Steve Cooper - New Manager

[Royston.]

I'd feel sorry for Cooper if we were paying him £300 a week.

 

Just keep your mouth shut, toe the line and wait for the sack and severance.

[lcfcbluearmy]

1 hour ago, inckley fox said:

We haven't even played a game yet, so you might be jumping the gun a bit! Plus we weren't on promotion form from New Year onward under Enzo, and it was clear to most that some degree of a rethink was needed going into the PL. We only got over the finish line because we temporarily abandoned our fixation with possession at all costs. As such, 1000x worse is a hell of a stretch. 

 

When you consider that (a) the players look as disconsolate as you might expect them to look with no marquee signings and a hefty looming points deduction - neither of which are the manager's fault; (b) that any boss would struggle to keep us up under those circumstances, and (c) that eyebrow-raising selection decisions may reflect either limited options or certain players losing faith in our project, it's incredibly harsh to judge the boss in those circumstances. And Cooper has plenty of pedigree. Like Maresca he's won a promotion, albeit a far less likely one, but he's also kept a side up thereafter. So if he's rubbish then, based on respective records, what would that make Enzo?!

 

On a final note, re: Rudkin and Whelan, I strongly suspect there should have been a restructuring in which one or both of them were moved on, but that's on Top, and may reflect his waning interest in the club, or inability to manage a business. One thing I don't know is whether Rudkin, as the only member of the board with a coaching background, has been the only voice of reason in a room full of wild and unsuccessful ideas proposed by those who don't know the game as well as he does, or is responsible for our decline. Nobody has any way of knowing that, though we can be sure that Top is responsible one way or the other.

 

But we can be sure of this: that when people say Rudkin isn't qualified for the job, I think ten years on the job for a side that was in the drop zone when he took over, and won the league 18 months later with a transfer policy that was lauded throughout the footballing world suggests the opposite. We can't slate him for all the bad stuff without giving any credit for the good bits, or saying 'Oh, that was because of Vichai'.

 

Like you, I suspect that he should be shown the door, but it's a 'best guess'. And I'd also love to see Nige back, but I have no idea whether he's suited to the role. What I would say is that, before Rudkin (or NP) entered the scene, we saw a substandard recruitment policy and bizarre fixation with continental football under these owners. So the common denominator there is, yet again, Top.

It wasn't his transfer philosophy it was Steve Walsh's since Walsh left it has been pretty much downhill from there

 

Even though we weren't necessarily on proton form at the end of the season we looked like a team that had a plan ( it can be argued weather that was working or not but we did have a plan). Watching the pre season games it is pretty clear that we no longer have a plan or at least the players don't know what it is. That is on Cooper.

 

I'm not buying the " players want more signings line" there will be one or 2 of the players that want better players to play with but most won't want better players coming in and taking there places/reducing there playing time. So that is not a reason for the players looking upset. And even if it is then they need to grow up, they are paid enough that they should be professional and get on with it.

 

Cooper had no wins in 13 at forest despite getting all the signings he could ever want he is just not a good manager and the soo er we get rid the better.

 

Having said that I hope he proves me wrong

[Silva Fox]

3 minutes ago, Royston. said:

I'd feel sorry for Cooper if we were paying him £300 a week.

 

Just keep your mouth shut, toe the line and wait for the sack and severance.

Reminds me of the Stepford Wives  - Cooper has clearly been "re-programmed" after last week's outburst! 

 

 

 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

2 hours ago, Countesthorpe Fox 1884 12 said:

Sorry all I’ve no inside knowledge of the club and purely tweeted it for complete banter as to be honest it’s the only thing keeping me sane during one of what I think is the worst periods under the current senior management at least. Apologies, I didn’t expect it to be a source quoted on here but I hope all the FT community forgive me. Genuinely you keep me smiling through some bad times. Peace out.

 

Don't know why you keep insinuating you're Nick Green ahahaha. Bit weird mate!

 

All the best,

NG

[The_Rorab]

To be fair Cooper is dead right that we'd likely known we'd have no new signings for the first week's fixtures and that it's not the club's fault that we've made no signings for it - as he said it's a slow market all-around!

 

I mean, it's hard for a newly promoted club to make signings the week before the season starts - look at Ipswich... wait, they've signed Kalvin Phillips on loan and Sammie Szmodics this week? 

