[bluepooch]

Its early days but Harrogate and Wrexham seem to have found a couple of progressive ( I hate that word it reminds of remainer's description of their Utopian society ) young managers .How I would love us to have discovered one of those in the last 4 years.

[SaltergateBorn]

The trouble is, Blue, to be 'progressive' a manager has to be successful; Harrogate`s and Wrexham`s managers wouldn`t be getting called that if they were at the bottom of the table rather than the top.

I remember John Sheridan being called an 'up and coming (means the same thing) young manager' when he was winning League 2 with us and similarly the likes of Paul Jewell and Danny Wilson. Sadly, when they stopped being successful they stopped being progressive. Jack Lester would have been progressive if he had been successful with us and Ian Evatt may yet turn out to be - if and as long as he keeps winning games - until he stops being successful.

Maybe we did discover one in Jack Lester but he won`t be progressive unless he goes back into management and succeeds.

[Devongone]

There's a lot to what Saltergate says. Harrogate's young-ish manager is enormously assisted by the fact his millionaire father-in-law owns the club. He clearly doesn't have the internal politics to deal with that MA must face daily. And Sam Ricketts - former international - doing great so far, but Dean Saunders took Wrexham to the top of this league and clear. They crashed and he burnt with them.

Neil Warnock becomes old-fashioned and out-of-date as soon as he has to confront opponents with Premier League players and finance. Sean Dyche's methods are suddenly in question now Burnley are bottom.

My biggest criticism of MA would be that in common with our managers from Danny Wilson onwards HE ISN'T MANAGING. He's firefighting. He's reacting to circumstance. Danny Wilson took over a team of individuals he tried to make the best of, but several of whom he was lumbered with throughout his time. So Caldwell's legacy was poor, but he started by discarding players he didn't even replace. He did get a brief chance to manage a team he thought he'd built, but all that did was to hand a flaming baton to Jack Lester, which proved singularly impossible to extinguish. Martin Allen took over the fire Jack Lester started whilst trying to make firebreaks against the roaring blaze Gary Caldwell set ....... and behind the scenes the chaos was worse than it had been in Danny Wilson's time. MA quickly took charge, but rushed into some decisions that seem themselves only to have started new fires to extinguish. So he kept Weir, Barry and Gozie and now not only doesn't he want them, but he can't bring in anything new until the burnt wood has been hauled away. He's reacting, that's all, not managing and the reason is there are too many fires for him to fight. He needs a long-term plan, but they aren't easy to generate in burning buildings.

[SaltergateBorn]

To be fair, Dev, I think that`s symptomatic of modern football. Managers just aren`t given the time to build a team these days; it`s either instant success or the bullet as a rule. That`s certainly been the case at CFC this last few years, as you say.

As regards MA specifically, it seems to me that his stock in trade for the last few years has been firefighting - and I suspect that`s why he was brought in, primarily. Before we kicked a ball, how many people were predicting another season of doom and gloom with the real prospect of another relegation at the end of it? One or two on this forum, as I recall, and I suspect a hell of a lot of others besides. I reckon that his mandate in the short term was just to stop the rot and keep us in this league - which I genuinely think he will do.

Whether he sticks around for the next phase, which is the rebuilding process, or indeed whether he is the right man for that job, I honestly don`t know. I agree that some of the things that are going on at the moment do look suspiciously like panic measures, whereas what the club desperately needs right now is stability. Unfortunately, as he`s openly admitted that some of the players he himself has brought in haven`t come up to scratch (and I suspect he`s been completely gobsmacked by the recent run; I really don`t think he saw that coming), it`s a bit of a merry-go-round at the moment. I reckon, though, that once the results start to improve things will settle down.

[Devongone]

I agree the jobs offered to MA have made firefighting his stock-in trade, but what he himself points to when asked is the championships he's won. That's what I'm sure he wanted to do.

I think the difference with us is that MA hasn't got a forest fire here, it's one of those peat jobs that just keeps burning under the surface and coming back. Win three on the trot, hunky dory, pack up and put your feet up ...... hang on there's eight games without a win springing up in the next valley and everyone you signed is playing like a dick.

I agree a lot of football is like that now, and much of what we call management really isn't that. It certainly is a massive disincentive for any manager to be creative, feed young players into the team, try a different style or see a bigger picture ....... when a chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" is going to spring up after a couple of defeats and one more bad result and he knows "you're getting sacked in the morning!" won't just be a random chant.

[bluepooch]

The advantage MA has over previous managers is he has the opportunity to put his mistakes right at this early stage with no transfer windows in this league.I'm sure GC would have loved the chance to do this .
MA should think himself very fortunate but yes i agree that ,as Jack said ,you probably need 4 transfer windows to find your ideal team in the EFL.However,in this league it should be done in a season.

[Devongone]

MA is lucky in a way to be wheeler-dealing in the Vanarama, but then that does give him even more options to consider. If he had to stick with what's got he'd have to find ways of making them play, here's he's thinking shall I stick or twist with every result.