Ian Leneghan

[Paul Cooper]

I am not sure whether Ian Leneghan reads this but if he does .....

It is time to put Chris Wilder out of his misery. He clearly must go and the frustration is increasing amongst the supporters. It is getting a little nasty and that is not how it should eb at the end of the tenure who has brought some success to the club.

In addition it makes sense for some of the younger players to be blloded- maybe one or two at a time but what is there to lose? Giving them experience could benefit rhe club going forwards. Why on earth have Heslop on the bench and Craddock playing today if they will be off shortly? Why not give Odowda some play time? Could it have been any worse?

I would suggest that keeping CW to the end of the season is unfair on him and does the club no good whatsoever.

[Snake]

I am not sure whether Ian Leneghan reads this but if he does .....

It is time to put Chris Wilder out of his misery. He clearly must go and the frustration is increasing amongst the supporters. It is getting a little nasty and that is not how it should eb at the end of the tenure who has brought some success to the club.

In addition it makes sense for some of the younger players to be blloded- maybe one or two at a time but what is there to lose? Giving them experience could benefit rhe club going forwards. Why on earth have Heslop on the bench and Craddock playing today if they will be off shortly? Why not give Odowda some play time? Could it have been any worse?

I would suggest that keeping CW to the end of the season is unfair on him and does the club no good whatsoever.

“Leneghan

[Werthers Original]

No need to be snooty, it was a sensible and heartfelt post. It was a dreadful afternoon and I think everyone is pretty depressed. We basically didn't play at all and something is very wrong, although wilder is certainly not a terrible manager

[OUFC4eva]

Understand Paul's sentiments entirely.

But come on it's not difficult to spell the owners name correctly.

[amershamwrighty]

Having been pulled up for poor syntax myself recently, I have sympathy with Paul.

Yesterday - no atmosphere, no fight, no guts. I'm normally a big fan of Tommy Craddock, but his performance yesterday was shocking and his petulant reaction to being (correctly) hauled off sums up a number of things that are wrong with the club. Not sure CW was wise to hang him out to dry afterwards, though.

Duberry was dreadful too - understandably lacking match fitness, but error prone. His time is up.

Scott Davies had some enthusiasm but nothing he tried seemed to work.

I left with 20 minutes to go - I was bored and fed up, and have been since November, really. IL should, as Paul says, do the decent thing - who is going to take decisions about players to retain/offer new contracts etc ?

[Dr Bob]

If IL was going to get rid of Wilder before the end of the season (and presumably before the end of his rolling contract?) surely he would have done it by now. At least, as far as I can see that would have been the sensible thing if the intention really is to replace Wilder. Otherwise, by waiting until the end of the season, how could the new manager get to see the players in action and decide which he would wish to keep? Or is the simple answer get rid of the lot of them?

I did find it curious how Wilder continually spoke in the past tense about his time at Oxford when interviewed after yesterday's match. But if IL is going to get rid of him, whilst presumably letting this year's contract run out would be the cheapest way of removing Wilder, it is hardly the best for the club going forwards. Or is it that IL really is not going to get rid of Wilder...

Yesterday was just another of the dismal performances we have seen recently. What is also problematic looking forward is that this end of season collapse is starting to become a habit under Wilder. As has already been said by AW, the manner of Craddock's departure from the pitch yesterday summed up so much that is wrong with the club currently. If that was players playing for their future, then what would not giving a damn look like...

[Ancient Colin]

Football 365's form table has us 23rd, with only York below us over the last eight games ...

[Paul Cooper]

Sorry Snake, fair comment!

Having had a chance to reflect, I still find it hard to believe that CW will be staying beyond the end of the season. It seems that CW himself believes that he is going as well.

As has been said above any new manager would surely need to assess the squad especially the players who are out of contract? IL does seem to be a fairly astute guy in some ways and I reckon that he must have made his mind up by now. On the assumption that CW will be going, I can't believe that Il isn't already doing his homework on the next manager.

So what is the chance that IL has sounded out a new manager already (rather like Southampton who seem to haqve had Adkins replacement lined up before he was sacked)?

[Mooro]

Could it be IL is just waiting until Monday morning to make the announcement, just so Chris Williams can have his Sunday lunch without being interrupted....?

Then again, if we are to go with the structured selection process we are all hoping for, then it is unlikely the new incumbent will have long at all to survey the current squad before they all jet off on holiday on the 28th....


BTW - I wonder whether, if at any point we had actually been in front, Wilder might have actually given O'Dowda a runout? I would imagine he was reluctant while we were behind, due to the added pressure and expectation that might weigh on his shoulders

[Kernow Yellow]

As others have said, CW's interviews recently certainly imply that he thinks his time will soon be up.

My guess (or rather hope) is that IL wants to go through a proper job advertisement/selection process, and figures that more decent managers are likely to want to put themselves forward for that once the season has ended, as they may be a little pre-occupied at the moment.

But it does all seem to have left an unpleasant and unacceptable situation for these last few games.

[Joey's Toe]

My guess (or rather hope) is that IL wants to go through a proper job advertisement/selection process, and figures that more decent managers are likely to want to put themselves forward for that once the season has ended, as they may be a little pre-occupied at the moment.

I figured something similar. But I think IL is now duty-bound to act in some way - even if it's just by putting CW on &quotgardening leave&quot for what's left of his contract and instructing Mickey Lewis to blood a few of the youngsters in the remaining games in front of potential applicants etc - or, on the other hand, to put out a categorical statement to the effect that Wilder's contract has been extended for another season and he has the full backing of the board.

Either way, a man as astute as IL should have realised by now that the speculation and uncertainty isn't in anyone's interest.

[SmileyMan]

The proper interview and selection process worked well for us last time, so we should certainly repeat it.

There's a microscopic mathematical chance we can reach the playoffs, given a peculiar combination of results* between the clubs above us, but that will probably disappear either tomorrow night or Saturday, so that would be the correct time to pull the trigger, in my opinion. When the stated objective for the season has been failed.

* Chesterfield beating Exeter and losing to Bradford Bradford losing to Bristol every other game for all the teams from Exeter down being a loss.

[JoeyBeauchamp]

I think both CW and IL are hoping to limp to the end of the season with no dramas - not going up, not going down - and hope to escape our anger and rebuild over the summer. If they want to achieve that though, a few less 'performances' like yesterday would be helpful.