@davecz said:
It will be interesting to see the views of posters who constantly remind the rest of us about who we are and our financial position if we make a slightly controversial comment.
Clearly Rob Couhig doesn't share the same view.
Did I not read two recent posts from your good self in which you referred to the club’s financial disadvantage compared to other clubs in the Championship?
Still no comment on Rob Couhig email? Not normally lost for words.
@Shev said:
RC has been a great owner so far. My only worry all along with American owners is that they may not understand the vagaries of the English football pyramid. We are not acting humble owing to a lack of self-belief. We are humble (if that is the right word) because we have nowhere near the financial clout of those around us. Aside from baseball (where, to be fair, the smallest teams still spend a boatload of money and cannot get relegated), clubs/franchises have every right to think they can challenge if they are well run, whereas here you can be well run and still falter because your success has taken you above your means.
The reality of football is that clubs usually find equilibrium and rise or fall according to their size eventually. Is there anyone here who genuinely thinks we will never spend another season in L2? It's not being star struck or demeaning of oneself to acknowledge it is extremely difficult for a club of our size to survive even one year in the second tier, and that acknowledgement is being verified before our eyes. I can understand RC being more upset than most, as it is his money being spent, but it would be very unfair for this season to reflect as a negative on GA when we are only here because of him and others. Ironically, that negativity would mean it would have been better for GA if we had not got promoted!
We need probably the greatest escape in history from here, so I will give this to Rob - if we stay up, he has called his shot in the most epic and prophetic way possible!
I believe the acronym is POTD. This is an excellent summing up of our situation and the different attitude to sport in the US.
I took it as a positive, generally. I thought it was a good attempt at a "clear the air" kind of message.
1) I have every faith we can stay up. -fine, probably bravado at this stage but I would certainly neither want nor expect the club owner to be saying "ah, we're screwed" in February.
2) Management team are safe come what may this season - good recognition that GA & RD have done great things for the club, there is job stability, but the job shouldn't be taken for granted for ever (and nor should it be)
3) Players who perform at a Champ level will be successful here - pretty uncontroversial to judge players on performances?!
4) No mention of "woo, look at all these big teams we're playing - fair enough. It does kind of make every game appear like an FA Cup game if we comment on the resource mismatches etc.
In the case of #4 though, it's a lot clearer that there's no real getting around that, and money generally does buy better players. Dunno what the ideal balance of grim-faced realism and aspiration is here, but thankfully I'm not on the WWFC media team.
If Rob seriously thinks we will be staying up that calls into question his competence at running a football club, and if he doesn’t why is he saying it? Why should we trust that anything else he says is genuine?
He might want to look at it from an outsider’s perspective and think we have some right to succeed because he is now in charge, but the facts are we were always likely to go down and we will find it a tough proposition to go back up again.
Twitter team must have had a right going over, very quiet today !!
As for the message I'm ok with pretty much most of it, apart from the over the top we will definitely stay up, but then I suppose he has to say that really, wouldnt be good to say were defo down this early. I think it was basically just a bit if a kick up the backside and get on with it message, whilst stating to the moaners that Gareth isnt getting sacked
@davecz said:
It will be interesting to see the views of posters who constantly remind the rest of us about who we are and our financial position if we make a slightly controversial comment.
Clearly Rob Couhig doesn't share the same view.
Did I not read two recent posts from your good self in which you referred to the club’s financial disadvantage compared to other clubs in the Championship?
Still no comment on Rob Couhig email? Not normally lost for words.
I hate to disappoint you, but checking for your posts and replying to them is not high on my list of daily priorities.
I think Rob has realized, as the rest of us have, that the gap between L1 and the Championship is much bigger than we thought.
Can’t speak for Rob but I don’t think it’s true that the gap is bigger than we thought. I genuinely wasn’t sure we’d win a game this season. I’d also hope the management team - particularly with Gaz having played so much at this level - would’ve be only too aware of how big the gap is.
@davecz said:
I just wonder how his nephew is feeling after being away from his family for a year.
Tough in that way of course.
But on the other hand, a once in a lifetime brilliant job to have for a few years!
Travelling with a sports team, and being matey and having a whale of a time? Brilliant!
@Shev said:
RC has been a great owner so far. My only worry all along with American owners is that they may not understand the vagaries of the English football pyramid. We are not acting humble owing to a lack of self-belief. We are humble (if that is the right word) because we have nowhere near the financial clout of those around us. Aside from baseball (where, to be fair, the smallest teams still spend a boatload of money and cannot get relegated), clubs/franchises have every right to think they can challenge if they are well run, whereas here you can be well run and still falter because your success has taken you above your means.
The reality of football is that clubs usually find equilibrium and rise or fall according to their size eventually. Is there anyone here who genuinely thinks we will never spend another season in L2? It's not being star struck or demeaning of oneself to acknowledge it is extremely difficult for a club of our size to survive even one year in the second tier, and that acknowledgement is being verified before our eyes. I can understand RC being more upset than most, as it is his money being spent, but it would be very unfair for this season to reflect as a negative on GA when we are only here because of him and others. Ironically, that negativity would mean it would have been better for GA if we had not got promoted!
