Buckley sacked

[mathare]

The RSS feed won't pick this up but Grimsby Town have relieved the legend that is Alan Buckley of his managerial duties.

I disagree with this massively, despite results this season. The chairman is a small-minded reactionary at present. He has plans for a new stadium that are almost in tatters as the club have failed to get out of the basement division in the last 5 years or so. In reality we have pretty much found our level. We have no right to be the Championship club we used to be and our lot in life is in the lower leagues. Therefore we don't need a shiny 20,000 all-seater out-of-town ground despite what one small local businessman thinks.

[scoobydoo]

Oh dear...I thought he might have gotten a bit longer with the 3 clubs on minus points this season. Do you know what the fans majority feeling was on him Mat...do they agree with you do you think?

[mathare]

Oh dear...I thought he might have gotten a bit longer with the 3 clubs on minus points this season. Do you know what the fans majority feeling was on him Mat...do they agree with you do you think?Fans are fickle aren't they? Yeah, the messageboard nesbits probably wanted rid of him but then they probably wanted us to sign Robinho and have Keegan in charge - realism isn't really a bit part of their thinking. It's true that for some reason Buckley was struggling to get the best out of the team, and it is his side now as he has had long enough to get the players he wants and put them together into his style. He's struggled with a decent defence but we're looking better higher up the pitch. On Saturday we dominated the game completely by all accounts and lost 3-1.

Buckley is and always will be a legend at the club but 'fans' forget that when we're not top of the league. Like the chairman they demand unreasonable success, which is why a lot of them support Liverpool/Man Utd/Chelsea. Many of the local football fans won't support Town ever - they will always be Premiership fans and Fenty et al need to accept that and deal with it. Regardless of how large the population of Grimsby/Cleethorpes grows you won't get many of them into the stadium on a regular basis. Sure, they'll have a day out at Wembley or a big Premiership ground in the cup and attend a couple of home games to get tickets for the big games if they have to but they not regular fans.

So do the fans share my views - some of them do, yeah, but the chairman has started to listening to fans on messageboards and reacting to them I'm afraid.

[scoobydoo]

Fans are fickle aren't they? Yeah, the messageboard nesbits probably wanted rid of him but then they probably wanted us to sign Robinho and have Keegan in charge - realism isn't really a bit part of their thinking. It's true that for some reason Buckley was struggling to get the best out of the team, and it is his side now as he has had long enough to get the players he wants and put them together into his style. He's struggled with a decent defence but we're looking better higher up the pitch. On Saturday we dominated the game completely by all accounts and lost 3-1.

Buckley is and always will be a legend at the club but 'fans' forget that when we're not top of the league. Like the chairman they demand unreasonable success, which is why a lot of them support Liverpool/Man Utd/Chelsea. Many of the local football fans won't support Town ever - they will always be Premiership fans and Fenty et al need to accept that and deal with it. Regardless of how large the population of Grimsby/Cleethorpes grows you won't get many of them into the stadium on a regular basis. Sure, they'll have a day out at Wembley or a big Premiership ground in the cup and attend a couple of home games to get tickets for the big games if they have to but they not regular fans.

So do the fans share my views - some of them do, yeah, but the chairman has started to listening to fans on messageboards and reacting to them I'm afraid.

You're absolutely right...there is not much realism from many fans. Being a football manager is a tough business...as you win you build up the expectation and then if you fall below that level , even for a short while, many fans will not accept it. The chairman just react to fans as they know itll get them off their back for a while...I find it sad they didnt give him a bit more time, especially this season as I said earlier.

I left Grimsby 25 years ago when I was a young kid but even then,the majority of kids at school didnt really follow Town...nothing has changed I wouldnt think. As you say, many turned up for the big League Cup & FA Cup ties in the early 80's but not for league games. I expect many clubs could say the same all over the country eh.

[mathare]

I expect many clubs could say the same all over the country eh.To some extent it depends on the location of the club (other clubs around, geographical area etc) plus the way it is marketed to the community and whether it is deemed an integral part of the town. With Grimsby it's not, I don't feel. We are in a geographical (and cultural) backwater with no big clubs around but we have never been able to drum up serious levels of the support. Maybe the club is marketed wrongly, maybe it's the people. Who knows.

[Win2Win]

Maybe they'll get Denis Wise :yikes:

[tophatter]

SOunds much like the idiots we had running Luton Mat.

They were only interested in getting a new stadium to line their own pockets and run the football side of things shambolically as they did not care about anything and had no plan B.

Administration comes as sure as night follows day when you have fools like that in charge. I would not wish that on anyone with the way the FL then put the boot in.

[John]

This is the first time I've seen this thread after a quick search on 'Grimsby'... will read it later.

Found this on the BBC site just now... Grimsby are record breakers!

"Grimsby extended their record-breaking run without a league win to 20 games as they were convincingly beaten at home to 10-man Bradford."

[mathare]

And since then we have lost to Dag & Red.

We are now the only team in the English and Scottish leagues (including the Conference) without a win this season

[MattR]

Hope they are pleased with sacking Buckley now then. Seems to have sorted things out :rolleyes:


You're right Mat, football fans are fickle as hell. I know I've been p'd off with Redknapp since sunday but that is the manner in which he left on top of having already done it to us once before. It doesn't stop me being greatful for what he did for the club and gave us some of the best years ever in the clubs history, he did get to spend a big wad of money too let's not forget, but he spent it wisely for the most part and I never thought I'd see the day I'd watch Pompey in an FA Cup Final.

Managers need time in a job to bed in their own players and ideas and now we get all these owners coming in who haven't a clue about football and think they can run things better. Although it must be the only job where you can fail dismally and get paid your entire contract up when sacked and then move onto another club to do the same job. Can you imagine that happening at a workplace!

[mathare]

Good points all Matt - Harry did wonders at Pompey really but it is a real shame that he has left under a cloud. But when does a football manager ever leave the club on a high? It's rare that the fans are pleased to see a manager get a better job - were MK Dons fans pleased for Ince when he got the Blackburn job, for example? The common way out for managers is the sack, and that usually comes when the team are struggling and the fans unhappy.

Who'd be a manager eh?

Newell has at least accepted he is up against it and is looking to bring in a few loanees. We'll still struggle as the team have no confidence any more but I can't see us getting relegated, realistically. But if we do then so be it. Hopefully that will stop all talk of the new stadium, which to me is a much bigger long-term issue than we currently face on the field

[John]

Grimsby sacking Buckley was the worst thing that could've actually happened. I don't have any sympathy now for how poor we are going to be (yet again) for another consecutively awful season. He's the only manager that's done the team any good.