Nope certainly wasn't, obviously I don't think he should have been appointed in the first place but that's a different story. People complain about the way Conway conducted business, I can't see any difference with this lot
We have got ourselves in a right old mess haven’t we. The spreadsheet model needs ripping up and we need to start letting managers have full control, we’re not going to get anywhere otherwise….
We'll never know, ultimately. Probably deserved that last game in hindsight. He was fairly dull and uninspiring, but ...... so were the players, the staff and us fans. Just a bizarre, lifeless, apathetic season. I do wonder what was behind it all. Hope it was a one off.
Timing was totally wrong but Collins was not good enough therefore had to go. Sacking while in play offs was wrong and had a taste of disrespect about it to me but he should have gone either 2 months ago or more logically end of season. My opinion of course and many will disagree.
I thought he was struggling and my support was being tested. I do think he deserved to see out the season and possibly get the chance to have a proper preseason with the players and be assessed in October. The longer the current scenario continues the more of a rash decision it seems.
This just rarely happens any more in professional football, even in non-league. A lot of managers don't want full control either, especially the non-dinosaur ones. We got REALLY close to the 'promised land' so to suggest we'll go nowhere is just wrong, imo. It all depends on who we bring in, obviously. I wouldn't dream of giving them full control though. Especially if, for example we bring in Duff, we spent money on players who he solely wants, and he buggers off first opportunity, then what? We've had some cracking players over the past 7 years - the issue is selling them on the cheap. Hopefully that stops, which seemingly so far it may have.
Question in the op? Yes, it was the right decision. He wasn’t the right fit, and rightly or wrongly he’d lost the fan base. He had to go realistically. But… The timing? Batshit crazy. It had to be either a few weeks before - or after the playoffs. With one game to go? Made no sense.
I'd have sacked him after Play-Offs or given him while October should we have been promoted. Based on what I saw of Bolton in the Play-Offs I think he'd have taken us up. That said I've always been an attainment over effort sort of person. So in that respect I'd have sacked Duff after defeat to Wednesday. If the aim is promotion and a manager doesn't achieve that. He's failed and wants sacking. It's harsh but anything less and you're settling which causes stagnation.
Think fans were daft for wanting him out at any point in the season, and even dafter by the board to do it at the time they did.
https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/neil-collins-time-at-bfc.329409/page-2#post-3270408 Stand by that. He shouldn't have been sacked when we still had something to play for.
I was surprised by the timing the club chose, but it was absolutely the right decision. As I've said previously, how a coach ends the season is more important than how they begin one, and I think the last few weeks were us seeing the true version of Collins as a head coach. I don't think the outcome of the season proved to be any different without him. We achieved what I expected from us by losing in the semi-finals. I'm not sure we'd have got the 45 minutes of positivity from the second leg under Collins, but the outcome was the same. I also don't see what Thalhammer would have brought which would have changed that outcome either, and I'm still baffled and concerned that he was the target at the time. Collins was an honest, hard-working coach, and no doubt a decent individual, but his time as head coach had run its course. When the fans turn against you mid-game on more than one occasion then it's unlikely that you're going to recover from there.
No. We're highly likely to end up with someone worse and just as importantly, with little credibility as they'll clearly be way down the list of who we actually wanted.
But surely that needs context, mate? We got conned at Wembley, no penalty and dodgy red card. I'm no fan of Duff by any means, but I think it would have been wholly unfair sacking him after that result against Wednesday! Agree with you regarding your first sentence though - Bolton were *****. Think we could have gone one better than them & got to Wembley and performed. 0 shots on target in that final - they were there for the taking!