New Manager

[crazycobbler]

I like John Brady and his interviews are refreshing and honest but it’s a results business, this squad has one six games in this league before Christmas so they are capable.
I dare say if it wasn’t for Mitchell we would have 6 points and Brady would be manager until the end of the season.
Lose again tonight and he has the same record as the mighty Terry Fenwick, untenable I’m afraid.
Plus the three amigos still have good jobs at the club, get some experience in.

Completely agree. At the halfway point of the season we were outside the relegation zone with a game in hand on nearly all of the teams below us, and as you said, had 6 wins on the board. If this squad was completely incapable that wouldn’t have been the case. I still believe we can stay up but I just fear the longer we go without even appoint anyone (even if it is Brady) the more time we are wasting time in this place of no clarity. KT needs to show some intent as the longer it goes on could be the more painful it’ll get for Brady and the more embarrassing it’ll look for the club.

[Alfred]

Last year we had a number of sh1thouses who knew how to win, ref the game and generally kick off when needed.

Can you imagine any of this bunch doing what McCormack etc did against Mansfield at home and to an extent Exeter in the final to get the man sent off.

None of them want a scrap,  None of them dig each other out,  they all look ready to cry rather than fight.

This is a squad with no personality and no anger.

Brady can only change that with new players

Clarke Carlisle is a prime example,  he came in and completely changed that Boothroyd side same as Ravenhill in the early Wilder days.

I have never seen such a team of wimps in all my days watching NTFC.

[BackOfTheNet]

Last year we had a number of sh1thouses who knew how to win, ref the game and generally kick off when needed.

Can you imagine any of this bunch doing what McCormack etc did against Mansfield at home and to an extent Exeter in the final to get the man sent off.

None of them want a scrap,  None of them dig each other out,  they all look ready to cry rather than fight.

This is a squad with no personality and no anger.

Brady can only change that with new players

Clarke Carlisle is a prime example,  he came in and completely changed that Boothroyd side same as Ravenhill in the early Wilder days.

I have never seen such a team of wimps in all my days watching NTFC.

This is very true - Goode and McCormack were outright nasty b'stards, on top of which we had Turnbull, Oliver, Wharton and even Morton who weren't vocally aggressive but weren't afraid to get into people's faces, impose themselves physically on the opposition and leave the odd foot or elbow in here and there.

This year we have no one with that nasty streak, literally no one. McWilliams is the closest but he's more clumsy and over-enthusiastic than aggressive.

Equally, none of them seem willing or able to give their own teammates a rollicking when needed.

So to summarise:

• Can't put the ball in the opposition net
• Can't keep the ball out of our own net
• Can't intimidate the opposition
• Can't police our own failings while on the pitch
• Can't pick ourselves up when things go against us

Whoever the manager is, they have their work cut out. It's annoying in a way; excluding the goalkeepers, I think technically we have quite a few decent players. It's mentally where they all seem to struggle.

[Jim Hall Fixit]

This is very true - Goode and McCormack were outright nasty b'stards, on top of which we had Turnbull, Oliver, Wharton and even Morton who weren't vocally aggressive but weren't afraid to get into people's faces, impose themselves physically on the opposition and leave the odd foot or elbow in here and there.

This year we have no one with that nasty streak, literally no one. McWilliams is the closest but he's more clumsy and over-enthusiastic than aggressive.

Equally, none of them seem willing or able to give their own teammates a rollicking when needed.

So to summarise:

• Can't put the ball in the opposition net
• Can't keep the ball out of our own net
• Can't intimidate the opposition
• Can't police our own failings while on the pitch
• Can't pick ourselves up when things go against us

Whoever the manager is, they have their work cut out. It's annoying in a way; excluding the goalkeepers, I think technically we have quite a few decent players. It's mentally where they all seem to struggle.

