Manager/Coach Karl Robinson.

[Witneyoldfella]

To me, he is a top manger at this level. A top human being for his handling of the passing of Micky Lewis and Joey and the respect shown by the club guided by his leadership. This post isn't meant to be me "blowing smoke etc"up our manager , but a recognition of his total club achievements over his tenure. My hope is that we will make the play offs and ultimately the step up, but lets not lose sight of how the club has moved forward in stature and respect by its peers over the last 4-5 years. COYY

 

[MJB]

You got an immediate sense of how KR would look to conduct himself publicly as soon as he was announced as our new manager.

He took part in a long Radio Oxford phone in almost immediately after becoming boss. All the signals were there in terms of talking up the history and culture of the club, how exciting the future was and the ambitions of the Boardroom.

It’s only surprising that more managers don’t use PR in the same way as KR. That’s not a criticism of him either - it takes effort, skill and personality to do this stuff - but so many managers make life hard for themselves by the way they conduct themselves.

Ultimately, he’ll get judged like any manager by his results. But he has certainly been a positive force during Covid-19, the loss of local heroes (Womble, Mickey, Joey) and in setting up teams to play attractive, winning football that gets people through the turnstile.

If he gets us promoted, his stock will rise even higher. The Board will certainly want this, as Horst himself said to KR’s face on Saturday!

And at least we’re not managed by Bellamy too…!

 

[Big Ron]

Currently the 11th longest managerial reign in England and younger than the 10 ahead of him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Premier_League_and_English_Football_League_managers

One thing you do notice from other forums is how unpopular he seems to be with some fanbases (even excluding Wimbledon, who don't count as they are smug, self-regarding and hopefully in League Two next season). Mostly to do with the MK link I guess, but seemingly not wholly that.

 

[Grumpy Git]

You got an immediate sense of how KR would look to conduct himself publicly as soon as he was announced as our new manager.

He took part in a long Radio Oxford phone in almost immediately after becoming boss. All the signals were there in terms of talking up the history and culture of the club, how exciting the future was and the ambitions of the Boardroom.

It’s only surprising that more managers don’t use PR in the same way as KR. That’s not a criticism of him either - it takes effort, skill and personality to do this stuff - but so many managers make life hard for themselves by the way they conduct themselves.

Ultimately, he’ll get judged like any manager by his results. But he has certainly been a positive force during Covid-19, the loss of local heroes (Womble, Mickey, Joey) and in setting up teams to play attractive, winning football that gets people through the turnstile.

If he gets us promoted, his stock will rise even higher. The Board will certainly want this, as Horst himself said to KR’s face on Saturday!

And at least we’re not managed by Bellamy too…!

In the past I have listened to some of his post match comments and thought what’s he on about? But I think this shows he’s just as passionate about the yellows, as we are. He gets caught up in the tension that is football and sometimes talks B*****s after a match, which if he’d had time to calm down, wouldn’t happen.
As for being our manager, I would say we should feel blessed we have someone with his skills at Oxford. He has proven he knows his stuff. He’ll have his detractors, every manager does, but he and his team have brought in some fantastic players and his teams play an exciting brand of footy.

Imagine being a Bristol Rovers fan and having a manager who’s been twice convicted of criminal assault, spent time behind bars and now faces the courts for kicking his wife after downing 4 to 5 bottles of wine.

 

[Sarge]

In the past I have listened to some of his post match comments and thought what’s he on about? But I think this shows he’s just as passionate about the yellows, as we are. He gets caught up in the tension that is football and sometimes talks B*****s after a match, which if he’d had time to calm down, wouldn’t happen.
As for being our manager, I would say we should feel blessed we have someone with his skills at Oxford. He has proven he knows his stuff. He’ll have his detractors, every manager does, but he and his team have brought in some fantastic players and his teams play an exciting brand of footy.

Imagine being a Bristol Rovers fan and having a manager who’s been twice convicted of criminal assault, spent time behind bars and now faces the courts for kicking his wife after downing 4 to 5 bottles of wine.

.... apparently Life's a gas

 

[unification]

Currently the 11th longest managerial reign in England and younger than the 10 ahead of him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Premier_League_and_English_Football_League_managers

One thing you do notice from other forums is how unpopular he seems to be with some fanbases (even excluding Wimbledon, who don't count as they are smug, self-regarding and hopefully in League Two next season). Mostly to do with the MK link I guess, but seemingly not wholly that.

