THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

So having listened to the podcasts, read the forum, dipped into Facebook, listened to Pete and thought about what went wrong I have reached a conclusion.....

Liam Manning is most to blame for the disaster that was the 22/23 seaoi, I know a lot of people like him but my reasons are as follows....

He recruited the players along with Liam Sweeting
The squad had full backs not wingbacks
He planned for playing 4231
One can only assume we trained for 4231
He played 4231 in the friendlies
We played 4231 for the first game of the season
He then abandoned it!

Ask yourself this would Russell Martin have had a plan then jacked it in?, Karl?, Robbie N?, Tisdale? In my opinion none of them would, they would have stuck to it, worked to improve it but not abandoned it.

We can only guess why he did it but whatever the reason he surely lost some of his standing in the dressing room at that point. If the change was at the behest of players it would have made him look weak, if it was as he realised it wasn't going to work he would have looked foolish as it was his plan in the first place.

Looking back it is clear to me that set us on a slippery slope and really Pete should have dumped him much earlier but I say that with hindsight.

Does anyone vehemently disagree?

I blame the culture of arrogance. The club had gotten away with it for the last two seasons, each time stretching the envelope. This time it snapped and all three - Manning, Sweeting & Winkelman are to blame equally.

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Disclaimer: All my comments are my opinions unless stated otherwise. I'm just a fan following my club.

There's merit in what you say about Manning (and I don't mean that in a patronising way) but as Return says there were other factors too. Pete you say should have sacked him earlier. Therefore it's HIS fault? Maybe so.

Season was a sh*tshow from start to finish with small 'butterfly' effects casing more difficulties, and p*ssedoffness (is that a word?) (eg that ghastly, hideous kit in a ticket office that ..... no don't get me started). We'll never get to an definitive answer that we can agree on. We'll just go round in circles - although that doesn't mean it shouldn't be debated!

Let's just truly hope they (Board) DO 'learn'.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

I blame Big WABLO mentality which permeates the club. It’s an arrogance about not being able to fall further but also a lack of ambition to believe the club can compete in the Championship given the right circumstances.

Failing to capitalise on momentum is a repeat failing at the club.

We all wanted the change of formation at the time, it was disastrous

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Indeed but surely that makes Manning most responsible as it was his decision to go 4231 which resulted in the imbalance in the squad

You could be right

This, always has been, combined with lack of experience and failing to learn from previous mistakes/oversights - the Championship summer transfer window and now last summer.

Any sniff of success or a solid season and the club are more than willing to cash in on our best players at the earliest opportunity. I know other clubs lose their best players now and then but we seem to do it with far more frequency than any other club at L1 level. We need to stop being a quick stepping stone and ask for a minimum 2 season commitment from all signings regardless of success, unless it's silly money being offered. Darling and Twine's transfer fees weren't silly money, we should have held out for double what they went for.

Rather than recruiting rough diamonds hidden in the rough, they ended up recruiting a bunch of turds that couldn't be polished.

do you ever get the feeling he abandoned the formation because the nerd in charge of the analysis recommended a load of players who couldn't cope with that formation and just were not really good at it or even good footballers in general. Yes you are right Manning did pick the players, but he didn't do the stats. That was Sweeting and Sweeting alone. You can't blame one without the other.

That, is a most excellent point dude.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment