New Manager (Rumours and Suggestions)

[chris who]

A decent article about Mark Bonner.

Mark Bonner starts to create own style at Cambridge United

Head coach brings multiple influences to mould U's

www.google.com

 

[NWBluesFan]

Possibly putting words into his mouth to suit a particular narrative?

Not intentionally, no. But perhaps I did.

I do think we have a number of impatient fans which is to our detriment though.

I take his quote at face value.

“It is a last resort thing that anyone at the club, certainly me, would want to do, but the conclusion was that we’re impatient, our fans are impatient, I am impatient, the club is impatient and the expectations for promotion are strong.“

 

[OneSirKeefy]

I never said he didn't care what the fans think, but I doubt it is the sole or even primary reason for the basis of his decisions.

Edit: Furthermore, it's not like there was wholesale or even significant clamour for managerial change. If Brad is so fixated on the views of the fans as a barometer to make business decisions why would he ignore the views of those not yelling for the axe to be swung? Were there any Clemence out chants last few games of the season? Not sure there were.

Agree. Also if Brad were listening to fans then he’d have brought out PS and sacked KJ & AH months ago.

I also think he’d never have appointed an inexperienced coach in the first place if all he did was take fans views into account.

In that interview he backed up what my opinion was (yay!). Our poor form after the public backing did for Clem. I think SC expected us to finish strongly with that pressure off. I’m sure if we’d got into the play-offs and lost, or maybe taken it to the last day, been playing well and maybe unlucky not to succeed then SC might have been safe. Fact is, we fell off a cliff the last few weeks. 8th might have been “acceptable”. 12th and sinking wasn’t.

Think our last 6 results were W1 D1 L4? And the win and draw were both against 10 men.

 

[OneSirKeefy]

With interviews happening already, does that definitively rule out Lindsey?

I’d imagine so.

Brad said the retained list was already “done”, but they aren’t releasing it until the new manager has run his approval over it.

Someone said the deadline for publishing the retained list is 2nd week of May? If that’s correct then I doubt we’d have time to interview and hire Scott Lindsey. Also, with the calibre of those supposedly Interviewed, I can’t see why we’d want to. He’s a decent coach, but not immediately available (if at all) and he’d cost ££ extra. Move on.

 

[Lark]

I’d imagine so.

Brad said the retained list was already “done”, but they aren’t releasing it until the new manager has run his approval over it.

Someone said the deadline for publishing the retained list is 2nd week of May? If that’s correct then I doubt we’d have time to interview and hire Scott Lindsey. Also, with the calibre of those supposedly Interviewed, I can’t see why we’d want to. He’s a decent coach, but not immediately available (if at all) and he’d cost ££ extra. Move on.

Retained list deadline is 3rd Saturday in May, so we’ve got a while yet.
The news I was expecting last Monday was the retained list rather Clemence being sacked as Clemence said he’d already spoken to the players about their futures.
I guess it may change now but I’m sure Kenny would have had his input on it as well and he could always do it worse case scenario if no manager in by then. I’d hope we get news of the new manager by early to middle of next week though.

 

[Captainreblue]

Agree. Also if Brad were listening to fans then he’d have brought out PS and sacked KJ & AH months ago.

I also think he’d never have appointed an inexperienced coach in the first place if all he did was take fans views into account.

In that interview he backed up what my opinion was (yay!). Our poor form after the public backing did for Clem. I think SC expected us to finish strongly with that pressure off. I’m sure if we’d got into the play-offs and lost, or maybe taken it to the last day, been playing well and maybe unlucky not to succeed then SC might have been safe. Fact is, we fell off a cliff the last few weeks. 8th might have been “acceptable”. 12th and sinking wasn’t.

Think our last 6 results were W1 D1 L4? And the win and draw were both against 10 men.

Think there are a few things to come out of that interview that are slightly worrying.

It's all very well being impatient, both fans, Brad and Joe but that doesn't bode well for building a sustainable club, long term. Whoever is coming in next needs time, something SC wasn't afforded. Agree with BG when he says about not wanting to have to get rid of SC 3 months into next season if it wasn't going well. On the flip side of that with a new man coming in a having a pre season and recruiting his players what will BG do if 3 months in we're only mid table? Will his impatience kick in again. I think it probably will.

The process of appointing SC was clearly flawed if we genuinely believed he was the right man 6 months ago and now he's not the man. Not sure I have belief in those appointing the next one tbh. We have to put trust in that manager and back him with a budget but most importantly time. I'm just not convinced the last bit is something BG gets is what's needed. Certainly 6 months, no pre season and an inherited squad is not giving a manager a fair crack at it IMO.

I'm not convinced that we actually have a long term plan, we're just desperate to get promoted, rather than having the belief in someone enough to build something over time, (a season or two).

Bottom line is you're only as good as your recruitment, and whilst defensively our recruitment has been ok/good,our recruitment in forward areas hasn't. Our creative players havent been good enough.Whatever those creative players did at previous clubs, they haven't done it here and our 'strikers' just aren't at the level we need individually or collectively as a group to be a threat.

There's plenty to be done over the summer. Let's hope we get it right.

 

[OneSirKeefy]

I’d hope we get news of the new manager by early to middle of next week though.

Agree with that. If we have interviewed about 7 managers so far, I reckon they’d all feel pretty aggrieved if we now do nothing but wait to interview Lindsey in another week or 2.

 

[GillsBluenose]

Think our last 6 results were W1 D1 L4? And the win and draw were both against 10 men.

Just to fair to SC, it was W1 D2 L3. Draws against Crewe and Doncaster at home. Mind you it did include the meltdown at Harrogate which must have been a reality call for BG.

