Any update on Lingy?

[AustrianAndyGull]

Glad I'm not married to you Brucie. Empathy, support...? Nup. :devil:

He's totally correct though IMO if a little brutal.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

I suspect the situation during his driving ban(for speeding offences) didn't help as most weekends after home matches he couldn't get home and wouldn't have seen his family. I think its discriminatory to say he shouldn't or couldn't do the job again because of his depressive illness-lots of people including many famous and successful ones have suffered from such illnesses but bounced back from them after some time out.You could see a rejuvenated and remotivated manager coming back to the job.I would have thought the prospect of not returning to the job (or not being offered to)would be more damaging to his health.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I suspect the situation during his driving ban(for speeding offences) didn't help as most weekends after home matches he couldn't get home and wouldn't have seen his family. I think its discriminatory to say he shouldn't or couldn't do the job again because of his depressive illness-lots of people including many famous and successful ones have suffered from such illnesses but bounced back from them after some time out.You could see a rejuvenated and remotivated manager coming back to the job.I would have thought the prospect of not returning to the job (or not being offered to)would be more damaging to his health.

That's life though BHG. It's harsh but TUFC don't owe the bloke a living and they certainly aren't there to aid his rehabilitation. If he wants to go and have time off, recouperate, refocus, maybe get involved with community work or even helping out at a local animal shelter then that is great and he should forget about footy for now. All provide a supportive environment for people who have suffered depression and it helps them re-integrate at their own pace, build up confidence, communicate with people from all walks of life and have a more positive outlook on things. It doesn't all have to be about being around a football club. So harsh as it may sound and as much as i want the man to get well asap, the highlighted bit isn't our problem.

[SteveDeckchair]

Or you could get a Marcus Trescothick long term problem where he only feels happy when close to his family.

Harsh I know, but I am also of the feeling that once Martin is back on his feet, then we terminate his contract. this must be based on footballing reasons else we are opening ourselves up to an unfair dismissal claim.

My fear is that rather than dealing with the situation swiftly, this will drag on into the summer and we will start next season as a shambles. It is imperative that this doesn't happen!

Alan Knill is the future in my mind and unfortunately for Martin Ling, this has been brought home by our turn around in the last few weeks. Irrespective of his illness, the correct decision must be made in the club's best interests.

[Richinns]

Or you could get a Marcus Trescothick long term problem where he only feels happy when close to his family.

Harsh I know, but I am also of the feeling that once Martin is back on his feet, then we terminate his contract. this must be based on footballing reasons else we are opening ourselves up to an unfair dismissal claim.

My fear is that rather than dealing with the situation swiftly, this will drag on into the summer and we will start next season as a shambles. It is imperative that this doesn't happen!

Alan Knill is the future in my mind and unfortunately for Martin Ling, this has been brought home by our turn around in the last few weeks. Irrespective of his illness, the correct decision must be made in the club's best interests.

That is because he caught his missus shagging his mate when he logged into his personal cctv system whilst on a tour abroad!

[Richinns]

I feel for Martin - I really do but if I had to make a choice of Ling and Taylor or Knill and Brass then it is an easy choice. Martin deterioration in in health went hand in hand with our form dropping off and I just think it would be best for everyone if he took time out from the game and we moved on from and forward with a new man at the helm.

[Modgull]

Its good news that Ling is not suffering from a serious illness then. Whether his problem is drink/stress related will we ever really know the truth?
However do we really want him back? - he will be living away from his family doing a job which is extremely stressful. He might be back in May but Knill is drawing up the retained list?
That is completely ridiculous - is it really up to the board to identify a weakness such as this in the manager?
Whatever the circumstances the situation with Ling has nigh on cost us our league status and should we escape do we want to run the risk of it happening next season.
Baker may say Ling has a right to come back but do we want a manager on the edge supported by a number 2 who has shown himself to be completely clueless.
I wouldn't want Ling back under any circumstances.

I couldn't agree more.

Ling was responsible, earlier in the season, for some of the poorest football I have had the misfortune to watch at Plainmoor. Although he cannot guarantee the performance of the players, the way he set us up for even home games guaranteed stale, negative football. And his assistant showed that he was unable to step up when the situation demanded it.

His illness, whatever it is (and it seems some of the rumours may have been true), and his absence has nearly cost us our league status - and could still do because Alan Knill still faces an uphill battle even if we do seem to have stopped the downward plunge for now.

This seems the worst of all worlds to me. A "thank you for getting us out of this mess Mr Knill but we don't want you however good you are" is hardly likely to build up the morale and fighting spirit of the playing side of the Club in its hour of need. And we then revert, whatever the outcome of the relegation dogfight, to the no-hope football we have seen previously.

Why should the supporters see this as anything other than depressing? Why should season ticket holders renew their tickets at the end of the season? This is crucial for the Club yet there seems to be no concept as to how this whole business looks from the sidelines.

[SuperNickyWroe]

I couldn't agree more.

Ling was responsible, earlier in the season, for some of the poorest football I have had the misfortune to watch at Plainmoor. Although he cannot guarantee the performance of the players, the way he set us up for even home games guaranteed stale, negative football. And his assistant showed that he was unable to step up when the situation demanded it.

His illness, whatever it is (and it seems some of the rumours may have been true), and his absence has nearly cost us our league status - and could still do because Alan Knill still faces an uphill battle even if we do seem to have stopped the downward plunge for now.

