Ex-Staff The Karl Robinson Thread

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

My memory is shite so correct me if im wrong but didnt Peps band of misfits include Curtis Nelson, Joe Rothwell, Ryan Ledson, Alex Mowatt, Josh Ruffels, Rob Dickie and Shandon Baptiste?

It did but Rothwell, Nelson and Leggo were already lined up to move and on the way out, none signed new contracts when offered.
Mowatt was a loan. Dickie and Baptiste youth players we subsequently developed and sold for good money. Ruffles an athletic but limited journeyman who transformed into arguably L1s best attacking full back and was also sold for good money. None were Pep signings, all legacies of the previous regime and model.

KR was a vain, emotionally unstable chancer with a truly grim nasty streak but it is rewriting history to claim he broke a successful team up. What he did do was turn Oxford into a version of himself: a short-termist, high risk/high reward casino team who could play scintillating football when the cards fell kindly but never able to step back, think about the percentages or plan for the future. By the final season he'd gone full on Leaving Las Vegas.

Ancient history now but with all the recent tumult and some pretty clear signs of board level problems it is worth remembering how we got here. Clotet and Robinson were both hired during times when leadership was chaotic. Both were given cart blanche authority and little attention was paid to support structures and long term strategy. We've now made two progressive manager appointments which indicate lessons learned in theory but lots of horrible signs they've not been in practice. It seems our current highly rated but relatively inexperienced coach is being asked to do multiple jobs under trying circumstances and great pressure and with minimal support. Unlike KR I doubt Buckingham sees that as a good thing.

The latest Oxvox update was carefully worded but scathing. Until the board start showing some basic signs of leadership I'm worried.

 

[Cotswolds Cowboy]

It did but Rothwell, Nelson and Leggo were already lined up to move and on the way out, none signed new contracts when offered.
Mowatt was a loan. Dickie and Baptiste youth players we subsequently developed and sold for good money. Ruffles an athletic but limited journeyman who transformed into arguably L1s best attacking full back and was also sold for good money. None were Pep signings, all legacies of the previous regime and model.

KR was a vain, emotionally unstable chancer with a truly grim nasty streak but it is rewriting history to claim he broke a successful team up. What he did do was turn Oxford into a version of himself: a short-termist, high risk/high reward casino team who could play scintillating football when the cards fell kindly but never able to step back, think about the percentages or plan for the future. By the final season he'd gone full on Leaving Las Vegas.

Ancient history now but with all the recent tumult and some pretty clear signs of board level problems it is worth remembering how we got here. Clotet and Robinson were both hired during times when leadership was chaotic. Both were given cart blanche authority and little attention was paid to support structures and long term strategy. We've now made two progressive manager appointments which indicate lessons learned in theory but lots of horrible signs they've not been in practice. It seems our current highly rated but relatively inexperienced coach is being asked to do multiple jobs under trying circumstances and great pressure and with minimal support. Unlike KR I doubt Buckingham sees that as a good thing.

The latest Oxvox update was carefully worded but scathing. Until the board start showing some basic signs of leadership I'm worried.

Brilliant

 

[Sharp Edges]

Much less experience than the ones he left us, though.

Indeed, Eastwood and Henry were much less experienced then as well. Excellent league 1 players but less experienced.

 

[Sharp Edges]

It did but Rothwell, Nelson and Leggo were already lined up to move and on the way out, none signed new contracts when offered.
Mowatt was a loan. Dickie and Baptiste youth players we subsequently developed and sold for good money. Ruffles an athletic but limited journeyman who transformed into arguably L1s best attacking full back and was also sold for good money. None were Pep signings, all legacies of the previous regime and model.

KR was a vain, emotionally unstable chancer with a truly grim nasty streak but it is rewriting history to claim he broke a successful team up. What he did do was turn Oxford into a version of himself: a short-termist, high risk/high reward casino team who could play scintillating football when the cards fell kindly but never able to step back, think about the percentages or plan for the future. By the final season he'd gone full on Leaving Las Vegas.

