Clarke

[renno]

One thing that is really grinding my gears is that every time he talks to the media it’s in cliches - listen to the radio Sheffield interview - there’s over 30 in there . A manager is supposed to lead and I would imagine when he speaks most switch off.

When you look at the likes of Ismael, struber, Stendel, duff and I would throw Collins in - they spoke with an air of authority

DC wants the perception as a man of the people , but readily chucks players under the bus - for me he’s too erratic and inconsistent for players to afford him any credibility.

I look at several games - Stockport / Northampton at home as 2 examples - instead of kicking on and killing the game, he parks the bus and starts to sit deeper and deeper - his mentality- in my opinion - is one of a manager who is managing a relegation fodder team and not one who fills his players with the confidence to kill a game off. I’m beginning to think DC isn’t a great fit in this setup.

This club is rotten to the core and we could easily become embroiled in a looking over the shoulder relegation fight . Why don’t we break the modern method mould of HCs and go back to just a manager, with his book of contacts , standing and falling by decisions as the current set up certainly isn’t working for us. Get rid of the academy because it’s crap and a waste of money - with any decent talent getting hoovered up elsewhere- in theory now is the time to play the younger ones, but they’re not good enough - if they ain’t good enough at 20/21 at league one level, they need outing

The way forward for me is straightforward - either back Clarke by way of telling the players he’s going nowhere or give him the bullet and have a blueprint that actually works (Dave whelan did this at Wigan with Paul Jewell , lined them all up on the pitch and invited any players to step forward who didn’t want him as manager - any that stepped forward got a free transfer!) - as I mentioned ages back - the Director of football needs to be an ex pro who actually scouts players in the flesh and dares have the audacity to say it - actually knows what he/she is looking for (allegedly)

This is not a club I recognise from 40 years ago when I first set foot in oakwell. Most fans can accept losing if we look like we give a crap - it’s when the effort stops that’s the problem

[animallittle3]

Clarke to me has always come across as your typical league one / league two HC .

There are a bucket load of them who seem to drift around the lower leagues and do a good job at one club and doesn't work at the next but they keep themselves employable .

Clarke when he leaves here and I suspect it won't be of his own choosing will end up at Tranmere or Burton Albion and he'll probably do alright .

He's not going to moan about the budget here because he's probably never had a good budget to work with in his entire coaching career .

All Clarke knows is to make do and try and improve what he's got , unfortunately improving what he's got at Cheltenham is a different thing altogether at Oakwell .

Deep down I think he knows what he is , knows his limitations and understands he's never going to manage a top championship club .

He's very Keith Hill , that's not a criticism of Keith who I thought was badly let down here but Keith never did work out why he got the job here , make do and improve .

[Young_Nudger]

I like Clarke as a person - he seems a nice fella.
And we all know that the squad is missing a couple of players - especially in the striker department - but he should be getting a hell of a lot more out of the players he?s already got.
I haven?t seen a better bunch in this league as yet - but we are struggling.
Good players - poor team.
So IMO he has to go.
It?s sad - because I was hoping the best for him.

Prediction - start of January he?ll be gone.
Sormaz to follow at season?s end.
It?s gunna be interesting.

[BarnsleyWhites]

I’m not sure just changing the status of DC would make much difference Renno I’m sure DC has full control of team matters anyway. We have a manager in Ian Evatt who controls pretty much everything although working alongside a recruitment guy Chris Markham and we’re no happier than you are. The football is woeful, we don’t score enough and we concede too many. We wilt when the pressures on and all we get is the same old claptrap every time just from a different player. We’ve been heavily stuffed this year by Huddersfield at home, Stockport away and yet again embarrassed by Wigan at home, at least it was only 2-0 this time and not 4-0 though it easily could have been. It looks like the top four are now breaking away and like you we’ll be scrapping for the play offs. Again like you we have a really good squad but neither manager seems to be able to get a decent tune out of them. After Wigan we thought there’d be a good chance we’d be rid of Evatt and his anti football tippy tappy but after his vote of confidence from the Chairman last week it looks like he’s here for the season unless of course we have a genuinely bad Christmas and lose to both you and Lincoln here at the Reebok, in which case the already toxic situation could get even worse. Two defeats at home in front of 23k gates might just tip the balance? So we could both go either way on Boxing Day and given our recent record against you I won’t be putting any money on Wanderers!! ����

[Young_Nudger]

Difference there.
An old fashioned manager that wants full control with a finger in every pie.
And a HC whose duty is to get the best out of the players he?s given.

