Myles Francis wrote:To play Devil's Advocate on this:
If IL had given Wilder a contract extension at Christmas time and we then embarked on our almost traditional New Year slump, do you think fans would be supporting that decision, or castigating IL as Wilder was never the man for the job? The brief was to get us promoted this season, not get us into a position at Christmas where we might the go on and win promotion from. The fact that Wilder chose to walk could be seen as a total lack of belief in his own ability to get his team promoted. His approach to many games has demonstrated his pathological fear of failure (rather than his appetite for victory), and jumping when he did removes the possibility of failure. Going to Northampton puts him in a win-win situation - keep them up and he has done well, don't keep them up and it's down to what he's inherited.
With regards to Lewis, two wins and three draws from his first five games suggested that he had "earned the right" to keep the status quo. It's only the last three games where the wheels could be said to have come off. That initial run probably gave IL some faith that Lewis could carry on in the same vein whilst the search for a new manager was carried out - with slightly less of the time pressure. As it happens, maybe that has worked out - only time will tell - but there was also no guarantee that a new manager would have done any better.
As others have mentioned, IL does tend to look at the long term picture and, I believe, this is one reason the process is taking some time - it's not simply a case of seeing who applies and picking the best. It also involves looking at who is currently under contract who may be interested and when those individuals may become available, i.e. pay compensation now or wait until end of season.
Whatever the position, I don't think IL will be rushed into any sort of decision because his timescale doesn't seem rapid enough to others. That said, if we continue to drop points as we have in the last few games, he may well look to someone available now, e.g. Keen, rather than wait for someone else, e.g. Tisdale.
Excellent post.
I think everyone is frustrated that we haven't appointed a new manager already, but I think we'd all be more frustrated if we'd appointed someone in haste and they'd proved to be a duffer. It's clear IL doesn't do kneejerk reactions...and he clearly sees the next appointment as a crucial one for the club, which I think we'd all agree with.
Keep your nerve everyone.
And while I'm here, I can't let this Wilder revisionism go unchallenged:
Please, remember that Wilder chose to leave us. He was under contract to us. He definitely would have got a new contract at the end of the season with promotion, and probably would have got one with heroic failure in the play-offs. He rewarded our loyalty with that pathetic display of petulance post-Dagenham and then walking out with the job not done.
Remember too that by leaving, Wilder exposed he had little confidence in us going up. This would have had an effect on our league form as the season went on - the manager's doubts would have infected the squad.
Remember too that blowing strong positions in the league was somewhat of a speciality of his.
Remember he was lucky to have a patient chairman, who could justifiably have got rid of him at the end of last season, or indeed the season before.
Remember too that this is still his squad, and we are still for the most part using his tactics.
Remember this list? John Grant, Lee Fowler, Ashley Cain, Marcus Kelly, Ryan Doble, Leigh Franks, Ryan Burge, Richie Barker, John Franks, Danny Philliskirk x2, Christian Montano, Conor Ripley, Dean Morgan, Mehdi Korrouche, Lewis Guy, Mark Wilson, Sean McGinty, Justin Richards, Lewis Montrose, Josh Parker, Daniel Boeteng. I do. Remember this catalogue of costly calamity next time we have an injury and the chairman says we can't afford a replacement.
Remember he had to be told to use the development squad.
Wilder did a great job getting us out of a horrible league but he was stale as constipated fart. Since returning to the league, he's broken up a successful team, wasted a bucket load of money on players who scandalously clog up Rage On's Database, reduced crowds to dangerously low levels, blown two promotion positions (to such an extent we haven't even made the play-offs), and chickened out of a third.
I will not let this "we would definitely have gone up if Wilder stayed" argument have any legs. If we were definitely going to go up, he would definitely have got a contract and the security he wanted. He bottled it and behaved like a spoilt child in the process.