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Southampton Gull wrote:The thread has evolved as have the playing fortunes of the team. I see nothing wrong or disrespectful in that. It's a football forum not a bloody church.

That's bull Dave. People changed their opinion on results. Who's to say we wouldn't be knocking on the play offs if Ling was well and fully functional?

How is anything I've said 'bull'. It's a fact. Thread has evolved, playing fortunes have evolved too. It is a forum and not a church. Explain what is actually bull.

Southampton Gull wrote:How is anything I've said 'bull'. It's a fact. Thread has evolved, playing fortunes have evolved too. It is a forum and not a church. Explain what is actually bull.

Explain how it has become a church

The g uy is human. Football can go out of the window as far as I am concerned

I for one have never said we wouldn't make the play-offs with (or without) a fully fit manager (read my posts). Others have thought otherwise. I don't think anybody has changed their opinion going purely on results. Most supporters have great respect for Lingy, and the greatest sympathy for him during his illness. And I shall be happy to see a fully fit Martin Ling return to take charge of the squad.

But supporters are entitled to consider and assess the impact of his illness, which is serious and relatively long-term, on the squad and the club. This is a realistic approach, and totally suited to the thread, which is about Lingy, his illness, and all relevant matters.

usagullmichigan wrote:.

Explain how it has become a church

The g uy is human. Football can go out of the window as far as I am concerned

Wtf are you on?

Michigan air lol

usagullmichigan wrote: That's bull Dave. People changed their opinion on results. Who's to say we wouldn't be knocking on the play offs if Ling was well and fully functional?

without being harsh usa - have you seen us play?

the only way we would be in the play-offs in our post october form is if was restricted to the bottom 12 teams.

No I rely on here and radio Devon. I just don't get why we have to start voting Ling out like this. I mean if he gets released by the club ok but for everyone to start saying bye bye I think is a tad harsh right now. Why can't we just let ride out right now and see what happens.

But, SNW, would we have suffered that post-October form with a fully fit manager? And we don't know how long he has been suffering from his illness, and therefore how long it has affected his running of the squad. I agree (in part) with USAGullMich here.

Its easy for people to who haven't had to watch the dross we have served up this season to sit here and blindly say we'd be doing better with Ling still in charge. He could of easily be gone at any point this season. Bearing in mind we barely won a game in the second part of last season as well and that was over shadowed because we scrapped the playoffs. And this year we have rarely played well just scrapped results here and there and then in October we plummeted.

I don't mean to sound like I'm slating Ling because like others I like him as well as a manager I like his honesty in his interviews don't really have a bad thing to say about him but its a results business and he was not getting results. Knill has come in and got us playing some good stuff and in my opinion we are playing the best football now under Knill then any point under Ling THIS season.

But we might have been doing better with a fully fit Ling in charge. We weren't doing well because he's been suffering from a serious illness, probably for longer than we know. If Alan Knill had been suffering the same illness would we have seen this good run of form? Probably not. And if a fully fit Martin Ling returns to take charge of the squad, where's the problem..?

Gullscorer wrote:But, SNW, would we have suffered that post-October form with a fully fit manager? And we don't know how long he has been suffering from his illness, and therefore how long it has affected his running of the squad. I agree (in part) with USAGullMich here.

see alexgulls post.

our poor form started towards the end of last season. of course lingy would then have time to spend with his family etc. before the new season. so i doubt that any "issues" would have presented themselves at this time, as our form was good up until october. this appears when he started speaking out about certain problems within the club. was this a link? we wont know i suppose.

Gullscorer wrote:But we might have been doing better with a fully fit Ling in charge. We weren't doing well because he's been suffering from a serious illness, probably for longer than we know. If Alan Knill had been suffering the same illness would we have seen this good run of form? Probably not. And if a fully fit Martin Ling returns to take charge of the squad, where's the problem..?

How do you know he has been ill all season? He stopped working in January. Your assuming he's been suffering all season. I'd like to think that he stopped soon to when he got the illness not carried it around for several months beforehand.

As said I wish Lingy a speedy recovery but to assume he has had it for so long and not done anything about it quicker would surprise me in all honesty. This type of thing isn't the type of thing that people will drag out.

Gullscorer wrote:But we might have been doing better with a fully fit Ling in charge. We weren't doing well because he's been suffering from a serious illness, probably for longer than we know. If Alan Knill had been suffering the same illness would we have seen this good run of form? Probably not. And if a fully fit Martin Ling returns to take charge of the squad, where's the problem..?

sorry mate but this post is purely conjecture and speculation.

and its a big "if." would he want to?

AlexG I merely indicated that Lingy may well have been suffering from this illness before he actually went off sick. And this type of illness is the type which creeps up unawares and really does drag out.

SNW, these are valid, carefully considered and plausible possibilities, rather than conjecture and speculation. And why I included the word 'if': Lingy may decide he is still not fully fit enough to return just yet. I discussed this (sort of) in an earlier post. :rules: