Should I(E) stay or should I(E) go?

[Hoboh]

Or.....
Maybe the thought of walking/sacking hasn't crossed either IE's/Sharon's minds, and only exists in a few anonymous internet forummers (is that a word?) & BEN story commenters (another one - is that a word, or is it commentators?) opinions, so nobody feels any form of official statement is necessary???

I'd personally prefer it if they've all been given a week or so off to reflect and lick their wounds, and then come back and start preparing for next season, without the need for grandiose statements or (oft infamous) votes of confidence for something they don't feel is necessary...........

People who don't own mistakes, or even recognise they make them are usually useless in any line of business.
I doubt this fella will ever concede his and will simply blame others.
If he genuinely learns, then stay, if he don't, then go.
What I've been reading all season is it was far more than just one game he only has plan A and is buggered when that fails.

[Prufrock]

^^ There's only a few anonymous internet forummers wanting him to stay and the board say nowt (if you're judging on an equitable basis)

Ghost suggests they'd have probably spotted some discontent through their media team, but I do agree, to make some sort of statement would be not unadjacent to the "vote of confidence," and on that basis, I wouldn't say much, apart from maybe "Managers, players had a week off and are now raring to go" type of generic bullshit.

Maybe reading between the lines/wishful thinking, but I wonder if they're waiting to do a "Baxter signs new deal, look everyone has faith in the project, we go again" type announcement. Some meat for the sandwich.

[GhostoftheBok]

I wouldn't say much, apart from maybe "Managers, players had a week off and are now raring to go" type of generic bullshit.

This is the type of thing that's needed.

There are all kinds of ways you can do it. The easiest would probably be something about the new pitch (if that's happening) and how Ian is looking forward to the home advantage that will give us next season. Or a player signs up and Evatt talks about his role next season.

You don't have to come out and yell "He's staying, alright!" However, when a manager has chosen to very publicly question is own commitment to a role past the summer and then loses a huge match you do need something.

This is an issue of Ian's own making.

[Worthy4England]

Gotta say mate, (knowing it's a bit of a bugbear for you), I don't think there's a great message around a new pitch for most, no matter how well you spin it.

There's also the dimension that fans were tapped to the tune of £4.5m last year, which already caused some consternation, when budget was spent on the new disco lights.

They, probably need to get on with a "signature" signing, given other teams are already announcing incomings, but even there I worry that it's a name which might be the best fit ever (from a Markham/Evatt viewpoint), where people not closely watching think "who the feck?"

It'll settle a bit over the summer, I just think we hit kick off in a less forgiving place than last year.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

As long as some bugger is lurking in the background organising some ace signings before Rotherham scoop them all up. Not sure I can cope with a summer of Insano reeling off all the names Rotherham have signed that turns them into Pep's Citeh.

[Worthy4England]

^^ Worse mate, they only have to be better than Ian's Citeh...

[GhostoftheBok]

Gotta say mate, (knowing it's a bit of a bugbear for you), I don't think there's a great message around a new pitch for most, no matter how well you spin it.

It's nothing to do with the pitch. It's simply that there's a need for a sign of commitment and you don't want it to look like a vote of confidence.

Any "This is what we're doing next season" will do.

At the minute all we have is Ian saying "I don't know how I feel and I need a think over the summer."

That's not good enough. If I were working in the club I'd not be happy with the manager for that lack of commitment.

I can quite understand if he's struggling for whatever reason. A manager needs to be the most committed person in the club, though, with the leading vision of where you're all going. He sets the tone.

It might be that everyone in the club knows Ian is staying, but in that case it's extremely poor comms and the public-facing stuff needs fixing.

If he really doesn't know if he wants to be here anymore then I'd rather he resigned. If he is completely committed we (the fans) should know that.

[Worthy4England]

Gotta say mate, (knowing it's a bit of a bugbear for you), I don't think there's a great message around a new pitch for most, no matter how well you spin it.

It's nothing to do with the pitch. It's simply that there's a need for a sign of commitment and you don't want it to look like a vote of confidence.

Any "This is what we're doing next season" will do.

At the minute all we have is Ian saying "I don't know how I feel and I need a think over the summer."

That's not good enough. If I were working in the club I'd not be happy with the manager for that lack of commitment.

I can quite understand if he's struggling for whatever reason. A manager needs to be the most committed person in the club, though, with the leading vision of where you're all going. He sets the tone.

It might be that everyone in the club knows Ian is staying, but in that case it's extremely poor comms and the public-facing stuff needs fixing.

If he really doesn't know if he wants to be here anymore then I'd rather he resigned. If he is completely committed we (the fans) should know that.

Agree with what you're saying in general, mate - but I think it would look much better if he explained that next to his new MF maestro, rather than a lorry load of top-soil.

The only thing, I think I've seen in print was "“This hurt will last for longer than a while. We all need to look in the mirror and think about what is next.” - you could read that as "for me personally" or you could read that as "how we'll refine the plan"...I'm not sure I've seen him say "I don't know how I feel and I need a think over the summer" - albeit that might be true.

[GhostoftheBok]

Agree with what you're saying in general, mate - but I think it would look much better if he explained that next to his new MF maestro, rather than a lorry load of top-soil.

The only thing, I think I've seen in print was "“This hurt will last for longer than a while. We all need to look in the mirror and think about what is next.” - you could read that as "for me personally" or you could read that as "how we'll refine the plan"...I'm not sure I've seen him say "I don't know how I feel and I need a think over the summer" - albeit that might be true.

I agree totally about the amazing new signing bit, but not sure we have the money.

Regarding Ian's comments, I was thinking more of other things he's said since January. Without that context the stuff said after the final wouldn't bother me.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It'll settle a bit over the summer, I just think we hit kick off in a less forgiving place than last year.

