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PlainmoorRoar wrote:balls to what Ling has said, the mans arrogance oozes from his assurance that he can swan back in

Why is it arrogant to assume that, after having a prolonged period of sickness, your job would be secure?

If I had a contract with my company (which I do) and I had a long period of sickness, throughout which time I was assured my job was safe (which Ling has alluded to - and there is no reason to suspect he is lying, after all if it is a false statement the club could easily dispute it), I would expect to be granted the opportunity of coming back - albeit maybe meeting with my manager (in Lings case the Board) and chatting through the future plans. If there was then a parting of the ways, so be it, but to say he was arrogant for expecting to be able to come back to a job he was contracted to do, is a rather crazy statement in my opinion.

There is nothing arrogant about it.

You can be sacked on ill health grounds....but the board did not need to do that as our results spoke for themselves

chunkygull wrote:oooooh a bit of ruthlessness from the board. i like it.

has thea become our very own iron lady.

dont start all that again!

get back on the new shirt thread where you belong!

I'm clearly in the minority... but I think this is the wrong decision. If Ling was in charge and fully fit all season I don't think we would have touched a relegation battle. I also don't think we would have got play-offs but you don't know what you've got until it's gone in this league. Ling was trying to build this team from behind the scenes and this season was always going to be the one where on pitch performance might be at its most fragile with such investment happening away from the pitch.

Ling would never have seen us fall into a relegation fight. I hope the board make the right call on the next manager. People have short memories... Knill has hardly been inspirational.

At the same time, Steve, Knill took over a side who'd lost 7 in a row. He's given them confidence, and got them playing and scoring goals. He has previous, his Bury side were one of the best teams I've seen at Plainmoor in years and they gained a reputation for attacking, passing football. That's what we want to see.

I wonder if the club were looking to sack Martin before he fell ill.........cos surely at the time it couldnt of been far from their thoughts. So when Martin fell ill, they then for so many reasons couldnt be seen to sack him.

Scott Brehaut wrote:Torquay skipper Lee Mansell was taken aback, having expected to be working again with Ling next season.

"I'm speechless," he said.

"The club has obviously seen fit for some reason to part the ways with him, and I'm a little bit devastated, to be honest with you.

"Working for him was brilliant, we got on really well.

"For me he's up there with one of the best man-managers I've had during my career, and for me he's been absolutely different class."

well, he wouldnt say he was sh*t would he??

stevegull wrote:I'm clearly in the minority... but I think this is the wrong decision. If Ling was in charge and fully fit all season I don't think we would have touched a relegation battle. I also don't think we would have got play-offs but you don't know what you've got until it's gone in this league. Ling was trying to build this team from behind the scenes and this season was always going to be the one where on pitch performance might be at its most fragile with such investment happening away from the pitch.

Ling would never have seen us fall into a relegation fight. I hope the board make the right call on the next manager. People have short memories... Knill has hardly been inspirational.

come on steve.............you know what you are doing! =D

stevegull wrote:Knill has hardly been inspirational.

Really? I would say that being given a team totally bereft of confidence with no real leaders and no leadership from the management and turning them into a team who fought to keep the club in the league despite most of them looking for new jobs in the summer would have taken a fair bit of inspiration to do, don't you?

Ling would never have seen us fall into a relegation fight. I hope the board make the right call on the next manager. People have short memories... Knill has hardly been inspirational.[/quote
Well, we're all entitled to our opinions, but I do believe that Knill DID inspire a failing team to come back from the brink. They had help from Labadie ( ) & Chappell for a bit, but even when they were recalled, the training regime & leadership that Knill gave them saw us through. Even the games that we lost were being battled for; previously, as soon as a goal went in from the opposition,United were anything but! I wanted to support the team that I saw post-Knill, but was very concerned for the lads with no confidence before that.

stevegull wrote:I'm clearly in the minority... but I think this is the wrong decision. If Ling was in charge and fully fit all season I don't think we would have touched a relegation battle. I also don't think we would have got play-offs but you don't know what you've got until it's gone in this league. Ling was trying to build this team from behind the scenes and this season was always going to be the one where on pitch performance might be at its most fragile with such investment happening away from the pitch.

Ling would never have seen us fall into a relegation fight. I hope the board make the right call on the next manager. People have short memories... Knill has hardly been inspirational.

are you mad?

our team was utter devoid of conifdence, couldnt stop conceding late and couldnt score enough! Knill came in steadied the ship and kept us in this league all for FREE

SuperNickyWroe wrote: well, he wouldnt say he was sh*t would he??

Quite - but he could have equally kept his own counsel.

My concern, and I have only just got in and heard so have had no time to trawl through emails, is that there is no legal challenge that could cost us dear as a club so I hope it's been done in the correct manner. I liked Martin as a bloke and thought he always came across as a decent man but we must not go through another period like we just have. I hope ML gets sorted out with another post soon and that we get a decent, forward thinking and progressive manager in place in good time to put a squad together to challenge for promotion again. Will it be Alan Knill and Chris Brass? you never know!

Scott Brehaut wrote: Quite - but he could have equally kept his own counsel.

perhaps he should have.......

Quite right SNW... o:)

And to the others who have called up on my views... I do commend Knill for doing the job and keeping us in the league means we do all owe him a debt of gratitude. It's also terrific that he was only paid expenses. He's clearly a good lad who's just trying to improve his CV and get back into management. Knill did fine in turning around our downward slide. BUT... we just scraped past in these last few games and I don't think any of you were calling Knill a managerial master after the Bradford game at the start of April. In fact, after watching that game in particular, I began to really question what Knill had done differently to improve the team and whether we would stay in League football.

I say again, he did well to turn it around after that. But please don't forget his indifferent games at the helm previous to these last few results. He's done okay... no better... no worse. I wouldn't be devastated if he got the job but I also won't be jumping for joy if he did get it...