How impressed are you with BMcD's return to the club?

[Maneki Neko]

Stop talking to him like hes a serious poster. Hes worse than dave royal

[genome]

Stop talking to him like hes a serious poster. Hes dave royal

Fixed

[Ian Royal]

Stop talking to him like hes a serious poster. Hes worse than dave royal

I'm mostly ignoring him and occasionally sniping, same as I would with dave.

[Victor Meldrew]

Of course they won't sack McDermott.

The whole idea of firing him is completely ridiculous.

I thought CW's choice of words was interesting in saying "if they make a change" which implies to me that making a change could well be on the agenda.
Your point about ridiculous sackings-do you actually follow professional football or just post on here "I love Brian"?
Managers get sacked-it happens regularly whether fans think it is right or wrong.

It wouldn't surprise me if Brian were to be sacked and it wouldn't surprise me if he got another season but I do question the judgement of a manager who spends significant money on a 34 year-old striker and plays his part in Gunter getting a new 3-year contract.

[Longhorn1970]

Of course they won't sack McDermott.

The whole idea of firing him is completely ridiculous.

I thought CW's choice of words was interesting in saying "if they make a change" which implies to me that making a change could well be on the agenda.
Your point about ridiculous sackings-do you actually follow professional football or just post on here "I love Brian"?
Managers get sacked-it happens regularly whether fans think it is right or wrong.

It wouldn't surprise me if Brian were to be sacked and it wouldn't surprise me if he got another season but I do question the judgement of a manager who spends significant money on a 34 year-old striker and plays his part in Gunter getting a new 3-year contract.

Agreed

[sandman]

Of course they won't sack McDermott.

The whole idea of firing him is completely ridiculous.

I thought CW's choice of words was interesting in saying "if they make a change" which implies to me that making a change could well be on the agenda.
Your point about ridiculous sackings-do you actually follow professional football or just post on here "I love Brian"?
Managers get sacked-it happens regularly whether fans think it is right or wrong.

It wouldn't surprise me if Brian were to be sacked and it wouldn't surprise me if he got another season but I do question the judgement of a manager who spends significant money on a 34 year-old striker and plays his part in Gunter getting a new 3-year contract.

Not sure £500,000 can be described as "significant" in this day and age.

As your other club might say, "You'll never walk alone".

[Top Flight]

Of course they won't sack McDermott.

The whole idea of firing him is completely ridiculous.

I thought CW's choice of words was interesting in saying "if they make a change" which implies to me that making a change could well be on the agenda.
Your point about ridiculous sackings-do you actually follow professional football or just post on here "I love Brian"?
Managers get sacked-it happens regularly whether fans think it is right or wrong.

It wouldn't surprise me if Brian were to be sacked and it wouldn't surprise me if he got another season but I do question the judgement of a manager who spends significant money on a 34 year-old striker and plays his part in Gunter getting a new 3-year contract.

What you see as bad judgement in signing Yann Kermorgant, I see that situation differently. Sa was on his way out, we needed some sort of target man type striker at the last minute and Kermorgant was the best we could get at that moment. If we didn't sign him we would have been even weaker up front. Brian doesn't see Kermorgant as the long-term solution. It was a stop gap signing. Who else were we going to get at that stage of the transfer window?

It was a bit like when Coppell signed Owusu and Les Ferdinand. Those signings weren't the final solution. They were the best we could get at that time and they were signings to keep us going until we could get the final solution, which was Kevin Doyle, Shane Long and Leroy Lita.

Some people just want to slam McDermott for nothing really and question every minute detail. There is no patience or understanding whatsoever. Surely, you understand that Kermorgant is a stop gap? A short-term fix. The length of his contract proves that as well. It was good management by McDermott. If he hadn't done it, we would have been even more toothless and one dimensional up front.

[Hoop Blah]

Some people just want to slam McDermott for nothing really and question every minute detail.

And some people want to just defend him with whatever made up scenario they can.

I happen to agree that this was a stop gap signing but it wasn't a last minute thing, it was 11 days before the window closed that we signed him and, as you say, we knew that Sa was on his way out at the time so they knew exactly what they were doing bringing him in (and this was at a time when the season wasn't over remember).

I'm a little disappointed in the signing and I'd have thought that McDermott, who many on here will credit with being such a well connected and excellent scout, might've known of another better and more long term option that could've been available. I'm not saying they'd have been the right answer but players like Gary Hooper (more expensive of course) and Sonogo (admittedly another loan player) moved around the same time. I just don't buy the excuse that he was the best available.

[Top Flight]

Hoop Blah. I'm not a fan of Yann Kermorgant. I would have much rather we kept Orlando Sa and I was probably more p*ssed off about those transfer in's and out's than most. I wasn't defending that movement at all at the time. I was questioning why Brian wasn't playing Orlando and I was not pleased that we would bring in an old 34 year old to replace a much younger and quality striker that Orlando was.

But alot of the nobbers made reasoned arguments and I had to accept that Orlando wanted out and that Yann is a stop gap signing until we could get better in. It was sadly just a fact of life that Orlando wanted to get the hell out. Under the circumstances, Brian did what was right for the club. We have to just make do with the best we can get until we can find the final answers. Kermorgant has made a difference this season as well as our stop gap. Imagine if he wasn't leading the line for us at Charlton for example. That might have been a very different outcome.

[Hoop Blah]

You lambasted the criticism of McDermott's judgement in bringing him in and said there wasn't a lot more he could be done and that he was the best option he had at the time.

