The Robins Nest Forum

Watch/read here: http://bit.ly/GJTranmere" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow Gary sounded very down over the radio

Does he have it in him to find a spark from somewhere

To be honest he's not saying a lot wrong there. I get he is frustrated also but we need decent players to come in, play offs are already looking unlikely and I am not prepared to accept a season floating in the bottom half.

As at tonight I would be happy with floating in the bottom half ; currently we look sunk.

Forget the "we're only two games in" nonsense. Other than Flinders there have been no redeeming features this season and the trend from the end of last season carries on.

It's no good having a big bank balance in the National League.

I won't be happy with another bottom half finish to be honest and I seriously doubt we will battle relegation either. GJ will be sacked if we are anywhere near the bottom I am certain of that. That's assuming he lasts much longer too.

solihullkev wrote:As at tonight I would be happy with floating in the bottom half ; currently we look sunk.

Forget the "we're only two games in" nonsense. Other than Flinders there have been no redeeming features this season and the trend from the end of last season carries on.

It's no good having a big bank balance in the National League.

Better to have a 25 goal striker and challenge for L1 than an undisclosed wad of cash in non-League.

Complete and utter bottle job and lack of ambition selling Mo.

As if it wasn't in Mo's contract that he could move on if a certain fee or level of club came in for him then ?
How can a club like ours turn down that sort of fee ?
It was up to the Manager to get a replacement in, it was bl**dy obvious he would leave in the summer.

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:

solihullkev wrote:As at tonight I would be happy with floating in the bottom half ; currently we look sunk.

Forget the "we're only two games in" nonsense. Other than Flinders there have been no redeeming features this season and the trend from the end of last season carries on.

It's no good having a big bank balance in the National League.

Better to have a 25 goal striker and challenge for L1 than an undisclosed wad of cash in non-League.

Complete and utter bottle job and lack of ambition selling Mo.

If we’d had a 25 goal striker last season, where would we have finished?

I have no problem selling mo but we haven’t got any where near a replacement

Suicidal imo

Fuller wrote:As if it wasn't in Mo's contract that he could move on if a certain fee or level of club came in for him then ?
How can a club like ours turn down that sort of fee ?
It was up to the Manager to get a replacement in, it was bl**dy obvious he would leave in the summer.

How can we turn it down? By saying a very short word when asked by buying sides: “no”.

Horteng wrote:I have no problem selling mo but we haven’t got any where near a replacement

Suicidal imo

Suicidal imo sounds like a niche Japanese robot version of Mo.

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:

solihullkev wrote:As at tonight I would be happy with floating in the bottom half ; currently we look sunk.

Forget the "we're only two games in" nonsense. Other than Flinders there have been no redeeming features this season and the trend from the end of last season carries on.

It's no good having a big bank balance in the National League.

Better to have a 25 goal striker and challenge for L1 than an undisclosed wad of cash in non-League.

Complete and utter bottle job and lack of ambition selling Mo.

Give it a rest.

I can't understand how anyone could have realistic play-off expectations for this season. We sold the player who kept us up last season, lost another of our best players and are stuck with a manager with an appalling league record for us.

Now we're stuck with the manager. There's no point allowing him to bring in a dozen or so players - many on two-year contracts - and then sacking him two games into the season. It was obvious he should have gone last season or at the latest in the summer. But we were endlessly told of his record at other clubs and how we couldn't dream of getting anyone better. I can't think of anyone worse.

After 101 league games his average is little over a point a game. Relegation form from start to finish. Hopefully we can scrape enough points to avoid the drop and bring in a new manager in December.

We will still have the players on 2 year contracts. Let’s hope any new manager will be able to work with them.

Alf wrote:We will still have the players on 2 year contracts. Let’s hope any new manager will be able to work with them.

It’s fine. We got an undisclosed large amount of cash to cover the contracts.

Horteng wrote:Wow Gary sounded very down over the radio

Does he have it in him to find a spark from somewhere

Any bright spark would have to be desperate to want to play for him,he rarely gives praise and is extremely stubborn and is used to controlling everyone.Time to stop the tail wagging the dog !

We ought to be able to attract a good replacement for Gary given that the club is basically well run with the
additional bonus of a wedge of money to spend on re-enforcements. Still plenty of time to improve the team
and get us climbing the table

Far worse to wait a few months and let this miserable clown waste the money.

No need to get personal.

drgm wrote:We ought to be able to attract a good replacement for Gary given that the club is basically well run with the
additional bonus of a wedge of money to spend on re-enforcements. Still plenty of time to improve the team
and get us climbing the table

Far worse to wait a few months and let this miserable clown waste the money.

Look at the list of out of work managers, I do n't believe it's an issue attracting them just there are few appealing optoins with Bowyer or Curle most likely/realistic.

Robin wrote:

drgm wrote:We ought to be able to attract a good replacement for Gary given that the club is basically well run with the
additional bonus of a wedge of money to spend on re-enforcements. Still plenty of time to improve the team
and get us climbing the table

Far worse to wait a few months and let this miserable clown waste the money.

