Improvement

[Big Daddy Cool]

Hegazi would have been ideal for us this season. Such a poor decision to get rid of him. Ivanovic is a waste of space.

[Birdman1811]

Old style goal scorers are disappearing from the game at the moment, their time will come again.

As for Dowling, questions have to be asked of his performance in the summer, it's hard when the manager isn't reading from the same book, but his job is to work with the manager and build the squad we need, irrespective of manager.

Spot on pal.

The fact that we have a large team (scouting, recruitment, TD, coaches) and none of them appear to have thought that a number 9, holding midfielder or right-back was a must when pretty much everyone I know did is disgusting.

If Bilic wouldn't recognise these needs or wouldn't accept the Recruitment Team's suggestions, he should have been sacked as he couldn't work within the remit of the role / had lost their confidence. The fact he wasn't dismissed means Dowling carries the can for the dreadful buys as far as I am concerned.

---

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

Ditto. His managerial record suggests you are right. Interestingly, I work with two Hammers: both loved him as a player, are very fond of him and hoped he did well with us; both think he is a limited manager and that BFS was a better manager for them. They may be an exception but, having spoken to them separately about it, their opinions were pretty much identical.

Thing is, they all did, except Bilic who felt Krov and Grant were far more important. We gave in to him.

[Baggie_Nick]

Old style goal scorers are disappearing from the game at the moment, their time will come again.

As for Dowling, questions have to be asked of his performance in the summer, it's hard when the manager isn't reading from the same book, but his job is to work with the manager and build the squad we need, irrespective of manager.

Spot on pal.

The fact that we have a large team (scouting, recruitment, TD, coaches) and none of them appear to have thought that a number 9, holding midfielder or right-back was a must when pretty much everyone I know did is disgusting.

If Bilic wouldn't recognise these needs or wouldn't accept the Recruitment Team's suggestions, he should have been sacked as he couldn't work within the remit of the role / had lost their confidence. The fact he wasn't dismissed means Dowling carries the can for the dreadful buys as far as I am concerned.

---

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

Ditto. His managerial record suggests you are right. Interestingly, I work with two Hammers: both loved him as a player, are very fond of him and hoped he did well with us; both think he is a limited manager and that BFS was a better manager for them. They may be an exception but, having spoken to them separately about it, their opinions were pretty much identical.

Thing is, they all did, except Bilic who felt Krov and Grant were far more important. We gave in to him.

Not We, Dowling specifically.

We all know the club is a complete shambles but if he survives this then we may as well just pack in.

[Squid]

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

We seem to have this reputation as a club which harshly sacks managers, but I cannot remember the last time we sacked someone who didn't deserve it.

It's making the correct appointments for anything beyond the short term where we fail badly.

[Birdman1811]

Old style goal scorers are disappearing from the game at the moment, their time will come again.

As for Dowling, questions have to be asked of his performance in the summer, it's hard when the manager isn't reading from the same book, but his job is to work with the manager and build the squad we need, irrespective of manager.

Spot on pal.

The fact that we have a large team (scouting, recruitment, TD, coaches) and none of them appear to have thought that a number 9, holding midfielder or right-back was a must when pretty much everyone I know did is disgusting.

If Bilic wouldn't recognise these needs or wouldn't accept the Recruitment Team's suggestions, he should have been sacked as he couldn't work within the remit of the role / had lost their confidence. The fact he wasn't dismissed means Dowling carries the can for the dreadful buys as far as I am concerned.

---

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

Ditto. His managerial record suggests you are right. Interestingly, I work with two Hammers: both loved him as a player, are very fond of him and hoped he did well with us; both think he is a limited manager and that BFS was a better manager for them. They may be an exception but, having spoken to them separately about it, their opinions were pretty much identical.

Thing is, they all did, except Bilic who felt Krov and Grant were far more important. We gave in to him.

Not We, Dowling specifically.

We all know the club is a complete shambles but if he survives this then we may as well just pack in.

I'm not decided either way if he stays or goes, that's up to those in charge, its a hard position to fill and the effect of the person in situ takes a couple of years to be felt.

If Sam stays I'd say replace, if not, he needs to find someone who actually fills the role better than Slav did.

For what it's worth, Sam likes him.

[clem4england]

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

We seem to have this reputation as a club which harshly sacks managers, but I cannot remember the last time we sacked someone who didn't deserve it.

It's making the correct appointments for anything beyond the short term where we fail badly.

In the league table of harshness RDM, Dave and Clarke were far harsher treated than Bilic IMO and I think all were the correct decision.