When Evatt goes - everything including the baby will be thrown out with the bath water.
They will have to start building from scratch.
New manager - new coaches - new team.

The Barnsley system is far better - IF - the recruitment has got it right and is producing the goods.
But for the last 2 seasons it?s taken a dip.
HCs not up to scatch.
Squad positions missing.

[Shadrack the Red]

Difference there.
An old fashioned manager that wants full control with a finger in every pie.
And a HC whose duty is to get the best out of the players he?s given.

When Evatt goes - everything including the baby will be thrown out with the bath water.
They will have to start building from scratch.
New manager - new coaches - new team.

The Barnsley system is far better - IF - the recruitment has got it right and is producing the goods.
But for the last 2 seasons it?s taken a dip.
HCs not up to scatch.
Squad positions missing.

Owners not up to scratch
Everything regarding football knowledge on how to run a club missing

[BarnsleyWhites]

Difference there.
An old fashioned manager that wants full control with a finger in every pie.
And a HC whose duty is to get the best out of the players he?s given.

When Evatt goes - everything including the baby will be thrown out with the bath water.
They will have to start building from scratch.
New manager - new coaches - new team.

The Barnsley system is far better - IF - the recruitment has got it right and is producing the goods.
But for the last 2 seasons it?s taken a dip.
HCs not up to scatch.
Squad positions missing.

Actually not strictly true in our case Nudger. Certainly if Evatt goes his coaches go with him but that’s pretty much the way every club works these days but behind the scenes we have a separate recruiting manager Chris Markham and his team plus recently arranging a deal with a company called Ludonautics who operate in recruitment internationally which is where we recently got Schabi Schon from Hungary and Jodie Otsi Tutu. I think Evatt’s expecting a further dip into either the home or foreign markets in January so any new manager coming in would still have that detail to work on and would probably bring his own coaching team with him. All parties need to agree on purchases but Evatt has the final say on the players he wants.

[animallittle3]

Difference there.
An old fashioned manager that wants full control with a finger in every pie.
And a HC whose duty is to get the best out of the players he?s given.

When Evatt goes - everything including the baby will be thrown out with the bath water.
They will have to start building from scratch.
New manager - new coaches - new team.

The Barnsley system is far better - IF - the recruitment has got it right and is producing the goods.
But for the last 2 seasons it?s taken a dip.
HCs not up to scatch.
Squad positions missing.

Yep there's a huge difference , the HC here as no control and still has to build from scratch .

At least Bolton have a baby to throw out with the bath water .

[Young_Nudger]

Actually not strictly true in our case Nudger. Certainly if Evatt goes his coaches go with him but that’s pretty much the way every club works these days but behind the scenes we have a separate recruiting manager Chris Markham and his team plus recently arranging a deal with a company called Ludonautics who operate in recruitment internationally which is where we recently got Schabi Schon from Hungary and Jodie Otsi Tutu. I think Evatt’s expecting a further dip into either the home or foreign markets in January so any new manager coming in would still have that detail to work on and would probably bring his own coaching team with him. All parties need to agree on purchases but Evatt has the final say on the players he wants.

Mek thi mind up.
Tha?s only just said that Evatt controls pretty much everything.

If that?s the case then it?s similar to how Barnsley used to operate under most of Patrick?s reign - eg Keith Hill etc years - where a nearly brand new team had to be built every time there was a change of manager.
And unbelievably some of our supporters want to return to those years of upheaval.
I can only guess that those supporters have very short memories.

Revolving door recruitment. Literally dozens of players coming and going.
Is one of the principal reasons Patrick changed the system from a manager to a HC was to get away from that.

Only difference at Bolton is they have stuck with a poor manager for years.
If they start chopping and changing managers that have more or less full control then there is very likely to be a different team from one season to the next.
That is to say - no continuity within the club - no direction and with very little being built.

Although I am one of Sormaz?s biggest critics - as this season we have started with a massive hole in the striker department - he did say at the last Supporters Meeting that it will take several windows to get what they want.
Which at least shows there is an objective.

[BarnsleyWhites]

Sorry nudger I can see the anomaly but in practise Evatt does control everything ultimately because he signs the players, trains the players and eventually sells/removes players but behind the scenes we have Markham and Ludonautics carrying out the player analysis to present to Evatt regarding players he may be interested in. I suppose it’s little different to the old scouting system just done digitally these days. I much prefer the manager to be in control than have other people inflicting players on him that he doesn’t really want.