Manager/Coach KREXIT: The 'Robbo Out' thread.

[YellowSubmarine]

So you're saying that by making changes in personnel things have improved?

The new owners have come in and appointed TW who is steadily getting the club in order after years of being run on a wing and a prayer. I seriously doubt that Kinniburgh was Karl's first choice, especially in the time taken for a successor to be appointed (and the takeover conveniently happening in the middle of that). And now it seems that an uptick in form has directly coincided with Faz returning to help calm Karl down.

With Williams ringing in the changes, Karl is still a bad run of form away from losing his job, and will surely be let go in the summer if we fail to meet our objectives this season.

Karl will be here until Boxing Day at least.

Where we are placed for the Charlton home game will be key with the January window looming & owners coming over.

The board expect us to be in contention for top 6.

Especially with a live fans forum being held at some stage in December.

Forest Green/Accrington/Barnsley/Sheffield Wednesday & Ipswich before that Charlton home game in L1 & Exeter in the cup which we should really be winning & putting ourselves in the 3rd round.

Let’s see where we are at full time at Portman Road in just over 5 weeks!

 

[The mighty Aldo]

We’re outspending two of those clubs despite failing to spend a good chunk of the budget and aren’t a million miles short of the third. We’ve got the richest board in the division.

Our fan base really needs to stop defaulting to, “But we’re only Oxford” ASAP.

It would help if the manager didn’t refer to us as “little Oxford United” which he frequently does

 

[Mellowyellow]

And earlier in the season were we then unlucky to play teams who scored with basically every shot? Can’t have it one way and not the other…

Is the planet zog closed today?
I was responding to a question about chances, and how different the world would have looked on Thursday morning had Woking scored from those last few chances.
Where is the comparison when on the one hand you are playing div.1. teams, and on the other a non league team.

 

[bazzer9461]

How much did we spend? And how much did the others spend?
How much money do you think our club should spend?

Well I wouldn’t trust KR with another good budget that if used correctly we could have been in the playoffs but he screwed up the budget. So he is to blame

 

[bazzer9461]

So when we got a good result a few weeks ago it was down to karl being in the stand! Not by you though perhaps. Now any upturn in results is down to faz!!
I still think our poor start was due to injuries to key players which coincided with poor form.

Absolute rubbish

 

[bazzer9461]

Of course it could just be a coincidence. It could also be that Faz is singlehandedly responsible for the upturn.

The truth is likely to be somewhere in between.

I don't think that KR is the best manager this club could have, far from it.

A recent upturn in results does seem a very peculiar choice of stick to beat him with though.

I think Faz has more respect from the players than KR has

 

[Fred]

Absolute rubbish

Truth

 

[bazzer9461]

Truth

No it’s not. Poor recruitment poor management are at fault

 

[Fred]

I have tried to find information on Div 1 player budgets for this season in order.
Website called 'capology'
How accurate I don't know!
Last season we were listed as 6th.

1.Sheffield Wednesday
2.Ipswich
3.Derby
4.Peterbrough
5.Wycombe
6.Charlton
7.Portsmouth
8.Barnsley
9.Bolton
10.Oxford
11.Plymouth
12.Shrewsbury
If this website is correct we are 2 places below expected position.
Maybe!

 

[Fred]

No it’s not. Poor recruitment poor management are at fault

And injuries

 

[38yearsofpain]

No it’s not. Poor recruitment poor management are at fault

Reality is its a lot of both. Why is everything painted black and white on this forum when it is always inevitably a shade of grey?
Recruitment was poor but so has the form of key players.

 

[38yearsofpain]

I have tried to find information on Div 1 player budgets for this season in order.
Website called 'capology'
How accurate I don't know!
Last season we were listed as 6th.

1.Sheffield Wednesday
2.Ipswich
3.Derby
4.Peterbrough
5.Wycombe
6.Charlton
7.Portsmouth
8.Barnsley
9.Bolton
10.Oxford
11.Plymouth
12.Shrewsbury
If this website is correct we are 2 places below expected position.
Maybe!

How are we defining budget? Budget available or budget spent. In our case they are likely to be different, since we have places unfilled in our squad availability.

 

[Fred]

How are we defining budget? Budget available or budget spent. In our case they are likely to be different, since we have places unfilled in our squad availability.

Budget spent when season started.

 

[38yearsofpain]

Budget spent when season started.

So not actually the budget, it's an estimate of spend. Our budget was most likely higher but underspent because we didnt spend it.

 

[Fred]

So not actually the budget, it's an estimate of spend. Our budget was most likely higher but underspent because we didnt spend it.

Not spent all our budget and still 12th!

 

[38yearsofpain]

Not spent all our budget and still 12th!

Or blew the lot on filling our treatment room. We just guess. The reality is we are 12th in a weak league and in five weeks we may be in the play off positions or facing mid table mediocrity.

 

[Swaby39]

I think its that we have been lucky to have played teams that haven't taken their chances. Even looking back at the BBC highlights today, at the end of the game, Woking had two really good chances, which if taken would have put even more pressure on kr, if we had gone out of the cup to a non league side. Even more so with this recent information of Faz lightening his load.

