wee toon red Posted January 29 Report Posted January 29 Unless relegation becomes an issue - which it won't this season - I'm a believer in giving a manager a full season to see how things play out, rather than react in periods of relative isolation. Especially when your manager is young and/or inexperienced. It's a big if, but beat Dundee tomorrow and we're six points off fourth. With the memory of how the second half of last season panned out, sacking a manager who did alright in Europe, has been in one cup final already and is still challenging for a European place could be viewed as mental or, more realistically, just repeating the same old pattern that has failed us since McInnes came to the end of his time. I'm aware I'm in a minority here but I'm ok with zooming out and taking a longer term, big picture view and giving Robson getting the rest of this season to see how he fares. Quote
RicoS321 Posted January 29 Author Report Posted January 29 21 minutes ago, wee toon red said: Unless relegation becomes an issue - which it won't this season - I'm a believer in giving a manager a full season to see how things play out, rather than react in periods of relative isolation. Especially when your manager is young and/or inexperienced. It's a big if, but beat Dundee tomorrow and we're six points off fourth. With the memory of how the second half of last season panned out, sacking a manager who did alright in Europe, has been in one cup final already and is still challenging for a European place could be viewed as mental or, more realistically, just repeating the same old pattern that has failed us since McInnes came to the end of his time. I'm aware I'm in a minority here but I'm ok with zooming out and taking a longer term, big picture view and giving Robson getting the rest of this season to see how he fares. Good post. I actually agree. I also believe that the first step should be increasing the support to the manager, which has the dual effect of providing for the next guy too, if the need arise. Quote
wee toon red Posted January 29 Report Posted January 29 2 hours ago, RicoS321 said: Good post. I actually agree. I also believe that the first step should be increasing the support to the manager, which has the dual effect of providing for the next guy too, if the need arise. If Robson is wrong then he's a symptom of the actual problem rather than the problem itself. Changing manager is another sticking plaster until the structure of the club is changed. Forgive the obvious analogy but we're kinda similar to Man Utd in that regard and against that backdrop I don't think it's particularly fair to heap all the blame on a manager in his first job. 1 Quote
OrlandoDon Posted January 29 Report Posted January 29 I understand what you are saying but you certainly have a glass is half full approach. I tend to be that way but I’m passed that with Robson. I said to give him time but I’ve done that. We are also 5 point off second bottom. i don’t see enough to suggest he’s our long term manager. Glass is getting mentioned quite a bit these days, I think he was a forward thinking modern manager who had a decent tactical approach. He wanted us playing football. He did play players out of position but you rectify that with new additions over time. theres nothing appealing to our play, Robson admits he’s made many mistakes. We’re not getting acceptable results and really haven’t all year. I dont think we’re the size of club, or in a situation, where we can wait for Robson to find his feet. I said when Goodwin was canned as manager that we’re a bigger club who need experience, we need a squad overhaul and we’re still at that point. Mcinnes to an extent walked into a good situation, the current situation to me requires more experience, building a squad, a style of play etc. I think it’s just too much for Robson, and we are talking about group stage euro football as an annual goal, almost mandatory, top 6 is questionable right now. No euro football has significant money and transfer consequences. Quote
RicoS321 Posted January 29 Author Report Posted January 29 3 hours ago, OrlandoDon said: I dont think we’re the size of club, or in a situation, where we can wait for Robson to find his feet. You could be right, but it's very important to note that this is not what the club think. They've intentionally gone down a route that takes a lot of the role an experienced manager would take on (Scottish managers anyway, not the case in Europe) in-house to provide a support base for the manager. That's why we got rid of McInnes (who wanted to retain control of transfers, sport's science etc) and employed three inexperienced managers in a row. It's going to take a lot for the club to admit defeat on that (in my opinion they shouldn't), and I suspect that the type of experienced manager that you or I might think are a good fit for us may not want to give up complete control of key functions. For me, the obvious route is to get a good football director in first and let them try to get the best out of Robson (he does have some good attributes, I think he can motivate the players, and there's no question of them not playing for them like what happened under Goodwin). If/when that fails, then we let him go, but retain the structure in place for the new manager. We then go to the market to find a manager willing to work to our structure, and not one who will rip it all up. I believe that there's a real danger that we get the next guy in and hand him the keys and we're up shit creek again when his shelf-life is reached. We've taken a long time to recover from McInnes leaving, and I would expect the same again. I'd like to see us sticking to our guns and getting the right strategy in place and let the young managers fail on fair terms, when we can really say that we've done all we can to make them a success. That hasn't been the case for the last three. 1 Quote
Panda Posted January 29 Report Posted January 29 12 hours ago, Jute said: What do you think this is a BBC Scotland article? I actually called him Adam Montgomery today in a conversation too. I will never get his name right. 1 Quote
RicoS321 Posted January 29 Author Report Posted January 29 1 minute ago, Panda said: I actually called him Adam Montgomery today in a conversation too. I will never get his name right. Very few people know that Colin Montgomery was an above average golfer before joining Hibs as manager. 1 1 Quote
