Gary Owers

[merse btpir]

Well judging by the disaster that have been the Nicholson signings; any new manager in his right mind would have insist on that.

What with Gowling forever scratching his in his hair, it has to be suspected there is even more chance of finding nits in there than in the general Manager's office. Clarke pulls a muscle every time he raises his arms above his head to pull on a T shirt off and it's blindingly obvious no medicals were carried out on any of Nicholson's signings.

[Southampton Gull]

Two players that always feature highly on man of the match awards. Hardly disastrous signings unless you have an agenda against somebody.......

[Teigngull]

It's very simple; if Harrop and Osborne want to prove that they have learnt their lesson from this season, then they have to sack Owers and rapidly hire a replacement. Immediately. Why?

[align=center]1) HE HAS FAILED.[/align]
Owers was brought in with most of a season to go, with one task: save us from relegation. Ignore all this nonsense about it not being his squad, he was hired as a firefighter, in other words he was hired on his ability to get the most out of what he inherited. He thought he was up to it. He was not. If we tolerate failure at one level in the club then we tolerate it at all levels.

[align=center]2) HE HAS NO QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE JOB OF LEADING A SIDE TO PROMOTION. [/align]

At Bath City:
- In his first season, finished 16th when the top 13 teams out of 22 were promoted to the Conference North and South, also then failed in the playoffs.
- In his second season, finished 6th (one place outside playoffs) in a league comprising mainly of new teams from the previous division below.
- After leaving for Forest Green, the new manager of Bath guided them to 2nd, missing out on promotion in the playoffs, and then 1st.
> No success, the club did better after Owers left.

At Forest Green:
- His side only avoided relegation from the National League on the final day of the season, finishing 19th.
- He was actually hired when they thought they would be in the National South, only Northwich Victoria's ground kept them up.
- After leaving due to a poor start to the next season, the new manager of Forest Green guided them to 14th, and then 8th the next season.
> No success, the club did better after Owers left.

At Bath City (Take Two):
- Finished 14th in his first (half) season in charge.
- Finished 9th in his only full season in charge.
- Club is currently 10th.
> No success, remains to be seen how Bath do next season.

[align=center]3) THE RETAINED LIST. [/align]

It would be all too easy to wait til the end of the season, dither with performance reviews and suchlike. But let's consider if next season starts badly, we would be disposing of Owers anyway. Rather than yet another season of a manager being allowed to build a squad just to be sacked, let's get a new, qualified manager in NOW. He can have full say over who is retained and really build his own squad from the ground up. Hell, I'd have moved fast and had him in the stands tomorrow to have a look at the club and players to see what he thought.

[align=center]4) IT MAKES FINANCIAL SENSE AND WILL REINVIGORATE THE CLUB. [/align]

Yes, yes. Financial payoff blah de blah. However, weight that up against the possibility of failing in the VNS, and also against the general malaise surrounding the club. If we stick with the manager, there will be a lot of fans who don't want to go. If CO wants to prove that he is committed to this club and not just going through the motions, he should consider this and pull the plug. We cannot afford to linger in the VNS and see attendances fall further...and they will if we don't see immediate success.

Not that I expect any of this to figure in our owner's thinking, but we can dream, right? :}

So up yours Arry' , why make it so personal ? when all you can do is bleat when your pathetic posts are challenged.
So sad so very very sad,
At least Merse & myself have at least half an ounce of knowledge of the way a 'pro football club' works on a day to day basis instead of coming across as a rebel without a clue.
And yes, now Owers has established a settled squad finally, albeit too late, recent form is what we were all wanting at the beginning of the season.

[Teigngull]

It's very simple; if Harrop and Osborne want to prove that they have learnt their lesson from this season, then they have to sack Owers and rapidly hire a replacement. Immediately. Why?

[align=center]1) HE HAS FAILED.[/align]
Owers was brought in with most of a season to go, with one task: save us from relegation. Ignore all this nonsense about it not being his squad, he was hired as a firefighter, in other words he was hired on his ability to get the most out of what he inherited. He thought he was up to it. He was not. If we tolerate failure at one level in the club then we tolerate it at all levels.

[align=center]2) HE HAS NO QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE JOB OF LEADING A SIDE TO PROMOTION. [/align]

At Bath City:
- In his first season, finished 16th when the top 13 teams out of 22 were promoted to the Conference North and South, also then failed in the playoffs.
- In his second season, finished 6th (one place outside playoffs) in a league comprising mainly of new teams from the previous division below.
- After leaving for Forest Green, the new manager of Bath guided them to 2nd, missing out on promotion in the playoffs, and then 1st.
> No success, the club did better after Owers left.

At Forest Green:
- His side only avoided relegation from the National League on the final day of the season, finishing 19th.
- He was actually hired when they thought they would be in the National South, only Northwich Victoria's ground kept them up.
- After leaving due to a poor start to the next season, the new manager of Forest Green guided them to 14th, and then 8th the next season.
> No success, the club did better after Owers left.

At Bath City (Take Two):
- Finished 14th in his first (half) season in charge.
- Finished 9th in his only full season in charge.
- Club is currently 10th.
> No success, remains to be seen how Bath do next season.

[align=center]3) THE RETAINED LIST. [/align]

It would be all too easy to wait til the end of the season, dither with performance reviews and suchlike. But let's consider if next season starts badly, we would be disposing of Owers anyway. Rather than yet another season of a manager being allowed to build a squad just to be sacked, let's get a new, qualified manager in NOW. He can have full say over who is retained and really build his own squad from the ground up. Hell, I'd have moved fast and had him in the stands tomorrow to have a look at the club and players to see what he thought.

