Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

[Northstandboy]

Manager Stats (Click Below)

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[dickwalton1964]

Is he fit?

He’s been on the bench for about the last 6 games, I assume he’s fit as in injury free. Match fitness not sure but that will only come with playing and if he can’t force his way into this team then that raises serious questions about how much faith Buckingham has in him.

 

[Swaby39]

Isn’t it about time we played that rather expensive lad from Cheltenham? If he can’t get into the side when we’re in this sort of form, then he never will.
Unless we bought yet another unfit, fragile, 25- minute player of course?……

This is a really concerning underlying story for me particularly when Burey is ostracised, Matete suddenly drops out the squad for a game that appears tailor made for him and the likes of McEachran and Smyth are mysteriously absent (I thought it was injury, but apparently not). Buckingham many times talked about lightening the load on Harris and now that he can, decides not to. And by the way, Goodwin looks unsurprisingly rusty through a lack of minutes but scored a fantastic goal for us that should’ve warranted more of a look in as Harris continues to fire blanks.

We’ve long complained about a shortage of players but we’re now in a situation where a number of them are unfancied while those who seemingly need a rest or deserve dropping continue to play - is he intimidated by a section of the squad??

It worries me enormously that players like Burey who might be a bit hot to handle have been dropped like a stone at the first sign of trouble. Presumably Des and Waldron made the decision to bring him in knowing how it might go and that the challenge would be the channel his energy in to football. I saw no attitude issue when he played so he’s obviously not one for the 9-5 grind, but mercurial players like that exist and managers are paid to manage. If he’s too much of a handful, don’t sign him.

This group was once together. Very together. It’s now not. Hiring Des has proven to be incredibly divisive. We’ve unwound everything Manning brought to the club.

 

[TailsWeWin]

He’s been on the bench for about the last 6 games, I assume he’s fit as in injury free. Match fitness not sure but that will only come with playing and if he can’t force his way into this team then that raises serious questions about how much faith Buckingham has in him.

Cheltenham knew they were selling a fragile, not fully fit player to us. They are very happy with their £400,000.

 

[McXal]

He’s got a ready-made reason to “rest” Rodrigues with no questions asked too after RR pulled up started hobbling around soon before he gave the ball away for the fourth goal.

Even if he’s fine, Des can say he took a knock on Tuesday.

(Not saying anything or casting any aspersions on RR’s attitude - other than he was very poor for whatever reason on Tuesday night. But he’s been under-performing for a while and pulling him out of the firing line if Bodin can play for any reasonable length of time wouldn’t be disastrous)

 

[holdsteady]

He’s been on the bench for about the last 6 games, I assume he’s fit as in injury free. Match fitness not sure but that will only come with playing and if he can’t force his way into this team then that raises serious questions about how much faith Buckingham has in him.

I am just starting to find it strange that if he is fit he only seems to be able to play 20/30 minutes?

 

[Foley]

The way they acted over Knobinson, you would expect that we are in for a long drop before they realise or accept that change is needed.
Buckinghams failure will be their failure too.
I don’t expect them to pull the plug until the bitter end.

'Knobinson'. Really? This forum has gone up in quality....

 

[LeftSideLarry]

Not sure why people are just calling out MM and RR. Murphy was pathetic the other night, a shockingly lacklustre and effortless performance.

Perhaps because they’re both on a run a very similar disinterested and cowardly performances. Murphy, on the other hand, has at least raised a trot recently and contributed with goals.

 

[Foley]

This is a really concerning underlying story for me particularly when Burey is ostracised, Matete suddenly drops out the squad for a game that appears tailor made for him and the likes of McEachran and Smyth are mysteriously absent (I thought it was injury, but apparently not). Buckingham many times talked about lightening the load on Harris and now that he can, decides not to. And by the way, Goodwin looks unsurprisingly rusty through a lack of minutes but scored a fantastic goal for us that should’ve warranted more of a look in as Harris continues to fire blanks.

We’ve long complained about a shortage of players but we’re now in a situation where a number of them are unfancied while those who seemingly need a rest or deserve dropping continue to play - is he intimidated by a section of the squad??

It worries me enormously that players like Burey who might be a bit hot to handle have been dropped like a stone at the first sign of trouble. Presumably Des and Waldron made the decision to bring him in knowing how it might go and that the challenge would be the channel his energy in to football. I saw no attitude issue when he played so he’s obviously not one for the 9-5 grind, but mercurial players like that exist and managers are paid to manage. If he’s too much of a handful, don’t sign him.

This group was once together. Very together. It’s now not. Hiring Des has proven to be incredibly divisive. We’ve unwound everything Manning brought to the club.

Nobody knows about Burey. To suggest that he was 'dropped like a stone at the first sign of trouble'. Presumably you are ITK? Any idea what happened?
Matete dropped out of the squad due to injury.
The load on Harris has lightened significantly. He was playing 90 minutes virtually every week and now seems to be playing an hour.