Panda Posted January 29 Report Posted January 29 (edited) 10 hours ago, wee toon red said: Unless relegation becomes an issue - which it won't this season - I'm a believer in giving a manager a full season to see how things play out, rather than react in periods of relative isolation. Especially when your manager is young and/or inexperienced. It's a big if, but beat Dundee tomorrow and we're six points off fourth. With the memory of how the second half of last season panned out, sacking a manager who did alright in Europe, has been in one cup final already and is still challenging for a European place could be viewed as mental or, more realistically, just repeating the same old pattern that has failed us since McInnes came to the end of his time. I'm aware I'm in a minority here but I'm ok with zooming out and taking a longer term, big picture view and giving Robson getting the rest of this season to see how he fares. The thing is, the Premiership form is as sackable, the European performances were really encouraging (even if I thought the two Helsinki games we were poor), and the cups I think we've been fortunate - beating Hibs was the one real tough obstacle we've overcome and even then we didn't play particularly well. The results aren't what has me angry, as they weren't great under Glass and I still backed him. It's the tactics, playing his mates, and in-game decision making. All three of those things can be improved upon so maybe there is still a future there for Robson. For now, I fully believe he'll be in charge for the Bonnyrigg Rose match no matter what happens in the next three games - so he will be getting time anyway. Edited January 29 by Panda Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Talks today with the board. I'd be surprised if that leads to the sack. My understanding is a week ago the club were nonplussed about the criticism and felt the games in hand meant we were in a false position. But fan anger appears to have moved the dial. Maybe, just maybe, they have learned their lesson from Goodwin post-Darvel last year when they released THAT statement. Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Robson gone. Well, that was much quicker than I expected. Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Club statement:- Barry was appointed as interim manager in early 2023 and, after an impressive run of seven consecutive victories, was awarded the role on a permanent basis, during which time he won two SPFL manager of the month awards. He led the team to third in the Scottish Premiership, qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League group stages, the first time in 15 seasons the Club had reached a group stage. The Club invested heavily to rebuild the squad during the summer in preparation for a busy schedule on four fronts. This helped to produce some extremely credible European performances and progression to the Viaplay Cup Final in December. However, league results and performances over the course of the 2023/24 campaign have been well below the expectations set. Following our failure to defeat Dundee at Pittodrie last night, the decision was taken to replace the management team. “Although it has been a difficult call, the Board felt the change was necessary and in the best interests of Aberdeen FC,” Chairman Dave Cormack said. “Barry earned the right to be Aberdeen manager and knew the high level of expectation we had when he took the role. We gave Barry as much time and support as we possibly could in the hope, and expectation, he could return us to the league form we witnessed in the spring of last year. “There is a talented squad of players at the Club which makes our current league position unacceptable. “With 17 games left in the league and still in the Scottish Cup, this change is necessary to help us refocus on our ambitions for the rest of the season. “It’s important we thank Barry for his significant contribution to Aberdeen as a player, a coach and manager. He’s a good man who worked extremely hard in everything he did for us, and it goes without saying that we wish him, and Steve, our very best. “The Club, as a business, is in good shape. We have no bank debt, significant commercial growth, record season ticket and AberDNA membership sales. We also have an evolving player trading model that is allowing us to invest significantly more in the football operation than the operating income we generate. “But, as chairman I accept responsibility, along with the board, for the managerial upheavals. It’s exhausting for everyone to go through, not least our fans and the managers who gave their all and lost their jobs. “We have asked First Team Coach Peter Leven, assisted by Scott Anderson, to lead training on an interim basis.” Quote
BigAl Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Must keep up Panda obviously with insider information Quote
tlg1903 Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 You could see on his face just before the final whistle he knew he was done. It's a shame, I really wanted it to work out for him. Fuck knows who we get now. What a mess Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 5 minutes ago, BigAl said: Must keep up Panda obviously with insider information We genuinely expected nothing to happen. Was no whispers of anything. Dave Cormack has sacked him in the middle of the night it seems considering he's in the US. Quote
baggy89 Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 (edited) I doubt he put up much of a fight. Purely based on his walk to the tunnel after final whistle last night. Was like he was trying to stare down the red shed, while walking away. Think that chanting got to him and TBF I thought he looked visibly upset as he turned back before going down the tunnel. Edited January 31 by baggy89 Quote
RicoS321 Posted January 31 Author Report Posted January 31 Shame, but the right call. Christ knows what we do next. Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 (edited) Michael O'Neill? Did well in first spell at Northern Ireland. Saved Stoke from relegation but couldn't quite take them above mid-table after that but you would hope has learned from the experience. Now back at Northern Ireland but could be tempted into club management again. Alex Neil - I dunno. I've heard good arguments for and against him. Absolutely not to Neil Lennon, Stephen Robinson, Derek McInnes, John Kennedy and Neil Warnock. Edited January 31 by Panda Quote
tlg1903 Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 I'll say this though, I wouldn't be adverse to a return of the Mc Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 6 minutes ago, tlg1903 said: I'll say this though, I wouldn't be adverse to a return of the Mc McGhee won't be interested. 1 1 Quote
Panda Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Seen Sweden's Jimmy Thelin name bandied about. Interesting article on him here when he was linked with Sunderland last month. https://www.si.com/soccer/sunderland/analysis/jimmy-thelin-who-is-sunderland-linked-coach-and-what-tactics-does-he-play Quote
Elgindon Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Feel sorry for the boy,but it was all getting a bit silly.Thinking Agnew may have been more of a hindrance than a help tactically. Hope they've been anticipating this might happen,and sounding out replacements.Michael O'Neill a reasonable shout.Struggling for other names.... Quote
RicoS321 Posted January 31 Author Report Posted January 31 20 minutes ago, Panda said: Absolutely not to Neil Lennon, Stephen Robinson, Derek McInnes, John Kennedy and Neil Warnock. I think they'd make a great team. When can we get them in? Quote
Kowalski Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 11 minutes ago, Panda said: McGhee won't be interested. He probably would. Quote
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