Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

Isn’t it about time we played that rather expensive lad from Cheltenham? If he can’t get into the side when we’re in this sort of form, then he never will.
Unless we bought yet another unfit, fragile, 25- minute player of course?……
I don’t get how we spent £400k on a player to sit on the bench. I thought the whole point was to strengthen the front line to support and ease the burden on Harris whilst providing an extra outlet for goals. We may as well just kept O’Donkor if this is what it’s going to be like.

Desmond also bottled playing two up top against Cheltenham because we played well against Pompey and he wanted to stick. We played poorly throughout and were lucky to win yet had we tried two up front, it could’ve been a far more convincing and bigger win against a relegation outfit.

If the lad doesn’t start Saturday then serious questions have to be asked.
 
We the fans ,the club,the players and Des will all be asking questions I think anything but a win saturday will not be excepted.COYY let's win 3-0
 
How about we get Warnock in as a helping hand until the end of the season, back to basics defending, gee the players up a bit.
 
We the fans ,the club,the players and Des will all be asking questions I think anything but a win saturday will not be excepted.COYY let's win 3-0
Ummm Oxford United on a free fall, against Port Vale fighting for survival Away. 🤔 We can only hope.....
 
You, me & about five thousand others can see this - why can't our 'manager'? However I fear that WG is going to prove to be "fragile" & a real desperate waste of the money at a time when we were under pressure to get another striker - & we ended up with him!
Er no. Many of here have totally different opinions. This nonsense about all of the crowd think this so it must be right, and so the manager must be am idiot for not seeing something so obvious!
On Tuesday, I would bet that most/ many would have started with the same team/ formation that played well at Pompey and best Cheltenham? You presumably wouldn't have done.
 
Wouldn't be averse to seeing Harris a bit wider and Goodwin down the middle in the starting line up, with Dale the other side. . . .

Central midfield is the problem. If only we could clone Brannagan and have one in his defensive role and the other in the 10 role . . .or if only Matete was suddenly up to the job he was actually brought in to do it would at least go some way to solving that problem. Actually, McEachran started in a number of those early successes for Manning at the start of the season....does anyone think he's the answer now?? (I don't by the way!).

Is Goodrham supposed to be back for this Saturday too?
 
What if he picks RR and MM and they both perform superbly?

(Not trying to be a dickhead, just wondering whether this would then be seen as a good act of management)

I would hope that it would be because he put a rocket up their backside and got a performance out of them.

Off course, we would have no way of knowing until a run of games and a significant uplift in ongoing performance.
 
It's what @Leysboy has assured us is the case, Dick. He has now named McGuane, Rodrigues and Bodin as the three players who had "downed tools" as he put it because they didn't want Buckingham as manager. I was surmising that if he is indeed the case (and who are we to say it isn't), then it might explain why both MM and RR have been so shockingly poor of late.

In addition, I'm not sure which game you were watching exactly, but MM barely touched the ball or did anything of note....even less than he's done in the last dozen or so games. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Likewise with RR, he did very little of note at all, apart from being lucky not to be sent off for a combination of rash challenges and backchat to the ref. He has also been poor for months, with the exception of the odd glimmer to remind us there's a decent footballer in there somewhere.

Whether both are trying or not, both are poor right now and have been for months. That alone warrants them being dropped.
If true then can we sue them for our money back? Tell them to grow up and grow some b*lls.

If player's are throwing their toys out the pram because they didn't get their own way, then they have no place at Oxford united (or any other club). So we sack Buckingham, what then, six months time players throw their toys out the pram again because they don't like the manager?
 
If true then can we sue them for our money back? Tell them to grow up and grow some b*lls.

If player's are throwing their toys out the pram because they didn't get their own way, then they have no place at Oxford united (or any other club). So we sack Buckingham, what then, six months time players throw their toys out the pram again because they don't like the manager?
You've kind of made my point for me there. We've been led to believe by some that player power (and from some regular starters too) is purposefully sabotaging efforts to sustain our push for the play offs this season and that it is not down to the manager being completely crap. They have been named on here by Leysboy, so unless he's going to retract and say he made a mistake/has no actual evidence that this is the case, then we can only assume that Buckingham is trying to operate with effectively one hand tied behind his back.

