Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

Bicester Yellow said:
Was about to say this, do people realise how we nearly capitulated in that orient game & had it not been the fact they hit the post it would of been 3-3 when being 3-0 up, I don't think people would be calling Short the Messiah then. Manning dipped because he knew the form we was on wasn't sustainable & Des is paying for that start as it has given people unrealistic expectations.

We are carrying passengers. The sooner we get rid of them, the sooner Des can bring in the players he wants. I just hope they let him bring in his own coaches & people in the summer. It is what is needed. The whole coaching set up is stale & needs shaking up below Des.
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Des has brought in a keeper of repute in the lower leagues, a midfielder with two successive L1 promotions, a player who was Millwalls POTY in the Championship, a winger who's last two clubs have ben at the top end of L1, a striker for £400,000, a left back who's spent virtually his entire career in the Championship or PL. On top of that he's been gifted Brannagan, arguably one of the best midfielders around at this level, Moore who's as good as any centre back in L1, a Welsh international in Harris who he clearly rates, and other very decent L1 players like Brown, McGuane, Bodin etc. Then there's a young player like Goodrham who's bailed him out a few times.

Yes, there's some dead wood but there is at every club, that's the cycle of football. To suggest Buckingham hasn't got the tools at his disposal (6 or 7 of whom are his signings) to make a better fist of the job than he's doing is absolutely ridiculous. He has players who are clearly capable of beating the likes of Wycombe, Cheltenham, Northampton (twice), Orient, Blackpool and Reading (twice) under the right guidance.
 
Symp59 said:
He's got people there with him to help, is he listening to them ? Short for one ee completely out played Orient when he was in charge. Do you see the weekends performance, that was not a one off.
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Was short not in the dug out on Saturday?

If short is that good why isn’t he imposing himself on Des and the dressing room?
Why didn’t he get the job?
Why isn’t he the assistant Manager?
He is part of the coaching team but my impression is that he’s pally with the players and not a manager.
 
MustardYellow said:
My eyes. There was more passion in that Orient away game than we've seen in any game since.
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You clearly said that Craig Short had gauged the atmosphere and feeling in the dressing room, using it to get a passionate performance. So unless you were in 'said' dressing room you have no evidence of what you stated.
 
Brahma said:
You clearly said that Craig Short had gauged the atmosphere and feeling in the dressing room, using it to get a passionate performance. So unless you were in 'said' dressing room you have no evidence of what you stated.
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No, you're right, the manager has no influence over the team he's managing. No impact on how they play at all.

It's just a complete coincidence that we played that way under Short and haven't since.
 
Leysboy said:
He didn’t just jump ship!

He had signings lined up, and I recall one on his way to us Liam Lindsey from Partick. We were lining up Harvey Barnes aswell. Imagine them players at Oxford. Eales didn’t give mapp the funds, and with that he left. He was turning us into a promotion chasing team, for our second season in Lge 1. Only just missed out on the playoffs in our first season. Thrashed the eventual playoff winners 0-3 at the new den.

He was marvellous for us, and we were good for him.

Some managers just fit in at certain clubs.

I’d have him back tomorrow.

He commands respect, and he’s good with young talent, and big clubs trust him with their players (gems) and all the players knew there roles in the squad.

He’s a bloody better manager than Des.
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He's not the answer - I'm afraid he's a busted flush. He did a brilliant job here and had a good year at Lincoln but he's now tainted with failure.

Have you talked to the players abut this then? I certainly haven't but I bet there would be a few raised eyebrows if he turned up here.

If Des isn't the answer and you'd think he's at least got the rest of the season, I'd hope we'd be a lot more considered than Appleton.
 
uptheus said:
No matter how painful the watch is at the moment, we’ve just got to get behind Des and the team at the moment, especially as we have a chance of getting into the play offs, then who knows. I know it’s a long shot (Brannagan!), but it’s only another 11 games, possibly 14 if we’re lucky, so nothing to lose, hopefully.

Des needs a summer transfer window to try and get more of his players in and his style of play, and hopefully an assistant/coaching staff that he wants. Once he’s had that then we would have really reason to judge him, but I do agree he needs to get better out of what he had at the moment too.

