Thanks Kev - but is a new manager needed?

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Says someone not funding the club!

COSU have stated their priority as becoming financially sustainable - we don't know quite what that means apart from increasing non football related revenues and stemming losses of circa £1.5m per year.

Aaah your Wrexham if you want to see attacking football or signings now the new one, you can’t question the mindset of the owners unless you are also funding the club … ffs

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Watch us go on a 12 game unbeaten run after this

12points if we do

 

[Holy Joe]

Presumanly SUFC (and by impliciation COSU) get a share of the income generated by showing their games on DAZN tv?

I'm not sure what the deal is with dazn - with nltv you used to 'nominate' a club when you signed up and it appeared they would get a share of the subscription - so larger clubs with more subscribers would get a bigger share of the pot. I don't think I've seen how dazn are sharing the 'pot'

 

[Holy Joe]

Aaah your Wrexham if you want to see attacking football or signings now the new one, you can’t question the mindset of the owners unless you are also funding the club … ffs

It's very easy for fans to be calling for more investment/spend when it's not their money. Someone else mentioned that perhaps Cosu should give a financial update as we won't get to see 2024 accounts until 2026! I think thats a good idea - I suspect, but don't know, they've probably spent more than they thought they would so far - mostly paying debts (so nothing to see for that expenditure). Might be why they're being a bit more conservative on things they can control, like the football dept budget.

 

[danbowen]

Can we ask the league for an embargo. Usually that gives us an uptick in form on the pitch.

 

[smudgster]

I am happy to stick with Kev until at least the end of the season. Just hope the lots of things wrong are sorted out. If it isn't he will have to go.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Get hammered by FGR next Saturday infront if their 60 gloating fans and the atmosphere will start to get nasty

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

Get hammered by FGR next Saturday infront if their 60 gloating fans and the atmosphere will start to get nasty

Smash them 1 nil and Roots Hall go wild with a Seasider love in.

 

[Strykr]

Mostly some very good and reasoned debate here.

It seems a bit of a non issue to me as i sincerely doubt cosu will sack kev.

About 6 or 7 games ago i came to the sad conclusion that this seasons already over. Players arent good enough, tactics are stale.

I imagine we have 4 or 5 targets that are on the fringes in league 2 teams with contracts expiring that we will go for, and will hopefully be enough to see us boringly midtable.

I give him 10 games into the next season, and i expect cosu will do the same. Adapt or your gone Kev, club legend or not.

 

[LeedsSUFC]

With FGR at home, Halifax and York away coming up. I don’t think we’ll get many results until the new year.

COSU’s approach will be tested.

 

[kentblues]

How long would you give Maher?

Another season having had a embargo free summer.

 

[Shrimper]

Another season having had a embargo free summer.

We've been embargo free since July 5th. Is that not long enough?

 

[kentblues]

We've been embargo free since July 5th. Is that not long enough?

No. Player contracts run to the end of June. Particularly for signings of NL players most decent business is done before July for obvious reasons. Similarly to a large extent in the EFL if players are out of contract.

Of course decent players still under contract are available- for an appropriate fee that might not represent “value”

So no, July 5th isn’t long enough at all unless you can throw some money at the problem.

 

[Liam AAS]

We've got some good players with a good manager but there are 24 teams in this league, all trying to get promoted. Only two will manage it; it already looks like it won't be us this time.

Maher should get 12 months from now imo, next summer will give us a real run-up on identifying and signing top-tier players in key positions. If we are still in **** midway through November next season then you might start to wonder if, in spite of how he has helped keep the club alive, maybe he isn't the one to take us up.

I think COSU are probably being a bit conservative in the transfer market this season having rolled the dice with Bonne and Moncur and seemingly gotten Snake Eyes.

Lots of things have occured which are likely to have fractured morale:

• Kensdale's behaviour if true
• Rumours of the wage structure being smashed in a vain attempt to keep Cardwell
• The subsiding adrenaline from last season

None of those things are on the manager and he has had to try to keep things going with key players being ripped out of the side.

Ultimately loyalty goes both ways, I think he has earned ours by not walking away last year, He has mine, but I understand why some are wavering. I think we owe him a fair crack of the whipe, something he hasn't had this season of Ron's nonsense with the takeover this summer. You only have to look at Barnet's early signings to see how important it is to get business done early.

