Freedman out!

[General Mannerheim]

Big Sam will have earned a few bob from his sackings, hell get a few more million of West Ham.

He's gonna return to Bolton and spearhead a new consortium to take over the club (a la Nial Quinn @ sunlun) and all our prayers will be answered

[Hoboh]

I wanted him out early doors, then for a brief period there was some sniffs of hope for a future and I went for Christmas.
Its going pear shaped again, the bloke just cannot maintain progression.
One more game for me, no result fcuk off duggie and take fatty Phil with you!

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

For the inners, its all then about a decision of where you are drawing the line as acceptable performance - position end of season, next christmas ? ? To me its a cop out if you don't have something like that in mind. Thats why I was wondering whats in the mind of Eddie & PG & forum members. Sure you can take into account circumstance when you are judging what target you've previously set - key injuries etc, but I don't see many valid excuses kicking around for dougie

I don't think it is a cop out. Lines in sand etc are usually fairly arbitary and plucked out of the air. Deciding the point at which to sack someone needs to be carefully thought out. If by not sacking Dougie we believe we will tread water and not get relegated then it makes no sense to sack him before getting all the ducks in a row. If we sack Dougie today, who realistically are we able to replace him with? If we don't fancy any of them then we wait. Maybe next week or the month after the right person will be available. The worst thing we can do is sack him and then replace him with no better or even worse, which is what we have done for the last few appointments.

[boltonboris]

He's fvckin shit

[bobo the clown]

^^ Agreed.

Though I think a question to be asked is "is his staying making matters worse than if he left".

I honestly think it is, btw.

Then the question of who replaces him can be considered in context.

But, yes, you need a plan.

[coffeymagic]

It seems that no matter what Phil does he can't get it right.

He's tried promoting from within, appointing a manager with a 'proven track record', employing a fans favourite and now an 'up and coming young manager' with a 'bright future.'

He's guessed wrong every single time. He's given managers chance after chance - Not, in my opinion because he wants to see if they can turn things around but because he knows that every bad appointment he makes makes him look more and more of a clueless nugget.

The name 'Freedman' must have come to him after watching one of those property programmes where Sarah Beenie (phwoar eh lads?) tells arses to 'buy the cheapest house in the most expensive area' (or is it v.v.?). He's a second tier boss with second tier tactics (at best).

I don't know if he's been set a target for this season but unless it's 'be pish' then he's never going to hit it.

His arrival at the club was severely underwhelming and his football has failed to reach those low expectations.

The blame has to rest with Gartside and if Freedman goes he'll need balls of iron to stay on as chairman.

[Peter Thompson]

The worse thing for me is that the owner, chairman & the fans appear to have accepted this bottom half of the championship, shit, tedious, dull as dishwater mediocre football under 'cocky' Freedman....and how after absolutely zero progress in over 14 months and having wasted 2 x transfer windows he's still in a job - and also still as arrogant & deluded as usual claiming that he knows what he's doing and that the fans can see this ?

This novice of a manager appears to be absolutely clueless in managing & motivating a team, let him go and learn his trade at a 1st or 2nd division club for a few years. I for one hope that the club don't back him with a penny in the Jan window because he'll only waste it on more dross.

IMO he's been well backed by the club, and been allowed to bring in a lot of mediocre average players in the past 14 months yet still we have seen zero progress.....no on can now blame the previous regime this is now & has been for a while Freedman's team yet they still appear to lack the hunger, quality, desire & motivation to get anywhere close to promotion from this league....he & his team are constantly out fought & out thought by much poorer teams

Also, the deafening silence from Mr Gartside isn't helping things in regards to the direction of the club....it looks like he's buried his head in the sand, clueless in regards to what needs to be done to halt this alarming decline since the Stoke semi final.

[Lord Kangana]

Ditchwater.

Its bloody ditchwater.

I was with you all the way, but how are we going to convince others when you fail so spectacularly on the basics?

[Enoch]

back in October Enoch was saying about giving dougie more time

That's not what I said back in October.

