Next Manager?

NabySarr said:

I know some may think it looks ridiculous to sack a manager who has only lost 3 games, but we have been terrible for at least a month now and Appleton keeps making the same mistakes and baffling team selections each week. 

He is obsessed with 4-2-3-1 even though we don’t really have the players for it. Even with that formation, May was scoring every game in the 10, but recently he’s either played out wide or on his own up front, and he’s barely getting chances let alone scoring like he was before. Appleton continues to do it each game though? 

He’s also obsessed with playing strikers on the wing, first it was Leaburn, then it was Tedic, then May and now Kanu. Chem Campbell is a winger and is playing centrally with May or Kanu on the wing, it is just baffling. 

Then we have Louie Watson. Every game Appleton has won, Louie Watson has started in midfield!!! Fraser has started loads recently, the only game we won was when Watson started also. We haven’t won a game where it’s been Dobson and Fraser as a 2, but again Appleton continues to do it every game? 

Apart from the Wigan game, look at the games we have won. Home games against 17th, 20th, 21st and 22nd. With Aneke/Leaburn fit, Holden or any manager would have won games against those sides just as easily. Were those wins down to anything Appleton was doing, or was it just having that quality of attacking threat on the pitch? 

All fans agree we need to give a manager time, but we need to give a GOOD manager time. And Appleton is showing very little evidence of being that. Even when he gets the players he wants, what is he going to do with May? We should be building around our best player, not using him to accommodate our other players. We should be rebuilding around May for 3-5-2, Blackett-Taylor will be gone at some point which will make it the best set up for our squad anyway, get Michael Duff in and build for next season  

carly burn said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

For the money men living remotely and without any real love for the club their only measure on their investment will be results. Easy enough to look at the league table and to start to question what the hell is going on when the next payment is needed. I do think that even non football people will understand that it’s not easy to turn around a failing business and football club like Charlton and I  would think there will be understanding and time given longer than this season. But… I would also think that Methven and Scott are well aware that next season needs to be when they start to deliver because around next November I’d say the questions will start if we are not challenging. Both CM and AS can be replaced and they know a significant improvement is required. It’s why I think there will be money spent and some decent signings made in both January and the summer. 

 Don't think they will be. More likely the investment will walk away.

RodneyCharltonTrotta said:

DOUCHER said:

blackpool72 said:

I think it's pretty clear that Appleton is not the right man for the job.
If we allow him to make changes this transfer window and it doesn't work , he will get the bullet early next season. 
The then new manager may not like the squad Appleton has put together. 
Far better to make a change now giving the new manager time to assess what needs to be done next summer. 

100% - problem is if those in football circles think Scott and methven etc are duds as well and we can’t get better - as hard as that would seem -  atm there’s no evidence to think they aren’t duds and plenty to think they are - I think we’re back into looking for a new owner territory if this window is shit as well 

The one distinction is that there is apparent separation between the actual owners/ funders and the management.

The latter can be replaced if they don't deliver in the same way the team manager could be.

Albeit I think someone posted the other day (Airman maybe) that some of the investors have already lost interest.

But theoretically this is different from a Duchatelet/ Sandgaard set up where they write the theme tune and sing the theme tune a'la Dennis Waterman.

Methven and co may have brokered the gig for themselves and got the money men in but the money men surely will have power to replace them if they consistently fail to deliver on pre- agreed targets as in a normal non- football business.

Does beg the question though whether the money men will give the funds to Scott and co if their faith in them has dwindled based on what they've seen thus far.

The fact they owned a club in the US suggests they're not Sandgaard levels of naive about the game and surely have gone into this with eyes open wider than he did.  Albeit I'm aware as I type that Duchatelet also owned clubs and he stubbornly failed to learn from his Standard Liege experience.


Always better to under promise and over deliver but perhaps the opposite has happened to get the investment/ backing in the first place and that will come home to roost when the Americans look at our league position and 2 thirds empty ground with apathetic boos ringing out.

ShootersHillGuru said:

I think Appletons position is pretty rock solid for now. If we spend on a few decent signings and there’s not a significant improvement in our form then maybe it’ll be looked at in the summer but frankly talk of ditching him now is madness.

Chunes said:

The younger players performed better under Holden.

Billericaydickie said:

Every manager since Lee Bowyer has been shite.

I say get rid of Appleton and start again.

One day we will get lucky and end up with another Curbs or Lennie. Not every manager is shite. By the law of averages employ enough managers and eventually we will strike gold. 

ShootersHillGuru said:

ValleyBen said:

I just feel wary of giving Appleton too much influence on the signings when he has failed to make the best of what we currently have, if he continues to fail with his signings, forces us to sack him and then the next manager gets the same excuse of not their players.

After we sacked Holden I said they should be asking all interview candidates how they would get the best out of the current squad. 

Judge Appleton on his results from now until the end of the season and how we start next. I’m sure he’ll have a much stronger squad so no excuses. 

The Red Robin said:

Methven has gone very quiet

seth plum said:

Callumcafc said:

Unpopular opinion: this fanbase has become so conditioned to hiring and firing managers that the slightest bad run of form results in unwarranted pressure on anyone in the hot seat.

Fans want an instant fix to a problem that will take years to sort. It’s like a child who won’t stop picking at a scab.

I am old and haven't got years.

Is Appleton that good though? Do you think he has any kind of unique quality that makes him stand out? To me(and I thinkk it was said by somebody else previously) he is akin to Russel (are you patient Louis?) Slade.