I suspect SC is a good coach but not suited to every team or eventuality and not really a problem solver, and I would say our goal scoring record over 3 seasons has been a major problem.

That is why I am encouraged to hear BG refer to managers rather than coaches, which I hope also means bringing some experience in to the mixer.

 

[GillsBluenose]

Agree with that. If we have interviewed about 7 managers so far, I reckon they’d all feel pretty aggrieved if we now do nothing but wait to interview Lindsey in another week or 2.

Wasn't there a suspicion that he was interviewed 6 months ago before we appointed Clem?

I don't think we were refused permission to talk to him like we were with Maher, so would a second interview be required?

 

[Gills77]

Not intentionally, no. But perhaps I did.

I do think we have a number of impatient fans which is to our detriment though.

I take his quote at face value.

“It is a last resort thing that anyone at the club, certainly me, would want to do, but the conclusion was that we’re impatient, our fans are impatient, I am impatient, the club is impatient and the expectations for promotion are strong.“

From your quote its as clear-as-day he implied the fans' opinions played a significant part in the sacking.

 

[Gills77]

The process of appointing SC was clearly flawed if we genuinely believed he was the right man 6 months ago and now he's not the man.

He wasn't the right man 6 months ago. I believe i read on here he was 3rd choice?

 

[Captainreblue]

He wasn't the right man 6 months ago. I believe i read on here he was 3rd choice?

Our first two choices (if rumour is to be believed BG didnt want to pay the compensation) so in BG and KJ mind he was 1st choice, that we wanted and afford.

They're also appointing the new guy, so no guarantee we'll get our first choice now.

 

[nibbles]

Agree with that. If we have interviewed about 7 managers so far, I reckon they’d all feel pretty aggrieved if we now do nothing but wait to interview Lindsey in another week or 2.

I can see us talking to Lindsey but I really can’t see him going through the whole interview process again.

If we want Lindsey we’d have made contact. I wonder if he was at Chatham Town supporting his old team on Wednesday night.

 

[Gills1962]

Can’t see us talking to anyone requiring compensation as this would probably reduce the playing budget
I feel Brads comments reflect that we’re going to plough everything affordable into recruitment

 

[HullGills]

Seeing as he is now odds on favourite with betting odds.com just watched on YouTube an in depth interview with Mark Bonner. with Gab Sutton Raises some good points and some towards the end relatable to SC.

 

[GillsBluenose]

Seeing as he is now odds on favourite with betting odds.com just watched on YouTube an in depth interview with Mark Bonner. with Gab Sutton Raises some good points and some towards the end relatable to SC.

He signed a new "long term" contract with Cambridge in September last year and was then dismissed in November last year after a run of one win in 13 league games, which probably went back to, er, September?

So what length of contract would we be offering him?

 

[Billy_Bleach]

Seeing as he is now odds on favourite with betting odds.com just watched on YouTube an in depth interview with Mark Bonner. with Gab Sutton Raises some good points and some towards the end relatable to SC.

Do you have a link to this please mate? I can't find it on YouTube.

 

[Lizardprime]

Think there are a few things to come out of that interview that are slightly worrying.

I agree. I appreciate the transparency as much as everyone which is welcome for the club and I do completely understand Brad's reasoning, which had been pretty well litigated by the fans by now in defence of the decision. But it was a bit eyebrow-raising at moments.

It's all very well saying "I value continuity but..." but eventually it will stop meaning anything. We're about one more arguably wrong appointment and/or early sacking away from those being empty words.

If Brad and the team are as impatient as he says but want to live up to his principles on continuity then it's even more important to get this appointment right and stand by their own decision in the long-term this time. It sounds like lessons have been learned in that regard and time will tell.

 

[alex_farrells_left_peg]

David Moyes is likely to be available in a wee while.... and he did more than ok with Preston North End before going to Everton. That said he was crap at Manure so maybe not quite right for us...... what do you think?

 

[nibbles]

Think there are a few things to come out of that interview that are slightly worrying.

It's all very well being impatient, both fans, Brad and Joe but that doesn't bode well for building a sustainable club, long term. Whoever is coming in next needs time, something SC wasn't afforded. Agree with BG when he says about not wanting to have to get rid of SC 3 months into next season if it wasn't going well. On the flip side of that with a new man coming in a having a pre season and recruiting his players what will BG do if 3 months in we're only mid table? Will his impatience kick in again. I think it probably will.

The process of appointing SC was clearly flawed if we genuinely believed he was the right man 6 months ago and now he's not the man. Not sure I have belief in those appointing the next one tbh. We have to put trust in that manager and back him with a budget but most importantly time. I'm just not convinced the last bit is something BG gets is what's needed. Certainly 6 months, no pre season and an inherited squad is not giving a manager a fair crack at it IMO.

I'm not convinced that we actually have a long term plan, we're just desperate to get promoted, rather than having the belief I'm someone enough to build something over time, (a season or two).

Bottom line is you're only as good as your recruitment, and whilst defensively our recruitment has been ok/good,our recruitment in forward areas hasn't. Our creative players havent been good enough.Whatever those creative players did at previous clubs, they haven't done it here and our 'strikers' just aren't at the level we need individually or collectively as a group to be a threat.

There's plenty to be done over the summer. Let's hope we get it right.

Largely agree with this.

It seems impatience is the club’s new mantra - we’ve seen it in at least two separate interviews from Brad (repeated several times) and also in Joe Comper’s comments on the SC sacking.

Last two places I’ve worked we’ve had the company values on posters around the offices - are the walls around Priestfield stadium adorned with impatient slogans and depictions?

I don’t agree that the process for SC’s appointment must have been flawed to be sacking him 6 months later. The person you appoint has to step up and walk the walk. Clearly those in power don’t think he has.