The 3rd camp is the 'Don't think Dougie is doing a great job, but are fearful of the merry-go-round' camp.

Not quite what I was saying, but near enough.

[Athers]

I don't know why I'm bothering but I'd hardly call booing after 10 minutes "accepting" where we are.

Quite the opposite to the point of being destructive, actually.

I don't know where I am anymore, still not very bloodthirsty though.

[Tombwfc]

Few things terrify me more than the thought that we could be in for another whole year of this, waiting for the penny to finally drop.

[Athers]

Few things terrify me more than the thought that we could be in for another whole year of this, waiting for the penny to finally drop.

There probably have to be about 300 million pennies to drop before it happens

[StaffsTrotter]

For the inners, its all then about a decision of where you are drawing the line as acceptable performance - position end of season, next christmas ? ? To me its a cop out if you don't have something like that in mind. Thats why I was wondering whats in the mind of Eddie & PG & forum members. Sure you can take into account circumstance when you are judging what target you've previously set - key injuries etc, but I don't see many valid excuses kicking around for dougie

I don't think it is a cop out. Lines in sand etc are usually fairly arbitary and plucked out of the air. Deciding the point at which to sack someone needs to be carefully thought out. If by not sacking Dougie we believe we will tread water and not get relegated then it makes no sense to sack him before getting all the ducks in a row. If we sack Dougie today, who realistically are we able to replace him with? If we don't fancy any of them then we wait. Maybe next week or the month after the right person will be available. The worst thing we can do is sack him and then replace him with no better or even worse, which is what we have done for the last few appointments.

surely if you dont have some measure to act upon - however arbitarily you've drawn it, then you really are in trouble. what do respond to - just a knee jerk response the next time you're feeling a bit pissed off after a poor performance

I hoping PG & ED have line drawn. I'm hoping the alarm bells are ringing now and they are already preparing the succession plan. as I said before I'm not expecting to be wetting myself with who it might be - just hoping it works for whoever came in, as its always a gamble

[StaffsTrotter]

back in October Enoch was saying about giving dougie more time

That's not what I said back in October.

The 3rd camp is the 'Don't think Dougie is doing a great job, but are fearful of the merry-go-round' camp.

Not quite what I was saying, but near enough.

really don't understand that distinction - the outcome of the position you say you are, is the position you say you're not

[irie Cee Bee]

I think we have a decent manager who can tak us back to the PL. Not execting it this season and axing him will be another backward step. It would be like trying to out the fire and not address the real problem.

The real problem is that our players are not that good. We get 3 no name loaners who outshine all the star "premireship" players we have at our club.

Get rid of the players whose contracts expire in the summer. Then bring in players with some talent, guts and consistency. I will judge DF after that and not on what he has inherited from bad decisions made by past managers.

[Peter Thompson]

I think we have a decent manager who can tak us back to the PL. Not execting it this season and axing him will be another backward step. It would be like trying to out the fire and not address the real problem.

The real problem is that our players are not that good. We get 3 no name loaners who outshine all the star "premireship" players we have at our club.

Get rid of the players whose contracts expire in the summer. Then bring in players with some talent, guts and consistency. I will judge DF after that and not on what he has inherited from bad decisions made by past managers.

The issue with this point is that Freedman has already been allowed to sign Spearing, Medo, Baptiste, Hall, Beckford, Tierney, Hall, Moritz, C Davies plus Feeney, Mason, McNaughton & Danns on loan, which in my book is 13 players (full team plus subs) and we have still not progressed - how many more does he need before its his team ?

This is his team FFS....

[boltonboris]

Some player that I didn't even notice we'd signed has extended his loan by another month.. Great news!

[jaffka]

Some player that I didn't even notice we'd signed has extended his loan by another month.. Great news!

Is it the goalie with the nickname hologram?

[boltonboris]

Yeah. I've forgotten his name again..

[thebish]

Yeah. I've forgotten his name again..

Bogdan??

Big Sam dropped Jussi last week, I hear...