Thetownend.com

Manager Chat. Who do we want?

Hughton or Artell for me please, Clem.

Artell (from currently available) please.

Artell, Manning, Hughton, Cowley

Any of the above.

Think Manning has gone/is going to Pompey.

Artell would be fine.

Richardson ditto.

Cowley(s) ditto but unlikely

Hughton not for me

Jody Morris fine

John Terry would bring a circus with him. Not sure of his credentials.

Wilder would seem the wrong ‘type’ for Clem, but the right ‘type’ for the team.

 i dont really have any preference- who knows how any manager might work out at our club. 

I'd love Hughton BUT...

I can't believe that there's the remotest chance of that happening,or that we've even spoken to him. If we have, I'd imagine it was a very short conversation.

What was wrong with the New Manager thread I created (That had about 23 pages in it)

So much waste on this forum!!  :crash: :smugfu:

I thought Hughton talks were reported to have broken down? I know it's all heresay either way.

Artell looks good to me, did well in a difficult situation. It went wrong in the end but you'd expect that to happen eventually, and there's a lot to be learnt from going through that also.

Grant McCann

I looked at the new new new manager thread which was locked

Anyone credible, selected because of their skillset, not because they’re someone’s mate.

Fair enough!

Good luck with that

After the farce which was the Lindsey appointment process all I ask is that some credible thought is behind the selection.

I know it’s conjecture but if we are sticking to the ‘model’ why was Hughton even interviewed. Jumbled up thinking.

I'm a little confused as to why Journalist Ryan Whelan keeps intimating that no contact has been made between STFC and Artell which some people on here (DMC I think it was) have said is not true.

I guess Journalists make money from clicks so is this guy just fishing for responses or is he kosher?

I started following him on Twitter after he was on the money re the McKirdy transfer. But I know the club has been pretty good recently at not leaking anything but this guy seems to regularly post stuff as if he knows what is going on.

Duncan Ferguson for me (shock!)

No boring academy managers whose main objective has been developing players rather than winning games.

Someone who has played / managed / coached at a level where winning was important.

Absolutely this. Any appointment might not work out, but I'd like it to look like we at least tried to find the right person for the job.

Spot on.

Show ambition to get promoted with a competent appointment and they'll get backed. (Whether it works out or not doesnt actually matter- football is all about hope).


Appoints Clem/Powers mate on the cheap and its going to turn very toxic very quickly.

Mate you keep saying this, and I’d fucking kill for Duncan Ferguson. The few games he had at Everton , they looked good, was feeding Calvert Lewis headers for fun, imagine him setting the team up for Austin to score headers/tap ins in the 6 yard box…

But fact is there’s fucking no chance. It’s too ambitious and too good a name. It’s going to be a Yes man, academy coach, who knows someone big, who’s never really managed. All the managers available and they seemingly are coming to a conclusion that Marc cunting Bircham is the best fit.

Tommy Wright.

I keep saying it because it’s who I’d like.

Unrealistic perhaps.
A good choice & exactly what the club need, definitely.

Left Everton to go into management. Hasn’t yet.
Unlikely, yes.
Impossible, I’m gonna live dangerously and say no!

We’ll obviously just have to wait and see

The Cowley brothers would be ideal. If not them then David Artell.

David Artell.
At least he has management experience.

Completely forgot Bircham was a Canadian International.

Someone at worked mentioned his name and said he was getting the job because he’s Charlie Austin’s best mate!!

We’re they even at QPR at the same time?

He was assistant manager for a time that Austin was there.
Austin may have simply told Clem he may be worth having a chat with, nothing wrong with that.

Mystic Whelan says 7 interviews now

Dave Artell, from the realistic list of potential managers, would be my choice.

Has someone said Manning is on his way? to Pompey

If we ain’t gonna splash the cash for a manager who is pretty much guaranteed to get us up, then caddis for me

Wave 105 (South Coast radio) seem to think Luke Williams is getting that gig and they're not happy about it. "National league to league 1, we're aiming high again"was one comment

Rory Delap. Would be cheap?

Did Power insert a sell on clause when he sacked Luke Williams...soapy tit wank
Surely Portsmouth must aim higher

By my reckoning and taking a few websites as being truthful there is an overlap of about 2 months.

Not that it’s over relevant. Just wondered where ‘because he’s Charlie Austin’s best mate’ thing could have come from.

How to show you don't know about our squad and haven't watched us play in 2022-23 without saying you don't know about our squad andyou haven't watched us play in 2022-23.  ::)

It came from suggestions via DMC on here in the previous thread didn't it didn't it?

Well I don't know about your squad and I haven't watched you play in 22-23 but I do know that if you appointed the Cowleys this morning I'd be getting my money on you to be promoted this season by noon.

I did mention it, not sure they're best mates but certainly worked together

I appreciate your optimism that a tactic of aerial bombardment and physical play is the way forward with a team of young munchkins.

 :zzz:

Who started the Chris Wilder rumour then?

Fucking hell, have a word.

Wilder is a decent manager but would be way out of our price range, he will go to Pompey I would think.

Liam Manning, Ian Foster, Anthony Barry and Leam Richardson have already turned down the Pompey job apparently so Wilder is in prime position. Luke Warm Williams has already been discounted by the Pompey board.

I would think the job is Artells TBH.

I think Wilder is out of Pompey's price range never mind Swindon's.

David Artell would be a good, sensible, sound appointment for Swindon Town. If he didn't deliver promotion this season I would expect him to do so next.

https://twitter.com/LowerLeagueLook/status/1613480266202320898

Well, that's me off to fetch the bleach. Thanks Horlock...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0dvvfq3

Sandro speaks - not once does he mention about getting a manager who can get us out the league. Same old shit about developing players and talent etc etc.

Fuck off

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0dvvfq3

The more I listen to Sandro, the less convinced I am. Comes across as such a Rookie. Doesn’t answer the question  and Speaks with zero conviction, the only time he’s sure of himself is when he says every player is for sale at the right price and the new man has to have a record of developing talent. This bloke is literally running the entire football operation, and I don’t think I’m alone I’m saying he fills me with zero confidence.

literally every time he speaks he makes me nervous. has to drill home we are a selling club at every single opportunity.

8th is regarded as a good position  :no:

Just had a similar conversation with Venks,

I don't want us to turn into Crewe. Play the right way. young squad. Happy to sell to keep the lights on. Winning promotion as a nice to have bonus.

Fuck that. Its not for me.

He seems to be so misaligned with the fanbase. We're in League 2. The lowest we have ever been. This is not our level. Why can't he see that?

He does say new manager won't be this side of the weekend.

And that he's still signing players. With all of the football know how he has.

Admits Hutton has "had attention" but the Peterborough transfer with Tomlinson "is not something he's aware of".

It's just lots of woffle.

Even if you want to do the selling club, developing players model, surely that's a million times easier to do in L1 where you'll attract better players, higher fees and have fewer nasty cloggy bully teams to make you look shite.

So does he tell the prospective manager that promotion isn’t the priority but would be a nice bonus behind selling players that have been developed. Can’t see many being swayed by such a lack of ambition - apart from those desperate for a wage or Scott Lindsey.

He's not very good at reading the room is he?

Not at all.
Really pissed me off that interview has.
I’m thankful for Clem for everything he’s done, but he really needs to start understanding that fans only really give a shit about winning games of football, and employing people like Sandro to contribute to that really isn’t going to work.

Fuck me. Would've been better to not say anything.

I've previously stated that I had been willing to give Sandro time to implement his plan/strategy, but what he's saying is all wrong and I'm concerned that it will cause us to be hamstrung to get the best manager to get us out of League 2. I'm inclined to agree with you here Aud.

hopefully the 1/3/5 years plan was discussed in the AB meeting. i'm sounding like a broken record banging on about it but without it we have nothing to benchmark where we are at any given point and what exactly the current regimes aims are.

This is going to be a divisive message on purpose:

On the football side, at what point in Clems tenure do we start to ask what direction the club is headed?
What's the plan?
If Power had pulled this we'd be close to riot.  
And yes, I realise we've not appointed a manager yet - so its a bit previous.

( The financial side, as far as we know, is a revelation and miles apart)

edit: seems Million Pound Man just asked this in a nicer way

What was the 1 year plan? We're at 2 now aren't we?

That interview. Good grief

Sounds like what he was saying before Lindsey was appointed - which is rather concerning.

Anyone find the old interview and compare it

It would be nice to stop all this we want someone that can develop players, as in a winning teams players get developed and get noticed, and if those players are younger then they are worth that bit more.

You can see why some managers are put off if that is the spiel they are given about having to develop and sign young players then sell them and play keep ball, not creating a winning team being successful, getting promoted, putting down a marker as a team to be watched

We want someone that can be successful first and foremost and develop players along the way so that later on they get the opportunity to move and play at a higher level and the club benefits financially as well, not sign 10, twenty somethings and hope that 1 or 2 actually make it

It's... not ideal is it?

im yet to see it. its been on the AB deck every time but never mentioned.


are we potentially getting to the point where we need a further fans group, with zero club affiliation, to scrutinise whats going on/ not scared to ask the real questions. :hmmm:

There is only so long saying ‘he saved the club’ will last.

Surely, looking forward, developing the CG is a complete waste of time for a club happy to remain anchored in L2.

No wonder there hasn’t been a fan’s phone-in during Clem’s tenure. Lot of awkward questions would need answering and most fans have an acute bullshit-o-meter.

Everything is in place except for the ambition.

There's no way the person giving that interview wanted to sign Charlie Austin.

Indeed

Scenes when we swap Hutton for Tomlinson and Sandro pulls his Manuel impression

In the club statement yesterday, Clem signed it off by saying promotion is still the aim this year.

But yeah, those sentiments aren't really coming from Sandro's mouth either

Considering we had John Sheridan at this club less than two years ago, it is impressive for Sandro to give one of the worst interviews I’ve ever heard in my life. If we’re just going to be a selling club in L2, content with pushing for play offs, what is the fucking point? Mention of someone with a track record of developing talent… how about a track record of success?

With Garner and now Lindsey both legging it, just what would constitute a reason for sacking a manager if promotion isn’t the primary objective?

We havent sacked a manager since 2018. Think we are just a managers curse now  :D

the plan, the model, the philosophy. whatever name he wants to call it.

DOES NOT WORK IN LEAGUE 2. there are no transfer fees worth it to make it happen. league 1 yes. £5 million for scott twine shows that.  

Clem wont do a phone in on his own as he is not that type of person, see him at the fans forum he sat happily for Rob & Sandro to answer the questions and just answered ones periodically.

Maybe a phone in with the 3 of them would be better, the problem is a lot of time on the radio phone's in's you only get a certain type of person phoning in so the tough questions would not be answered, and Shaun Hodgetts fields them as well.  Andrew Hawes during his interviews is not afraid to ask tough questions I find.

This.

Hughton for me, but if for some reason not realistic then Artell isn't asking for much at all. Would also be happy with Manning.

If none of them then it better be a good looking appointment or Clems had a stinker.

and rightfully so, despite what all the "give him a chance" "get behind the team" "at least we've got a club" happy clapping merchants will say coupled with absolute disgust that people dare be unhappy with it.

That interview has deffo done more bad then good, perhaps the ''happy clapping fanboys'' will start to question things....is Clem saying one thing to us & telling Sandro to do the opposite I wonder......the fact he never mentions promotion once or a manager which can archive this is a massive RED FLAG!!!

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/23245849.reports-kieron-dyer-david-artell-among-swindon-manager-candidates/

Whelan's just tweeted that his earlier tweet about Artell not being interviewed or contacted by STFC is 'no longer true'

I've had a think about the Sandro interview and I think the thing that bothers me is that he talks about bringing in young players to develop and sell as if it's the end goal, not a means to the end of improving the on field fortunes of Swindon Town football club. I actually don't think it's a terrible approach (although I'd want to get out of L2 first and do it in L1) but there's a difference between "what we want to achieve" and "how we're going to achieve it" and Sandro seems to completely not get that.