Buckingham himself may not have been aware that this was the case, but now they have been named, perhaps he can reflect on some individual performances and decide whether those now warrant future inclusion in the team. The very least a manager should expect from any group of players is that they try their best for the common cause (because actually it benefits them to do so in the long run). If he finds out he doesn't have that, then he has to act, simple as that.

If we (well the board) decide that it is all down to Buckingham being inept, the yes they will sack him (when they get round to it . .they're a bit busy right now). And this decision may be taken on performance and results alone, despite the fact that he may have senior players actively undermining him and despite the fact that he has not been given the same level of support with the staff around him as was afforded to Manning when they appointed him last season and despite the fact that they KNEW he was nowhere near the finished article and were appointing him based on the potential for him to develop here (hence the long contract), but decided no to give him some managerial support on the footballing side to help that process...and maybe stamp out some of the "downing of tools" from players before it even happened....who knows.

The fact remains that the blame for this all lies squarely with the senior managers that appointed Buckingham and then effectively hung him out to dry.
 
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Blimey, aren't we an entitled lot, polls on sacking the manager now. The football isn't good, that much is a given, but sacking Des is not the answer, I suspect it wont be long before people are asking for the next manager to be sacked after a few months. The problem lies with the CEO and chairman, Manning had what he wanted with backroom staff, when he left, they all went with him, Des has had nothing like what Manning had, I suspect because our CEO accountant has tightened the purse strings for any of that. At least give the man a decent backroom set up, if it's still no good, then by all means re-assess the situation.
With millions of pounds worth of losses a year, how would you manage the purse strings?
 
With millions of pounds worth of losses a year, how would you manage the purse strings?
Not sure, but then I am neither an accountant or a CEO.

If you are saying the purse strings have to be tightened, fair enough. But if they are serious about a 'Top 30 Club', that will cost money, can't have it both ways. Kassam tightened the purse strings, look what happened.
 
The fact remains that the blame for this all lies squarely with the senior managers that appointed Buckingham and then effectively dry.
I’m not sure that’s completely true. And I am no fan of the Chuckles believe me.

The crux of the last few games rounding up to Bolton has been a lack of basic coaching on defensive positioning, attacking strategy, and a game plan.

All of that is on the head coach. Fundamentally players don’t know what they are doing. And that eats away at trust.

Take Ruben for example. Player of the year til November, outstanding at Orient. Yes he might have had a bit of a sulk about it not being Luke Williams, but I’m sure if Des came in with a plan and got results, that soon dissipates. Couple the initial disappointment with not having a clue what your role is, your team mates not knowing what their role is, and s**t results, and it’s easy to see how you might get a bit mardy.

Chris Wilder didn’t come in with an assistant and coaching staff, he came in with a plan and a way of playing that everyone knew their role. It’s basic management.

Des absolutely should have been allowed to bring in his own assistant, or, as I advocated at the time, someone like Cotterill should have been brought in (doing a great job at FGR btw) to help bounce ideas off. But ultimately, the manager has to be on the hook for f*****g abysmal tactics and coaching.

Clotet got pelters for the shite he was serving up, yet he was inexperienced too, we didn’t defend the lack of support or blame the board, we wanted him gone. Des is worse. With Clotet there was semblance of a plan, he just brought in shite who couldn’t play it!
 
It's what @Leysboy has assured us is the case, Dick. He has now named McGuane, Rodrigues and Bodin as the three players who had "downed tools" as he put it because they didn't want Buckingham as manager. I was surmising that if he is indeed the case (and who are we to say it isn't), then it might explain why both MM and RR have been so shockingly poor of late.

In addition, I'm not sure which game you were watching exactly, but MM barely touched the ball or did anything of note....even less than he's done in the last dozen or so games. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Likewise with RR, he did very little of note at all, apart from being lucky not to be sent off for a combination of rash challenges and backchat to the ref. He has also been poor for months, with the exception of the odd glimmer to remind us there's a decent footballer in there somewhere.

Whether both are trying or not, both are poor right now and have been for months. That alone warrants them being dropped.

To be honest, a lot of it was a blur to me the other night. We were two down and playing hopelessly, I was channel hopping for most of the rest of the night so I didn't sit through every nauseating minute, although I did seem to catch a lot of the defining moments and saw enough glimpses of individuals to get the picture. If you're dropping those two though shouldn't there be few more joining them ? What about Cumming ? Eastwood isn't an untried 16 year old, he's an experienced keeper and I'm dumfounded as to how Cumming can keep his place. Forget effort but playing wise I think he's been right up there with MM, RR, Brown and Harris. All five should have a spell out of the side.
 
