Would you swap the boss?

Trimm-Trab said:
Trimm-Trab said:
Only at this point. There’s still half a season to go. We were shite under Megson for the first half of the season, with loads calling for his head. We ended up with a chance of the play offs on the last game of the season.

Things can improve if you give someone time..
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Grayson didn't get time ....

People are so hypocritical on this

I'm guessing its the Liverpool love in from the Fylde coast thats giving Critchley an easy ride
 
basilrobbie said:
I was in the room as well. He said Championship within three years.

Of course, he didn't really understand what he has inherited then, I imagine.
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Championship within three years surely confirms one year of consolidation,second year promotion, third year actually IN the championship I feel sure that`s what he meant at the time.

I am sure he would have investigated the club very closely before he made the decision to purchase it,in just the same way as he will have approached all the investments that have done so well for him in his Hedge Fund and of course there was also masses of information made public about the club before he stepped in. So he will have known very well exactly what he was taking over.
 
Oneofthebigboys said:
So would you swap Chritch for any boss in league 1 or 2?
Personally I’d like to go with what we have, I like the way he talks, I can see he has a way forward, I think he has a long term plan, I think the board have a plan other than short term, and I think there is a future?
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Yes definitely
 
1950`spoolfan said:
Championship within three years surely confirms one year of consolidation,second year promotion, third year actually IN the championship I feel sure that`s what he meant at the time.

I am sure he would have investigated the club very closely before he made the decision to purchase it,in just the same way as he will have approached all the investments that have done so well for him in his Hedge Fund and of course there was also masses of information made public about the club before he stepped in. So he will have known very well exactly what he was taking over.
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Seemed to pull back on that at the last fans meeting though. Am sure it was Brett Gerrity who said that they didn't have a magic wand or a crystal ball. Think they got stung a bit by thinking they could just bring Grayson in and he'd sort it out for them.

They're committed to Critchley now and they've got to make it work. I'd expect he'll at least see out his contract unless a coaching opportunity comes up elsewhere. I couldn't fathom out what they were trying to achieve up to November but it looks a more coherent plan now and since the HOFO role was created. The January tidy up certainly made some sense.
 
Regardless of Critchleys record there is no one at this level who I would replace him with.

Critch is a young dedicated well thought of hardworking manager. Hopefully it will work out.
 
TKL_Seasider said:
Interesting hypothetical. Nobody springs out. A few thoughts:

Michael Appleton is clearly doing well at Lincoln, but always seems a bit rigid ... and already let us down. Remember GTF saying on his @SeasidersPodcast interview that he was paranoid?

Jon Coleman doing a cracking job at Accy but doesn’t have a record of doing it anywhere else

The one who stands out is Darren Moore. Having a real go at it with limited resources

Otherwise? Ryan Lowe is doing well at Plymouth. Karl Robinson same at Oxford (but wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole having screwed us around in the past). Lee Johnson is sipping from the poisoned chalice at the moment but has a decent record.

Overall? Don’t feel strongly enough to say I’d swap Critch for any of them
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Fuck appleton 👌.
 
Sadler did say 3 year plan but that was with Grayson in mind, you can essentially scrap that first year and its unfair to afford it to Critchley.

This is basically the 1st year of what I imagine will be 3 years for Critchley, if we ain't looking promotion ready during the 2nd year though you could imagine Sadler pulling the plug.
 
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I'd give him this and 10 games next season. If we are still inconsistent and no higher than mid-table, get shut. He seems a nice enough chap but I'm yet to be fully convinced he is the man to get us promoted.
 
AngelBFC said:
Regardless of Critchleys record there is no one at this level who I would replace him with.

Critch is a young dedicated well thought of hardworking manager. Hopefully it will work out.
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I imagine he`s liked,hard working and dedicated.Experience tells us that some other qualities are usually needed to be a successful manager.One that is definitely needed is man management and the ability to motivate (you could argue that`s two but I think they`re are combined as one.) Not sure there`s too much evidence of that with Critchley.
 
