Direction of the Club a debate

Quite right so far we have a manger here for the third time who obviously has the heart and the determination and more importantly the backing of the fans to re establish the club but does he have the know how, personally I see him as our assistant manager being guided by a more experienced DOF
Billy Clarke (not sure if it's his third time) who I still think will turn out to be a poor signing but happy to be proved wrong and DMH second spell (least said the better) I think the long and short is Rupp has no idea about football and amazingly still sees us as an investment just wants to progress so he can get his money back plus a little profit (dreaming !!!!)
JR who thought he would ingratiate himself with the fans as the (again)returning messiah and now doesn't want to be here because the job as a progressive club is above him
We need forward thinking football men at the top with a plan and of course a chairman on board with the "dream" Until we get that looking sideways is the best we can hope for
The same for a lot of clubs it's going to be a long season for us with nobody to drive the club forward and no plan/direction how to do it

 

As you say 2/3 players of the right calibre can make so much difference to a squad.

 

I'd be very interested to know where we are roughly in the 5 year plan R+R told us about when they took over

 

You've heard the old saying :

"sometimes you have to take a step back, in order to go two steps forward" unfortunately I'm not sure it was Rahic's plan, 5 year or otherwise.

 

I know it's a bit boring, but is there any reason a previous manager and previous players absolutely cannot work? I'm not aware of one.

 

Think it worked when Stuart came back as a player.

 

And another legend Bobby Campbell.

 

There's a lot of 'the club us looking backwards', I'm not sure that's totally fair. The club is definitely looking for promotion, and aside from bringing Billy Clarke back, and of course Stuart (DMH was basically a contract renewal), it's all a bit overblown.

We have one key person returning in the boardroom, in the dugout, and on the pitch. Is it really that unusual?

How many times have Peterborough signed old players and old managers (Darren Ferguson).

Are they chronically backwards thinking too?

 

You mention Peterborough who have a record of paying good money for strikers then selling for big profit. I'll bet their next few striker targets are already prepped. McAnthony obviously believes that Ferguson has something to offer.

 

Up into the playoff positions already after a shaky start, Peterborough are a well run club. Toney sold for a big profit and some of that money gone toward Clarke-Harris who has already found the net this season. A lot of strategy goes into their signings, doesn't always work but over £60 million in player sales tell you they must be doing something right.

 

Tell me a club that isn't looking for promotion?

 

Liverpool.

 

It's an excellent way for a club to tread water.

Buy, sell, buy, sell - if you've got someone really good, ship them out and start again. Keeps the deficit at bay and allows them to maintain their position as a pretty good League One club.

Given the amount of moaning about Billy Clarke costing us promotion, it obviously isn't something City fans are looking for though.

Maybe I was actually right, and neither model is forward thinking enough? But they are for me.

 

If only we had the hats off thread still about...

 

Your last sentence contradicts itself.

 

I meant for forum frequenters.

I can't quite buy the idea a lack of progress would be made okay because we'd buy and sell strikers...

 

They've just sold Toney for millions plus add-ons and he's not the first. They use that money to pay for a top end L1 side that with a bit of luck and form could challenge for promotion. I'd say that's a plan. Where's ours?

 

It's definitely a plan, whereas our plan failed.

The plan was to sell the club to ambitious and wealthy owners who could take the club forward. That having not worked, the plan is to get back to where we were - a side on the fringes of the Championship, challenging to get in.

I would have to assume the plan is like the Parky plan - all resources in the first team. Given the apparent focus on youth under Stuart, though, it could be a long term plan to blood the clubs young players and make money that way.

I'm not sure, they haven't said outright.

 

I think we have to accept that unless the ownership of the club changes we're not going to get an overarching strategy for the club.

It's going to come down to the manager. That can be an opportunity and also a difficulty. Parkinson took over and got himself complete control and it went from there so it can work.

Long term its different, we need to get better as a whole but in the short term it's completely McCall's project for better or worse.

 

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