CarolinaFox

Recruitment is the biggest issue in my opinion. If the team can bring in the players Martin needs to thrive, the tactics can work in League One and in the Championship. I think we will have an advantage being in league one, with the academy players we have and the loans we can attract. If we are trying to play possession style football Martin's way with league one players then it will absolutely fail. But it will have to be a full squad who can play this way - not just a few marquee players. Martin's appointment to me says that the club are approaching this as a complete rebuild. So for me its not all about the tactics, its about the players we get to make those tactics work. 

17 minutes ago, MPH said:

I don’t imagine we will find many league one standard players who can successfully play the style he likes.  Incoming transfers from the Spanish and Portuguese second division, I’d imagine…

I completely agree - I'd expect us to look at loans for younger academy products from premier league teams.

Martin's selection tells me that we will be a primarily youth driven team. Look for us to go get some premier league loans for younger players, to integrate players like Alves, Braybrooke and Page into the squad this season. We will need one if not two new CB's that are quicker, and much better on the ball (one if Nelson stays, two if he is sold). We will need a left back or right back to play the inverted midfield role as well. Winks will most likely stay unless we can sell him and get a better profile of player (not judging character here) to play that same role. And striker. We need 1-2 strikers. Any ideas who could fit those roles? 

10 minutes ago, ramadaone said:

Not quite sure why people are still throwing different names into the hat when Percy has said who it is going to be ?

 

Announced before the weekend

 

 

Its never really done until its announced - Jesse Marsch being a prime example. 

St. Pauli just let go of their manager, Alexander Blessin a few days ago. He would be such a better fit than RM. His football is almost the exact opposite of Martin - high intensity, physical, pressing heavy. We could boss League One with him. 

I have a hard time trusting people with "inside information" - last year we were told time and time again that Danny Rohl would be our next manager from people with connections inside the club - to find out he never interviewed. "Journalist" like Alan Nixon have everything to gain and nothing to lose by working for agents, putting managers names out there and then backtracking. 

2 hours ago, adamkhalifa said:

Top is only interested in making us bankrupt, and lose his wealth. 

There is no other logical reason for missing out on Challinor. 

 

 

 

If I had to guess, its probably because they don't see Challinor being a good fit for the squad profile we will likely have this year.  Challinor is a great promotion specialist, but he isn't known for being a coach that develops younger players. Doesn't mean he can't do it - its just that his teams are generally older. And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is that Challinor would probably want an older squad for a promotion push with limited resale value and we would end up needing to replace large parts of the team next year if we were promoted.  Mccarron may really want to build around our younger players. And that's the only area Martin would have an advantage: his work with young players. Alot of us want to see the younger players integrated into the team, but you have to have a manager who is interested in that type of rebuild, and you would probably want to hire a manager with experience doing that. Maybe Challinor wouldn't be interested in that type of project. Just some thoughts. 

Really disappointed is an understatement. We needed a rebuild with a new face and someone we could get behind. This feels like the summer we appointed Cooper. A train wreck in slow motion. Totally surprised if this happens. Martin is not the guy I thought McCarron would go for at all. If they hire Martin they need to put their money where their mouth is and give him the team to succeed. I don't want this brand of football, but if that's the direction we're going we better do it right. 

24 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

Thelin really started well but burnt away badly.

But that actually tells us a lot about him as a manager. His good start masked his inability to be practical when changes need to be made. I just don't think that type of manager is who we need when we are playing on poor pitches, needing to pull out some ugly wins, and against sides that will park the bus and ask us to break them down. 

Thelin = Marti 2.0. Pass. Next please

Could honestly see us going for someone like Des Buckingham (if he wanted to leave the Saudi Pro league). Already worked in a City football group system, got Oxford promoted from League One.

4 hours ago, filbertway said:

What?

 

If hes as competent as you're saying he is then yes, absolutely. Of course you'd plan for 2 scenarios that are very possible.

 

Honestly the main weird thing is that we've not said goodbye to Rowett. Either we want him or we don't want him. Keeping him around in limbo is literally what we had with RVN.

 

 

The argument was that he should have had all of this done in March. But he only started at the end of March. It isn’t realistic to expect a full club analysis, a recruitment strategy with player profiles, and a data‑driven managerial shortlist to be completed before he even had access to the club. 

