Inevitable

[Wild Rover]

When / If the inevitable happens and a rebuild of squad becomes essential, just who would your preference be in the \"Hot Seat\".

I know a lot will say SOD, a few may say DS, some may have other Ideas ( donnyroversfc ).

Team building is all about recruiting players to suit whatever style the manager wishes to play.

I struggle to think of many recruits SOD brought in that had not played for him before, so that would make his recruitment process more difficult.

Saunders may have had some loans forced upon him ( if you believe some posters ).

Its a quanerie which ever way you fall.

[jonnydog]

It's all irrelevant sadly, as we could not afford to buy out his contract to get rid. Unless there's something on the contract.

C'est la vie

[Wellred]

It's all irrelevant sadly, as we could not afford to buy out his contract to get rid. Unless there's something on the contract.

C'est la vie

Stupid post

[Jonathan]

I struggle to think of many recruits SOD brought in that had not played for him before

I don't think you would really struggle with that.

Anyway. SO'D will not be coming back and no matter what people think about the decision to part ways (and the way it was handled) there is no point going on forever about it.

As regards who we should have in the hot seat for next season, it's a fair question. It won't be SO'D so no point discussing. Ryan says it will be Saunders (but we've heard that kind of guarantee before).

Personally I think we need a fresh start. I haven't seen anything in Saunders' approach to suggest he's the right man to unite the club and get us moving forward together. Martin Allen has been mentioned but that doesn't appeal to me personally. I've not really put any thought into who we could get, but I definitely think a fresh start is the best way forward. A new manager shouldn't necessarily need to bring in an entirely new squad before they can be judged.

[Wellred]

I struggle to think of many recruits SOD brought in that had not played for him before

I don't think you would really struggle with that.

Anyway. SO'D will not be coming back and no matter what people think about the decision to part ways (and the way it was handled) there is no point going on forever about it.

As regards who we should have in the hot seat for next season, it's a fair question. It won't be SO'D so no point discussing. Ryan says it will be Saunders (but we've heard that kind of guarantee before).

Personally I think we need a fresh start. I haven't seen anything in Saunders' approach to suggest he's the right man to unite the club and get us moving forward together. Martin Allen has been mentioned but that doesn't appeal to me personally. I've not really put any thought into who we could get, but I definitely think a fresh start is the best way forward. A new manager shouldn't necessarily need to bring in an entirely new squad before they can be judged.

Maybe we should get rid of Saunders at the end of the season then appoint a new Manager straight away.
Then if the new Manager hasn't got us to at least half way up the table after 23 games then sack him and get another one.
If we are still not above half way at the end of next season sack that manager then look for another one.

[Jonathan]

Maybe we should get rid of Saunders at the end of the season then appoint a new Manager straight away.
Then if the new Manager hasn't got us to at least half way up the table after 23 games then sack him and get another one.
If we are still not above half way at the end of next season sack that manager then look for another one.

That sounds precisely like the kind of strategy someone like you would go for! Fair play for the honesty.

[donnyroversfc]

I'd get SO'D back and give him a 10 year contract just to piss Wellred off.

[timdrfc]

When / If the inevitable happens and a rebuild of squad becomes essential, just who would your preference be in the \"Hot Seat\".

I know a lot will say SOD, a few may say DS, some may have other Ideas ( donnyroversfc ).

Team building is all about recruiting players to suit whatever style the manager wishes to play.

I struggle to think of many recruits SOD brought in that had not played for him before, so that would make his recruitment process more difficult.

Saunders may have had some loans forced upon him ( if you believe some posters ).

For all those who want SOD back it wont happen, get behind our manager as we try to rebuild. For god sake look who's been underperforming & if your fair it's most of the old [ SOD ] guard, plus look at the sick bay , maybe it aint the scapegoat physio but the injury prone players that we under SOD & being a small club in this league could attract. Could some one tell me what Willie McKay has done to any of us other than bring in players on more realistic wages for us as a club to pay, i agree it hasn't worked out & we more than likely get relegated, But  I think some people are deluded in thinking we would be in a better position under SOD & yes i know we are bottom of the league at present. With a little bit of luck in a few games we would be out of the bottom 3 but thats football & 3 teams have to be relegated each season.

[Wild Rover]

I struggle to think of many recruits SOD brought in that had not played for him before

I don't think you would really struggle with that.

