Manager/Coach Robbo to WBA

[ZeroTheHero]

If your definition of a successful season is promotion and nothing else, then being a football supporter is going to be a very depressing way to spend a lot of time and money!

I'm not a KR fanboy, but to say we haven't had an interesting, at times exhilarating, at times frustrating but at least diverting season is just wrong.

 

[Big Ronaldo]

The problem with hope is that when it becomes expectation its a slippery slope to entitlement and thats not a good look.

Well put. I like that.

 

[horseman]

He also cares very much for the football club.

I don’t give a monkeys how much someone cares, they are paid to do a job, and it’s a points business.

There are patterns forming!

We always start slowly why?
We can’t beat the better clubs in the league why?
We always blow hot and cold have a good run followed by a bad one why?
KR never starts Agyei when it’s deserved why?
He always makes his subs too late for them to make an impact why?
He’s not very pro active of flexible with his formations why?
KR is obsessed with wingers why?
KR never accepts the blame for poor results why?
KR puts players under the bus why?
KR always mentions things about possible transfers and tells us they are imminent, yet we must wait longer why? Better to say nothing at all!

I could go on

1) i have pointed out many times throughout the season that it's a League with 46 games so lose 6 at the start mid season or end gives the same outcome and i'm surprised some cannot see this

2) we did beat the so called better sides last season did we not? But again i will point out that it is not that vital. We got to 74pts and gave us a Play Off place so as long as you're picking up sufficiant pts it does matter how you achieve them

3) Once again it is still the same outcome whether you win x amount in a row or every other game etc unless you expect or think we should go unbeaten all season

4) As fans we don't see what happens on a daily basis and fans will always have varied opinions on players. You only have to check threads throughout the season to see comments like why was x zy said in the same yet when their not and we drop pts it's they should have played.

5) I think you will find that on more than 1 occasion he has done so, of the top of my head Crewe springs to mind when prior to the reverse fixture he stated he/they identified where they went wrong and we went on to thump them 6-0...Again here lay another problem when we win KR haters state it's only because opponents were poor

6) Perhaps should not air thoughts in public but you must admit Agyei and Sykes both improved immensely since

7) Maybe just maybe they were imminent but in football transfer world things change quickly, i would point you to a verbal agreement with a certain player under Mapps tenure who then went elsewhere. Manager want to get things sorted in an ideal world and some fans want and expect to be fed and kept in the loop but you should not hang on their every word as if they say nothing they're slated if they give updates they're slated.

Fans always have had and will always continue to have varying opinions on managers and players and that will never change BUT as with most things in life if you start from a negative stance then you'll never likely alter your thought process regardless of what transpires.
Likewise if your expectations are too high and you don't consider everything then when they are not met you become frustrated and look towards a blame culture when the reality was that it was your expectations that were wrong/ set too high to begin with

 

[bazzer9461]

MApp was very good but even he lost two Wembley finals with us and I don't remember people being too pleased when he upped and left for Leicester.

And if and it is a big if the club tried to get MAPP back should KR left us for whatever reason, why should we go for MAPP? He came to us with a pretty poor managerial record, but once he had his feet under the table and with Ashton onboard, he steadied the ship and got us to be a team where people knew they would be in a difficult game with Oxford.

But then money came calling Leicester city in this case and he was gone, so if we were looking at a manager I would hope the board would look at things like this. We would need a steadying hand with the club to guide us into the championship.

I’ve been a big critic of KR since he has been with us, but as per usual in the 2nd half of the season I’ve been forced to eat humble pie. I hope this coming season we start on the front foot and I’m not in a position to eat humble pie.

I hope KR gets his business done early well as early as possible certainly well before the season starts gets a good preseason and look at where tweaks maybe required.

this coming season is going to be a very difficult due to the fact that there are some big teams this coming season in L1. This shouldn’t be an issue as it’s on the day but I would like to think we will be able to handle these so called big teams. We’ve coped over the last few seasons against so called big boys and I hope KR’s transfer business will reflect the coming season and beyond.

finally please please please Robbo I don’t want to eat anymore Humble Pie I’m trying to lose weight.

 

[unification]

If your definition of a successful season is promotion and nothing else, then being a football supporter is going to be a very depressing way to spend a lot of time and money!

I'm not a KR fanboy, but to say we haven't had an interesting, at times exhilarating, at times frustrating but at least diverting season is just wrong.

