The ianevattable sacking

[boltonboris]

I'm not about pulling the trigger now. It looks bad on the pitch, but 4 league games isn't enough to hang your manager, unless there's a disaster in the next game.

A competent ish performance next time out should buy him some time, then we take another look at where we are come the end of October

[boltonboris]

Again, the first call of the angry fan is perceived lack of effort from the players. For me, that’s laziness from the viewers rather than the participants.

We didn’t lose today because Exeter tried harder, we didn’t lose last weekend because Charlton tried harder, and we didn’t lose the playoff final because Oxford tried harder.

Yep. I don't think the players are not playing for him, or he's lost the dressing room etc. I just don't think he's doing a very good job right now of setting the team up in a way to give us the best opportunity to win.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Make of it what you will.

[Worthy4England]

HR Director. Just did Ian's quarterly...

[Bertie Wooster]

Could it be Hart ?

[sonicthewhite]

Could it be Hart ?

Could what be Hart?

[GhostoftheBok]

Could it be Hart ?

Done in by the dodgy watch company?

BN headline could read, "It's About Time" with Hart's face on a watch.

Likely to be less seismic, you'd imagine.

One of the seniors took maternity leave a bit ago and there was some suggestion she might want to transition out. Maybe it's just that.

[Bertie Wooster]

Deffo sounds like its Hart who's on his way out.

[nicholaldo]

It's Hart.

He's seemingly off to newly taken over MK Dons.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

How do we feel about this? He talked a lot, but also irked a lot. Is that the lot of the CEO? Do we feel it shows a shift in power, or just a bloke moving on?

[Prufrock]

Veloso as Ian's replacement...?

[GhostoftheBok]

How do we feel about this? He talked a lot, but also irked a lot. Is that the lot of the CEO? Do we feel it shows a shift in power, or just a bloke moving on?

Genuinely not a clue about the "What does it all mean?" aspect, but in terms of how I feel....kind of meh.

Hart is a capable person who knows the trade. He was brought in for that reason and because he was local and known to Sharon. He'd done the job in the Premier League and brought a bit of kudos as a result.

Fast forward a bit and, partly thanks to him, we're now looking a bit more functional and stable. So whilst it's clearly a big deal it it's not likely to damage the club. Well done to him for (hopefully) leaving the next guy an easier job than he found.

My own view of Hart is that he wasn't a creative thinking. At Burnley he was very "A + B" and, whilst I don't know much of the internals at Bolton under FV, he seemed the same for us. There were times when I felt some of the stuff we did was unambitious, or that there were solutions available that weren't explored because it wasn't just "Add money and solve."

Overall I think you'd say he did a good job, though. You'd expect all the commercial revenue to go up from where we were, but he certainly did bring money in. Some of the deals he did felt iffy (our new watch friends being a good example), but that's probably life at a club desperate for every penny.

I think some people disliked him on principle, due to the Burnley connection (something Sharon has, interestingly, not suffered from). I got the impression, from the only time I had a proper chat with him, that he felt a bit hard done by. Maybe this gives him a chance to go somewhere and be liked? There's a lot to be said for having a job where your family don't see you slagged off online every week.

You'd imagine that a Sharon ally leaving might be a sign that we're in another phase of transition towards more direct "Swiss" involvement and no doubt that will be the speculation. Your guess is as good as mine (and probably as good as anyone's) in that regard.

[Worthy4England]

No matchday thread at the moment. So I thought I'd drop this here. This is Hudds owner after they got done by Donny in the irrelevant cup.

“Not good enough!! Cup or league we need to do better,” Nagel wrote. “From the players on up and right back down this is NOT the standard. Glad to have a bit of time to work on the issues and come back strong. I have full confidence in Michael and the lads to get right back in form. Still in good standing, need to build and never look back.”

Think it's pretty clear what he thinks about what he's been seeing...

[officer_dibble]

Which is clearly not helpful in public from the owner. So whatever your view on Evatt, the regime goes about things the right way.

[Worthy4England]

Which is clearly not helpful in public from the owner. So whatever your view on Evatt, the regime goes about things the right way.

What it does tell us is, he ain't happy. Hopefully we look at this and catch on that they've had a rocket, prior to the game against us. We could've assumed that anyhow but clearly we need to be ready and up for it.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

At Barnsley, Duff had mixed results for the first six months. Not long streaks but definitely ups and downs - started LWLWL (inc a 3-0 home defeat) then DWDWWW then LDLL then WWWWWDW then two straight losses - including the home 0-3 to us. By that point it's mid-Jan and not everyone in South Yorkshire is convinced, but then come the burners - WWDWWWWDWWWW. Even so they ended W4D2L4.

Similar but more polarising at Swansea last season. Started DLDLLLD, then some hope with WWWW, then LLWDLDLD sacked.

Anyway I mention all this as there's an opinion around (which I have also felt and expressed) that Duff turns teams into winning machines. Evidence is mixed. I daresay they'll frequently be tough to beat and often go on winning runs but it's not like he flicks a switch and they're invincible forever.

(As an aside, Duff's Wiki page is intriguingly edited. "Duff won the League One Manager of the Month award for November 2022, with Barnsley winning both of their two league games during the month." "Tom Coleman of Walesonline praised him for using different tactics to predecessor Russell Martin" - 'praise' being a strong word for Coleman's somewhat 'well this might be interesting'.)

[GhostoftheBok]

I'm fairly certain that Duff's best ever season in management would been seen as worthy of sacking Evatt this season. It'll definitely get him sacked at Huddersfield if he repeats it there. Similar positions with relegated squads.

I think the fewest number of games he's lost over a full season is 12.

He's a decent manager, but if we are calling his teams "winning machines" we should probably also rate Ian's team as one. Very similar best seasons. 25/12/9 for Ian vs 26/8/12 for Duff. Both lost a play-off final.

He did an excellent job at Cheltenham and was then seen as "okay" at Barnsley. Following up by getting binned off very early at Swans.

If he doesn't take Huddersfield up then his next job might be more "mid table League One", which might actually suit him.

It's a bit early for his current owners to be bitching in public. They've appointed a good young coach and should be nothing but supportive in public.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm fairly certain that Duff's best ever season in management would been seen as worthy of sacking Evatt this season. It'll definitely get him sacked at Huddersfield if he repeats it there. Similar positions with relegated squads.

I think the fewest number of games he's lost over a full season is 12.

He's a decent manager, but if we are calling his teams "winning machines" we should probably also rate Ian's team as one. Very similar best seasons. 25/12/9 for Ian vs 26/8/12 for Duff. Both lost a play-off final.

He did an excellent job at Cheltenham and was then seen as "okay" at Barnsley. Following up by getting binned off very early at Swans.

If he doesn't take Huddersfield up then his next job might be more "mid table League One", which might actually suit him.

It's a bit early for his current owners to be bitching in public. They've appointed a good young coach and should be nothing but supportive in public.

The problem is you don’t judge managers without the context. I think a pretty poor manager could win Man City the league some seasons. I suspect Guardiola would struggle to keep Southampton up.

[Prufrock]

I think you're on to something there!

[Worthy4England]

I think you're on to something there!

Aye Guardiola out!

I'm guessing Duff's best season was at Cheltenham on Cheltenham's budget?