 

[Benfleet Blue]

Sorry but he’s just too stubborn. Has good players but plays a system that really hasn’t worked all season. Teams know how we play but he refusss to change. 4 4 2 I feel would suit better we have players to fit but he refuses to change. He drops Morton who’s been the best player for weeks brings in Miley who is nowhere near as creative, keeps Husin in and he’s yet to have a good game this year and punishes Colin, his treatment at the end of the Charlton game was deplorable, and he’d certainly have saved their second yesterday. Wind who was man of the match at Rochdale hasn’t had a look in since. How good must he feel.
We’re negative in the extreme our possession is slow and laboured compared to say Barnet who shift the ball quickly and get forward with each pass, he discourages shots from distance and to be truthful watching the side at present is like watching grass grow.
We have a good team who I feel are being held back by KM.
Maybe if he wasn’t so stubborn and played in form players forgetting his loyalty we may stand a chance but certainly not with the current formation and negativity

 

[overseas shrimper]

I've voted no to Kev going. He still has a bit in the bank for me and I never expected much out of this season due to the poor prep for the season after a protracted takeover saga.

However, I am getting concerned (or is that 'fed up') with KM's rigidity to a system that isn’t working, our lack of goals and our insipid football. His team selection is also too often baffling.

I can see my faith wavering if this continues into the new year.

 

[Target man]

Is there anyone you haven’t spoken to today ?

Believe it or not, people go to football and speak to others, it's normal, unless it's with ignorant morons then you don't bother.

 

[Southend Elvis]

How on earth can we give Kev till the end of the season or a few months into next, surely everything depends on results. If we are stuck around the drop zone, for too much time something will have to give.
Of course we would all love things to turn a corner, but this thread it's already up in November so God knows what would happen if things don't improve.
I know there are some of us that only see good, when in reality things are never as positive.

 

[Medway Blue]

Interesting debate.

Some missteps have been made, including, imo, yesterday's starting line-up. For balance, though, I don't think it's a favourites thing. A line-up is picked which the management team feels is best for a given opponent/situation, but the players selected need to win their individual battles and do the basics right. Too many of them didn't yesterday, but hopefully lessons were learned in terms of the starting line up.

I think we're in a crowded room as an average mid-table quality team, which might be able to challenge for the playoffs if all the stars align.

There's not enough acknowledgement of the how badly the quality and settled nature of our best starting 11 has been affected by the losses of Cardwell and Kensdale (both of whom were integral to the way we play, and who Maher is yet to be afforded a proper chance to replace), nor of how the siege mentality likely had us playing above ourselves.

Things certainly need to improve, but I won't be happy judging Maher until he has had a fair and uninterrupted crack at rebuilding and improving his squad. He deserves to be given January, when I believe the market will open up. I would then assess where we are in mid-March. If we're in a relegation battle then a decision may need to be made. If we're bobbing along in lower mid table, then I'd allow him to have his first full and uninterrupted summer transfer period and see where he can take us next season.

Easy for me to say as I wrote this season off when I heard about the depth of the issues last summer, and got told who was standing in Maher's office ready to sign for us, but was unable to do so and had to sign elsewhere.

The management team knows who and what they want, and at the moment, they are not caving to demands from supporters to sign just anybody, or to settle for lesser players than the ones they are targeting. Good on them for that. To me, that suggests that they're confident they have a good chance of landing those targets soon.

Attempts have been made to fill the gaps with the likes of Bonne and Moncur, players who had displayed some of the qualities that the management team is seeking in the past, but who for whatever reason had lost their way recently. Calculated risks were taken on them as loans/free transfers in the hope that maybe they could rediscover previous form, but it hasn't happened yet. One of those things. It was worth a try. Clearly the club knew they were risks, and that's why they were only signed for a year.

I really want Kev to stay.

But I wish he would play more aggressive attacking football.

Or to train the players to play one day, 442, the next 532, etc…. Or what ever may upset the opposition the most.

i.e., Let the team a be a lot more flexible than it currently is.

