I'll say it (2 Viewers)

Irish Sky Blue said:

It’s a bit pedantic to go on about it I know, but labelling him “Craplin” does seem to be personal and to be holding him in contempt. No problem with legitimate criticism. To write him off at 21 after half a season seems harsh.
You say that Robin’s “stubbornness” is a fault. As mentioned above, this stubbornness could be interpreted as having faith in his players and giving them a chance to succeed, something that happened with both Biamou and McNulty. It can therefore be interpreted as one of his strengths. Both Hiwula and Bakayoko were in the team before Chaplin’s injury and both are also his signings. Remember the vitriol heaped on both Bakayoko and Robins when he first joined? I think the departure of JCH says more about Robin’s views on Bakayoko than leaving Chaplin out. Surely it is more JCH he is replacing than Chaplin.
Robins either has or is close to having the best win ratio of any City manager. Despite this and all of the other facts that show how well he has done you can guarantee that as soon as we hit a rocky patch, the Robins Out brigade will be back. Even if we go up this season, a poor spell in the Championship will again have people calling for his head.
It’s madness. After all of the merry go round of managers we have had, one every year or 18 months, some want to go back to the lottery of getting someone else in when we clearly have someone who knows what he is doing.

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Irish Sky Blue said:

It’s a bit pedantic to go on about it I know, but labelling him “Craplin” does seem to be personal and to be holding him in contempt. No problem with legitimate criticism. To write him off at 21 after half a season seems harsh.
You say that Robin’s “stubbornness” is a fault. As mentioned above, this stubbornness could be interpreted as having faith in his players and giving them a chance to succeed, something that happened with both Biamou and McNulty. It can therefore be interpreted as one of his strengths. Both Hiwula and Bakayoko were in the team before Chaplin’s injury and both are also his signings. Remember the vitriol heaped on both Bakayoko and Robins when he first joined? I think the departure of JCH says more about Robin’s views on Bakayoko than leaving Chaplin out. Surely it is more JCH he is replacing than Chaplin.
Robins either has or is close to having the best win ratio of any City manager. Despite this and all of the other facts that show how well he has done you can guarantee that as soon as we hit a rocky patch, the Robins Out brigade will be back. Even if we go up this season, a poor spell in the Championship will again have people calling for his head.
It’s madness. After all of the merry go round of managers we have had, one every year or 18 months, some want to go back to the lottery of getting someone else in when we clearly have someone who knows what he is doing.

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Brighton Sky Blue said:

It's a bit of harmless piss taking. I also haven't written him off but clearly he has a lot of work to do, starting with scoring from point blank.

Bakayoko set the world record for offsides in one of his first games, and at that moment in time it looked like we'd wasted a lot of money on 3 duds (which is probably why they come in for more criticism). If we some how go up, we all know that survival would be a great accomplishment having been out of it for so long. However he has managed us during our first 4th division in 50-60 years-for 34 years other managers were in charge in a league where we were trying to survive most seasons.

Does that mean I'm unhappy at getting out of Div 4 in one go of course not and does it mean I think he's completely useless, again no. Just pointing out that we have had 6-week winless streaks twice this season which had a lot in common. Think you have taken some of the comments a bit too seriously, there's an essay every time

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Irish Sky Blue said:

How many managers have we had since relegation from the PL? How many since relegation to League One? Apart from Eric Black and briefly Mowbray, we have had no success. We have been on a downward spiral. Robins is the first manager to have a sustained period of success. The fact we were in division 4 wasn’t down to him. All he could do was get us promoted which he did. This is the third time he has managed us in League One. Every time, he has done well, including turning around the mess that Slade left. Some people give no credit for any of this and at the first hint of a downturn want him gone.

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Westendlad said:

Me too and Happy Paddy's Day ISB

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Irish Sky Blue said:

How many managers have we had since relegation from the PL? How many since relegation to League One? Apart from Eric Black and briefly Mowbray, we have had no success. We have been on a downward spiral. Robins is the first manager to have a sustained period of success. The fact we were in division 4 wasn’t down to him. All he could do was get us promoted which he did. This is the third time he has managed us in League One. Every time, he has done well, including turning around the mess that Slade left. Some people give no credit for any of this and at the first hint of a downturn want him gone.

