Yep, that was me, so I’ll qualify the statement.
I don’t want Des sacked. I want him to do well but when I made that comment I was waiting for any green shoots to be positive about and we got that yesterday, at last. It only took 30 games or so and I’ve formed a judgement in my mind that now needs changing with more performances like yesterday. I see little point sacking him now but I stand by the narrative that he’s horribly underachieving and should be held more accountable for that than he is currently by those who want to make excuses for him that are well past their sell-by date. His back room is settled (and apparently his choice) and he has no worse injury problems than anyone else. He’s also been very well backed in January. Remedying all of those things is still yielding absolutely nowhere near what he should be by now.
Manning and Des’ current jobs are not that relatable, not least because they are at different levels. The two tasks were very different but challenging in their own way. I have also pointed out numerous times that Des got one of the toughest jobs to come up in the EFL this year and that’s predominantly because he came in as we were on the crest of a wave. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but he needed to make an instant impact on the players mentally. Des inherited a side positioned in 2nd with the task of continuing the promotion charge and has returned near-relegation form overall - well beneath what should be deemed acceptable in a desperately poor league with a good squad. I accept context is important and acknowledge he walked in to an injury crisis. Manning picked up what was a middling championship side with the task of changing their identity mid season and pushing them on to the play offs but they have remained a middling championship side - he’s probably achieving the minimum and walking a fine line now. He has at least picked up some mightily impressive results in amongst some real dud ones.
FWIW I have never said Manning is doing a good job there, I’m not nearly close enough to know. Their fan responses suggest it’s not great and he may well deserve to get sacked and soon. I don’t see what that has to do with what he did for our club which was transformative and should be applauded. Des is dining out on that and those on the positive bus have been banging the play off drum for months - the only reason you’re able to do that is Manning’s fast start to the season! Des has added very little to that.
I have seen enough of Manning here to understand why they may be taking time to find some consistency and that he will get it right there with a summer window and pre season. He may not be afforded that if they get much closer to relegation and I can already see Pearson back in there if that happens. That’s their problem. With Des I am much less sure as until yesterday we haven’t managed much more than a brilliant 10-15 minutes within a game, the rest has been painful with no results along the way that suggest we’re getting somewhere.