Caldwell out?

[SaintJames]

Indeed BB…hardly taking it out of context!

where does he say about getting promoted. Challenging at the top end was a reference to his aspiration to better 8th place at some stage

 

[Bat Fastard]

where does he say about getting promoted. Challenging at the top end was a reference to his aspiration to better 8th place at some stage

Was responding to your dismissive “said nothing remotely of the sort” comment…would suggest challenging at top end of the table and promotion were the same thing….anyway can’t be arsed with these semantics as we’re now where near. Have a good day!

 

[SaintJames]

Was responding to your dismissive “said nothing remotely of the sort” comment…would suggest challenging at top end of the table and promotion were the same thing….anyway can’t be arsed with these semantics as we’re now where near. Have a good day!

throw away unhelpful comments as i said when he didnt say what you were implying. We have all called GC out this past few months but not fair to embellish

 

[BigBanker]

throw away unhelpful comments as i said when he didnt say what you were implying. We have all called GC out this past few months but not fair to embellish

Regardless of whether challenging at the top means promotion or not, he was stating an ambition, not what we SHOULD be achieving.

 

[Rosencrantz]

The key quote in that article is "That is going to take time, as I think everybody would recognise". Sometimes to make progress, there are some steps back before you can go forward again. Particularly when the heart of the squad leaves in the summer.

 

[Grecian Max]

Perhaps Caldwell is our Ferguson

 

[spodman]

I think a crucial factor in the board’s decision to keep faith with Gary Caldwell was that despite the awful run of results, we never dropped into the relegation zone. Ironically, it was only after we lost at Reading following two decent results at home that we had our (hopefully) only visit to the drop zone.

You could argue that the manager was responsible for the excellent early season form and so the points accumulated in those first few games afforded him and the team the buffer to the bottom teams that meant they never quite caught up with us.

This would have allowed the board to give him a bit more time to turn things around as, even though there was precious little evidence on the pitch things might get better, the league position never got to point of no return badness.

I thought Gary should have been sacked after the Bolton result, following on from such a poor performance and result at Fleetwood. Since that game, our record has been W4 D4 L4 which is the epitome of mid-table form. I think many people would have accepted that position at the start of the season given the rebuilding job that had to take place in the summer. It’s also no coincidence that it corresponds to players coming back from injury and regaining match fitness, plus Sonny coming back to be a focal point up front.

With the new signings in January, I’m optimistic that we can at least maintain our mid table form and stay away from relegation worries. I still have reservations about Caldwell’s dogmatic commitment to possession football. It’s great to watch when we’re playing well and I don’t want us to become a lump it team. The problem is that when things start to go wrong and the players’ confidence drops, the margins for error are much smaller than, for example, Matt Taylor’s more pragmatic approach. Our problem will always be whether as a small club (budget wise) we can attract the calibre of player good/confident enough to play this way consistently.

Let’s hope the positivity continues and we have a great final third of the season. UTC

 

[Grecian Max]

An apology

Sorry Greek chums, I did get rather caught up in the debate and found the performances and results as stressful as anybody. I could see it all slipping away and a lot of hard work being wasted.
It seemed to all end suddenly and somewhat miraculously in my favour but part of me was still left back on that field of conflict. It's pathetic that I should claim some kind of PTS when there are so many real horrendous tragedies going on the world when all is said and done this is only bloody football, but being part of ECFC means so much to me.
Hopefully we can move on into a bright and successful future as City fans together, I won't be posting on this thread any more.

Fair play and UTC

 

[Larry Wilkie]

I think a crucial factor in the board’s decision to keep faith with Gary Caldwell was that despite the awful run of results, we never dropped into the relegation zone. Ironically, it was only after we lost at Reading following two decent results at home that we had our (hopefully) only visit to the drop zone.

You could argue that the manager was responsible for the excellent early season form and so the points accumulated in those first few games afforded him and the team the buffer to the bottom teams that meant they never quite caught up with us.

This would have allowed the board to give him a bit more time to turn things around as, even though there was precious little evidence on the pitch things might get better, the league position never got to point of no return badness.

I thought Gary should have been sacked after the Bolton result, following on from such a poor performance and result at Fleetwood. Since that game, our record has been W4 D4 L4 which is the epitome of mid-table form. I think many people would have accepted that position at the start of the season given the rebuilding job that had to take place in the summer. It’s also no coincidence that it corresponds to players coming back from injury and regaining match fitness, plus Sonny coming back to be a focal point up front.

With the new signings in January, I’m optimistic that we can at least maintain our mid table form and stay away from relegation worries. I still have reservations about Caldwell’s dogmatic commitment to possession football. It’s great to watch when we’re playing well and I don’t want us to become a lump it team. The problem is that when things start to go wrong and the players’ confidence drops, the margins for error are much smaller than, for example, Matt Taylor’s more pragmatic approach. Our problem will always be whether as a small club (budget wise) we can attract the calibre of player good/confident enough to play this way consistently.

Let’s hope the positivity continues and we have a great final third of the season. UTC

Perhaps GC will feel that he now has more options up top and out wide to be able to have more of a plan B and C.
Like you I wouldn’t want to become a lump it team, but with pace on both wings and height up front, he may feel that more options are now available.
Be interesting to see how the team and the style develop over the coming weeks.
Here’s hoping for a relatively clean bill of health in terms of player fitness.
Looking forward with hope.
UTC.

 

[arthur]

Caldwell isn't inherently amazing or terrible. He's somewhere in between and has had some periods where his management has been better (last 6 weeks) than at others (the 16 weeks preceding that).

As Jon's friend and colleague Dan pointed out on The Big Bank Theory, the excellent performance on Saturday wasn't with a new striker, or a host of new signings. It was with the broadly the same squad of players which Caldwell failed to get a song out of for months. It's great news for all of us if he's improving as a manager (and not unlikely, if the best way of learning is through failure).

The likes of Squrtz feel that having and sticking to one opinion of him in a rigid, caveman-like fashion 'UGH CALDWELL GOOD UGH' is clever. Seems pretty dumb to me.

The problem with this analysis is that it removes any agency from the players. We were doing badly - it was Caldwell's fault. We are doing better - that's to Caldwell's credit. All a bit binary for my taste