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NewburyOne said:
I'd give him this and 10 games next season. If we are still inconsistent and no higher than mid-table, get shut. He seems a nice enough chap but I'm yet to be fully convinced he is the man to get us promoted.
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The summer transfer window will be interesting in that regards I think with a lot of contract situations to be resolved and players coming off the books. It's difficult to know who's in charge of what here now with the change of structure but it needs the head coach to have the decisive input.

Sometimes you can finish a midtable season thinking you're going nowhere but then you shake things up in the market properly and start with renewed focus and look like a completely different team and manager.

He needs to know exactly what he wants his team to look like and to make his back six/front four passing structure game work (if that's what we are now) and to really push for it to happen. Rather than being passive on accepting club signings through agents and inbound calls. When he gets asked what he thinks he shouldn't just be saying he remembers them from youth football and they're OK and coachable and it's another body or it's going to keep taking three players to find one.

1950`spoolfan said:
At the time under the egregious control of the Oystons I did not blame him at all for making a hasty exit. I just hoped it might be one more nail in their coffin and at that time we were desperate to get rid of them any way we could.
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Didn't think he did anything wrong here but it's maybe only recently that the penny has started to drop with him that he needs the same stability he had at Oxford rather than flitting about all over the place.
 
poolfc said:
Rather than being passive on accepting club signings through agents and inbound calls. When he gets asked what he thinks he shouldn't just be saying he remembers them from youth football and they're OK and coachable and it's another body or it's going to keep taking three players to find one.
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This is exactly what happened with the Sarkic signing. BM mentioned him once to NC and the next thing NC knew he was signing for the club.

He has to learn from this.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Grayson didn't get time ....

People are so hypocritical on this

I'm guessing its the Liverpool love in from the Fylde coast thats giving Critchley an easy ride
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I wouldn't get rid of him yet but if we had been in this position with the fans in the stadium he definitely would have gone by now
 
Rektseasider said:
This is exactly what happened with the Sarkic signing. BM mentioned him once to NC and the next thing NC knew he was signing for the club.

He has to learn from this.
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I said it on another thread, but I'm not sure whether it's such a good thing for the club getting players from the same agent/agency. I understand that people will use their contacts, but we don't want another Grayson/Dunn/Nuttall scenario, or for our focus to be too narrow.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
I would swap him for the majority of league 1 and probably a few in league 2 as well

We are under performing given the resources available at our club now
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What a complete load of bollocks....exactly what are our resources that should make us better than the rest?
Out of curiosity who were you on the old site...I think I can guess.
 
I think we have to back him to the hilt this season but if we finish outside the top 10 it will be a massive disappointment and I would only give him 10 games next season to turn it round...he cannot complain at the financial clout he has been given
 
I've seen nothing to change my opinion that his appointment was a big mistake.
Coaching talented young players to fit a system devised by Klopp is a long way from trying to coach a team of professionals in league1.
 
I would stick with Critchley. But I am in no way cheerleading him like many on this thread are.

He doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, his reading of games has been terrible in regards to substitutions and his utter belligerence not to play 4-4-2 for so long has probably cost us a play off birth. Those are the facts.

But there is something there and given time I feel he may well get it right.

Oh and Critchley, stop shoehorning in your favourite Matty Virtue into the side regardless. He needs to play in the middle or be on the bench. Sort it.
 
Macseasider said:
I would stick with Critchley. But I am in no way cheerleading him like many on this thread are.

He doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, his reading of games has been terrible in regards to substitutions and his utter belligerence not to play 4-4-2 for so long has probably cost us a play off birth. Those are the facts.

But there is something there and given time I feel he may well get it right.