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Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I largely agree with you apart from the bit in bold.

I think it was more BECAUSE rather than in spite of that that we improved and pushed on. Had Jones and Andreu not got injured I'm not sure MR would've altered the system/personnel which gave Bayliss his opportunity and helped McNulty show his goalscoring form alongside Max?

Similarly this season, although we're still nowhere near clinical up front, since Chaplin got injured he's effectively been left with just Baka and Hiwula as strikers and I think we've looked a bit more dangerous up front since that. Had Chaplin been available, do you think MR would've given those two (Baka esp) a run of games to prove themselves at Chaplin's expense? I doubt it.

Having said that I do think that it's now happened when Chaplin is fit MR will recognise he has to wait for his chance to dislodge one of them.

MR does seem to be 'lucky' in that respect - major injuries that would normally totally derail a team somehow led to us finding something that worked better, and I'll take a lucky manager any day of the week!

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Brighton Sky Blue said:

Quite a few, but we were still in the top flight for twice as long and were near the bottom of the Championship budgets wise. If we went up, the win rate would of course go down. I give credit where it's due, and criticism where it's due. Pressley managed a whole season at Sixfields (then lost the plot the following season) and with a points deduction. Like Robins he was also working his arse off and clearly cared a lot for the club, but when the form went south he couldn't fix it. Robins arrested the first slide by mixing up his system and getting the players to press further up the pitch. He arrested this one in part because of forced changes through injury.

As Mowbray said surviving in League 1 shouldn't be the cause of celebration, nor should getting out of dogshit League 2. Doesn't mean I don't acknowledge the manager's strengths as well as weaknesses

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Irish Sky Blue said:

How many managers have we had since relegation from the PL? How many since relegation to League One? Apart from Eric Black and briefly Mowbray, we have had no success. We have been on a downward spiral. Robins is the first manager to have a sustained period of success. The fact we were in division 4 wasn’t down to him. All he could do was get us promoted which he did. This is the third time he has managed us in League One. Every time, he has done well, including turning around the mess that Slade left. Some people give no credit for any of this and at the first hint of a downturn want him gone.

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Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I largely agree with you apart from the bit in bold.

I think it was more BECAUSE rather than in spite of that that we improved and pushed on. Had Jones and Andreu not got injured I'm not sure MR would've altered the system/personnel which gave Bayliss his opportunity and helped McNulty show his goalscoring form alongside Max?

Similarly this season, although we're still nowhere near clinical up front, since Chaplin got injured he's effectively been left with just Baka and Hiwula as strikers and I think we've looked a bit more dangerous up front since that. Had Chaplin been available, do you think MR would've given those two (Baka esp) a run of games to prove themselves at Chaplin's expense? I doubt it.

Having said that I do think that it's now happened when Chaplin is fit MR will recognise he has to wait for his chance to dislodge one of them.

MR does seem to be 'lucky' in that respect - major injuries that would normally totally derail a team somehow led to us finding something that worked better, and I'll take a lucky manager any day of the week!

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Grendel said:

Dowie must have had a win ratio similar to robins and a lot better than Mowbray

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Mucca Mad Boys said:

Your tone is quite sneering actually.

Teams of our stature have got relegated and stayed down in L2 for years, like Portsmouth, Bradford, Plymouth and Luton. Before Doncaster and then us, it was a good 5+ seasons before a team had bounced back into L1 after one season. So Robins certainly deserves credit and it’s unfair to devalue the achievement. This ‘giving credit when it’s due’ and ‘criticising him when things go badly’ is a bit knee-jerky, to be frank.
The majority of people need to distinguish between bad games or a bad run, and a failing manager. Robins has done v well this year, and he’s acknowledged when things just aren’t working. The difference between fans and professional managers is that fans seemingly would be happy with chopping and changing as soon as things show signs they’re not working — this isn’t a video game! Managers and the squad have to buy into a system and that’s what Robins is trying to do here.