It wasn't true when he posted it tbf. Their contact is David Artel directly, he was hardly going to say yeah spoke to them last night

Ryan Whelan reckons Ian Foster (England U20s manager) has been interviewed

That interview is absolutely diabolical and it just doesn't wash with me. I said when Lindsey was appointed it was done on the cheap and it was a Power-like appointment. I get being sustainable and trying to develop young talent, not a problem. But no talk of promotion, no discussion of us trying to get out of this league (the lowest league Swindon have ever been in). Fuck off Sandro if I wanted to watch an academy I'd go to a Premier League U23s game. Absolute load of shit and disrespectful to so many fans who have invested heavily in the club within their life.

Every time he opens his fucking trap he pisses me off.

He's a cunt. I want him gone.

This. Talks shite in circles.

Step 1 - get appointed
Something
Step 6 - Selling players for tonnes of cash in the prem

And Matt Taylor…

That interview played to me as a perfect response to the Artell come get me. It almost seemed that Sandro was saying things that perhaps match similar of what Artell has previously achieved at Crewe. Still disappointing that he hasn't mentioned promotion being the aim. Disappointing.

Looks like a composite of Luke Warm and Garner

Pretty much every time he talks is the same.

David Artell, Marc Bircham, Ian Foster, Kieran Dyer & Matt Taylor have been interviewed according to Ryan Whelen.

Wouldn’t fancy Bircham or Taylor out of those

I would LOVE Ian Foster to be appointed. Rob Edwards and Steve Cooper have both shown that there is something in the waters in the England youth managerial set up

And it will turn out that 'the best candidates all along' were Gunning and Mildenhall  :doh:

The bloke's a Grade A bullshitter. Said it from day 1.

Outside of Foster which I know precisely zero about, but a kids coach isn't exactly inspiring and more of the same......it Has to be Artell from that list.

It just fucking has to be or you must be insane.

As for Sandro. Being Crewe with no ambition might be ok if you have 4k at home every week but when 10k turn up painting that picture is outright disrespectful and taking the piss.

He needs to go, especially if this manager appointment isn't Artell from that list. What the fuck.

Thing is, and being equally abrupt/divisive.

As it stands the club belongs to one bloke who is prepared to plough cash in until he is no longer prepared to do so or the club becomes self sufficient.

He could appoint Julian Alsop as manager and generally there is not a great deal that the supporters can do about it, yes they can boycott at which stage the owner decides a) to cut his losses and sell or b) ignore them. But simultaneously at that point the boycotting supporters have a choice stay away and basically give up on football or go and follow another team where you are guaranteed success.

Both sides need each other, but its not an equally weighted balance and one can rant as much as one likes on the interweb, getting the blood pressure up, buts going to change the square root of fuck all.

Setting that to one side, despite all the stuff about 'the project', even the development to sell model is falling flat on its arse at the moment, bar maybe Hutton to a degree, the other young players bought to develop (Darcy Wakeling etc) seem to be at best stagnating and possibly even going backwards, and whilst SL was generally considered to be a poor manger he ws apparently a good development coach, so that's failing as well.

Feck knows what Shandy has over the club, maybe its just that he is Kielys man and Kiely is the power (no pun intended) and cash behind Clem, but as it stands if someone is trying to make cash out of their investment (be it legitimately or nefariously) they are making a delightfully shit job of it.

Oh and can we please not go back to the heady days of fans slagging other fans off and using 'happy clappers' as some sort of insult to suggest that fan a is better than fan b, its shit and on a par with using woke as an insult.

Sandro really isn’t up to it is he? It must be rare for DoF to be a disliked as he is, usually they are out of the way and silent. He just sounds like a guy peddling his stats business rather than representing the club and you do have to wonder whether he’s more interested in stat padding himself than the fortunes of the club. I’d really like him to be got rid of to be honest.

To be fair I had never heard of Ian Foster before (Not that I have a deep football knowledge) but reading about his work, it's pretty impressive and I imagine given the standard of players he has helped to develop (Foden, Maddison, Conor Gallagher etc) it wouldn't surprise me if Sandro wasn't leaning towards him. He has history of managing in the Republic of Ireland (Not Waterford mind you) as well which seems to be 'au fait' with managers linked to our job.

I agree with this post.

Personally I don’t see where all the hate comes from with regards to that interview. Fine, he could have said the club are aiming for promotion but I think a lot of the other things he said sounded reasonable. He didn’t directly answer some questions around ongoing transfer business but maybe that was deliberate as whatever he says enters the public domain and if we are highlighting the fact that we don’t have Brynn nailed down etc I don’t think that is very smart.

I don't disagree with any of what you say, but not sure how those who got upset about various rumoured appointments lack of experience etc would be able to square it with a straight face.

Said from day one and only time will tell.
Just have this ongoing doubt about purchasing the club at a low cost, become owners and sell it on for a tidy profit.

Maybe the cynical side of me and lack of trust in all things Swindon.
Been a basket case for years. We are a damaged goods fanbase and can you blame any of us.

Clubs pulling in a couple of thousand each week bringing in better players and doing better than us.

I know we all have pops at each other on here but we all love the same god (team).
Is it ever going to get better in my lifetime?

Now is a great chance to lift the spirits and hope - 2 recent Managers, 2 compensation pay outs.
Over to you Clem and show some intent.

To add some more points for the Foster column:
Was Paul Cooks first team coach at Portsmouth when he got promoted from league two, so has some know how on how to get out of this division.
Brought through likes of Maddison at Coventry.
Worked with Steve Cooper when England under 17s won the world cup
Impressive win rate as England youth manager, which has bode well for likes of Steve Cooper and Rob Edwards in recent seasons.

Crewe have proven that it can work at any level and Brentford are the prime example at a higher level.  The model itself is fine, the key ingredient is the level of investment.  Crewe invested in their Academy, think they spend a fair bit of money to keep them at an Elite rating, which attracts some talent that would otherwise go higher up the food chain (league wise).

Brentford are the extreme at the other end, they invested heavily in the talent, so while they are still looking to extract higher levels of performance than their investment should return (when not using the model), the level of talent they purchase is clearly quite high already.

My problem with our approach is we haven't invested in anything yet.  The infrastructure to do a Crewe isn't even there, and we are not dabbling in a high enough talent pool either.  You need to invest in getting us higher quickly, so the talent pool we can go after gets better - so the base from which we implement the plan is higher than Crewe can achieve.

On top of that, the person running it does not appear to be someone with any experience of note.  He'd be the sort of person you'd bring in within the Analysts team, even running it.  Less than 6 months working for what looks like a mates team (his mate is Whealen's Grandson) doesn't cut it for me, not to go all in on anyway.  I presume Alexander knows Chris Kiely through the horse racing/Skybet period of his life?

I actually think Garner would be a good fit for that role - but he won't take it because Manager is seen as more prestigious.

Head Coach wise, Artel would seem to be a good fit.  He does indeed have experience with Crewe, but if you think we could actually do it with more investment behind it, then he gets a better chance to make it work a level up.

This is defeatist for me. At the end of the day there is give and take between owner and fans.

Yes, he owns the club, but the fans have unequivocally backed the club since Clem came on board. Averaged about 9,500 home fans, kits and merchandise constantly sold out. That brings a certain level of expectations. If we were literally Crewe with 4k in div 4 then things might be different, you have no right to expect more. But we're not. We've done our part and now we're more than entitled.

We've been asked to back the team and we have. Now fucking back us for fuck sake.




And as for calling people happy clappers, I'll continue on thanks if its all the same.

As long as there is a section of fans that will never hear a warranted negative word spoke against anything and bury their heads in the sand with toxic positivity, spouting drivel like telling people not to complain about a very obvious dire appointment in Scott Lindsey because "he's a nice guy and he loves the club" and "at least we have a club" then I'll continue to call them happy clappers and call them out on speaking absolute dog shite.

At the end of the day if we appoint Gunning or Bircham and fall out negativity bothers you, then the happy clapper tag is more than warranted and I'll give you another overused phrase..... snowflake.

I'm not sure anyone would disagree with this suspicion, but the question remains.... how...

The club may have been bought on the cheap (which seems to be more luck than judgement) but he has still thrown a fair whack at it which he will want back, we have made literally no progress on the pitch (in fact many would argue we have regressed) and even the ground thing is not really a money spinner as it needs the fans permission for the owner to scratch his arse so is hardly a profit generating venture for the owner.

Much as with Power before, and pretty much any club owner, if you are going to buy a club and stagger along towards the bottom of the pyramid, there are considerably easier and more lucrative ways to make cash with investment.

I see that a figure of £20m is being touted around for the lad barely out of short trousers who is apparently buying Morecambe, which just illustrates the best way to make a profit is to get up the ladder a bit, the one thing that Clem seems intent on avoiding.

He's definitely second choice for me. Its him or Artell and everyone else can completely get to fuck.

Out of that list it can only be Artell or Foster. If the manager is picked as more of a coach then Foster stands out for me but personally i think Artell gets us promoted

All the other stuff is just hearsay until it happens, whoever is appointed won't appeal to everyone.  

Agreed.
Foster would have been a good appointment in the summer, not so much now.

They won't appeal to everyone but if its Artell most sane people will go "Fair enough, lets crack on"

Foster might get a few groans of a youth coach and that was my initial reaction, but looking more as far as youth coaches so....he looks like he's probably a bloody good one. So definite reasonable second choice.

If Whelan’s source is Di Michele, then presumably, he knows it’ll be “leaked” online, and opinions will follow. Otherwise, we are one very (unintentionally) leaky club all of a sudden. Hi Sandro. Don’t appoint Bircham or Keiron Dyer please.

Artell hands down for where we are now.

Foster, as mentioned above, is probably second choice (by a distance) based on an impressive CV and pathway others from the set up have shown. He’d have contacts that Lindsey and co did not.

Wonder who is leaking the names to that Ryan as well.

Artell







Foster













































Everyone else.

Oh was just saying the same, can only be a handful of people can't it

Well we'll presume we wont have anyone by Saturday so it will be interesting to see if anyone is spotted in the stands.

Personally I have no idea what these fuckers look like so don't rely on me.

I'd spot Artell, Bircham, Dyer and possibly Matt Taylor.

Foster could walk right up to me and I'd have no idea who he was as I hadn't heard of him until today.

exactly what a leaker would say

You could mistake him for Johnny Williams :)

Hope this has filtered down

Sandro also thinks it will help the younger players we eventually intend to sell on.....because that is what he'll hear.

 where has that come from  ?

No coincidence this was put up not long after Sandro’s interview.
Also been told Rob Angus will be interviewed by BBC today to basically put everyone’s minds at ease.

For knee.....see also jerk and reaction.

That’s it. Wheel out the local guy and the STFC fan to reassure the fans. Poor bloke. If this regime ever goes to shit, just know he will be the man they use as a fall guy. Fans phone in with sandro needed that isn’t on the BBC Wilts platform, the power phone in were nothing short of a shambles.

Ian Foster out of that list for me.

If we're not going to sack him then just keep Sandro away from communications ffs.

I don't care about open and transparent when it comes to him. He's a fucking spiv and pisses people off every time he opens his gob. Needs monitoring to keep his foot out of his mouth.

For foot, see Sandro's mouth

Yep I've had my suspicions about this guy since the day he and SL gave contradictory answers to how the appointment came about. I absolutely do not trust him with our club in his hands.

This might be slightly off topic and almost certainly a rehash of previous statements during the summer...but the lack of footballing history of the owner, chairman and DoF really does give me concern.

I would like to think that most people in football could spin a good enough yarn about plans and give coherent answers in an interview. I wouldn't claim to know how a football person could tell the difference between bluster and something solid, but I worry we're at risk of just getting another person in who sounds great superficially, whilst SdM signs players without a strategy or formation in mind.

On that one though I guess he couldn't just say "well we thought we had someone, then he changed his mind and stayed at his current employer, and we ran out of time - so we just gave it to the guy who wanted it".

Not sure I remember the SL account.

I'd be fascinated to know what the recruitment process is now.
Who decides on what we need footballing wise? You'd assume the manager
Who decides on profile parameter (e.g. age, cost)? You'd assume Clem or Kiely - whatever he does
Who runs the data to get a list? Shandyman, Shandyman, Sh..
Who decides on which player form a list? You'd assume the manager + contract neg (Rob)?

