To lay my
cards on the table immediately I do not for one minute support the number of
fans who want Billy sacked. It mostly comes down for me to people's personal preferences on
his character. In any other walk of life people would be reviewed and appraised
on their working practice and not always on well liked they were. There is an element of people unhappy with tactics and selection (who were quiet when were 16 unbeaten)
There is that growing call from fans for Billy to be sacked in light on the current slump in form.
I also fail
to see who else come in now and do any better with what's available in terms of
the players available. Ok people question the tactics, and at times they are
wrong, but we aren't being dealt a full deck here. You go with what you have.
I agree that
Billy has made mistakes. Halford up front on Saturday ahead of Henderson was
ridiculous, but I am sure there are good valid reasons why Billy chose to do
this. He isn't stupid, he knows that slipping out the playoffs would mean a lot
of questions get asked of him, and he can't hide behind media bans forever.
And it's this
media ban that is really costing him now. Now with this rod he made for his own
back he can't come out and explain his actions. He doesn't have the platform,
because he gave himself a self-imposed exile. So now we all mindlessly
speculate or grumble and ask why things happen when if he actually just spoke
to the media, and therefore the fans he could give his reasons, and maybe
appease some fans.
And when the
chips are down, the media who you have ostracized and shut out are not going to
be very supportive. Of course they will give heed to views that he should go.
Maybe not explicitly as they already aren't on speaking terms, but indirectly
though comments by fans, the various blogs they publish, or what Paul Taylor
says on Twitter.
I think he
has to be given to the end of the season and then we evaluate. For me he has to
given that at least. Also stability breeds success. The teams that are up there
by and large have maintained a stable managership for a while. Derby and Wigan
buck that trend admittedly, but there will always be a minority.
For me, I am
not a fan of Davies the man; I don't like the media management strategy he has
gone on. But I can also see that in the last 15 years he has been the most
successful we have had. You can point to failed play off bids all you like, but
save for Paul Hart he is the only one to have got us there, and consistently.
Under him we have never struggled.
Is it a sense
of heightened expectations due to the cash spent? I think that certainly plays
a part, but even had we done a Burnley and spent comparatively little, and had
nothing to spend I still think fans would be reacting in the same way. And it’s
a problem endemic in football now. Fans have less patience. All you have to do
is look at fast turn overs of managers, with Pepe Mel under pressure before
Saturday, Fulham chopping and changing. It's becoming like Italy, where the
moment you seem to fail you're out with little chance to turn it round. And it's
because the stakes are higher than ever.
Who really is
going to do any better in this time frame? You might as well keep what we have
as the coaches know the players. Any regime change will just upset the apple cart,
and the players all seem united under the Billy front.
Furthermore
what the hell do we look like if we sack managers when in top 6? I remember
when Huddersfield did the same in league One to Lee Clark many people including
Forest fans were laughing at such a ridiculous idea. When we sacked O'Driscoll
the same reactions came along. Say what you like, but many other clubs don't
realise what's going on. They don't realise our fans are in disarray. I work in
Sheffield, so surrounded by fans of United and Wednesday, plus the usual array
of glory hunters. All of them, every single one can't believe when I tell them
fans want the manager out. So you worry Billy makes us look daft? Sacking him
would make us loo dafter.
And it really
is a tricky one. A case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. Maybe we
could have got a boost from a change of manager. But it also gives a dangerous
message to fans of their power. Fans are the core of a club no doubt, but a
consensus of people trying to influence or make decisions won't work, which is
why you need a figurehead like Fawaz even if he was the money man or not. They
make the decision. If we react to the admittedly growing number of fans calling
for his head, then the fans think all they need to do is start moaning. What message
does that send? Negativity is rewarded?
It’s a sign
of the age. Social media lets ideas like this mutate and increase.
It is funny
though. Davies before was seen as the genius, and just need backing. Now he has
the backing and is doing roughly exactly the same people have turned on him. His
cult of personality seems to have failed.
Give him to
the end of the season and then see how Billy feels. How Fawaz feels. See what
the mood of the club is, not just fans, but players, and the media. The one
thing I would say as Fawaz to Billy, if you want to stay, talk to the media,
not through Forest Player. Tell fans in their cars on the way home on the radio
why you made decisions you did or how you're feeling. Stop acting aloof, if he
says no, and then tell him to do one. I'm pretty certain he'd change his tune.
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