Manager/Coach Karl Robinson.

Brahma said:
The pressure was always on.

The real disappointment for me, was having listened to the de-brief at the end of the season via the media, an acceptance from KR about our faults, the club have done nothing at all, to address any of them. Chancing big bucks on the type of players we've gone after, is utterly ridiculous.

I simply cannot believe how much money we have been throwing around.
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Weirdly, it almost looks like the summer window that Clotet had. Not so much by signing friends and family as the Spaniard did, but in bringing in players on a whim and a hunch. There's no science or logic behind them other than 'he was good once. Patch him up and he'll be good again'. Throw enough of them together and you have a toxic squad mix.

For all of KR's frustration and annoyance with Pekalski, he hasn't half signed a load of similarly expensive clones of poor ol' Ivo.
 
WuTang said:
The time has come where, although faceless, we have a board of billionaire owners putting millions into the training ground, millions into a state of the art stadium if planning goes through, 500K just to keep Herbie Kane on loan for half a season which petered out to nothing, record wages to keep Brannagan at the club, a million punt on Murphy over 2 seasons, still bidding north of 500k on strikers, a budget around 4th-6th only behind clubs we can't match due to FFP.

All of the above is being managed by one man, the pressure is mounting if results don't start picking up fast. This board are not messing about, they want Championship football, they want OUFC to progress and to progress fast. If they feel their money and progress is being squandered by Robinson I can't see him staying for long, despite what people think of him. I've seen him looking a little flustered in interviews already and I think it's clear to see why.
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So perhaps we should be casting a critical eye towards "the owners" for not providing the support and the systems needed to allow the manager to manage.

If there is simply no one there to make the tea, then either someone does it or nobody does it and if someone does do it, then he's not doing what he should be doing, at least not all of the time even if he's happy buying a box of PG Tips on his way to work.
 
Oxymoron said:
So perhaps we should be casting a critical eye towards "the owners" for not providing the support and the systems needed to allow the manager to manage.
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The owners have given him absolutely everything he could wish for, and that's the problem. We need a system in place, a Director of Football who signs players based on statistical and scouting analysis, reliability and fitness, and suitability to a pre planned system and formation (or 2).

However if the man himself doesn't want it his decision is final at the moment and we continue without that in place, he can then sign whoever he likes and we continue with the messy recruitment, which is where we're currently at.

Eventually, depending how this season goes, Robinson won't have a choice to have that in place or he won't be here when the club implement it. If we want to be a top 30 club it needs implementing sooner rather than later whether he wants it or not, if he doesn't like it we find a manager who will work in that setup. I think it's vital to implement if that's our ambition.
 
That maybe true - I have no contacts in OUFC so the only critique of the club comes through this forum and no-one has put up compelling evidence one way or the other, so I can only take the supposition that KR covers and controls every aspect of the club to the exclusion of all others with a pinch of salt.

If it helps, I can't help thinking that "the owners", with all their managment experience and acumen, haven't considered inserting additional management layers into the club but for reasons unknown, they have chosen not to - but I doubt that one of those reasons is that "Karl wouldn't like it".....
 
I think @RyanioBirdio can shed some light on the whole DoF situation at the club. Something to do with Steve Gallen, I believe …

Listening to the Moment of Truth podcast, KR speaks with DoFs frequently. Did he actually veto having one here? He must understand that they take away a lot of admin away from a head coach.
 
Oxymoron said:
So perhaps we should be casting a critical eye towards "the owners" for not providing the support and the systems needed to allow the manager to manage.
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Yes this is an excellent point. Every employee in the workplace deserves support, procedures and policies to follow; it's a duty of care.
 
unification said:
I think @RyanioBirdio can shed some light on the whole DoF situation at the club. Something to do with Steve Gallen, I believe …

Listening to the Moment of Truth podcast, KR speaks with DoFs frequently. Did he actually veto having one here? He must understand that they take away a lot of admin away from a head coach.
Click to expand...
Robinson wanted Gallen when he first joined but he wasn’t interested. He hasn’t wanted anybody else since.
 
WuTang said:
The time has come where, although faceless, we have a board of billionaire owners putting millions into the training ground, millions into a state of the art stadium if planning goes through, 500K just to keep Herbie Kane on loan for half a season which petered out to nothing, record wages to keep Brannagan at the club, a million punt on Murphy over 2 seasons, still bidding north of 500k on strikers, a budget around 4th-6th only behind clubs we can't match due to FFP.

All of the above is being managed by one man, the pressure is mounting if results don't start picking up fast. This board are not messing about, they want Championship football, they want OUFC to progress and to progress fast. If they feel their money and progress is being squandered by Robinson I can't see him staying for long, despite what people think of him. I've seen him looking a little flustered in interviews already and I think it's clear to see why.
Click to expand...
sadly if they want Championship football this season then they need to look elsewhere
 
I think we're back to where we were in 2018 with Robinson after today. We've gone full circle in this league but I truly believe we are back to square one and in a very difficult predicament now and I cannot see how he's going to turn it around this time. We've been crying out for a new LB and RB since probably even January yet we are persisting with one player who is not good enough at this level by a mile and another who was dropped, yet has somehow come back into the team and doing worse than this time last year. The new signings are largely either injured or failing to make a convincing impact so far and our defence and a cumbersome mess of one-footed slow players.

