Tamworthram

I agree that would have been the logical thing to do initially but reckon, if DC really thought he couldn’t be trusted and/or is incompetent, he could probably have replaced him by now. So, if DC is prepared to keep him on (however reluctantly that may or may not be) in such a senior role then, whilst I’ll always view him with a degree of suspicion, I’m prepared to move on.

I assume you mean SOME of our fans. It remains to be seen whether he got the head coach appointment right but I trust DC on this one.

What other scenarios can you think of then?

If you can find and attract another Arthur Cox then happy days. In the meantime, it doesn’t matter how many times anyone says Warne isn’t good enough for Derby County we’re stuck with him until his contract expires, DC decides to show him the door or, he makes such a success of managing the club over the next year or so that someone poaches him (I’m joking of course before anyone accuses me of being deluded or drinking too early in the morning).

And neither should they, given the amount of time that has elapsed. I reckon the list of potential sanctions in the article are just there to make the story more juicy. I have no love for Spurs but it really wouldn’t be right to punish them now especially with a points deduction.Mind you, all the clubs that might think about suing them (or Portsmouth) could be interesting. We could have a class action against them. Heck, we could also include Wycombe. 😀

The trains drivers serving the nearby station were no doubt on strike so you’re probably right. 😀

I think the importance of pointing fans in the right direction (after all, the stadium is difficult to see from that location 😀) far outweighed any health and safety regulations.

Ah, that makes sense. Hopefully you can see how a simple statement can be read two different ways rather than me trying to put words in your mouth. Having said that, I’m not sure you can partially absolve someone from blame or guilt. You’re either absolved or you’re not. I’ll have to check with my wife. She’s more of a wordsmith than me. 😀

No. The points being made that I was responding to were that some fans think we have seriously underperformed and that some fans are making excuses to completely absolve the manager of any blame.

To be fair, I’m not sure any/many are making “excuses to absolve the manager of any blame completely”. Most of us are suggesting some mitigating circumstances that need to be considered but certainly don’t absolve the manager completely. With this in mind, I agree we have underperformed but I wouldn’t necessarily say seriously underperformed.

Just stay well away from the Warne in/out debate otherwise you’ll quickly alienate 50% of the forum. 😀 Other subject to avoid include the merits of the away ticket allocation system, standing or sitting at away games and whether Collins is any good or not.

Except that you have chosen to diminish the 5th (and potentially most important) point by using phrases like "claim to know David Clowes mind" and "no intention of getting rid come what may". Do you not think a more realistic 5th point might have been something like: "with the club standing outside of the play offs on goals scored only, DC might believe it would be premature to get rid of PW at the moment. But he could change is mind at some future date if things deteriorated"?

As you say, a pretty pointless exercise as both the reasons given for getting rid of him and those for keeping him have already been discussed at length. Also, the fifth point (sort of) is the critical one. Whatever is in DC's head is what really matter. It's up to him as to whether point 2 is true or not and if he sees this as a long term project. Whether points 1 and 3 are stronger than the reasons for getting rid of him are, of course, matters of opinion. As is point 4. By the way, has anyone said they believe DC has no intention of getting rid "come what may" or just that they don't believe he's anywhere near that trigger point at the moment? Some, myself included, have suggested (not claiming to know DC's mind by the way as you say) that we don't think just missing out on promotion (i.e. falling at the play offs stage) will be enough to see him gone but it might be a different story if we were flirting with the relegation battle or even just way off reaching the play offs.

I’d call it karma.

That perfectly sums up how I’m feeling and how I personally think a lot (probably the majority) would feel if we reached the play offs but didn’t get through.

Very true although you can’t be sure that a major percentage of the fan base would want to see him gone if we made it to the play offs but just fell short. My gut feeling is the majority probably wouldn’t. Especially if we made it to the final. I reckon (and only what I think) is that the majority would of course be disappointed but would consider reaching the play offs as a close enough miss to keep him on in the hope that we could one step futher next season.

Warne says a lot of things in interviews that make little sense, to try to make a joke or just for effect.

I agree with everything except your final sentence. I can’t see why he would walk (and walk away from a lucrative contract unless it was “by mutual consent” which is really jumping before being pushed but with financial benefits). Whether he gets the sack or not will probably depend on how close we come to promotion. I wouldn’t think (or expect) losing out in the playoffs to be enough to see him gone.

By price of failure do you mean financial or PW getting the sack? If we reach the play offs but fall short, I’d be very surprised if PW was sacked. My feeling is that DC may well be disappointed but I somehow doubt it’s promotion or the sack this season.

Absolutely agree. Which means you can’t really say “but he made his decision to leave before that option came up” as you asserted earlier. Bearing in mind how Chinese whispers work, for all we know it might have just started with him saying something fairly innocent that couldn’t have reasonable been interpreted as a reflection on his relationship with PW. On the other hand, he might have said something along the lines of “I can’t wait to get away from Warne” but that seems unlikely given his comments about PW when he left.

Hopefully (assuming we don’t achieve the near impossible and make the top two) only time will tell. There’s a long way to go yet and perhaps we’d go into the play offs with momentum. 🤷🏻. What makes you say we don’t (or, more to the point, wouldn’t have by the time the play offs come around) have the mental strength to hold our nerve under the pressure (of the play offs)?

So you say but it’s impossible to argue against unsubstantiated gossip.

I’d say we still look a reasonable bet to reach the play offs (certainly not far enough off to be writing us off). Then after that, as we all know, it’s a bit of a lottery and to an extent dependent on end of season form. If you’re suggesting reaching the play offs (which then leaves the door open for achieving “promotion by any means”) is a minimum acceptable level (which I think you are, otherwise you must be saying only top two is acceptable) then it seems harsh to sack the manager when we’re currently only outside of the play off positions on goals scored.

There was a full page interview with McGoldrick in yesterday’s Daily Mail that starts with “David McGoldrick always promised himself he would one day return to Notts County”. I imagine he knew time was running out for him especially if he wanted to make a meaningful contribution and go out in style rather than just limping to the end of his career. So, I suspect it wouldn’t have made any difference who the Derby manager was at that time.

I’d be surprised if top 2 wasn’t the “target” but that isn’t necessarily the same as a minimum acceptable level, which failure to achieve could result in dismissal. Failure to achieve a target doesn’t always have to result in getting the sack.