What’s your expectation for the new guy? (7 Viewers)

[Captain Dart]

Our league position wasn’t 9th when he was sacked. We were 1 point off relegation

We're not massively better now, 2 points off 3rd bottom with a better goal difference.
Currently we're getting two decent performances followed by a dreadful or lacklustre one.
Let's hope the new manager bounce turbocharges the team and we start to climb.

 

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[Sick Boy]

Its true though? Why sack your manager for a lower league position?

The way you guys have dropped your standards just so you don’t look silly for wanting robins out is quite something.

Nick’s even positive in match threads now!

Unlike you, I never actually said I wanted Robins out.

 

[The watchmaker]

Tbh, heads should of rolled for completely pissing so much of the Gyokeres and Hamer up the wall on poor quality players.

Honestly, spending £10+ million on Kitchen, EMC and Torp is criminal, and it didn't stop there.

Paying a shit defender like Binks £30k a week is just embarrassing.

Ultimately someone had to pay the price,
and hopefully others will go too.

Whose head is going to roll though? We know that Robins wasn't involved in that side of things and Doug very much was. He's probably not going to sack himself?

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

Not really sure why so many have voted POs? There's 29 games left this season which means we'd need at least 2 points per game to even be in contention - that's automatic form.

Huge task to expect that level of a turnaround which would have to start vs Cardiff on Sat. Especially when it's clear we need some new additions and we're still over a month away from the window.

 

[Grendel]

Not really sure why so many have voted POs? There's 29 games left this season which means we'd need at least 2 points per game to even be in contention - that's automatic form.

Huge task to expect that level of a turnaround which would have to start vs Cardiff on Sat. Especially when it's clear we need some new additions and we're still over a month away from the window.

There is almost zero chance of play offs now

 

[Calista]

The emphasis on precise league positions is crazy. In a league like this after 10 or 14 games, the difference between being in/near the playoffs or in/near the relegation zone is just two or three results. A few individual mistakes, rough luck in both boxes, unfortunate refereeing decisions.

In 2022/23, over the whole 46 game season 18 wins got us (and Sunderland) into the playoffs, and 13 wins got Reading relegated.

It's understandable from football fans, but people really do overreact wildly to good and bad results and league positions, when in reality the majority of games in the Championship are finely balanced.

I like to think I won't be judging the new guy purely on how the dice land for him. It's more about whether he can sustain positivity around the club, players and fans (after a few months of unwarranted gloom and even panic from a few).

 

[Grendel]

Whose head is going to roll though? We know that Robins wasn't involved in that side of things and Doug very much was. He's probably not going to sack himself?

Robins admitted he had final say on transfers

 

[Hutch11]

Leeds apart this is a very mediocre championship
Not saying we'll get playoffs but it's not beyond the realms of possibility

 

[ccfcricoh]

top 10 this season

playoffs next

if we are in the same position in 12 months time, i expect the trigger will again be pulled

 

[SBAndy]

Not really sure why so many have voted POs? There's 29 games left this season which means we'd need at least 2 points per game to even be in contention - that's automatic form.

Huge task to expect that level of a turnaround which would have to start vs Cardiff on Sat. Especially when it's clear we need some new additions and we're still over a month away from the window.

Remember the poll opened before the last 3 games. Theoretically if we’d taken 7-9 points from those we’d be very fucking keen on it.

 

[torchomatic]

Its true though? Why sack your manager for a lower league position?

The way you guys have dropped your standards just so you don’t look silly for wanting robins out is quite something.

Nick’s even positive in match threads now!

They said they were willing to have lower standards with a new manager than they would have had with Robins as a third of the season had gone. Madness. Top ten has to be the minimum we expect with our squad and with any potential additions in January.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

Remember the poll opened before the last 3 games. Theoretically if we’d taken 7-9 points from those we’d be very fucking keen on it.

Right because expecting 9 points off Sunderland, Sheffield United and Burnley made it all the more realistic.

 

[fatso]

I’m no

Im not sure this is quite right.

