Cifuentes OUT

[Donwebbio]

Marti will forever be the manager who made youth development and finding solutions from within the club his USP, only then preceding to play the same pile of tripe that has seen us relegated 2 out of the last 3 seasons.

Edited 22 October 2025 by Donwebbio

[teblin]

1 hour ago, funkyrobot said:

Cifuentes getting battered on here for not playing multiple 17 year olds in a Championship team all at the same time is very unfair. I can’t remember another team that would play the likes of Evans, Page, Aluko alongside Monga all at the same time. It’s unrealistic and unfair on him and the lads that would ultimately get hung out to dry as we drop down the table. He’s got a squad weakened from last season that was already weakened after Enzo left. He’s trying to juggle long term fitness issues with Ricardo and Ramsey and deal with an imbalanced squad lacking in vital areas. Hence why he selects Hamza, moves James and chooses Soumare and keeps juggling strikers who don’t score. 
 

It’s rare that as fans we will agree with a manager about everyone in the team. I personally don’t agree with continuing with Thomas but tbf to Cifuentes, VK is only a slight improvement at best. Nelson is more an alternative to Vestergaard than to Faes and Vesty has been good this season. As for Okoli, many on here were calling him out earlier in the season for his passing and even his heading. He’s improved his reputation by not playing. 
 

I still think Nelson will get his chance and one or two of the other youngsters will get rotation time this season. Page, Aluko, Evans and Silko will get bench time, occasional starts but realistically we are playoff level at best unless Cifuentes is helped during the January transfer window. 

All of what you say is fair, but 1 win in 7 in the championship isn’t good enough.

 

The football is dull which is my biggest issue.

[ThorpeAstleyFox]

Our problems run WAY deeper than the manager.

 

In the Summer we had decent clear out, but we are still carrying a LOT of pages who are massively overpaid based on their ability to play football. A lot of these players will be out of contract at the end of the season, which gives us a proper opportunity for a full reset.

 

For the fans calling for youth players to be used more: Cifuente's job is to win as many games as he can. If he is selecting the 'old guard' then this is because he believes that they give us th best chance of achieving this goal. He and his staff are qualified football coaches who see these players all week in training. I am prepared to give them the benefit of doubt in this regard.

 

My biggest issue is the style of football that we have been serving up for many years now (since a couple of years in to the Rogers era). This is a conscious decision by the CLUB and will be a key attribute that they look for in any new manager. Because of this, changing the manager will not change the approach. I can't see this changing until there is a change at the very top of the club.

 

I cannot see Top selling up anytime soon and, as such, we are going to keep repeating the cycle of changing managers; serving up turgid possession-based football; and underachieving, for any years to come.

[DAS Boot]

Its bad and there really doesn’t appear to be any signs that it could get better.

 

I don’t want us to turn into a joke by calling for and continuously sacking managers when they’re not immediately amazing, however that starting lineup last night was just mind blowing.  Its as if he drew the names out of a hat.

 

Being an armchair manager is easy, I get that and we don’t see training etc.  But regardless of how much slack I cut, my god, I cannot understand why Soumare is anywhere near a starting 11.  
 

I hate saying stuff like this but i’ve been watching football for 40 years and I cannot remember a player that has such little quality across all aspects of their game, but continues to get game time.

 

Its been said elsewhere but I think out of the current squad, maybe 4 would get anywhere near a Nigel Peason squad.

 

Didn’t really appreciate at the time just how good that management team was.

 

Pearson

Shaky

Stowell

Walsh

 

4 blokes who absolutely knew their stuff, all pulling in the same direction.

 

I don’t think looking back is a helpful

thing to do but christ, it’s hard not too right now.

[LiliansLeftPeg]

5 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Jakub was number 2 last season and Hermansen was sold, becoming number 1 was natural, Monga was already in the squad when he came in. it's a stretch to give him credit for those

Giving academy lads a debut is one thing. Persisting on match days, coaching and fully integrating so they can be relied on and rotated is a much bigger, longer term thing measured over seasons. So far, Marti absolutely gets that credit for Jakub and Monga in my book. Time will tell for the rest. 

[Sankey93]

He’s on a 3 year contract unfortunately but so was cooper and he got the boot pretty quick. If we don’t get rid soon we’re gunna be playing catch up and we really don’t need this! 

[shen]

He has to do something a bit more drastic now. The home draws against Wrexham, Portsmouth and loss now at Hull have alarm bells ringing. 

 

He cannot keep scolding the performances and not let it have consequences. He's better served trying to implement some of the youth, albeit I don't mind if he does it gradually. It's bizarre how Nelson, Page, Aluko, Thomas and Evans have completely fallen out of contention.

