I'm losing faith in Chris Powell. Are you?

[FarmdogSUFC]

I felt like he might have to go when we were 3-0 down v Portsmouth the other week live on telly. Next thing you know it’s the best come back I’ve ever seen.

I give up trying to decide what I think to be honest.

I don’t know if it’s the right thing or not.
Couldn’t do anything about injuries. But now I’m pretty sure we have enough to stay up with the bodies coming back.

Whether we can or not is another story. Ha.

I don’t know if I would be surprised if he got sacked now - I just think... what would it actually do if we did?

I don’t even disagree that sacking him could well end up being pointless, but that’s the last throw of the dice for us now IMO

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

I don’t even disagree that sacking him could well end up being pointless, but that’s the last throw of the dice for us now IMO

Could be right.

If it did end up being pointless and we went down wouldn’t you wish we stuck by him and build with a strong side for a league 2 team next season? Depending on who we can keep.

Still time to stay up. Players need to take responsibility.

God knows.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Could be right.

If it did end up being pointless and we went down wouldn’t you wish we stuck by him and build with a strong side for a league 2 team next season? Depending on who we can keep.

Still time to stay up. Players need to take responsibility.

God knows.

I wouldn’t keep him no. Hasn’t shown enough for me to be able to build a League 2 side. Injuries are well documented but too many times we’ve had a result this year where I’ve questioned his decisions. I pray we stay up but I’m resigned to us going now I think. What a **** night

 

[cerbera45]

Nothing in his post-match interview to fill me with confidence for Saturday.

 

[HypoTypo]

Well I have changed my vote now. The injuries are no longer an arguement for the team and formation choices. We played well against Blackpool despite the draw but last night was inexcusable.
Whether we stay up or not his inept choices, interviews and general decisions are now damaging our club. We can't afford next season to have the team managed like that or this time next year we'll be having the same conversations about going into L3.
SORT IT OUT NOW..... We are knackered anyway.

 

[Blueronron]

The question if he stays and if given a chance to redeem himself in league 1 or 2 next season, how long is he given and what’s the target for first 10 games
It’s a hard call for Ronnie , he sacks him now and another pay off we can ill afford and gives interim manager a chance to keep us up or sacks him now and brings in long term manager
Interim managers rarely last Steve Tilden being one exception.

 

[RHB]

The question if he stays and if given a chance to redeem himself in league 1 or 2 next season, how long is he given and what’s the target for first 10 games
It’s a hard call for Ronnie , he sacks him now and another pay off we can ill afford and gives interim manager a chance to keep us up or sacks him now and brings in long term manager
Interim managers rarely last Steve Tilden being one exception.

Who's this Steve Tildon bloke then? eh,eh?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I know you’re massively anti sacking Powell, but if he were to go would you be surprised? Genuine question here, not looking for a row. I honestly can’t see him still in charge Saturday

I would be massively surprised. I know people are emotional after the disappointment of last night but we actually played well first half and it would be out of character for Ron to make a kneejerk sacking. It would also be an absolute disaster for this club to suddenly change track: the signings in the summer still have 18+months left on them. If the new manager doesn't fancy them that's an awful lot of deadweight to carry around. This is perhaps a bigger financial risk than relegation.

If there's a change because Ron feels like he needs to be seen to be making a change I'd have thought it would be an assistant to go.

Remember: it would be cheaper to fire Keen than Powell; Keen didn't join until the summer after Powell had kept us up last year; and that in March 2010 Ron sacked the ex-Hamster assistant instead of the Southend legend....

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

I take your points but it would hardly be knee jerk. Chris Phillips just tweeted some stats to back this. 4 points in our last 27 on offer. The worst form of the bottom 12 teams. The average league position of the teams we’ve played is 14.3. That’s the 3rd lowest compared to the other 12 teams. That simply isn’t good enough

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

I think the trouble we have here, is that I don't think he is a very good manager... genuinely I don't

the pitch got us some terrific wins at the end of last season, along with the honeymoon effect. I have seen nothing at all from Chris Powell and his coaches to suggest he can inspire a winning mentality amongst his troops. If we do stay up and he stays, ( I think we are doomed regardless of if he stays or goes to be fare , the following year regardless of the league will be pretty much the same, he just doesnt have the nouce to create whats needed in my eyes

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

I’ve got a feeling if he was going it would be today and the later it gets the more unlikely it is.

