Does IL have a clue?

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ty cobb
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by ty cobb »

Maybe JK was right. Maybe only OUFC fans can take a record breaking away record and disregard it with such disdain.

But hey we're above Lincoln and Cambridge.

Muppets.
ty cobb
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by ty cobb »

Snake wrote:Chris Wilder is gone, away, dead, nailed to the technical area/perch at the Kassam Stadium and no longer Oxford United property any more so can we just leave this now? Monty Python and the dead parrot parody springs to mind (apart from the legal compensation which is really just small change for WPL to sort out) but the last game of the season looms. I hope it doesn’t comes to a crunch game for both teams but if it does then I doubt if Northampton Town will offer Oxford United fans 5,000 seats to visiting supporters like we did to Leyton Orient.
Optimistic of you, I fully expect them to be clear of relegation and us to be clear of the play offs.
Mooro
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Mooro »

To me IL had a very clear plan in his mind when Wilder left - a proper recruitment process which could take a number of weeks in order to get the right man, be that someone out of work who applied, or someone in work that we approach (in the correct official manner, of course).
As with most clubs, the #2 becomes the caretaker, he has of course done it before, and IL expected him to be able to keep things ticking over until the right man was sorted.

The problem for IL has been twofold - i) it is taking longer to free the right man from his current position than expected (presumably because of their own team's position) and ii) the ticker-man is not doing such a good job as he did last time - and he faces difficult decisions on both counts.

Only he knows exactly how close he is, and what needs to happen for the right man to be appointed, but he now has to decide how much longer he can wait before looking elsewhere:

Part of me thinks he will hold out regardless and wait, even if that means ML in charge until the summer (although I think had that always been the plan he would have followed the other clubs currently looking and appointed the caretaker to the end of the season from much earlier on, which he has pointedly not done on more than one suitable occasion).
However, if he now decides the right man IS taking too long, then I would think he'd call time on it, and 'go again' with another candidate on a permanent basis.
What I'm not sure I can happening is him now appointing another caretaker, because that would mean either i) going for another external person, which would mean a potentially tricky short term contract to negotiate, and a problem if he got us up as there would be a clammer for the new guy to stay, but the original target will also be expecting to start, having potentially burnt bridges where he is (not to mention the risk of the squad not responding to him knowing he is only there short term {and, for some, has replaced their mate}) OR ii) another internal person, which would run the risk of whoever it is still being too close to the players to take full command, and also leave ML in no man's land.

So, for me , it's not that IL hasn't had a clue - I think he was very clear at the start of the process, it's just that the time it is taking is growing, just as the time we can afford it to take is shortening, to the point where the two have overlapped and he now has to think again, with none of the options looking particularly favourable, but the 'do nothing' perhaps looking the least favourable of all...

Who'd be a chairman?
JoeyBeauchamp
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by JoeyBeauchamp »

Enough is enough - form and confidence are so low that IL has to come out this week and either announce a new manager (preferably) or confirm ML until the end of the season, in which case we need to get right behind him. Anything less and this season will peter out completely.
SmileyMan
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by SmileyMan »

I do feel sorry for IL in one major respect - he cleary finds the established football business incredibly frustrating to deal with, as would probably anyone with a background in modern business might. I know from my brief dealings with the local semi-pro outfit that even by small, volunteer-run standards, football seems to be stuck in the seventies when it comes to the corporate side of things.
Jimski
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Jimski »

I've mentally given up on this season now. (Obviously a sudden managerial appointment might well revive my interest.) I can't see us even making the play-offs, and if we do somehow squeak in, we'll probably get hammered in the semis. It's quite liberating actually. I no longer care that much, as I know we can't actually get relegated.
Yankee Clipper
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Yankee Clipper »

