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So there we have it then. Confirmation that, thankfully, Martin Ling doesn't have a serious problem with his physical well being, as had unfortunately been speculated by some due to the void in information coming from he club ... which was perhaps understandable, in the circumstances.

In many ways, this sort of scenario ... are we allowed to call it a breakdown? ... leaves more questions than if it was simply a "physical" problem. How was this situation allowed to happen, was the Manager being supported enough by the club (and I don't mean just financially), how close a link is there between the Board/Team?

As for the future, IF Lingy was to return in May as suggested by Simon Baker, then surely there would need to be changes made to ensure that he (Lingy) doesn't succumb again. Whether the club has been supportive enough of the Manager in the past is open to debate, but surely if he is to return, there is no question that they will have to be MORE supportive of him in the future so as to ensure there is not a repeat.

I also think Martin Ling needs to look at what is best for him, his family and his health. IF he is to return as our full time Manager then surely he must relocate his family down here. In my opinion the club should insist upon that as they need to be a lot closer (than 200 miles away) to him as clearly he will need the full support of his family during his rehabilitation. Whether that is feasible I don't know, if it's not and things are just supposed to return to where they were at the beginning of his year, then the worry would be that there is always the possibility of a relapse, which would not reflect well on the club and would seriously damage Martin Ling's future employment prospects in the football industry, which (sadly) is probably already the case to a certain extent, as Lingy is no doubt aware.

To be honest, if moving the family down here is a non starter which it may well be, then I think Martin Ling should seriously consider whether a return to TUFC is really a good idea. Far better for him to use the time (the next 6 weeks) trying to find work a lot closer to his home and more crucially his family. Another concern I would have with him coming back is the relationship between him, Taylor and the players (those that are and will be) contracted for next season. I would imagine his " breakdown" will have had quite an impact on those players and it will be difficult (perhaps even impossible) for them to return to a "normal" working relationship for some of them at least. A fresh start might be the best for all concerned.

Certainly there are some big decisions ahead for both TUFC and Martin Ling and his family. From the club's point of view, the very WORST scenario is that they don't take decisive action as soon as the last ball is kicked this season. My fear is that we will dither along during the summer (something which it strikes me we are prone to do).... which would be a recipe for disaster for next season given the wreckage of this season and the major rebuild that is undoubtedly required for next season.

As for Lingy, I hope he continues to improve and makes a full recovery, whether we see him again at TUFC matters not, his health is the most important thing. In the fullness of time, I would hope that he may tell his story, far better to do that than try to hide everything. There is certainly no "shame" in what has happened to him, it happens to lots of people in life and in particular in stressful jobs (and managing TUFC must be VERY stressful!) and telling his story would also probably help him in the recovery process as well.

Having had 2 years of working in London and living in Paignton, its just doesnt work especially with children. Something had to give! Somebody must of seen something, this just doesnt appear over night!!

I feel more annoyed that, why wasnt this addressed at interview stage. I run my own small business and would i employ someone who lives 200 miles away, no chance. Maybe for a short period.
I cant see how Martin can return unless he totally relocates his family and do they want that??
What happens if he returns and has a relapse??

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.

Agree with most of that Brucie...although it does say that Knill "would almost certainly have a role to play in drawing up United's retained list", which sounds like he'll just be assisting in the decisions rather than making them. I think getting Knill's input on it would be a good idea should Ling return.

brucie wrote: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.

Stress can be, and in this case would appear to be a very serious illness.

Agree with Phil that stress, anxiety and mental health issues are extremely serious issues and only those who have in some way suffered from them in any way would fully comprehend the impact on the individual and their close friends / family.

I hope Martin can address whatever problems he may be encountering and make a full recovery or indeed, learn to develop an effective coping mechanism so he may again lead a fully functioning life. I wish him all the best.

The club is not to blame here for once, yes there must have been concerns at the interview process when it was revealed that Ling was to be living away from his family whilst doing the job but at the end of the day it is down to personal responsibility and Ling has clearly had problems handling such a situation. Those of you who have served in the forces or know someone who does will know that they are away from their families for far longer and have the risk of death to contend with and although i'm not saying it makes Ling's situation easier to deal with, it takes a much stronger individual to cope with this on a daily basis. I couldn't do it and i wouldn't do it and even i was managing a football team instead of being shot at i still wouldn't do it because i would struggle being away from my family and the kind of person i am i would most probably get hammered every night to help. Everyone is different so this is not the boards fault. Martin made a good case in interview i suspect and there was no reason to doubt there would be any problems.

In addition, those of you who are having a go at the board for not being supportive are way off the mark too. Obviously they have a duty of care as employers to facilitate any time off for Ling within reason but they aren't counsellors or medical professionals, they run a football club and pay Martin to manage it. That's all. It isn't their responsibility to sort Martins issues out so i can totally absolve them of blame for that too.

