Caldwell out?

[haka]

OK. But who of the available and realistic options would you have appointed?
Or, of those potentially available now, who might it be if GC were sacked today?
(I realise that Jurgen The German is out of our price range but "Siuper" Gary Johnson and Joey Barton are currently free)

For the first question, the only fair way to look at it is to ask if anyone who applied for the job and got rejected has done better somewhere else. We could maybe add those who were mentioned in the media as serious candidates, even if they didn't formally apply. But the vacancy was open for a long time, they had every opportunity to put themselves forward.

So who did the club miss out on? Artell, now at Grimsby, and hoping to stay in L2. Holden, sacked by Charlton. Who else did City (supposedly) miss out on?

The only other option was obviously an internal appointment, where no results comparison is possible because he's here. So realistically, if we say that Caldwell should not have been appointed then it's basically Kevin Nicholson, who might have done a good job, but we can't know (maybe one day we will). And that's all.

Inventing other fantasy managers who would have been great is harmless fun for us, but it wasn't an option for the people who appointed Caldwell.

 

[haka]

Oh, I forgot Neal Ardley. Sacked by York.

Any other Not-Caldwells?

 

[Boyo]

Up until recently our league results where beyond terrible and the fact we only spent a week in the relegation zone is testament to hoe god awful the bottom end of lesgue one is this season.

The claim that the league this year is poor and the inference that we got lucky, is not based in any kind of reality. It's virtually impossible to prove one way or another.

Last season Cambridge stayed up on 46 points and I think a similar number will be needed this year. Forest Green finished with a goal difference of -58 last season, whereas I don't think Carlisle will be that bad. I think Pompey and Derby will have a similar points haul to argyle and Ipswich last season. But none of that proves whether the league is any different to last year.

Ultimately it doesn't matter if the league is strong or weak, it's the relative points gained and position in the table that matters. If other teams appear worse than us, then great!

 

[wiveygrecian]

The claim that the league this year is poor and the inference that we got lucky, is not based in any kind of reality. It's virtually impossible to prove one way or another.

Last season Cambridge stayed up on 46 points and I think a similar number will be needed this year. Forest Green finished with a goal difference of -58 last season, whereas I don't think Carlisle will be that bad. I think Pompey and Derby will have a similar points haul to argyle and Ipswich last season. But none of that proves whether the league is any different to last year.

Ultimately it doesn't matter if the league is strong or weak, it's the relative points gained and position in the table that matters. If other teams appear worse than us, then great!

Let’s not forget Fleetwood stayed up on 40 points 2 years ago in a supposedly weak league

 

[John William]

By a mixture of luck and judgement GC is safe now, surely?

Everyone else is running out of games. Burton v Port Vale tonight, a Vale loss will surely doom them.

As long as we completely are out of danger at Easter (2 or 3 points from Charlton and Cheltenham will be more than enough) I will relax and start thinking about next season, and hope GC has absorbed more from what went right and wrong in recent months than he appeared to have done in December.

Does he have the flexibility to make City a better team by encouraging a more positive attitude etc? I hope so, but still no entirely convinced.

 

[Ian Tarr]

The claim that the league this year is poor and the inference that we got lucky, is not based in any kind of reality. It's virtually impossible to prove one way or another.

Thank you for this.

Impressions about the relative strength of a league compared to other seasons are entirely subjective, and often based on the perceived quality of a couple of teams at the top. Absolute nonsense.

 

[The 3 United's]

By a mixture of luck and judgement GC is safe now, surely?

Everyone else is running out of games. Burton v Port Vale tonight, a Vale loss will surely doom them.

As long as we completely are out of danger at Easter (2 or 3 points from Charlton and Cheltenham will be more than enough) I will relax and start thinking about next season, and hope GC has absorbed more from what went right and wrong in recent months than he appeared to have done in December.

Does he have the flexibility to make City a better team by encouraging a more positive attitude etc? I hope so, but still no entirely convinced.

Burton v Port Vale is one of three L1 games on Saturday.

 

[John William]

Burton v Port Vale is one of three L1 games on Saturday.

Correct, my mistake! I just looked at the next game section on the web and forgot about the date...

Principle applies, though

 

[Bridgy 81]

I think it can be interesting to try and work out (if that’s even possible) the relative strength of the league that we’ve been competing in from season to season with a view to gauging how we’re doing more generally.
But ultimately you can only play against who’s in front of you at any given point in time.
Most teams at our level have issues to deal with that can temporarily or completely derail a season and beyond e.g. financial crisis, best players leaving, tonnes of them all being injured at the same time or managerial and coaching team departures and upheavals.
Apart from the financial crisis one we’ve had a full house of the above over the past 18 months.
It’s been nerve wracking at times and certainly not particularly pretty at others but we survived fairly comfortably last season and this time around it looks like (all things being equal) we’re heading for similar territory.
Two consecutive lower mid table finishes in League One is not bad at all in my book.
I understand that our performances and results need to be more consistent and what’s on offer more entertaining but we’ve now got a fairly settled squad going into the summer so the further additions and reinforcements it requires will be less of task than previously.
I would have gladly accepted a similar finishing position to last season when this one began, so I can’t really change my mind now.
I’m (unusually for me when it comes to City) quietly confident about next season and the short term future and as always hoping for the best but expecting the unexpected.

 

[Antony Moxey]

Thank you for this.

Impressions about the relative strength of a league compared to other seasons are entirely subjective, and often based on the perceived quality of a couple of teams at the top. Absolute nonsense.

Basically if we do well it's because the league is poor and if we don't it's because there's loads of top teams with budgets that dwarf ours.