Ancient history now but with all the recent tumult and some pretty clear signs of board level problems it is worth remembering how we got here. Clotet and Robinson were both hired during times when leadership was chaotic. Both were given cart blanche authority and little attention was paid to support structures and long term strategy. We've now made two progressive manager appointments which indicate lessons learned in theory but lots of horrible signs they've not been in practice. It seems our current highly rated but relatively inexperienced coach is being asked to do multiple jobs under trying circumstances and great pressure and with minimal support. Unlike KR I doubt Buckingham sees that as a good thing.

The latest Oxvox update was carefully worded but scathing. Until the board start showing some basic signs of leadership I'm worried.

The point of my post wasnt to big up Pep in any way, it was clear the young, progressive, talented and too good for league 1 players were the work of Appleton, his team and the recruitment department. My point was to compare what he inherited and look at what he left us, there is no comparison. He may have taken us on a journey and it wasnt all bad but after 4 years we were lower in the league than he found us and the squad went from talented, young, progressive and valuable to a scrap heap (with the odd exception). I dont get why people still keep stroking a hard on for him every time his name is mentioned.

I also agree with the points you and 38yearsofpain made about how we are being run off the pitch, its concerning.

 

[TailsWeWin]

Doesn’t anyone else think that Robinson’s sending off was calculated? “Look at me! I’m a passionate manager! I’ll do everything i can to help my team win! I’m fully committed to Salford!”
He just forgot who was refereeing.

 

[ttg17]

Not exactly true, he inherited Peps band of misfits. He was a great fit for his first play off season because he acted as Tigers mouthpiece. His management style was always likely to end as a car crash but his own personal issues left him out of control. The big mistake was letting him continue to run rudderless. Unfortunately that is beginning to become a recurring theme.

Just got round to listening to Wayne Brown’s interview on the (excellent) Behind the Badge podcast last week. Apparently KR had been saying to him for a month before the Gas game that he was expecting the bullet any day. It was genuinely mental allowing him to continue as long as he did.

 

[Yellow River]

The point of my post wasnt to big up Pep in any way, it was clear the young, progressive, talented and too good for league 1 players were the work of Appleton, his team and the recruitment department. My point was to compare what he inherited and look at what he left us, there is no comparison. He may have taken us on a journey and it wasnt all bad but after 4 years we were lower in the league than he found us and the squad went from talented, young, progressive and valuable to a scrap heap (with the odd exception). I dont get why people still keep stroking a hard on for him every time his name is mentioned.

I also agree with the points you and 38yearsofpain made about how we are being run off the pitch, its concerning.

Reckon there are one or two posters on here with ‘scouse’ blood, can’t bare to see one of their own critised.

They know who they are!

 

[MJB]

Just got round to listening to Wayne Brown’s interview on the (excellent) Behind the Badge podcast last week. Apparently KR had been saying to him for a month before the Gas game that he was expecting the bullet any day. It was genuinely mental allowing him to continue as long as he did.

I listened to that this week too.

My other main thought from that pod was that Brown’s mental health issues seemed in some ways related to the horrendous way in which Manning allowed him to find out he’d lost his job.

Really poor.

 

[Joey]

I listened to that this week too.

My other main thought from that pod was that Brown’s mental health issues seemed in some ways related to the horrendous way in which Manning allowed him to find out he’d lost his job.

Really poor.

Might have missed this at the time, what's the jist of it?

 

[Cotswolds Cowboy]

Might have missed this at the time, what's the jist of it?

Essentially he discovered he was on the way out when he was left out of discussions on his areas of responsibility - including new keeper(s) coming in
Manning's conduct was pretty despicable

 

[MJB]

Might have missed this at the time, what's the jist of it?

Had been suggested to Brown that he’d still have a job when going off for his holiday last Summer.