Jimski wrote:I've mentally given up on this season now. (Obviously a sudden managerial appointment might well revive my interest.) I can't see us even making the play-offs, and if we do somehow squeak in, we'll probably get hammered in the semis. It's quite liberating actually. I no longer care that much, as I know we can't actually get relegated.
So you are giving up on a season whilst we are still in a play off position? Form has been shocking but so has the attitude of many Oxford fans both at games or on social media. Some could learn a lesson from the way Man Utd fans at Old Trafford supported their team in the face of adversity yesterday. Now is the time the team needs us most to rally round and pull for them. FFS posts like this sadly sum up too many of our fans.
GodalmingYellow
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by GodalmingYellow »

Yankee Clipper wrote:
Jimski wrote:I've mentally given up on this season now. (Obviously a sudden managerial appointment might well revive my interest.) I can't see us even making the play-offs, and if we do somehow squeak in, we'll probably get hammered in the semis. It's quite liberating actually. I no longer care that much, as I know we can't actually get relegated.
So you are giving up on a season whilst we are still in a play off position? Form has been shocking but so has the attitude of many Oxford fans both at games or on social media. Some could learn a lesson from the way Man Utd fans at Old Trafford supported their team in the face of adversity yesterday. Now is the time the team needs us most to rally round and pull for them. FFS posts like this sadly sum up too many of our fans.
Women would never have got the vote without the protestations of the suffragette movement. Whilst I will never give up on this season until it is realistically impossible to achieve promotion, it is irresponsible of those supporters who simply accept the status quo and complain about those wanting something better.
Yankee Clipper
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Yankee Clipper »

GodalmingYellow wrote:
Yankee Clipper wrote:
Jimski wrote:I've mentally given up on this season now. (Obviously a sudden managerial appointment might well revive my interest.) I can't see us even making the play-offs, and if we do somehow squeak in, we'll probably get hammered in the semis. It's quite liberating actually. I no longer care that much, as I know we can't actually get relegated.
So you are giving up on a season whilst we are still in a play off position? Form has been shocking but so has the attitude of many Oxford fans both at games or on social media. Some could learn a lesson from the way Man Utd fans at Old Trafford supported their team in the face of adversity yesterday. Now is the time the team needs us most to rally round and pull for them. FFS posts like this sadly sum up too many of our fans.
Women would never have got the vote without the protestations of the suffragette movement. Whilst I will never give up on this season until it is realistically impossible to achieve promotion, it is irresponsible of those supporters who simply accept the status quo and complain about those wanting something better.
You can hardly compare Jimski's post to the protestations of the suffragettes. They would have never got the vote if Emily Davison had said I've mentally given up on getting the vote now, almost there but can't see it happening. Now I don't suggest he throws himself under a horse either. I'm also not one to ever accept the status quo and had been voicing my concerns about CW right back at the first capitulation. What I do object to is the giving up when things look bleak. Yes we need a Manager appointed and yes we are playing some gutless rubbish at the moment and that shouldn't be accepted. But we are still 6th in the table and we have a part to play in trying to help turn that round. But that isn't going to be achieved by turning on individual players, ML or each other.
joepoolman
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by joepoolman »

GodalmingYellow wrote:
Yankee Clipper wrote:
Jimski wrote:I've mentally given up on this season now. (Obviously a sudden managerial appointment might well revive my interest.) I can't see us even making the play-offs, and if we do somehow squeak in, we'll probably get hammered in the semis. It's quite liberating actually. I no longer care that much, as I know we can't actually get relegated.
So you are giving up on a season whilst we are still in a play off position? Form has been shocking but so has the attitude of many Oxford fans both at games or on social media. Some could learn a lesson from the way Man Utd fans at Old Trafford supported their team in the face of adversity yesterday. Now is the time the team needs us most to rally round and pull for them. FFS posts like this sadly sum up too many of our fans.
Women would never have got the vote without the protestations of the suffragette movement. Whilst I will never give up on this season until it is realistically impossible to achieve promotion, it is irresponsible of those supporters who simply accept the status quo and complain about those wanting something better.
To be honest I'm feeling pretty similar to Jimski at the moment but I won't accept criticism. I have almost given up on the season but this will not result in me going to fewer games than I would have, or supporting the team any less, I will always support the team, I never boo, or take part in any derogatory chants, and that stands. Pretty sure a lot of the Man Utd fans that are getting behind their team believe that their season is over too, but like me they understand that they must still support the team as much, if not more than ever.
Snake
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Snake »