If true then can we sue them for our money back? Tell them to grow up and grow some b*lls.

If player's are throwing their toys out the pram because they didn't get their own way, then they have no place at Oxford united (or any other club). So we sack Buckingham, what then, six months time players throw their toys out the pram again because they don't like the manager?
 
How do we define a player not trying though ? Does quality over ride effort ? So, lets say RR was scoring a few but being lazy the rest of the time are we on his back because although he might have scored, say, 4 in 5 it could have been 7 in 5 with a bit more effort. Take three players off the top of my head who are lazy - Rashford, Berbatov and Martial, I think the fans opinion will be fairly split as to their individual worth in a team. Is it form, is it effort or is it a combination of form and effort. If it's the latter we may as well give the game to Vale now because no Oxford player is boarding the coach.
 
I’m not sure that’s completely true. And I am no fan of the Chuckles believe me.

The crux of the last few games rounding up to Bolton has been a lack of basic coaching on defensive positioning, attacking strategy, and a game plan.

All of that is on the head coach. Fundamentally players don’t know what they are doing. And that eats away at trust.

Take Ruben for example. Player of the year til November, outstanding at Orient. Yes he might have had a bit of a sulk about it not being Luke Williams, but I’m sure if Des came in with a plan and got results, that soon dissipates. Couple the initial disappointment with not having a clue what your role is, your team mates not knowing what their role is, and s**t results, and it’s easy to see how you might get a bit mardy.

Chris Wilder didn’t come in with an assistant and coaching staff, he came in with a plan and a way of playing that everyone knew their role. It’s basic management.

Des absolutely should have been allowed to bring in his own assistant, or, as I advocated at the time, someone like Cotterill should have been brought in (doing a great job at FGR btw) to help bounce ideas off. But ultimately, the manager has to be on the hook for f*****g abysmal tactics and coaching.

Clotet got pelters for the shite he was serving up, yet he was inexperienced too, we didn’t defend the lack of support or blame the board, we wanted him gone. Des is worse. With Clotet there was semblance of a plan, he just brought in shite who couldn’t play it!
Comparison with Clotet hurts but also rings true. He had a reputation as an exceptional technical coach before joining us too. I disagree that we look under-coached - as with Clotet I think if anything we look over-coached and micro managed. Always trying to implement a theoretical gameplan as though the opposition have no part in things. Most games under Buckingham we've done the same training ground things over and over and over again regardless of how opponents are setup, how they're playing or game state. Players look disempowered, timid and afraid to make mistakes or deviate from the 'plan'.

When a team consistently comes alive only in moments of emotion and chaos (like we do, usually after conceding) there's usually a deeper problem at the root and it's typically a management issue. That applies in the real world as well as football.

Buckingham has been hung out to dry. Wilder was a different type of manager in a totally different different context and with years of dirt under his fingers in league football. Even Manning and Hogg were veterans in comparison. Des could end up a top manager but as things stand it's not working and the execs have to either invest in a wider team to implement a long term plan or look elsewhere.
 
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Comparison with Clotet hurts but also rings true. He had a reputation as an exceptional technical coach before joining us too. I disagree that we look under-coached - as with Clotet I think if anything we look over-coached and micro managed. Always trying to implement a theoretical gameplan as though the opposition have no part in things. Most games under Buckingham we've done the same training ground things over and over and over again regardless of how opponents are setup, how they're playing or game state. Players look disempowered, timid and afraid to make mistakes or deviate from the 'plan'.

When a team consistently comes alive only in moments of emotion and chaos (like we do, usually after conceding) there's usually a deeper problem at the root and it's typically a management issue. That applies in the real world as well as football.

Buckingham has been hung out to dry. Wilder was a different type of manager in a totally different different context and with years of dirt under his fingers in league football. Even Manning and Hogg were veterans in comparison. Des could end up a top manager but as things stand it's not working and the execs have to either invest in a wider team to implement a long term plan or look elsewhere.
The Wilder comment is relevant. I saw his first game (Salisbury?). A really average bunch of players, confused by the mediocre Patterson. Immediate improvement. You could see that every player knew what his job was,was holding position, and was fighting for every ball . I've never got that sense from Buckingham, I'm afraid. Wilder had been in the job for less than one week.
 
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