So I'd think this was all done in close cooperation with the manager. So are we now stuck in transfer limbo? Apparently not according to Sandro.

So who is making the footballing recruitment calls?

I'd be pretty worried if it was Sandro unilaterally. But I just can't see that being the case.

Yep however SDM has really let the cat out of the bag - the direction must come from the top as he's just an employee, not the business owner. Rob will come on & say it's been misunderstood etc but I'm not sure it really has.....think I said before, more questions than answers.

Makes you hanker after Power, Jewell and Chorley!

From the presser

‘ Gavin Gunning on his future:

I spoke to the club and I imagine I will still be here under the new manager. I must be doing something right to get that.

I am not going to be taking the job. There are some superb candidates that have interviewed, so I won't be taking it. I could be ready now, but I don't want to take that risk and it isn't fair on the club.’

A strange interview as the way he says he won’t be taking it makes it sound like he was offered the chance…

Surely that's for the new manager to decide if he wants him as part of his coaching staff, same for Mildy as well really, the new head coach may want to work with his own team that he knows and trusts, unless it is a condition of the job that they need to work with current coaches

Wayne Rooney but no chance Artell from the list.

Not sure I'd go as far as that however I will say that if this had happened under their stewardship the internet will have broke!

Good interview that.

Forthright, straight talking. Said he was told Austin was a bad egg. Gladwin struggling to make it apparently - he’s off isn’t he.

Will be making less short passes in our own half. The players know the new manager will be watching.

Sincerely hope that isn't the case.

Do people still use the word ‘spawny’ these days?

Maybe we’ll spawn a decent manager by accident

The manager will no doubt bring their preferred choice of assistant along.

The defence hasn't been too bad this season, arguably.
I'm assuming that is Mad Gav's remit so on that basis he would be worth keeping on?

Mildy is part of the furniture & should be kept on.
He'll help out with the settling in period I'm sure.

Wasn’t that what Hughton wanted and was told no.

That's what has been suggested although I imagine it would be more than just ''one assistant', probably the full coaching staff.

Yeah think the chat was that he wanted to overhaul "99%" of staff.

What interview is that mate? Sounds interesting...

Pre match presser with Total Sport

He said people on tv said Austin was a bad egg.

Not he was told he was

I still reckon Lindsey would have said similar.

Linked here, some strange questions in it to Jephcott. https://www.totalswindon.com/sport/press-conference-live-swindon-v-grimsby-town/

The club hierarchy really need to get on the same page with regard to the direction of travel.
If that means someone has to have a quiet word with Sandro then all well & good.
I'd like to think that there is a realisation in the boardroom that getting out of this division is paramount in order for the model to be properly functional.

The infrastructure is another issue that should be prominent even with the CG purchase imminent.
CG purchase - development - increased income - plough it into the infrastructure & keeping the first team competitive.

It will be a delicate balance & will also take time.

More of a mate of a mate of a mate link, but Steve Morison is potentially the 7th interviewee.

Wouldn't hate that, tricky end at Cardiff but Championship experience isn't to be sniffed at and supposedly tried to play some decent football. Would make some sense I think.

Just seen this quote:

That's someone that plays a certain brand of football, attacking football, possession based football because that's what we believe is the best case of showcasing talent.

So it is Sandro that is telling the manger to play keep ball as it looks good to other teams - what looks good to other teams is good players, keep ball helps Sandro stats as it means the players have passed the ball 500 times and had a shot instead of 10 times and had a shot

I know it's picking holes but christ...someone tell him (or Clem) its boring football, not what the fans want, and without fans you have nowt

He wouldn't be a bad choice

Think he was linked on here a few days back? Not sure there are many out of work managers who haven't been linked now.

I've listened to the interview and I can't see any issue with what he has said. We know that we are a selling club and more or less every other club is.

We want to play passing football and we have been successful with it before. Where do you think younger pro's (from big clubs)/clubs will want to go, a team playing football the type of football they know and will make them better or hoof ball?

To get more value out of players the team needs to be winning that simple, so his aim is to make a winning team? Or the whole model falls down.

At the risk of quoting myself earlier on - he talks about bringing in young players to develop and sell as if it's the end goal, not a means to the end of improving the on field fortunes of the team. I actually don't think it's a terrible approach (although I'd want to get out of L2 first and do it in L1) but there's a difference between "what we want to achieve" and "how we're going to achieve it" and Sandro seems to completely not get that. You can say it's implicit, but like... it shouldn't be - there's no reason for him to avoid saying "we want to win football matches and develop players at the same time".

This is exactly how things get going and people end up believing anything, also like the Gunning has been offered it nonsense, mad that people get so angry over stuff that has not happened.

The Hughton stuff was made up by someone on twitter who posted it for a laugh and now people are posting it as gospel

To be fair that might be his end goal, that might be what Clem wants him to do.
Ultimately it’s the managers job to get the team promoted.

The problem comes if we don’t sign any experienced players (like Austin) & the manager doesn’t get the players that he wants/needs to deliver his objectives

There's no reason we can't emulate a Peterborough and sell a few players that we get cheap but we also need players to stay so that we build a decent squad.

The wonders of social media.
That said does sound if Swindon does have a leak in high places
Or someone is playing games and taling the fun out of the situation.....  

May not be popular but if he didn't behave like a lunatic on the touchline and you didn't know it was him you would probably be impressed with what he had to say here.. fair play  https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2023/january/gavin-gunning/

Is that a bit happy clappy?

I've heard enough about brands, systems, models and processes to last me a fucking lifetime.

Think it will be Gunning unfortunately

With Sandro calling the shots it will be internal or an academy coach

He’s already said today he’s not interested

I get that and largely agree but I do think people are over reacting to it. As long as we get good players and start winning then everyone is happy?

We've all got PTSD from the Lindsey fiasco but if he was ever a serious candidate he'd be placed in sole caretaker charge, not joint with Mildenhall.

The reaction is probably because neither of the two items mentioned have happened.

and also he didn't even talk about the second one in terms of success.

I don't think the team is that bad, the manager is in charge on the field and he has finally gone.

Midfield is bad

+ our wide options. Position wise I don’t think we are too far from where we should be based on our side on paper.

quote author=Dr Pierre Chang link=topic=59496.msg1715908#msg1715908 date=1673550532]
+ our wide options. Position wise I don’t think we are too far from where we should be based on our side on paper.
[/quote]Agree, i would love to see us sign a Barry type player and a real hard bastard in the middle, along with someone who will carry the ball from deep

I disagree.  We have some bones of a team, but the squad is poorly compiled (position depth wise) and while Austin is a potential change, the majority is simply not good enough to challenge THIS season.

Wakeling for example - I like him, think he will improve with the right coaching and experience - however, he should not be your primary forward in a Top 3 challenge.  He'd be doing far better this season if we were able to manage his exposure to first team football.  Sadly, he is relied upon because we recruited poorly.

Jephcott - totally unsuitable for any formation we have tried and way of playing.  He would have been perfect in Wellens' team, or Flitcrofts for different reasons.

Adeloye - a big miss (no pun intended)

Massey - who?

Hepburn-Murphy - injured, possible prospect with no track record, one cameo

That was the forward line we recruited - before we get to the midfield.

None of them fit together.  All bar one are gambles and the one who isn't doesn't fit the way of playing.

It's the same personnel as last season minus Payne.   It's the forward line that isn't working.   There's no pace or physical presence.
Wakeling works his socks off mind, but Williams should be more central and shade is a massive downgrade on mckirdy.

I don’t even think our midfield is that bad.

They way they’ve been set up and who was playing where is what is bad.

In 433 our weakest era is the wide forwards imo

It's the legs and drive of Payne that is missing in midfield and also the fact it doesn't have two wide ish players who like to stretch defences in front of them.  Another fail in terms of a squad build.  It's not a bad midfield three, so much as a bad midfield three for what we have around them and we never really added what was already a weak point with only Payne being able to run around.

You can’t have Darcy anywhere near a 3 in midfield, just not effective.
Reid is the only player effective with a ball now Conroy has left, has struggled to reach the exceptional levels of last season. Iandolo completely ineffective, Shade offers nothing, Gladwin by far the most consistent midfielder performer. Khan has added some bite.
Whether it’s similar to last season it’s been in the main completely ineffective.

The biggest threat comes from Hutton.

I watched last away game against Walsall on you tube the other night, I wish that I hadn’t.
we’ve gone backwards by a considerable distance.

It's no conincidence that our best performances this season have come when playing without any widemen.   A diamond 4 with 2 centre forwards and  Hutton and FBT bombing forward and crossing towards bodies in the box.

out of interest which were are best performances?

Mansfield was with the Diamond, not sure we used it in any other league games?

This exactly. As I've posted elsewhere, pick a mode of play and formation and recruit to it. It's the only thing that's ever worked for us. Trouble is it either takes money or time, and we've not had a manager provided with enough of the former, or prepared to put in enough of the latter.

Lindsey never seemed to have a well developed idea of team shape and mode of play. We went through the closed season expecting to play   352 and it lasted one competitive game from what I remember.

Premier Teams may be able to recruit players with the quality to switch formations each week, or during a game even,  but in L2 most players need to be clear what their position and job is week in week out.

Ditched after the absolute bed shitting against Stockport in the cup, formation clearly got the blame there.

Bradford away the game before we were getting absolutely battered until FBT of all people went off injured after 20 mins and we went to a diamond.  Looked a totally different team, which is why he started it againt mansfield.

It's a small sample and we got dicked playing it at Stockport in the cup, but to ditch it entirely seemed odd.

Grimsby away First half, Doncaster away and Mansfield away.

That is maybe your view.

We were weaker up front. I would say with CA in the team now we have the potential for it to be as good.

Midfield is just missing Payne but he is a league 1 player, we were very lucky to keep him last year.  

The defense and the keeper, I would say we are stronger.

We need to strengthing still but I don't believe we are that far away.

Maybe it’s just me but reflecting on the season as a whole and Ralph’s interview earlier something seems to have been lost.

I get the sustainable approach to running the club but surely it should be a sustainable way to be as successful as possible on the pitch not just sustainability for the sake of it. Something seems to have got lost in translation and the priority just seems to be player development over on pitch performance, somewhere along the line it feels like the fact we are a football club and the whole point of the club has been forgotten about.

Clem’s going to need to be very clear with his messaging and plans over the coming weeks as if it continues to feel like we are just existing as an agency to develop and showcase talent with results a secondary concern then season tickets are going to become a difficult sell.

Still even now, It doesn't take that much to get out League 2. If we had a manager like Steve Evans and allowed him to choose who he'd want to bring in, we'd easily be where Stevenage are now and would get promoted.

As it stands, that's all the club needs and should be all we're aiming for. The rest is just corporate waffle

steve evans has one football league promotion on his CV. League 2 Rotherham 10 years ago

He has two actually as he had back to back promotions with The Millers.

But your point stands. Evans has managed a lot of matches at a lot of clubs but only has two concrete achievements in league football. Mind this season looks set to be an outstanding one unless Stevenage blow up in the second half.

Evans demonstrates yet again how difficult it is to predict who'll succeed when and where.

Ah yes it was listed as playoffs in manager honours not that he won them which he did.

Based on your last line it does beg the question why you bet on this particular market and end up on a swindon  forum 😉

It's that challenge and hope springs eternal!

Some STFC content on Sky News this morning according to Chris Hull.

Rob Angus mentions promotion, a lot :)


https://twitter.com/alidurdenBBC/status/1613805745702674433?t=jx-JgPYr_z0LEZBqiv8D5w&s=19

Over compensating?

Both Clem and Angus have came out and mentioned the ‘P’ word since Ralph’s interview so even they have obviously seen it as a bit of a car crash. Just further reinforces the point that he’s completely out of touch with the whole point of a football club.

Who the fuck is Ralph?

Good interview by Angus, let's hope the manager situation is sorted ASAP.

Sandro's first name.

