General (POLL) Next Oxford United Manager

[YellowSubmarine]

Neil Critchley has been sacked by QPR

Wednesday 14.27.

I have no reason now to doubt my source of the same person who told me Karl Robinson applied and spoke to QPR this summer.

 

[Johnf]

Andy Whing ?

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

I get everybody wants someone 'fashionable' (or at least bespoke), but there are a few options probably under our noses.

What about Darrell Clarke? Excellent record at multiple clubs. Promotions, incremental improvement. Never anywhere with a decent budget either.

He also has a ready-made assistant who knows OUFC well

A year on and Darrell Clarke has taken over a side that were rock bottom of the division and literally couldn't score a goal.

He's subsequently produced Top 12 form.

He took Goodwin from an under-used wide player and turned him into a £400k striker in a matter of weeks.

He then replaced him with a striker who wasn't making any waves at the level below - but he knew would thrive under the right conditions - and Matty is subsequently banging them in.

He literally gets more out of a given squad. Squeezes everything out of them. Recruits well within modest budgets. Remarkable that he hasn't been given a better job - one with a budget.

Always improving. Never excusing. Incremental improvements.

Fantastic manager.

 

[QuietYeller]

A year on and Darrell Clarke has taken over a side that were rock bottom of the division and literally couldn't score a goal.

He's subsequently produced Top 12 form.

He took Goodwin from an under-used wide player and turned him into a £400k striker in a matter of weeks.

He then replaced him with a striker who wasn't making any waves at the level below - but he knew would thrive under the right conditions - and Matty is subsequently banging them in.

He literally gets more out of a given squad. Squeezes everything out of them. Recruits well within modest budgets. Remarkable that he hasn't been given a better job - one with a budget.

Always improving. Never excusing. Incremental improvements.

Fantastic manager.

You may be right.
All managers have good patches of form tho. Let’s see if he’s still having them perform (like all managers should) over a reasonable period of time.

 

[Foley]

A year on and Darrell Clarke has taken over a side that were rock bottom of the division and literally couldn't score a goal.

He's subsequently produced Top 12 form.

He took Goodwin from an under-used wide player and turned him into a £400k striker in a matter of weeks.

He then replaced him with a striker who wasn't making any waves at the level below - but he knew would thrive under the right conditions - and Matty is subsequently banging them in.

He literally gets more out of a given squad. Squeezes everything out of them. Recruits well within modest budgets. Remarkable that he hasn't been given a better job - one with a budget.

Always improving. Never excusing. Incremental improvements.

Fantastic manager.

Sacked by Bristol Rovers and Port Vale .
'Fantastic ' manager.
He has done well at Cheltenham so far

 

[TailsWeWin]

A year on and Darrell Clarke has taken over a side that were rock bottom of the division and literally couldn't score a goal.

He's subsequently produced Top 12 form.

He took Goodwin from an under-used wide player and turned him into a £400k striker in a matter of weeks.

He then replaced him with a striker who wasn't making any waves at the level below - but he knew would thrive under the right conditions - and Matty is subsequently banging them in.

He literally gets more out of a given squad. Squeezes everything out of them. Recruits well within modest budgets. Remarkable that he hasn't been given a better job - one with a budget.

Always improving. Never excusing. Incremental improvements.

Fantastic manager.

Rather insulting to both CTFC and Darrell to suggest he’d suddenly want to ditch his project in Cheltnum for a club run by two wallies.
The locals here would be dead unimpressed!

 

[Marston Road Yellow]

Do you know what I think? We should sack des immediately and get Darrell in. After all the windows have closed and on the back of a 6 game unbeaten run.

They hit rock bottom and needed a lift and I don’t disagree that he’s done well there, but this is a different project with different players and Different expectations. If they were in a position to challenge for the playoffs I might see your point, but they are not.

Whatever’s you think of Des we are currently the 5th best team in league 1.
They are 21st, which is a relegation spot and will probably be in a dog fight till the end of the season.

And before you raise form, we play a full season not 5 or 10 games. Let’s see where both clubs are come May.

 

[Swaby39]

Do you know what I think? We should sack des immediately and get Darrell in. After all the windows have closed and on the back of a 6 game unbeaten run.