Good post BOTN.
As a forum, we clearly can’t agree on who should be manager (I’m definitely in the Brady Bunch camp) but what clearly does unite us all is that most of our problems stem from 2 awful transfer windows. Some blame KC others KT - either way, it’s left us with no fire in our bellies, no leaders and no quality in the spine of our squad - namely keepers and strikers.
As someone said, how different this would have been with another keeper on our books. I suspect Brady would have picked up 2 wins and all the negative Nelly’s would be demanding he gets a contract ASAP.

[Manwork04]

Good post BOTN.
As a forum, we clearly can’t agree on who should be manager (I’m definitely in the Brady Bunch camp) but what clearly does unite us all is that most of our problems stem from 2 awful transfer windows. Some blame KC others KT - either way, it’s left us with no fire in our bellies, no leaders and no quality in the spine of our squad - namely keepers and strikers.
As someone said, how different this would have been with another keeper on our books. I suspect Brady would have picked up 2 wins and all the negative Nelly’s would be demanding he gets a contract ASAP.

Spot on Jim, for the love of god KT get off the golf course and make a bloody decision man!

[threeinabed]

Good post BOTN.
As a forum, we clearly can’t agree on who should be manager (I’m definitely in the Brady Bunch camp) but what clearly does unite us all is that most of our problems stem from 2 awful transfer windows. Some blame KC others KT - either way, it’s left us with no fire in our bellies, no leaders and no quality in the spine of our squad - namely keepers and strikers.
As someone said, how different this would have been with another keeper on our books. I suspect Brady would have picked up 2 wins and all the negative Nelly’s would be demanding he gets a contract ASAP.

i blame curle - he always said he signed players for their character as much as anything else.

he must have been as easily fooled by them, as they were by him trying to sell his team and the footy they play!

[guest49]

Give the job to Jon Brady and the team.
Let him develop a philosophy at the club about bringing players through and integrating them into the team , following the same ethics .
He needs these very average players to play above themselves every week to get results and that is a tough task.
He also needs to get the players to believe in themselves more because there is very little belief there .
A new head in the dressing room managing the side will not change that overnight .
Give him a proper chance .

I don't think too many are screaming to get a full time manager. This is pretty indicative of the dire situation the squad is in, mixed with the usual apathy (or resignation) and no fans in the stadium. The Brady, Sammo, Rico thing will also add tons of goodwill. You can say he hasn't had long but the idea of an interim is to hold the fort or see if they can get results. There'll be some stats somewhere but I'd imagine there aren't many examples of an interim lasting more than a small handful of games with our last 5 results.
 
The question will be if we whimper out of league one, picking up the odd win along the way, what happens then? It will be very difficult to appoint them for next season and I'd imagine the vast majority would be calling for the big brush approach. If it carries on like this then I'm sure Brady will have had enough anyway, regardless of whether that decision is made for him.

We need to at least start making a fist of it very soon and there is a long way to go to not at least have a really good go at staying up. It's OK to say the football is 'prettier', but don't forget the starting point of that comparison! It's such a shame we didn't win that MK game as we could have been in a totally different place now. I think that knocked any remaining stuffing out of us.

Fingers crossed again for tonight and some divine intervention!

[guest3338]

This is very true - Goode and McCormack were outright nasty b'stards, on top of which we had Turnbull, Oliver, Wharton and even Morton who weren't vocally aggressive but weren't afraid to get into people's faces, impose themselves physically on the opposition and leave the odd foot or elbow in here and there.

This year we have no one with that nasty streak, literally no one. McWilliams is the closest but he's more clumsy and over-enthusiastic than aggressive.

Equally, none of them seem willing or able to give their own teammates a rollicking when needed.

So to summarise:

• Can't put the ball in the opposition net
• Can't keep the ball out of our own net
• Can't intimidate the opposition
• Can't police our own failings while on the pitch
• Can't pick ourselves up when things go against us

Whoever the manager is, they have their work cut out. It's annoying in a way; excluding the goalkeepers, I think technically we have quite a few decent players. It's mentally where they all seem to struggle.

