ClaphamFox

The thing to look out for is whether we're scrambling to sell before 30 June or delaying sales until 1 July onwards. If we're close to the wire re: PSR for 25/26 we'll need to sell early, but this won't help generate funds for SCMP purposes for next season. Much better if we sell from July onwards as we'll be able to use the cash to reinvest.

I read this about the Reform candidate in the FT this morning: "Historical online remarks by Kenyon, a 41-year-old local plumber, were unearthed a week into the by-election campaign. They included explicit opposition to abortion, claims that women cannot drive and lewd remarks about television presenter Carol Vorderman." If you want an early insight into how the next general election will play out, this is it. A very sizeable proportion of Reform candidates will be from the same mold as Kenyon—scratch the surface and you'll find they're completely batshit crazy. Yes, the hardcore Reform voters probably won't give a shit, but hopefully it will persuade everybody else to steer well clear.

It will depend entirely on what kind of squad we have, which none of us know. Irrespective, I think it’s a terrible appointment because we’ve just hurtled down two divisions largely because we can’t defend—and Martin is famous for his inability to coach a defence. I just don’t think our fanbase can take any more of watching us gift stupid goals to the opposition, yet that’s the route the club seems to be going down.

I didn’t think the club would be stupid enough to appoint him. Unfortunately it looks like I was wrong. I also don’t think he’ll take us down to League Two. That doesn’t alter my view that it’s a stupid appointment.

Well I meant in the more limited sense that he managed MK Dons and Swansea for two seasons each, and both clubs finished higher in the second season. I don’t want him. I wish we were going for someone else. I just think the suggestion he’ll take us down to League Two is probably a bit overblown. He’s a solid enough EFL manager—no more, no leas.

Lord knows I’m no fan of Martin, but I’m curious to know where this idea that he will relegate us to League Two has come from given that he improved all three EFL clubs he managed and got one of them promoted. There are good reasons not to want him, but the prospect of a third successive relegation isn’t one of them. That won’t happen.

‘Others’ in the plural? Really curious to know who…

Some reports online suggest it’s almost done and could be announced as early as tomorrow. No idea how reliable.

Where was the interview shown?

Yep. The big problem with Martin—and the reason he’d be an unpopular choice at most clubs—is that he has carved himself a reputation as a rigid ideologue who has only one way of playing and stubbornly refuses to compromise even when it’s clear to everyone that it is not working. He has such enormous belief in own coaching ability that he thinks he can coach Championship players to play like Man City against PL opposition and achieve success with it. There’s nothing wrong with having a preferred way of playing provided it is combined with a pragmatic sense of what is achievable given the players you have and the opposition you’re facing. But if your ideals are more important to you than the team’s results, you’re going to come unstuck sooner or later. It’s not snobbish to not want a manager like that.

I'm coming around to this view. If we're going to play this way—which we are—we may as well do it with Martin given he at least has a track record of giving opportunities to young players, which should be a pre-requisite of the job given the position we're in. If we manage to generate enough in sales to back him in the transfer market, he may even take us back up at the first attempt. It's what happens next that bothers me, but I guess that's just a bridge we'd have to cross when we come to it. Having said all that, I still suspect he'll end up somewhere else.

I can definitely see it not being Martin. The negotiations we've supposedly been having with him have been dragging on for weeks, which suggests there may be obstacles to getting this appointment done. Unfortunately I don't see them flipping from Martin to Challinor. It seems the reason Top wants Martin is because he has decided we were heading in the right direction with Enzo's style of play and that things went wrong because we strayed from that path. While Challinor's teams do play a kind of possession football, it's much more direct than either Enzo's or Martin's style. If we don't get Martin, I think we'll end up with somebody else who plays in a very similar way but possibly with even less pedigree.

If we don't get Martin we'll end up with a pound shop version of him. This is not an endorsement of Martin, by the way—just an observation of what is likely to happen.

Burnley also interested in Martin according to this chap:

I don’t want to be a killjoy, but this thread has gone off the scales. Any chance we can reel it back to the subject at hand?

It was first reported we were interested in Martin more than two weeks ago. These discussions do seem to be dragging on a bit, don't they? Anybody else get the sense that Martin is far from convinced by our offer and is dragging it out while he talks to other clubs?

He probably could if he wanted. The problem is, he won't want to. It is becoming clear that Top has still not let go of his obsession with Man City, and Challinor will not be regarded as being in that mold. Challinor's teams tend to dominate the ball, but he likes to move the ball forward quickly and rejects sterile possession. It seems Top still believes that possession for its own sake is the way to go. Hence why even if Martin rejects us, they probably won't even consider Challinor.

I guess this chap’s education didn’t extend to him bothering to find out that Martin has never taken a team out of League One.

Highlights?

If Freddie’s right, build the statue.

I don’t think Top is ruthless to sack Rudkin outright, but I think he may be capable of a fudge like this, yes. I’m not remotely convinced by Thelin.

What if it isn’t a battle? What if Rudkin’s ‘promotion’ was actually a way of moving him aside while sparing him any embarrassment over a perceived demotion? I’ve seen it so many times in my line of work—people ‘promoted’ to positions that ostensibly carry more responsibility but in reality involve far less involvement on day-to-day decision-making. To me, the McCarron/Rudkin arrangement has all the hallmarks of that.

Yes, McCarron.

There have hardly been any at all for the past few months. TalkSport Bet were apparently running one for a bit, but I think it was the only one. Possibly Bet Victor at one point too. The rest haven't touched us.

That’s assuming Rudkin has final say. I’m not convinced he will.