Well seeing that we went down this road before you I just thought I would point a few things out to help are beleaguered neighbours.
Your board seem to be a little deluded. No matter who you appoint, manager, coach, DOF etc I suspect you are now going to enter a period of managerial merry go round. How long will Schtevie be in post before he becomes frustrated or takes it out on players or tries to shuffle what he’s got? Or more to the point the board boot him out because its not working.
The reason I say this there is one fundamental ingredient that your board seem to want ignore and that’s significant financial investment to put yourself into a challenging position. I heard Robbie Savage say £5 -10 Million was it? I don’t like or rate Savage but what he said is spot on. You have been under invested for years and now needing to play catch up. Unless that happens you will be changing managers, structures, models whatever, shuffle the same pack to try to make something work. After two years, do you think Deby will reappoint NLN for unfinished Business? If that opportunity arose would he go back to you or spit at you?
NLN Unfinished Business?
posted on 30/9/13
Nigel I don't believe, if that situation ever happened, would turn on the club like that. Having met him numerous times he loves this city and DCFC.
This said it will take time for this to stop stinging IMO as the club got this badly wrong.
It depends how things turn out really if Steve McClaren is successful then who knows.
The future is back to being uncertain yet again
posted on 30/9/13
Why would shuffling the same deck not work...?
It's been argued that this is one thing that Clough stubbornly refused to do, always sticking with his favourite players rather than selecting personnel on merit or to suit a formation.
When you consider our woeful away form in recent years and contrast it with our home form, it's clear that we DO have the players to win matches against anyone in this league. Clough was here for almost five years and won less than thirty away matches. We were eight points off Play Offs last season based almost entirely on our home form, so it wouldn't take a deal of tinkering to make those points up by being better away.
posted on 30/9/13
We can argue as to whether NC Derby tenure has been a good one or not, but one thing we can mostly agree on is that the timing and manner of the sacking was disgraceful.
Whether NC would come back (or would want to come back) I really don't know, but I will agree that we have under-invested in recent years and it will take a significant cash injection to get us anywhere near promotion.
On a side note, if Steve McClaren does get the Derby job yes I do think it will be the start of a managerial merry-go-round - I can't see him achieving any sort of success without financial backing and quite honestly I can't see that coming.
posted on 30/9/13
Simple 666, you still lack quality and consistency in your first team and you have no strength in depth. The only way you will address that is investment into the team which is the £ 5 - £10 million point. GSE may give your new manager a few quid to appease him short term so he can get some loans in and possibly buy in Jan which is the most expensive time. How many of your current first team won't the manager fancy? I guess Wonder boy will be on his way to Liverpool in Jan for a start but his value must be going down if Saturday’s performance is anything to go by. You still need to splash the cash and from where?
posted on 30/9/13
I highly doubt Stevie Mac & whoever the sporting director will be will be coming here without a promised level of investment.
posted on 30/9/13
How much are you hoping for Milf?
posted on 30/9/13
We do lack a strength in depth in certain areas of the squad, and that is one of the reasons Clough had to go.
His reliance on the hope that Barks would make it back has seen us hamstrung for the last two seasons, and even then we'd only have three CBs. Add in Mark O'Brien, who is far from proven at this level and has had horrendous luck with injuries throughout his short career, and it's clear this was nothing short of a dereliction of duty from Clough, whether well-intentioned for the players concerned or not.
In midfield, Clough's tried to come up with a tactic to suit his favourites rather than a gameplan, and was absolutely unable or unwilling to change it up when required to do so. Look at Saturday; Jamie Ward took every free kick and set piece we won, and not a single one of them was any good. When did it get changed..? after 80 minutes. We had no real penetration into Forest's box at all over the 90, reduced to shooting (high and wide!) from distance for the duration, so when does he bring on width in the shape of Jacobs..? 90th minute.
Saturday's dismal showing encompassed all that was wrong with Clough's game face, and it is exactly that which I hope the new man can alter. It doesn't take much to turn a couple of losses into draws, a few draws into vitories and, such are the margins in this tightest of leagues, that could be all the difference we need to get into the play offs.
Get into the play offs and advertising revenue increases, matchday revenue increases and players are easier to attract than being a 'stable midtable Championship side'. It doesn't necessarily need millions throwing at it, it can be a lot of little differences that make the biggest difference.
I wouldn't be disappointed if the new man got a £8m warchest mind, but I don't believe it is the be all and end all of our situation otherwise I'd have called for that rather than the removal of Clough.
posted on 30/9/13
We need at least another 4 or 5 x £1m players Pep - if we truly are 'aiming for the top 6' we need the squad to back that statement up.
posted on 30/9/13
I would be inclined to agree with you Milf
posted on 30/9/13
I'm sure he'd never come back under this board. As for the club, the fans have been generally appreciative of the work he's done over the last few seasons, so maybe one day when the yanks are a bad memory....
I didn't want to see Clough sacked, but now it's happened I'm very interested to see what he does next. I'd imagine he'll stay local, but that severely limits his options for future employment.