Dark Munster

Sounds good to me! The tricky part will be convincing City to do a swap with Pep.

It seems the majority have had enough. Too early for a poll? Apart from a last minute win against a poor Sheff. Wed. side, it's lurched from poor to appalling, with schoolboy level tactical errors. Even before his appointment he, like Jones, seemed a crap choice, maybe even more so, given his poor record with the Swans. But even if he's fired (hopefully soon, but I'm not holding my breath with the muppets in charge), the odds are that they will appoint yet another smooth talking hipster piece of crap. Ah, but we've got Wilcox in charge, so everything's ok. Yeah right, wasn't he supposed to be the one who chose that pillock RM, or at least approved the choice? Not to mention saying we have a strong stable of goalkeepers. He may have been good with kids at a club with untold riches, but does that make him qualified to be a director of football of a whole club? We better hope so, otherwise we're f*cked. The signs aren't good.

That’s what I’ve been wondering. Many think JW is some messiah. I suppose in a way I can understand people putting him on a pedestal, because of the sheer incompetence of Rasmus W. Ankersen and co. anyone semi competent looks like a genius in comparison. But if he is the one who chose RM then Dragan needs to haul him into his office and ask him what the f*ck is going on.

No Vince. 🙁

It's quite remarkable, isn't it? But there have been strong indications that RM was a Wilcox choice. SR and Rasmus W. Ankersen hid in the background while they let Wilcox introduce the new manager signing, implying he was chosen by Wilcox. But the club were after RM for quite a while, before Wilcox himself was appointed. So I would really like to know, who was the "brains" behind choosing a mediocre lower league manager, with a poor defensive record, and no previous success? It screams of another Rasmus W. Ankersen hipster choice, desperately trying to find his new Thomas Bloody Frank, but hiding behind Wilcox for plausible deniability after his Jones debacle. I really hope this is the case, because if not, it means our "saviour" Wilcox is clueless and is definitely not the messiah.

You have a lot of trust in Wilcox. This is the Wilcox who claimed we have a stable of good goalkeepers. This is the Wilcox who chose RM (allegedly). If he (RM) continues with his brainless tactics that allow other teams to walk through our midfield like a hot knife through butter, then Wilcox's judgement has to be seriously questioned. Yes he did well with the City academy, but that's different than being DOF. It's not like the warning signs weren't there from RM's previous job. Of course RM may actually have been a Rasmus W. Ankersen choice (this is what I have suspected from the beginning), with Wilcox being used to publicly support the appointment for plausible deniability on Ankersen's part. I really hope that is the case, because if not, I have little confidence Wilcox will make the right choice after they sack RM.

Making a smarmy, self-idolising website, or breaking things that aren't broken?

BBC: Hampshire have been deducted three points in the County Championship for preparing a "below average" pitch for their match against Essex in July. A further 20-point penalty has been suspended until the end of next season. 3 points this season is irrelevant. The 20 suspended points will be deducted if the club commits any further breach of the Pitch Regulations in relation to the County Championship on or before that date. The Beeb didn't mention that little fact.

That's what I've been advocating for a while: feet only for offside, and time limit for a decision (somewhere 15-30 seconds). In ice hockey they use only the position of the attacker's skates to determine the offside rule in that game. Throw in a thick enough line parallel to the last defender's boot, to give a suitable margin of error in the attacker's favour, and problem solved. Common bloody sense, so I doubt either idea will be adopted.

Apart from his good looks, athleticism, great hair and tons of money, what does she see in him?

True, since we fans don't have much choice! Before last Saturday that would make some sense, although talk is cheap, and alarm bells were ringing defensively in most of the matches (not to mention his entire stint with Swansea). Do you still have confidence in him after his appalling decisions, from start to finish, against Sunderland?

That's all well and good enjoying it while we are big fish in a small pond, but if we're stuck here for more than a season or two we lose our better players, no more parachute money, and we descend into the level of the rest of the dross. Promotion asap has to be the objective, and I am worried that SR have made yet another bad managerial appointment.

I'm not whinging about his appointment, nor dismissing him. See the quote I was replying to. Some people think he is a great appointment. And indeed he may well turn out to be, let's hope so. But the jury's still out for me, he has brought in some good players and got a good price on Lavia, but there are worrying signs: no decent GK appointment ("a strong stable of goalkeepers here" lol!), Holgate, and choosing* RM despite his mediocre track record and well-known inability to get teams to defend well. * If indeed he did, as the club have been implying. Possibly that's plausible deniability on Rasmus W. Ankersen's part after his Jones disaster.

Pep and Saudi billions are PL winners. And being an academy director (at a filthy rich club to boot) doesn't guarantee success at being director of football with us.

From his managerial career so far I'm very much doubting that he's capable of addressing it.

Yeah, but there's a big difference. Tall Paul was a desperation signing in a relegation battle, with no expectation of resale value down the road. Baz was signed as a youngster with an eye for a big resale later. They screwed up on both fronts of course.

I think it's because they spent £15m on him, so they are going to stick with him come hell or high water.

Interesting the players stood there listening to the dressing down. Players here would have walked down the tunnel well before an ultra could have grabbed a mic.

Agreed, it’s infuriating. And that’s not the only bleeding obvious things he’s getting wrong. And some are hoping he will address our crap defending. But his record on that goes back to his time at Swansea. It seems to me that he is a nice but thick bloke. What did Wilcox see in him? I’m hoping he was a Rasmus W. Ankersen choice with Wilcox rubber stamping, because if Wilcox was really the driving force for appointing him then that is very worrying about any future manager hires. Wilcox is supposedly the “expert” that saves us from the profound SR footballing incompetence.

Hasn’t the transfer window slammed shut?

That aged well!

In the B team.

So our last three managers: Jones: Unlikeable and incompetent. Selles: Likeable and incompetent. Martin: Jury still out. But is he another Selles? The fact that defensively he was very poor at Swansea indicates this is a fundamental flaw, not a blip

What’s scary is that Wilcox and co thought he was good enough to bring in. That puts a big question mark over their judgment.