But i do struggle Jon. BS was a Ryan signing, as was Richie Wellans. Had not most central defenders played for him on loan at Bournemouth, Certainly Stock had and Gilette and Hayter.

Whilst i appreciate last close season recruits didnt play for him at Bournemouth, most of notable signings in the past seem to have in one form or other.

I wasnt actually saying DRFC should have a change of manager, what i asked for in a fictitious world was for each posters preference.

In my case i would prefer DS as it must be harder to recruit for SOD style than his.

[donnyroversfc]

Saunders also requires a specific type of player, a player who McKay knows about...

Give Saunders 7 league games next season (without McKay) then we should know just how good DS is.

In my ideal world though after SO'D was sacked we should have gone all out to get Paul Tisdale in.

[silent majority]

Saunders also requires a specific type of player, a player who McKay knows about...

Give Saunders 7 league games next season (without McKay) then we should know just how good DS is.

In my ideal world though after SO'D was sacked we should have gone all out to get Paul Tisdale in.

Your constant references to McKay are getting ridiculous, nobody mentions him as much as you. What is wrong with having the most experienced agent of them all scouting for players for Dean Saunders? Why does he have to jump through all your hoops so that you will be happy for whatever reason? When are you going to face up to the fact that agents are a part of football and have been for quite some time?

Tisdale? You are joking!

[donnyroversfc]

Saunders also requires a specific type of player, a player who McKay knows about...

Give Saunders 7 league games next season (without McKay) then we should know just how good DS is.

In my ideal world though after SO'D was sacked we should have gone all out to get Paul Tisdale in.

Your constant references to McKay are getting ridiculous, nobody mentions him as much as you. What is wrong with having the most experienced agent of them all scouting for players for Dean Saunders? Why does he have to jump through all your hoops so that you will be happy for whatever reason? When are you going to face up to the fact that agents are a part of football and have been for quite some time?

Tisdale? You are joking!

It's true though, all through Saunders short managerial career he's relied on McKay, he should go it alone.

No i'm not joking about Tisdale, would've been a cracking choice, good young manager who has had success in his managerial career and got his teams punching above their weight with practically a non-existant budget.

[Wild Rover]

Saunders also requires a specific type of player, a player who McKay knows about...

Give Saunders 7 league games next season (without McKay) then we should know just how good DS is.

In my ideal world though after SO'D was sacked we should have gone all out to get Paul Tisdale in.

Now i know you have indeed lost the plot. Why 7 games, is that because of OD, who had many more games than the 7 of this season, with a squad he built ( with exception of 2 ).

With or without WM i think DS should be given the chance to mould a team and see what he can do. I think he will surprise many.

And for the life in me i dont see why DRFC would want Tisdale.

[Akinfenwa]

To let a manager rebuild the whole squad and then give him 7 games is utterly ridiculous. It's no way to run a football club.

[donnyroversfc]

Saunders also requires a specific type of player, a player who McKay knows about...

Give Saunders 7 league games next season (without McKay) then we should know just how good DS is.

In my ideal world though after SO'D was sacked we should have gone all out to get Paul Tisdale in.

Now i know you have indeed lost the plot. Why 7 games, is that because of OD, who had many more games than the 7 of this season, with a squad he built ( with exception of 2 ).

With or without WM i think DS should be given the chance to mould a team and see what he can do. I think he will surprise many.

And for the life in me i dont see why DRFC would want Tisdale.

Yes, because SO'D got 7 games, plus 7 games is still early enough to be able to change it if things are going wrong and still be able to recover our season from it.

Why wouldn't DRFC want Tisdale? Attractive football, works well with a low budget (paid a transfer fee for ONE player i think, 50k), young, loyal and shown he has good knowledge of the game. not to mention the many promotions he's had in his managerial career so far.

[donnyroversfc]

To let a manager rebuild the whole squad and then give him 7 games is utterly ridiculous. It's no way to run a football club.

But atleast then after the 7 games the whole fanbase might be in complete agreement one way or the other for a change... I'm genuinnly intrigued to see how Saunders would do without McKay.

[Chris]

I doubt Tisdale would even consider DRFC at the moment. We're not an attractive prospect and he's very loyal to Exeter. He even turned down Swansea before they hired Rodgers.