That Angus interview very much looks like a "go out there and say promotion a lot" brief, but better having that than not!

https://youtu.be/6Td1aCdhsEk

Its a bit obvious in delivery, but I'm not sure what else he could do. Damage limitation.

My gut feel is ShandyRalph probably doesn't think through the consequences of his words when he's talking. It just makes no sense not to see promotion as a driver to better players to development.

Just been on.

He says promotion is the aim and he wouldnt be at the CG if that wasnt the case

Lets draw a line then

Would be very happy with Steve Morison. Was highly thought of by the players at Cardiff.

Finding this difficult to follow.....

Sandro DM has been on Sky Sports saying that promotion is the aim and he wouldn't be at Swindon if it wasn't ?

Austin (Charlie not Zav/Xav)

Thank you

Lot of backtracking going on but at least now everybody seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

Maybe it’s best everybody draw a line under the perceived lack of ambition and get behind the club and whoever the new man turns out to be.

Think Clem has stepped in and told him the score.

rolled out to try and take Sandros foot out of his mouth, again.

Between us and Sandro hopefully.

Thanks for clarification. I was hoping for the return of Birmingham Airport Ralph.

I don't quite get the furore about Sandro, but appreciate the clarification from the club anyway. It seems many were waiting for an opportunity to stick the boot in on socials.

Well I think its the case that someone seems to be having complete carte blanche over the footballing side of things who A) has 6 months experience of football, B) seems to be a mate of a mate kind of an appointment and C) was a PR man for sky bet.

Lets not forget that it was he who said that SL was first choice after taking a 'no stone unturned' approach to hiring a head coach, and then admitted that he didnt even interview SL.

And then the interview earlier this week.

The apparent lack of wanting Austin, was this SL, Sandro or both??

There is just too much noise here not to be a tad apprehensive.

Fair enough, I had overlooked a few of the issues. He doesn't impress me but usually we don't hear much from this type of employee so hopefully he fades into the background and does his job or fucks off.

So Aberdeen has confirmed the appointment will be by the end of next week. Sorry Rob not good enough!!

An extra week to make the right choice, sounds sensible to me.

Taking a week or so isn't a big deal, usually.

Lynsey took ages. Was it the right choice?!

Just like they took an extra six weeks to appoint Lindsey in otherwards they are struggling again.

did he? missed that. interesting

I guess contract negotiation and legals take a few days so it doesn't sound outrageous to me

Especially if the person you want is currently at a club and you’re negotiating compensation for them.

Isn't that only Bircham from the list? ......big yikes, if so.

We're not very well prepared considering Lindsey was probably getting the sack anyway

Bircham is away with Como anyway, tweeted earlier

Suggests they weren't close to sacking him

Fair point, more likely he couldn't accept the Austin signing so got out while he could.

Did I read on here somewhere that Bircham is one of Power’s buddies? Any connection to the previous regime has to many red flags for me.

may - Bircham
.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.ie/sport/football/7019223/marc-bircham-lee-powers-waterford-millwall/amp/ (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.ie/sport/football/7019223/marc-bircham-lee-powers-waterford-millwall/amp/)

June - power sells

https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/waterford-get-new-owners-as-lee-power-sells-club-to-uk-based-company-40501691.html (https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/waterford-get-new-owners-as-lee-power-sells-club-to-uk-based-company-40501691.html)

November - bircham sacked

[url]https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/sport/football/59421832.amp


so yeah, he knows power but they weren't at Waterford together long.

Don't think I've seen it mentioned on here, but Ryan Whelan confirmed that Steve Morison has the elusive 7th candidate

It was mentioned briefly. I have a feeling he'll be the one that we go for. I wouldn't be against it at all. Started well at Cardiff which is not an easy club to manage.

His Cardiff team looked decent when they beat us in a pre season friendly.

Someone has been messing with Google as it says Sol Campbell is head coach ...please God
NO 😡😡

I just checked and it says Steve Bruce🤣

To save me reading back, can someone summarise who the 7 candidates are rumoured to be please?

Putin
Pol Pot
Peter Piper
Russell Brand
Shamima Begum
Arthur Fowler
Jeremy Clarkson

Wouldn't trust Arthur Fowler with a transfer kitty.

As my time is less precious than yours, here goes. :)

Artell
Morrison
Foster (Ian)
Dyer
Taylor, M
Bircham
Hughton
Garner

That's 8, so one might be an outlier.

Thomas Dossevi looked good in a pre season friendly. Never judge on that

Don't know a single thing about Morrison mind.

And a mate of Sandro, he be a late comer

It's all a gamble we knew nothing about Garner, Lindsey & Williams and Wellens was only known through his playing days similar to Morrison

I wonder if the new manager will be on the guest list today🤔

Morison its Morison!

Interested by the latest name linked, Steve Morison ex of Cardiff.

2 of my mates are Cardiff season ticket holders and they were shocked when he was sacked as the team looked decent averaging over 60% possession and 16 shots per game during his tenure this season.

Tended to play the 433/4231 style with mobile strikers.

Yeah, would be happy with Steve M. :)

Put together a decent squad over the summer.
Looked good in the pre season friendly. Yes, I know...

How many box entries did they manage?

I would have said thank you and thrown a grand your way (my last 15 mins earnings) if you hadn't been so rude!  :D

Who's Sandro's mate?

I presume he is saying Steve Morison

In which case how do you know he is his mate?

If betting has been suspended who was the last known favourite Bircham or Morrison.

Nathan Rooney was flying in to the UK for a interview at a league club, make of that whatever you want.

He's only 30 so would be a massive gamble.

Who is he?

is Steve Morison Sandro's mate then? doesn't much matter really, 'contacts' are good to have.

Nathan who?

I have no faith that Sandro will get the right person to secure us promotion, which is ultimately all any of us are interested in. The first time I heard Sandro speak he came across as nothing but a chancer. I have heard or seen nothing since to alter my view of him.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11095/12738110/nathan-rooney-interview-taking-gibraltar-side-brunos-magpies-into-europe-and-dreaming-of-a-big-future

33 years old.

I agree with every word of this...

Respected coach with Crawley, Port Vale and Carlise but little manager experience.

31 October just gone Karl Robinson started younger😀

Guys, it was just a comment, I have no idea if any of the named candidates are 'mates with Sandro'.

I thought it was a very well written article and paints Mr Rooney in a very good light. Whether he is right and ready for a L2 appointment, and whether he is what we would want, I have no idea!

Just spoke to Clem in Legends. Definitely not Gunning. Wouldn’t say who it was. Smiled when asked if Morison ‘just wait and see’ he said before mingling with others. Of course that means bugger all though. Still think it will be Garner.

No chance it will be Garner

i hope not he bailed on us first sign of  a bigger club.

Why on earth would it be Garner...I'd be gutted if it was and don't believe it will be.

I can’t imagine any of our fans would recognise any prospective new manager if he was in attendance today.

Hughton is already out. Garner is a no no. Bircham is in Italy.

Putin: Other than being a bit busy could be having health issues and a visa might be difficult.
Pol Pot: Is a bit of a dictator and in today’s society might lose the dressing room if he does lose them first in a paddy field.
Peter Piper: AKA Pierre Poivre, has a criminal record for stealing some very sought after spices, nutmeg and cloves amongst others from some Far East colonies that the French ruled. I can see that coming unstuck if there turns out to be an international arrest warrant and subsequent extradition.
Russel Brand: Is a first class cunt, so highly unlikely.
Shamima Begum: A bit like our French candidate Pierre would have trouble with a work permit and visa.
Arthur Fowler: Financial irregularities with the Woolford/Queen Vic Christmas club could overshadow any transfer deals. We are already unfairly called Swindle Town, Arthur’s appointment will be like throwing petrol on a fire to put it out.
Which leaves us with one Jeremy Clarkson: lives local. Prepared to try his hand at new ventures. Tackles difficult situations head on and it would seem battling officialdom is his cause celeb. Gets my vote.

Michael Doughty came out of the player’s entrance at the end smartly dressed in a blue suit 🤔

Kieron Dyer at the game allegedly

Key is that they buy into Charlie being the talisman of the team. Charlie will drag the team forward and the manager needs to align with that.

CA is a streetwise leader that makes everyone else 5% better. Last equivalent was Caddy during promo year 19-20

did A LOT of in game coaching today. when there was a break in play he had his arm round wakeling as an example. will help the young players massively

Right from the start - when MacDonald was doing the obligatory line up photo thingy with the mascots and officials Charlie was ‘taking the huddle’ he was talking people.

At one point he was even shouting back to and finger gesturing positions / movements for the centre backs.

…as you said vital someone comes in who will work with that and not shut it down because he’s that insecure about Austin not respecting his authority & undermining him (which isn’t what he doing)

Agree with this. Austin will give us direction and expect the most out of his team mates every week - and he won't be scared to call you out if you aren't pulling your weight.

Also has the experience to encourage when needed not just berate.

Would love an announcement on Monday but feel it might drag on a bit.

It will be interesting to see if we make any signings before the manager is confirmed.

i thinks its the biggest reason lindsey went. not that clem went over his head to sign austin but that this player- has been there and played at the highest level and could rule the changing room over an inexperienced football league manager who was struggling with results with nothing being fixed

have you seen the brisbane changing room video? austin losing his shit as a centre back for conceding from a poor corner. makes you sit and take note. its the type of thing that can destroy a changing room or change it for the better.

No mate but interested to see if you have a link?

https://twitter.com/TheCoachesPath/status/1613249516580266007?t=yy2QhCgvzf5cVhVABEJeGQ&s=19

just fucking defend!!  :D

Was sat with Clem today as his guest. Possibly with an eye to invest

Ha. That's how I imagine him to be behind the scenes. Don't mind a bit of that.

Get the impression much like today if he wants early balls into the box he will get them whether the manager directs it or not!

Cheers for the link.

This. Huge chance here. Such an opportunity. Suitable candidates have applied. If Clem lets Sandro the bookie pick someone his spreadsheet says might be good, then I don't know what to say.

As if Sandro is the one picking the managers.
No chance.

We gonna get some hemp kits for next season?

Maybe a sponsor rather than investing. Hopefully his companies are going well.

Bit of both i think mate.

He was a guest in the boardroom today.

Have heard it’s definitely Morison.

If so, this is worth a read: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/steve-morison-cardiff-citys-brexit-25060669?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Be amazed if we don't

So why was Dyer there?

Is this a definite?
I refuse to believe it, there is no way our fans wouldn’t have been staring at the directors box and taking photos of anyone that had been linked with the managers job.

Dont really have an opinion on who would be a good manager, too many names in the hat,  but if whoever continues to get performances out of the players like they did yesterday then another internal appointment could well be in the wings.

Beware the ‘one swallow’ syndrome.

Dyer could have been there on his own accord to cause some fanfare/fan backing to be fair, similar to Holloway back in 2008/09

Also a free hit for Gav.
It’s a bit easier to tell the players to go out & attack when the result isn’t going to impact your future.

Was saying yesterday that Lindsey seemed to have got into the “must not lose” mindset & the team played that way

Isn’t that what women use to get you up the aisle?

Yesterday the players would play balls forward, down the channels, between centre back and full back, or over the top knowing there was a chance the ball wouldn’t find a Swindon shirt. We took chances. The contrast to Lindsey was that it was keep the ball at all costs, or when you realise that wasn’t working, go  longer, but without the instructions to the other players to be moving to get that direct ball. Slow, painful, boring.

Football can be really simple when you want it to be, as yesterday showed. New manager, take note!

Whoever the new manager is he cannot fail to be impressed with the performance yesterday and any manager worth his salt would be attracted to managing them if they can do that on a regular basis, which, is basically the managers job.

Yesterday did show to me that the players appear to have been held back by the negative tactics Lindsey played and they looked like they were relieved of their shackles and enjoyed playing.

Nobody has ever got me up the aisle.

Perhaps second interview this week maybe?

Good Steve Morrison interview.

https://youtu.be/0d0zMg3tD-Q

Was he definitely there

I'm not sure what to make of Morison to be honest. I would personally go a different direction based on two other candidates, but I can't say I know a lot about him and not sure what to make of it.