I think it's more the motormouth Scouser that proves unpopular with opposition fans. He's animated on the touchline, in the fourth official's ear all the time and fiercely protective of his team to the point that he'll say some gibberish to deflect attention from them onto him.

On occasion, his post-match comments are unpopular with us. They can go from meandering nonsense where he doesn't finish sentences to saying 'I won't blame the ref' and then doing nothing but blaming the ref. KR speaks so much better before games and on non-matchdays than he does post-match when he's still got the adrenaline pumping from a match. We've all posted on here picking apart his streams of consciousness from time to time and it's not a surprise opposition fans do too. Ahead of the Charlton game, I listened to one of their fans' podcasts and one of the presenters said of KR 'It's nice to see him, but twice a season is enough for me'. I can certainly see why the opposition think that.

I've commented a few times on this thread about KR and still my mind hasn't changed - good manager but not a great one. Five top six finishes in nearly 12 seasons is a good strike rate. One promotion (and a relegation straight after that) isn't so great. It looks to be another playoff campaign all being well this year but has he got it in him to unlock the defences of the best sides in this division? We're a better team than the one that finished 6th last year - however are we good enough to battle past the likes of MK Dons, Sunderland, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and any other playoff gatecrashers this time around? It'll be interesting and nerve-wracking finding out.

As for the man himself outside of pure football matters - absolutely top class. He gets the PR right and he get its right because he's sincere. I admire that.

 

[Oufcrealist]

There's little obvious logic to it though.

There's no reason why Doncaster should be significantly worse than Plymouth for example.

All down to management for me.
Plymouth brought in Ryan Lowe and haven't looked back. Done the right thing in appointing Schumacher when Lowe left for Preston for continuity.
Darren Moore left Doncaster and they have gone downhill ever since with a succession of poor managers.

 

[Kiewhite]

Not for me it wasn’t. I was pleased we’d brought in a Coach who knew the league and had experience of L1 promotion.

All that “wow” nonsense was worrying, and I was delighted that we didn’t go with the Kluiverts of this world.

Haha if I remember rightly wasn’t we in talks with Sven for a few weeks but refused to pay what he wanted ? I think that’s y we were all in shock when the former mk dons and Liverpool under 5 coach came in. But like you I was delighted and glad we didn’t get a name who would find it hard to get out of bed and doing it for just a pay check

 

[bazzer9461]

I think Karl now has everything where he wants it regarding the team and I’m sure he knows who he wants in his team each week but with injuries nor suspension he also knows who to bring in.
He probably still has a bit of tweaking to do ie left back but he’s pretty spit on.
I’m also pretty sure he knows what he wants and has identified players that we would need should we get promoted, and would have spoken to the board regarding this so as to give them an idea of the sort of budget he will need.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I think it's more the motormouth Scouser that proves unpopular with opposition fans. He's animated on the touchline, in the fourth official's ear all the time and fiercely protective of his team to the point that he'll say some gibberish to deflect attention from them onto him.

On occasion, his post-match comments are unpopular with us. They can go from meandering nonsense where he doesn't finish sentences to saying 'I won't blame the ref' and then doing nothing but blaming the ref. KR speaks so much better before games and on non-matchdays than he does post-match when he's still got the adrenaline pumping from a match. We've all posted on here picking apart his streams of consciousness from time to time and it's not a surprise opposition fans do too. Ahead of the Charlton game, I listened to one of their fans' podcasts and one of the presenters said of KR 'It's nice to see him, but twice a season is enough for me'. I can certainly see why the opposition think that.

I've commented a few times on this thread about KR and still my mind hasn't changed - good manager but not a great one. Five top six finishes in nearly 12 seasons is a good strike rate. One promotion (and a relegation straight after that) isn't so great. It looks to be another playoff campaign all being well this year but has he got it in him to unlock the defences of the best sides in this division? We're a better team than the one that finished 6th last year - however are we good enough to battle past the likes of MK Dons, Sunderland, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and any other playoff gatecrashers this time around? It'll be interesting and nerve-wracking finding out.