Immaterial really but I'd argue Goode was more exploitative than nasty bastard. We have Rose who I'd hate to play against in a physical game because he's also very good at winning the ref over.
We definitely lack a captain. I've no idea how Bolger got the job unless it was purely a positional consideration for Curle. Not vocal and hardly lead by example in terms of a never say die attitude.
Mills seems slightly better but we certainly would benefit from some old heads out there who can influence the rest of them into not letting the heads drop quite so quickly.

[guest2995]

i honestly think most people are in violent agreement on the manager situation ....
Everyone , including the chairman i would think , is forcibly willing the management team to get a result and sustain a run of wins .
It’s plain to see the players are responding to a more expressive approach and the fans are supporting it . On top of that , the manager is articulate and has some great ideas about taking the club forward .
Everyone is passionate and cares - you can tell that .
We just need a few wins and for the players to believe for 90 minutes , not 60 minutes .
I so hope they get a win tonight but a few more need to switch on in my opinion .

[DrillingCobbler]

We all have bugbears in football, that are in most cases way over the top. Many of us, for example, hate (despise) goal music!!

When it comes to football managers, my biggest bugbear is when a manager leaves it really late to make subs. Lets game 'drift'. And will only change things AFTER the inevitable has happened...

So far, Brady has had 5 games. Id argue that his use of subs, refusal to change the system, and be proactive rather than reactive all stand out from those 5 games. Take the last game for example. An hour gone, Swindon changed things, gradually got more and more into the game, and by the time they scored (75 minutes I think), we had long before completely run out of ideas. It then took a further 5 minutes before we did change it, and by which point it was too late.

I moaned about these lack of changes after his first game (in particular) and gain after the Rochdale game. Against MK Dons, I felt we were plain unlucky, hitting the post twice and their 4th goal shouldn't have been a free kick, but even sooo....at 3-2 up, we didn't make the desired changes needed to 'see the game out'.

I put him down as a reactive manager, and we've had a fair few of those. I know its subjective and we all see the game very differently, but these are the reasons I want us to recruit an experienced manager (Tisdale would be the obvious choice for me whom we could realistically afford/get), not just to give it a better go for the remainder of this season, but to guide us through a summer where there will be huge changes to the squad regardless of what division we are in.

I appreciate that this is the 'same old' route we've gone down, on many occasions. But for me, short term at least, a safe pair of hands is needed to settle things down a bit and reduce the chances of us 'doing a Chesterfield'. Which is what was happening last time round under Austin because KC came in.

I see too many parallels between Austin and Brady; less so their personalities, but definitely with regards to our on the pitch performances, strange tactics and substitutions and the way they took on the job in the first place. I just don't think its the right time and place for Brady to be trusted with turning this ship around; on the basis that he remains in charge after tonight I 100% hope Im proven wrong on that. There's a lot of support out there for him like there was for Austin, but like I say, we all look at the game very differently!

[GrangeParkCobbler]

We all have bugbears in football, that are in most cases way over the top. Many of us, for example, hate (despise) goal music!!

When it comes to football managers, my biggest bugbear is when a manager leaves it really late to make subs. Lets game 'drift'. And will only change things AFTER the inevitable has happened...

So far, Brady has had 5 games. Id argue that his use of subs, refusal to change the system, and be proactive rather than reactive all stand out from those 5 games. Take the last game for example. An hour gone, Swindon changed things, gradually got more and more into the game, and by the time they scored (75 minutes I think), we had long before completely run out of ideas. It then took a further 5 minutes before we did change it, and by which point it was too late.

I moaned about these lack of changes after his first game (in particular) and gain after the Rochdale game. Against MK Dons, I felt we were plain unlucky, hitting the post twice and their 4th goal shouldn't have been a free kick, but even sooo....at 3-2 up, we didn't make the desired changes needed to 'see the game out'.

I put him down as a reactive manager, and we've had a fair few of those. I know its subjective and we all see the game very differently, but these are the reasons I want us to recruit an experienced manager (Tisdale would be the obvious choice for me whom we could realistically afford/get), not just to give it a better go for the remainder of this season, but to guide us through a summer where there will be huge changes to the squad regardless of what division we are in.