They hit rock bottom and needed a lift and I don’t disagree that he’s done well there, but this is a different project with different players and Different expectations. If they were in a position to challenge for the playoffs I might see your point, but they are not.

Whatever’s you think of Des we are currently the 5th best team in league 1.
They are 21st, which is a relegation spot and will probably be in a dog fight till the end of the season.

And before you raise form, we play a full season not 5 or 10 games. Let’s see where both clubs are come May.

There was no suggestion we do that and quite obviously the point is to highlight what can be done with a limited squad, with limited resource in a short time while we bleat on about how hard done by we've been. They may only be 21st but they looked dead and buried and didn't even score for 11 games!

You can't exclude form when it suits. Yes we can say over the season we've been the 5th best side and that's absolutely true, I'm a big believer in tables don't lie, but that's owing in large part to being THE best, or among the two best for the first 12 or so games under a different manager. Since Manning left (Clarke went in before that), we sit 14th while Cheltenham sit 10th having played a game less. Oh, and we spent a fortune in January, crowned coincidentally with their standout player, while they haven't spent a penny on fees all season. Since selling us Goodwin they've managed 2 more points than us with a game to spare and we can't have any complaints about the fixtures.

So I'm not dismissing what you're saying as it's perfectly factual but it depends where you want to draw the comparisons because in the fine print is a much more damning position that the one you've chosen to focus on. The reality is one club has pulled itself together from rock bottom and propelled forward while the other is still soul searching in mid table from once being in a real position if strength. We continue to dine out on Manning's success but the league will catch up soon. Fwiw I'm ot suggesting, and I don't think AndyofCrosby was either, that Oxford and Cheltenham are comparable jobs because they aren't. But it does cut through the fat of some of the excuses and smokescreens being put out there that are letting Des off extremely lightly at times. If Clarke can do the job he's done at Cheltenham, it's not in any way unfair to expect a bit more than we're getting out of a manager that cost us the best part of a million quid.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

There was no suggestion we do that and quite obviously the point is to highlight what can be done with a limited squad, with limited resource in a short time while we bleat on about how hard done by we've been. They may only be 21st but they looked dead and buried and didn't even score for 11 games!

You can't exclude form when it suits. Yes we can say over the season we've been the 5th best side and that's absolutely true, I'm a big believer in tables don't lie, but that's owing in large part to being THE best, or among the two best for the first 12 or so games under a different manager. Since Manning left (Clarke went in before that), we sit 14th while Cheltenham sit 10th having played a game less. Oh, and we spent a fortune in January, crowned coincidentally with their standout player, while they haven't spent a penny on fees all season. Since selling us Goodwin they've managed 2 more points than us with a game to spare and we can't have any complaints about the fixtures.

So I'm not dismissing what you're saying as it's perfectly factual but it depends where you want to draw the comparisons because in the fine print is a much more damning position that the one you've chosen to focus on. The reality is one club has pulled itself together and propelled forward while the other is still soul searching in mid table. Fwiw I'm ot suggesting, and I don't think AndyofCrosby was either, that Oxford and Cheltenham are comparable jobs because they aren't. But it does cut through the fat of some of the excuses being put out there that are letting Des off extremely lightly at times. If Clarke can do the job he's done at Cheltenham, it's not in any way unfair to expect a bit more than we're getting out of a manager that cost us the best part of a million quid.

Big believer that tables don’t lie then goes on to say we are 14th in a made up table.

Is Clarke going to be this years Steve Cotterill?

 

[BillyTurleys CurlyWurly]

Big believer that tables don’t lie then goes on to say we are 14th in a made up table.

Is Clarke going to be this years Steve Cotterill?

Clarke is a decent bloke so wouldn’t compare him to that weapon.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Crikey you've done really well to miss the point after i've spelt it out in a thousand words

No I didn’t miss the point, just seemed an awful lot of words to say that you don’t like Des .

The irony in all of this is that Clarke isn’t even mentioned in the original poll.

 

[Swaby39]

No I didn’t miss the point, just seemed an awful lot of words to say that you don’t like Des .

The irony in all of this is that Clarke isn’t even mentioned in the original poll.