 

Well, they're clearly the outlier to be fair, Kalvin Phillips has been awful for the last few seasons, and Szmodics is a completely unknown quantity at this level, Southampton having only gone up through the playoffs and therefore having had less time than us to prepare surely will show how hard it is...

 

They've signed Cameron Archer and are about to loan in Lesley Ugochukwu? Well. Uh. Neither are exactly proven Prem quality players! It doesn't show anything, the market is just incredibly slow and difficult for every team to navigate, not just us!

 

I mean, it's just incredibly difficult to get a striker in - but I mean luckily we've got Vardy, Daka, Cannon... oh. Vardy and Daka are out injured for the foreseeable future? Well, surely we've tried our best, and surely no other promoted teams have signed strikers in the same period that we knew we'd be desperate for literally any kind of reinforcement??? Right???

 

Well. At least there's always the academy players that we can trust in to have greater roles to play with how colossally difficult it is for ALL teams to make transfers in this slow window! If there's one thing you can say about Cooper it's that he'll definitely be good for the youth players and give them a fair shake - thank god we blooded them in pre-season so we could compensate for the gaping holes in the first team squad and not have to play players like Soumare in the league this season... 

 

So there's no way we could even think to lay any blame on the club at all, it's all just so helplessly out of our hands! What else COULD we even conceivably have done???

 

Right?

[funkyrobot]

I wish he’d been pushed more on his treatment of Cannon. The fact is he was given the least amount of pitch time during pre season of the fit strikers. It has felt all along that Cooper doesn’t rate him and as such he got the game time of a player destined for a loan or a full transfer. He’s had minimal opportunities and now Cooper is in  position where he’s the only out and out fit number 9. I suspect Cooper will still put Mavididi centrally and play BDCR in the LW role or Fatawu there (despite it being clear he’s better as a RW) further damaging the lad’s confidence. Giving Cannon more opportunity and at least pretending he was in his plans would’ve maybe helped the team whilst a new striker is sought. 

[JimmyC74]

Cooper has tried to toe the line in the presser today but you would imagine he is fewmin especially when you see what business Ipswich have done.

 

Already playing for snookers.

Edited 16 August by JimmyC74

[inckley fox]

1 hour ago, lcfcbluearmy said:

It wasn't his transfer philosophy it was Steve Walsh's since Walsh left it has been pretty much downhill from there

 

Even though we weren't necessarily on proton form at the end of the season we looked like a team that had a plan ( it can be argued weather that was working or not but we did have a plan). Watching the pre season games it is pretty clear that we no longer have a plan or at least the players don't know what it is. That is on Cooper.

 

I'm not buying the " players want more signings line" there will be one or 2 of the players that want better players to play with but most won't want better players coming in and taking there places/reducing there playing time. So that is not a reason for the players looking upset. And even if it is then they need to grow up, they are paid enough that they should be professional and get on with it.

 

Cooper had no wins in 13 at forest despite getting all the signings he could ever want he is just not a good manager and the soo er we get rid the better.

 

Having said that I hope he proves me wrong

You make some great points. I'd only reserve judgement on the second paragraph, and whether it's better to have no plan as opposed to the wrong plan.

[Pliskin]

I think he goes after the Southampton game, and our first win will come at home to Forest manager less. 

[OriginalRobboFOX]

20 hours ago, inckley fox said:

Do you disagree with any of what I said? Or perhaps have inside information?! Either might be perfectly valid, but you need to elaborate.

 

I think I made clear that I have serious doubts about him, but that we're letting Top off the hook, and being unjustifiably critical, if we simplify everything by saying 'just sack Jon. He's the problem.' Or, equally, 'sack Cooper. He's rubbish.'

 

It seems a bit cheap to say that anyone who tries to offer a bit of balance is working for the club, or for Rudders! Arguments can't always be reduced to straightforward populist solutions. And just because I'm not frothing at the mouth doesn't mean that I'm not thoroughly pissed off with the board.

Lighten up mate. 

[Gamble92]

19 hours ago, Royston. said:

I'd feel sorry for Cooper if we were paying him £300 a week.

 

Just keep your mouth shut, toe the line and wait for the sack and severance.

He needs this job to be a success after what happened at Forest. The narrative around managers becomes attached very quickly. I think that's a big part of why he is reluctant to play what's perceived as negative football as well. 

