But times have changed anyway. We wouldn't get players like them these days because they would have earned so much money they wouldn't need to finish their careers with us.
Don't think the end of November when we have made a good solid start to the season is really the time to think about that. The answer I guess is the obvious, it depends. Finish 3rd and unlucky in the play offs? Tail off and finish mid table adrift of the play offs? For me with the squad we have failure to achieve a play off place would be very poor. I'm optimistic we can push for automatic. I don't think we have the squad to keep that up though we need to strengthen, and that's before we think about anyone leaving.
It all depends on how things pan out. If we narrowly miss out on promotion and lose in the play offs, then it would be really harsh to sack Stendel. If we end up struggling and slip into mid-table or even 8th or 9th, then there's a decision to be made as I believe this squad is more than good enough for a top 6 finish minimum. I would say that I'd find it odd that Hecky was under pressure from some fans for having us outside the relegation zone in the Championship this time last season, but Stendel wouldn't be under pressure for not getting us promoted. That seems a little unfair to me, but hey ho. I think we need to just enjoy being at the top end of the table for a while yet. We have to go back to 1999-2000 since we were consistently in the top 6 so early in the season.
Definitely wouldn't want a change of head coach irrespective of where we finish this season. I think Stendel and his team have been a breath of fresh air, loving watching us, and I think there is a slight risk of Stendel being judged and becoming a victim of his initial success. Winning football in the "ale-house" league, with good friendly away days, is more enjoyable than continual defeat against Championship money loaded sides. He's brought a new approach into the club, and I just feel it will take several transfer windows to build a squad who are 100% comfortable with the style and ideology of the coaching staff. Even with a relatively large budget for the division we are in. Read quite a bit of social media today which suggests Stendel has a lot to learn. Is that a bad thing? For me, we really need to look long term on and off the pitch. Stendel will have a proper bad patch at some point, might be next season (hopefully in the Championship), might be our next 6 games. We (and I mean that in the context of English football generally) seem to only consider managers to be successful if they achieve a promotion, there is little patience in the game. Sustained improvement is either financially bankrolled or achieved over time. I like his interviews, he seems to watch the same game I've seen most of the time, I thought he summed up yesterday's game very honestly and in a balanced way. I was never a fan of Keith Hill at Barnsley. But I'd argue that he's been a rip roaring success at Rochdale over several years. Would a change at Rochdale result in improvement or much the same as at present? Danny Wilson v1 - 6th in his first season, 10th in his second (With a poor finish to the season, really faded badly). I reckon he'd have gone in this era. If we do get promoted, what do we call success in the Championship? The financial weight of probably half of the Championship clubs, imho, means mid table would be one hell of an achievement. 30 years ago, the club was criticised for mid table mediocrity year after year. If Stendel achieved, say, 3 successive mid table finishes in the Championship in the coming seasons, how would he be judged?
Completely agree, with that, I think we should stick with Stendel pretty much regardless of what happens as long as we show like we’ve got a direction and a plan, personally I think this is the 2nd enjoyable start to a season I’ve seen and I really like Stendel, so unless we go on a Johnson like run and end up in 18th I think the board should stick with him promotion or not. We all know the squads got some flaws or we’d be in the Championship but he’s shown he’s got a talent for turning round players who most of us had written off, will be interesting to see how he does if he gets the time most people think he deserves
Lets see what happens in jan. I can see offers for moore and pinnock coming in and really cant see us spending anything to cement our push for automatic promotion....
I didn't tell you what the dream was. It was of a horse's arse, with the face of Simon Davey tattooed on to it.
If we finish outside the top 6 serious questions would have to be asked but anything other than that be ok. If we miss promotion with a decent points total you can’t really argue with that but we really should go up. I’d be relatively confident even if Hemsworth Tyke was manager.
I hope signing Akex neans that we wont sell Moore or Pinnock yet. If I was him I'd want to know we were seriously aiming for automatic promotion this season.
I agree with alot of that but last time in our 1st season back we were no where near the play offs at anytime after we beat sheff united 1 nil at barmall lane early November we were only 12th and that was our last away win under Wilson. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30357212 this is when we got beat by Walsall 13th december 20 games and 23 points 3 points off the drop zone. So could be alot worse than 3 playing some good stuff unbeaten at home and lost 3 all season. And stendel has had plenty of injurys to key players to deal with.
It's his first season in English football so it would be cruel to get rid unless we collapse between now and May. If we finish in a play-off position then he'll have done a good job. Given we didn't sack Heckingbottom and Johnson when they were in the middle of awful runs it would be shortsighted. I'd give him a second season but with a deadline for promotion by 2020.