A *much* less forgiving place. Understandably.

We need a good summer, a strong start, some key wins against rivals (promotion, local or both) and probably some clear and obvious signs that we've improved, because the suspicion will still linger about the absence of solidity and flexibility (opposites, but both needed).

Take this season, for example. Won the first four games (inc Lge Cup), the first three without conceding, to go top of the league. But the fourth, home to Fleetwood, included a fragile second half that worried many - and four days later we were smashed 4-0 at home by Wigan.

Said before that trust is hard to win and easy to lose. I'm not sure many fans, from the darkest pessimist to the sunniest optimist, fully recovered 100% confidence that we didn't have a fatal weakness lurking in us. And once that's there, confirmation bias builds it up.

I've also posted before this quote from Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding, but it feels germane again:

Baseball was an art, but to excel at it you had to become a machine. It didn’t matter how beautifully you performed sometimes, what you did on your best day, how many spectacular plays you made. You weren’t a painter or a writer - you didn’t work in private and discard your mistakes, and it wasn’t just your masterpieces that counted. What mattered, as for any machine, was repeatability. Moments of inspiration were nothing compared to elimination of error.

Clearly we're not at the very top level. Whether we'll ever get there again is open to question. But it seems to me that right now, and for the next six months at least, Harbach's quote is relevant to Evattball and particularly the faith in it felt by the supporters. To paraphrase:

It didn’t matter how beautifully you performed sometimes, what you did on your best day, how many goals you scored against Exeter (who would then hobble your promotion hopes in the return fixture)... it wasn’t just your masterpieces that counted. What mattered, as for any team, was repeatability.

[GhostoftheBok]

Pompey went 17 unbeaten from late Jan to April (when they'd already gone up).
Plymouth went 15 unbeaten the season before.
Ipswich went 19 unbeaten.

These are the kinds of runs you need.

Our longest unbeaten run in the season just gone was 7. Evatt's longest unbeaten run since promotion is 8.

Lincoln managed 16 unbeaten last season.

So, yeah...consistency is the issue.

[Worthy4England]

Yeah agree mate - that quote applies to pretty much any sport. Lost of non-believers might view cricket at batting and bowling, but it's often won or lost by single moments fielding. I think what some of us slightly more critical posters were saying, was, for example in the case of Reading, for example, a defensively slack performance - yes we scored 5 but they still scored 2, which is more than you should be accepting.

18 non-wins was this year's autos, we were at 21. Last year, Plymouth were at 15 non-wins, Ipswich at 18. Season before 18 and 19. You just can't have too many days where you're level or second best, for whatever the reason, regardless of how many you can bag in one game.

[BWFC_Insane]

I’m not sure what message people expect. There are two scenarios.

1) Nothing has yet been decided. Maybe Sharon and the board are considering budgets Evatt considering his future. Nothing to say yet.

2) Everything is carrying on as normal. Nothing to say. Season tickets are sold. There is no point in a rallying call or statement in May. It won’t help.

So for me it’s either 1 or 2 and in neither case do I think a statement makes sense.

I don’t think assuming Evatt stays there is much to say until they are back in pre season.

[irie Cee Bee]

Baxter came out and spoke, surprisingly to me, committing to give it another go. Haven't heard "Jack" from the manager about next season, so I can only assume he is carefully weighing if he should walk or stay. Hopefully he will make up his mind next week so that the club can move on with settling on the manager and getting some players in that suits him.

[Bertie Wooster]

Surely after Saturday's debacle & the obvious fan disappointment and the potential damage done - the club needs to communicate something upbeat to the fans about the future, given Evatt's comments towards the end of the season about taking time to consider his future etc.

They can't just do nothing and stay silent much longer, it's not great PR and after Saturday is really poor IMO - the supporters need something not silence & uncertainty.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I suspect they may not be communicating because they may not know.

It's the fans rather than the club that have imposed a "Go away and think about what you've done" but I do think Evatt will be spending at least some time wondering whether to jump. A week is a generous amount of time, even in the football close season - but again, I'm not sure quite how they communicate "He's staying" without some sort of good-news story. I guess they could tee up an interview – Evatt Roars 'We'll Do It This Year For The Fans' - but that's creating the sort of hostage-to-fortune situation for which he is so often criticised ("best team", "top two", "Premier League" etc etc).

As an aside, I suspect the decision to release/retain players – effectively the only thing the club has done since the evening of the final - was made before the final. Slight possibility we did two lists for two outcomes, but Jerome/Bod surely more likely to be kept if we stayed down. Maaaaaybe it affected some of the younger lads - had we gone up, we may have hired reinforcements that pushed them further from the team.

[Worthy4England]

I think most of us would have got pretty close on the "released" list. In about January! (JDB's extension terms notwithstanding, he was only the second most talked about three letter acronym beginning with "J" for the most part)

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think most of us would have got pretty close on the "released" list. In about January! (JDB's extension terms notwithstanding, he was only the second most talked about three letter acronym beginning with "J" for the most part)

Oh for sure. Declan John never likely to be extended... I wonder if Jerome might have been kept on as coach if we went up, but whatever. Just saying it's the only real noise from the club this week, bar the Remembrance Service.

[GhostoftheBok]

Declan John never likely to be extended.

Some folk have tried to start up his rehabilitation tour as well.

[Mar]

I think most of us would have got pretty close on the "released" list. In about January! (JDB's extension terms notwithstanding, he was only the second most talked about three letter acronym beginning with "J" for the most part)

Oh for sure. Declan John never likely to be extended... I wonder if Jerome might have been kept on as coach if we went up, but whatever. Just saying it's the only real noise from the club this week, bar the Remembrance Service.

John had practically been released last year. Still under contract but pretty much anywhere other than here.