He’d previously been working with Ed on identifying a new goalie and they’d suggested Beadle to Manning who wasn’t keen apparently (felt he was too young).

Brown was returning from holiday and someone from Beadle’s end mentioned an upcoming Zoom meeting to him and his surprise that Brown wasn’t joining the call.

Brown rang Manning to find out what was going on and was then told he was out of a job as he was bringing in his old mate.

Brown subsequently had to get therapy as he realised he was struggling, but appears to be doing better now thankfully.

Too crude to blame all of those mental health issues on Manning’s heartless way of letting a long serving member of staff found out for themself that they’ve been fired, but it’s hardly good behaviours again.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Jesus, the poor man had worked for a performative clown for years.

 

[unification]

It did but Rothwell, Nelson and Leggo were already lined up to move and on the way out, none signed new contracts when offered.
Mowatt was a loan. Dickie and Baptiste youth players we subsequently developed and sold for good money. Ruffles an athletic but limited journeyman who transformed into arguably L1s best attacking full back and was also sold for good money. None were Pep signings, all legacies of the previous regime and model.

KR was a vain, emotionally unstable chancer with a truly grim nasty streak but it is rewriting history to claim he broke a successful team up. What he did do was turn Oxford into a version of himself: a short-termist, high risk/high reward casino team who could play scintillating football when the cards fell kindly but never able to step back, think about the percentages or plan for the future. By the final season he'd gone full on Leaving Las Vegas.

Ancient history now but with all the recent tumult and some pretty clear signs of board level problems it is worth remembering how we got here. Clotet and Robinson were both hired during times when leadership was chaotic. Both were given cart blanche authority and little attention was paid to support structures and long term strategy. We've now made two progressive manager appointments which indicate lessons learned in theory but lots of horrible signs they've not been in practice. It seems our current highly rated but relatively inexperienced coach is being asked to do multiple jobs under trying circumstances and great pressure and with minimal support. Unlike KR I doubt Buckingham sees that as a good thing.

The latest Oxvox update was carefully worded but scathing. Until the board start showing some basic signs of leadership I'm worried.

Nailed it on the KR front.

When it was good, it was great. The big away wins, the series of 3-0 home wins in a row, QF of the League Cup, another win at the County Ground. Let’s not pretend he wasn’t complicit in that.

When it came to the crunch, it went from bad (playoff final, the mauling by Blackpool, wheels falling off at the end of 2021-22) to worse (everything about 2022-23). He too was complicit in that.

We had some fun spells and fun seasons with him. We had some bad spells and a clusterfuck of a final season with him. He deserves pelters for everything that happened last season but not to the detriment that everything from 2018 to 2022 was somehow a fluke and nothing to do with him.

By the by, water under the bridge now and we’re on our way (hopefully) to eradicating the worst elements of his final season here. Manning, to his credit, did a fair chunk of that and DB will need this window and I suspect the next one to complete the job.

 

[Foley]

I listened to that this week too.

My other main thought from that pod was that Brown’s mental health issues seemed in some ways related to the horrendous way in which Manning allowed him to find out he’d lost his job.

Really poor.

Yes very strange 'behaviours' from Manning according to Brown.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Tis the corporate way.

 

[Northstandboy]

No shock, first fine for his new club.

 

[Foley]

He has started very well at Salford.
They hadn't won in 10 and now with Robinson Won 2 Drawn 2 ( won at Crewe today)

 

[Grumpy Git]

He has started very well at Salford.
They hadn't won in 10 and now with Robinson Won 2 Drawn 2 ( won at Crewe today)

Couldn’t give a toss. Nor could he when he was here.

 

[Foley]

Couldn’t give a toss. Nor could he when he was here.

You don't have to read the thread or comment?
Plenty on here do seem to care!

 

[werthersoriginal]

He has started very well at Salford.
They hadn't won in 10 and now with Robinson Won 2 Drawn 2 ( won at Crewe today)

Yeah good result, Crewe would have gone second if they’d won.