As for the man himself outside of pure football matters - absolutely top class. He gets the PR right and he get its right because he's sincere. I admire that.

I don't think many people would disagree that he's a good manager but not a great one, and a decent guy who's helped build up the club and reconnect it with the community. I don't feel he'll definitely get us promoted but he's very much got his feet under the table and isn't likely to be leaving soon. If we did want to go for someone else we'd either have to go the Sunderland route of spending a shitload more money and sacking the manager if he doesn't get promoted straight away - that hasn't worked so far - or the Luton/MK one of simply finding a bright young guy who no one has heard of but turns out to be brilliant and is a success straight away - not as easy as it sounds.

 

[m]

All down to management for me.
Plymouth brought in Ryan Lowe and haven't looked back. Done the right thing in appointing Schumacher when Lowe left for Preston for continuity.
Darren Moore left Doncaster and they have gone downhill ever since with a succession of poor managers.

Certainly something in that!

 

[Marked Ox]

All down to management for me.
Plymouth brought in Ryan Lowe and haven't looked back. Done the right thing in appointing Schumacher when Lowe left for Preston for continuity.
Darren Moore left Doncaster and they have gone downhill ever since with a succession of poor managers.

Darren Moore is partly to blame for Donny this year as he screwed up their January recruitment leaving an unbalanced squad while he was there but negotiating with Sheff Wed. Donny tried the internal appointment but it didn't work.

 

[NC2U]

Mad that within 6 months of joining chants of you’re getting sacked in the morning we’re bellowing around the Kassam, think it was Luton on a Tuesday night.
Would never have thought he would have still been here 3.5 years later doing such a fantastic job. Just shows what a bit of patience achieves.

 

[MJB]

Mad that within 6 months of joining chants of you’re getting sacked in the morning we’re bellowing around the Kassam, think it was Luton on a Tuesday night.
Would never have thought he would have still been here 3.5 years later doing such a fantastic job. Just shows what a bit of patience achieves.

Our patience with managers for the past 14 years (during which time we’ve been promoted twice, relegated none and have been pushing at promotion again for a couple of years) is a signal of doing things right.

Pep aside of course, for whom we got rid for good reason.

 

[Canterburyexile]

When I look around the lower leagues I am pretty damn happy we’ve got Karl Robinson. We play expansive, exciting football and we are always there abouts at the end of the season. Yes, a few decisions puzzle me, and yes I would like to see a few less wingers on the books, but overall he’s done pretty bloody well on the pitch. Off the pitch the guy is a diamond and represents our club with dignity and passion. His behaviour and attitude when Joey passed is just one example of his class. I really hope we get up to the championship this or next year and not just for us as a football club. KR deserves it too.

 

[Oufcad30]

Met him at a charity event Saturday night, happily let me take a picture with him.
I wasn't sure when he first arrived but now he's up there in my top 5 oufc managers.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Met him at a charity event Saturday night, happily let me take a picture with him.
I wasn't sure when he first arrived but now he's up there in my top 5 oufc managers.

Top 10 rather than top 5 though I'd say

 

[jambon46]

I think he is one of the best managers we've had in recent times, nice guy likes the community and the fans. Hopefully this will be our season, but if not next season will be.

 

[m]

Top 10 rather than top 5 though I'd say

Who would you have above him out of interest?

 

[bazzer9461]

Met him at a charity event Saturday night, happily let me take a picture with him.
I wasn't sure when he first arrived but now he's up there in my top 5 oufc managers.

Same here was critical of him in his first couple of seasons at the beginning of those seasons but he has had us in the playoffs 2 seasons running. He has also got the players he wants and will no doubt tweak a 3/4 more for next season incase we don’t get promotion this season.

He has the backing of the new owners he gets excited when he talks of the future of OUFC, so with that you know he wants to be a success here.

This season is harder than the last three seasons in regards to the teams that are in this league and I think next year will be even harder.

He will have the budget he wants for next season irrespective of what league we are in.

My only gripe with KR now is his transfers ie get business done early and then sign everyone on the last day as in the last window. I’m sure he has identified targets for next season and will recognise what these targets net need to be enticed to OUFC.

So we’ll done for four years of service Karl and good luck for the future with us.