For me, as long as we weren’t in any danger of being dragged into a relegation dog fight, it wouldn’t matter how badly we did this season. The fact we’re 7th with 8 games to go is really good.

Robins just needs all the backing he can get and I think he’ll get us promoted to the Championship.

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Brighton Sky Blue said:

Calling League 2 shit isn't sneering...

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Irish Sky Blue said:

I think if Jones has stayed fit last season we would have finished higher than 6th.

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Mucca Mad Boys said:

Hiwula, Bakayoko and Bright, the two players Robins also signed?

He hasn’t been ‘lucky’ because he’s bought in all the players that are doing the job for us now. It’s a testament to Robins that players like Hyam, Bakayoko and Bayliss (he’s consistently picked himself from his first start) were brought in as role players instead of starters. Frankly, this is the point of strengthening the squad because injuries will happen over a 50+ game season and players have got to be ready to step in and perform.

A coach of mine once said to me: ‘you have to select yourself’ and that’s absolutely true in any team sport.

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Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I'm still not entirely sure who has what say on signings. Quite a few of the younger signings MR has intimated that they've been identified by the development team rather than him. I'd hope he'd have final veto on signings but you never know.

Certainly when Hiwula and Bakayoko signed MR seemed underwhelmed and clearly wanted Chaplin more. He was certainly quicker to criticise and sub Hiwula and (esp) Baka but Chaplin was given words of encouragement and given 90mins week in and out despite a largely underwhelming return. Had he been one of the other two he'd have been hooked after 2-3 games.

So while Chaplin may have been dropped/rested prior to his injury, it wasn't for prolonged periods and was put straight back into the team when either one of Hiwula/Baka had a poor game. The injuries to Max and Chaplin and the sale of JCH have meant that over the last few games he's pretty much had no choice but to regularly pick Baka and Hiwula, which I don't think he'd have done had he had any other choices available.While still far from perfect it seems to be working a bit better than the other iterations he's tried up front and we've stumbled across it out of necessity rather than clever management recognising it.

Of course MR deserves a lot of praise for identifying who the replacements for the team should be in those injury situations but I doubt even MR himself can believe how well the likes of development players like Hyam and Bayliss stepped up. You will usually find that a lot of young players, regardless of natural ability, will either struggle with the step up or levels will drop after a good start due to the intensity and the physical and psychological demands of regular first team football. To have that hit rate is amazing and even with the best training, management and backroom staff it's still very fortunate to have worked out that well.

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Mucca Mad Boys said:

We were shit to end up there... just because we were a Premiership team doesn’t give us the divine right to not be in League 1 or 2.

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Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I'm still not entirely sure who has what say on signings. Quite a few of the younger signings MR has intimated that they've been identified by the development team rather than him. I'd hope he'd have final veto on signings but you never know.

Certainly when Hiwula and Bakayoko signed MR seemed underwhelmed and clearly wanted Chaplin more. He was certainly quicker to criticise and sub Hiwula and (esp) Baka but Chaplin was given words of encouragement and given 90mins week in and out despite a largely underwhelming return. Had he been one of the other two he'd have been hooked after 2-3 games.

So while Chaplin may have been dropped/rested prior to his injury, it wasn't for prolonged periods and was put straight back into the team when either one of Hiwula/Baka had a poor game. The injuries to Max and Chaplin and the sale of JCH have meant that over the last few games he's pretty much had no choice but to regularly pick Baka and Hiwula, which I don't think he'd have done had he had any other choices available.While still far from perfect it seems to be working a bit better than the other iterations he's tried up front and we've stumbled across it out of necessity rather than clever management recognising it.

Of course MR deserves a lot of praise for identifying who the replacements for the team should be in those injury situations but I doubt even MR himself can believe how well the likes of development players like Hyam and Bayliss stepped up. You will usually find that a lot of young players, regardless of natural ability, will either struggle with the step up or levels will drop after a good start due to the intensity and the physical and psychological demands of regular first team football. To have that hit rate is amazing and even with the best training, management and backroom staff it's still very fortunate to have worked out that well.