Artell
Foster
Morrison
Dyer

That's the order i like, no real reason

Same. Well the top 3 anyway. I don't like the idea of Dyer at all.

For absolutely no reason, I like the idea of Morison.

I do as well, just because it would feel like a proper appointment as opposed to a grab the nearest person in the room and pretend they were 'the best candidate all along' appointment.

Haha, such a low bar... sort of agree though  :)

Maybe I got the wrong impression or missed the joke yesterday on twitter but I definitely read a tweet saying he was. I mean I hope he wasn't but yeah..

There is not a chance that no one would have taken a picture if he had been there.
Especially as the person claiming it reckoned he was just sat in the normal crowd behind them.

Normally Hawes or Hodgetts get to know who's on the guest list

https://twitter.com/chriswisey/status/1614709465424756736?s=46&t=alumOOH5swAwjZOfjzqHaw

Urgh. No thanks, as part of the coaching set up by all means but I’d find that massively underwhelming personally given the names allegedly in the frame.

Really?

Sounds like Tansmedia

Wise is a reliable source, covered Swindon when Di Canio was here for BBC Wilts and still works in the media. That won’t be a wind up.

On the staff yes, as a manager no.

All we can do is wait and see.

A decent number 2 maybe but too inexperienced for the managers role.

I saw the Tom Broadbent Lounge account describe it as a "No Brainer Appointment" - I think I probably agree with the exact wording and disagree with the sentiment of that! But we'll see, lots of names linked. Generally I hope we're a bit more imaginative than "popular former player with limited coaching experience" whoever the final man might be,

Underwhelming compared to whom? It’s not like we’ve got an abundance of top quality proven experienced managers lined up…that’s why most of the names in the frame are currently out of work. I would be happy giving him a crack at it.

At least they are out of work though and have some experience. He has 6 months at Fleetwood under his belt, nowhere near what we need

Mildy has more experience

Not sure whether I want anyone other than Mad Gav in the number 2 role after yesterdays performance and the way he talked about the changes that were made and why.

Not for me. I loved him as a player. Needs to cut his managerial teeth somewhere and show he has what it takes before we gamble. Laughable to appoint him ahead of some of the other names in the hat. *Proper* manager please.

Love Caddis but please don't give him the head coach job

Laughable 😂

The four names at the top of the previous page for a start.

You’d hope the club would learn their lesson from the Lindsey appointment in terms of it going to someone under qualified.

Yeah, after all we’ve had some right dross over the years cutting their teeth into management. I mean they roll off the tongue. Macari, Ardiles, Hoddle, Di Canio…

Club legend in my eyes, two league titles.

But not for me. Not yet. Nowhere near ready and we shouldn’t be looking at someone as inexperienced as this, regardless of the sentiment.

What is?

Wouldn’t even have been in the frame if wasn’t an ex player, need to make an appointment based on merit not sentiment!

Personality plays a big part in being a successful manager. You can’t compare Lindsey and caddis in terms of personality-they’re polar opposites.

To add to that, what manager gets appointed and asks last seasons talisman how they can play to his strengths, when he saw it first hand as an assistant?

There is actually 1 huge difference

the above played at a higher level than Caddis and werent sentimental appointments/linked to the club before they were appointed.

we need the best man for the job- not the cheapest/easiest.

Cant wait for the uproar IF he gets appointed saying I’d have appointed XYZ

Football fans in reacting to managerial appointment shocker! Whatever next…

I don't know what you are on about Jimbob

Do a poll, see who the fans (or this forum want). From what I’ve read and the names supposedly in the frame, not one candidate stands out.

Sorry too cryptic. Lindsey (experienced coach) asked Mckirdy how we should play to get the best out of him.

So if Caddis gets the gig it down to sentiment and nothing else?

Would he be anywhere near the job if he wasn’t an ex player at the club? I am also certain he wouldn’t

Everything I read from TSTBL (which admittedly isn’t much at all tbf) seems to have their tongue firmly up someone’s ass.

I’m not a fan of the managerial Merry go round managers and would rather someone with no management experience as to someone which plenty of experience of losing and being sacked…but…some length of coaching experience at a decent (first team) level is a minimum…

If the name was *insert name of ex-Rotherham full back who won a couple of promotions as a player* we’d be shaking our heads and giving it a firm no

It can't be experience can it

Someone with some managerial experience would be a good start.

Was mimicking Frigby saying laughable to appoint caddis over some of the other names mentioned

The question is does Clem want the best man to take us forward or the best man for the salary on offer🤔

Sorry mate got caught up in comments

I cannot answer that. Equally your comment is based on conjecture. If he does indeed get the gig you can put that question to the appropriate club representative, though I’m certain you won’t get the answer that will vindicate your scepticism, no matter how justified it is. We will have to wait and see. One thing not mentioned yet WRT any appointment is who their No.2 would be. Hypothetically it is not out of the question for example to have Caddis and CA as player Assistant manager. Unlikely but head coach + AN Other as a ‘dream team’ could include any pairing so Caddis plus one other might work if the assistant has the right credentials.

Gunning and Mildy have more coaching experience than Caddis I imagine. I'd absolutely consider him as part of the coaching team but head coach?

No worries.

We all want what is best for the club not just this season, but for the future. Rose coloured spectacles from me perhaps but I see Caddis engaging with the fans which is something we’ve all been seeking since Wellens left right?

He’s 34 for fuck sake. 4 months left of the season, I want promotion not a fucking gamble just because we like him.

Nobody mentioned those 4 above, relax yourself 😂.

Sandro and Charilie Austin doing the supporters club chat tomorrow night at 7

Isn’t it? I don’t think he would be appointed at any other league club based on his CV. He’s not coached at a high level, or under anyone particularly experienced. I just don’t think he should get the top job here because he was loved as player. Where is the logic in that? He could turn out to be a brilliant manager, but it’s a complete gamble. I don’t think we should do that now.

If he gets it, I’d absolutely love him to do well. But we should be aiming for more than hoping someone turns out to be great.

Based on sentiment plus experience I'm surprised Calderwood isn't in the mix.

Should watch Fools Rush in, if you don’t already. Group of blokes, all come across sound as fuck. Talking like the  average fan and not scared to speak out of line/zero arse licking.

Compared to more qualified people who have applied, want it and been interviewed like Artell.

People always use this "but who then?" and on this occasion we know more qualified candidates are in line and its still being used. Same as "but who would buy the club?" when Power was in charge.

Mate I am relaxed to the point of being horizontal. It would seem others are getting their panties in a twist.

Paul Caddis is a no brainer appointment alright, no brainer in it makes zero sense based on the candidates. Love the bloke but....just no.

Pure sentiment. May as well see if Sam Parkin fancies it.

I could understand it if he had a bit more of coaching behind him but he doesn't.

Anyway i am not sure it will be him tbh

It almost feels like his name has been leaked to test the water in the fanbase

No Thanks.

Would rather give Gunning a go with Caddis as an assistant. If that's really the route we are going down.

Which it absolutely shouldn't be.

Liked caddis as a player but no thankyou to being the manager next. :pint:

And there you have it. The dream team.

Please not Caddis.

Fuck it, give it to Danny Invincibile and Antoine Van Der Linden if we are going the nostalgic route.

That must mean player or manager signing tomorrow then

Craig Farr as goalkeeping coach.

Cant see why not.

Cobian defensive coach with Ian Woan doing the set pieces

Darren Bullock tackling coach, we are on to something here.

Dream team

Milan misun game management

Quite how anyone at the club thinks the fans need to hear from Sandro again is beyond me.

Should be working his spreadsheets in the background and be judged on his recruitment. We already know his communication is drivel.

Can only think we are going to hear a different Sandro tomorrow or he will be talking about good stuff

Caddis hardly fits at the end of that list does he? They were very high profile players that played top flight football their entire careers.

All of them came to the club with reputations as supremely gifted footballers that played attractive attacking football, the sort of reputations that might attract players that might not otherwise give Swindon a chance.

Caddis wouldn't have got through the door without being ex town. If we appointed some other journeyman full back with 9 months coaching under 16s on his CV all those calling for Caddis to get the job would hit the fucking roof.

IMO:
Put his foot in it with the interview, this is a chance to set the record straight.
Believe him, don't. Like him. Or not. He deserves the chance to speak.

Kind of hope he gives a bit more about the direction of the club. I'm not asking for a 5 year plan that has us in the championship. That's just lip service. Would rather have a frank assessment.

But I suppose that needs to come from Clem, and frankness gets you into trouble.

Caddis I'd love at the club. Not as manager. Not yet.

…and if anything - maybe (like the players) we should cut Sandro some slack until we see how the players we have recruited perform under a new manager.

Ridiculous small sample size but all the summer spreadsheet signings were excellent yesterday.

Stefani Miglioranzi can be Roman Darcys personal coach to improve his hair game.

He appointed Lindsay..

Given we still haven't got a manager in, suggests he wasn't planning on sacking him before Crawley came in.

He's built a squad that has barely created a chance down the left side of pitch in 5 months.

He gave a car crash of an interview last week, but all of his comms (e.g. the documentary) have been cliche/surface level guff.

He could well be a success here, as there are players of potential that he's brought in. But if I were Angus I'd be telling him to keep his head down and out of the limelight

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." ~ Abraham Lincoln

From Chris Wise, the source of the Caddis rumour

‘ Caddis isn’t the only candidate being considered by Swindon. He’d be a more ‘left field’ choice, but club have been rewarded before for being bold with their appointments (Macari, Hoddle, Di Canio). Could bring a more experienced head in alongside him too.’

Only just caught up. Sandro is an absolute cockjockey!

He comes across as some type of Tic-Tac man that Lesaune Lee, Quaver Austen and Formuni probably all met at the races sometime; managed to get in their ears about "a strategy" and is only interested in pound signs. Former bookie with horse race owner mates (Power et al, plus the Wigan link). He can get fucked.

The very fact Marc Bircham is even being uttered is even more fucking tinpot than Richard Branson's latest vanity project that didn't have enough arousal to make it into orbit! He can fuck right off.

The many names of the artist formerly known as Xavier Austin now residing in Pakistan for yet another seemingly odd project, possibly as a cover for some form of protection racket to keep Swiss Bill (aka Lesaune Lee) and his heavies off his back - allegedly. I hear heroin is a huge problem over there...He can get fucked.

There's only one thing at this club when it comes to continuity;

Jedward McCroary & His Merry Band of Convicts
Pashun Powah & No Clue Sherwood
Element Formuni & Quaver (bag) Austen (inc. Shandy Michelle)

and potentially new manager...

Marc "Bullshit Boi" Bircham

Probably not the continuity that most of us envisaged but they most definitely are/have/were/ all wide boi cunts on the make.*

David Artell seems the sensible choice but it won't happen - will it?!

NB;
Sandro Di Michele is an anagram of ;; I DIM SORCED AND HEL ;;

*Somewhat bizarrely, this might not be true but even less bizarrely is that it probably is closer to the truth than not!

Which is what I suggested. But as we all know, we are Swindon and we do things the Swindon Way, whatever that is.

Not Caddis, I wouldn't mind him back as youth team coach or just a coach but not 1st team manager? no.

How about a No.2 to someone? Though you’d have expect them to have some common ground to be able to work together. Return of Di Canio with Caddis his No.2, fuck me this place would implode wouldn’t it? Then explode.

If you're bring back legendary Swindon full backs to manage the club, then Paul Bodin should be on the list. At least he has a proven coaching record.

Just feels too much of a punt. If we were in a relegation dog fight and no-one wanted the job then maybe you gamble on the Fleetwood Academy manager.

We need to get this one right, similar to the situation when Mcdonald replace Di Canio.

Caddis has no experience whatsover.

He could be the next Pep. Or the next Iffy. But we are mid season and if we are to continue challenging for the playoffs surely we try and minimise the risk.

OK bringing in an older head may mitigate risk too.

But he's played in the Champions League and hates Oxford don't forget.

I would've taken Cadds over Lindsey in the summer. I think it'd be a riskier move now...

