Ifs, buts and maybes

[bobbystagsfan]

I see the not moving forward part. We were close to the bottom of the table because Coughlan was doing a terrible job, not because of the squad we had at the time. From when Clough took over he collected the 9th most points between November and the end of the season. We then finished 7th last season, and now we’re in around the same positions as it stands.

He has proved he can manage a team to in and around play-off level, but so far not kicked on beyond that.

But the 'Were no further forward than when he first came' still isn't true.

If he said we haven't made progress on last season, I'd agree.

[MTFCMusings]

In terms of the position Coughlan had us in yes we have clearly moved forward. I was talking more in terms of what Clough has managed to do since he’s been here.

[bobbystagsfan]

In terms of the position Coughlan had us in yes we have clearly moved forward. I was talking more in terms of what Clough has managed to do since he’s been here.

Took us from a team that were sat in bottom half of the table drawing/losing every other game to play off/promotion pushes

[MTFCMusings]

In terms of the position Coughlan had us in yes we have clearly moved forward. I was talking more in terms of what Clough has managed to do since he’s been here.

Took us from a team that were sat in bottom half of the table drawing/losing every other game to play off/promotion pushes

You can’t judge him on the terrible management of the previous manager though. That team was capable of being the 9th best team for the rest of the season once it had a capable manager in charge.

And also, that’s what I just said, he’s proved capable of a manager who can turn a team into one which is in and around the play-offs.

[Field Mill]

Whatever happens now, we have to admit that we missed out last season due to having a small squad that was struck with a heavy injury injury list. Coupled with that, we took the decision to take Perch and Quinn, neither of whom can play effectively twice a week as part of the squad.
This season we have struggled due to having a small squad that was struck with a heavy injury list. Coupled with that, we took the decision to take Perch and Quinn, neither of whom can play effectively twice a week as part of the squad.
Next season ..........

[arsene wengers coat]

No one has mentioned that we've played ..removed.. this season.

We've gone with 352. Selling our 'best in the league' wing back to FGR, so we can play Bowery there. He looks disinterested.

Binned off the 442 diamond that worked well.

We've also played more utility players 'filling in gaps' than actual players in preferred positions.

Squad is really old.

Too many loanees.

Too many injuries.

No settled side. Too many players rotated. Even when they're selected there's a chance they play in different positions.

A lot of players not found any kind of form. He's struggled to get a tune out of a lot of them.

Not good enough or decisive enough in the market.

Overall, Clough has looked like yesterday's man this season. Really disappointed. A season to forget.

That's my season obituary.

[wayno cordiniho]

No one has mentioned that we've played ..removed.. this season.

We've gone with 352. Selling our 'best in the league' wing back to FGR, so we can play Bowery there. He looks disinterested.

Binned off the 442 diamond that worked well.

We've also played more utility players 'filling in gaps' than actual players in preferred positions.

Squad is really old.

Too many loanees.

Too many injuries.

No settled side. Too many players rotated. Even when they're selected there's a chance they play in different positions.

A lot of players not found any kind of form. He's struggled to get a tune out of a lot of them.

Not good enough or decisive enough in the market.

Overall, Clough has looked like yesterday's man this season. Really disappointed. A season to forget.

That's my season obituary.

Some valid points, I really cannot understand the insistence and perseverance with the 3 at the back and wingbacks. We’ve never had the players with the fitness, stamina or skill to do the wingback role regardless of injuries etc. It was clear by October that it wasn’t gonna work

[bobbystagsfan]

No one has mentioned that we've played ..removed.. this season.

We've gone with 352. Selling our 'best in the league' wing back to FGR, so we can play Bowery there. He looks disinterested.

Binned off the 442 diamond that worked well.

We've also played more utility players 'filling in gaps' than actual players in preferred positions.

Squad is really old.

Too many loanees.

Too many injuries.

No settled side. Too many players rotated. Even when they're selected there's a chance they play in different positions.

A lot of players not found any kind of form. He's struggled to get a tune out of a lot of them.

Not good enough or decisive enough in the market.

Overall, Clough has looked like yesterday's man this season. Really disappointed. A season to forget.

That's my season obituary.

A season to forget? Three points off the play offs and 9 games to go. I think you're over reacting. I know our squad is depleted at the minute but football is a funny game and there's lots of twists and turns to come

[arsene wengers coat]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/leag ... -w6dzswlbv

The Times football writers agrees bobby.