We need probably the greatest escape in history from here, so I will give this to Rob - if we stay up, he has called his shot in the most epic and prophetic way possible!
There's been many examples of clubs getting promoted to divisions beyond their usual level, starting poorly, and then that manager getting sacked.
At least there's not the threat of that with us.
You do wonder how things will sit if we're 10-12th by Christmas in league 1 next year though.
If we're all honest, if one of our rivals were in the same position as we are in now and their chairman came out with the same statement I think we'd all be mocking them fairly mercilessly
@davecz said:
It will be interesting to see the views of posters who constantly remind the rest of us about who we are and our financial position if we make a slightly controversial comment.
Clearly Rob Couhig doesn't share the same view.
Did I not read two recent posts from your good self in which you referred to the club’s financial disadvantage compared to other clubs in the Championship?
Still no comment on Rob Couhig email? Not normally lost for words.
I hate to disappoint you, but checking for your posts and replying to them is not high on my list of daily priorities.
You haven’t disappointed me. I think posters would be interested in your views on a pretty serious moment at our club when the chairman clearly has had a pop at the management. You might have to come off the fence though.
@Forest_Blue said:
I think it’s straight forward US management style and yes it contrasts with UK management style.
So...stop blaming other people, stop being happy just to make up the numbers. If we want to stay in the Championship we have to act as though we belong in the Championship.
I think we have at least 11 championship level players in the squad. Let’s get them on the pitch together and see where we go. No more playing people because ‘they deserve a run out’ or ‘deserve a goal in the Championship’.
I would @TrueBlu a pay off for gareth and dobbo and a new management team with the same squad with three less games to save us? Unlikely. Unless they recall Freeman and Stockdale, of course!
Absolutely no way Gaz is going. If we do go down then Gaz and Dobbo are best placed to get us back up. With an overhauled squad...some of the older players may step down or move to coaching roles at that stage.
Revenue opportunity missed? I would have paid good money to watch ‘spy on the wall’ footage of that conference call between Rob and the management team, not to mention the conversation between Gaz and Howard over a Starbucks in Marlow later.
@drcongo said:
That reads to me very much like the dreaded public vote of confidence that usually signifies a manager will be sacked within the fortnight.
I sincerely hope it isn’t.
I thought so too. If it does happen this forum will literally melt.
Hmmmm. I saw the AH tweet and thought it was a definite dig.
This is starting to look like it could either way. Siege mentality and unify the team this side of the pond or the beginning of the end for the current management structure.
I can't wait for the day where all our lives are so busy we don't have time to pour over every single intricacy of a statement that I firmly believe is really nothing more than a refocusing for everyone.
There’s one interesting part in his statement that I think could also mean that Pete isn’t immune to the critism:
“ We have had some bad calls ...... However, we will not use either as an excuse. In fact, we will offer no excuses”
Pete has certainly been vocal in his displeasure at refereeing decisions going against us. You could hear him in the background complaining about the penalty against Fred, for example.
I think this all boils down to a feeling that performances, for one reason or another, seem to have dropped off after the Spurs game. They haven’t been the typical “Wycombe” performance we could perhaps expect from a GA team.
He is expecting that from now until the end of the season we project that of a championship club rather than a league one club that’s there for experience. And I can’t blame him for that approach. I think he’s optimistic in expecting us to be in the championship given the gap to safety but he can’t expect the players to perform at a championship level unless the leadership at the very top are singing from the “we are a championship club and we can stay up” song sheet.
I find it interesting that in the very sentence after saying he, Pete, AH, GA and Dobbo will be here long into the future, is one that essentially says to the players “perform or get out”.
I think everything before those sentences is framing the narrative to suggest some players aren’t performing as they could be, either in training or on game day. That in itself is a dangerous game to play by a chairman - but if he is getting that view from the managerial team, it’s easy for him to play the bad guy that the manger himself saying it and losing the dressing room.
Whatever the result today, I’ll be listening out to the post match comments slightly more than usual to see if there is a change of tone!
Comments
I thought it was a tad less diplomatic than I would have expected.
I believe the acronym is POTD. This is an excellent summing up of our situation and the different attitude to sport in the US.
I took it as a positive, generally. I thought it was a good attempt at a "clear the air" kind of message.
1) I have every faith we can stay up. -fine, probably bravado at this stage but I would certainly neither want nor expect the club owner to be saying "ah, we're screwed" in February.
2) Management team are safe come what may this season - good recognition that GA & RD have done great things for the club, there is job stability, but the job shouldn't be taken for granted for ever (and nor should it be)
3) Players who perform at a Champ level will be successful here - pretty uncontroversial to judge players on performances?!
4) No mention of "woo, look at all these big teams we're playing - fair enough. It does kind of make every game appear like an FA Cup game if we comment on the resource mismatches etc.
