Manager/Coach Karl Robinson - Will he walk

I really hope Karl stays at our club, we are in a great position to make a real effort in the coming weeks to at least get in the playoffs.
He wears his heart on his sleeve and you can tell that all the players really want to succeed for him, and the brand of football he likes to play is exciting to watch.

ubermeistervonmeat said:

If he chooses to go now in the position we are currently in then it must speak volumes about the true ambitions of the board and that he realises it is all B*****s

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Especially as he’s always talked highly about the board and what they want to do at the club. First the poor end to
the transfer window (Scotchers might think differently with his all things positive about the club, even when it’s not the reality/true), and secondly the recent shift in terms of the stadium timeframe.

greatunclekip said:

Wheres Scotchers? Sure he said all was fine and dandy.

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Probably celebrating our impressive 3-0 win tonight.

How about you?

makv said:

KR going to another club at a serious point during a promotion push for his current club would not look good on his CV. Ergo, he ain’t going.

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I think there’s something in this. I don’t really buy into the idea of loyalty in football, no one really owes anyone anything, it’s a cutthroat industry. But I think any future board would surely look at the combination of the backing he got at the back end of 2018 and the manner in which he left Charlton (and seems like he would be leaving us) with some skepticism. If he were to leave us in the same manner he left Charlton, he would be, for a second time, leaving a club up s**t’s creek at a crucial period of the season because things haven’t gone his way. This, after having asked the board to show him patience when things haven’t gone his way on the pitch - and received it.

The state in which he would leave this club would also surely be extremely troubling. It seems like he’s basically had the club built around him - which is fine, and has been working. But asking a board to commit so much to you personally and then jumping ship at, as I've already posted, what doesn’t seem the most egregious provocation would surely raise alarm bells.

Hopefully this is all just a ploy to win some assurances for the summer. But even in that ‘best case scenario’ it’s a highly unwelcome distraction when we seem on the cusp of rediscovering our potential promotion form, and, as much as I like KR, the more I think about it, the more I think he’s handled this situation extremely poorly.

This seems like...weird phrasing?

I must confess I’m not particularly enamoured with how KR is going about this either. I’m on record with my disappointment at how we managed the January window and I don’t necessarily trust ANY of the retrospective positive spin Zaki and Tiger have tried to explain it away with.

BUT - this is now the second fantastic win in the space of a few days by the team...that we aren’t talking about because KR can’t keep his mouth shut and just say ‘no comment’ to Nathan and the press.

I may actually agree with his larger points about ambition and backing, and personally I think it was really bad form of Tiger to bring Stam to a game, friend or otherwise - but there’s a time and a place to make such points. I feel like there is some extremely unnecessary and senselessly public game-playing going on here and it is distracting from a couple of really professional performances on the pitch. If I were one of the players I’d be a little peeved that it’s him getting all the column inches after the last two games

If his desire is to provoke a reaction or seek assurances from the board then do it in private. A flat ‘no comment’ or a straightforward ‘I don’t want to speak about that’ to Nathan when asked the question is more than enough to provoke the reaction it seems he’s looking for (both publicly and privately)

The Zaki RO interview is coming home to roost. He is off and I don't blame him

Victor1986 said:

The Zaki RO interview is coming home to roost. He is off and I don't blame him

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Perhaps, but he’s had his say more than once over the last month and needs to wind it in. If he leaves he’s done so ensuring that plenty of fans will be fuming at the board and slapping him on the back like he’s a good old boy who got shafted by the suits. How is that good for the football club? How does that benefit the thing he wants everybody to know how much he supposedly cares about? Michael Appleton didn’t comment on the links to him and Leicester before he left, he just quietly got on with it and then left when there was actually something to say. He was frustrated at what he felt was a disappointing January window a few months before he moved on as well, but he said his bit quickly and firmly at the time, got his head down again and that was the end of it. He didn’t go around for weeks and weeks publicly stoking it, waving his a**e around and talking about how he would need to be shown the love and that the club had to prove it was worthy of him staying. Robinson is starting to behave like he’s far too big for his boots and is showing signs that he’s more worried about people blowing smoke up his a**e, and being the centre of attention than quietly respecting the club and getting on with what he’s paid to do.

I am as sceptical about the board as anybody and I think they set us back badly in January, absolutely, but he needs to wind it in now - shut up and get on with it or sack it off and get going. And if he doesn’t go, he can’t go pulling this every time he’s got a point to make and doesn’t get his way. This is not the Karl Robinson show.

WokinghamYellow said:

Saw jap stam at the A40 services....

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Whisper of Patrick Kluivert being spotted in a well-known Oxford nightclub...

This should be sorted out today not tomorrow not just before the weekend TODAY!
What has happened to openness and communication, we don't need 5min bull where questions are not answered, what we do need is the truth and a showing of respect of our intelligence.

makv said:

KR going to another club at a serious point during a promotion push for his current club would not look good on his CV. Ergo, he ain’t going.

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I am not sure that he wont go but even for him the timing is very strange.

RyanioBirdio said:

Perhaps, but he’s had his say more than once over the last month and needs to wind it in. If he leaves he’s done so ensuring that plenty of fans will be fuming at the board and slapping him on the back like he’s a good old boy who got shafted by the suits. How is that good for the football club? How does that benefit the thing he wants everybody to know how much he supposedly cares about? Michael Appleton didn’t comment on the links to him and Leicester before he left, he just quietly got on with it and then left when there was actually something to say. He was frustrated at what he felt was a disappointing January window a few months before he moved on as well, but he said his bit quickly and firmly at the time, got his head down again and that was the end of it. He didn’t go around for weeks and weeks publicly stoking it, waving his a**e around and talking about how he would need to be shown the love and that the club had to prove it was worthy of him staying. Robinson is starting to behave like he’s far too big for his boots and is showing signs that he’s more worried about people blowing smoke up his a**e, and being the centre of attention than quietly respecting the club and getting on with what he’s paid to do.