As CP says, if Ling WERE to come back then i'm sure there would be a few moron players uncomfortable with that given the issues with Martin and instead of acting professionally and as fully grown mature adults they will judge and not be the same. Whether we WANT them to be the same given the season we've had is debatable though! A fresh start though would possibly be beneficial to all.

I want Martin to get better and i want him to succeed in whatever he does but i am desperate for him NOT to return as manager. You all know my reasons and it would be a horrendous mistake IMO.

Don't have a go at the board for this though.

SBP wrote:Somebody must of seen something, this just doesnt appear over night!!

As I've said in other threads, I strongly suspect that Martin's illness had been affecting him for quite a while before he took a leave of absence. It would certainly explain quite a lot. That said, I wish him all the best and take no issue with his possible return to the club once he's returned to full health.

divingbboy wrote:Somebody must of seen something, this just doesnt appear over night!!

I think the signs were there. Even just based on his interviews with the media and his "relationship" with the hecklers behind him on the BB. He just seemed to be more tetchy, more frustrated and generally more fed up in the last few months. Compare this to the chirpy, chatty, cheerful figure we saw last season and it surely wasn't that difficult to work out things weren't quite right?

CP Gull wrote:
I think the signs were there. Even just based on his interviews with the media and his "relationship" with the hecklers behind him on the BB. He just seemed to be more tetchy, more frustrated and generally more fed up in the last few months. Compare this to the chirpy, chatty, cheerful figure we saw last season and it surely wasn't that difficult to work out things weren't quite right?

As someone who sits behind the dugout in BB, it wasn't just the fact that the hecklers were winding him up, but that he had become bizarrely subdued during matches. No directions to the players whatsoever. He just sort of sat there.

I spoke with a gentleman on leaving the Chesterfield game who said that Knill is working for nothing at present as he is connected with one of the directors. Not sure I believe that entirely but he did say that Knill has told the board he would like the job permanently and is doing everything he can to show willing and commitment to get it. Read into that what you will.

Personally, I have to agree with the majority of others. Knill seems to bring more of a passion and determination about him and a completely different approach to play. I like to see a manager animated on the touch line and coaching the players through the game. I felt Martin was totally the opposite, propping up the substitutes bench most of the time. Clearly this has transferred onto the pitch and this is obvious over the last several games. I cannot believe this is simply the addition of two players.

I think we may regret the reformation of the Ling / Taylor partnership and personally I feel that Martin will not come back. I never felt he was close to the supporters anyway. Many away games he walked off the pitch without clapping the away support. I like Knills attacking play which may take a little while to bed in but is certainly something to cheer about.

It certainly didn't help his cause telling supporters to get real when we started losing games and that we overachieved last season - I think those were the words of a manager under pressure and in trouble at the time.

My vote is for Knill - it just looks like he has more of a clue as to what he's doing and seems to have created an air of optimism at last.

For me, thanks ML for your efforts but time to move on for both parties. ML for his health and Tqy for stability of the club, plus the football wasnt exactly attractive. Given the nature of the illness and the nature of the job I cant see how he could come back.

The club cant say anything different at this stage for obvious reasons.

IMHO if Martin's problem was depression, there is absolutely no reason why he can't make a full recovery and return to being the manager he was last season. No event or series of events can necessarily 'cause' depression, and with appropriate treatment during his time away from TUFC (which he is probably receiving), a relapse is not necessarily a risk. We all applauded his managerial qualities last season. They will still be there in him, and once he has recovered, they will emerge again.

Depression? - it certainly depressed me watching Lings team - we were absolute garbage. Realistically I cannot see any return for him.

Heritage gull wrote:IMHO if Martin's problem was depression, there is absolutely no reason why he can't make a full recovery and return to being the manager he was last season. No event or series of events can necessarily 'cause' depression, and with appropriate treatment during his time away from TUFC (which he is probably receiving), a relapse is not necessarily a risk. We all applauded his managerial qualities last season. They will still be there in him, and once he has recovered, they will emerge again.

Whilst i can't comment on the clinical mechanisms of depressive illnesses HG, i can comment on the standard of football under Ling last season and although we made the play offs despite many of us not knowing how the hell we managed to do so when winning games 1-0 whilst under the cosh in many games, the standard of football served up was a pre-cursor to what we got this season. With this in mind, were he to return then the standard of football i have enjoyed under Knills brief tenure will be gone and we'll be back to defending for 90 minutes again and falling asleep at matches.

So yes, i applauded him for getting us to the play offs last season despite losing 3 key players and it shows he has managerial ability but the manner in which he went about this isn't what i would like to see again at TUFC. For what it's worth, back in the archives somewhere is a post from me saying that i would be happy to forfeit the play offs and skirt around mid table just for the sake of some excitement and to regain the yellow light that had gone out inside of me. The passion for watching my team was no longer there and someone made that happen. It didn't happen by itself.

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