To go off on a tangent somewhat, in the NHL the teams are run by General Managers, they do all the hiring and firing of coaches and recruitment and such, Sandro is almost playing this role for Town. GMs generally get a pass if they fire a coach that was already at the team before them, but when they fire a coach they appointed it's on them. The next appointment is generally seen as pivotal. Get it wrong, the GM gets the bullet. I know Lindsey was technically not fired, but if his hiring is not seen internally as an error on Sandro's part, he should be.

aaaah shit. That's that then

What's your team?

Rangers! Mate from school was a Flyers fan, playing NHL99 he'd always suggest me playing as the Rangers because he enjoyed smashing them, the team stuck :D

Sorry if I’ve missed it but have we got any concrete proof that it was Sandro who appointed Lindsey?
Surely that comes under Clems remit (or at least a collect decision with input from a few people)

Might be being naive but can’t imagine Sandro was given carte blanche to hire the manager in the summer.

Like, I can see the logic behind Sandro recommending him for the job but actually hiring him (well promoting him I guess)

We've got family in Toronto area. Wonder how we'll mess up the first round of the playoffs this year?

Clem very open in saying he has no idea about the football side of things, stays clear. (Austin the exception and we all know why). Rob Angus in to do the numbers, not a football man. Sandro runs the football operation, I know there’s one bloke behind the scenes who never gets mentioned on an official basis (Chris Kiely I think?) , but it’s safe to say Sandro had a big say. He made that pretty clear in the press releases once SL was appointed.

It’s interesting how many people would be happy with Caddis as an assistant manager, which you can understand.

However, Can you imagine the interview with the new manager ending, oh by the way we’ve already appointed your assistant manager, and you’ve got to keep Gav & Mildy too.

They will be fully aware of the set up to be fair

It’s more that an experienced manager is surely going to want to have his own coaching staff, just wondering if some would be put off if we told them they needed to have the ones already in place

They always find a way...

That is what was suggested put off Hughton.

I think its entirely acceptable for the new Head Coach to want his own assistant etc. As Lindsey appointed Day & Gunning i would expect that of any head coach.

What is less palatable is changing all football staff, so the analysts, fitness & conditioning staff, etc. I think that more likely to be the thing Hughton wanted.

Sentiment is a nice bonus when they're already up there with the most qualified people for the job. When they're not, it has no place in choosing.

I see Crawley’s goalkeeping coach has just left. Mildenhall?

No chance.

Lewis Ward player-coach perhaps? Who knows/cares... can't see Mildy leaving Swindon.

Mildy won't leave Swindon by his own choice.

You mean the Sutton United keeper Lewis Ward?

From Ryan on twitter

‘ Announcement expected later tonight #stfc fans.’

Also mentioned we have enquired about Jutkiewitz who has left Brum. Can’t see him being needed, tbh.

Yes Sutton fans think hes shite :) cost them 2 goals on Saturday if you read their forum.

That would be an odd one!

Jutkiewicz? Where did you see that?

Scrap that, just seen it - that account also says Raheem Sterling is signing for Chelsea on loan from Arsenal :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

We've been linked to literally every player still playing who was formerly contracted to us at this point, so I suppose it makes sense. Our transfer policy seems to have swung from "Spreadsheet says yes" to "Get the band back together", if you believe half the rumours.

Player incoming not manager

Jutkiewitz would be an incredible signing but he's played 24 times for Brum this season so would well beyond our budget and not realistic.

Jutkiewitz seems well outside of something we could afford. Doesn't seem realistic at all.

I think in the main these appearances have been from the bench, I think the consensus within the brum fan base is its the time to move him on, albeit I would suspect a fee would be involved.

Lukas Jutkiewicz has certainly not been released by Brum, he played on Saturday and in every game this season for them.

And some hefty wages unless he considers us a charity case.   Not going to happen

Can’t make signings like Austin and Cain and then appoint a humdrum manager.

Sandro didn’t exactly make it sound like the appointment was close to being done.

I suppose Saturday’s emphatic win has eased the pressure somewhat. Even our more ‘special’ fans have piped down.

He has just given the same spill he gave before the Lindsey appointment, crucial we get it right, it takes time, blah blah blah.

Sounded to me like he was wanting Gunning to get the job eventually

🤦

He did imply that, said he bought him in & he’s showing what a good coach he is. If he gets another win Saturday & it’ll certainly put a spanner in the works as it sounded like an appointment isn’t imminent as the win against Grimsby has allowed more time. I did also notice he said that players were very happy with how the week went.

ffs

Luke Williams also said he didn't want the job🤣

As long as we are winning games, it doesn't matter.

I'm happy for us to not have a manager appointed if we win the next 10 games!

It starts to become tricky if this weekend was a bit of a fluke, or if heads drop when we go 1-0 down somewhere.

Listening to Sandro is sometimes like listening to trump when he was president.

Has he not learnt anything, there is a huge difference between a coach and a manager, we need a manager, get Artell in, job done

I should probably put flesh on that
 
it feels like we are on the path to groundhog day - seemingly interview lots of people. appoint nobody. Give it to an internal candidate

this could and probably is wide of the mark. Just how it feels.

Is 'the model' such an unattractive and restrictive setup we can no longer attract candidates of sufficient quality?

See what you’re saying.

Already seen more from Gav Gunning in 90 minutes than we did from Lindsey in 20+ games though…

By all accounts we have attracted some decent candidates. It’ll be difficult for Gav to take up the reins after publicly turning it down and saying ‘it wouldn’t be fair on the fans’.

I would like to think that as successful businessman that Clem is, he wouldn't leave this appointment to Sandro. Especially when the fan base is demanding an actual manager, anything less, then you could see the fanbase dwindle again. I'm pretty sure Clem would be aware of this

An appointment wouldn’t do that.

An unsuccessful appointment might.

It is interesting that when SL was appointed there seemed to be less 'leakage' around managers interviewed. There were some rumours that Crofts had been offered the role but Brighton upped his salary and he chose to stay there. Apart from a few whispers around Mark Delaney there wasn't a huge amount.

This time, Ryan Whelan is singing like a bird about the managers that have been interviewed. Has the club decided to be open and honest via this guy going forward? (Nixon will be 'raging')

The cynic in me suggests Sandro is dropping titbits to keep fans 'onside'

Have heard Morison is going to get the gig.

He seems somewhat of an abrasive and forthright character - probably what’s needed. Certainly didn’t like getting the sack at Cardiff

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/steve-morison-breaks-silence-over-25104595

Really do have a good feeling about him, based on nothing.

I like the thought of it, whether it comes to fruition or not though we’ll have to see

Mansfield. In context that was miles better. Need a bigger sample size. Walsall will be interesting.

It's not really about Gunning the person. Its another lack of experience as the main man. Its another internal appointment.

Its always a gamble. For the avoidance of doubt  I would get behind him.

Clearly will give who ever gets it a chance, but i'm not excited by Morison. He's an abbrasive character who had a bad relationship with the media at Cardiff. Sounds like he had a big job there with unreasonable expectations, but he didn't really achieve anything.

With the named candidates i still cant look beyond Artell, having one promotion before and operated a selling club focused on youth previously. Foster as a back up.

There certainly is a feel of 'deja vu all over again' about the whole situation. Just wondering, was Clem out of the country when Garner left and he just left Sandro to get on with the 'recruitment'? This time we know he's back so maybe he will have more of a 'hands on' role in the process. Just clutching at straws really.

Gunning certainly seems to be a no nonsense, straight talking Irish man out of the Roy Keane mould so yeah, he doesn't seem like the type to do a complete 180.

Let’s be honest, whoever we get in is a significant experience improvement on Lindsey who had next to nothing apart from a couple assistant manager gigs in the FL. The fact we still have a good chance of promotion with Lindsey having been in charge for so long is staggering, but gives us a sniff of promotion, even autos may be a shout with Austin having signed

How many of the other candidates have a 100% win record in their managerial careers?  ;)

I see that Reims in Ligue 1 have gone down the little experience mainly gained on Football Manager route and the guy has a 50% win record at the moment! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11625[/nobbc][/nobbc]019/Im-playing-real-life-football-manager-Englishman-opens-Reims-manager.html]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11625[/nobbc]019/Im-playing-real-life-football-manager-Englishman-opens-Reims-manager.html ([nobbc)


I must confess that when everyone was losing their fucking minds about Bircham last week I did wonder whether the club were just playing the oldest PR trick in the book.

just shows how awful this league is. 60 points up for grabs... 42 would probably get you autos- unlikely but not totally out of the question.

the fact bookies arent taking bets suggests there will be an appointment sooner or later.. if it wasnt going to happen they would happy take punters cash.

Well I take it all back then :)

If sandro picks the manager. Why on earth would he go for someone like caddis who potentially will make his position and signings look bad.

If it was my job to scout, shortlist and sign players then I would want the best proven coach available to ensure that they can develop and use these players to their maximum potential and beyond.

that bit doesn't make sense in my head.

New name in the frame - Stephen Rice.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/stephen-kenny-facing-another-potential-blow-as-chief-scout-stephen-rice-is-in-line-for-talks-with-swindon-town-42292216.html

This 100% this.

Assisted by uncle Ben

That is... as left field as they come. Currently a scout/analyst, no football career to speak of. Feels a bit Mark Warbuton-y?

He is the guy that when he goes to sleep, lays his head on the Pilau?

Food links there as well!

Rice Rice Baby

TBF 200+ games at the highest level in Ireland.

Recently been u23 coach at palace, all sounds very projectesque.

High risk appointment. If it works then it plays well for Sandro, if not then he looks like a complete idiot having appointed 2 head coaches that have never done the job.

It’s all the same as the summer isn’t it? Linked with a different name every other day.

Exactly...

Which makes you think we should have appointed him in the first place instead of Lindsey

Sure the fans would have been delighted

Gunning doesn't have the relevant coaching badges to be our manager i've been told.

How exactly did Sandro identify Gunning as a coach with a future and bring him to the club as he mentioned at the OSC?

At the time Gunning joined it felt like a Lindsey pick given he said:

 “Gav played for me as a centre-half at Forest Green Rovers a few years back now.

“He’s a very knowledgeable guy, he’s played a lot of games, he understands how we play. He’ll be getting to work with the defensive structure, hopefully in the early part of next week.”

Is Sandro rewriting history a little again here?

Accrington previously had a small fine (15/20k) when James Beattie was their boss without the badges- i think he subsequently signed up for the course and they escaped a fine. Rules might have changed now though.




Sandro is a political animal, great point on LSPOD a couple shows back that SL getting 'poached' played out perfectly for him- the guy i hired did such a great job he got tapped up rather than he was shit and should of been sacked.

That interview last night was scripted. Have an open phone in lad and lets see how you get on.

This is where I'm at.

I don't care what relationship our manager has with the media. With the fans. With the local community.

The main focus is getting out of league 2. He will be judged first and foremost on results. Everything else will fall into place after that.

I am not sure your conclusion that Lindsey was a failure is shared by the club.

Looks like Ian Foster has got the Pompey job

I don't think Lindsay did too badly regarding results. Up until the last 5 or 6 with him at the helm we hadn't lost many. The ones we did lose however were bizarrely mostly mid to lower table sides. I always felt we scraped results in most cases though and always thought we'd concede, nothing like the confidence building 5-0 drubbing we gave Grimsby.
We did seem to be on a downward spiral though and the matches were  :zzz:

This is the key.

There was a spell up to and including Mansfield where I though we'd turned a corner. I know injuries and Joniesta going to the WC did no favours, but we were in reverse.

It's so difficult to get it right first time. But he just didn't help himself.

I'm glad he's got another gig and if he goes on to prove us wrong then fair enough.

Stephen Rice anybody?

No me neither.

I'd have thought he looked a better fit for Sandro's role but there you go.

This is weird.

Some stato bloke with no managerial pedigree is not what we should be going for with the candidates available.

He's an interesting candidate, but the thing that this says to me is that we're not happy with any of the candidates we've interviewed already if we're still casting the net out. It might just be that his name leaked later than the others, but if we're still bringing new people into the process it suggests we're not looking at appointing imminently, and probably not anyone who has already been floated.