---

Old style goal scorers are disappearing from the game at the moment, their time will come again.

As for Dowling, questions have to be asked of his performance in the summer, it's hard when the manager isn't reading from the same book, but his job is to work with the manager and build the squad we need, irrespective of manager.

Spot on pal.

The fact that we have a large team (scouting, recruitment, TD, coaches) and none of them appear to have thought that a number 9, holding midfielder or right-back was a must when pretty much everyone I know did is disgusting.

If Bilic wouldn't recognise these needs or wouldn't accept the Recruitment Team's suggestions, he should have been sacked as he couldn't work within the remit of the role / had lost their confidence. The fact he wasn't dismissed means Dowling carries the can for the dreadful buys as far as I am concerned.

---

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

Ditto. His managerial record suggests you are right. Interestingly, I work with two Hammers: both loved him as a player, are very fond of him and hoped he did well with us; both think he is a limited manager and that BFS was a better manager for them. They may be an exception but, having spoken to them separately about it, their opinions were pretty much identical.

Thing is, they all did, except Bilic who felt Krov and Grant were far more important. We gave in to him.

Not We, Dowling specifically.

We all know the club is a complete shambles but if he survives this then we may as well just pack in.

I'm not decided either way if he stays or goes, that's up to those in charge, its a hard position to fill and the effect of the person in situ takes a couple of years to be felt.

If Sam stays I'd say replace, if not, he needs to find someone who actually fills the role better than Slav did.

For what it's worth, Sam likes him.

In fairness they worked together well in January on the face of it. FWIW I do think unearthing gems like we did under DA is much harder in 2021 with global scouting networks.

[Baggie_Nick]

Old style goal scorers are disappearing from the game at the moment, their time will come again.

As for Dowling, questions have to be asked of his performance in the summer, it's hard when the manager isn't reading from the same book, but his job is to work with the manager and build the squad we need, irrespective of manager.

Spot on pal.

The fact that we have a large team (scouting, recruitment, TD, coaches) and none of them appear to have thought that a number 9, holding midfielder or right-back was a must when pretty much everyone I know did is disgusting.

If Bilic wouldn't recognise these needs or wouldn't accept the Recruitment Team's suggestions, he should have been sacked as he couldn't work within the remit of the role / had lost their confidence. The fact he wasn't dismissed means Dowling carries the can for the dreadful buys as far as I am concerned.

---

Slav is a poor manager. We scraped our way up despite being clear favourites with Leeds from any viewpoint. 2nd half of the season, especially after lockdown was sackable form alone.

We've sacked, rightly, for less. Don't get what so many fans saw in him in all honestly, he's now back in football obscurity, where being a motivator alone may be enough.

Ditto. His managerial record suggests you are right. Interestingly, I work with two Hammers: both loved him as a player, are very fond of him and hoped he did well with us; both think he is a limited manager and that BFS was a better manager for them. They may be an exception but, having spoken to them separately about it, their opinions were pretty much identical.

Thing is, they all did, except Bilic who felt Krov and Grant were far more important. We gave in to him.

Not We, Dowling specifically.

We all know the club is a complete shambles but if he survives this then we may as well just pack in.

I'm not decided either way if he stays or goes, that's up to those in charge, its a hard position to fill and the effect of the person in situ takes a couple of years to be felt.

If Sam stays I'd say replace, if not, he needs to find someone who actually fills the role better than Slav did.

For what it's worth, Sam likes him.

Disagree. If Sam stays then I think we could get away with him staying as Sam has proven that he has the experience and know how to get in quality players without Dowling's interference.

If Sam goes then the pairing of Dowling and another inexperienced manager (relatively so) could then return us to the Slav Dowling partnership and all of its shortcomings.

Either way the fact that 30+m quids worth of signings can't get a game should be adequately enough to fire him.

[Duffers]

There seems to be a real knee jerk baby out with the bath water attitude around here at the moment. People seem keen to jettison everyone associated with the club right now despite many of them, both players and staff, having proven experience in the Championship.

I’d give Dowling another window. He’s shown once that he can bring in players capable of getting out of the division we’re heading for.

[Ministry Of Silly Signings]

Does Dowling have the final say in us signing players ? What exactly does Ian Pearce, supposedly head of recruitment do ? Is Pearce a glorified scout ?

[baggie_ray]

In fairness they worked together well in January on the face of it. FWIW I do think unearthing gems like we did under DA is much harder in 2021 with global scouting networks.

Do you mean that bloke with the Betamax?