His failure to bring in more proven strikers will be fatal as our depleted midfield who we've relied on for so long cannot be expected to score or contribute towards 50+ goals a season. At least 3 fully fit strikers are required at this level and any football club. Why invest money in a new keeper if you're gonna stick with one that is in and out of the team and very unreliable? There was other positions that represented a much higher priority. The injuries are very unfortunate but we already needed to fill several key positions beforehand and now our budget will be pushed to extremes if we either need to bring in replacements or new players - I can't see us being able to bring in both. This is also evidence that signing crocked players carries an extreme risk.

We are also now relying on youth players to change games and fill voids yet Spasov has failed to make a convincing breakthrough in 3 years and Goodrham was on the verge of joining non-league 3 weeks ago so to pin our faith in them at this level is crazy. Our academy isn't exactly producing a conveyor belt of quality we can integrate into the first team like some sides in this division and Robinson is more focused on capturing players outside of the home market which is proving less and less appealing - there's plenty of talent we could source in the EFL.

I think we've gone as far as we've can under Robbo and we're now in a very difficult place in what should have been a routine pre-season of building on our success from last season. Poor keeper, woeful defence, depleted midfield and a real lack of goals up front is relegation material and our performances so far against mostly terrible teams have been disgraceful for the most.
 
East Stand Fan said:
I think we're back to where we were in 2018 with Robinson after today. We've gone full circle in this league but I truly believe we are back to square one and in a very difficult predicament now and I cannot see how he's going to turn it around this time. We've been crying out for a new LB and RB since probably even January yet we are persisting with one player who is not good enough at this level by a mile and another who was dropped, yet has somehow come back into the team and doing worse than this time last year. The new signings are largely either injured or failing to make a convincing impact so far and our defence and a cumbersome mess of one-footed slow players.

His failure to bring in more proven strikers will be fatal as our depleted midfield who we've relied on for so long cannot be expected to score or contribute towards 50+ goals a season. At least 3 fully fit strikers are required at this level and any football club. Why invest money in a new keeper if you're gonna stick with one that is in and out of the team and very unreliable? There was other positions that represented a much higher priority. The injuries are very unfortunate but we already needed to fill several key positions beforehand and now our budget will be pushed to extremes if we either need to bring in replacements or new players - I can't see us being able to bring in both. This is also evidence that signing crocked players carries an extreme risk.

We are also now relying on youth players to change games and fill voids yet Spasov has failed to make a convincing breakthrough in 3 years and Goodrham was on the verge of joining non-league 3 weeks ago so to pin our faith in them at this level is crazy. Our academy isn't exactly producing a conveyor belt of quality we can integrate into the first team like some sides in this division and Robinson is more focused on capturing players outside of the home market which is proving less and less appealing - there's plenty of talent we could source in the EFL.

I think we've gone as far as we've can under Robbo and we're now in a very difficult place in what should have been a routine pre-season of building on our success from last season. Poor keeper, woeful defence, depleted midfield and a real lack of goals up front is relegation material and our performances so far against mostly terrible teams have been disgraceful for the most.
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I totally agree with you. I have always supported Robbo, but this time he has got to go. After last season near miss, we should be better than this this season. His signings this season are woeful. Also why put jack Stevens on loan?. Why is Bodin so Way off?. Brannagan is not his best which I’M surprised after he turned down Blackpool. Robbo go now before it’s too late to save this season🤬
 
Unfortunately I have to agree with much of what you’ve said. This is a shame as I really like what KR has done for the club. This is a results business and with the investment the club has had we have had a field of crocks and poor performance on the pitch. We have been on a poor run going on from last season.
it is difficult to pick out good areas. The emergence of Tyler Goodrham and retention of Cameron Brannagan are really good for the future of the club.
For me key areas that need improvement now, are the goalkeeping position. Defenders have been a let down. We are not scoring enough goals.
If Karl Robinson cannot turn the team around before the end of the year I truly believe any chances of promotion this season are gone
 
Joey's Left Boot said:
Who can we replace him with? Who could we tempt away from another club? Anyone decent out of work?
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Why does it have to be someone out of work? We are a league one club who aspire to be a championship club, let's go and get a manager who's hungry from league 2 or the national league.
 
OX14 said:
Why does it have to be someone out of work? We are a league one club who aspire to be a championship club, let's go and get a manager who's hungry from league 2 or the national league.
Click to expand...

Its doesn't. My question asks who we can tempt away from another club.

Who can we replace Robinson with?
 
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