I appreciate that this is the 'same old' route we've gone down, on many occasions. But for me, short term at least, a safe pair of hands is needed to settle things down a bit and reduce the chances of us 'doing a Chesterfield'. Which is what was happening last time round under Austin because KC came in.

I see too many parallels between Austin and Brady; less so their personalities, but definitely with regards to our on the pitch performances, strange tactics and substitutions and the way they took on the job in the first place. I just don't think its the right time and place for Brady to be trusted with turning this ship around; on the basis that he remains in charge after tonight I 100% hope Im proven wrong on that. There's a lot of support out there for him like there was for Austin, but like I say, we all look at the game very differently!

The parallels are there. This was the article when Austin got the full time job....

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2018/may/dean_austin_appointed/

Bear in mind that Austin only had five games at the end of the season after JFH was sacked. Those five games however saw better performances (as per Brady) AND better results (unlike Brady)

Difficult circumstances, squad bereft of confidence etc. Austin picked up 7 points from those five games (2 wins and a draw) so ultimately it made sense when he was offered the job. We all know how it turned out though.

Brady has unfortunately not picked up the results to go with the somewhat improved performances so on that count I don't see the justification of allowing him to continue in the role. That said, looking at the list of potential candidates none of them fill me with much enthusiasm. perhaps this (lack of suitable replacement) is playing a role in the current hiatus, that and the fact there are still 15 games to go so KT is not pressing the panic button yet.

Poor performances and lack of goals were cited as the main reasons for KT dispensing with Curle.....I believe that Brady might just about be ticking enough boxes with the chairman to stay in post at the moment. Of course that can all change on the back of a really poor result.....ask me again tomorrow if we get tonked by Plymouth tonight and i'll have a different opinion!

[Deepcut Cobbler]

i honestly think most people are in violent agreement on the manager situation ....
Everyone , including the chairman i would think , is forcibly willing the management team to get a result and sustain a run of wins .
It’s plain to see the players are responding to a more expressive approach and the fans are supporting it . On top of that , the manager is articulate and has some great ideas about taking the club forward .
Everyone is passionate and cares - you can tell that .
We just need a few wins and for the players to believe for 90 minutes , not 60 minutes .
I so hope they get a win tonight but a few more need to switch on in my opinion .

Hopefully you are right and we get the situation settled soon, at least until the end of the season and then onward, in whatever division that will be.

[Tabasco Kid]

This is very true - Goode and McCormack were outright nasty b'stards,

Goode was not, just ask Van Veen. Although 10/10 for getting him sent off. That was funny. Big round of applause when he came to take a throw in front of the West stand.

[crazycobbler]

We all have bugbears in football, that are in most cases way over the top. Many of us, for example, hate (despise) goal music!!

When it comes to football managers, my biggest bugbear is when a manager leaves it really late to make subs. Lets game 'drift'. And will only change things AFTER the inevitable has happened...

So far, Brady has had 5 games. Id argue that his use of subs, refusal to change the system, and be proactive rather than reactive all stand out from those 5 games. Take the last game for example. An hour gone, Swindon changed things, gradually got more and more into the game, and by the time they scored (75 minutes I think), we had long before completely run out of ideas. It then took a further 5 minutes before we did change it, and by which point it was too late.

I moaned about these lack of changes after his first game (in particular) and gain after the Rochdale game. Against MK Dons, I felt we were plain unlucky, hitting the post twice and their 4th goal shouldn't have been a free kick, but even sooo....at 3-2 up, we didn't make the desired changes needed to 'see the game out'.

I put him down as a reactive manager, and we've had a fair few of those. I know its subjective and we all see the game very differently, but these are the reasons I want us to recruit an experienced manager (Tisdale would be the obvious choice for me whom we could realistically afford/get), not just to give it a better go for the remainder of this season, but to guide us through a summer where there will be huge changes to the squad regardless of what division we are in.

