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CP Gull wrote: Today, summed it up for me ... even before he stepped up to take the penalty kick ... Dale Tonge who was largely at fault for conceding the penalty with his abject attempt at trying to block the cross ... stepped up to take the penalty. Seriously, what was that all about??? I would guess that if it was down to the fans he might quite easily have been 10th (or even 11th as personally I would have preferred Ricey over him) to take that penalty and yet up he stepped....where was the leadership from the Manager? Surely things as important as this should be decide BEFORE the game by THE MANAGER and NOT, as suggested by the Manager after the game in his interview with Radio Devon as just the bloke "who is most up for it". That is amateur in my opinion, and lacks professionalism.

CP Gull wrote:Gutted to feel the way I do, but am really starting to question whether Greavsie is really up to the job. I love the guy and as I have stated previously I will aways be grateful to him... more than any other individual (with the possible exception of the Bristow family) for getting us promoted back into the League, but whilst you cannot question his attitude, desire and devotion, which he so ably showed as a player, it is unfortunately the case that a lot of different characteristics are required when you are a Manager ... particularly at L2 level.

Team selection seems to be all over the place, which cannot be doing anything for morale, and yet there are still a few that seem to always feature such as Mansell, Bodin etc. His substitutions are generally bizarre and often later than they should be and all too often don't actually change things tactically, when the situation clearly demands it:

Today, summed it up for me ... even before he stepped up to take the penalty kick ... Dale Tonge who was largely at fault for conceding the penalty with his abject attempt at trying to block the cross ... stepped up to take the penalty. Seriously, what was that all about??? I would guess that if it was down to the fans he might quite easily have been 10th (or even 11th as personally I would have preferred Ricey over him) to take that penalty and yet up he stepped....where was the leadership from the Manager? Surely things as important as this should be decide BEFORE the game by THE MANAGER and NOT, as suggested by the Manager after the game in his interview with Radio Devon as just the bloke "who is most up for it". That is amateur in my opinion, and lacks professionalism.

The decision to replace, what were quite clearly our most effective players in the first half ... in both Cameron and Coulthirst, when we chasing a WIN was baffling (at least to me) in the extreme.

Finally, please show some of that (famous) passion that you clearly had as a player. To see you spend most of the second half, with legs crossed, propped up against a fence, chatting to Robbie Herrera( when your Assistant was a good 10 metres away) was disappointing to say the least. Where was the passion?

I really do fear for our future now as I am not confident in the Manager being either ruthless enough to make the big decisions that will need to be made in the future(regarding the retained list) and not only that but he clearly has a lot to learn in terms of selection and tactics. It is a joke when you hear him continuing to even entertaining the idea of us staying up but I guess he is only saying that because he feels he has to when most of us gave up all hope after the home defeat by Accrington over a month ago.

Fonda wrote: The club made what they thought would be a 'popular' choice. I said it at the time. I'm not sure anyone at the club was convinced that CH would be an improvement. The Pop side was calling for Knill's head (because apparently 3 or 4 months is enough time for any manager to prove themselves?) and they knew Hargreaves would be welcomed by the masses. I voiced my concern then that he might have been on a short-list of one. Seemingly proven managerial ability is secondary in importance to popularity. We've got what we deserve.

hector wrote:What the facts show though, is that those suddenly turning into Alan Knill revisionists have no basis for arguing that he should not have been sacked. Hargreaves may be doing an equally bad job but what that DOES NOT MEAN is we should have kept the bloke who was doing no better and put us in this mess in the first place.

What it means is that the club, like it did when appointing Knill and again appointing Hargreaves, should not have done the heart-ruling-the-head thing, doing the sort of things Newcastle fans do when calling for Keegan, they should not have fallen for that stupid notion that because he once played for us, he should manage us, that so many clubs do and then wonder why it hasn't worked out.

The mistake was not getting rid of Knill (although it was a mistake was not getting rid of him sooner). The mistake was NOT appointing a firefighter type manager. Appointing Hargreaves as Knill's successor was inevitably the mistake, not getting rid of Knill in the first place.

Fonda wrote:We were not 'already down' when CH arrived. It was January, the season was only half gone, and we were 1 point from safety. We've been in worse positions than that with a couple of games left in the past.

Burnhamgull wrote:Crystal Palace were deep in the mire when Pulis arrived, now they're looking good for survival.
Bristol City were deep in the mire when Steve Cotterill arrived, now they're looking good for survival

Both managers have had to work with the squads they've inherited and have only added a couple of players to improve results.

Ian Atkins had to work with the squad he inherited.

I don't believe CH has the motivational or tactical attributes required to be a manager. People keep talking about giving him time to build his own squad but he should be able to still get results with what he has. His record in the first 16 games is hardly inspiring.

Hargreaves = Saunders

Fonda wrote:We were not 'already down' when CH arrived. It was January, the season was only half gone, and we were 1 point from safety. We've been in worse positions than that with a couple of games left in the past.