I am not defending Des, but looking for problems in every decision seems a bit strange- thete are clear problems for sure but some seem to be made up or guessed.

 

[dickwalton1964]

'Knobinson'. Really? This forum has gone up in quality....

Yes, pathetic isn’t it. There’s humour and there’s just stuff that is so childish and cringeworthy. Embarrassing, he’ll grow up in time - hopefully.

 

[Osleroad]

This is a really concerning underlying story for me particularly when Burey is ostracised, Matete suddenly drops out the squad for a game that appears tailor made for him and the likes of McEachran and Smyth are mysteriously absent (I thought it was injury, but apparently not). Buckingham many times talked about lightening the load on Harris and now that he can, decides not to. And by the way, Goodwin looks unsurprisingly rusty through a lack of minutes but scored a fantastic goal for us that should’ve warranted more of a look in as Harris continues to fire blanks.

We’ve long complained about a shortage of players but we’re now in a situation where a number of them are unfancied while those who seemingly need a rest or deserve dropping continue to play - is he intimidated by a section of the squad??

It worries me enormously that players like Burey who might be a bit hot to handle have been dropped like a stone at the first sign of trouble. Presumably Des and Waldron made the decision to bring him in knowing how it might go and that the challenge would be the channel his energy in to football. I saw no attitude issue when he played so he’s obviously not one for the 9-5 grind, but mercurial players like that exist and managers are paid to manage. If he’s too much of a handful, don’t sign him.

This group was once together. Very together. It’s now not. Hiring Des has proven to be incredibly divisive. We’ve unwound everything Manning brought to the club.

T'Manor podcast making pretty similar points about needing a real shake up. JM did have family stuff going on but midfield needs a rejig and bring Bennet back in/ put Burey on bench at least if you don't start Henry (?) and start Goodwin. Think we hope that SLT see the same things as fans i.e. wanting a serious examination of Des position -performance indicators and all that ()

 

[uptheus]

It’s all ifs and buts, but what we do know is, we’re still only one point off of the play offs after this week’s games and have got to play both Stevenage and Lincoln at home.

Are we looking like we’ll win them? not likely. Are Lincoln on fire? seems that way. So on paper it appears that we’re probably the less likely team to end up in that 6th spot, but whilst there’s a chance I think we’ve got to try and believe and stick with it until either the end of the season or it’s not mathematically possible for us to make the play offs. At the end of the day it’s now only 8 games left or fingers crossed it’s 11 games.

Just don’t think it’s the right time to be sacking managers/making wholesale changes at this point. So I think all we can do at the minute is get behind the team etc and hope for the best. Hard I know, but we’ve just got to stick together.

 

[uptheus]

The team he put’s out at Vale Park this Saturday will tell us a lot about Buckingham. If RR and MM are anywhere near the first team then Buckingham has learned nothing.

Harris also comes out of the side in my view. Brown has to be dropped as well - completely out of form and making too many mistakes.

We’ve got to start with both Harris and Goodwin.

 

[Osleroad]

It’s all ifs and buts, but what we do know is, we’re still only one point off of the play offs after this week’s games and have got to play both Stevenage and Lincoln at home.

Are we looking like we’ll win them? not likely. Are Lincoln on fire? seems that way. So on paper it appears that we’re probably the less likely team to end up in that 6th spot, but whilst there’s a chance I think we’ve got to try and believe and stick with it until either the end of the season or it’s not mathematically possible for us to make the play offs. At the end of the day it’s now only 8 games left or fingers crossed it’s 11 games.

Just don’t think it’s the right time to be sacking managers/making wholesale changes at this point. So I think all we can do at the minute is get behind the team etc and hope for the best. Hard I know, but we’ve just got to stick together.

Agree with your last paragraph but I think to reflect the amount of angst in the fan base is not a bad thing and hope leads to some real soul searching.

 

[Swaby39]

Nobody knows about Burey. To suggest that he was 'dropped like a stone at the first sign of trouble'. Presumably you are ITK? Any idea what happened?
Matete dropped out of the squad due to injury.
The load on Harris has lightened significantly. He was playing 90 minutes virtually every week and now seems to be playing an hour.

I am not defending Des, but looking for problems in every decision seems a bit strange- thete are clear problems for sure but some seem to be made up or guessed.

Nope, I don’t know anything for certain. Just alarming that he was in the side and playing pretty well (or at least impacting games), hooked at half time in a game and never seen again. So we can take an educated guess at what might’ve happened.

Harris’ minutes may have reduced but why does he need to start every game when we’ve paid such a wedge for another striker who would give us a totally different outlet? Particularly when we don’t play through the lines and play a heck of a lot of long balls now. Perfect for games like Bolton away since his best football has been played for a major underdog in the league. I’d have thought Tuesday was the kind of game we paid all the money for?

Even prior to Tuesday Matete wasn’t coming on when match situations seemed to suit him. Leaning instead towards James Henry who can’t break stride.