[donnyroversfc]

I doubt Tisdale would even consider DRFC at the moment. We're not an attractive prospect and he's very loyal to Exeter. He even turned down Swansea before they hired Rodgers.

I'm sure John Ryan could talk him round... Especially when they'll probably be in league 2 next season (oh his teams relegated? hes RUBBISH!).

[dickos1]

To let a manager rebuild the whole squad and then give him 7 games is utterly ridiculous. It's no way to run a football club.

But atleast then after the 7 games the whole fanbase might be in complete agreement one way or the other for a change... I'm genuinnly intrigued to see how Saunders would do without McKay.

McKay McKay McKay.  You are clueless, I understand people's view on Saunders, I don't agree with it but I understand it. But McKay is totally and utterly irrelevant.
You go on and on and on about him, but all he's done is help bring in players, if McKay left there would be loads of other agents offering us players it's never going to go away.
Your arguement about him is turning into a joke, he is irrelevant and has had no impact on our woes this season.

[Akinfenwa]

For me the best thing to do this summer is to pick a manager (if that is Saunders then fair enough), being sure that he his the right man. Then let him build a squad and give him a few seasons.

The last thing we need IMO is for someone, without full confidence from the board to completely change the squad and then be replaced midseason with someone who will want to do the same again next summer.

Edit: Re. Tisdale - I've always rated him but I see he's been getting quite a bit of stick on the Exeter forum in recent months. Many fans have been slating the dire football they've played this season, the manager's cautious tactics and failure to adequately replace key players lost last summer. Although they do have a relatively small budget for L1. The situation there sounds slightly familiar.

[donnyroversfc]

To let a manager rebuild the whole squad and then give him 7 games is utterly ridiculous. It's no way to run a football club.

But atleast then after the 7 games the whole fanbase might be in complete agreement one way or the other for a change... I'm genuinnly intrigued to see how Saunders would do without McKay.

McKay McKay McKay.  You are clueless, I understand people's view on Saunders, I don't agree with it but I understand it. But McKay is totally and utterly irrelevant.
You go on and on and on about him, but all he's done is help bring in players, if McKay left there would be loads of other agents offering us players it's never going to go away.
Your arguement about him is turning into a joke, he is irrelevant and has had no impact on our woes this season.

Ok sorry dad.

If we would have stayed up you, McKay, John Ryan and all the others who love McKay would've all been praising McKay for him keeping us up! He'd of constantly been in the media bigging up his awesome strategy... The reality is, we're down, bottom of the league and it can't be entirely blamed on the past, it's gotta be down to the manager and the man who's brought in FIFTEEN new players. ofcourse he's had an impact, you are deluded to think otherwise.

I wonder why McKay aint doing any media interviews bigging up his strategy anymore? Distancing himself from the whole failure i wonder...

[dickos1]

Love McKay? I have no opinion of McKay he's trying to help us, he's got us players we could never of dreamed of signing its not his fault they haven't made us successful. He has no influence on the side, tactics, lineups. All he's done is offer players to us.
As for the media I presume since the reaction of his last interview from people like you  he has wisely refused anyt other interviews..
We're going down due to performances on the pitch, which has naff all to do with McKay, blame the manager, blame our last manager, blame Ryan, they are the only people with sufficient influence.

[donnyroversfc]

I'd say bringing 15 players to a team is someone with sufficient influence.

[Wild Rover]

I dont care if 40 new players were brought in. DS required men and he got them, some of the loans were replaced with other loans ( 3 keepers as an example )Goulon to some extent was replaced by Ilunga, Fortune replaced by Piccione, etc etc. So is the loan system that bad, because your 15 have suddenly shrunk to 10.

I further ask how many players WM actually brought in to DRFC, i expect ( although i dont know ), the answer is 5, Chimbonda, Dieuf, Beye, Plessis and Robert . I suspect the rest were manager to manager loans.

[donnyroversfc]

They were all brought in by McKay, all 15 of them.

[dickos1]

I'd say bringing 15 players to a team is someone with sufficient influence.

15 players, give it a rest.
None of the goalies would have been down to him for starters.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Back on topic, I'm sick hearing about O'Driscoll.  The guy was a huge success here until 2011 where he was nigh on the worst performing manager in English football.  I loved SOD but he had more than enough time, letting him go was the right decision, I don't see how that can be argued with.