Exactly. Oxford United have been promoted promoted a mere three times in 30 years. And most of those promotions have had to follow some horrendous relegations. We’ve had to be promoted as we’ve suffered more relegations than promotions in that time! Lest we forget that a U’s favourite in Denis Smith was at the helm for one of those relegations and was a major part in assembling one of the worst ever Oxford squads in 2000-01 yet we often choose to remember the good times with him. Some of the stuff posted on here about KR is akin to the very thing we laugh and jeer at Sunderland fans for in being entitled to promotion and expecting more. Getting so close and falling short is frustrating but I do feel that we have more good times with KR at the helm than bad times. The second tier is a very different beast to the one we were relegated from in 1998-99. The likes of Southend, Walsall, Swindon, Bury and Stockport all happily played out a few years at that level and none of those sides are remotely close to getting there any time soon let alone in actually being a competitive force in it. League 1 is even more competitive nowadays as the Championship is seen as so lucrative.

That said, he isn’t immune from criticism (in the same way that he shouldn’t face accusations of being ‘bang average’ or nothing but the pointing out of his flaws). I mentioned it in the playoff second leg thread and RyanBirdio has again here – he’s proven to be a good manager and one promotion and four playoff campaigns in 11 seasons as a manager suggests a pretty decent strike rate however he needs to turn ‘good’ into ‘great’, a 7/10 to a 9 or 10/10. I don’t think it would take much to do that in truth although my fear is that he may have reached his limit as to what he can do. Can he be sharper tactically to deal with high pressing, physical sides? Can he ensure he has a full squad by the time the season starts? Can he slip under the radar more in interviews and allow his team to do the talking instead?

It’s changing the habit of a lifetime. Most of those habits are beneficial to us, the ones that aren’t hold us and KR back at this level.

 

[horseman]

One further point re slow starts

if the records show this is the case then why when it happened this past season did Kip and a few others suggest we were relegation fodder when History had already shown that a winning run would follow or is it more likely the reason for such comments came from a negative stance

 

[Oxymoron]

The Happiness Project has two initial findings.

One - happiness tends not to last
Two - you are happier if you lower your expectations (and people in general are happier if they do not have their expectations built up by others).........

 

[bazzer9461]

One further point re slow starts

if the records show this is the case then why when it happened this past season did Kip and a few others suggest we were relegation fodder when History had already shown that a winning run would follow or is it more likely the reason for such comments came from a negative stance

yes I was one of those who questioned the team at the start of last season and the season before, but a winning run is not a god given. If the reasons for a slow start, sorry let me rephrase that why do we have terrible slow starts? Is it because of poor preseason is it because of the coaching or is it because of the manager, it’s a question that needs to be addressed. Not many other clubs have these starts and to rely on a winning run is poor.

---

 

[horseman]

Baz

Can we perhaps put this past slow start due to season end new beginning very close together along with unable to really do much not knowing which league we would be in

re your other point i'm sorry but of course other clubs have poor starts as there is a table with bottom 4 etc

You also cannot cherry pick games to suggest they were why we never got promoted without considering the whole set of games

EG oh the swindon game cost us nope that's wrong we got last minute equaliser v Mk Dons and last minute winner v Rochdale so 4pts

Beat Swindon not get the last minute equaliser and last minute win outcome same 4pts

 

[werthersoriginal]

Exactly. Oxford United have been promoted promoted a mere three times in 30 years. And most of those promotions have had to follow some horrendous relegations. We’ve had to be promoted as we’ve suffered more relegations than promotions in that time! Lest we forget that a U’s favourite in Denis Smith was at the helm for one of those relegations and was a major part in assembling one of the worst ever Oxford squads in 2000-01 yet we often choose to remember the good times with him. Some of the stuff posted on here about KR is akin to the very thing we laugh and jeer at Sunderland fans for in being entitled to promotion and expecting more. Getting so close and falling short is frustrating but I do feel that we have more good times with KR at the helm than bad times. The second tier is a very different beast to the one we were relegated from in 1998-99. The likes of Southend, Walsall, Swindon, Bury and Stockport all happily played out a few years at that level and none of those sides are remotely close to getting there any time soon let alone in actually being a competitive force in it. League 1 is even more competitive nowadays as the Championship is seen as so lucrative.

That said, he isn’t immune from criticism (in the same way that he shouldn’t face accusations of being ‘bang average’ or nothing but the pointing out of his flaws). I mentioned it in the playoff second leg thread and RyanBirdio has again here – he’s proven to be a good manager and one promotion and four playoff campaigns in 11 seasons as a manager suggests a pretty decent strike rate however he needs to turn ‘good’ into ‘great’, a 7/10 to a 9 or 10/10. I don’t think it would take much to do that in truth although my fear is that he may have reached his limit as to what he can do. Can he be sharper tactically to deal with high pressing, physical sides? Can he ensure he has a full squad by the time the season starts? Can he slip under the radar more in interviews and allow his team to do the talking instead?

It’s changing the habit of a lifetime. Most of those habits are beneficial to us, the ones that aren’t hold us and KR back at this level.

Yes there do seem to be some quite entitled people here. We're Oxford, quite small, only got about 7,000 fans and a crappy ground we don't own. If we did get promoted we'd easily be the smallest club there, unless Peterborough were still there to keep us company.