Like the players, let’s not throw this opportunity/hard work/position we’re in at the moment away, and give it our sll, at least until it’s not mathematically possible to make the play-offs/autos! Just imagine if we could go on a 5 match winning streak! (I know, back in the room for me!), but what’s there to lose!!
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Well said mate.
 
Blimey, aren't we an entitled lot, polls on sacking the manager now. The football isn't good, that much is a given, but sacking Des is not the answer, I suspect it wont be long before people are asking for the next manager to be sacked after a few months. The problem lies with the CEO and chairman, Manning had what he wanted with backroom staff, when he left, they all went with him, Des has had nothing like what Manning had, I suspect because our CEO accountant has tightened the purse strings for any of that. At least give the man a decent backroom set up, if it's still no good, then by all means re-assess the situation.
 
Steve Gilbert said:
Out of interest what has Des done to you for you to dislike him this much? Seems odd to not like a manager this much who only has been in the door for 4 months.
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He’s done more to be disliked (not in the personal sense) than liked, wouldn’t you say? He started from a heroic position which most managers don’t get the privilege of. Where he is now is really his own doing.
 
Swaby39 said:
He’s done more to be disliked (not in the personal sense) than liked, wouldn’t you say? He started from a heroic position which most managers don’t get the privilege of. Where he is now is really his own doing.
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Most managers have the privilege of an assistant or some backroom staff.

Buckingham has done nothing to demonstrate that he's the right man for the job, but I think people consider carefully whether he's the only one failing.
 
Swaby39 said:
He’s done more to be disliked (not in the personal sense) than liked, wouldn’t you say? He started from a heroic position which most managers don’t get the privilege of. Where he is now is really his own doing.
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Heroic position....really???

That sounds like a bit of revisionism to me, given that he was just a local lad, who was once a minor part of the coaching set up here many moons ago and he has come back. I don't really think there was any hero worship and more a sense of he's got roots, possibly some loyalty/affinity to us and the City Group obviously saw something....it might just work.

And lest we forget, this was all off the back of Manning doing the dirty (because he was allowed to by some slapdash senior management). I sense that people wanted a bit of loyalty from the next incumbent. Whilst Buckingham may not have been the first choice of (probably) the majority, we did at least hope that we would get loyalty from him, given how Manning dumped us for the first club to flutter their eyelashes.

We were hurting and maybe Des is just the manager we ended up with on the rebound. Maybe loyalty works both ways though and to seriously think about giving him the flick right now, when it looks like he's been hamstrung in getting the support team around him he needs and by some aloof/incompetent senior management, who are making some apparently detrimental decisions, seems a little premature at best.

I also seem to remember that the mood on here over the summer was that this season was one of rebuild and consolidation and that mid/upper table with maybe a go at the playoffs was a realistic expectation. Manning (and his hand-picked support team) managed to assemble a first 11 who were greater than the sum of their parts, but we could all see how threadbare and imbalanced the squad was behind them. Lo and behold, a few injuries creep in, performances tail off and Manning runs into the arms of a more attractive (to him) proposition. He has subsequently proved that he's not all that, because his new squeeze is hardly setting the footballing world alight. Manning is just boring and he just got lucky with us - it was fun while it lasted.

So maybe we need to houl our collective whist until the current manager is given the team he wants around him and the resources to rebalance the squad over the summer.

The alternative is we pay up his contract, get someone else in, but probably tell them the "spreadsheet says no" and we've slashed the transfer budget to pay for Des to depart.

What a choice!!
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Des has brought in a keeper of repute in the lower leagues, a midfielder with two successive L1 promotions, a player who was Millwalls POTY in the Championship, a winger who's last two clubs have ben at the top end of L1, a striker for £400,000, a left back who's spent virtually his entire career in the Championship or PL. On top of that he's been gifted Brannagan, arguably one of the best midfielders around at this level, Moore who's as good as any centre back in L1, a Welsh international in Harris who he clearly rates, and other very decent L1 players like Brown, McGuane, Bodin etc. Then there's a young player like Goodrham who's bailed him out a few times.

