Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

[Northstandboy]

Manager Stats (Click Below)

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[Bicester Yellow]

And the manager who’s just uprooted his family to move half way around the world to take the project on that they presented to him. Appreciate this is his home and familiar but it changes nothing - he’s here on false pretences. I dare say if they presented him this scenario, he’d have stayed where he was and waited for the right role. He’s been shafted by his own club.

Definitely this. Literally been absolutely shafted by an incompetent board with no clue how to communicate with its supporters. Lots going on behind the scenes in my opinion and none of it good.

 

[Osei Yaw]

He doesn't get off scott free here.
I would have hoped that Waldron and Des would have been responsible for identifying the assistant coach and analyst?
Again both would be responsible for identifying players. Manning seemed to get the deals done quickly.
I am not blaming Des, but much of this can't be laid at the door of Williams ( unless the purse strings have been tightened significantly- there is no evidence of this yet)

Buckingham may well have identified the Assistant Manager, but he's not going to be the one responsible for getting the contract drawn up and sent out.

 

[tatabanya]

I guess it's cold, people can't go out, and perhaps are feeling skint after Christmas and New year but I think there's a massive overreaction to a club having their loan keeper recalled when we're 5th in league 1.

If we don't replace any of our loan players I'll be worried.

The arrogance! You have people spelling out for you why they are concerned, and you disingenuously put it down to the loan keeper being recalled. This stuff might be trivial or irrelevant to you, but it clearly isn’t to lots of others. To put it down to it being cold is breathtakingly arrogant. I would despair if this were to be the attitude being adopted by senior staff at the club.

 

[Oufcluke34]

Who cares? Nothing to see here. We’re 5th.

Until Saturday

 

[DannyW]

Those that cannot see any shortcomings in OUFC might choose to ignore Des’s latest comments, that is their prerogative and is fair enough.

But, If you cannot see that it’s baffling (at best) and extremely concerning (at worst) that the CEO and Manager are not aligned in their messaging to the media, on the same day and in reference to a new assistant manager/head coach then I’m not sure what will get you to sit up and take notice of how Williams and Ferguson are running the club.

It’s absurd that 12 hours after a press release from the CEO, the Manager is then contradicting what he has said, with regards to a first team management appointment.

Williams has become increasingly detached from the football club and has other business interests that appear to be front and centre, for him. I think this lack of cohesion is another example of Williams having completely lost any impetus he may have had for the club.

I don't know if he has other interests or not but if he has it might be better for OUFC if he went off and pursued them. What a mess no communication for ages then rushes something out whilst wishing us a Happy New Year nine days in and we'll see but if Chris Hacket is not the assistant manager at the weekend long term, you can only wonder what that's doing for moral and focus on the playing side. I'm am going to identify as a mushroom from now on in OUFC matters as it seem to fit with how I am perceived by the CEO.

 

[ECYellow]

Jerome alluded to this during the game. I was a bit confused at the time but I think what he was saying is that Hackett, Short and Price will all have equal billing under Des if I understood correctly?

It could be the case that they are all going to have equal billing under Des. That in itself is odd though, isn’t it? How many teams at our level don't have a number 1 & 2? Who delivers the good or bad cop at half time? Do they take it in turns or draw straws?

It shouldn’t be lost on people that we are still a couple of members of staff short on the first team coaching front. Hogg, Manning & The Analyst left and so far, we’ve got Hackett promoted, so the following roles remain available:

- Analyst (I’ll believe we have it when the club release his name, perhaps it’ll be buried in the next update wishing us all a happy Christmas?)
- Assistant Manager/First team coach (depending on what they decide is CH’s actual role)
- Youth Team coach to replace Hackett and support Pablo Haysham

Having slept on it, I feel no less concerned about how the club is being managed from CEO down. Liam Manning talked a lot about behaviours and cultures. I’m not sure Williams and Ferguson are demonstrating either that scream ‘top 30’.

We’re in desperate need of a DOF, who can come in and manager the day to day on the footballing front. My gut feeling is that this current circus remains a legacy of KR. He submerged himself into all aspects of OUFC so much, that TW & GF now have not got a handle on what is required to run this club, effectively.

It feels like they are hoping, rather than strategically planning for Des to just crack on and deal with the cards that he’s been dealt, when in actual fact, he requires support and clear leadership, that doesn’t appear to be there.

The man I feel most sorry for is Buckingham.

 

[oxfordkits]

Come on, do you really think how the club announces the appointment of a new assistant manager is a subject for serious discussion?

Give us the three best appointment announcements of assistant managers that you remember either from Oxford United’s past, or from some of our League 1 competitors.

"Chris Hackett will be assuming the role of Des’s Assistant to work alongside Craig Short and Lewis Price". One sentence buried 2/3rds down a fluff-ridden corporate update. In comparison...

Lewis Price joins the U's

Craig Short Joins Oxford United

Sean Derry Joins Oxford United

And then we had a contradictory (or at best confusing) interview with DB last night. Which raised more questions than provided answers.

Not to mention Des repeatedly saying the Anaylyst is 'in' and working behind the scenes, and then the corporate update states, "We have also agreed a deal to appoint a First Team Analyst and are in the process of finalising a start date for them."

Just what is going on?

 

[tatabanya]

"Chris Hackett will be assuming the role of Des’s Assistant to work alongside Craig Short and Lewis Price". One sentence buried 2/3rds down a fluff-ridden corporate update. In comparison...

Lewis Price joins the U's

Craig Short Joins Oxford United

Sean Derry Joins Oxford United

And then we had a contradictory (or at best confusing) interview with DB last night. Which raised more questions than provided answers.

