Taking Stock (port) ....A trip away to the neighbours. Sat Nov 9th, 3-0'clock.

[Prufrock]

Yesterday hurts more as we’d actually been on a decent run since the last implosion. ‘Evatt out’ had calmed down a bit, we were making progress up the league, and a win would have left us comfortably top 6, just outside the autos going into the international break. We’d have achieved that despite playing beneath our capabilities and could have had the confidence to push on. We’d have won tough games at Peterborough, Stevenage and Stockport, and it may have been a corner turned.

As it is, we’ve fallen apart spectacularly again. The same deficiencies that keep showing themselves reared their heads again. He has to go. It feels like we’re only the next tough game away from another performance like that.

We’re still not out of it this season, but I’d give a new manager far more chance of getting us up into the playoffs and beyond than sticking with Evatt.

Yeah, Huddersfield tipped the balance for me. But since then we've had a good run and a little voice starts to say... Oh I don't know. Maybe the start of the season was a new shape bedding down, we struggled, went back to basics and last season's shape to stop the rot, then started to play well with the new shape, maybe we've turned a corner.

And then.... Same old failings. You can't keep getting beat in these games, and you absolutely can't keep getting hammered. Far too many times where the scale of it shows a fundamental problem. It only ends one way from here, it's just a matter of time.

[HMX]

It’s weird to blast ‘underperforming’ players after saying several players were sick before the game. Which is it? It’s neither. You assembled the squad, you tell them how to play, you (don’t) change things during the game. Fall on your sword, man.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... standards/

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s weird to blast ‘underperforming’ players after saying several players were sick before the game. Which is it? It’s neither. You assembled the squad, you tell them how to play, you (don’t) change things during the game. Fall on your sword, man.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... standards/

The telling quote in all that for me is…

But singing about the football that we play, we have had a lot of success over five years, so I find that a bit strange.

He thinks we are simply lucky to have him and should all simply be grateful for his presence here. He doesn’t get that promotion from league two at Bolton wanderers always is and has been a bare minimum and that in many ways he learned from the first half of the season in league two to build a better side yet has seemingly abandoned all that learning. We had width. Solidity in midfield. Physicality. All gone.

Go back to non league where you belong Evatt. Maybe Amy will show up too.

[officer_dibble]

Aye, what success is that Ian?
Scraped promotion from league two, just managing to hold off mighty Morecambe at the death.
Papa Johns trophy winners.
We’ve not finished higher than 3rd in leagues 3 and 4.
And now your going to be the manager whose managed most tier 3 games in our history unless Sharon wakes the feck up and faces up to the difficult part of the job. And if not - we’ll have to start to turn on her.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Which poor member of the backroom staff takes the flak this time?

Turns out it's "some players".
“There are some players in there that are underperforming and some players in there that aren’t doing what are required to do, day-in, day-out, as a professional football player. It is your job to do the right things."
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... standards/

[The_Gun]

It’s weird to blast ‘underperforming’ players after saying several players were sick before the game. Which is it? It’s neither. You assembled the squad, you tell them how to play, you (don’t) change things during the game. Fall on your sword, man.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... standards/

Yeah, I think there’s no coming back for Evatt now. He’s lost the fanbase, and with these comments I’d suggest he might have lost some of the dressing room as well.

[HMX]

It’s weird to blast ‘underperforming’ players after saying several players were sick before the game. Which is it? It’s neither. You assembled the squad, you tell them how to play, you (don’t) change things during the game. Fall on your sword, man.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... standards/

Yeah, I think there’s no coming back for Evatt now. He’s lost the fanbase, and with these comments I’d suggest he might have lost some of the dressing room as well.

Agreed, but I just don't see a statement coming out this morning announcing his departure.

[The_Gun]

I’d hope/expect that there would be some type of board meeting to discuss his future today. If we haven’t heard anything by this evening then I’d guess he’s not being potted yet.

[Worthy4England]

^^ He mentioned talking to the Board after Huddersfield. No such mention, yesterday....I'd be surprised right now if he goes anywhere this season (unless we went on a complete shitshow horror run)...

The training ground, what players do on it and day to day. He's right that they're part of a players job. They're also part of the Manager's when players aren't doing it.

[The_Gun]

I’ve seen some chatter about Evatt not always being at the training ground/taking training sessions. Is that normal? Seems strange to me, if true.

[Worthy4England]

I’ve seen some chatter about Evatt not always being at the training ground/taking training sessions. Is that normal? Seems strange to me, if true.

Sorta depends where "not always there" is from "never there" to "always there" for me...

[knobpolisher]

I would imagine that most football managers don't attend every training session.
Some may be attending meetings to discuss their future for example.

[TANGODANCER]

Still trying hard to understand how teams playing basic football can be so far removed from our superior data planned tactics that we can loose 5-0 to them and wonder why? It isn't even hard to see that possession of the ball (which we don't actually have that much of right now anyway) without an end product, can be classed as an asset except in keeping clean sheets. We are no threat to anybody right now. We give away soft goals so that guys can run around waving laptops and shouting at each other to what end? This shouting and pointing is just utterly pointless at best, because none of it is worth a carrot against one ball in the net equation. We can't make simple passes or even hit our own players with throw ins, shoot straight and our corner kicks are just time wasters.