[bobbystagsfan]

Good for them


Happier to be at this end of the table compared to the last two managers personally. We'll get there.

[Amber Andy]

In terms of the position Coughlan had us in yes we have clearly moved forward. I was talking more in terms of what Clough has managed to do since he’s been here.

Took us from a team that were sat in bottom half of the table drawing/losing every other game to play off/promotion pushes

You can’t judge him on the terrible management of the previous manager though. That team was capable of being the 9th best team for the rest of the season once it had a capable manager in charge.

And also, that’s what I just said, he’s proved capable of a manager who can turn a team into one which is in and around the play-offs.

Has strengthened us in January despite losing two of our top players. Unfortunately we have not reaped the benefits so far, due to injuries to some of the new signings. The two new players who have been playing have been excellent.

[MTFCMusings]

Kilgour has been excellent, DKD have been good, but it’s hard to say how much we strengthened until we see more of the injured players in action.

[london amber stag]

The Times article cannot be read as it’s in a paywall. Can anyone post it in its entirety please as would make interesting reading.

[TheMyTStags]

The Times article cannot be read as it’s in a paywall. Can anyone post it in its entirety please as would make interesting reading.

These are the things it says about us:

Mansfield Town are three points shy of the play-offs, but they have a game in hand and statistically the easiest run-in of any side in the league, with six games against teams 15th or lower in the table. Nigel Clough, the former Burton Albion, Derby County and Sheffield United boss, is one of the league’s best managers and his side rank third for most goals (55) and shot conversion rate (11.8 per cent).
Their form has largely centred upon a pair of 22-year-old Nottingham Forest loanees: Will Swan impressed up top but has been ruled out for the season with an ankle injury, while Riley Harbottle has been rock solid at the back. They will want Danny Johnson to find the form of his 12-goal loan spell at Walsall in the first half of the season before he was recalled in January.

Also has us in a "Don't be surprised" section as a team to gatecrash the play offs.

Mansfield Town or Barrow gatecrash the play-offs. They have the friendliest run-ins (measured by points per game of their remaining opponents) of those clubs outside the top seven at present

[Costastag]

It says were an outsider this year ,if we fail which i dont think we will ,hes gone

[AlanStag]

If we don't go up this season and Clough stays there will be a lot of pressure/expectation on us to challenge next season from the off. Within a few months of the season I can see it quickly going one way or the other should he stay.

I think in general everyone can see we are capable of being a good side and challenging in the division. However the manager's stubbornness in the transfer market and tactically seems to hamper us to the point we seem incapable of being able to mount a serious challenge.

At the minute we're relying on picking up minimal to no injuries to be able to maintain a challenge. How realistic that is I'm not convinced as invariably every team picks up some through a season. So we need to hope we've learned our lesson and have a more robust and balanced squad going into next season. Based on the evidence of the previous 2 and a half years I don't trust Clough would be willing to change his ways to achieve that.

[Amber Andy]

It says were an outsider this year ,if we fail which i dont think we will ,hes gone

I doubt it. I think JR will take the amount of injuries into account. Had we had a full squad and failed to make the playoffs, then maybe.

[Tomwh]

If we don't go up this season and Clough stays there will be a lot of pressure/expectation on us to challenge next season from the off. Within a few months of the season I can see it quickly going one way or the other should he stay.

I think in general everyone can see we are capable of being a good side and challenging in the division. However the manager's stubbornness in the transfer market and tactically seems to hamper us to the point we seem incapable of being able to mount a serious challenge.

At the minute we're relying on picking up minimal to no injuries to be able to maintain a challenge. How realistic that is I'm not convinced as invariably every team picks up some through a season. So we need to hope we've learned our lesson and have a more robust and balanced squad going into next season. Based on the evidence of the previous 2 and a half years I don't trust Clough would be willing to change his ways to achieve that.

Agree with all of this. Especially at the back, we've always seemed a couple injuries away from a bit of a crisis for a long time. NC has had ample opportunities to fix this and hasn't. In fact, we've gone to 5 at the back despite lacking centre halves even when we played with the 4.

What's so frustrating is that he clearly is capable of getting us playing some good stuff. My main concern is that he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, he's long been known to leave subs late, he's made the same errors in multiple transfer windows. We aren't far off, but it feels like that's how we'll stay.

