2 questions to ask before sacking AT.... (5 Viewers)

[LeamingtonBootBoy]

Question 1 - Is his record of 2 wins in 20 likely to be replicated over the next 20 games?

Question 2 - Will someone - anyone - be likely to get more out of this set of players...i.e motivation/coaching?

If the answer to the above 2 questions is 'YES', then AT has to go...nice bloke and all that, but this isn't what this is about, it's about results.

Where do I stand?

I have said all along that he should be given at least half a season...and after the Boxing Day game against Bristol City we will have played every team in this league...if at that paoint we are within a point or two of safety, I would stick with him, but if we are adrift (and 6 points+ is adrift in my opinion), then I'd get rid.

I undertsand the issue of 'who would come in', but we can't just wallow as we are heading towards certain relegation...we would need to try everything possible....and with mugs like SISU in charge that means no money/players, so we will need someone to come in and try and get a bit more from these players.

It may not work, but if under AT we are doomed to failure anyway then surely it makes sense to give someone else the chance to see what they can do.....

 

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[Otis]

1. Yes.

2. Yes. Certainly possible and probably likely.

Like the bloke but his best isn't good enough for what we need right now.

 

[CUS Wyken]

The negatives out weight the positives of Thorn. If people stopped feeling sorry for him then they'd realise.

 

[Otis]

Do think he has the sympathy vote and if he was a bit of a bastard then more people would want rid for sure.

 

[LeamingtonBootBoy]

I think he is playing the risky tactic of ensuring that he never criticises the senior players to keep them onside. Is this inexperience? Probably, but some of these senior players have seriously let him down.

I'd take Keogh out of the above - the kids have been superb - but the likes of Clingan (who should be much more assertive as an international player), Bell, Baker, McSheffrey just play the easy/simple/low risk 5-10 yard passes....which take us nowhere. We saw a classic case of that against Cardiff when Baker bottled it and passed it to Bigi...and as for Clingan, I like him as a player, but he seems happy to play triangular balls with his defenders....

 

[OyJimmy]

Strikes me that we are at the point where fans are wondering if we ought to just change the manager to try something different.

I get that, but it doesn't change the fact that we are really hanging the guy out to dry because we can't address the real problem at the club - SISU.

Frankly I'd rather stop going then get on the merry go round of sacking another manager.

 

[sky blue john]

I personally think there is no point in sacking him and don't think it will make any difference one way or another other than start the merry go round again.
I doubt if Sisu would sack him before the transfer window because they know he is a soft touch because they know he will just accept their plans for sales.

 

[pusbccfc]

We don't have the funds to bring in a new experienced manager.
Say if we gave Carsley or Rioch the job, they were in the same situation to thorn, inexperienced.
Basically we are a league 1 team, with 3-4 championship players, with a keeper that can't catch.
We are going down, and going down poor, I can see us relegated by march/april and the blame goes to sisu,
For not funding the team
And
Going for the cheap option of thorn.

SISUOUT

 

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

I think SISU want AT to stay so they can deflect criticism and blame onto him at the end of the season.

 

[covcity4life]

its time for the fatman to go ima fraid

even if we get a shite manager in the honey moon perioid could be vital to our chances of staying up

 

[CJparker]

And since when did sacking the manager bring long term success to Coventry??

Better to go down and give AT the chance to build his own team and plan for the long term, it is all this short termism that has got us where we are today...no continuity in management has left us in the current mess.

 

[skybluesteve76]

We have to try something different to have any tiny chance of staying in this division. Thorn isn't upto the job and will not keep us up. So what have we got to lose?

 

[sky blue john]

Question one - If we are lucky.
Question two - Maybe.

 

[procdoc]

its time for the fatman to go ima fraid

even if we get a shite manager in the honey moon perioid could be vital to our chances of staying up

there isn't always a honeymoon period, ask Steve McLaren

 

[Grendel]

And since when did sacking the manager bring long term success to Coventry??

Better to go down and give AT the chance to build his own team and plan for the long term, it is all this short termism that has got us where we are today...no continuity in management has left us in the current mess.

Name one manager in the history of football who has had a team win 2 games in half a season and then turned it round? I cannot think of one. So he has to go at some point the only question is timing.
If it was Peter Reid in the hot seat would you be so understanding - I think not.

 

[TheHellion]

1) In all honesty, I'm struggling to see results improving with things as they are.

2) The thing with this is it's pure speculation. We can only speculate about how somebody else would do until, or if, they come in and get started. It all depends on whether or not SISU decide it's a risk worth taking.

It is, for my money, more difficult to judge Thorn in the circumstances. How would he perform if he'd had the finances to improve the squad? Again, speculation. What I do know is, there surely comes a point where even SISU will decide changing manager is a risk that must be worth taking?

