Can't say I go along with this "he hasn't had a window" theory.......
There have been 15 managerial changes since the transfer window closed. So that's a lot of managers in the same boat as JFH.
Amongst those 15 there have been varying degrees of success, but Jimmy was the first managerial change of the season and has therefore had the longest of all of them to turn things around. The likes of Jack Lester (Chesterfield), Neil Aspin (Port Vale) and Ritchie Wellens (Oldham) seem to have made a better fist of it than Jimmy. Even Steve Lovell at Gillingham has had more success.
Wellens 3 defeats in 16, Lovell 3 defeats in 13, Hasselbaink 10 defeats in 22. Lucketti (Bury) undefeated in 2 games completes the League 1 changes this season.
The most worrying thing for me is that we actually seem to have gone backwards under him.....I'd say that performances now are worse than when he took over. That's just my opinion of course,
I expected more from the players that we signed in the summer, I expected more from JFH than he has delivered.......so now we really are pinning our hopes on him attracting quality in the January window and then moulding the team to get them performing better on a more consistent basis.
Things are not working, personnel are not working, tactics are not working, substitutions during the games are not working.......its a hell of an ask for him to turn things round....can he do it???
When you employ someone to do a job, you've got to give them the tools to stand a chance of succeeding. Id argue that in this case, JFH hasn't been given those tools.
Citing other examples of teams experiencing a results 'bounce' under new leadership is rather futile in this case because we too experienced it…2 wins, and a draw from our first 3 games. And it could so easily have been 3 wins given we chucked a 2-0 lead away in the one we drew.
Interesting, and Im not sure how close to the money I am here…but last season under Page we did fairly well when Gorre was playing. Gorre was in most peoples minds our worst player. When he was dropped, we played a slow midfielder in his place and went on a pro-longed terrible run. This time round, step forward Powell. Who had been VERY poor right up until the last 2 or 3 games he played prior to his injury (and ironically he was ripping the Oxford fullback a good 'un when he did get crocked).
Its many peoples views that our current issues could be *solved with just one or two different players in our starting line up. One of those is a pacy winger (Powell), the other is John Joe O'Toole. You take them out of the puzzle and its impossible to make up the jigsaw, and the more times you try the more frustrating it becomes and the remaining pieces are thrown into the air in pure frustration resulting into a capitulation on the pitch.
To add to the above. We have now got to the point (well we did to be fair some time ago) where as soon as we see the team sheet, we know if we stand a chance. As soon as I saw it at Oldham, I predicted a defeat (albeit 2-0), like many I enjoy trying to predict our results but unlike previous seasons I refuse to try until I see the team sheet. Because its become very very easy!
Sc***horpe (cup AND league) is a great example. We were the better team on both occasions UNTIL JJ O'Toole went off. Then we were pretty useless.
Its scary to think that we are so reliant on 2 or 3 players in our squad, but that is the case. When they are not around, it doesn't matter who comes in because the jigsaw cannot be even closely completed. JFH *might well know that (I hope he does!) so its only right to give him the opportunity to fix it come January.
If he doesn't then we will almost certainly be relegated with a huge and expensive squad, and probably a different manager because by mid February the calls for JFH sacking will be too loud for KT to ignore, like they were when JE finally got the boot. But unless we have some pace on the wings, a half decent striker or two and an able keeper to call upon (when Cornell plays we ship the goals in and that cannot be disputed) we will go down….whoever is in charge!