Conclusion: We've forgotten how to play football. Ian Evatt is suffering from football amnesia. May he soon recover.

[officer_dibble]

I’ve seen some chatter about Evatt not always being at the training ground/taking training sessions. Is that normal? Seems strange to me, if true.

Stuff like this always comes out when the manager is going. Certain players not bothering in training will follow. I’d imagine Thomason, Santos, Johnston, Toal as trusted, with others now seeking to get this bloke the sack.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It’s weird to blast ‘underperforming’ players after saying several players were sick before the game. Which is it? It’s neither. You assembled the squad, you tell them how to play, you (don’t) change things during the game. Fall on your sword, man.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... standards/

Yeah, I think there’s no coming back for Evatt now. He’s lost the fanbase, and with these comments I’d suggest he might have lost some of the dressing room as well.

I said yesterday that the players' WhatsApp groups would be busy.... this is going to set them aflame.

The words reported will be from Saturday's post-match presser, but the players may not have heard them yet. It's a textbook way to divide a dressing room - akin to Brent Rodgers holding up three envelopes and claiming they held the names of players who he 'knew' would let the side down.

Which makes a lot less sense when you hired every last one of them.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I’ve seen some chatter about Evatt not always being at the training ground/taking training sessions. Is that normal? Seems strange to me, if true.

It's not hugely unusual. Different managers do things differently (and can change during their career - late-stage Fergie barely went out on the grass unless there were problems, although his office overlooked the Carrington pitches so the players never knew if he was Rear Window-ing them).

Evatt also has two assistant managers, a rare luxury at this level, and also had a chief coach until he sacrificed him.

That said, he's big on #downloading #content and "on the grass" so you'd imagine he'd be there most of the time.

And as noted, this sort of whisper starts to swirl in the bad times.

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s interesting in that obviously I’ve not been keen on Evatt for a long while. I’ve had doubts that turned into full blown ‘get rid’ for a long while. However, in all honesty i knew that I was probably in a minority. A growing minority but one that was still probably outnumbered. And I don’t think it became a majority till after Huddersfield but even then my feeling was whilst it was a majority it was not emphatic in its totality. Plenty who had moved across were still ‘well it’s a shame it’s time but he could still turn it round’. There wasn’t anger or vitriol in the main.

I do sense that has now changed and I think it’s at the point Keith Hill described on the radio where once people are shouting for you to be sacked and there is anger you don’t really come back from that. It’s always there. And even a good run is only a temporary interlude.

[Worthy4England]

Still trying hard to understand how teams playing basic football can be so far removed from our superior data planned tactics that we can loose 5-0 to them and wonder why? It isn't even hard to see that possession of the ball (which we don't actually have that much of right now anyway) without an end product, can be classed as an asset except in keeping clean sheets. We are no threat to anybody right now. We give away soft goals so that guys can run around waving laptops and shouting at each other to what end? This shouting and pointing is just utterly pointless at best, because none of it is worth a carrot against one ball in the net equation. We can't make simple passes or even hit our own players with throw ins, shoot straight and our corner kicks are just time wasters.

Conclusion: We've forgotten how to play football. Ian Evatt is suffering from football amnesia. May he soon recover.

That would be well and good TD, except we had 61% possession at weekend. Zero shots on target and still managed to concede 5 and 10 shots on target, from the 39% possession they had.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It’s interesting in that obviously I’ve not been keen on Evatt for a long while. I’ve had doubts that turned into full blown ‘get rid’ for a long while. However, in all honesty i knew that I was probably in a minority. A growing minority but one that was still probably outnumbered. And I don’t think it became a majority till after Huddersfield but even then my feeling was whilst it was a majority it was not emphatic in its totality. Plenty who had moved across were still ‘well it’s a shame it’s time but he could still turn it round’. There wasn’t anger or vitriol in the main.

I do sense that has now changed and I think it’s at the point Keith Hill described on the radio where once people are shouting for you to be sacked and there is anger you don’t really come back from that. It’s always there. And even a good run is only a temporary interlude.

And Keith Hill would know a lot about that, at least

(and for once I agree with the unemployed opinion-saxophone last seen getting sacked from a club 23rd in non-league)

[HMX]

It’s interesting in that obviously I’ve not been keen on Evatt for a long while. I’ve had doubts that turned into full blown ‘get rid’ for a long while. However, in all honesty i knew that I was probably in a minority. A growing minority but one that was still probably outnumbered. And I don’t think it became a majority till after Huddersfield but even then my feeling was whilst it was a majority it was not emphatic in its totality. Plenty who had moved across were still ‘well it’s a shame it’s time but he could still turn it round’. There wasn’t anger or vitriol in the main.

I do sense that has now changed and I think it’s at the point Keith Hill described on the radio where once people are shouting for you to be sacked and there is anger you don’t really come back from that. It’s always there. And even a good run is only a temporary interlude.

And Keith Hill would know a lot about that, at least

(and for once I agree with the unemployed opinion-saxophone last seen getting sacked from a club 23rd in non-league)

I read onion saxophone.