I was just at the ground having my second jab and looking at the bricks, thinking it's a bit of a shame that we argue rather than enjoying it more - but then I realised that if we had got into the playoffs twice but were managed by Graham Westley or Fat Steve and were a horrible, dirty team with no real future I wouldn't be happy. So I guess some people just don't like Karl and view him like most view those guys.

 

[ttg17]

He also cares very much for the football club.

I don’t give a monkeys how much someone cares, they are paid to do a job, and it’s a points business.

There are patterns forming!

We always start slowly why?

• Valid. I think this has happened often enough now that a hard look needs to be taken at the summer process. That said, we would have needed to have picked up an extra 13 points this season to have finished in the Autos. Would we have picked up those 13 points from the likes of Posh, Lincoln and Fleetwood away in those opening few games? I'm not sure. And if not, then we would have finished in the playoffs anyway - so, ultimately, would have been in the same position we ended up in.

We can’t beat the better clubs in the league why?

• Our record against the top teams this season was poor. The performances weren't bad, and I would say that the only team that completely outclassed us this year was Blackpool (against e.g. Hull (A), we missed some good chances before their first went in, we weren't steamrollered by any means), but over the course of the season, fair enough. This isn't a consistent problem though. Last season of the teams that got promoted, our record in the regular season was W2 D1 L1. Hardly poor. And that's before you get into the higher division sides we've knocked out of the Cups.

We always blow hot and cold have a good run followed by a bad one why?

• I mean, this is basically what football is, right? Runs of varying length of good results followed by bad results. All that ultimately matters is the number of points you end on. If we'd got 74 points from our first 25 games and then lost every other match of the season, we'd have ended up in the same position as if we'd gone unbeaten but got nothing but draws most of the time. We also do a pretty good job of 'stopping the rot' when we go on a bad run, imo. I think it's an old Sir Alex Ferguson thing - you can lose one game, you can lose a second after that, but you must never lose three in a row. And, even in our bad runs, all season we always won after consecutive losses.

KR never starts Agyei when it’s deserved why?

• This is subjective. I suspect KR probably has a slightly better idea of whether Agyei 'deserves' a start than any of us. Plus, Agyei has a bad habit of fading quickly after about 15 minutes of playing. Not sure not playing him over a tried and trusted League One striker like Taylor is a sackable offence!

He always makes his subs too late for them to make an impact why?

• Don't really have a view on this, but 'too late' again seems subjective. Without looking, I'm pretty sure we've had a number of substitute goals that have changed games in our favour this season - Winnall v Gills and Agyei v Shrews spring to mind.

He’s not very pro active of flexible with his formations why?

• He has been in the past. That first season he came in, when we had a horrendously unbalanced squad, he stopped the slide by moving us into a midfield diamond. 18-19, when things were going badly, he moved Mous out of defence and into the CDM role in front of the back 4, which noticeably shored us up. He clearly does have the capacity to change formations when it's necessary. As for 'why', it's a formation and way of play that has consistently had us among the best teams in the league for the last two years. I'm not sure why you think it would need constant alteration. And if he did change it up every couple of games he's probably be branded a 'tinkerman'.

KR is obsessed with wingers why?

• Not really sure what this means. We had no more than two out-and-out wingers in the squad at any one time this year (Obita and Shodipo, Barker and Shodipo). The criticism that we should have had more defensive cover is, I think, valid, but I'm not sure what wingers have got to do with that.

KR never accepts the blame for poor results why?
KR puts players under the bus why?
KR always mentions things about possible transfers and tells us they are imminent, yet we must wait longer why? Better to say nothing at all!

• These three are all just cosmetic. If a manager's winning every game, noone cares what they say in the presser. If they're losing every game, they can't say anything right. What's an example of a manager that responds to defeats, verbally, 'well'? I can't think of one. 'Throwing players under the bus' - again, would you rather he point-blank supported players when they're playing poorly? Then he'd get branded as 'deluded'. What's more, you can't deny the tough love this year pushed Agyei and Sykes onto new levels. And finally, the last one is just frustration as a fan. If you hang on every word said by a manager in transfer season, that one's on you tbh. And anyway, suggesting a manager who's got us to the playoffs twice in two years deserves the sack because sometimes transfers fall through is pretty wild!

What I'd like you or any of Karl's supporters to do is to pick one of Leysboy's points and actually address them.

How's that? Fair?

 

[Scotchegg]

If your definition of a successful season is promotion and nothing else, then being a football supporter is going to be a very depressing way to spend a lot of time and money!

I'm not a KR fanboy, but to say we haven't had an interesting, at times exhilarating, at times frustrating but at least diverting season is just wrong.

Probably the most balanced post to date and sums up where we are as a club.

