Thetownend.com

 :hmmm:

Yeah Other/Not named in list will win this by miles - I didn't really think this through, should have left the polling to Nemo really!

Robinson might be off to Leeds as assistant manager

Yup. Fans are shit at identifying good managers so anyone we identify should instantly be discounted.

Where's Sammy Lee these days he's normally sniffing around big Sams Arse!

If I'd done it, we'd have Morgan Roberts as our new manager.

Seriously though, last time we ended up with very few "other" votes - https://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=59499.0 - but that was a bit later and the betting lists were well informed. Although not enough to include the man who got the job!

Could do worse than Ted Lasso.

Ah thanks for sharing that - interesting. I had forgotten Steve Morison was heavily linked last time. We also thought Marc Bircham had got the gig at one stage!

I took some names from the list on the Tranmere next manager betting odds as we haven't got one yet and figured they and us are pretty similar.

I know certain people on here would be apoplectic at the mear mention of the name Cowley but I have a lot of time for them having followed them since they were at Braintree and so nearly got a "pub team from Essex, we're just a pub team from Essex" into the football league. They then totally reinvigorated Lincoln City, a club which had been floundering and stagnating for decades, not unlike our own. I know it didn't work out at Udders or Pompey but you can say that about Wellens at Doncaster and Salford, did those spells make him a bad manager?

You're on the wrong account, Rokerite!

I'd forgotten he's a Cowley(s) fan🙂

Added Gunning in as I had remembered pressure is for tyres.

Ryan Mason may be looking for a new job soon!

That I could endorse.

My vote is in other but if he was there at the time I would have voted for Mad Gav Gunning & Mildenball

I think I'd go with the Cowleys this time.

We just need something completely different. No more academy coaches.

Did we not just appoint the Chelsea equivalent of him and watch it turn to utter shit?

We did, this and the other thread alone shows you that they'll never get it right from the off. No matter who they appoint needs supporting from the off this time

Apologies I completely forgot about him/them when creating the poll. I seem to be able to reset the votes, but I don't think I'll bother.

I would hope it’s Artell but as the clubs skint it’ll almost certainly be Gunning & Mildenhall

Where has this ‘the club is skint’ come from?

Just paranoid rumor people are peddling these days based on conjecture in the absence of facts.

Wouldn't exactly be shocking if true though would it?

With the subtle difference that Mason has actually managed the first team, quite successfully in his first caretaker stint

Voted for Artell off that list but hoping for someone completely different and inspiring a la Hoddle / Di Canio / Wise

Robbie Neilson wouldn't be a bad shout if we could afford him.

No but theres no evidence tbf that it is true either. Just a shitty stick to use really

Difficult to rule anything out with this club's history. I do think there is an unreasonable expectation from fans to know too much about such things as budgets and contracts.

If the club had the top budget (which it doesn't), what is there to gain from saying so? It adds pressure and expectation to the players/coaches, it fucks all your contract negotiations, all transfer dealings etc. So what more should be said other than we have a competitive budget for promotion?

The truth is really that people are happy if the players look to be worth the perceived playing budget. This year we spread ourselves thin, had a larger squad (often needed thanks to injury records) but with much lower average quality. Did we really benefit from signing Darcy for example when Aguiar barely played, when last season Aguiar looked decent enough as the back up option, scored more goals than Darcy as well. It was just wasted bodies of no real quality. I don't doubt the budget was higher this season than last, but the way we spent the money makes it worth less.

There is zero evidence Morris walked because he wasn't happy with the budgets, but in this post truth world it doesn't stop people throwing it around and discussing as possible fact.

The point is we're probably never know with disclosures embedded in all sorts of contracts these days.

We can make decent, educated guesses.  The limited accounts produced at least show how much we spend as a total business and that can be compared to other cubs in the Division.