Look at the list of out of work managers, I do n't believe it's an issue attracting them just there are few appealing optoins with Bowyer or Curle most likely/realistic.

That is a list to avoid. They don’t have jobs for a reason; they aren’t good enough to get one.

If and when a manager is needed it must be someone currently employed doing a decent job. This in all likelihood means giving an opportunity to a manager from lower down the pyramid or a first team coach from a higher team wanting a chance to go it alone.

So you want to spend money on compensation? I'm not saying no but we'd need to find the right candidates like the Cowley brothers and it becomes a gamble looking downwards. Both Curle and Bowyer would bring stability I feel.

Robin wrote:So you want to spend money on compensation? I'm not saying no but we'd need to find the right candidates like the Cowley brothers and it becomes a gamble looking downwards. Both Curle and Bowyer would bring stability I feel.

If necessary then yes.

Our three most successful managers (in terms of promotions / play offs):

Cotteril: inexperienced and unknown management credentials.
Ward: experienced and track record.
Yates: taken from lower leagues.

All three were different models of appointment. No one strategy is guaranteed to work best.

I think it's way too early to be thinking about this but, when GJ was appointed I seem to remember PB saying there were over 40 applicants for the job. I can't imagine it would be much different this time around and there are bound to be a few promising candidates in amongst that.

Were there applicants for the job when GJ got it?

I thought he came in out of the blue as Russ was immediately moved from manager to his assistant. Russ was never relieved of his duties beforehand.

I may be mis-remembering mind.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31479584" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It just says "inundated" there, but I'm sure I read or heard somewhere around the time that it was about 40.

Or did you mean when Russ was already in charge? I was kind of including that whole period when Russ was "manager" as when we were searching for a manager, as it was never really settled due to results.

I was always of the opinion that Russ was appointed full-time after the Tranmere game but once it was clear results weren't improving, and the opportunity to appoint Johnson arose, we went and got GJ.

Here's where it was confirmed he and Steve Elliott had the job until the end of the season: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31492868

I do like Russ, but if GJ was to go anytime soon, appointing him again would be the thing that relegates us in my eyes. He's just not a leader of men.

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:

solihullkev wrote:As at tonight I would be happy with floating in the bottom half ; currently we look sunk.

Forget the "we're only two games in" nonsense. Other than Flinders there have been no redeeming features this season and the trend from the end of last season carries on.

It's no good having a big bank balance in the National League.

Better to have a 25 goal striker and challenge for L1 than an undisclosed wad of cash in non-League.

Complete and utter bottle job and lack of ambition selling Mo.

In my view, the board was right to sell Mo. He may have stopped scoring, he may have got injured, and frankly, when the playing budget isn't much more than a million (I'm guessing), a million is far too big a sum to turn down.
Where it appears to have gone wrong is not strengthening the team with that windfall post the sale. I can understand why the board didn't want to sign anyone before Mo actually left - whilst obvious he was very likely to go, until he actually did, gambling on an expensive replacements for a player who hadn't actually left would seem foolish. Ambitious possibly, but if our club is one thing, its careful with finances and does not gamble (at least not after the Allen farrago). I for one am grateful for that ahead of mindless optimism and ambition.

Again, l give the benefit of the doubt and suggest we tried really hard to strengthen, but just couldn't get the calibre of player we wanted for the transfer fee and salary we felt comfortable offering - oh, and our geography.
Now that suggests to be that the timing of the Mo sale was wrong - left too late. A number of fellow posters did comment that they hoped it wasn't left too late. So I argue that rather than holding out for a supposedly better prices (which may or may not have happened as none of us know the fee or details of the transfer), getting the deal done earlier for a possibly lower fee would have given us more time to use the extra playing budget to better effect by actually signing players.
But of course, that would have led to accusations of undervaluing our prize asset. So the club couldn't win - the poor sods never can!

Two games in, my view is that all is not lost, but for me, this season hinges on signing two high quality players on loan - a creative midfielder and striker. And a change to 3-5-2 home and away, or at the very least a formation the players are comfortable with. If those things don't happen, it's going to be a very long season, and one which we'll finish without GJ at the helm of the good ship CTFC.

Si Robin wrote:I was always of the opinion that Russ was appointed full-time after the Tranmere game but once it was clear results weren't improving, and the opportunity to appoint Johnson arose, we went and got GJ.

Here's where it was confirmed he and Steve Elliott had the job until the end of the season: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31492868

I do like Russ, but if GJ was to go anytime soon, appointing him again would be the thing that relegates us in my eyes. He's just not a leader of men.

Yes, I know he was made permanent but it became clear pretty quickly that he wasn't going to finish the season in charge. Maybe I'm muddying the waters somewhat. Anyway, the main point was that we had a lot of interest the last time the manager's position was known to be available.