I deleted my post to avoid getting in to this but hey ho. The point was not to suggest Clarke be Oxford's manager. It was to highlight what can be done and something to reasonably measure out expectations against. Charlton and co are probably doing something similar.

Tables don't lie, I've just used a shortened version of the table starting from a significant moment in time (that also doesn't lie) to demonstrate all is not rosey in the garden no matter how much blind faith people want to put Des' way and this fantastic unbeaten run we are on in which only one game have we been the better/dominant side and we didn't even win it (Northampton).

Nothing to do with whether I like him or not, it's a question of whether he's meeting expectations. Not just results but do we look like a good side? Behave like one? Show signs of being one? No. Perhaps today's the day.

 

[QuietYeller]

There was no suggestion we do that and quite obviously the point is to highlight what can be done with a limited squad, with limited resource in a short time while we bleat on about how hard done by we've been. They may only be 21st but they looked dead and buried and didn't even score for 11 games!

You can't exclude form when it suits. Yes we can say over the season we've been the 5th best side and that's absolutely true, I'm a big believer in tables don't lie, but that's owing in large part to being THE best, or among the two best for the first 12 or so games under a different manager. Since Manning left (Clarke went in before that), we sit 14th while Cheltenham sit 10th having played a game less. Oh, and we spent a fortune in January, crowned coincidentally with their standout player, while they haven't spent a penny on fees all season. Since selling us Goodwin they've managed 2 more points than us with a game to spare and we can't have any complaints about the fixtures.

So I'm not dismissing what you're saying as it's perfectly factual but it depends where you want to draw the comparisons because in the fine print is a much more damning position that the one you've chosen to focus on. The reality is one club has pulled itself together from rock bottom and propelled forward while the other is still soul searching in mid table from once being in a real position if strength. We continue to dine out on Manning's success but the league will catch up soon. Fwiw I'm ot suggesting, and I don't think AndyofCrosby was either, that Oxford and Cheltenham are comparable jobs because they aren't. But it does cut through the fat of some of the excuses and smokescreens being put out there that are letting Des off extremely lightly at times. If Clarke can do the job he's done at Cheltenham, it's not in any way unfair to expect a bit more than we're getting out of a manager that cost us the best part of a million quid.

These are fair points can’t argue too much with most of it.
Ok so if folks didn’t “let him off lightly” then what?
This is such a petty and futile discussion.
He’s going no where for now.

 

[Swaby39]

These are fair points can’t argue too much with most of it.
Ok so if folks didn’t “let him off lightly” then what?
This is such a petty a futile discussion.
He’s going no where for now.

Agree. And I'm not suggesting we do sack him, although I a rush of blood I did say on the poll I'd get rid! . It's not that bad yet, but I think to suggest we don't need to see a radical improvement and that he's not falling well short of expectations while other lesser fancied managers continue to punch above their weight is denial. Des owes a lot to the sloppiness of the leagues better sides and our fast start. It's keeping the heat off him. I'm sure he's working his socks off (he looks burned out) in dreadful circumstances, but we should still be able to produce much better than we're doing.

 

[QuietYeller]

Agree. And I'm not suggesting we do sack him, although I a rush of blood I did say on the poll I'd get rid! . It's not that bad yet, but I think to suggest we don't need to see a radical improvement and that he's not falling well short of expectations while other lesser fancied managers continue to punch above their weight is denial. Des owes a lot to the sloppiness of the leagues better sides and our fast start. It's keeping the heat off him. I'm sure he's working his socks off (he looks burned out) in dreadful circumstances, but we should still be able to produce much better than we're doing.

It’s just patience that’s required, I know that’s hard for some. We’ll know soon if he’s not up to it or if circumstances were the problem. All just a lot of speculation right now

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

No I didn’t miss the point, just seemed an awful lot of words to say that you don’t like Des .

The irony in all of this is that Clarke isn’t even mentioned in the original poll.

You and scotchegg wanted to keep Karl ?

 

[Symp59]

Pearson until the summer ,he's the sort of manager to get the best out of our players

 

[Steve Gilbert]

You and scotchegg wanted to keep Karl ?

I wanted Karl sacked after the Wycombe game.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Pearson until the summer ,he's the sort of manager to get the best out of our players

Not the worst shout.