Just like last summer!

I've heard Artell, Bircham, Morison and Caddis are done deals reported in various places in that order and now that Rice is our man......so hopefully I can take a pinch of salt on my rice.

Stephen Rice???? This can't be true. Sandro, Clem or whoever stop this fucking lunacy, hire a 'manager'. We the fans deserve some respect, this club is not some experiment for us.

Carry on like this, no point in developing the CG

Plus it was apparently going to be definitely announced last night. I think its becoming ever clearer that either a) someone within the club is feeding journs/ITK's bollocks either just to keep them off the scent or basically to just take the piss or b) there is a fuck load of making it up going on in the press and elsewhere.

This.

Why does it always feel we're starting the recruitment process after Garner and Lindsey have left?

Couldn't we have done the bulk of this in the week leading up to it when it was quite obvious they were going.

Or is there legal complications to speaking to managers when yours is still technically in employment?

Whilst we appear on the face of it to be able to attract a reasonable calibre of player, there is still this niggle about the club paying what is required to get a calibre of manager that's going to have the ambition and ability to get us promoted. I can understand Brighton blowing us out of the water when we offered Crofts the role but for all of the other names discussed to be seemingly overlooked for an internal hire (that you would think is probably not one of the higher paid managers in the league) doesn't really sit right.

We've now received compensation for both Garner and assistant and SL and Day so surely you use that to create a generous package for the new manager. Let's be blunt here, if you are an ambitious manager, interested in joining a big club for this league getting 10k crowds and the ability to attract decent players would you not be put off a bit by the fact we need to advertise for volunteers to bring packed lunches to the training gaff? That screams Sunday League to me.

Obviously I have no idea what kind of salary we offer our managerial team but i'm getting the inkling that it ain't great.

I think people need to remember we are not signing a manager we are signing a Head Coach, so the profile will be a bit different top that of a manager, although we need to get on with it, let the new man have a say in the the players being brought in to fit his style of play and formations, unless the plan is to leave Gunning in place, hope he wins a few games and give it to him until end of season

Absolutely, although we as fans would like an experienced manager that sort of appointment doesn't fit the model whereas an U23 coach definately does, even if we as fans don't agree.

FWIW does Gunning have the badges to become manager? he must have some obviously but I wasn't sure if you needed the full set, as it were.

I don't think he does JJ, someone said that to me and I posted on here (somewhere) about it yesterday.

Agreed.

The difference this time, is we know that suitable candidates have been interviewed. The fans that devil advocate negative news to death to try and spin it positively would usually counter with "but who else could we attract?"

If we appoint someone like Gunning, Rice or Bircham that absolutely cannot be said when there are clearly multiple better and more qualified candidates that want the job have been interviewed.

It would be unacceptable. No spin, no bullshit.

You don't know if they want the job though...willing to work under Sandro's model

Is it possible that having seen:

- Gunning do a good job setting the team up as first team coach,
- Sandro being seemingly decent at identifying a player, but not having any real broader experience to draw on as technical director

They've identified Rice as someone that can provide the missing bit of the picture? He can coach, he can plan tactically to exploit opposition weaknesses, he can draw up longer term player development programmes. Might not be a bad fit. Don't know if he and Gunning know each other both being Dublin boys.

Just playing devil's advocat here. (Everyone likes an eggnog at Christmas right?)

Do we though?

I don't think the club (Sandro or Clem) have said categorically that any person has been interviewed its all media talk that has said they have been, I don't think (and I may be wrong) that the club haven't actually confirmed anyone has actually been interviewed yet, just hearsay and chinese whispers.

But what are the compensation figures, in this day of rolling rather than long term managerial contracts I suspect its ten's of 1000's not more than that, plus I note that the debt at the club continues to be paid down, no doubt income is preferable to cover this rather than more from Clem's back pocket. Not saying the clubs approach  is right, but it is what it is.


No he doesn't although I assume that the FL like others allow you to appoint without the qualifications for a certain period of time on the understanding that they are working towards them. I know that Reims in Ligue 1 are paying a £25k per game fine at the moment as their manager doesn't yet have the necessary, but as he is unbeaten in the 10 games they are willing to bear it I assume.

Even bigger problem then.

Artell said himself he wanted it.

“I’m definitely interested in the Swindon job and I think how they want to play and my philosophy are a good match.
I know they’re going more down the data recruitment route which is not something I’m against.
It’s the methodology behind the data that is key (and knowing what you’re after and the way they want to play football is the way I want to play football."

Straight from the horses mouth.

This is it, there could be any number of reasons why people are interviewed and then either drop out or decline if offered, be it not liking the club or those who interviewed you, not liking the conditions you have to work under, not liking what they are offering you in terms of pay/benefits, driving to the interview and realising that you really don't want to be doing that commute 6 days a week! looking on the internet and discovering that all the clubs fans are cunts  ;) :D

Jesus, even in my shitty career I have turned down jobs a few times for some of the reasons above after attending interview plus attended interviews with limited interest in the job (in my case on the basis that they might make me a decent enough offer, but in a football managers position I imagine you do so just to keep your name in the media and remind potential other employers that you still exist and are in the job market.)

Yes, I understand he himself touted himself for the job but do we know that he has even been interviewed?

not arguing just stating that AFAIK the club have neither confirmed nor denied any of the managers linked so far, so far all we know they may have dismissed him without even speaking to him.

This is the kind of appointment I'd be comfortable getting behind if it was made in like May/June, not so much middle of the season when we're supposedly eyeing promotion.

I really don't understand how many more times the club can sit there and tell the fans the type of coach/manager they want

For you, not the club to be fair. Maybe they think they can make it work. FWIW i want a more experienced manager, thats my preference but if they think they can employ someone and honestly believe someone like Rice,Foster etc is the way forward over Artel or Houghton then so be it. They have made it clear that any appoitment has to work to a certain model, they are not hiding anything

At our end of the market opportunities for unemployed managers/head coaches are few and far between. Surely they all cant be that picky. And also for those who are looking to become a no. 1 who may currently be an U-23 coach.

Fwiw, Garner left for Charlton and a £90,000 salary.

I would still like us to get someone in short term though with a bit of nouse but we tried that with Sheridan. Who fucking knows tbh it hurts my head.

All i do know is if we get someone in who is even slightly better than Lindsey then we have half a chance this season

Sheridan was employed for one purpose and one purpose only. To ensure we got relegated.

According to Whealan, yes.

Whelan has some sort of contact within the club for sure. Probably not as leaky as Jewel, mind.

Because he has one or two things correct previously doesnt mean everything he says is true.

And I was stating specifically from "the club" not sources at the club, Clem or Sandro themselves syaing it.

We can't say "so and so" has been interviewed, we can only go by what media sources have said, they may be right they may not not, but I err towards not true in many cases as the club do not confirm it.

He really wasn’t.

I doubt he has pulled it out of thin air. he's being fed it.. but from who?

of course it's all rumour and nothing from the club officially, nor will there be until it's announced.

the rice link I think came from the Irish side?

just like summer this. must be a week away from  declaringb Gunning was always number 1 target

It does have that feel to it!!!

100% this. When you hear about things that were happening behind scenes with day to day running, it was obvious what LPs intentions were. He ran us into the ground and very nearly ran us out of existence.

You know it ;)

Michael Appleton and David Kerslake given the boot from Blackpool

The more managers that get the boot it shortens our pool of candidates - as they may wait to see if they can land that position before committing lower down the ladder

But the sacked manager also becomes a candidate - remember that when Malpas was sacked, Danny Wilson was in employment (at Hartlepool?). He got sacked a week or two later and then we appointed him very shortly after.

The same Whelan who has confidently (as recently as yesterday I recall) said an appointment is imminent.


This, as I said before either the club are leaking stuff which isn't entirely correct or journos are putting 2 and 2 together and making 254. Whelan is possibly more accurate and informed than most, but thats not saying a great deal.

I still wonder whether its just the club putting out really left field suggestions, watching some of the fan base get into a right tizz over it meaning that when they do finally appoint someone who whilst competent isn't possibly isn't that inspiring, it still seems better than who was rumoured. PR101!

Why FFS?

Wellens with less than a years experience at Oldham is literally the only manager with previous managerial experience to win anything, with Swindon since  I was a baby. You have to go back to the AI cup win in 1970 under Fred Ford to find any success under an "experienced" manager.

Sturrock managing to keep us in third place to get promotion from L2 with what was largely  Wise and Poyet's  team is the best anyone with "experience" has done other than that.

If you have to have experience then Garner is out of work, is a known quantity, knows the club, and is our only manager in the last decade to manage a full season with a win ratio over 45% with a record of P56, W28, D12, L16. (50%)

If you're setting the bar for success high enough for Sturrock and Wilson not to meet it, you're not going to enjoy much of Swindon Town FC. Even King had spells of success, even if he wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

Ultimately there are plenty of examples of experienced managers who have and haven't worked, inexperienced managers who have and haven't worked and everything in between.

This sounds like having a pop at the club, but most of the managers we've been linked to won't be in the running at most higher league clubs (e.g. Blackpool. and yes IMO). Maybe lower league clubs also go down the U23 type coach route - but surely we are competitive with them

The choice of what type of manager/head coach we will end up employing will depend on whether the club thinks Garner and Lindsey were seen as successful as far as the ‘model’ goes. A lot of people think Lindsey was on the brink of the sack - the faffing about seeking his replacement casts doubt on that.

I’m struggling to see how Lindsey thought a move to Crawley was a good move for him.

Its the nature of the beast surely - the club just need to get on and appoint someone then we can go back to talking about on pitch events

Had to expect he was heading towards the sack, even if it wasn't imminent. He can puff his chest out and say he took us to the brink of the play offs.

Neck on the line here.
Crawley over him a better deal.
presumably promised a good transfer budget

could get sacked from either here or there. one is going to give more in a payout..


all guess work. Maybe he hated working in the model. But I think Crawley have a similar model

Seeing as he was already part way through his contract here, then they'll be giving more of a pay out even if the money is the same. Makes sense.

My only reasoning is the time of the appointment, if this was the same time as when Garner left i wouldn't mind a Foster or Rice type manager, i just think that the timing means we could do with just getting someone in to get straight into it and not have to get his ideas etc across like a newer manager does. Only my preference though and not saying it's the right way

He also doesn't have to commute to Wiltshire which probably helps.

Foster is way more palatable than Rice based on their histories, in my opinion.

Mine too, and pompeys

The ongoing debate makes interesting reading. It's apparent that no-one has the foggiest idea of what is going on. I think that a win at the weekend will see Gunning announced as head coach soon after.

I see Nixon is suggesting that Portsmouth need to either piss or get off the pot.

Bookies have reopened our manager odds.

Probably all guessing but some interesting notes there - Steve Morison out to 33/1 long shot (the same as Tony Pulis and Shezza!). Artell and Bircham joint favs at 5/4 and Cowley (!), Caddis, Hughton and Gunning at 8s. Rice, Dyer and Foster not listed.

Latest News from NZ Herald

Just been notified Michael Appleton and David Kerslake will be approached by STFC as their new management team on a 4 year contract.
Based on this Blackpool have released Michael and David with immediate effect
 
MA commented, I am so excited to be considered to manage a club with huge potential and a fantastic financial budget.
DK stated, the supporters are great and never complain. Cant wait to get going. Simply fantastic.

Swindon are prepared to pay lots in compensation to get their dream team in.

       

I always new they would look to previous appointments...Welcome...Mr Rice*  :hippy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jHHvAXdow

*Thankfully nearly 10yrs out of date having one of McRoary the Tiger's Merry Convicts at the helm ~ 'I've got a hotel, so I've got some business acumen'

The ones that posted on here it’s Morison clearly been misinformed seeing as he’s 33/1…. Grim list of favourites that.

You know that getting odds on this kind of thing have no relation to the outcome right. If they did we'd have appointed Sol Campbell at least twice by now.

Strange that the Rice fella isn’t even mentioned in that list.

If rumours are true we haven't found anyone yet why are there no betting odds🤔

I think the water in NZ is infiltrated with some form of LSD :)

Only if..soapy tit wank

You do know that if Morison was “getting the gig” and was the next man, he wouldn’t be 33/1.