Yes, there's some dead wood but there is at every club, that's the cycle of football. To suggest Buckingham hasn't got the tools at his disposal (6 or 7 of whom are his signings) to make a better fist of the job than he's doing is absolutely ridiculous. He has players who are clearly capable of beating the likes of Wycombe, Cheltenham, Northampton (twice), Orient, Blackpool and Reading (twice) under the right guidance.
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It does not matter who you bring in on the playing side if he doesn’t have the coaches to support him on a day to day basis. Having that allows him to have a clear thought process as he doesn’t have to be so hands on. The fact the coaches are still the same as when Robinson was here says everything, it needs a complete and utter clear out.
 
To address both replies - the ‘Oxford United boy’ narrative meant he arrived with an enormous overnight support from the fans that other managers can take months to build up. The board must accept responsibility for wrongly believing he could manage today’s version of Oxford United and even more wrong for expecting him to do it alone. But my sympathy ends there.

I’m not dismissing the assistant issue and I’ve been incredibly vocal about that but I don’t think the two things merge all that much. One does not entirely excuse the other, but it does add a limitation to what he can do and how quickly he can do it.

Have the club brought him in to a fitting environment and provided him sufficient support to sustain a promotion challenge? No, they haven’t. But does that mean it should be acceptable to return near-relegation form with a team assembled with one of the largest budgets in the league including a transfer window under his stewardship? Does it excuse the complete absence of a style of play developing after 30 games in charge across all competitions? Does it excuse the complete lack of individual form among the squad? I’m sorry but no, it doesn’t. There are managers up and down the league working with less that are doing a far better job. He’s got more than enough and had long enough to adapt and do much better. He is failing, I can’t see how that isn’t true.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Des has brought in a keeper of repute in the lower leagues, a midfielder with two successive L1 promotions, a player who was Millwalls POTY in the Championship, a winger who's last two clubs have ben at the top end of L1, a striker for £400,000, a left back who's spent virtually his entire career in the Championship or PL. On top of that he's been gifted Brannagan, arguably one of the best midfielders around at this level, Moore who's as good as any centre back in L1, a Welsh international in Harris who he clearly rates, and other very decent L1 players like Brown, McGuane, Bodin etc. Then there's a young player like Goodrham who's bailed him out a few times.

Yes, there's some dead wood but there is at every club, that's the cycle of football. To suggest Buckingham hasn't got the tools at his disposal (6 or 7 of whom are his signings) to make a better fist of the job than he's doing is absolutely ridiculous. He has players who are clearly capable of beating the likes of Wycombe, Cheltenham, Northampton (twice), Orient, Blackpool and Reading (twice) under the right guidance.
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Spot on. Some seem to be suggesting he's been stitched up and left with nothing to work with, which I just can't see.

He has a good squad at his disposal, and as you say a number of them are players he signed. Lots of mention about no backroom staff, but aren't most of those positions filled now (other than assistant)?

We seem to be moving from excuse to excuse. At the start it was give him a few games to settle. Then it was wait till the injured players are back. Then it was give him a transfer window. And now after all that we're still crap, now it's the staff.

We all want him to do well, but the fact is he isn't, and we have little to no evidence that that's suddenly going to change.
 
Big Ron said:
He's not the answer - I'm afraid he's a busted flush. He did a brilliant job here and had a good year at Lincoln but he's now tainted with failure.

Have you talked to the players abut this then? I certainly haven't but I bet there would be a few raised eyebrows if he turned up here.

If Des isn't the answer and you'd think he's at least got the rest of the season, I'd hope we'd be a lot more considered than Appleton.
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You are right he’s had a lot of failures. A couple of basket case clubs too. ie Portsmouth at the time. Blackburn with the Venky issues. Blackpool had problems.

I still say Appleton is a better coach to Des.

I don’t think he would get the job if he applied here, and I think it should go to someone more experienced like a Nigel Pearson.
 
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Swaby39 said:
He’s done more to be disliked (not in the personal sense) than liked, wouldn’t you say? He started from a heroic position which most managers don’t get the privilege of. Where he is now is really his own doing.
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Heroic position? Probably overstated?
Most observers I have read, heard from, have suggested that we were very unlikely to remain heroic, and the play offs were likely under Manning.
I would agree that if we drop out of the play offs then it will be an opportunity wasted, but that doesn't mean that we should sack Des necessarily, and doesn't mean that I dislike the guy.
 
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