I just don't think it's the time to be doing that. Our entire structure and style is based on 3 at the back. To switch to 4 at the back would require new personnel, and a big upheaval to our style and structure.

It's also not as simple as "we've been sussed out".

What we need is the players who are in the building to do the basics right, and then we need some new and better players.

I have the upmost respect for differing opinions but why exactly do 45% of people who have voted believe we are on the right course sitting just above relegation spots and should stick with Kev?

I haven't voted just curious.

What if this is the best he'll get from them? Then what? Just keep going with the status quo? He's had plenty of time to make changes and get players in but it's all been very poor. Why are we waiting until January, as some seem to be alluding to, when we need help now?

Because the management team isn't panicking yet. They know who they want and believe they have a good chance of landing them. We all have opinions and are entitled to them, but we're not the ones on the training ground with the current players everyday, nor out watching targets. Opinions aside, who are we to demand that the management team compromises its educated standards and vision and sign any man and his dog because we "need help now"?

Sorry, but I don't think it's panic stations time yet. Maher et al. have earned the right to have some faith put in them to put things right, and being 3 points off the relegation zone and 7 off the playoffs with 84 still to play for isn't cause to ditch them yet.

He hasn’t had plenty of time to bring players in even if he could find “value”- most of the time he has been under an embargo, even in the summer the embargo was lifted after we had reports of many missed signings. Then you have the pick of who’s left, and then if you seek “value” it’s tough. But it’s clearly all Kev’s fault…

No-ones denied we've been under embargo a lot. But we've been out of embargo since July 5th. That's effectively a whole summer window if you go by the traditional August end date. It's not a good enough excuse.

And we had begun speaking to our main targets in the Spring. We're an attractive proposition at this level, but some people need a reality check. Very few players are going to hold on to see whether our transfer embargo gets lifted so they can sign for us, when they have decent alternative options.

Yes, it was lifted on 5th July, but nobody - not us, not prospective signings, not Maher, not even COSU - could guarantee that would be the case even a week beforehand.

In the NL players are out of contract end of June (indeed EFL too I think) so not surprisingly a lot of business was done prior. Lower league players no club, no salary, mortgage to pay…

You have players out of contract who couldn’t get a move prior (not a great pool to fish in), or players still under contract that will require a fee and wages at least as competitive as they had currently.

Part-time players are out of contract at the end of May. That's why a few were unable to hold on to see if our situation got fixed in time for them to sign for us over the summer.

There's a lot of excuses there, and you fail to mention Kev brought those players in. Would love to agree with you regarding KM but too much lands at his door..

Too many people confusing reasons for excuses. Any individual's refusal to accept a logical reason, does not make that reason any less valid.

They were certainly over hasty in extending his contract and have made a rod for their own back. As I have said on numerous occasions Project Maher has run its course and as the years roll on his shortcomings grow more obvious.

Project Maher has barely begun. It simply can't begin until he is afforded the opportunity to rebuild his squad unhindered by difficulties off-field.

I'm not saying Maher isn't above being questioned, or that he doesn't get anything wrong. All managers at every level get things wrong from time to time.

I do think he should be shown a little more respect, faith and patience, though, considering what he has done for us. He was a legend before coming back as manager, but what he accomplished last season transcends that. It's not an exaggeration to say that if it weren't for him, last season's squad would have fallen apart and we'd have been relegated. He stuck by the club, the city and the supporters, and definitely by his players, going way above and beyond the call of duty of a mere first team manager. All he has known here is working with at least one hand tied behind his back, and I think he deserves to be given a fair chance at working under normal conditions.

I'm not suggesting loyalty to Maher is more important than the club and staying up, but I do think he should be shown a bit more faith and loyalty, and I don't buy into the panic at the moment.

 

[Leeboy]

I've voted no to Kev going. He still has a bit in the bank for me and i never expected much out of this season due to the poor prep for the season after a protracted takeoversaga.

However, I am getting concerned (or is that 'fed up') with KM's rigidity to a system that isn’t working, our lack of goals and our insipid football. His team selection is also too often baffling.

I can see my faith wavering if this continues into the new year.

this.

I’m also intrigued by Kev’s Echo interview if someone could be so kind to post it up.