Jimski wrote:I've mentally given up on this season now. (Obviously a sudden managerial appointment might well revive my interest.) I can't see us even making the play-offs, and if we do somehow squeak in, we'll probably get hammered in the semis. It's quite liberating actually. I no longer care that much, as I know we can't actually get relegated.
At any level in football then until the mathematics kick in or the ref blows the final whistle in a Cup tie (or Play-Off game) then nothing is sorted. Hope and despair spring to mind..
SmileyMan
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by SmileyMan »

One fundamental difference between the situations is that the suffragettes were fighting for equality and the right to vote. Whereas OUFC fans are being asked to cough up good money to watch a rudderless, planless capitulation.

At the end of the day, if the product isn't entertaining on some level, then people will stop coming. Plenty of people find that being part of a crowd and feeling part of a community are what it's all about. But plenty of others (about 2,000 by doing the sums) think that maybe some football that isn't dire wouldn't go amiss either.
Jimski
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Jimski »

I'll still go to the games I was going to go to, and support in the same way. I simply meant I no longer believe that anything good will come out of this season, so I've given up on hoping. Not that I'm going to boycott or boo excessively or anything like that. (Quite an overreaction from YC above. And no idea where the suffragettes come into it...)
GodalmingYellow
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by GodalmingYellow »

Yankee Clipper wrote:
GodalmingYellow wrote:
Yankee Clipper wrote: So you are giving up on a season whilst we are still in a play off position? Form has been shocking but so has the attitude of many Oxford fans both at games or on social media. Some could learn a lesson from the way Man Utd fans at Old Trafford supported their team in the face of adversity yesterday. Now is the time the team needs us most to rally round and pull for them. FFS posts like this sadly sum up too many of our fans.
Women would never have got the vote without the protestations of the suffragette movement. Whilst I will never give up on this season until it is realistically impossible to achieve promotion, it is irresponsible of those supporters who simply accept the status quo and complain about those wanting something better.
You can hardly compare Jimski's post to the protestations of the suffragettes. They would have never got the vote if Emily Davison had said I've mentally given up on getting the vote now, almost there but can't see it happening. Now I don't suggest he throws himself under a horse either. I'm also not one to ever accept the status quo and had been voicing my concerns about CW right back at the first capitulation. What I do object to is the giving up when things look bleak. Yes we need a Manager appointed and yes we are playing some gutless rubbish at the moment and that shouldn't be accepted. But we are still 6th in the table and we have a part to play in trying to help turn that round. But that isn't going to be achieved by turning on individual players, ML or each other.
I can compare and I did! The comparison is very clearly not intended to be one of magnitude or national and social importance, but one of the right and even the responsibility, to speak out when something isn't as it should be.
Brahma Bull
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Re: Does IL have a clue?

Post by Brahma Bull »

ty cobb wrote:Maybe JK was right. Maybe only OUFC fans can take a record breaking away record and disregard it with such disdain.
I assume you mean the fans drove Wilder out? Resulting in our record breaking away record falling apart. Thus the blame for this is indirectly pointed in the direction of the supporters for our recent capitulation?

I'd actually disagree. Maybe Jake Wright has been unaware of how long Wilder wanted out and how many jobs he went after? Maybe the blame lies with the lack of leadership and discipline on and off the pitch.

What I will say is the season is far from over and I am a little surprised (I am sure it would be argued people are being realistic) that a number of people are giving up. One thing in Lewis' favour is he doesn't speak as he is giving up. We are in the play-offs despite an awful run of form - we now have an opportunity to turn it around and cement our place.

I remain #unitedwestand.
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