Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

[Northstandboy]

Manager Stats (Click Below)

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[MustardYellow]

Was he a holding midfielder? He hasn't played like that here.

Hopefully its just rustiness, because he has been pretty bad so far, although with only 11 games left we may never see the best of him.

According to transfermrkt he's played 28 times as a DM and 53 times as a CM, so supposedly can do both.

Think he played a mix of both at Plymouth.

 

[Swaby39]

Matete was one of, if not the best holding midfield players in L1 in the past 2 years .
Not sure anybody in Sunderland or Plymouth would disagree with that.

He’s a bit more dynamic in style, though. Will pick up and carry and leave his position to join in. So he’s not your pure-bred sitter.

I think his anticipation is superb. He’s far better at getting a foot in and turning over possession than he is dictating play or anything alike. His job should be limited to winning it and finding Cam and Ruben quickly.

Question has to be asked why we can’t get such a notoriously brilliant player at this level playing anything close to his best. I’m not having the injury excuses anymore. We need to be careful if we want high potential players to continue to join us. No manager is worth keeping when a much bigger picture is at stake.

My worry is keeping him will cost us some excellent players (McGuane, Rodrigues, Brown, Cumming, Matete spring to mind) while we then get desperate and attach ourselves to the likes of Murphy again on daft terms. All the while our reputation as a club to further your career starts to fade.

Some good managers available again. Any less than 6 points from next 3 with consistently good performances and I’d be moving him on.

 

[holdsteady]

Any less than 6 points from next 3 with consistently good performances and I’d be moving him on.

Just say you want him sacked now .

 

[holdsteady]

Matete has a full week off and has game time under his belt now, hopefully he will step up on Saturday.

Given the situation if I was Buckingham I would put McGuane back in the holding role and have Matete and Brannagan in front of him, hopefully Moore will be back and that would sort out the big hole we had in the middle of the park on Saturday and allow us a bit of control there.

 

[QuietYeller]

Probably, but I don’t think he is a physical holding midfielder. One of the big problems of having Brannagan and him as a midfield two yesterday was quite often they both went chasing and charging all over the place left a huge gap in front of the centre backs which Orient exploited.

Play those two as the centre midfield against Pompey and Bolton and we will get turned over at least once, someone has to actually hold.

Not been impressed with him so far. Im beginning to wonder if he’s one of the anti des players if it’s true any exist. His body language doesn’t look right to me

 

[BicesterU]

A key question for the Fans Forum has to be 'what is the timescale for the 'Top 30 club' ambition, and what are the milestones we need to hit to get there?'.

The answer to this question gives us context for every single decision made at the club, on and off the pitch, including Des's future.

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that after last season's debacle, the target this year was a comfortable campaign without the drama of a relegation battle, followed by a push for promotion next year. If that's the case, I can well understand the logic of buying Des out of his contract at Mumbai as part of a longer-term plan, and now not jumping the gun and firing him now.

I also think it'd look awful to fire him now. Which prospective manager would look at a club on the brink of the play-offs who sacks their manager, triggering the third managerial recruitment process in little over a year, and think 'that's the kind of club I can build my career at'?

Cards on the table - I'm an eternal optimist, and there hasn't been a game since Des took over that I haven't thought will be 'the one' that shows us what the future of the club looks like. But I'm also a realist, and it's clear that there is still a lot of work to do.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and if we *are* to become a top 30 club (which I assume we all want?), that kind of success will be built on sustainability, and there's an excellent example not very far down the road of what can happen to a club who's success is built on sand.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Rome wasn't built in a day

It burned in just six, mind.

 

[Carpy]

I've generally taken a swerve of this thread. It's reactionary and an evident chance for the 'I told you so''s to stick more knives in. On Monday, we can better reflect on things.

I think this is unfair, I don't think he should go just yet, but the evidence for him staying is horrific at the moment.

 

[Mad Dog]

What Appleton also had was someone football savvy behind the scenes in Mark Ashton.

After his poor start, Appleton was taken into a meeting where he was asked to explain what was going on and how he was going to turn it around. To his credit, he obviously convinced people he knew the way forward and over time he was able to back that up with great football and the results on the pitch. But once he'd been given the opportunity to show what he wanted to do, he was also backed to do it.

Appleton was brilliant for us and he also did a good job at Lincoln, but fans of Blackpool and Charlton will look at him as a failure of an appointment. To me, that shows the importance of having the right people in the right structure behind the scenes as well. If I think back to 2016 then it would be inconceivable to me that Appleton was going to be anything other than a huge success in management.

Obviously this isn't to say that Buckingham is the second coming of Appleton. It's more the point that at a crossroads moment of Appleton's time here, we had people above him who knew what to do. As a result, Appleton will be remembered as a massive success, but it could've been so different.

I totally agree, during MApps time here, we were a serious, no nonsense club, very efficient and professional both on and off the pitch, and it was a joy to see. It really felt as though the good times had returned.

Like you say though, things could’ve been very different, if he had the current chuckle brothers we’ve got overseeing things. Thank god he didn’t!

