What I don’t understand is..

We will have to agree to disagree then. My 3,000 is a conservative estimate. I suspect it could be even more as many of those are kids tickets who will find something else to do if it bores them and there are enough hardcores on here who have already given up to make a 20% reduction quite possible.

Lets see how many turn up tonight, yes the official attendance will be 14,000 plus but I would be amazed if there are half that number actually in the ground.

 

Yet he wiil trust the experienced Threkfield and Gillead.

 

Not at all. My point isn't around sacking managers, its around the fact that its the managers who create the success not the CEO, and whilst Parky struggled at first you could see signs of improvement.

I'm not doing anyone a disservice. Managers make success at football clubs. Pick the right one, acknowledge he is making improvements even if slowly and stick with him. We did that with Parky, we did that with Dolan (until some fool decided to get rid) and we did it with Cherry.

I haven't said this isn't Rupps fault, I've said its not him who creates the epoch at a club. We've only had one owner in my lifetime who actually made more of a difference than the manager by throwing money at it (which wasn't even his money) and look where that got us ? The other times the success has been built through a manager creating something tangible.

Why do clubs call in Big Sam to save them from relegation ? Not because the owner has changed or the level of backing has changed, but because the new manager can get a tune out of the players.

Rupp has a massive level of responsibility in where we are, but it's too simplistic to say things wont get better whilst he owns the club because we all know that (if by some miracle) the right manager came along to manage the right players that could change in a very short period.

As things stand, it's Derek Adams that is draining the life out of the club. Ultimately appointed by Sparks who was appointed by Rupp. In the long run, all three have to go, but be careful what you wish for because changing the owner won't change the sterile tactics on the field.

 

The manager and our second half no show

 

I wasn’t going to get a season ticket this season but for the chance to sample live football for the first time in 18 months, the life has been drained out of the club with the last 9 managers with one common factor, of course you can pin blame on Adams for individual games but not where we are as a club. We’d just finished 15th in league 2 and are technically just about above that, I don’t think Adams is the right man long term. But a choice between those 3 to go and it’s Rupp every time. Id rather see an owner come in with his own vision and hire a CEO and manager to match than keep going through managers in the hope our saviour comes.

As for Parkinson you remember history a bit different to me which is fair enough, but there were times that season I was convinced we’d go down and many called him Plonkinson all season, nobody could have predicted what was to come after that 11/12 season. Also I’m no fan of sacking managers straight after a transfer window, it just highlights you as a pathetically run club. Id rather wait until the spring to get someone in then they wouldn’t be as involved with this squad of deadbeats and would have plenty of room to change things.

 

We will just have to agree to disagree, as all good debates should when you have differing opinions. Parky was a hero for me from day one, mainly due to him having "empty chaired" the Dogs. Although I do admit I did call him out during the 6.0 drubbing at the hands of Bristol City.

Lets wait and see what happens after our annual manager sacking day (Oldham away).

I don't like Rupp anymore than you do, but my view is that he is the shareholder and it's the people paid to run the club who make the most mistakes.

 

Fair enough regarding Parky, but I don’t remember to many compliments to him at the time.

Regarding Rupp, he is the one who hires these people that’s one of the big issues, he has no interest or knowledge in football and it shows. Which other club would hire a 20 odd year old with no previous higher level management at all let alone in football to be CEO about 2 years after he was handling the Twitter page if that? Maybe when David Whelan passed Wigan onto his Grandson, but I bet he was still very hands on behind the scenes and gave him a good education on how to actually run a club! That’s a clear sign of neglect to me and unforgivable and quite frankly dangerous. I doubt any owner buys a club thinking, I’ll piss loads of money away and run it into the ground, same as I wouldn’t expect a manager to deliberately come in and lose matches on purpose. That doesn’t mean Rupp shouldn’t be the one held accountable, he holds the purse strings so it’s his responsibility, as it was Lawn and Rhodes before.

I can’t remember Jeffries was it or Jewell still getting the blame for GRs 6 weeks of madness, yes obviously he was hands on but either way your have to take responsibility when at the top it’s why they have the money!

 

Even if his age or experience isn’t a barrier which even higher up I’m not aware of many of these out of the box appointments that work? You still have to have a passion for Football imo to work in a high level position within a football club, Sparks had never shown any interest in Football before 3 years ago as I’m aware he was into rugby and that’s where he started his career. So how can someone like that be left to make such big footballing decisions? I’ve no issue with him being in the business side of things, but if we at lease had a football director and more infrastructure with footballing knowledge then the same mistakes might not keep happening. But until you get a competent owner with a passion for football especially at this level then you won’t get the infrastructure correct.

Let’s not pretend Sparks was hired to think outside the box, he was as cheap a CEO as Rupp could get, that’s the only reason he got the gig.

 

Again you are comparing apples and oranges though, I don’t have a traditional mindset point I’m making is we need some footballing men in higher ranking positions. Without knowing the club infrastructure at United when Gill was there, I’m sure he had enough people with footballing knowledge and importantly footballing connections to get by. Other than Adams we literally have nobody at the club with any connections in the footballing industry, name me other teams like that?

 

Neither. Jewell went before. Jeffries cam to clear up the mess but did it with too much gusto.

 

Yes plans put in place by Sparks, then he signs a manager himself who goes completely against the philosophy he is apparently trying to create which again just makes him look incompetent. Adams has his own style, it’s an employers job to scout him, interview him and decide if he’s a good match. I don’t expect any manager to change their philosophy if it has brought them success, if a club doesn’t want that you simply don’t hire him. It doesn’t have to be anymore complicated than them.

 

Fair enough I was still an ankle biter then, all I remember is some flashy names coming in and everything looking great for about 4 games. Who the manager was or owners and CEOs was meaningless, a much simpler time!