Rage Online

&quotPaul Cooper&quot wrote:I am concerned that we will end up in a relegation fight if we keep Patterson.

That’s complete nonsense.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/non ... relegation

40/1

Wow. That's worth a punt!

Fav to go down in odds order:

1st- Lewes (who beat us) are 1/20
3rd - Grays (who beat us) are 4/7
5th - Woking (who we drew with) are 5/4
6th - Forest Green (who beat us) are 7/2
8th- Barrow (who beat us) are 9/2
9th- Altringham (who beat us) are 7/1
10th - Weymouth (Who beat us) are 14/1

So, of the 10 faves to go down, we have only beaten THREE of them.

Hummmmm...

&quotrecordmeister&quot wrote:40/1

Wow. That's worth a punt!

Fav to go down in odds order:

1st- Lewes (who beat us) are 1/20
3rd - Grays (who beat us) are 4/7
5th - Woking (who we drew with) are 5/4
6th - Forest Green (who beat us) are 7/2
8th- Barrow (who beat us) are 9/2
9th- Altringham (who beat us) are 7/1
10th - Weymouth (Who beat us) are 14/1

So, of the 10 faves to go down, we have only beaten THREE of them.

Hummmmm...

Woking probably deserved to beat us too. If it weren't for Cole's heroics they would have done.

&quotrecordmeister&quot wrote:40/1

Wow. That's worth a punt!

Perhaps Lenegan should consider £100k on it, then if we were relegated, at least the clubs debts would be paid off.

P.S I voted against a sacking on the basis that we don't have any money to back a new manager to make any changes. Plus I feel sorry for Patto - he talks a good game and brought in the sort of players we have all been calling out for in recent years on paper in Guy, Constable, Haldane and Murray.

Whilst they all, with the exception perhaps of Constable, have been disappointing its been the old guard of Wilmott, Quinn, Day and possibly even Turley who have been the real letdowns this year. Defensively we've been terrible.

The players have let him down more than anything else and since we're apparently stuck with most of them until the end of the season and he doesn't seem to have lost the dressing room yet, I'd stick with him. It can't get much worse can it?

&quotGodalmingYellow&quot wrote:

&quotrecordmeister&quot wrote:40/1

Wow. That's worth a punt!

Perhaps Lenegan should consider £100k on it, then if we were relegated, at least the clubs debts would be paid off.

Errr no. All that would result in is Ian Lenagan £4million richer and OUFC still £4million in debt.

We've tried the Manager Merry-go-round and it doesn't work. Persevere with Patterson until the end of the season. As someone said earlier, he's still learning his trade and will only improve.

Having seen the pre-season games, how many people were calling for his head based on the players he had introduced? Hindsight is a marvellous thing.

&quotGeoff&quot wrote:We've tried the Manager Merry-go-round and it doesn't work. Persevere with Patterson until the end of the season. As someone said earlier, he's still learning his trade and will only improve.

Having seen the pre-season games, how many people were calling for his head based on the players he had introduced? Hindsight is a marvellous thing.

I also agree that the constant changing of managers is not helpful. However, we need to aware that we not simply heading towards a season of pointless mid-table mediocrity. We are heading towards a relegation battle so its is highly unlikely that the season will be over by Christmas. It might only just be starting by then and a decision needs to be made as to whether Patto has the skills to avoid the trapdoor into oblivion.

Does anyone have any (reliable) friend of a friend type stories/rumours about Patto's future?

As I posted on the OxVox site, in my view, the time to change a manager is when future results under an existing manager are likely to be worse than under a new manager.

The big dilemma OUFC faces, is that permanent damage in terms of loss of fans, could be done to the club, by continuing with a manager who doesn't appear to have the ability to turn the results around.

Personally, I think we have pretty much reached the point where a change of manager is necessary.

Whether that is affordable, whether it is possible to find a replacement, and whether IL is prepared to fund it, are questions that need answers.

I will continue to pin my colours to the mast of keeping him to the end of the season at the very least - this constant clammering for his demise since almost day one has been embarrassing and completely blinkered to the lack of success the revolving door has achieved in the past.

I know some were against him from day one because of the way he was appointed (although quite how much faith these people should have put into a committee of IL/NM &amp JS to pick the right man from a host of applications is another matter).

Of course I'm not happy with the current situation, but I dont buy this relegation battle argument and I'm not convinced anyone coming in would be any more likely to drag us into the playoffs than Patto would be if he could put together a little run of results.
He also seems to have at least tried to give us somethings that we have not had for a while (youth progression, some decent home games, wingers).
I would also have favoured having more lower paid players than hanging his hat on a few stars, but that may be a lesson he will have learnt for next season.