Oh and Critchley, stop shoehorning in your favourite Matty Virtue into the side regardless. He needs to play in the middle or be on the bench. Sort it.
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I'd stick with Critch but he needs to shape up pretty soon or he'll lose my support.
Mac makes some very good points which I fully concur with. Especially his substitution record & policy. Mystifying to say the least.
I'd add I find in incomprehensible that we're over half way through the season & NC still doesn't seem to know what his best XI is.
I get the injuries situation etc plus this is an extraordinary season with 2 games a week blah di blah but come on Critch stop being the 'tinker man'.
The Ipswich away game was shocking and shows how conservative NC is. If I was one of his players I reckon I'd be thinking the gaffer doesn't trust us to do the business against a team on an abysmal run & short of confidence.
I think NC would be a superb coach but I am not convinced he is Management matter.............. yet.
Happy for him to prove me wrong & I sincerely hope he does.
So NC over to you ......
UTP
TMS
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Grayson didn't get time ....

People are so hypocritical on this

I'm guessing its the Liverpool love in from the Fylde coast thats giving Critchley an easy ride
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You obviously don’t like Neil Critchley. It is so obviously a work in progress at BFC right now and after the trauma of so many years we should have the good grace to give the Head Coach the time he requires...
 
It's Critchley's first season in charge of a football club. He's still learning to be a boss and what a year to do it in! Covid playing hell with the fixtures, no fans in grounds, players going down like nin-pins. The man has a lot to deal with. No, we aren't playing like Brazil. There are things tat need sorting and Critchley will be only too aware of mistakes he's made that have contributed to a bit of a malaise. But for me, a club that sticks together - Board, coaches and players usually makes progress. If that is next season rather than this well, so be it. And of course I'll be wee'd off if we lose against Portsmouth. I might even call for heads to roll. But that's me being emotionally wound up after a game. In the cool light of day let's keep our heads.
 
And further to my last post, I, as a young(ish) lad, am astounded at the older folk on this board that want everything now. It’s childish behaviour. Have patience. The sacking culture is proven to not work. You see it all the time. Manager gets sacked, new manager comes in, results get better for 5-10 games and then it implodes again. Managers that have belief from the board do far better. Give it time ffs.
 
Slow Start to season perfectly understandable and expected due to squad overhaul, promotion form since. In a pandemic ridden season I don’t think some fans can get the math that we are barely half way through the season, all to play for. UTMP
 
Macseasider said:
I would stick with Critchley. But I am in no way cheerleading him like many on this thread are.

He doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, his reading of games has been terrible in regards to substitutions and his utter belligerence not to play 4-4-2 for so long has probably cost us a play off birth. Those are the facts.

But there is something there and given time I feel he may well get it right.

Oh and Critchley, stop shoehorning in your favourite Matty Virtue into the side regardless. He needs to play in the middle or be on the bench. Sort it.
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This is exactly how I feel. He just doesn’t convince me, but I hope to be proven wrong. I just don’t see the playoffs at all for us the way we are playing. A better team than Rochdale would have killed us the other night in that second half and you’re not telling me losing a centre back should cause the team to suddenly lose all shape and ability either. Lots of excuses being made for what is quite honestly tactical coaching ineptitude.
 
It’s probably a good job we can’t go and watch currently as frustrations would be high in the ground with our inconsistent season and performances.
Personally think he needs time, but not convinced we are making enough progress in certain positions. We’re spending money but have we improved since Phillips then Grayson now Critchley ? I’d like to think so but league position says otherwise?
To balance it out we’re missing a lot of players injured.
 
I'd stick.

He's learning on the job currently which can be frustrating for fans but I feel his glass ceiling is very high. Think he'll be a well regarded Head Coach over the next 10 or 15 years.

Far better that that a quick fix to get out of league 1 under a "proven" lower league manager who can't progress us further than being a league 1 / lower Championship yo-yo club.
 
Stick. We don't need the squad overhauling again, we've only just moved Devitt on from 2 managers ago? The rebuild involving the release of players is costly and puts us back a year at least. We've had some big injury problems and if we'd started the season better when we had all the sending offs, and early goals against, we'd be knocking on the play offs door. Calibre of signings gradually improving and it bodes well for a good top 6 spot next time round.
 
Interesting to read opposition fan's comments on a Saturday and often they plaudit Critch. A case of you don't know what you've got until you lose it?!
 
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