MR was not fired because of the first 9 or 14 matches.

He was fired because our league form was very mixed last year, he fell out with Adi and was not prepared to try and repair the relationship, he put in place an inexperienced coaching structure below him, and resisted the opportunity to change it when it wasn’t working.

The new manager will be given longer to improve us by DK than I suspect the fans will give him.

Tbh, heads should of rolled for completely pissing so much of the Gyokeres and Hamer up the wall on poor quality players.

Honestly, spending £10+ million on Kitchen, EMC and Torp is criminal, and it didn't stop there.

Paying a shit defender like Binks £30k a week is just embarrassing.

Ultimately someone had to pay the price,
and hopefully others will go

He surely isn’t on that?

Apparently he's our highest paid player.
Probably because we paid next to nothing as a fee.

 

[SBAndy]

Right because expecting 9 points off Sunderland, Sheffield United and Burnley made it all the more realistic.

No, I’m exaggerating. If we’d have gained a bit of ground on 6th place then it would have remained an option. Instead, a 7 point gap stretched to 10. You can’t legislate for what other teams have done in that period as well.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

No, I’m exaggerating. If we’d have gained a bit of ground on 6th place then it would have remained an option. Instead, a 7 point gap stretched to 10. You can’t legislate for what other teams have done in that period as well.

No you can't. But it would've been all well and good even us getting into, or near to, the PO spots but sustaining it over the course of a season is a completely different animal, especially given our form up to that point and still now.

Which is why even if we secured all 9 points there would've always been that concern that we'd have another dreadful run around the corner - which we simply can't afford if POs were / are a possibility.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Tbh, heads should of rolled for completely pissing so much of the Gyokeres and Hamer up the wall on poor quality players.

Honestly, spending £10+ million on Kitchen, EMC and Torp is criminal, and it didn't stop there.

Paying a shit defender like Binks £30k a week is just embarrassing.

Ultimately someone had to pay the price,
and hopefully others will go

Apparently he's our highest paid player.
Probably because we paid next to nothing as a fee.

I would fully expect Wright to be the highest paid if anyone

 

[fatso]

I would fully expect Wright to be the highest paid if anyone

Well you'd be wrong, and I think you'd also be very suprised at what Dovin is on.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Well you'd be wrong, and I think you'd also be very suprised at what Dovin is on.

May I ask how you know who earns what?

 

[The watchmaker]

Robins admitted he had final say on transfers

Yeah, and this is the problem - people are interpreting that as total control over transfers budgets etc. We don't know anything about the process leading up to the point where he is presented with potential targets but we do know from what Robins, King and the Peterborough guy have said that Robins played no part in negotiations so pinning price tags on him is probably a huge stretch. At £1.5m EMC would be a fantastic buy. If people are blaming Robins for EMC costing £5m - that was what Doug agreed. Doug then agreed to loan him back for 6 months and Robins found out the morning after.

So yes, Robins had a big role in recruitment but if people are saying we squandered money/overpaid for players he was very clear he didn't deal with that side of things.

 

[shmmeee]

I didn’t want him out but can recognise this squad has bigger flaws in it than any of us anticipated. So even outperforming Robins by 50% we would still be in the bottom half. It would still be a higher league position than we were on course for.

Robins season was going much how many of Robins previous seasons went after upheaval. Last season we were ninth, we’ve added to the squad and only lost O’Hare and Palmer really. It’s reasonable to assume Robins would have got us midtable from here even if you disagree it is reasonable to think that.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Robins season was going much how many of Robins previous seasons went after upheaval. Last season we were ninth, we’ve added to the squad and only lost O’Hare and Palmer really. It’s reasonable to assume Robins would have got us midtable from here even if you disagree it is reasonable to think that.

The past does not equal the future.

 

[shmmeee]

The past does not equal the future.

For the sake of Lampard let’s hope that’s the case!

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

For the sake of Lampard let’s hope that’s the case!

Well there’s reason enough to think that he’s learned and improved from his first couple of jobs.