Not to mention Des repeatedly saying the Anaylyst is 'in' and working behind the scenes, and then the corporate update states, "We have also agreed a deal to appoint a First Team Analyst and are in the process of finalising a start date for them."

Just what is going on?

It’s cold and you’re skint, apparently.

 

[yellowbow]

Most of us that have seen it all before are quite cynical and it’s not easy to pull the wool over our eyes. It seems to me that the club banged that statement out in haste in an attempt to calm the fan base down a bit. I’m not even convinced which Williams is responsible for it or even if it was quickly put together by some administration bod.

I think that because it included a picture of a smiling TW we were all supposed to be reassured and pipe down.

Unfortunately it’s had the opposite effect and now Des distancing from it has highlighted that possibly a bit more thought should have gone in before hitting ‘send’

 

[Scrongo]

 

[Eric Blair]

I agree with this, somethign about the day to day running of the football side is awry.

I feel as though the players have gone from being asked to play for the equivialent of Pete Doherty in terms of organisation and pattter for the first 2/3rds of last season to being drilled by Kraftwerk for 4/5 months, and now I'm not sure I have a musical analogy for Des as he's trying to do everthing with a hand tied behind his back, or so it seems

I know that Indonesia have elections this year, I'm wondering if that has thrown a spanner in the works? Who knows?

Good summary and nice analogy (I'll of course now spend the rest of the day thinking about a musical equivalent for Des).

This apparent disparity between CEO and manager is worrying and as I have said before there is a lot of pressure on Des who seems to be battling on multiple fronts (backroom staff, rogue CEO announcements, injuries, Jan transfer window and then his day job). The amount of stress must be unbelievable. I back him 100% and hope he gets through this period undeterred.

 

[Sharp Edges]

It’s cold and you’re skint, apparently.

Im cold and skint but neither of these factors influence my thought process and dont change the fact I have no idea if we have an analyst, and if we do who are they. Neither does it change the fact I dont know if the club has an assistant manager or not. What I know isnt really important, what is important is the club dont know either.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Im cold and skint but neither of these factors influence my thought process and dont change the fact I have no idea if we have an analyst, and if we do who are they. Neither does it change the fact I dont know if the club has an assistant manager or not. What I know isnt really important, what is important is the club dont know either.

I'm shocked you can think these things when we're 5th in the table and only 4 points from Division 3 safety.

 

[Cookie]

I may well be clutching at straws here, but having re-read Tim's statement, could it actually be that we haven't yet appointed the assistant manager?

The statement says: "Chris Hackett will be assuming the role of Des’s Assistant to work alongside Craig Short and Lewis Price".

Naturally we have all assumed that means assistant manager. But could Tim be referring to him being appointed coach, after all coaches are assistants to the manager.

That could then explain why Des was so confused about the assistant manager position being announced early..

It's obviously very poorly written. If this is the case, "Chris Hackett has joined the first team coaching setup to work alongside Craig Short and Lewis Price" would have been much better.

 

[dickwalton1964]

I feel a bit for Des too but I’m waiting to see some iron fisted leadership from him. He’s the manager, everything on the playing/coaching front should be on his terms - within the budget of course. The recruitment of an assistant and analyst has been a complete mess that has seemingly culminated in comical miscommunication. The window has so far been one of false hope and everything Des says, from ‘getting it done quickly and early in the window’ to ‘should have one or two in by weekend’ is just limping along from day to day. Then you had the Beadle saga, the Moore speculation etc - none of that was put to bed as quickly as it should have been.

Robinson was as bad with his fobbing off but I’m not sure he’d have put up with being the spokesperson for those at the very top of the club. Something is seriously amiss and a ‘sort it out’ from Des to his bosses wouldn’t be out of place in this instance. Tim’s message was flakey to say the least and without any real meat on the bones.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Robinson was as bad with his fobbing off but I’m not sure he’d have put up with being the spokesperson for those at the very top of the club.

Gobinson loved being centre stage. It got him a bigger profile and it was a long-term holiday from doing his job (managing a football team).

And it's characteristically glib of you to describe Buckingham's words as 'fobbing off'.

 

[MustardYellow]

While I certainly feel for Des and think he's come here off the back of being sold a dream by the board, there just seems something missing in his interviews. In times like this you need your manager to come out and present strong and clear, but I feel all many of his statements are doing is confirming many fans' fears and fuelling the fire. There's so much speculation because everything we're told is so vague. While that isn't all Des' fault (obviously), some of his comments aren't exactly helping.

In my view, the recent statements made by the club were nothing more than proof of panic. They were full of 'just wait, things we happen soon we promise!'. It was a frankly poor attempt to appease concerned fans.

The situation at the club is confusing, and none of us really know what's happening. That's what worries me the most - what aren't we being told?

 

[Mojofilter]

In my view, the recent statements made by the club were nothing more than proof of panic. They were full of 'just wait, things we happen soon we promise!'. It was a frankly poor attempt to appease concerned fans.

You could just as well argue it was proof of panic within the fans, us having a bit of a paddy because we didn't get all the information we wanted right away in a way we wanted, and so they threw something together to help appease our panic. I don't know what we're seeing that indicates the panic is theirs.

 

[tatabanya]

You could just as well argue it was proof of panic within the fans, us having a bit of a paddy because we didn't get all the information we wanted right away in a way we wanted, and so they threw something together to help appease our panic. I don't know what we're seeing that indicates the panic is theirs.

Indeed, we should have been told about December's retail result on Jan 1st.

 

[greatunclekip]

The man I feel most sorry for is Buckingham.

It's actually Chris Hackett for me. The guy has not done anything wrong and yet is either

A) seen as a symbol of a lack of ambition or
B) had it inferred that he may not be the wanted man.

It's pathetic leadership to be honest ( and I'm not referring to Des)