 

[uptheus]

Perhaps because they’re both on a run a very similar disinterested and cowardly performances. Murphy, on the other hand, has at least raised a trot recently and contributed with goals.

We need to be more robust, so I’d bring in Bennett at left back and push Leigh further up the field in place of Murphy. Imagine bringing Murphy on when the oppositions players are tired! Just might see an end product from him more regularly, than not.

And like I’ve said in other comments, I’d go with 2 up top with both Harris and Goodwin playing.

I’d rest Rodrigues, but my biggest dilemma is, who plays that holding central midfielder role. I’m thinking McGuane, but I’d read him the riot act l, and if he still doesn’t perform, then I’d take him off within minutes. Des might come across as spineless, but it doesn’t mean our team should be!

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

Not sure why people are just calling out MM and RR. Murphy was pathetic the other night, a shockingly lacklustre and effortless performance. Cumming played with all the heart of a bloody pussycat - is he really doing his best ? Harris ? Was that really a performance full of effort, vigour and desire to do his best ? Harris has been really poor for about half a dozen games now, he seems to have given up. Personally, I don’t buy into what Leysboy is saying about just three players. It took him a lot of promoting to name the third player, why was that ?

Can anyone point to specific examples of where MM or RR have given up and not trying ? Maybe highlight the minute so we can all watch it and decide for ourselves. They - amongst a fair few others - both look out of form but they look confused as to what the game plan is. They are playing aimlessly but is that just reflective of a team who seem empty of ideas, have no identifiable style or patterns of play ? These two are at the heart of the team, in that engine room, but that’s the area where we look lost whoever plays there.

Considering what I’ve seen of MM & RR this season under a good coach then we know there’s outstanding L1 players in there.

It all comes back to the current manager.

 

[uptheus]

Agree with your last paragraph but I think to reflect the amount of angst in the fan base is not a bad thing and hope leads to some real soul searching.

Totally agree…I’m still seething after Tuesday, and angry about our overall performances (Pompey aside) over the last few months.

Is Des the man, well it’s certainly not looking like it, but it might be more than just him. Having said that, he doesn’t help himself by making comments like; need players back from injury, need to strengthen the squad, and once both of these are in place things will get better, we’ve turned a corner (after the Pompey game) as that’s the nearest to the team playing the way I want, and then still not produce.

I’m just glad the fans forum and win on Saturday against Cheltenham turned the corner, not!!! We really needed to put in a performance as well as a win against Cheltenham, but because we didn’t do the former (performance) it all felt nothing had changed! Based upon his comments above we really needed to perform against Cheltenham and show up against Bolton, but most of us knew after the poor showing against Cheltenham, despite the win we all felt we’d lose against Bolton, and lose we did!

And post match we hear the manager and player (Dale) saying they didn’t know where that came from…well I’d say the 3-4 months previous, plus most of us were expecting it/not surprised!

 

[Scrongo]

Yes, pathetic isn’t it. There’s humour and there’s just stuff that is so childish and cringeworthy. Embarrassing, he’ll grow up in time - hopefully.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

Not sure why people are just calling out MM and RR. Murphy was pathetic the other night, a shockingly lacklustre and effortless performance. Cumming played with all the heart of a bloody pussycat - is he really doing his best ? Harris ? Was that really a performance full of effort, vigour and desire to do his best ? Harris has been really poor for about half a dozen games now, he seems to have given up. Personally, I don’t buy into what Leysboy is saying about just three players. It took him a lot of promoting to name the third player, why was that ?

Can anyone point to specific examples of where MM or RR have given up and not trying ? Maybe highlight the minute so we can all watch it and decide for ourselves. They - amongst a fair few others - both look out of form but they look confused as to what the game plan is. They are playing aimlessly but is that just reflective of a team who seem empty of ideas, have no identifiable style or patterns of play ? These two are at the heart of the team, in that engine room, but that’s the area where we look lost whoever plays there.

It's what @Leysboy has assured us is the case, Dick. He has now named McGuane, Rodrigues and Bodin as the three players who had "downed tools" as he put it because they didn't want Buckingham as manager. I was surmising that if he is indeed the case (and who are we to say it isn't), then it might explain why both MM and RR have been so shockingly poor of late.

In addition, I'm not sure which game you were watching exactly, but MM barely touched the ball or did anything of note....even less than he's done in the last dozen or so games. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Likewise with RR, he did very little of note at all, apart from being lucky not to be sent off for a combination of rash challenges and backchat to the ref. He has also been poor for months, with the exception of the odd glimmer to remind us there's a decent footballer in there somewhere.

Whether both are trying or not, both are poor right now and have been for months. That alone warrants them being dropped.

 

[m]

The team he put’s out at Vale Park this Saturday will tell us a lot about Buckingham. If RR and MM are anywhere near the first team then Buckingham has learned nothing.

What if he picks RR and MM and they both perform superbly?

(Not trying to be a dickhead, just wondering whether this would then be seen as a good act of management)