I appreciate that this is the 'same old' route we've gone down, on many occasions. But for me, short term at least, a safe pair of hands is needed to settle things down a bit and reduce the chances of us 'doing a Chesterfield'. Which is what was happening last time round under Austin because KC came in.

I see too many parallels between Austin and Brady; less so their personalities, but definitely with regards to our on the pitch performances, strange tactics and substitutions and the way they took on the job in the first place. I just don't think its the right time and place for Brady to be trusted with turning this ship around; on the basis that he remains in charge after tonight I 100% hope Im proven wrong on that. There's a lot of support out there for him like there was for Austin, but like I say, we all look at the game very differently!

Great post Drilling. 100% agree.

[EB Claret]

We all have bugbears in football, that are in most cases way over the top. Many of us, for example, hate (despise) goal music!!

When it comes to football managers, my biggest bugbear is when a manager leaves it really late to make subs. Lets game 'drift'. And will only change things AFTER the inevitable has happened...

So far, Brady has had 5 games. Id argue that his use of subs, refusal to change the system, and be proactive rather than reactive all stand out from those 5 games. Take the last game for example. An hour gone, Swindon changed things, gradually got more and more into the game, and by the time they scored (75 minutes I think), we had long before completely run out of ideas. It then took a further 5 minutes before we did change it, and by which point it was too late.

I moaned about these lack of changes after his first game (in particular) and gain after the Rochdale game. Against MK Dons, I felt we were plain unlucky, hitting the post twice and their 4th goal shouldn't have been a free kick, but even sooo....at 3-2 up, we didn't make the desired changes needed to 'see the game out'.

I put him down as a reactive manager, and we've had a fair few of those. I know its subjective and we all see the game very differently, but these are the reasons I want us to recruit an experienced manager (Tisdale would be the obvious choice for me whom we could realistically afford/get), not just to give it a better go for the remainder of this season, but to guide us through a summer where there will be huge changes to the squad regardless of what division we are in.

I appreciate that this is the 'same old' route we've gone down, on many occasions. But for me, short term at least, a safe pair of hands is needed to settle things down a bit and reduce the chances of us 'doing a Chesterfield'. Which is what was happening last time round under Austin because KC came in.

I see too many parallels between Austin and Brady; less so their personalities, but definitely with regards to our on the pitch performances, strange tactics and substitutions and the way they took on the job in the first place. I just don't think its the right time and place for Brady to be trusted with turning this ship around; on the basis that he remains in charge after tonight I 100% hope Im proven wrong on that. There's a lot of support out there for him like there was for Austin, but like I say, we all look at the game very differently!

Agree with most of that, especially your view on Goal Music!

All I would say about the use of substitutes is, can JB or anyone else as manager look at our bench and see someone who will drastically improve the team?

[Risdene]

Agree with most of that, especially your view on Goal Music!

All I would say about the use of substitutes is, can JB or anyone else as manager look at our bench and see someone who will drastically improve the team?

+1

If the substitutes were that important to the team they would be starting!

[guest3063]

+1

If the substitutes were that important to the team they would be starting!

Come on. Everyone knows the correct use of subs can change the game in your favour or help you keep control of a game. Good managers use subs at the right stage of the game or in a tactically superior way from the opposition.

[Athena]

Cook appointed by Ipswich. Town. No surprises there.

[Gazman]

+1

If the substitutes were that important to the team they would be starting!

Thats not really true though is it? This is on the assumption that every starting 11 is the best 11. Injuries, fatigue and tactics come into the equation. Some players have more of an impact as a substitute as it suits their playing style. Football isnt about the first 11, its about 90 minutes.

[BackOfTheNet]

Goode was not, just ask Van Veen. Although 10/10 for getting him sent off. That was funny. Big round of applause when he came to take a throw in front of the West stand.

Goode was a smiling assassin! He'd very much be in everyone's faces and winding them up, he was just grinning while he did it and would then go down like a sack of s*** when when they wafted a hand in his direction in retaliation. There's more than one way to be nasty! 

That Van Veen incident was bloody hilarious though....