Crewe for example, had a Revenue of 5.7m and spent 5.5m in the year ended 2022.
Bradford had a turnover of 7.3m (including transfer fees received) and reported a loss of 299k, so spent about 7.6m in 2022
Leyton Orient had a turnover of 5.6m and spent 7.8m!!!
FGR had an income of 6.5m and spent 6.5m in 2022 - a lot of that income was Sponsorship/Commercial, which is likely Ecotricity overpaying for Sponsorship
Exeter City had income of 7.9m (1.5m from transfer fees), and spent 6.7m

We brought in 6.5m and spent 6.3m

Without going through them all, we look to have a set of accounts that don't look massively different from the top teams in the Division last year (I included Crewe to see if we are above the mid table gang).

Great analysis. Thanks for that. Interesting stuff.

He's been caretaker for 8 or 9 games. That's not enough to make any judgement really.

On Artell, did he actually sign any decent players or just get lucky with their academy products at Crewe? He signed Ollie Lancashire from us which is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Considering our academy is somewhat limited he won’t get the same luxury here or the 2 seasons of mediocrity it took before they were in a position to challenge.

Who would you like Theakston.

To be honest not sure, I just don’t want one of the names that consistently bounce around the lower leagues. Flitcroft, Brown etc proved that just because they are experienced doesn’t mean a thing, it was all a bit shit.

I just want someone engaging and enthusiastic, of the names mentioned I’d probably lean towards Garrard as he seems to have a bond with their supporters and doesn’t have the usual baggage.

No ,I was not seriously suggesting he's going to come here but the point was he's not really an equivalent to Morris.

Honestly this bloke would be a fucking disaster. This fact alone should get him banned from the borough of Swindon for life.

On the flipside - he made Lancashire a decent player for them.

Shhhh people won't like facts. Pretty sure they finished that season on the same points as us too

Facts... boo!

It has to be someone with experience of FL football, and not someone you think would clear off as soon as he has a little success and someone else comes calling, someone like McCann, Cowley etc that will hopefully want to take up into L1 and realise what it takes, the type of players you need, someone that is happy to be given free reign, and perhaps realises with the right tools there is something to build here.

Or someone perhaps who's reputation has taken a bit of a battering (like Wellens at Oldham & Salford) and realises why, someone like Nathan Jones would be great looking at what he did with Luton then maybe left for the wrong club, maybe he fancy's starting again in the lower leagues and can see a plan.

I do believe with stfc that if a manager is allowed to build with the correct players (not young untried at this level) something can work here, as the club is stable financially, and a chairman that wont interfere but will back the manager at the right time.

Charlie Austin's presence suggests otherwise.

Did he interfere ?

Nobody knows the discussions Clem had with Lindsey

In all fairness to Clem, we have struggled to find a 20+ goal striker since Doyle, Yeates  and McKirdy so in some ways when needs must.

Really?! He only played 11 games for them in the season they finished level on points with us and less than half the games the following season in L1. I don’t think he was ever decent for them or us.

I remember at the time speaking with several Crewe fans and they liked him, he was awful for us but anyway that isn't the point really. I wouldn't not wanyt a manager because he signed a vertain player

Good job Clem did interfere, we'd be in a worse state if Di Michelle had been the sole purchaser in the January window.  Austins Goals/Min ratio is miles ahead of anyone else in our squad this season, especially for anyone who has started more than a handful of games.  That's despite being used poorly by Morris (lack of pragmatism).

While Gunning/Mildenhall's time cannot be used as any kind of long term example of success or otherwise, they did utilise Austin well - he kept pretty central and was sent in some crosses.

That's what you need from a Manager, someone who knows how to use the squad well, especially at this level where you are going to have some ropey players around the squad (we have far too many).  If Morris had played to that strength, we could have been a few points better off than we are, possibly getting a goal or two more in tight games.  Someone like Auston can make someone like Hutton look a better player, which in turn helps the resale value of your younger development players.  There is no better stat than getting goals and assists to add value.

I'm surprised nobody has voted for Graham Alexander he's got a decent win % and unlucky to get the sack at Salford

He's on my list of decent candidates. Done well everywhere. Unlucky to be sacked at Scunny, Salford and Motherwell. Every one of his previous clubs were left in a better position than when he arrived.

We could do a lot worse than him let's hope he's in the running.