[Dan]

If he does a Flitcroft x2 in these last 9 games then get him gone. If we make the play offs and lose at Wembley again then give him another chance. If there was anyone out there decent enough to replace him then it would be easier but there isn’t. Two months of Karl Robinson and you’ll be screaming for NC to come back.

[MTFCMusings]

I must agree with Dan re Karl Robinson, no thank you.

[AlanStag]

May not be a popular choice but I think Murray has learnt a lot working as an assistant since he left us and is doing a good job at Fylde at the minute. If he keeps his nerve and manages to get them up then I think it will be a matter of time before he's managing in league 2.

[Amber Andy]

If he does a Flitcroft x2 in these last 9 games then get him gone. If we make the play offs and lose at Wembley again then give him another chance. If there was anyone out there decent enough to replace him then it would be easier but there isn’t. Two months of Karl Robinson and you’ll be screaming for NC to come back.

And start all over again. No thank you. I don't think Mrs Radford will let JR make the same mistake again.

[Dan]

It wasn’t a mistake last time Andy. The mistake was putting Dempster in charge not sacking Flitcroft.

[Cleveland_Stag]

If he does a Flitcroft x2 in these last 9 games then get him gone. If we make the play offs and lose at Wembley again then give him another chance. If there was anyone out there decent enough to replace him then it would be easier but there isn’t. Two months of Karl Robinson and you’ll be screaming for NC to come back.

And start all over again. No thank you. I don't think Mrs Radford will let JR make the same mistake again.

“And start all over again. No thank you”… why do our fans think that getting a new manager is such a bad thing that’s going to set the club back years. The Radford’s just made a horrible decision when they hired Dempster. You could see just from his interviews that he wasn’t cut out for it.

I posted this in another thread last week regarding new managers and their success in League Two this season and the two prior seasons:

Ritchie Wellens has Leyton Orient top of the league in his first full season in charge.

Steve Evans has Stevenage 3rd in his first full season in charge.

Paul Simpson has Carlisle 4th in his first full season in charge.

Neil Wood has Salford 6th in his first season in charge (and playing a brand of football that’s 10x better than ours).

Rob Edwards won the league with Forest Green last season in his first season with the club.

Joey Barton got promoted with Bristol Rovers last season in his first full season in charge.

Jon Brady finished 4th with Northampton last season in his first season in charge (and would have got them promoted at the first time of asking if Bristol Rovers hadn’t put 7 past Scunthorpe on the last day).

Darrell Clarke got Port Vale promoted last season in his first full season in charge.

Ian Evatt got Bolton promoted in his first season in charge.

Mark Bonner got Cambridge promoted in his first full season in charge.

Derek Adam’s got Morecambe (Morecambe!!!) promoted in his first full season in charge.

[bobbystagsfan]

If he does a Flitcroft x2 in these last 9 games then get him gone. If we make the play offs and lose at Wembley again then give him another chance. If there was anyone out there decent enough to replace him then it would be easier but there isn’t. Two months of Karl Robinson and you’ll be screaming for NC to come back.

And start all over again. No thank you. I don't think Mrs Radford will let JR make the same mistake again.

“And start all over again. No thank you”… why do our fans think that getting a new manager is such a bad thing that’s going to set the club back years. The Radford’s just made a horrible decision when they hired Dempster. You could see just from his interviews that he wasn’t cut out for it.

I posted this in another thread last week regarding new managers and their success in League Two this season and the two prior seasons:

Ritchie Wellens has Leyton Orient top of the league in his first full season in charge.

Steve Evans has Stevenage 3rd in his first full season in charge.

Paul Simpson has Carlisle 4th in his first full season in charge.

Neil Wood has Salford 6th in his first season in charge (and playing a brand of football that’s 10x better than ours).

Rob Edwards won the league with Forest Green last season in his first season with the club.

Joey Barton got promoted with Bristol Rovers last season in his first full season in charge.

Jon Brady finished 4th with Northampton last season in his first season in charge (and would have got them promoted at the first time of asking if Bristol Rovers hadn’t put 7 past Scunthorpe on the last day).

Darrell Clarke got Port Vale promoted last season in his first full season in charge.

Ian Evatt got Bolton promoted in his first season in charge.

Mark Bonner got Cambridge promoted in his first full season in charge.

Derek Adam’s got Morecambe (Morecambe!!!) promoted in his first full season in charge.

Do we sack every year until we get it right then?