Give him the whole season to learn and perhaps he may learn and develop into the manager that will take us somewhere good.

Given that Steve Evans is being touted as an alternative is in itself enough to make me not want to risk a change...

&quotMooro&quot wrote:I will continue to pin my colours to the mast of keeping him to the end of the season at the very least - this constant clammering for his demise since almost day one has been embarrassing and completely blinkered to the lack of success the revolving door has achieved in the past.

I know some were against him from day one because of the way he was appointed (although quite how much faith these people should have put into a committee of IL/NM &amp JS to pick the right man from a host of applications is another matter).

Of course I'm not happy with the current situation, but I dont buy this relegation battle argument and I'm not convinced anyone coming in would be any more likely to drag us into the playoffs than Patto would be if he could put together a little run of results.
He also seems to have at least tried to give us somethings that we have not had for a while (youth progression, some decent home games, wingers).
I would also have favoured having more lower paid players than hanging his hat on a few stars, but that may be a lesson he will have learnt for next season.

Give him the whole season to learn and perhaps he may learn and develop into the manager that will take us somewhere good.

As a lily-livered liberal, my natural inclination is to agree with this. However, my reactionary streak is gaining ground and it won't take many more results/performances like Saturday for it to become the dominant voice. That said, I still have grave doubts that another change of manager will make any difference at all. Maybe David Kemp was right after all.......

Given that Steve Evans is being touted as an alternative is in itself enough to make me not want to risk a change...

Good point, well made. On the Crawley forum earlier today I found a nice demonstration of the fat fraudster's motivational skills. As you probably know, Evans had a draconian ban (much harsher than the standard &quottouchline&quot ban) imposed on him earlier this season. Well, let the results speak for themselves:

Stats during Evans ban:-
P12 W8 D2 L2 F22 A11 PTS.26
Stats since his return:-
P10 W2 D2 L6 F13 A15 PTS.8

Although his assistant, the delightful Paul Raynor, appears to be every bit as unsavoury, particularly in the objectionable touchline ranting department.

&quotSnake&quot wrote:

&quotPaul Cooper&quot wrote:I am concerned that we will end up in a relegation fight if we keep Patterson.

That’s complete nonsense.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/non ... relegation

Really? Based on what? 3 points off the bottom 4 is pretty worrying to me. The home form is just about keeping us above the bottom 4, but recent performances against Grays, Dorchester and Histon worry the hell out of me.

I wouldn't even use the 'we are too good to go down' argument as I am genuinely not convinced.

Hope you are right though..

&quotPaul Cooper&quot wrote:

&quotSnake&quot wrote:

&quotPaul Cooper&quot wrote:I am concerned that we will end up in a relegation fight if we keep Patterson.

That’s complete nonsense.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/non ... relegation

Really? Based on what? 3 points off the bottom 4 is pretty worrying to me. The home form is just about keeping us above the bottom 4, but recent performances against Grays, Dorchester and Histon worry the hell out of me.

I wouldn't even use the 'we are too good to go down' argument as I am genuinely not convinced.

Hope you are right though..

As it happens, I think those odds are over-generous from Skybet, as most bookies have been offering about 16-1 recently, which was before the Histon thrashing. Anyway, if you click on the betting link today you’ll see most bookmakers offering around 14-1 for our relegation.

However, I still wouldn’t take that bet, anymore than I would throw money away on the 25-1 odds for promotion, or the 100-1 you can get on Betfair for us winning Division V.

That’s because I can’t see Lewes, Grays or Northwich getting any better and achieving more than 35-38 points this season, so that leaves just one last slot. Normally, Alty would be in that position but they do seem to have had a bit of a revival this season (not that they will ever be relegated as Lady Lucky is obviously an Alty fan). I expect teams like Salisbury, Eastbourne, Barrow and FGR to be in the mix for the 4th from bottom slot because they don’t have the financial resources of the rest of the BPS.

I think 44 points will probably be enough to survive, leaving just another 22 or so for OUFC to get – say 5 wins, 7 draws, and 15 defeats out of the next 27 games. Now come on, that sort of form against part-time opposition just isn't going to happen is it?

And of course, if we did hit that kind of form then Patto would not be around much longer and we’d benefit from ‘dead cat bounce syndrome’ when a new manager came in - like what happens at most clubs when journeymen players get a new gaffer in the dressing room.

By the way, when WPL took over we were 8-1 to go out of the League, and 12-1 after the Peterborough game, so I’ll qualify my whole posting by stating you can never say never!