Most liked posts in thread: The implications of relegation

When GB went, I wanted a manager with potential. Pete Wild was my call and at the time, he was doing an excellent job at Halifax, leading them to the play offs. He did a great job at Oldham after the Paul Scholes debacle. Yes, halifax and Pete Wild have not hit the heights of last season.
Ian Evatt was mentioned, I think by @How whom I concurred with.
Evatt has got off to slow start but is turning things around, though it helps that he has been supported in the transfer market.

Point I'm trying to make is we do need to look beyond the obvious short term fix and it's going to need vision, planning and communication. Some of the names, I hear floated around, are wildly beyond our expectations. The last 12 months has made it crystal clear that the club are being financially prudent, so let's be smart and dangle the carrot, with a decent financial package, to up and coming managers, potentially outside the professional pyramid.
Is it anymore a gamble than McCall for example?

 

Ahaha I’m sorry.

I honestly have to agree and thank you. I dare say we’ll hear a pin drop at Valley Parade next season if Stuart McCall is still manager even if we survive the drop. If we could go back to matches now I would find it hard to drag myself over from Belfast if truth be told. I love the club but I think it’s time for fans to show that we want ambition and progress.

 

If coming to age Is offering a awful manager an extension to his contract then we are in deep trouble.

Unless McCall walks we have nowhere to turn.

 

Is that you Martin Drury?

 

I'm not convinced that Herr Rupp even understands that relegation is an option, let alone exactly what the disastrous consequences would be, especially the need to pay £375,000 a year rent on a 25,000 capacity stadium that shames a lot of Championship clubs.

It's said clubs love coming here as it's their cup final. That view is arrogant giving the number of times the L1 & L2 clubs have been here in the recent past, it might have been true the first time they came and for the league new boys, but in the National League, where a super stadium is one like The Shay, every single club who comes here will raise their game a notch and our chances of getting out are low.

Rupp needs to wake up and go talk to the Chairmen at Notts County, Stockport, Hartlepool, Wrexham and many other league stalwarts who haven't/ can't find a way back in.

Drastic times call for bold and drastic measures, and that means having "the car park chat" with Stuart and encouraging him to do the right thing for his beloved club. I'm 100% sure if Mark Lawn were still here he would be having it.

 

You should have captained the Titanic with that reassurance, matey.

 

Why do people just assume we’d be wound up or would die if we went down?

Why would Rupp want that to happen?

He must be in the top 4-5 owners in league 2 in terms of wealth. Yes he’d be propping it up, but I thought he was doing that anyway?

Genuine question.

 

a perfect example of how bringing in a new manager, who knows how to set up a team and knows his formations, can change results without changing players.

Are you reading this Mr Rupp/ Master Sparks

 

I think the issue is we won't look further than our noses. We seem to be in this short term, quick fix mode that never works. I'd love for a younger, experienced manager to be given a chance, but they have to be supported and allowed to bring their own team in. The fact that Hopkins and Bowyer were hamstrung by having to have Drury in the dugout, has probably had a massive influence on where we are today.

 

So we wake up this morning 22nd in the bottom tier, 1 point from the relegation zone.

McCall's stubbornness in not entertaining any free agents to strengthen the squad is backfiring on him badly. I believe this stance started in October. You cannot tell me that there wasnt a couple of decent out of contract players that could have come in and be now match fit and have improved our chances of staying clear of the relegation zone before the January window opens.

I cannot see us avoiding being in the bottom 2 now before the window opens. McCall's record of turning us around from a bad run is shocking. Even when he was sacked last time, I seem to remember we had lost 6 games on the bounce and there was no hint of him turning around.

History is repeating itself, just cannot see him turning this around now.

I know it's not going to happen, but we really urgently need a new owner to come in and bring his own CEO and management team in to avoid us sinking into non league oblivion.

Rupp, Sparks, McCall, Black, Drury out

 

Some really good points made. I agree with them mostly. I don't think sacking the manager a week after he signed an extension or less than 4 weeks to the opening of the transfer window is advisable either. It would take too long to get everything ready. I'd argue that giving the management team the backing enables this January window to be more successful. That will need to be proved with the signings and how they bed in with this baba squad we have.

I'd like to see at least 4 great quality signings in the window. Ideally, centre back, centre mid and left winger/left mid. I think McCall mentioned loans would be folk who are in the last year of their contract who we have targeted. A play before you pay kinda thing. Might work, might not but I think it's a sensible approach.

Getting this team away from danger MUST be the priority and MUST be achieved in 3 months or we are in massive trouble. I've got everything crossed for City that we achieve this.

 

You don't need to imagine it, just go to an early round League cup or group stage jackmeoff cup match and judge it for yourself.

 

Notts County, Luton Town.
Luton’s history in the last 50 years would certainly make them a bigger name than us winning the league cup and finishing in the top ten of the top tier.

 

Why do people keep insisting that we would go bust? Rupp would lose most if not all of his investment if that was to happen.
He might sell us to get out of it but he wouldn't just wipe 4 or 5 million of his money away by putting us in administration.

 

I've no doubt we'd go bust if we went down.

Nobody is going to try to operate this club in the National League with the drastically reduced income, they'd be losing six figures on a monthly basis in all likelihood.

It takes away the option of being bought out, and if you think Rupp is going to let the money he's wasted keep increasing, you're nuts. But it's either that or invest a big chunk to chase promotion, and we can see this season he's definitely not prepared to do that.

No club this size with overheads and a stadium this big has ever managed to get themselves into non-league as far as I'm aware.

 

I always try to be+positive because negative energy helps no one. However we have now lost 5 on the trot with difficult matches on the horizon.
Whilst I didn’t agree with it I could see the clubs point in wanting stability in management after what has happened since Parky left however it’s no longer about Stability it’s about survival.
We have five or six matches before we bring new players in who will take time to recruit and blend in during which time we could be out of sight we need pragmatism now a points at all cost philosophy and I don’t think Sadly Stuart is up to it. Bring Parky back till we the end of the season or somebody with his mindset.
Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to happen so we just have to hope or believe we can pick a few points up here and there to give us a chance

 

Be interesting to see how Callum Guy and Dean Furman perform. If they are even 70% of the players they used to be they would walk into our current midfield. I'm hoping they have lost it!