7 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

A lot of word salad - the concrete evidence is the collective five years of similar experiences. Bear in mind every decision has to go through Top, everyone can work their arses off but until the chairman says yes or no, it’s just in activity. 

 

Im calling it a red herring because I’m looking at the City Group satellite clubs and none of have any success. Very few players have left those satellite clubs to become better and transfer value high players elsewhere. Wheres the proof that their data is successful? Manchester City can pick and choose who they want to sign, they don’t need a complex system to find value. 
 

I’m looking at clubs where that data driven decision making is important. Troyes, Girona (less than 50%), Lommel United and Palermo who aren’t really pulling up any trees rsther being yo yo clubs. They aren’t achieving like Bloom’s collection of clubs for example. 

I think you've lost the plot here. We're talking about WHY there isn't a manager in place, not about the success of the City Group's approach. Citing McCarron's background is about contextualizing how a managerial decision is made by someone who has worked in that set up and why its not unusual for them to take their time. 

1 hour ago, CosbehFox said:

Also the City Group thing is a red herring. None of their satellite clubs have had great success. Man City don’t need to be overly analytic with recruitment of players or managers.
 

None of their satellite clubs have shown great success in identifying players and managers which can either play for City or be sold for big money. 

 

If you compare that to say Bloom at Brighton and see the impact on Union SG and Hearts. That’s proper good work and use of an analytic approach  

Its not a red herring if it explains what they are most likely doing right now. The Athletic has run several pieces in the past where its called City Group the most sophisticated data‑driven football operation in the world. Look its one thing to not like a perspective, its the other to straw man it by saying its a red herring. City group is hugely data driven, and McCarron came from that environment. I think its more than plausible to believe this is why there is a delay. When you say we're just wasting time and every second is wasted you're reacting to the discomfort of not knowing, but you have no concrete evidence to PROVE people at the club are doing nothing. When he was hired, many posters on here suggested that McCarron was brought in for his association with City Group, and they way they operate is data first, add in a total rebuild and its makes more sense why we don't have a manager in place. At the end of the day I don't need you to like my perspective, but its a valid reason why we don't have a manager.  

2 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

McCarron has had since March to get this sorted 

Did we know in March we would be in league one? Did we know in March that we would have to rebuild the squad for league one money? No. Did he know what managers would or would not be available in May? No. And that literally changes everything. 

2 hours ago, ClaphamFox said:

Do we really know enough about what's going on behind the scenes to say this? I can't recall a single example of a club publishing a shortlist of managers they're pursuing before they make an appointment. What are you seeing that makes it 'appear' to you that we're going down agent-influenced route again? Is it just the lack of media rumours, or something else?

 

Silence might mean they're making the same mistakes as in the past or it might mean McCarron is working hard to correct those mistakes. No news could be bad news or it could be good news— we'll only find out when the manager is announced. I completely understand why people fear the worst, but I'm not sure the fact that we haven't made an appointment by 22 May tells us a great deal either way.

Agree 100% - we aren't at the stage in the summer where we need to be in panic mode. McCarron comes from a city group background, he won't just be pulling a name out of a hat, plus It will be his first real managerial appointment, there is a lot of incentive for his career to get this one right and to use the training he's had with city group to use the data to find a fit across all levels of the club (i.e a long term cultural fit and someone who can get results). That isn't an easy task, so while we haven't heard too much yet, I don't think we are at the point in the summer where it should give us cause for concern. It could be due to a lack of planning - sure, but given McCarron's background it actually reads more like we are doing the right thing for the first time in a long time: trying to get this right, which takes time. 

45 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

No, and it’s becoming apparent he’s a serial offender with his time at Koln and Germany beginning to have evidence of spying 

Didn't he argue that he spied because he thought it was something that was done everywhere? Its clearly his MO 

I wonder if Mccarron would look at someone like Alexander Blessin at St. Pauli. He could be a sleeper pick. And before anyone knocks him - his overall resume is promising, St. Pauli have one of the smallest budgets in the Bundesliga. Had a great defensive record with St. Pauli last year, has previously won the Belgian league and the cup. He's worked with smaller budgets, thrives in the type of environment Mccarron comes from. He would make us really hard to play against in a physical league. 

7 hours ago, nnfox said:

But here's the thing.  Fans want an experienced manager who is proven to be a decent manager, assuming said manager doesn't currently work and would like to come to a League One club in that has very little money to spend and are fresh on the back of a double relegation.

