BBC News: Kevin MacDonald positive on Swindon Town stay

[mrverve]

If KMac was on a short term contract, I wonder why it wasn't made public?  Where did the two and a half years come from?  It will be interesting to see what happens now, has he done enough to warrant a longer contract in the eyes of Jed and co?  Fundamentally if his remit was to get us promoted, then he's not met the objective.

Probably so the players wouldn't be in any doubt who the manager was.

If the board came out and said he's on a deal until the end of the season the players could've already had an excuse to not perform.

[Flashheart]

My opinion ebbs and flows.

After the 1st half yesterday I was thinking we may need to find a new manager quickly but the 2nd half made me think that he deserves a shot with his own squad.

[JanTheMan]

Apparently so before the game and came in for some stick.

Cheers.  I didn't see him but then Brentford ain't short of pubs.  If I had I might have politely asked if he fancied answering the 2/3 week old questions before he sat down for a pint.

[LucienSanchez]

My opinion ebbs and flows.

After the 1st half yesterday I was thinking we may need to find a new manager quickly but the 2nd half made me think that he deserves a shot with his own squad.

That's where I find myself. He's on a hiding to nothing from some quarters though, and will be again next season if the budget is cut as much as we fear. There have been glimpses of good football as well as tactical naivety - i for one wouldn't be adverse to seeing him stamp his own style and system on the club with players hand-picked to fit it and the whole summer to get used to it.

[DiV]

I think in order to fully judge KMac properly he needs more time.

I thought he was a good appointment, plenty of experience without the stigma of having done the rounds and and failed else where (hi Danny Wilson)

However, whatever you now think of Team Di Canio the methods worked. In my opinion KMac should have come in and kept everything the same and steered the ship home.

Then once the season was over he could change the formation, the players, the training, the hours as much as he wants. It gives him enough time to put his stamp on things without disrupting the current season.

Sadly he didn't do this. He put his stamp on things too soon and this left us disjointed and effected us in my opinion.

I think KMacs team selections have been baffling in some cases but he's not working with his own players. Simon Ferry should never ever be played on the right wing.

However, what KMac has done well for the most part is making the right subs at the right time - Brentford, Yeovil and Coventry and prime examples. Saying that his refusal to change it at Doncaster was horrendous and you could argue in some cases the subs he makes are just correct the mistakes he made in the first place.

I think its obvious KMac won't motivate them like PDC did and the players certainly won't fear KMac like they did PDC.

I think its too early to judge and the only way to get a true indication on KMac his to give him next season.

It would be great if he could come good but personally I can't see it. Currently I'd class him as a step up from Malpas but two steps below Sturrock.

We can only wait and see.

However, IF come the start of next season KMac is still here and Ferry is still here and he plays Ferry on the right wing - I'll be calling for his head as soon as we kick off!

[Dozno9]

Here's looking at you kid.

[url width=203 height=152]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41109000/jpg/_41109333_aking203.jpg[/url]

[BruceChatwin]

On what basis does he "definitley deserve a chance"? Would that be his 29% win ratio?

On the basis that 14 games is an embarrassingly short time to make a snap judgement over a manager on.

Alex Ferguson's had a win percentage of 34.2% for the 88/89 AND the 89/90 season that followed, and that was with a team he had already had two years to build and mould in the way he wanted (a luxury you're evidently not willing to extend to Kmac). Plenty of fans called for his head back then too:

Following an early season run of six defeats and two draws in eight games, a banner declaring "Three years of excuses and it's still crap ... ta-ra Fergie." was displayed at Old Trafford, and many journalists and supporters called for Ferguson to be sacked. Ferguson later described December 1989 as "the darkest period [he had] ever suffered in the game", as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone.

Took him 225 games over 7 seasons to win his first title at United. But I suppose if you were in charge he wouldn't have even lasted 14 games.

[Dozno9]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, there are plenty of managers who would have taken a club down the leagues if not sacked and those are in the majority over those managers like Ferguson.

I'm not advocating getting rid of KMac BTW, I think given the concentration on budget cuts he'll be the type of manager we need for spying a good young player.

[ronnie21]

I think KMacs team selections have been baffling in some cases but he's not working with his own players. Simon Ferry should never ever be played on the right wing.

Or leave your top scorer on the bench!!

[kerry red]

Here's looking at you kid.

[url width=203 height=152]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41109000/jpg/_41109333_aking203.jpg[/url]

Seems to do very well with clubs where expectations are low - not so well with a 'bigger' club.

Wouldn't mind him at all

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

I may be wrong here but where was it ever confirmed that he was a 2.5 year deal? The only thing I remember was seeing a tweet from Morshead saying he believed that to be the case. There was never anything official to say how long KMAC had been given on his contract.

[jonny72]

As well as it not being Kmac's team, he also had a very small squad to work with - for a number of games he only had 15 fit first team players and that included two goalkeepers. I'm not convinced PDC would have done any better in the same situation, for starters he'd have been too busy moaning about it and slagging off the board to the press.

Kmac gets a lot of bonus points from me for putting youth players on the bench and playing them on a few occasions. We need to develop younger players and get back to being a selling club to balance the books and Kmac is the man to do that.

[Bob's Orange]

I may be wrong here but where was it ever confirmed that he was a 2.5 year deal? The only thing I remember was seeing a tweet from Morshead saying he believed that to be the case. There was never anything official to say how long KMAC had been given on his contract.

Yet another example of the fans being kept in the loop.

Why does the silence seem so deafening at this club these days?

It wouldn't surprise me if we signed Leo Messi and the first we heard about it was Summer of Naughty Nine (SONN) spotting him on our pre-season tour of the vale of white horse.

[carbonwhite]

Ive only seen 8 games well Kmac has been in charge, but the football that we have played hasnt been promotion form. The first half yesterday was proof of that im still shocked we managed to get 3 goals and ofcourse the second half was an improvement and thats solely because you could not get any worse than the first half.

Ferry playing on the right side has had me scratching my head for awhile now. He seems to be the only who thinks he can play in that position.

[Samdy Gray]

Kmac gets a lot of bonus points from me for putting youth players on the bench and playing them on a few occasions. We need to develop younger players and get back to being a selling club to balance the books and Kmac is the man to do that.

Agreed.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'd quite like MacDonald to stay and build his own squad. As much as that bloke who's now at Sunderland instilled a real desire and passion back into the club, he didn't give any chance to youth players. If our budget is to be cut (quite understandably, unless we want to end up in the shit again) then a policy of bringing through youth players is exactly what we need and I think Kevin MacDonald is better qualified for that job than some also-ran that's been knocking around the lower leagues for decades and would only get the job because of their willingness to work with a small wage budget over some bigger name managers.