Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

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.
Ok poor choice of word perhaps, but he arrived to a huge amount of day one support considering a highly popular manager just walked out. By comparison, look at Manning’s welcome at Bristol City. I accept there’s a different in that the club dismissed Pearson rather than lost him, but nonetheless look at the fan reaction. Des came in to a very warm fuzzy fan base that’s been extremely patient with him. I don’t think 30 games is too soon to form a definitive opinion in football. Especially when we’ve seen how he handled adversity, how he handles a transfer window and how he handles an almost all singing and all dancing squad when compared with the vast majority of the league. He hasn’t scored close to a maximum score in any.

We’re at the business end now and the objective is promotion (having picked the team up in 2nd spot), not just finishing 6th. He’s managed to break everything that was working and introduce nothing in its place and it’s unsurprisingly resulted in near-to relegation form which is a spectacularly poor performance, assistant or not.
 
Thinking back over our recent-ish history, we've always struggled if a manager leaves and the club is in with a chance of promotion. I'm thinking back to Wilder, before him Atkins. Both times we fell away badly afterwards under Mickey Lewis (Wilder) and Graham Rix (Atkins). So this downturn is hardly unexpected. I don't think we've ever won promotion if we've changed manager during the season.

I've said elsewhere, in my opinion, it's too soon to say if Buckingham is any good or not. With Manning, we only implemented a style (as such) once he'd had a full pre-season with the players. If the club appoint these types of managers then they have to give them the time to implement their style/structure on the players.
 
Thinking back over our recent-ish history, we've always struggled if a manager leaves and the club is in with a chance of promotion. I'm thinking back to Wilder, before him Atkins. Both times we fell away badly afterwards under Mickey Lewis (Wilder) and Graham Rix (Atkins). So this downturn is hardly unexpected. I don't think we've ever won promotion if we've changed manager during the season.

I've said elsewhere, in my opinion, it's too soon to say if Buckingham is any good or not. With Manning, we only implemented a style (as such) once he'd had a full pre-season with the players. If the club appoint these types of managers then they have to give them the time to implement their style/structure on the players.
Some on here would have had Jim Smith sacked first time around after we blew a very good position when he first came in following Ian Greaves' departure mid-season. We stuck with him, thankfully.
 
Some on here would have had Jim Smith sacked first time around after we blew a very good position when he first came in following Ian Greaves' departure mid-season. We stuck with him, thankfully.
Likewise Appleton - although I was in the sack Appleton camp back then.
 
A handful of fans can keep shouting and repeating themselves, but they’re waisting their breath or typing skills. Whether we agree with it or not, there’s no way the board are going to sack him anytime soon. Des was given a 3 half year contract, plus we paid a hefty compensation to secure his services.

Bearing that in mind, certainly for the time being), giving Des our support ( in what must be a difficult time for him) is the best thing our support base can do.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t made mistakes, and it doesn’t mean I or others were 100% behind his appointment. It’s ok to have reservations but still give the guy a chance. Let’s hope he’s allowed to bring in an assistant manager of his choosing PDQ.
 
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.

Or maybe, just maybe. Some of the players we have aren’t as good as we think they are. This isn’t Des’s squad and won’t be for another window at least. If you want to blame anyone, blame manning for leaving and blame Tim Williams for not getting Des the coaching team he needs around him, this is the same coaching team now that we had under Robinson. One that performed horribly last year & most wanted out and a Fresh start under manning.
 
Anyone thinking that Tim and Co are going to admit that they got things wrong again by sacking Des has clearly missed the vibe.
They will be writing their own resignation letter if they are seen by our owners that they got it wrong once again.
Their future is solely dependent on Des being successful here.
They sanctioned a hefty fee for his services and that on the back of their woeful wet handling of Knobinsons denouement means that they are nailed to the mast of HMS Buckingham for the foreseeable.
 
Anyone thinking that Tim and Co are going to admit that they got things wrong again by sacking Des has clearly missed the vibe.
They will be writing their own resignation letter if they are seen by our owners that they got it wrong once again.
Their future is solely dependent on Des being successful here.
They sanctioned a hefty fee for his services and that on the back of their woeful wet handling of Knobinsons denouement means that they are nailed to the mast of HMS Buckingham for the foreseeable.

Wrong again ? What Manning was a 'wrong' appointment was he ? I suppose he could have got us top as opposed to second.
 
Exactly this.

We need to move players on like Bodin, Long, Henry, McEachran, Seddon, Findlay, Smyth and Browne IMO and bring in much better as well get a more balanced squad before we truly judge Des. He is dealing with the fall out of 2 managers not just 1.
This is totally incorrect. Just look at the record of these players under Manning before the owners made the worst ever decision in football and appointed someone with absolutely no EFL or equivalent experience who is clearly out of his depth and worse still substantial compensation was paid to get him. Just why ?
 
This is totally incorrect. Just look at the record of these players under Manning before the owners made the worst ever decision in football and appointed someone with absolutely no EFL or equivalent experience who is clearly out of his depth and worse still substantial compensation was paid to get him. Just why ?
Well at least the des out lot are being reasonable
 
It's not even the worst managerial appointment we've made - see Graham Rix. This was the league table when he joined - 6 points clear in a playoff place
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-3/21-march-2004/
compared to the league table at the end of the season

6 points in 9 games. And 3 of those were last game of the season when we were already out of the race
 
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Yeah and he also lost 2 Wembley finals & missed out on a title to Northampton (our squad was 2 times better on paper)

Did you go to those Wembley finals. I did and loved them both. Despite being on the receiving end both times. I was proud to be there supporting my team.

We lost to a in form Barnsley, that were bottom in November that season, and went on an incredible run, and ended up getting promoted. Despite this, we gave them a bloody good game, and narrowly lost 3-2.

Coventry was a bit more of a let down, but not many fans get to go to Wembley two times in two seasons.

Northampton won the league yes, but like Mapp said, we played the better football, and that was ok because he got right under Chippys skin. We stayed up, and they finished…. Oh they went back down.
 
Sack him, no good from day 1, hopeless and as for Saturday at Pompey he will get found out that’s for sure.
 
Some on here would have had Jim Smith sacked first time around after we blew a very good position when he first came in following Ian Greaves' departure mid-season. We stuck with him, thankfully.
An article in the current 'When Saturday Comes' explains that Sir Alex Ferguson's job was only saved by his 1990 FA Cup win and of course Kevin Brock saved Howard Kendall's job - and the rest for both of those gentlemen is history.
 
This is totally incorrect. Just look at the record of these players under Manning before the owners made the worst ever decision in football and appointed someone with absolutely no EFL or equivalent experience who is clearly out of his depth and worse still substantial compensation was paid to get him. Just why ?

I am desperately searching for the progress Steve Seddon had under Manning. I am also looking for the progress Stuart Findlay had under Manning. I don't recall much progress from Jamo or Oisin either.

The point you are trying to mark to @Steve Gilbert is not wearing well.
 
This is totally incorrect. Just look at the record of these players under Manning before the owners made the worst ever decision in football and appointed someone with absolutely no EFL or equivalent experience who is clearly out of his depth and worse still substantial compensation was paid to get him. Just why ?

The worst ever decision in football? I think you will find that was James Henry passing instead of shooting at Wembley.
 
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