Clarke Gone

[Hoppers]

Was dead chuffed when he replied to my message, even if he did say "go stuff yerself Hoppers" 🤣 - top bloke 😍

[1]

Darrell is an inspiring leader and a ‘real’ football manager, passionate about the game. Ironically he was hampered severely by his own success last season in terms of prepping for this season, as most of the squad coming up were not L1 calibre but has been signed for the 2-year project of L2 promotion. Adding Ojo, Massey (who looked fantastic in paper) and Harrison to that was solid, but we couldn’t wheel and deal much because of he fast turnaround. Despite that, we were fine until January, and then other factors and other people were involved in January decisions, not just Darrell. Do you really think he wanted to swap Hall for Donnelly? There were other forces at play but he is the face of the first team that people assume makes player personnel decisions. The reality is it’s a small army involved and he is left with the committee’s squad. Couple with that the grief, pain and suffering he has been through. He was worth the last four games, a new transfer window being properly backed and a fresh start with a full pre-season. The only time he has had a summer to fully plan with the scope to axe deadwood in spades, like the one coming up, he was absolutely transformative. That same environment was coming provided he got through still in L1, and let’s be honest whoever is in charge that was / is going to happen. It’s a crazy decision, makes the club look disjointed and leaves you thinking who has Carol’s ear and whether that’s the best person to Ben listening to. Crosby and a slender budget would just point to cost-cutting, and that principle was out of DC’s hands. Obviously these are my thoughts without knowing the ins and outs, so if he’s been acting out, lost the dressing room, been having ding-dongs or misused a decent transfer kitty that’s a different matter. Also, if he was basically checked out and had quit without quitting, then that’s a different story. But on the surface, backed up by the club’s statement, it just looks like the wrong decision.

[blinkme]

15 hours ago, LancyTony said:

It may sound a bit harsh, but he lost one first-teamer*, and 2 rarely-played squad players, gaining a loanee with some potential, and a proven Lge 1 scorer?

*who many opined was not up to the demands of this League?

January isn't about replacing who you lose, it's about getting what you *need* (and offloading players to facilitate that)

 

[JoeB2]

10 hours ago, philpvfc said:

That’s fair enough, I’ll give my opinion then. I think Clarke is the most overrated manager we have had at the club by the supporters.

• Never had a full season at the club
• 1st season, we didn’t look like going down but we were performing very poorly under Askey (who was sacked after the season before finishing 2 places lower than we did last season, cur short because of Covid when we were on a fantastic run). A poor start for DC but then went on a decent run which made sure we were safe that season
• 2nd season, Great rebuild of the squad and did very well in the transfer market but backed by our new owners more so than I have seen for a very long time. Performed excellent all season, decent cup run before being knocked out by Brentford but then went on a bad run, dropping out of the play offs and then tragedy struck within the family, DC takes time off (quite rightly), AC comes in, steadies the ship, gets us to the play offs, DC comes back and helps us get over the line.
• 3rd season, Very poor recruitment starts off the season but despite this, DC has the backbone of the squad that got us promoted and we perform above expectations for half the season in the league and get to the new year 6 points off the play offs and 17 points above relegation but terrible performances in the 2 major cups sees early exits. Another bad recruitment window and for reasons unknown on here we go on a horrendous run where DC loses his job without competing a full season (again) with a lower points tally than Bruno/ Brown.

I think overall DC did a good job for the first 2 seasons but was he great manager? I don’t think so.

• He’s had fantastic backing and support from the best owner our club has seen, where others have had to do it under Bell, Bratt and Smurf
• Im not sure we would have been promoted last season had AC not taken charge for a while
• He gets the credit for a really good transfer window beginning of last season but the blame is shifted elsewhere for our very poor 2 transfer windows this season
• His one dimensional tactics have been shocking this year, unable to change anything to improve result, some of his team selection and substitutions have been very questionable 
• We will end up with less points this season than the last time we got relegated under Bruno and Brown who were pretty awful and they had Smurf backing them

So if you think DC is the best manager since Rudge just consider these points. Better than Adams? I don’t think so.

Alright, a few points of disagreement.

1. DC's run in his first season was far more than decent - it was our longest winning run since 1996 and one of our longest ever.

2. AC didn't 'get us the playoffs', although he certainly helped. He lost 3 games on the spin with the pressure on, and DC returned to win against Exeter. Defeat there and we wouldn't have made the playoffs. 

3. I've not seen anyone give DC massive credit for the first window. Flitcroft got that one right and got the credit. He hasn't done well since.

I agree fully that his tactics were lacking at times and I'm not sure he'll ever be a manager who settles down long-term. Too much emphasis on his character and relationships, rather than a solid playing identity or any long-term planning. He's very instinctive and emotional.

I think the reason he's so loved is more than his achievements; he really bonded with us. He made great efforts to connect with us and seemed to understand us as a fanbase. I remember once he got some stick from a fan in the Lorne Street over a substitution, and he gave a bit back. After the game he said he had no issue with it; we're passionate fans, he's a passionate manager, we both want what's best. 

The fans had a far greater attachment to DC than Adams as Adams failed to disguise the fact that he didn't really want anything to do with the fans - he'd consistently have jabs at the 'doubters and the cynics', and I know he said worse behind closed doors.

I do think his time was probably coming to an end, but I'm so disappointed in the awful communications from the club. When we're winning, you can't walk down the street without hearing Carol being interviewed.

[JoeB2]

😃

[Guppys left peg]

Looks like Radio Stoke will be releasing an interview Phil has done with Carol later on. Have to say that has been a disappointing aspect as mentioned above it’s taken until now to actually address this.

[Walka003]

Looks like Radio Stoke will be releasing an interview Phil has done with Carol later on. Have to say that has been a disappointing aspect as mentioned above it’s taken until now to actually address this.

Where have you seen this mate? Can't see anything on social media

Edit-never mind I've found it

[butt lane vale fan]

1 minute ago, Walka003 said:

4 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Looks like Radio Stoke will be releasing an interview Phil has done with Carol later on. Have to say that has been a disappointing aspect as mentioned above it’s taken until now to actually address this.

Where have you seen this mate? Can't see anything on social media

 

[philmpv]

Looks like Radio Stoke will be releasing an interview Phil has done with Carol later on. Have to say that has been a disappointing aspect as mentioned above it’s taken until now to actually address this.

It's been 3 days

[Brian Johnson]

35 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Looks like Radio Stoke will be releasing an interview Phil has done with Carol later on. Have to say that has been a disappointing aspect as mentioned above it’s taken until now to actually address this.

Wait for someone to come on here and say that it was a good & honest interview. 

[Guppys left peg]

Interview up now.

BBC Radio Stoke Special - Carol Shanahan - BBC Sounds

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

 

[darren1810]

First few words are a copy and paste from the end of Askey reign. 

Also don't feel any need to bringing up Ellie. 

[Walka003]

That interview says to me it's Crosbys to lose. Also if she thinks that January has had nothing to do with the downturn in performance then she's dreaming.

[1]

Cheap January, cheap manager. Makes sense.

[SuperHuman]

Carol talks a lot of waffle during that interview.

Pretty obvious that they fell out with Darrell.