That’s not me firing a shot at the people who’ve said they’ve been told it’s Morison, I’m just pointing out to you that it’s probably not him as he’s 33/1.

Looking at the odds it’s safe to stay bookies ain’t got a clue. I hope this changes pretty quick and we have somebody ready to go for Monday.

Where you seeing the odds?

a bit disappointed that this is playing out really long yet again. and not just that but the leaks aren't helping the situation. if they are leaks.

Artell publicly came out and wanted the job, it would be nice to hear from him again if he has been ruled out and reasons behind it so we can grasp what is actually going on.

Blackpool have said they expect it to be days rather than weeks, by comparison.

Artell seems a no brainer and he seems keen. I get you want to explore all options but unless he really shit the bed in the interview, it seems an obvious choice.

Not entirely true.

I had money on Martin Ling to become our manager at 20/1 back in the day. So it isn’t out of the question.

BetVictor

He may have shit the bed, he may have come across as a complete cunt, he may have spoke to Clem and Sandro and decided the job isn’t for him, he may have wanted more money than the club were willing to pay.

There are many reasons why he may not have been appointed.

It isn’t a case of saying ‘I want the job’ to the media, and it being a certainty.

Shouldnt take this long, almost certainly drags into next week now- a week with 3 games in it.

Somethings amiss- either nobody wants to work under the model or we're paying peanuts and cant get a serious candidate to take it on. On paper this job is very attractive, a shade over 2ppg for 20 games and you get a promotion on your CV.

Succession planning tab nowhere to be seen in the spreadsheet.

By the same token, Rice who is this week’s flavour of the month, isn’t mentioned in the bookies list at all.

You are hard work sometimes Jimmy! :)

Blackpool are appointing Mick Mcarthy until the end of the season so have clearly had this plan in mind for a while. I suspect we, on the other hand, had no such plan given the time taken.

Cheers Quaggy😀

Just out of interest, for those who like to lurk on other teams fora, how are Pompey fans reacting at the moment as they have been in this position for as long as we are, are they similarly frustrated and pissed off.

FWIW I wonder whether its  the Pompey situation which is not helping with our appointment, we seem to be broadly fishing in the same pond with similar names being touted and I suspect some managers are not going to commit to a job until the Pompey opportunity is put to bed.

Indeed, I alluded to a couple of those points yesterday re the project or the salary. The 3 clubs that have recently sacked their managers are Blackpool, ourselves and Pompey.

Blackpool sacked Appleton and got an old, wily manager to get them out of trouble straight away.

Pompey sacked Cowley on 2nd January and still don't appear to be any closer to appointing their manager suggesting their succession plan is worse than ours.

We 'officially' lost SL 8 days ago but given what Ryan Whelan was leaking, there seemed to be a handful of viable candidates that we had interviewed. Obviously there could be a variety of reasons as to why we still haven't appointed one. We may have offered the job to one or more candidates and they have turned it down (don't like the project, not paid enough, can't bring in the staff they want etc) or we are giving Mildy/Gunning an extended trial with the view to go back down that route again.

I strongly suspect it won't be Bircham, but aside from that at this stage I'm totally in the dark as to who it might be. Alan McCormack at Luton Youth was another name I saw mentioned on twitter by someone.

Artell now 2/5

I would take him right now!

Indeed and given the recent TEF vote many others would also. Either someone has put a shedload of money on him or he's been given the gig.

If they suspend the odds shortly we should hopefully have our man in the dugout for the Walsall game on Saturday.

Spot on Bob, get it sorted now and get in charge for Wallsall

Doesn't this work both ways. We are an attractive option as you say and legally we have only had 8 days to talk to the managers who are interested and if we are as attractive as we think who is to say we have not had alot of applications?

If it drags after Saturday i would be worried but it's been 8 days

Legally?

Lindsey officially left last week didn't he

Artell would fit in with the clubs direction I would say. Proven track record of developing young talent, plays an attractive, attacking brand of Football......I would be very happy if he is proven to be the new boss. With the odds so short I do wonder if an announcement is imminent!

What DMC means is Crawley made a legal approach for Lindsey

Illegal approach is tapping up the manager behind the clubs back first

So the club could have said no?

I also think what he means is that we were probably contractually not obliged/allowed to go through our managerial recruitment process until the SL to Crawley deal had been officially ratified. Hence why it 'seems' that it's taken ages for us to appoint a manager whereas 8 or 9 days is probably fairly reasonable.

Of course, but if the manager wants to leave anyway whats the point refusing

But surely as none, I think, of our prospective managers is currently employed by another club we can speak to who we want when we want. The delay to the announcement was down to compo so the club knew he was going way before that.

Exactly this. It's frustrating but just the way it is really

Whilst our manager is still contracted to us we can't speak to another manager without risk of legal action being taken by him

Imagine this was us

‘ Portsmouth FC are considering the possibility of appointing current Oxford United defender and PFA chairman John Mousinho as the clubs new manager, according to journalist Chris Wise.

The 36-year-old gained his UEFA Pro License qualification in Early 2022, meaning he is now eligible to manage a professional football club in England and his appointment would definitely be one of a kind.’

Saw Foster was reported as a done deal for them. I've lost count of the amount of done deals that have turned out to be false recently.

no new names today? booo

Indeed constructive dismissal 101.

What I don't get with the whole SL thing was why the club didn't/couldn't just release a statement saying something along the lines of 'Crawley have asked permission to speak to SL re their vacancy and whilst we would like him to stay as he has expressed interest we have agreed to allow them to speak', the complete silence just seemed odd and just let all manner of rumour and disquiet occupy the void.

Exactly the same as Garner. Delays all blamed on compo.

Piss up and brewery spring to mind.

I’m sure if they were so inclined SDM/Clem/RAngus could have had off the record discussions with interested parties before Lindsey had signed his contract with Crawley without it causing any bother

Of course, but not the ones who had applied since i would imagine. 

What I don’t get is this. If we do eventually go for Artell, for example, who as far as we know has been interviewed, why have we continued to interview others? You’d think that once you have interviewed somebody and thought ‘he’s the one for us’ you’d actually appoint him instead of carrying on interviewing others.

Portsmouth news reporting Foster and Manning both had two interviews but they are going for the Oxford fella

That is a weird one. Almost makes us look organised.

Is it possible they've just slightly misread John Mousinho?

Pompey going full on Pompeii.

They’re gunna blow!

in my experience you interview a few candidates over a timeframe and pick the best fit(s) after that.

surely that's how it works in most places!

I'm hoping for a Friday Statement

Fair point. Be curious to understand how many managerial hires are from speculative applicants rather than headhunted/pre selected shortlist - my instinct would be it’s more likely the latter, but that’s not based on any insight

Sky reporting its all verbally agreed for him to take the job.

I have a feeling this is where our lack of footballing experience at the club comes in. There will be a few at the club who now doubt feel they know best and i can imagine it's not fun

Manning and Foster look like reasonable options on paper. Weird choice.

Or cheap choice?

Just goes to show really doesn't it that it's never that simple

Absolutely agree

Gunning has gone from a big no, to taking the job, to ‘never say never’

It’s going to be him, isn’t it?

Didn't someone say he doesn't have the required badges?

That would really take the piss to do this twice.

We wanted experience, he's been a coach for over 6 months now!

Indeed, plus the only candidate with a 100% win record on his CV.

Gunning now 1/3 on….if it is him then just get on with it.

Jesus Christ

gunning, fuck off.

artells assistant maybe

Wont be happy if this happens. Absolute ineptitude

 a lot on here seemed to see this coming a mile off

Seems a repeat of the pathetic process that saw Lindsey get the job after Garner.

It’s a huge punt, pure and simple.

This and anyone trying to spin it can fuck off and all. Totally unacceptable. Don't do it Clem.

" After a diligent recruitment process, it became increasingly obvious that Gavin Gunning was the outstanding candidate "

Absolute waffle. Presume he will have it as nobody else wants it

Can see now why so many names were leaked as being interviewed. Smoke screen.

 if he does get the job full time we just have to go with it

Unlikely.

I’ve just seen the EFL rules on who can and cannot be manager. Without the appropriate badges an interim manager can only serve 3 months. So we either drag out appointing him until mid Feb and that would see out the season if we don’t get the POs. If we do it’ll have to be the beginning of March.

Sounds too ridiculous to be true to me.

Or does the 3 months start from when he took charge of 1st team affairs.

Manager Odds at this level fluctuate wildly because so little money is laid down.  It only takes a couple of bets to move the odds on a person.

Well, who’s the cunt that put a tenner on him.

Come on. Own up!

6 people on here voted for him in the poll

il be livid. imagine the scenes if we lose badly at Walsall. it would be a piss take of all the fans.

just like with lindsey it's easier to deal with if after a week or less then came out with confirmation that they wanted an internal appointment to continue the process

to take take 6 weeks, and then now 2 weeks and come to the same conclusion...fuck me.

we all know 100% that he wouldn't have been the best person to have applied. so whats the point in the interview process. to give us the sense that we a normal club? to the revert back to a shambles like the majority of the last 20 years

let's see what happens. As Rob says, the market it volatile with little money needed to move it

could so be based on the presser where it's gone from 'not for me' to 'let's see' (or whatever).

We better luck out if it happens and he actually be good.  because a dud here and any faith remaining in this footballing setup will be done for me.

If we play as well as the last game in the next 3 and win them all 5-0 then I’d welcome Mr Gunning. If Saturday turns out to be an aberration, Mad Gav can do one! 😂

NMH (Fickle-Fans-R-Us)

And they can all get to fuck.

its a short term vision though.
can gunning develop and enhance players? can gunning manage in league 1? we don't know the answer and some caretaker wins wouldn't answer those questions.

of course he might but are there that many managers in world football that were promoted from assistant that last more than a season or two once the new bounce has gone?

Saw enough on Saturday to suggest Gunning could do a decent job.
Extremely small sample size admittedly.

If the club left him in as caretaker for a few weeks to see how results go - I wouldn’t be against it.

to be fair there aren't many managers that last more than a year or two full stop.

https://www.efl.com/news/managers-table/ (https://www.efl.com/news/managers-table/)
---
it's the riskiest path I can see to judge someone (not qualified to do the job) on a two or 3 game run.

if course it's possible he could be our greatest ever manager

that's not the point in trying to make

I’d say 99% of companies have at one time or another (probably as a matter of course) used ‘extras’ to justify their procedures whether internally or externally and end up appointing someone who was already ‘anointed’. In my last corporate employment I was asked on a number of occasions if I’d like to apply for certain rolls after I’d been there’s few years and established my credentials. No way was I going to be used to validate their cozy little club and graciously declined. I see no reason why STFC should be any different.

What I said was firmly tongue in cheek.

I am not qualified to judge who would be the best short, medium or long term appointments

Yep! Agreed.

Jesus Christ

He's already been suggested.

I kind of want it to happen to see your head explode  ;)

There is absolutely no justification for appointing him.

While not keen on Gunning be appointed if that turns out to be the case (would rather have Artell) I’ll of course be getting behind him and the team regardless. Looking forward to Walsall one way or the other

Does gunning hold a b-license?

https://twitter.com/stfc_1969/status/1616160932698415106?t=h-Xbbuf7ZymUmv-Pl9FI1Q&s=19

Im in Liverpool working the Lewis Capaldi tour.  Kenny Daglish has just turned up.  Should I ask him if he fancies the job?

Our tour chef is Gordon Mcqueens son.  Kenny and him are having a lovely chat.

Surely it's not going to be Mad Gav. Please Clem nnnnooooo !

It's got to be Artell with Mad Gav as his assistant unless he's said no to that.

Nah only wasp and hornet.

reeeeeeeeves, I expected better from you

ok, that's a lie

Lewis Capaldi? Bit of a let down from Led Zep.

Gunning is now 4/6 favourite

I would be absolutely amazed if it is him. Been told it isn't as well so will be pissed off it is

Can't hurt. If he's drunk get him to say he wants it on camera. Verbal contract.