 

[MK Shrimper]

He probably has one more game. Lose on saturday against a club at the foot of the table and his job is untenable IMHO.

 

[EnzoBlue]

A draw is also not good enough IMO , anything but a win and he should do the right thing and resign. I want him gone now but looks likely he'll get Saturday at least

 

[Jai]

If we're going to go down the route of getting rid of the manager there needs to be a well-thought out plan in place. There is a lot of mitigation for our poor performances this season. But equally, Powell has made some errors which have exacerbated things. He's had little to no margin for error.

As YB says, we can't just sack him without a plan in place. This is still Phil Brown's squad, Powell has not had the chance to rebuild the way he would like because of the high wage bill afforded to his predecessor. A new man will have even less leeway to bring in his own players. If Ron chooses to back him and he doesn't succeed? Well then we're gambling on our very existence.

As ****ed off and worried as I am today, Ron Martin cannot make a kneejerk decision here. This feels like a crossroads in our long-term future, not just this season.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

If we're going to sack managers every time we flirt with relegation then we're going to need a Director of Football in charge of transfers and imposing a philosophy through all levels of the club with the manager being a head coach implementing the DoF's vision.

For those wanting to promote Ricky Duncan, maybe this would be a role for him?

I think there's a lot to be said for such a strategy but I'm not sure when you are in a relegation battle would be the time to implement it.

 

[Jai]

Probably not the time for this post but while managers clearly do have an influence, I think once the players cross that white line they are largely responsible for their own actions. Football matches are won and lost largely on individual decisions by players. You might occasionally get a bit of tactical brilliance or an inspired substitution (or a costly one) but really it's down to the players.

Someone has to carry the can, I'm not disputing that, but the idea that Powell is somehow controlling them like Subbuteo men from the sideline is laughable. Players aren't told to drop deep or play long balls towards a 5ft 9ins front man or not make telling runs in support of the attack. They do these things out of a lack of confidence, intelligence or ability. Powell's job is to replace those not up to the job, but with the transfer window closed obviously it's too late for that now.

Will a new man be able to magic all our recovering players back to match fitness? Will he be able to force our defenders to switch on at set pieces? It may well be that a new broom might inject some confidence, but I am concerned some see it as a magic get out of jail free card. It's not.

 

[EnzoBlue]

Prior planning prevents **** poor performance an old cliche but accurate to most forms of this life around us. It seems no one employed and paid by the club has this mentality installed in them. It's all a complete wing it attitude.

It's not the fact it's knee-jerk reaction to get upset about the predicament we're in , we're about to witness 5 years of effort to get back here go down the pan.

The budget , The squad , The wages spent deserve far better than produced injuries or not , it's hurt us more down to the good old fact that we have no plan B , no contingency , no ethos installed as an identity of who we are.

Roots Hall with far less talented squads has been a difficult place for any team to come , Remember when QPR rolled into town when we was absolute dog**** at the time , for a lack of quality sometimes hunger gets your on a more even keel , at present it's clear we don't have that hunger.

People make reference to confidence like the supporters are meant to feel sorry for them , Are you kidding? most would dream of a job as a professional footballer and the financial perks it can provide comparable to the ordinary man , its about time some of these players take a long hard look in the mirror instead of moping around as soon as a goal in conceded.

 

[Napster]

If we're going to sack managers every time we flirt with relegation then we're going to need a Director of Football in charge of transfers and imposing a philosophy through all levels of the club with the manager being a head coach implementing the DoF's vision.

For those wanting to promote Ricky Duncan, maybe this would be a role for him?

I think there's a lot to be said for such a strategy but I'm not sure when you are in a relegation battle would be the time to implement it.

isnt this what I posted ages ago - get rid of Keen, get a DoF.

 

[South Bank Hank]

You know what? Some really good quality arguments from all sides around an emotive subject at an emotive time here. Well played ShrimperZone!

 

[manor15]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1105527441374806021

Interesting, and very surprised it's not much higher given the injuries and justifications we often assume here that Powell is forced to turn to youngsters.

Suppose we may be an odd case as we have a lot of very young/inexperienced players (Bishop, Elvis, Dru, Kelman, etc.) but next to no-one who is 21-22 with a few years of first team football under their belts.