I'm just suggesting that that's as much a load of rubbish as some of the criticism McDermott gets from some quarters.

[sandman]

The long term options are the likes of Samuel and Rakels, but they need experience to play off and Kermorgant can offer that. It hasn't worked out great for him so far but that can happen to January signings, they can't all have a Jason Roberts style impact.

No one is blindly defending Brian, apart from Dave "Top Flight" Royal who is a troll, just using quite reasonable answers as to why you can't judge him fully yet.

Still at least you have an opinion about something Hoop, makes a change from your usual gathering splinters in your arse.

[Ian Royal]

The long term options are the likes of Samuel and Rakels, but they need experience to play off and Kermorgant can offer that. It hasn't worked out great for him so far but that can happen to January signings, they can't all have a Jason Roberts style impact.

No one is blindly defending Brian, apart from Dave "Top Flight" Royal who is a troll, just using quite reasonable answers as to why you can't judge him fully yet.

Still at least you have an opinion about something Hoop, makes a change from your usual gathering splinters in your arse.

I love how trying to take a balanced view equates to sitting on the fence in the minds of some on here.

[SCIAG]

It was a bit like when Coppell signed Owusu and Les Ferdinand. Those signings weren't the final solution.

Yeah but they weren't exactly good either.

[Maneki Neko]

You lambasted the criticism of McDermott's judgement in bringing him in and said there wasn't a lot more he could be done and that he was the best option he had at the time.

I'm just suggesting that that's as much a load of rubbish as some of the criticism McDermott gets from some quarters.

what were the other options, in terms of strikers to bring in, at that price, with that experience/record, willing to come here as a short term stop gap?
genuine question.

[Maneki Neko]

Gary Hooper (more expensive of course) and Sonogo (admittedly another loan player)

hooper was more expensive and sonogo was on loan, which we know was already a problem for us.

[Top Flight]

It was a bit like when Coppell signed Owusu and Les Ferdinand. Those signings weren't the final solution.

Yeah but they weren't exactly good either.

That's the point SCIAG. They weren't exactly brilliant players. But they did a short-term job for us until the right players became available at the right price.

Remember Coppell used to say when talking about signings that three factors need to come together. It needs to be the right player, at the right time, at the right price.

We were forced to look for a striker in the January window when at the beginning of the season once we'd signed Orlando, we never would have expected to be needing to replace him just a few months later. Probably Kermorgant was realistically the only player that we could have recruited at that time. It was far better that we got him than not. He did make a difference in some games and helped plug a gap.

I see that as good management. If he didn't make that signing, we would have had a much poorer finish to the season. We would have looked completely useless up front and would have been a lot closer to the drop zone than we ended up. Then there would have been a lot more voices calling for Brian's dismissal.

[Top Flight]

The long term options are the likes of Samuel and Rakels, but they need experience to play off and Kermorgant can offer that. It hasn't worked out great for him so far but that can happen to January signings, they can't all have a Jason Roberts style impact.

No one is blindly defending Brian, apart from Dave "Top Flight" Royal who is a troll, just using quite reasonable answers as to why you can't judge him fully yet.

Still at least you have an opinion about something Hoop, makes a change from your usual gathering splinters in your arse.

Yes Rodney, I'm just using reasonable arguments to defend a good manager from unjustified criticism. That makes me a troll.

[Hoop Blah]

Gary Hooper (more expensive of course) and Sonogo (admittedly another loan player)

hooper was more expensive and sonogo was on loan, which we know was already a problem for us.

what were the other options, in terms of strikers to bring in, at that price, with that experience/record, willing to come here as a short term stop gap?
genuine question.

I have no idea who else was available as a lot more players are out there and available than ever move so, unless your within the game and talking to clubs about their players, it's impossible to know.

Yep, Sonogo was a loan and we probably, rightly, didn't want to go down that route but it wasn't just having loan players that was the issue, it was the attitude within the squad that developed around the Fulham-Clarke saga and that hasn't been addressed since. Having loan players wasn't an issue when we were second in the league because they were motivated and applying themselves properly.

Hooper was obviously more expensive yes, but why are you asking about players who are only willing to come in is a cheap stop gap though? Why couldn't we have been buying the next long term number 9 to build the team around for 2 or 3 seasons?

Part of what I'm getting at is that Kermagant was a slightly odd and desperate signing (made some sense yes, but his record is very average and I'm still not sure what his strength is) and it's a fair comment to put some criticism at McDermott's door for it. There's also an element of what you and TF are saying that the club had already given up on the league season by then so a stop gap signing made a sense.

We were only 6 points behind Sheffield Wednesday at the time and look how they've done.

[Maneki Neko]

Hooper was obviously more expensive yes, but why are you asking about players who are only willing to come in is a cheap stop gap though?

because that's clearly what he was backed to do.

the issue wasn't bringing in kermorgant, it was losing blackman, Sa, Clarke etc

[Hoop Blah]

Hooper was obviously more expensive yes, but why are you asking about players who are only willing to come in is a cheap stop gap though?

because that's clearly what he was backed to do.

the issue wasn't bringing in kermorgant, it was losing blackman, Sa, Clarke etc

Clearly? How do you know?

Why isn't it just that McDermott chose to go down that route instead of other options (which we can't know about)?

Just to stop this going off on a tangent, my original point was to Top Flight that you can't just wave off any criticism of McDermott for his judgement (Victor questioned it with the signing being one example). Even with his hands tied he still has to be judged on his decisions, but taking the situation as mitigation. Something I'm not sure Top Flight can do as he seems to rule everything as being out of McDermotts control.