 

If Vestergaard is 'good enough' can we somehow still accommodate Nelson? Maybe use Nelson a bit like Doyle under Maresca? We've persisted with Thomas long enough. 

 

[Stevosevic]

1 minute ago, Sankey93 said:

He’s on a 3 year contract unfortunately but so was cooper and he got the boot pretty quick. If we don’t get rid soon we’re gunna be playing catch up and we really don’t need this! 

We are already playing catch up with the looming points deduction. 

[AKCJ]

11 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

It's not the manager, it's the people above him that need to go first.

It has been this way for the last 4/5 managers now. Probably everyone since Rodgers.

[winteriscoming]

I get the call for him to go but realistically who will we get? It’ll be Martin or Gary O’Neil. 
I don’t want either of them. 
 

[Winstonthedog]

In fairness to him he's not had the best of starts ... no pre season and no cash, however I'm struggling to identify his system... if he has one ? firstly for me any player who is out of contract next summer can only make the bench at best, then pick the players left to fit your system ... youth or otherwise it may not be perfect but at least it's a forward direction .... my suspicion is that he has to pick certain players to justify the high wages they are being paid 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Realistically it's keep him or we get Russell Martin.

[SB87_LCFC]

The on-going issues of the club continue to be apparent and are not going to change any time soon. None of us deserve to see what we see at the minute. 
 

I asked myself after the Portsmouth game, have we been spoilt for the last 10 years? Have we over-achieved so much so that we are blinded that in the history of the Premier League we are either a mid-table masterclass who get a cup run or a yo-yo team who can’t sustain league status. We never seem to be anything other than that historically, other than arguably the greatest ever footballing story, or the tenure under Brendan Rodgers winning the FA Cup and Community Shield. 
 

Rodgers departure was the beginning of the end for me, questionable handling of players and bad results were apparent, but I think if we looked deeper, his retaliations at his ‘reliable’ players, were bore out of frustration at the lack of being able to elevate the team with signings of an adequate level in the league. Instead he has to go to another route, meaning he’s signing dross on high wages, before departing. 
 

We’ve all said Rudkin is at the heart of the issues, his inability to negotiate the two highest transfer fees the club has received for Maguire and Fofana highlight his inadequacy to do his job. He nearly ballsed up the Mahrez deal as well all because he wanted Patrick Roberts. 
 

The current manager, is out of his depth, although this isn’t entirely his fault. Reservations were there at the beginning, we all of a sudden were pro Cifuentes because he was willing to pay to come here, not being funny, who wouldn’t? Best training facilities in England and possibly one of the best in Europe, on paper some of the best players in the league, but the issues run deep and he definitely bit off more than he could chew. 
 

Yes we made £50m+ this summer, but that was to ensure PSR was kept quiet, we’ve still got 5-6 players on high wages in the final year of their contracts who are doing absolutely nothing to justify their salaries. We’re not even in a position to terminate a deal with 12 months to run, ideally not the best case scenario for any team as that’s bad business, but what’s worse? Lose a few million or drop down the leagues? 
 

We have no Plan A or a plan B. The current situation is to my eyes - pass it about as much as we can, give it to Abdul, see what he can do. Plan B is throw Ayew on so he can take every set piece (badly) have more touches than anyone else and then sulk when it doesn’t go his way. This is not good enough by any stretch! 
 

Unfortunately Marti has no support, senior players clearly don’t back him and there seems to be more problems than we know. Kingy looked fed up on Saturday night when he was pictured on the touchline as Jordan James came off, I think even he can see how bad it’s getting.

 

Sadly, I think 2 more bad results and he’s gone. The worst part of it is, we’re probably going to end up with Russell Martin! 

[Happy Fox]

6 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Realistically it's keep him or we get Russell Martin.

 

Get Michael Carrick he would be far better than Marti.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

1 minute ago, Happy Fox said:

 

Get Michael Carrick he would be far better than Marti.

He wouldn't tell the owner that the team would play like Man City though so he wouldn't get the job. 

 

We all know it's just a matter of time until Martin manages us lets face it. 

[honeybradger]

2 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

Cifuentes getting battered on here for not playing multiple 17 year olds in a Championship team all at the same time is very unfair. I can’t remember another team that would play the likes of Evans, Page, Aluko alongside Monga all at the same time. It’s unrealistic and unfair on him and the lads that would ultimately get hung out to dry as we drop down the table. He’s got a squad weakened from last season that was already weakened after Enzo left. He’s trying to juggle long term fitness issues with Ricardo and Ramsey and deal with an imbalanced squad lacking in vital areas. Hence why he selects Hamza, moves James and chooses Soumare and keeps juggling strikers who don’t score. 
 