 

The job could be a good job for an up and coming manager.  It's a gamble for anyone and someone with a proven track record shouldn't really touch us.  Fuchs fits the up and coming category (he isn't the only one).

 

The only other category that would look at us is someone looking to rescue their career after one or two disasters (Russell Martin anyone? )

I think you're making some strong points here. Like you've said, we have to be realistic about the type of manager we would attract. None of them will be a sure bet. Winning in League One is less about tactics and more about creating a team culture that can grind out results, build a team that fights for one another and for the club. I really think Fuchs has that in spades. Captain of Austria, over 400+ games in top level football. He would be an immediate culture reset for us in a good way. Surrounded by some good assistant coaches it could work. 

12 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

I’d rather we stay clear of ex players. 
King and Rowett are prime examples as to ex players not working. 
My preference if you want experience in league 1 would be Michael Duff at Wycombe or Tom Cleverly at Plymouth. 
I realize Cleverly has played for us previously but he has more experience than Fuchs. 
Dave Challinor at Stockport as well but I think they’ll go up. 
Going for the cheapest option has been our downfall the last few summers. 
We should have got Corberan in the summer Enzo went and last summer should have got Rohl. 
I’m hopeful that we will also look abroad having been linked with Schreuder. 
Fuchs wouldn’t even be under consideration if it wasn’t for him being an ex player. 

Those are all fair options. I wouldn't be mad if we saw reports linking us with Challinor, Duff or Cleverly. Schreuder could be interesting, of the four you've listed he's by far the one with the riskier style of play. I agree, Fuchs doesn't have the pedigree on coaching merit alone, although he was Dean Smith's assistant manager at Charlotte FC for two years. I just can't help think that the cancer that's set in with this club is about low standards, and lack of grit and fight. Is there a manager who can come in on day one and really shake things up for the better? I do think Fuchs could do that, and that's why its an idea that has grown on me. I want us to win, but I also want to love this club again, and its hard when you see the junk effort being put out on the pitch and the lack of character from the squad. As a follow up: would you have a preference of one of those managers you've listed? 

30 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

Imo Fuchs is not the answer for next season. 
 

I’m not sure there is one obvious “right” candidate here. A lot of the discussion I’m seeing is focused on who it shouldn’t be, which is fair — but it doesn’t really move us toward a solution. I’d genuinely love to hear your perspective: who do you think would be a good fit? Someone realistic for us to hire by early June, affordable, and capable of leading a proper squad rebuild. Just curious what alternative names you think actually make sense.

The more its discussed the more I like the idea of Fuchs. We need a culture rebuild as much as a squad rebuild. On paper this team should be doing much better, but we don't play on paper and its the mental fitness, the character of the dressing room that has let us down. The grit and determination to take pride in the shirt and for the fans. Fuchs gets that. League One will be less about tactical identity than grit and grinding out results. How many of us have said this club has lost its way? Fuchs is a culture rebuilder, fan-reconnector (not a word - I know). This club are in free fall at the moment, we could benefit from the feel good energy he would bring, and I think he could get us playing well in a league where its not all about tactics, its about the mental and physic strength of the players and the manager. People didn't think too much of Kieran McKenna and now he's the prototype for what a club like Leicester would like to find, that rare diamond in the rough coach who can galvanize a squad and a rebuild the culture around a club without being so dogmatic about football philosophy. He would be cheap, there wouldn't be a long drawn out process to get him (he's on record said its his dream job), and he would give us that immediate jolt we need after a pretty rough 24 month period. 

22 hours ago, sm1 said:

It'll reckon be someone like Dean Smith with a young assistant like Fuchs.

Charlotte FC 2.0? Fuchs was Dean Smith's assistant at Charlotte for two years.

He only sells if he knows he and King Power can't fund a rebuild into the Championship. The club is probably at its lowest valuation point in 12-13 years. No one sells a distressed asset unless they have to or they realize the value will not appreciate anytime soon. He only sells if he can't afford to put the money into the club to get its value back up. I'm of the opinion that he will need to sell a minority share in the club to make it regardless, so I would look for the club to partner with either a private equity group, consortium or wealthy business owner to come in and buy some portion of the club as a minority shareholder this summer. I don't think its a case of if, but when that happens given the financial constraints on the club.