If you genuinely believe luck is behind our results, will you give Karl some leeway for suggesting bad luck is what puts us where we are? Surely your point here gives legs to his argument?

You can’t have ‘luck’ meaning one thing when he says it, and another when you say it. He (the team) is either where he is on luck or on merit - think about it. Which is it? Right now I’d say we’re exactly where we deserve to be and luck has nothing to do with our season.

If Faz is here as a troubleshooter then what is there really to moan about as long as it works? Sure, we’d rather Karl leave. But that obviously isn’t what the board want - they seem to want to develop him.

Now, did we or did we not say if he wasn’t going to be removed that the next best thing would be to put somebody in there to question his decisions? I think many, many forum members argued for this. Faz is seemingly that person for now. And Karl is not some sort of special case needing his hand held - all managers have a pretty hefty entourage. In fact, Karl has surrounded himself with nobody of use and it’s time he had to hear another point of view from somebody who has enough experience and confidence in their ability to challenge his ideas.

It’s not stupid from TW if this is his doing. By throwing Faz on to the desk next to Karl, he’s designed a scenario where Karl let’s go of some of the control and becomes more accepting of help from others or he forces his own exit by refusing the regime and completely isolates himself as the problem. Choice is his, I suppose.

But all the above said, judge him by all means. But judge him fairly. Picking up on his language only to then use it for your own argument against him is daft.

 

[MJB]

I think many, many forum members argued for this. Faz is seemingly that person for now.

I think many actually want a Director of Football. Someone to manage the manager, rather than take on his coaching responsibilities.

As an experienced fella, Faz has seemingly made a difference and improved things. But he’s a septuagenarian - it’s a sticking plaster and not the root cause of the problem.

Things have improved a little so we’re not listing right now. That’s good.

But if we’re to actually hit targets and succeed, we need to improve all aspects of the club, including moving recruitment, community engagement and contract negotiations away from the Head Coach so he can focus on… coaching.

Whether that’s Robinson or someone else come Jan/May, the strategic and structural sides of the club need boosting.

We should either start acting like a top 30 club, or shut up about it.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

I have tried to find information on Div 1 player budgets for this season in order.
Website called 'capology'
How accurate I don't know!
Last season we were listed as 6th.

1.Sheffield Wednesday
2.Ipswich
3.Derby
4.Peterbrough
5.Wycombe
6.Charlton
7.Portsmouth
8.Barnsley
9.Bolton
10.Oxford
11.Plymouth
12.Shrewsbury
If this website is correct we are 2 places below expected position.
Maybe!

It doesn’t matter how much budget you have if you don’t spend it wisely
If you choose to pay high wages on retaining older players who can’t play and bring in players who have known injuries pay them a high salary and see them on the sidelines and then not even fill the squad places presumably because you are out of money then that is poor management by KR

 

[Swaby39]

I think many actually want a Director of Football. Someone to manage the manager, rather than take on his coaching responsibilities.

As an experienced fella, Faz has seemingly made a difference and improved things. But he’s a septuagenarian - it’s a sticking plaster and not the root cause of the problem.

Things have improved a little so we’re not listing right now. That’s good.

But if we’re to actually hit targets and succeed, we need to improve all aspects of the club, including moving recruitment, community engagement and contract negotiations away from the Head Coach so he can focus on… coaching.

Whether that’s Robinson or someone else come Jan/May, the strategic and structural sides of the club need boosting.

We should either start acting like a top 30 club, or shut up about it.

I absolutely agree - I was careful to use the words ‘Faz is this person for now’. I.e. not a DoF as such but just somebody with the football IQ to push KR’s ideas. Maybe even challenge his treatment of players. With all that’s been said about KR’s wellbeing/workload, perhaps it’ll just help to have someone around with experience to navigate this tricky period. There’s no longevity to this but that’s pretty resemblant of all football matters at the club at the moment. It’s hard to have any confidence in our players or our manager beyond the next game. With the board seemingly reluctant to release KR, they appear to have devised another plan that’s working and I suspect this is all about buying time to think about their approach in January and in to next season. The reality is January becomes a heck of a lot harder and more expensive if you’re in a relegation battle. We could head in to it in a play-off race - if that’s down to Faz, I don’t care. The ‘now’ is very, very important because it is the platform for any bright future they are building.

There’s not a lot about this situation that I believe in but the critical issue is not KR, it’s that the team need points. That’s the immediate priority. And as I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently and has since been supported by a 0-0 draw between Pompey and Derby last night; the rest of the league appears to be struggling to pull away and left the door ajar for somebody to get amongst it. We don’t deserve it, but there is an opportunity there for us. We’re just 6 points away from where we want to be. It’s not luck. Our win vs Port Vale was not lucky. Just as our injury crisis and subsequent losses earlier this season we’re not unlucky - they were predictable and poorly planned for. Whether it’s Faz, KR or a combination, it’s pushing us up the league which is essential between now and January. If we can somehow hobble in to the top 8 at Xmas and recruit well(??!!) in January, anything is possible. I don’t like it but I can accept and understand it. Hopefully this is just allowing the board the breathing space to set up a proper functional football operation rather than a panic-bought botch job. We’ve seen enough of that.