This seems the worst of all worlds to me. A "thank you for getting us out of this mess Mr Knill but we don't want you however good you are" is hardly likely to build up the morale and fighting spirit of the playing side of the Club in its hour of need. And we then revert, whatever the outcome of the relegation dogfight, to the no-hope football we have seen previously.

Why should the supporters see this as anything other than depressing? Why should season ticket holders renew their tickets at the end of the season? This is crucial for the Club yet there seems to be no concept as to how this whole business looks from the sidelines.

great post phil.

agree with it all especially the highlighted bit.
how can they not see whats been happening? especially as mr baker stands on the pop!
does he not hear the comments?
i know that the board have done everything possible - but for this to go on for so long and raise the chance of our club losing its league status is unthinkable.

i was scoffed at for saying id take 20yrs in league 2 - i bet some who did would take 2yrs in league 2 right now.

[bengull]

Re : Trescothick, can you find me evidence to support your knowledge and which presumably counter-acts this article?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... icket.html

Depression and stress related illnesses are serious afflictions, we really do not know how bad it has got for Mr.Ling, we may never fully understand how hard he might have found the last eighteen months. It is not something to be taken likely.

Lots of messages of support and positive resolutions to our predicament welcome, but can we leave rumours and folly out of it please?

[cambgull]

Well, I say this in the nicest way it can possibly be said, but this is the most depressing bit of good news I have ever heard.

As a person, I do like Lingy. He's open and honest and it was refreshing after Buckle.

As a manager, dear God he is clueless, and so is Taylor. There has never been a single successful manager in the history of football who sets his teams out to defend for 85 minutes every single match. It just doesn't work on a regular basis. Perhaps against better teams, but not every game.

After seeing what an attacking manager can do in a short space of time, I just could not mentally watch the utter drivel that Ling calls football. I suppose it's lucky I can never afford to go to games!

[bengull]

Btw, I wasn't getting at anyone in particular, I am sure the reference wasn't meant in a malicious way, but it does perfectly illustrate how rumours can be unhelpful and unfounded. I would much rather believe Marcus' personal account than some attention hungry friend of a friend who claimed he saw X and Y at the ***** inn etc etc, the same applies to the Ling situation.

Now is not the time for a character assassination, the statement released today confirms that Ling is suffering from a stress related illness. We should put our misgivings and criticisms of his managerial pedigree aside and not let it blight our view of him as a human being. He is a honest, hard working family man who is going through a hard time, we should all wish him all the best to recover fully and leave it at that. Some of the rumours are distasteful and should be put to bed now that a statement has been released.

In the meantime Alan Knill gets our total support until his contract runs out after the last game of the season. League survival is imperative and further discussions about managerial changes may well destabilise the little bit of momentum we have managed to gain.

The time to re-assess our situation is after the last match of the season. Our league status will be clearer, Knill's ambitions and job prospects will be clearer, Martin Ling's health status will be clearer, the timescale for the board to act properly will be less suffocating.

Until then let's hope that Alan Knill can keep our club in the football league and that Martin Ling gets well soon.

[Scott Brehaut]

Well, I say this in the nicest way it can possibly be said, but this is the most depressing bit of good news I have ever heard.

As a person, I do like Lingy. He's open and honest and it was refreshing after Buckle.

As a manager, dear God he is clueless, and so is Taylor. There has never been a single successful manager in the history of football who sets his teams out to defend for 85 minutes every single match. It just doesn't work on a regular basis. Perhaps against better teams, but not every game.

After seeing what an attacking manager can do in a short space of time, I just could not mentally watch the utter drivel that Ling calls football. I suppose it's lucky I can never afford to go to games!

I didn't hear many people moaning about it last season when we got into the playoffs......

[cambgull]

I didn't hear many people moaning about it last season when we got into the playoffs......

That's because we were winning games, still doesn't mean it wasn't rubbish football.

[Dave]

This may seem fickle, harsh even heartless, however it is me just being honest with the way I feel I do not want Martin Ling to come back. Love the bloke, allways thank him for what he has done for us, but I only see endless problems if he comes back, couple of bad performances/ results and the pressure and stress will build again, we, as a club can not afford to go through this process again.

Totaly hated the style of football, hated game after game of standing on the popside bored out of my skull, but cambgull is right we were winning games sat 2nd in the league, it looked like that style was going to get us promoted, so who could argue, who would complain.

I do not think I could stick going back to the, 9-0-1 formation, with the ball being whacked up to Howe in the hope he could hold it up for 5 minutes while we wait for atleast 1 of our 9 defenders to have the guts to get forward and support the attack..no thank you.

Tuesday night was one of the best free flowing attacking performances I have seen in a very, very long time, do I want to see a manager bring that back to plainmoor, one of the reasons why just about every team hated coming here, yes, yes, please.

The only way I would to see Lingy back, is if the board give him full and complete backing to bring in the players he wants and Lingy gets back to playing good attacking football.

[ferrarilover]

Or you could get a Marcus Trescothick long term problem where he only feels happy when close to his family.

Harsh I know, but I am also of the feeling that once Martin is back on his feet, then we terminate his contract. this must be based on footballing reasons else we are opening ourselves up to an unfair dismissal claim.

My fear is that rather than dealing with the situation swiftly, this will drag on into the summer and we will start next season as a shambles. It is imperative that this doesn't happen!

Alan Knill is the future in my mind and unfortunately for Martin Ling, this has been brought home by our turn around in the last few weeks. Irrespective of his illness, the correct decision must be made in the club's best interests.

Not quite right, but not entirely without merit.

Matt.