I am as sceptical about the board as anybody and I think they set us back badly in January, absolutely, but he needs to wind it in now - shut up and get on with it or sack it off and get going. And if he doesn’t go, he can’t go pulling this every time he’s got a point to make and doesn’t get his way. This is not the Karl Robinson show.

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Or, more pertinently, too big for the football club. Which is what you get when you bring in a manager and basically tell him that he’s running the show from top to bottom, especially someone with Robinson’s personality.

I would be confident that Tiger would have had an idea of what Robbo's personality is like before he gave him the reigns, and would have sold the clubs objectives. These objectives may have changed, because of unforeseen circumstances, and there have been a few. I am not making excuses for Tiger or Robbo and I like most people want this all laid out on the table to inform everyone as to what is happening ie the goals/plans for the immediate and long term future for OUFC.

I'd go as far as to say Karl hasn't really been backed fully for promotion and he himself is questioning Tigers and the rest of the boards motives, therefore if blackpool who dare I say were in the premier league not too long ago come knocking they already have the infrastructure in place ie large ground probably finances and no doubt more money and closer to family then see ya.... Take next season for instance had we gone up we would have kept or atleast been able to tempt our most prized assets into signing new deals etc more money again, where we are if we don't go up which I'm sorry is highly unlikely then brannagan, Dickie are gone so again we have to try and build a squad from scratch get more loans in which half the time aren't good enough weve been lucky we have some great loanees. I don't blame Karl if he went

Most of the times when a manager gets as strongly linked with leaving as this in football then it happens, can’t see why this would be any different, I reckon he will be gone with in a week and Jaap Stam will be here shortly after. Bit gutting how we seem to get ourselves into a good position then it all goes wrong but that’s being an Oxford fan I suppose, least it’s never boring.

It looks like William Hill have suspended the betting? Just looked at their odds for next permanent manager and its says its no longer available?

uptheus said:

No truer word said in jest.

Not saying he’ll go, but I bet he’s mightily pissed off.

I reckon come the summer he could walk, especially if another club with true ambition were to show him interest where he doesn’t have to flog himself to death being the front man on many fronts, then he’ll seriously consider it.

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Just thought I’d re-post this comment I made 1st Feb.

uptheus said:

No matter how you put it, Robinson appears pissed off with whatever happened in January.

First he makes comments about us acting as a big club. Then he had that rant after one of the recent home games (sorry cannot remember which one), then again yesterday about his future.

Just think he felt he had a great chance to further his CV/career, but that the board didn’t match his ambition. Add to this the whole stadium debacle (timeframe), and may be he’s just about had enough so his ears have pricked up. It was only a few months ago that he quickly rubbished the rumour about the job abroad, but not so quick this time.

May be he’s just positioning himself for a better deal here, but yesterday felt slightly different in his response, so may be his sights have shifted.

Not saying he’ll go to Blackpool, but you never know.

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Just thought I’d re-post this one too.

I had thought for some time that the conditions for KR staying here beyond d the end of this season were actually quite narrow.

I don't think for one moment (as things stand) that Tiger et al can finance a sustained stay in the Championship. It is a completely different level to L1 in terms of outlay and other than (significant) TV income, the opportunities to significantly increase income are limited at best. Increased crowds that we might see would be a drop in the ocean compared to what is required. Other income streams will be extremely difficult to generate given our current circumstances, and with a club "Guardian" whose eyes are likely to be filled with pound signs at the very prospect, I suspect wrestling control of any potential money making club infrastructure will become even more impossible than it has been for several owners over many years since the disastrous decision to split the club and stadium up. So the clubs backers are in a very difficult spot. Very little (I suspect) prospect of buying the existing facilities at a price they are prepared to pay and Kassam is prepared to take from a Championship bound club. Couple that with a lack of any tangible progress on a new build any time soon (which again would entail significant outlay...normally at the expense of the playing side of a football club) and I think it is quite plain that the board are having to dial down their ambitions somewhat. I also found it quite intriguing that Zaki chose to use cashflow as one reason for the sale of Fosu and Baptiste....cashflow for what? If it is moving the club on in terms of stadium development/ purchase, then I can accept that as a shrewd move. If it is purely for day to day running costs, then that is extremely concerning and underlines just how small their pisspot really is!

Anyway, I digress.....the conditions for Robinson staying will I think be very specific because...he will want to know that he is at least backed in the next window. Plan A will be to build a side and retain existing talent that can survive in the Championship, Plan B will be to build/retain as much of a side as possible that can go one better in L1 next season.

BOTH plans will involve significantly more investment than the current model...have the board got the stomach for that...or have they blinked in the cold realisation that developing the club off the pitch in proving near impossible and far more expensive than they had realised or were prepared for? Maybe Tohir saw the writing on the wall ages ago?

So..if Robinson doesn't get those assurances...he'll be off. Even if he does get them...he will still be an attractive prospect for any big club with real ambition and the infrastructure to take it to the next level (say....an Ipswich or...a Sunderland for example!). His head could quite easily be turned I feel...if it hasn't already. Look where Wilder has ended up (albeit slightly circuitously)in not dissimilar circumstances.

We are most certainly living in interesting (and potentially very fast moving)times. Loads of lot twists yet to come I feel.

Now how about a nice conspiracy theory that the board aren't that bothered about retaining KR because they know they can't finance the next level and can smell a nice compo package on KR's 3 year deal!