 

[Tankie]

Morning Folks!
If Thorn does go, and I'm not utterly convinced that it would solve the issue, I still remain pretty sure that the new Manager/s will come from "In House" with the Academy coaches taking Charge until the end of the season, I very much see this as a cheap, no hassle fix, or attempted fix to be realistic.
When we Cannot afford to even sign loan players, what chance have we of adding to the shameful list of managers, who have been hired and fired, since we,ve been at the Ricoh, if Thorn goes it will be six in five years,There are names being bandied about, with Dave Jones, high on the wish list, But it would be a major shock, if we approached him, and in fact would he consider taking up the "poisoned challis"of CCFC and their shameful turnover of managers,
Sisu/Finance..Have damaged their credibility, In football, to such an extent, that "we" may be their only incursion into the game, so I would think that not many worthwhile managers would touch us with a very long Bargepole.
Andy Thorns record as our manager, are classic grounds for the Sack, but will Sisu surprise us all, and address the problem as it needs to be addressed, by signing a proven manager, and the investment needed to make sure he can compete financially in this league, "I rather doubt it " Don't You Bootsie.

 

[LeamingtonBootBoy]

I think some on here are slightly underestimating the financial implications of going into League 1.

There is a very significant reduction in income ("...armageddon...' as described by Ray '4 year plan' Ranson)....with no guarantee that we will do a 'Leeds/Forest/Norwich'.

We are told that to attract investment into a Championship club on 12-13k gates is very diffciult...how difficult would it be to get this investment on 8-10k gates in League 1 with games against the likes of Yoevil, Stevenage etc...?

Not to mention the crowd puller that is the Johnstone's Paint Trophy...

We must do everything to ensure that we are playing Championship football next season...the alternative is, in my opinion, worse than many of our nightmares....

 

[Chipfat]

This squad will have the least amount of points gained by the end of the season of any other coventry team while in this division. So although i think its time to change replacing AT and Harrison would not make a massive difference.

 

[covcity4life]

there isn't always a honeymoon period, ask Steve McLaren

this is the time for risk taking

 

[ICHAN]

Nice bloke and all that but nice does not keep us up, he is after all a scout.
We are becoming a very easy team to beat and are in a dreadful rut where confidance has gone compleatly.
I have said something has to give and the only possible thing that can change is AT and I am afraid to say he has to go, he has had time to get this team playing and to gel the team but something is not working, the fire in the belly has gone and as bootboy says going down a division would be devistating.
When we came down to the championship how many thought we would go back to the premiership quickly?
Going down does not mean we would come back up ala southampton/leeds etc look at sheff weds still down there and I should imagine they get better gates than us or would get.
Going down to div 1 would be a long painful road to get back into the championship and we are not guarenteed getting back up, this is coventry and unfortunatly we struggle to have any success.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Name one manager in the history of football who has had a team win 2 games in half a season and then turned it round? I cannot think of one. So he has to go at some point the only question is timing.
If it was Peter Reid in the hot seat would you be so understanding - I think not.

You always say this! If AT had the resources Reid had, we would not be in this mess.

 

[LeamingtonBootBoy]

You always say this! If AT had the resources Reid had, we would not be in this mess.

You can't 100% prove that....can you?

 

[sky blue john]

this is the time for risk taking

Do you not think our club has done enough risk taking over the years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[shmmeee]

You can't 100% prove that....can you?

Pointless statement, you can't 100% prove anything, especially when it's purely hypothetical. However, you can point to the fact that when Thorn has the likes of King, Gunnar, Westwood and Turner (not to mention a fit Eastwood) at his disposal we were doing better than several previous managers. So much so that the fans were likening him to Eric Black and demanding that he be given the job.

Those players (Westwood and King particularly) were worth a good 4 league places in my opinion. One was worth 15-20 goals, the other probably stopped 10-15 goals a season. That's massive and has never been replaced.

 

[CCFC123]

Baker, Deegan, McSheffery, Bell have been damn bad stinking shite signings.

When will we learn?

 

[Macca]

SISU have won in my eyes. There is no fight left in the fans. They are happy with a manager with an apalling record because they have somehow decided based on a end of season cameo that the only reason he is underperforming is lack of funds. People already talk of a successful league 1 campaign as if its is something to look forward to. There is such a defeatist attitude it is untrue. Stick with Thorn we are going down, change and we still might go down but at least we tried.

SISU are hated and rightly so but unfortunately they are also a get out of jail free card for every underperforming player and manager.

 

[Grendel]

You always say this! If AT had the resources Reid had, we would not be in this mess.

I do always say it because no-one answers the key point. With the same resources would someone like Reid get as little flack as Thorn. Answer I think is no. Thorn gets away with it as he sets the bar so low with his obvious lack of ability he creates zero expectation.

 

[wingy]

Just who has actually set expectation at zero.

 

[Grendel]

Just who has actually set expectation at zero.

Thorn - I don't expect him to win a game whoever is playing. We are going to end up with the lowest points in this league since the Championship was formed. I will never believe the squad will not achieve better without this useless non-achiever.

 

[wingy]

Like micky adams stopped the rot @ SHEFF utd? the rot is at the top and will permeate all the way through to the dressing room,zero expection ,cut costs at all costs,break even at all costs to the team and the fans.

 

[dadgad]

I think SISU want AT to stay so they can deflect criticism and blame onto him at the end of the season.

Correct :wave::wave::wave:

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

You can't 100% prove that....can you?

I'm sorry, I didn't realise you had to have scientific proof before spouting an opinion on a forum thesedays. My bad.

 

[LeamingtonBootBoy]

Don't take offence NLHWC, I just think that it is impossible to say that AT would spend wisely.

His 3 signings to date have included a keeper who can't catch and a striker who is the most expensive bench warming option I have ever seen.....