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Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I'm still not entirely sure who has what say on signings. Quite a few of the younger signings MR has intimated that they've been identified by the development team rather than him. I'd hope he'd have final veto on signings but you never know.

Certainly when Hiwula and Bakayoko signed MR seemed underwhelmed and clearly wanted Chaplin more. He was certainly quicker to criticise and sub Hiwula and (esp) Baka but Chaplin was given words of encouragement and given 90mins week in and out despite a largely underwhelming return. Had he been one of the other two he'd have been hooked after 2-3 games.

So while Chaplin may have been dropped/rested prior to his injury, it wasn't for prolonged periods and was put straight back into the team when either one of Hiwula/Baka had a poor game. The injuries to Max and Chaplin and the sale of JCH have meant that over the last few games he's pretty much had no choice but to regularly pick Baka and Hiwula, which I don't think he'd have done had he had any other choices available.While still far from perfect it seems to be working a bit better than the other iterations he's tried up front and we've stumbled across it out of necessity rather than clever management recognising it.

Of course MR deserves a lot of praise for identifying who the replacements for the team should be in those injury situations but I doubt even MR himself can believe how well the likes of development players like Hyam and Bayliss stepped up. You will usually find that a lot of young players, regardless of natural ability, will either struggle with the step up or levels will drop after a good start due to the intensity and the physical and psychological demands of regular first team football. To have that hit rate is amazing and even with the best training, management and backroom staff it's still very fortunate to have worked out that well.

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Brighton Sky Blue said:

Never said that...

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Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I'm still not entirely sure who has what say on signings. Quite a few of the younger signings MR has intimated that they've been identified by the development team rather than him. I'd hope he'd have final veto on signings but you never know.

Certainly when Hiwula and Bakayoko signed MR seemed underwhelmed and clearly wanted Chaplin more. He was certainly quicker to criticise and sub Hiwula and (esp) Baka but Chaplin was given words of encouragement and given 90mins week in and out despite a largely underwhelming return. Had he been one of the other two he'd have been hooked after 2-3 games.

So while Chaplin may have been dropped/rested prior to his injury, it wasn't for prolonged periods and was put straight back into the team when either one of Hiwula/Baka had a poor game. The injuries to Max and Chaplin and the sale of JCH have meant that over the last few games he's pretty much had no choice but to regularly pick Baka and Hiwula, which I don't think he'd have done had he had any other choices available.While still far from perfect it seems to be working a bit better than the other iterations he's tried up front and we've stumbled across it out of necessity rather than clever management recognising it.

Of course MR deserves a lot of praise for identifying who the replacements for the team should be in those injury situations but I doubt even MR himself can believe how well the likes of development players like Hyam and Bayliss stepped up. You will usually find that a lot of young players, regardless of natural ability, will either struggle with the step up or levels will drop after a good start due to the intensity and the physical and psychological demands of regular first team football. To have that hit rate is amazing and even with the best training, management and backroom staff it's still very fortunate to have worked out that well.

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Mucca Mad Boys said:

You may as well have when you say things like League 2 is a 'shit league' and promotion from L2 'nothing to celebrate' then there are the comments about L1 'is a God awful league' and that 'picking players in the correct position' gets you 'halfway there in this league' is just a bit ignorant really. We have just come up from League 2, so why you think we have the right to sneer at League 1 is beyond me. I don't intend on staying in L1 longer than necessary, but we at least need a season of consolidation in L1 under Robins and had some of our fans had their way, Robins would've been sacked after a bad run -- ridiculous!

I don't know how old you are, but we've been a pretty shit Championship team for most of my time as a supporter.

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SkyBlue_Bear83 said:

I look at Portsmouth as sort of what we should be looking to do, they got promoted from league 2 in 2017.

In there first season back in league one Jackett finished 8th and now they are looking like they will go up this season, I'm sure many Portsmouth fans were frustrated they didn't get promoted last season or in the play offs but they stuck with the manager and now they look like they are going up.

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Irish Sky Blue said:

I think if Jones has stayed fit last season we would have finished higher than 6th.

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