[align=center]4) IT MAKES FINANCIAL SENSE AND WILL REINVIGORATE THE CLUB. [/align]

Yes, yes. Financial payoff blah de blah. However, weight that up against the possibility of failing in the VNS, and also against the general malaise surrounding the club. If we stick with the manager, there will be a lot of fans who don't want to go. If CO wants to prove that he is committed to this club and not just going through the motions, he should consider this and pull the plug. We cannot afford to linger in the VNS and see attendances fall further...and they will if we don't see immediate success.

Not that I expect any of this to figure in our owner's thinking, but we can dream, right? :}

So up yours Arry' , why make it so personal ? when all you can do is bleat when your pathetic posts are challenged.
So sad so very very sad,
At least Merse & myself have at least half an ounce of knowledge of the way a 'pro football club' works on a day to day basis instead of coming across as a rebel without a clue.
And yes, now Owers has established a settled squad finally, albeit too late, recent form is what we were all wanting at the beginning of the season.

[merse btpir]

Two players that always feature highly on man of the match awards. Hardly disastrous signings unless you have an agenda against somebody.......

I have 'an agenda' against any player who has been associated with taking this club down to it's lowest level since it turned professional in 1921.

To even think about 'Man of the Match'/'Player of the Year' in this attrocity of a season beggars belief in my opinion.

These players; these managements have taken us down and taken us down in a most shameful and avoidable way. You can't dress it up; they are failures, and that previous manager will never work as one again!

[westyorkshiregull]

Medical bill ? I'm confused on that one ...what does this mean ?

Reading these posts I can't add anything apart from agree.

Obvious we have not learned anything , failure only means a " go at promotion " ..." it's only a rung of the ladder "

I would say promotion from conference south is much much harder than 5th from bottom in conference national .....no doubt about it. No question about it !

So let's make the same balls up as we did last year

Congratulations osborne and Harrop. Honestly stay away from football. Football is not your strong point , is it ????

[Southampton Gull]

Stop deflecting from what I said. Clarke for example was voted our best player for the first part of the season so was hardly deserving of your labels for him. Same goes for Gowling, nothing to do with end of season awards.

When they played they proved to be plenty good enough, a gamble by a manager looking to improve a squad on limited budget compared to his successor. I don't remember anyone complaining when they signed. I think most of us thought we would be an improvement on last season. With just 4 games how can anyone judge what the end result would have been 42 games later.

[Arrywithnobrain]

:goodpost:
So up yours Arry' , why make it so personal ? when all you can do is bleat when your pathetic posts are challenged.
So sad so very very sad,
At least Merse & myself have at least half an ounce of knowledge of the way a 'pro football club' works on a day to day basis instead of coming across as a rebel without a clue.
And yes, now Owers has established a settled squad finally, albeit too late, recent form is what we were all wanting at the beginning of the season.

Fifteen and a half ounces short of the full pound then: yes, that just about sums you up.

[merse btpir]

When they played they proved to be plenty good enough

So where they going to suddenly become paragons of reliability given their recent histories of missing matches wholesale?

Come on!!!!

[Mattpuma]

It doesnt matter how good you are, if you are not fit to play 30 games in a season you are a liability the club cannot afford.

[merse btpir]

Exactly and the state of some of those players were in they weren't fit enough to play one game let alone thirty!

There's no doubt there was an improvement in tactics, fitness and performances after Owers arrived. The form guide points to us being 10th in the table as we stand; despite not winning a game for the first quarter of the season.........it was a hell of a mess to have to sort out.

[brucie]

So we had 3 points from 10 games when Owers came in. As well as that we had a whole raft of useless players signed by Nicholson - and you seriously think that Owers could have got us promotion. You are retarded.

Alan Richardson made a good point on Saturday. During the disastrous start ie under Nicholson (or with Nicholson's team) we lost to (amongst others) Guiseley, Woking , Solihull in quick succession and also got a draw at home against Chester - that's 1 point out of 12 against dire opposition. This is where the damage was done. The players were not fit for purpose.

Yet in the return matches under Owers we have beaten Woking and Chester, achieved a draw against Solihull. That's 7 points with Guiseley still to play.

Owers also got 4 points against Barrow. So all we really had to do to stay up was to compete with teams at the bottom - yet failed miserably earlier in the season.

[MellowYellow]

With just 4 games how can anyone judge what the end result would have been 42 games later.

At least we are now aware there was no judgement call, just a knee-jerk reaction because his 'puppet in arms' had a personal issue on his authority within the club.

[Teigngull]

I'm sorry Arry, I really am at a loss as to why you cannot post a comment with out making childish jibes to your ,supposedly, fellow supporter.
Take Dave & Merse for example, constantly at loggerheads and rarely agree, but post back & forth to each other with the belief they are correct but also in a civil manner.
They may never be best of friends but they do respect each others opinions.
You could try this yourself, if not, I'd very much appreciate it if you would reserve your feelings & thoughts about myself to yourself.
Many thanks.

[Jerry]

I keep seeing people refer to where we are in the form guide as a reason to keep Owers as if the fact that we played well for a month is good enough. Take a look back at the form table for the last month of the two previous seasons and you will find us right up near the top under Nicholson. Didn't help us much at the start of the following seasons did it?