But on current evidence, even if he had the same support structure that MApp had when he was here, I don’t see any signs that Des would’ve been as effective and successful as MApp was.

However, I don’t think MApp would’ve been as ineffective as Des has been under the current support structure.

Des just doesn’t seem to have the minerals for it I’m afraid.

Hope he proves me wrong…

 

[Sarge]

I’m well aware of those rules, but they are generally not observed by the opposition at our ground- I often see assistants entering the forbidden zone to gee up there players .

Maybe Des is too nice .

On saturday Orient had three of their coaching staff in the tech area, frequently- until their ex scummer manager was sent off

 

[holdsteady]

I think this is unfair, I don't think he should go just yet, but the evidence for him staying is horrific at the moment.

View attachment 17967

In the 16 games without Buckingham we had 35 points, 22 points in the 19 games he has been here. Your chart gives Buckingham the 3 points away at Leyton Orient when Short was in charge (although it only adds up to 45 games in total so missing a future fixture on there).

That is a team that went from averaging 2.1 points a game and a potential hundred point title winning season going on our first third of the season form to averaging 1.1 ppg and a 52 point season just about staying up form over a season. Losing a point a game is a big drop.

Realistically in no way was this squad getting a 100 points and winning the league, even with a good January window I think most of us would be honest enough to admit that it was massively overperforming and never getting the autos. With such a good start the play offs were a possibility, would of been a good achievement considering last season and the squad we have. We don't look like getting in the play offs though, such has been the the tail off under Buckingham.

He does have some mitigating factors, the injury problems have been bad for a spell of his time here and the decisions from above him about his back room team have been strange. On the other hand he has been backed in the transfer window, players are back and things have actually got worse, we are not playing well so its not bad luck, if anything we have been to poor to make the most of the good fortune we have had in being ahead 3 times at home to mid table opposition.

So basically, we were overachieving, he has some mitigating factors but he has underachieved beyond those factors and he is failing the eye test. I don't expect much from Saturday but a good day out for me (don't get allowed out enough nowadays that I am going to let the football ruin that) but the following Saturday at home to Cheltenham is shaping up to be massive for Buckingham, can't see the crowd not turning if that is another f**k up.

 

[unification]

I think this is unfair, I don't think he should go just yet, but the evidence for him staying is horrific at the moment.

View attachment 17967

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

 

[MustardYellow]

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

According to the post from @Carpy, In 3 of the 4 months he's been here we've had relegation form. That most certainly can be categorised as horrific!

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

The fact that you've resorted to padding out Buckingham's win rate by including cup games against the current 90th and 91st best sides in the Football League is pretty damning in itself.

 

[Carpy]

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

In the league he's turned a team that were pushing the playoffs comfortably to relegation form in 3 of the 4 blocks he has managed, all while players have been added to the squad and others have returned from injury

I think you're sugar coating it somewhat, he needs to improve, and pretty damn quick I'd say, because yes, our current league form is horrific.

 

[holdsteady]

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

I think the biggest worry for me is the lack of improvement since he has had much more of a squad to pick from, I think we all expected some improvement yet that hasn't happened. Cheltenham at home is a massive game for him, he will of run out of excuses we can make for him by then if that goes wrong.

 

[dickwalton1964]

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

Those wins include home cup games v Maidenhead and Grimsby.

 

[Peterdev]

It is way too soon given the money already deployed.
That said I’m not enjoying the brand of football dished up, the lack of drive from the bench and the strange decisions with Burey and some of the substitutions. I’d like to think for now in Des we trust, but as others have said Cheltenham winning at Oxford on the back of two defeats at Portsmouth and Bolton will look like a horrible return on our investment.
He should also have a recognised assistant working with him as he he has started to look out of his depth.
It looks like the faith in Des Buckingham is fading as he looks out of his depth with each match played.
I still hope it works out for him but the omens are not good

 

[unification]

I think the biggest worry for me is the lack of improvement since he has had much more of a squad to pick from, I think we all expected some improvement yet that hasn't happened. Cheltenham at home is a massive game for him, he will of run out of excuses we can make for him by then if that goes wrong.

Hard agree. It’s what’s concerning me too. Even without Moore, I would expect us to have enough to navigate Northampton and Leyton Orient. We essentially did against Northampton only for individual errors to do us and then we did nowhere near enough against Orient. That should have been six points.

I’m still in the ‘give him time’ camp because I just don’t see a third manager this season being the answer.

 

[greatunclekip]

His OUFC career to date is W7 D7 L9.

If that is 'horrific', I'd hate to think what Waddock, Lawrenson, Mark Wright, Denis Smith MrkII and David Kemp's record is.

It's not great and it needs to improve. I say as much above since he has close to a full squad to choose from and that improvement has to start now. But the level of handwringing, reactionary, panicky posting from some is off the charts.

He actually reminds me very much of the Kemp years in the complete lack of plan and lack of guidance from the sidelines. With the players at his disposal he is performing woefully.