In the case of #4 though, it's a lot clearer that there's no real getting around that, and money generally does buy better players. Dunno what the ideal balance of grim-faced realism and aspiration is here, but thankfully I'm not on the WWFC media team.
If Rob seriously thinks we will be staying up that calls into question his competence at running a football club, and if he doesn’t why is he saying it? Why should we trust that anything else he says is genuine?
He might want to look at it from an outsider’s perspective and think we have some right to succeed because he is now in charge, but the facts are we were always likely to go down and we will find it a tough proposition to go back up again.
Twitter team must have had a right going over, very quiet today !!
As for the message I'm ok with pretty much most of it, apart from the over the top we will definitely stay up, but then I suppose he has to say that really, wouldnt be good to say were defo down this early. I think it was basically just a bit if a kick up the backside and get on with it message, whilst stating to the moaners that Gareth isnt getting sacked
Can’t speak for Rob but I don’t think it’s true that the gap is bigger than we thought. I genuinely wasn’t sure we’d win a game this season. I’d also hope the management team - particularly with Gaz having played so much at this level - would’ve be only too aware of how big the gap is.
Tough in that way of course.
But on the other hand, a once in a lifetime brilliant job to have for a few years!
Travelling with a sports team, and being matey and having a whale of a time? Brilliant!
There's been many examples of clubs getting promoted to divisions beyond their usual level, starting poorly, and then that manager getting sacked.
At least there's not the threat of that with us.
You do wonder how things will sit if we're 10-12th by Christmas in league 1 next year though.
If we're all honest, if one of our rivals were in the same position as we are in now and their chairman came out with the same statement I think we'd all be mocking them fairly mercilessly
It has certainly created some interest !!
It will be interesting to see if any of the nationals pick up on Rob Couhigs comments .
They will when we suddenly win tomorrow
Exactly this.
That reads to me very much like the dreaded public vote of confidence that usually signifies a manager will be sacked within the fortnight.
I sincerely hope it isn’t.
I really wouldn’t be surprised if Gaz is gone with 3 games if no wins
I would @TrueBlu a pay off for gareth and dobbo and a new management team with the same squad with three less games to save us? Unlikely. Unless they recall Freeman and Stockdale, of course!
Absolutely no way Gaz is going. If we do go down then Gaz and Dobbo are best placed to get us back up. With an overhauled squad...some of the older players may step down or move to coaching roles at that stage.
Few bits spotted this morning:
Depressing read / bit of realism about team out of depth
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55948890
Wycombe Twitter (post warning) tweeting about 3 points up for play
And is this a bit of pushback in defence of players?:
Interesting response from Andrew Howard.
I don’t think he would have had many bosses reading him the riot act over the years.
Dished it out to hundreds and thousands I imagine
Revenue opportunity missed? I would have paid good money to watch ‘spy on the wall’ footage of that conference call between Rob and the management team, not to mention the conversation between Gaz and Howard over a Starbucks in Marlow later.
Unfortunately the bistros of Marlow are closed
Don’t go changing @LX1 you mad genius.
I thought so too. If it does happen this forum will literally melt.
If he sacks Gareth this season he has absolutely no idea about our club, culture or English football
‘Over a Starbucks in Marlow later’ - even such recognisable local celebs as Gaz and Andy could do a takeaway coffee?
Hmmmm. I saw the AH tweet and thought it was a definite dig.
This is starting to look like it could either way. Siege mentality and unify the team this side of the pond or the beginning of the end for the current management structure.
I can't wait for the day where all our lives are so busy we don't have time to pour over every single intricacy of a statement that I firmly believe is really nothing more than a refocusing for everyone.
There’s one interesting part in his statement that I think could also mean that Pete isn’t immune to the critism:
“ We have had some bad calls ...... However, we will not use either as an excuse. In fact, we will offer no excuses”
Pete has certainly been vocal in his displeasure at refereeing decisions going against us. You could hear him in the background complaining about the penalty against Fred, for example.
I think this all boils down to a feeling that performances, for one reason or another, seem to have dropped off after the Spurs game. They haven’t been the typical “Wycombe” performance we could perhaps expect from a GA team.
He is expecting that from now until the end of the season we project that of a championship club rather than a league one club that’s there for experience. And I can’t blame him for that approach. I think he’s optimistic in expecting us to be in the championship given the gap to safety but he can’t expect the players to perform at a championship level unless the leadership at the very top are singing from the “we are a championship club and we can stay up” song sheet.
I find it interesting that in the very sentence after saying he, Pete, AH, GA and Dobbo will be here long into the future, is one that essentially says to the players “perform or get out”.
I think everything before those sentences is framing the narrative to suggest some players aren’t performing as they could be, either in training or on game day. That in itself is a dangerous game to play by a chairman - but if he is getting that view from the managerial team, it’s easy for him to play the bad guy that the manger himself saying it and losing the dressing room.
Whatever the result today, I’ll be listening out to the post match comments slightly more than usual to see if there is a change of tone!