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gullintwoplaces wrote:If it is Hargreaves than I would be very happy with that. If it is Sturrock then I would be very happy with that. If it is Martin Allen then I would be very happy with that. Whoever gets the job, though, I fully expect the moaning to begin within hours. One poster even suggested that if we appoint Hargreaves then we "will" go down (no evidence, just a nonsensical assertion). Jeez, I despair.

Whoever gets the job is on a hiding to nothing after the run of awful results under Alan Knill. I hope that everybody will get behind wheover gets the job. It will be hard enough for the new manager as it is without the moaning whingebags getting on his back from the off.

CP Gull wrote:Well it's looking more and more likely that it will be Greavsie, it would seem.

Have to hope that if he does take us on that it goes well for him as in my opinion it was his energy and drive and a few crucial goals at the end of that promotion winning season, not least the first at Wembley, that drove us on to promotion. For me, he deserved as much credit, if not more, as Paul Buckle for that achievement as he truly led that team to success by his endeavours on the pitch, a true leader in every sense during that time.

Whilst welcoming his appointment, if it happens, I do think it will represent by far and away the biggest gamble ever taken by this Board of Directors. The last couple of appointments (Ling and Knill) have both been relatively "safe" in terms of experience and knowing the job at this level. Whilst appointing Paul Buckle, a rookie Manager, represented something of a gamble, back then it was a totally different scenario with the only pressure being to (re)build a successful team and eventually get us back in the Football League in the medium (5 years?) term, the fact he achieved it in two probably came as a bit of a shock to all of us, not least the Board.

But, let's not forget that Buckle, whilst representing something of a gamble, had decent experience of managing (albeit as an Asst) in the league we were competing in, he also had practically a blank canvas (only 3 contracted players) a full season to prepare and a very healthy budget (top 5?) to build a competitive squad and on top of all this he had an extremely experienced older head in Colin Lee to oversee things.

Whilst some point to our success with rookie Managers (O'Farrell, Rosenior, Buckle) none of those I would suggest, inherited as difficult a situation as the new incumbent! On the flip side, it should also be born in mind that history tells us that our greatest "escape acts" were achieved with experienced heads at the helm (Warnock, Lee, Atkins).

Undoubtedly in Hargreaves favour will be an enormous amount of support and feel good factor from both the fans and the vast majority of the playing staff and background staff (all of whom will know him from his previous time here).

Personally, I would still like to see an experienced Asst/DOF brought in and although there is some suggestion that Geoff Harrop might be that man, I would be a little concerned that he has never worked at senior/adult level (at least as far as I am aware) before despite his wealth of experience.

Like I say, if it is to be Greavsie, then he will have my 100% support, but it would be a huge gamble by the Board. That said, the qualities that Greavsie will undoubtedly bring to the party are charisma (sadly lacking in the last incumbent), passion, drive, motivation, character and all with a pretty decent sense of humour thrown in too!

We are clearly not in a position financially to tinker too much with the squad, in truth it is too bloated now anyway particularly with nearly all the loanees seemingly heading back. We are pretty much left with what we have got and any new man would not have the luxury of being able to wheel and deal, another reason for choosing someone who can perhaps get the best out of people, rather than someone with a big fat contacts book! In the long term, it will become more of a test, lots of players' (mostly ones he has previously played with unfortunately!) contracts are up in the summer and that will be a huge test of his managerial capabilities when the tough decisions have to be made. Not only that, but we will then find out how good a contact base he has built up over his long playing career (which should stand him in good stead) and of course his abilities to persuade players to come and play for him in our little outpost ... in much the same way no doubt as Paul Buckle had to do to convince him it was a good idea all those years ago!

Even if we do end up going down (a distinct possibility) I feel we must stick by him and give him ever chance next season to rebuild in the Conference if that is where we end up. He deserves more than 20 odd games in a relegation battle in his first managerial post, in what represents a huge risk to him personally having given up a relatively safe and secure job, let's not forget, to come down here and try to save us.

Jeff wrote:I'm quite surprised that some people are so anti-Hargreaves.

If you ignore the fact he was an ex-player of ours, look at the credentials:

- over 20 years playing experience at every level from Championship down to Conference
- Captain of various teams, with experience of promotion, relegation and wembley finals
- something of a nomadic career - so you'd assume he has had lots of different coaching approaches applied to him as well as a fair few contacts
- retired fairly recently, and has been doing punditry work so up to speed with modern football
- since moving into coaching, he's been at a club with a moderately successful youth setup (I say moderately, as in better than ours but not on a par with someone like Crewe)

I appreciate that the concern is regarding whether we should go with experience or youth, but if you are going to go with a rookie coach you'd want him want him to have the background above.

If you then throw in the fact that he has played and captained the club, knows what it means to the people and the fans and has settled himself and his family in the area, surely that should be a bonus more than anything?

Jeff wrote:I'm quite surprised that some people are so anti-Hargreaves.

If you ignore the fact he was an ex-player of ours, look at the credentials:

- over 20 years playing experience at every level from Championship down to Conference
- Captain of various teams, with experience of promotion, relegation and wembley finals
- something of a nomadic career - so you'd assume he has had lots of different coaching approaches applied to him as well as a fair few contacts
- retired fairly recently, and has been doing punditry work so up to speed with modern football
- since moving into coaching, he's been at a club with a moderately successful youth setup (I say moderately, as in better than ours but not on a par with someone like Crewe)

I appreciate that the concern is regarding whether we should go with experience or youth, but if you are going to go with a rookie coach you'd want him want him to have the background above.

If you then throw in the fact that he has played and captained the club, knows what it means to the people and the fans and has settled himself and his family in the area, surely that should be a bonus more than anything?