It’s rare that as fans we will agree with a manager about everyone in the team. I personally don’t agree with continuing with Thomas but tbf to Cifuentes, VK is only a slight improvement at best. Nelson is more an alternative to Vestergaard than to Faes and Vesty has been good this season. As for Okoli, many on here were calling him out earlier in the season for his passing and even his heading. He’s improved his reputation by not playing. 
 

I still think Nelson will get his chance and one or two of the other youngsters will get rotation time this season. Page, Aluko, Evans and Silko will get bench time, occasional starts but realistically we are playoff level at best unless Cifuentes is helped during the January transfer window. 

Nelson will get his chance 

 

Nelson isnt a youngster anymore, he is proven at this level. He had a better defensive record playing for Oxford United in the championship last season than we have this season and that was against harder opposition than we have faced so far. He can fill in for Faes just fine, Marti is just a terrible manager who cant see what he has available to him.

Edited 22 October 2025 by honeybradger

[Happy Fox]

1 minute ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

He wouldn't tell the owner that the team would play like Man City though so he wouldn't get the job. 

 

We all know it's just a matter of time until Martin manages us lets face it. 

 

Maybe Top is a closet Man United fan.. but in all seriousness Carrick ticks all the boxes for me, yes he had a torrid end of season with Middlesbrough, but I think honestly the fact he actually favours youth players could be a blessing for us.

[Happy Fox]

15 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

I get the call for him to go but realistically who will we get? It’ll be Martin or Gary O’Neil. 
I don’t want either of them. 
 

 

Carrick is the standout name. If a former player that has won ex amount of premier league titles doesn't get our lot enthused nothing will!

[winteriscoming]

1 minute ago, Happy Fox said:

 

Carrick is the standout name. If a former player that has won ex amount of premier league titles doesn't get our lot enthused nothing will!

What could possibly go wrong with hiring an ex Man Utd player as manager? 

[VG Fox]

11 hours ago, lozzyblue fox said:

Picking the same defensive trio vest,faes,thomas is diabolical.

Soumare 😂,daka,ayew 😂😂

Surely some if our youngsters can not do any worse.

and even if they did, there might be improvement over 20 games as they need experience to be able to develop whereas the names in your post will not improve in the next 200 games......we might also see some running and tracking back with the kids

[VLC86]

29 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

I get the call for him to go but realistically who will we get? It’ll be Martin or Gary O’Neil. 
I don’t want either of them. 
 

It’ll be King 100%.

 

I think the reality of this season is starting to hit home to people. When you appoint someone that’s highest level has been QPR, on a free and being willing to take a pay cut while being told to sell all of our players and not bringing anyone else in and due a points deduction plus owners who want out, what did we expect?

 

Did people think we would be running away with the league? 

 

[RoboFox]

17 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

 

Carrick is the standout name. If a former player that has won ex amount of premier league titles doesn't get our lot enthused nothing will!

We just sacked a dude who was one of the most decorated players of his generation. These players don’t care who it is.

[filbertway]

I liked the changes and I like how scathing he was of himself. I think the draws have papered over some cracks. Losses to Hull and Millwall will serve as a wake up call and turning point I think/hope.

 

Even better if the loss to Hull serves as a wake up call, but with it being a 3 game week I expect the rotations have already been planned.

 

My only continuing disappointment is the lack of academy players making the bench. Hopefully that changes after seeing the garbage the senior players are serving up.

 

I predicted 4th to 10th so I'm not gonna go in on the guy for looking like a team that will finish 4th to 10th haha.

Edited 22 October 2025 by filbertway

[Tommy G]

Change the manager and then what? Let Rudkin and Top bring in a bigger numpty? 

 

We are going to be in this league for a few seasons, we're 8th, we aren't getting relegated. He hasn't had enough time yet.

 

Most people on here thought we were going down to League 1 this season. 

 

People acting like we have the Class of '92 in our youth ranks or something. 

 

It's the people above him than need to go. 

Edited 22 October 2025 by Tommy G

[Noahfence]

Why do people think if you advocate for youth being given a chance it means you want a team made up of 17 year olds? 
 

I simply want the likes of Evans who is scoring for run right now to have a spot on the bench. 
 

Nobody is saying we should be relying on a 17 year old to be our main source of goals. But as a different option off the bench? That’s what I thought Marti would be doing. 

 

 

Edited 22 October 2025 by Noahfence