Blame Wilkinson!

[Guest totemowl]

So his sacking was on the cards but Mandaric thought he could do the job?

You're covering all the bases there aren't you?

At the beginning of the month Mandaric presumably took the view that Irvine could do the job but needed to strengthen the team, perhaps to cover for the loss of Tudgay, the impending loss of Purse and the need for a controlling midfielder(!). So he let him go to market.

By the end of the month, Irvine had brought players in but failed to stop the slide. In fact it had got worse and my memory of that time is that I thought Irvine must be getting close to the sack. After the capitulation against Peterborough I wasn't very surprised he was sacked. He (Irvine) appeared to have lost all confidence.

That's how I see it.

[DJMortimer]

a better manager could have had this tea in the top six?

that wasnt what you were saying earlier in the season

you were saying you thought the team was top 2 material,anything else was a terrible failure

nice try at backtracking tho!

you clearly overrated the players drastically

If I over-rated the players, what did Irvine do with his comments that they were up to Championship standard? Does that make me a better manager than him as I was closer to the actual outcome?

The problems befalling this team go well beyond tactics and selections. Quite what the precise nature of them actually is though is open to speculation.

[Hack-Abusi]

no-one is to blame for this mess but the players .. simple as

the players that Irvine fetched in, EVERYONE was optimistic at the beginning of the season .. they were good players on paper. ffs we'd signed Clinton Morrison, an international who's played big games in the prem

instead the players served up some right crap and they are why we are in this mess

[adamwestsleftear]

If I over-rated the players, what did Irvine do with his comments that they were up to Championship standard? Does that make me a better manager than him as I was closer to the actual outcome?

The problems befalling this team go well beyond tactics and selections. Quite what the precise nature of them actually is though is open to speculation.

you cant just admit that you totally overrated the players and got it horribly wrong then?

unfotunalty you will never be a real manager,just as well,given that your prespectives are so hideously wrong

your so flip floppy that im struggling to take anything you say seriously

you will proberly just keep changing your story,nit sad you cant own up to your errors tho

[DJMortimer]

you cant just admit that you totally overrated the players and got it horribly wrong then?

unfotunalty you will never be a real manager,just as well,given that your prespectives are so hideously wrong

your so flip floppy that im struggling to take anything you say seriously

you will proberly just keep changing your story,nit sad you cant own up to your errors tho

Little is more obnoxious, and nearly always more delusional, than someone giving it the 'I know football and you don't' cobblers.

Your laughable views about what a success Irvine was or would have been (despite losing more games than he won in the third tier as well as a steadily diminishing points per game average in each of his two season with us) give you no scope whatsoever to give it the big 'un.

Had someone other than Irvine been in charge last summer, I still believe this squad could have mounted a sustained promotion challenge. The reasons for our slump are not solely about the players having no talent. It seems to me that our problems are not about ability but about application, character, relationships and the like.

As for flip-flopping, you keep telling us the players are crap, yet somehow insist Irvine would have been successful with them. Seems like you can't make your mind up either.

[adamwestsleftear]

Little is more obnoxious, and nearly always more delusional, than someone giving it the 'I know football and you don't' cobblers.

Your laughable views about what a success Irvine was or would have been (despite losing more games than he won in the third tier as well as a steadily diminishing points per game average in each of his two season with us) give you no scope whatsoever to give it the big 'un.

Had someone other than Irvine been in charge last summer, I still believe this squad could have mounted a sustained promotion challenge. The reasons for our slump are not solely about the players having no talent. It seems to me that our problems are not about ability but about application, character, relationships and the like.

As for flip-flopping, you keep telling us the players are crap, yet somehow insist Irvine would have been successful with them. Seems like you can't make your mind up either.

i never said the players were crap,unlike you,i have held the same view of them all season,

they are what they are,,,a patched up team,,on a patched up team,

yes as good or better than we honestly expected

but unwanted players are hardly going to rip up this league,,i was hopeful,

but ultimatly i suspected it would a season to rebuild

you tho cant admit you thought "anything but top 2 is failure"and should result in irvines sacking,,,and now you think those same players are suddnely rubbish

cos its easier to blame a new facter than admit your wrong

the problems are there all season for all to see

a fanbase exieted by some decnt looking players,,probelty imagining a clinton 4years ago,,,a teale in his pomp,,,ect

exietment is fine,

but whilst we had no funds,,did you really expect that?

but to be honest,,i cant be arsed to keep going round in this circle of crap...

we have differing views,,,,your have totally changed,mine remian consistant

but each to there own,,,it gets boring having to tell you all the things you know,but are unable to process correctly

[DJMortimer]

i never said the players were crap,unlike you,

When did I say they were crap? And if you are such a fabulous prognosticator why didn't you?

exietment is fine,

but whilst we had no funds,,did you really expect that?

Another myth. Look at the teams above us and show me how many of them were spending big. You reckon the budgets of Rochdale, Yeovil and Exeter for instance are bigger than ours?

it gets boring having to tell you all the things you know,but are unable to process correctly

What, like Irvine's diminishing performance? Go on, do a graph or something and see if you can spot the trend.

As I said, anyone who stands themselves up as some sort of visionary, alone amongst the idiots in seeing the simple truth when it comes to the infinite vagaries of football is actually more lacking in credibility than anyone else. And that such incredible pomposity can come from someone as ceaselessly derided as you only underlines that point.

[DJMortimer]

your so flip floppy that im struggling to take anything you say seriously

This coming from the person who insisted we should have given Irvine two or three years, yet started berating Megson within a matter of a few weeks?

The same person who exonerated Irvine due to inheriting a mess left to him by Laws, yet gives Megson no such leeway?