Whether the recruitment of Saunders was right or wrong is a different story and results suggest he hasn't kept us up, but that was always going to be a tall order.  The form last season suggested the team he inherited was clearly not in a good state.  I'm disappointed he hasn't turned it around but it was always going to be a tough ask.

Going into next season, I'm still unsure.  I think in an ideal situation I'd prefer someone else, it certainly wouldn't be SOD that's for sure, he did well here for sure, but that's in the past.  Penney did well here for a long time but that time passed aswell.

In terms of a new man it's a struggle as to who.  I mean Saunders could come good, perhaps he deserves time.  Given the budgets etc I probably would give him that, but without hearing what his strategy for next year is I find it hard to comment.  I'd love to hear him say this is what we're going to do and this is how we'll do it.   That needs to happen sooner or later and I hope JR has had that conversation with him.  Perhaps it is right to get relegated and then give him a bit of time to fix it?

But I can't see many other good options around at the moment.  Let's have a think of who is available.  Megson, Blackwell, Laws?  Would they go down well?  I think not.  Robins?  Well he was hit and miss at Barnsley and hated not having a budget.  Or we could go for someone who was doing well in lower leagues, well we've done that with Saunders yet people call him clueless.  Remember the job he did at Wrexham.....

I'm open for alternatives but so far I've not seen a real viable one for replacing Saunders that would really get me exited.  Given that our fans are prepared to give new managers no time (look at Saunders and also look at the ridiculous stick SOD also got when he was the new manager) would it really be an attractive job for managers who are doing well and in a comfort zone?  I mean if I was a good manager and saw the reaction an upcoming manager has had here so far well I wouldn't even think about taking the job.

[Wild Rover]

Well that I KNOW is an out and out fabrication.( Not your post BFYP, The preceeding donnyroversfc one).

[Chris Black come back]

Back on topic, I'm sick hearing about O'Driscoll.  The guy was a huge success here until 2011 where he was nigh on the worst performing manager in English football.  I loved SOD but he had more than enough time, letting him go was the right decision, I don't see how that can be argued with.

Whether the recruitment of Saunders was right or wrong is a different story and results suggest he hasn't kept us up, but that was always going to be a tall order.  The form last season suggested the team he inherited was clearly not in a good state.  I'm disappointed he hasn't turned it around but it was always going to be a tough ask.

Going into next season, I'm still unsure.  I think in an ideal situation I'd prefer someone else, it certainly wouldn't be SOD that's for sure, he did well here for sure, but that's in the past.  Penney did well here for a long time but that time passed aswell.

In terms of a new man it's a struggle as to who.  I mean Saunders could come good, perhaps he deserves time.  Given the budgets etc I probably would give him that, but without hearing what his strategy for next year is I find it hard to comment.  I'd love to hear him say this is what we're going to do and this is how we'll do it.   That needs to happen sooner or later and I hope JR has had that conversation with him.  Perhaps it is right to get relegated and then give him a bit of time to fix it?

But I can't see many other good options around at the moment.  Let's have a think of who is available.  Megson, Blackwell, Laws?  Would they go down well?  I think not.  Robins?  Well he was hit and miss at Barnsley and hated not having a budget.  Or we could go for someone who was doing well in lower leagues, well we've done that with Saunders yet people call him clueless.  Remember the job he did at Wrexham.....

I'm open for alternatives but so far I've not seen a real viable one for replacing Saunders that would really get me exited.  Given that our fans are prepared to give new managers no time (look at Saunders and also look at the ridiculous stick SOD also got when he was the new manager) would it really be an attractive job for managers who are doing well and in a comfort zone?  I mean if I was a good manager and saw the reaction an upcoming manager has had here so far well I wouldn't even think about taking the job.

Good god that is a terrifying prospect! Blackwell or Laws. Jesus.

Here you are Dean, sign this 5 year deal.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Although in fairness there are also having just looked;

Mick Mccarthy - good manager, but a dingle and doubt he'd come to manage us in league 1.

Lee Clark - In the end failed on a big budget at Hudds, but perhaps he could learn from that and do a job here, not sure he'd fancy a small budget but it could in fact help him out in that he'd have to man manage a lot.

Billy Davies - Doubt he'd come but he's a good manager who gets results, even though I think the guy's a prat.

Phil Brown - has done well in the past, but failed at others, mixed bag for him really.