If its a results only business then we got beat by Newcastle and Man City last year and failed in two promotion attempts. But Matty scoring straight after half time and Nathan Holland's last minute screamer gave me moments that will live with me forever! Jack Stevens saving the last minute penalty against Charlton resulted in what could look like a boring 0-0 on paper, but meant so much more. Sam Long's heroics against Gillingham ultimately counted for nothing if promotion is the only goal, but how good did those goals feel? Or last season at Shrewsbury or Lincoln away? Football is about emotional highs and lows. We have both in abundance at Oxford, and I wouldn't change that for a second.

There is a clear spilt between those who like Robinson and those who don't. One will look at successive playoff finishes as success, the other will see these as evidence of failure. Both are right to a certain extent. We have a top 10 budget so should be competing at the top end, but we were a long way behind the likes of Sunderland, Hull, Peterborough and others. Lincoln this season, and possibly Coventry last season are where we need to look. Both had similar budgets to ours but have got more for their money. Equally we can look at Portsmouth, Ipswich and Charlton who failed on higher budgets. Ultimately, as the manager, Robinson has to take responsibility for where we finish. But managing the 3rd and 6th "best" teams over the last two years is a long way from being midtable failures and as a KR fanboy I think he deserves a little more respect than some give him, but that's for others to decide!

 

[Left Wing Cross]

There is a clear spilt between those who like Robinson and those who don't.

Careful when making such a generalisation based on a public forum.

It is worth noting that these are the extreme views of the debate and as such will provoke the biggest reaction during discourse. Someone who is of the opinion that we're "OK, not bad" isn't necessarily voice their views and, even if they did, it will be swallowed up in the louder voices. Views across the whole spectrum (more than likely) will exist.

 

[Foley]

Interestingly against a dreadful Coventry side we were by far the favourites so does App get the same ' bottle job team ' inflexible tactics thrown at him that Robbo does ?
And we played really poorly against Cov whereas against Wyc deserved to win .

I am sure that Kip ( and a few more) would have said that we bottled it.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Careful when making such a generalisation based on a public forum.

It is worth noting that these are the extreme views of the debate and as such will provoke the biggest reaction during discourse. Someone who is of the opinion that we're "OK, not bad" isn't necessarily voice their views and, even if they did, it will be swallowed up in the louder voices. Views across the whole spectrum (more than likely) will exist.

When I was at the game last week I was looking around at the people and felt most were happy to be at a match, disappointed by the result and performance, but generally philosophical about our situation. This sort of board tends to bring out people with extreme views and also those with personal grudges or agendas , on either side.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

When I was at the game last week I was looking around at the people and felt most were happy to be at a match, disappointed by the result and performance, but generally philosophical about our situation. This sort of board tends to bring out people with extreme views and also those with personal grudges or agendas , on either side.

I really don't think supporting your club and the Manager who hasn't a bad record at all and has us playing attractive football is extreme tbh
Question decisions etc but to say we are doing badly after two top 6 finishes is rather bizarre

 

[bazzer9461]

Baz

Can we perhaps put this past slow start due to season end new beginning very close together along with unable to really do much not knowing which league we would be in

re your other point i'm sorry but of course other clubs have poor starts as there is a table with bottom 4 etc

You also cannot cherry pick games to suggest they were why we never got promoted without considering the whole set of games

EG oh the swindon game cost us nope that's wrong we got last minute equaliser v Mk Dons and last minute winner v Rochdale so 4pts

Beat Swindon not get the last minute equaliser and last minute win outcome same 4pts

@horseman
Thank you got your reply.

forstly I never mentioned any results about certain games whether it was Swindon, MK dons the r Rochdale.

the point I made was the fact in the past two seasons we have had poor starts and it doesn’t matter whether we have good runs or not they are not guaranteed.
We seem to start slow and that was what I was questioning, why do we start slow? Especially big we have a winning run with the same players that we had playing when we started slow.

I want nothing but success for this club of ours and with two play offs behind us then surely now we KR must know what we need and get his business done as early as possible and hit the ground running. It won’t be easy with the clubs now in L1 So we have to get the right players a in to have a chance.

 

[greatunclekip]

I am sure that Kip ( and a few more) would have said that we bottled it.

We did. Utterly blew a big chance at Wembley.

 

[beyondthefourth]

What I'd like you or any of Karl's supporters to do is to pick one of Leysboy's points and actually address them.

What I'd like you or any of Karl's detractors to do is name a viable replacement which would guarantee us automatic promotion.

 

[werthersoriginal]

What I'd like you or any of Karl's detractors to do is name a viable replacement which would guarantee us automatic promotion.

I’m sure there is better out there, the guy from Borehamwood or somewhere. But there are no guarantees and even brilliant Nathan Jones failed at Stoke.