THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Think this is exactly what all those people who claim managers at this level need a year or more to get results need to realise.

There is no "time to build" at this level - player turnover is so high in general. Key players come and go each season. We have FOUR loanees who are pretty much guaranteed starters under Neilson this season (Ebanks-Landell, Golbourne, Tshibola, Ariyibi), none of whom will be here next season.

On top of that, we have a 3 other first team players out of contract soon - Upson, Brittain, Wootton and I would say it's pretty likely we'll lose at least 2 of them. That's 6-7 pretty much guaranteed starting 11 players potentially gone, so not going to be part of long term plans.

At this level, if you're given a full season, you have to get it right that first full season - just like KR did when he got the job and got the playoffs 2 seasons running. He didn't need "time to build".

Why is there no time to build at this level. If the owner decides to give him time then there is. Why should he be pressured?

Because like I said, we rely on loans (5 first team players), and have players on short term or expiring deals. He can't build a squad if they keep coming and going. Like I said in the post above, at least 5-7 guaranteed first team players potentially won't be here next summer. It's not like a Premier League team where players stay for 5+ years.

Also, why shouldn't he be pressured? He's paid well enough, and this is a results driven business. Us fans come to watch the team to be entertained, which usually goes hand in hand with winning. We don't owe Neilson anything, the club have paid him to manage the team and get results. If he can't do that, then we need someone that can.

Come on D50, surely by now you must be seeing that things aren't right under Neilson. Things aren't suddenly going to improve, and I can't see this team playing the way they are under Neilson getting promoted.

It won't be a universally held view on here for sure, but I just have an instinctive feeling that Nielson will come good. Members of a certain age will recall that this dramatic change in fortune sometimes happens in football - Ferguson had virtually walked the plank just before a Mark Hughes goal saved his time at Manky U, for instance.

Why is there no time to build at this level. If the owner decides to give him time then there is. Why should he be pressured?

You missed Nicholls from that list. He’ll be another “considering his options” right now.

The other factor in underperforming the way we have is that even players we have who are contracted longer did so on the basis that there was a possibility of promotion to come. What we have currently is not what Chuks, Gilbey, Walsh, Sow et al signed up for. If they don’t believe promotion is realistic they’ll, be looking to move on and very quickly.

Why is there no time to build at this level. If the owner decides to give him time then there is. Why should he be pressured?

RN has been given two transfer windows, a close season, and almost a year to build. I personally think the scaffoldings off, the roof is on, and this is it. His team, his set up, his tactics. The old guard is gone and this is his team in his ultra defensive mould. The time for excuses is over as its a third of the way into the second season of his year here. You can't keep a football Manager on the basis that he might come good in a couple of years, our young support would be decimated by then.

I'm genuinely interested to know where the "time to build" set of fans see the set up next year or in a couple of years, where are things headed in a positive direction? As I've totally lost faith in RN and can only see more of the same. He's not going to suddenly change to playing the "MK way" of entertaining attacking football, that's not his coaching style.