 

If this is an absolute flop his next job is Championship at best and then he runs the risk of a Steve Bruce type career. 

 

Don't forget at Forest once he kept them up they were even touring him for England because of what he's done with the u17s. It's crazy how quickly the reputation of a manager can change. 

[inckley fox]

34 minutes ago, OriginalRobboFOX said:

Lighten up mate. 

Okay, so you don't have anything to say, you just want to be a bit spiky. That's alright.

[Royston.]

1 hour ago, Gamble92 said:

He needs this job to be a success after what happened at Forest. The narrative around managers becomes attached very quickly. I think that's a big part of why he is reluctant to play what's perceived as negative football as well. 

 

If this is an absolute flop his next job is Championship at best and then he runs the risk of a Steve Bruce type career. 

 

Don't forget at Forest once he kept them up they were even touring him for England because of what he's done with the u17s. It's crazy how quickly the reputation of a manager can change. 

Nope it's the managerial merry-go-round.

 

You get sacked and sit on your severance til the next job becomes available.

 

If Coopers next job after us is the championship it's because he isn't good enough for thr premier league.

 

 

[Pliskin]

“Dadadada Hoops, Spaghetti Cooper, dadadada Hoops, Spaghetti Cooper”

Edited 17 August by Pliskin

[Gamble92]

53 minutes ago, Royston. said:

Nope it's the managerial merry-go-round.

 

You get sacked and sit on your severance til the next job becomes available.

 

If Coopers next job after us is the championship it's because he isn't good enough for thr premier league.

 

 

If he keeps us up he deserves a ****ing top job after us. It'd be an incredible achievement. Much more of an achievement than winning promotion with our squad last season that's earned a manager a job at Chelsea. 

 

I think Cooper is a top manager but I certainly won't be judging him just by this season. It's the clowns above him that will be responsible for relegation.

[lcfc sheff]

I think we’re gonna end up wishing the club went for a manager who has a similar philosophy to Maresca. I pray I am wrong 

[Ric Flair]

On 16/08/2024 at 14:37, moore_94 said:

Can’t see how this is true regarding Cannon when Mavididi has played more than double the minutes of Cannon throughout pre-season even with Vardy missing all but the Villareal game

 

If he was balancing minutes he would’ve brought Cannon on for Daka

 

 

Exactly. The blokes comments in the last few weeks and his decisions have been an utter abomination. Don't think I've ever been against a manager as much as this from the off, well done Steve.

[coolhandfox]

4 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Exactly. The blokes comments in the last few weeks and his decisions have been an utter abomination. Don't think I've ever been against a manager as much as this from the off, well done Steve.

What you gonna do if he chucks in Alves from the start on Monday? 

 

 

[Muzzy_no7]

25 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Exactly. The blokes comments in the last few weeks and his decisions have been an utter abomination. Don't think I've ever been against a manager as much as this from the off, well done Steve.

Pooper

[Thebluefox85]

30 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Exactly. The blokes comments in the last few weeks and his decisions have been an utter abomination. Don't think I've ever been against a manager as much as this from the off, well done Steve.

You’re completely right he’s making Puel look like pep! I was against as soon as his name was rumoured! By now I see why forest got rid he’s not got a clue! I’m dreading Monday night 

[Ric Flair]

27 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

What you gonna do if he chucks in Alves from the start on Monday? 

 

 

Might actually watch the game if that happens.

[majaco]

There's a lot of negativity about a manager who has steered us to 12th (on alphabetical order)

 

Sadly, I expect it to be our highest league position of the season.

 

Whoops.  Negativity slipped in

[Foxin_Mad]

3 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

What you gonna do if he chucks in Alves from the start on Monday? 

 

 

He won't because he's a ****ing idiot! Probably play a random defender in the position. Playing players in the wrong position when you have fit options is just stupid.

[coolhandfox]

6 hours ago, Foxin_Mad said:

He won't because he's a ****ing idiot! Probably play a random defender in the position. Playing players in the wrong position when you have fit options is just stupid.

Wow, maybe let the man at least have one league game....

[Claudio Fannieri]

Whilst he cannot be held accountable for the lack of signings, he should no way be given a free hit regards team selection, tactics and how we perform. 
 

Pre season has been a bit of a shocker across all aspects of the club, let’s hope come tomorrow we start to get our act together, otherwise I think quite righty everyone should feel the pressure.