 

[mmttww]

Robins season was going much how many of Robins previous seasons went after upheaval...

Difference this time is that most of that upheaval was down to Robins, which you can't choose to ignore.

 

[The watchmaker]

Robins season was going much how many of Robins previous seasons went after upheaval. Last season we were ninth, we’ve added to the squad and only lost O’Hare and Palmer really. It’s reasonable to assume Robins would have got us midtable from here even if you disagree it is reasonable to think that.

I believe Robins would have taken us up the table and pushed for play offs but that is untestable and irrelevant now. Lampard is in and we just have to judge him on the job he does.

Reality now is that I have no real expectations. Just going to take it game by game and see where we end up.

 

[chiefdave]

Yeah, and this is the problem - people are interpreting that as total control over transfers budgets etc.

Final say can also be interpreted many different ways.

There's a huge difference between the idea that Robins was identifying which players he wanted and telling the recruitment team to go after that specific player and what we were told by Boddy that Robins and the coaching team would identify what type of player they need and then pass it to the recruitment team.

In one scenario it would be pretty much all down to Robins, in the other you're relying on Robins thinking he has better information than the recruitment team to veto a player coming in.

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

May I ask how you know who earns what?

By typing Coventry City wages into Google

 

[Ring Of Steel]

They said they were willing to have lower standards with a new manager than they would have had with Robins as a third of the season had gone. Madness. Top ten has to be the minimum we expect with our squad and with any potential additions in January.

Spot on.

Right behind him, high hopes & feeling the buzz now he’s in- but now he has to deliver, and “escaping relegation” is bullshit, a face saving exercise in advance just in case. Top ten is the expectation for me.

The pure fan in me thinks we could go higher, but let’s see.

 

[stupot07]

I don't think anyone would think Robins had total control over the transfer budget.

I imaging it goes like this.

1) robins and the team have assessed the gaps in the squad which they want to fill, and give it to the scouting team. He may already have an idea of who he likes

2) the scouting team goes off and and identifies potent targets at different budgets, they send people out to get watch them over a number of weeks/months, they will be pulling data together, clips, doing background research on the player, medical, type of character, strengths and weaknesses, compiling dossiers plus a dvd compilation, may also have recordings of full games.

3) they hand the dossiers and videos over robins who will read and watch them. And then prioritise the targets

4) Recruitment team or king will make contact with the player or teams reps for permission and negotiation.

5) they come back to robins and say X isn't available, y is a goer but will cost this.

6) robins will then agree to pull the trigger or to bin them off

Within all steps there may be discussions and debates or canvassing other people's opinions.


The way people are talking they are almost suggesting that Austin gave him and shortlist of just 1 player, and said you can have Torp or no one. And Robins reluctantly agrees to sign Torp as he knows no better.

 

[duffer]

My expectation: Mid-table by the end of this season.

Same again by Christmas next year.

New manager and coaches in place within two seasons. Rinse and repeat.

Hope I'm wrong, obviously.

 

[stupot07]

They said they were willing to have lower standards with a new manager than they would have had with Robins as a third of the season had gone. Madness. Top ten has to be the minimum we expect with our squad and with any potential additions in January.

Top 10 for me too. If we're saying we expect top 6 form from now on, then with the poor start, that should push into top 10.

 

[shmmeee]

I believe Robins would have taken us up the table and pushed for play offs but that is untestable and irrelevant now. Lampard is in and we just have to judge him on the job he does.

Reality now is that I have no real expectations. Just going to take it game by game and see where we end up.

Just like under Robins I want to see players giving it their all, everything else flows from that. If we can look like we have a plan going forwards as well then all the better.

Results/league position will come. I’m not worried about us not getting promoted, I’m worried about us not being any good.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

Just like under Robins I want to see players giving it their all, everything else flows from that. If we can look like we have a plan going forwards as well then all the better.

Results/league position will come. I’m not worried about us not getting promoted, I’m worried about us not being any good.

I think momentum is key, we don’t want to be losing thousands of season ticket holders after spending decades building the support back