ClaphamFox

Highly unlikely.

And they still show no signs of being able to lay a glove on Trump. I know it's still early days and everything, but as yet the Democrats aren't showing any signs of being serious about holding him in check. Grim times.

I find this an entirely plausible scenario.

It will be so us if Man City are relegated and we finish below Ipswich to gift them the lifeline... https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/relegation-and-resignations-expected-as-man-city-trial-verdict-imminent/ar-AA1B8NhA?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=5669bffa9bd44445831b3c1fe946a98d&ei=15

As stated on another thread, if it doesn’t prove to the club beyond any doubt that we desperately need a proper DoF, then nothing will.

It’s going well on the socials…

You may be right. It's possible that I'm in denial because the prospect of our board not grasping the gravity of our situation is too terrifying for me to contemplate...

We signed six players last summer and one in January. Of those seven players, only one - BEK - was deemed good enough to start last night despite all of them apparently being fit. The most of expensive of those acquisitions, Oliver Skipp, did not even make the 20-man matchday squad. This is an utterly shambolic state of affairs - no newly-promoted club can hope to survive with a recruitment strategy as disastrous as this. If the penny doesn't now drop that we desperately need a proper Director of Football, it never will while KP are here. However, I have a hunch the penny will have dropped and that we will see a new DoF before next season.

The club usually announces manager departures on social media, so they would have been told by now if RVN had gone this morning.

Maybe I'm naïve, but I suspect we will see some kind of change behind the scenes this summer. I'll be very surprised if Rudkin is still DoF next season, for example. Whether the changes are enough to get us back on track is another question, but I think there will be new appointments in some key positions over the summer.

Weird - I can’t see many saying that. I’ll have to look closer…

Who’s saying give him next season?

Well thank heaven for small mercies!

We need Dyche like we need a hole in the head. Appointing him would provide a near-enough guarantee that we'd 'get it wrong again'.

How would we benefit from doing that?

You would hope that the board has learned from the mistake of trying to appoint a manager on the cheap.

Rodgers was a successful manager when we appointed him. Maresca and RVN were unproved but neither had been tainted by a spectacular recent failure. Martin's terrible record with Southampton in the PL completely overshadows the fact that he got them up via the play-offs. We need somebody who will get us back up and has the tactical intelligence to keep us up next time - Martin has proven he is not the man for that job. In addition, appointing him would go down like a bucket of cold sick with a fanbase that is already becoming dangerously disillusioned. So it would be a catastrophic decision both from a football perspective and a commercial perspective. I know that people are depressed and very down on the club, for understandable reasons. But this idea that we're about to recruit Russell Martin is insane. It is not going to happen.

That was in November when our season could still be saved (theoretically at least). We're as good as relegated now, so no major advantage in moving now rather than in the summer. Plus there may be a clause that enables us to part ways with no compensation once relegation is confirmed.

So you think the board will just ignore Martin's spectacular failure in the PL this season with Southampton, and his total inability to organise a defence, and recruit him anyway because his teams play pretty football? Such a decision would go beyond mere incompetence - it would be deliberate self-sabotage. And while I accept that our board is incompetent, I don't believe they are actively trying to destroy the club.

Graham Potter successfully managed Brighton for several seasons in the PL - they were in the top four when he left. Martin's one attempt at managing in the PL was an unmitigated disaster. They are not remotely comparable.

Why anybody would pay £15 for NOW TV given the quality of streams available is beyond me.

There were deep-rooted problems at the club the last time we got relegated. However, we used the in-built advantage that newly-relegated clubs have effectively, just as Burnley and Sheff Utd are doing this season. For a club of our size, building a squad for promotion is much easier than building one for PL survival. Our summer transfer window was actually pretty good in 2023 because we had the resources to do what we needed to do. We have fewer sellable assets this time but we also likely have a smaller wage bill. If we’re reasonably smart in the transfer market, we will be in the top six next season, and possibly competing for the title. If we recruit a decent DoF and manager, our chances will improve even further.

Cooper was a poor appointment but there was at least some logic in it - he did succeed in keeping Forest up and his stock was stock was still high when he left. Martin was taking Southampton back down in spectacular fashion and has shredded his reputation with his ludicrous obstinacy over tactics, etc. The two situations are not comparable. Besides, if your logic is that the club will appoint Martin because it appointed Cooper, you’re assuming that the board will have learned nothing at all from this season’s farce. While I understand why people might be this cynical, I respectfully disagree. This relegation will inflict further damage on the KP brand and they will want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. They won’t appoint Martin.

It won’t be Russell Martin. The club’s objective will be to return to the PL as soon as possible and stay there this time. Although Martin succeeded in getting promoted with Southampton, his record before he was sacked this season was atrocious. His stubborn refusal to change a system that was comprehensively failing every week suggests he would have zero ability to keep us in the PL if even if he got us there. I can only assume that people suggesting Martin will be our next manager believe that the club will ignore/overlook his spectacular failure with Southampton this season. They won’t. For the first time since KP took over, the club is facing the prospect of a material fall in attendances. Appointing Martin would be a wildly unpopular move at a time when the club desperately needs to convince the fans that things are going to change for the better. It would be a suicidal appointment. It’s not going to happen.