I.
They have the knowledge of statistical analysis of the opposition and set the team up essentially to counter them.  

We just think it's a case of selecting the best 11, picking a formation and sending them out to play.
It's far more intense, it's reacting to changes in opposition tactics, substitutions, injuries etc..

So whilst we might say the team were poor today, the manager might say they performed as he asked so therefore thinks they were ok.
Judging a manager on his media appearance would be way down my list of priorities.

From an elevated position we see the game differently to a manager at touchline level too.

He knows the players inside out, knows their capabilities and sees them on the training pitch so I have to concede he knows far better than me when it comes to being a football league manager.  

Of course there are better managers out there and inevitably at some point we are going to have to make a change.  
But like that big striker we are all clambering for you can't just pick a manager off the shelf.  They have to be available, affordable and want to come to us.  

Until then it's a case of supporting what we have and hoping it'll get turned around soon.

It never happened when John ran the place!

Quoted from exiledmeggie

It never happened when John ran the place!

We would be in scunnys league if he ran the place

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

We would be in scunnys league if he ran the place

But we are not far off Scunny at the moment, unless there is a change, we are heading again to Non League?