nottingram

But this is all a bit simplistic.
Yes, players are making errors, but players will always make errors. Some of it is individual concentration, some of it is organisation. There’s a reason Warnock et al are successful at this level and that is because they organise their teams properly, starting with set pieces. Middlesbrough’s defenders for example aren’t individually better than Matt Clarke. They also don’t leave their 5 foot 10 19 year old midfielder marking Lukas Jutkiewicz and Harley Dean at the back post.
The second part of this conundrum is you shouldn’t be expected to keep a clean sheet every game to win. It won’t happen. We have no patterns of play, we have no plan going forward. When Kazim came off for Sibley on Saturday, did anything change? Of course it didn’t, we hoofed the ball to him and Waghorn to compete against two brick outhouses. What’s the plan? We look like we go into games with no idea of how to score goals, just hoping that somehow we will. That is on the manager and his coaching staff.

Ah yes very true, let us not forget that all these players are so awful despite the fact a few of them were part of a team who reached the play off final two years ago and most of them were part of a team who finished 10th last season. Let us also not forget that Rooney was only allowed to sign half a new team on deadline day and not a whole new team. He cannot be expected to do any better.

Well firstly I’ll make the assumption that McClaren isn’t working for us pro bono which I think is a safe assumption.
My suggestion is therefore that as we are paying them all anyway we pay messrs Rooney and Rosenior to tend their own gardens, for the time being, at an extra cost of £0. We then ask Mr. McClaren, assisted by Mr. Wassall to temporarily take charge of first team affairs to the end of the season, at an extra cost of £0. Hopefully they keep us up, this might allow us to use the difference between prospective Championship income and prospective League One income to come to a more permanent arrangement whereby Mr. Rooney can remain at home in Cheshire while we hire a proper manager, like we should’ve done in November. If we go down, so be it. We were going down anyway and I refuse to believe he will be kept on if we do go down. So nothing lost.
I agree it may well be too late to do anything to arrest the slide now, but it wasn’t too late even 10 days ago. 

Well firstly I’ll make the assumption that McClaren isn’t working for us pro bono which I think is a safe assumption.
My suggestion is therefore that as we are paying them all anyway we pay messrs Rooney and Rosenior to tend their own gardens, for the time being, at an extra cost of £0. We then ask Mr. McClaren, assisted by Mr. Wassall to temporarily take charge of first team affairs to the end of the season, at an extra cost of £0. Hopefully they keep us up, this might allow us to use the difference between prospective Championship income and prospective League One income to come to a more permanent arrangement whereby Mr. Rooney can remain at home in Cheshire while we hire a proper manager, like we should’ve done in November. If we go down, so be it. We were going down anyway and I refuse to believe he will be kept on if we do go down. So nothing lost.
I agree it may well be too late to do anything to arrest the slide now, but it wasn’t too late even 10 days ago. 

Well firstly I’ll make the assumption that McClaren isn’t working for us pro bono which I think is a safe assumption.
My suggestion is therefore that as we are paying them all anyway we pay messrs Rooney and Rosenior to tend their own gardens, for the time being, at an extra cost of £0. We then ask Mr. McClaren, assisted by Mr. Wassall to temporarily take charge of first team affairs to the end of the season, at an extra cost of £0. Hopefully they keep us up, this might allow us to use the difference between prospective Championship income and prospective League One income to come to a more permanent arrangement whereby Mr. Rooney can remain at home in Cheshire while we hire a proper manager, like we should’ve done in November. If we go down, so be it. We were going down anyway and I refuse to believe he will be kept on if we do go down. So nothing lost.
I agree it may well be too late to do anything to arrest the slide now, but it wasn’t too late even 10 days ago. 

We realistically need one win to avoid relegation, which has been the case for at least the previous three games. So it isn’t needing one win from two to stay up, more that we needed one win from five or six (granted, this is with the benefit of hindsight although Rotherham’s run of fixtures could have led to us predicting it would go something like it has). 
We have someone already on the payroll who is far more likely to make that happen than the person who is actually tasked with making it happen. We could have done something about it, we haven’t, and we have loaded the pressure on ourselves as a result, and now it probably is too late to really do anything.
Just think it’s too easy to say we spend too much time and money hiring and firing managers. We’ve fired one manager in three years and even then he was given a good bit of time. In my opinion the consequences of keeping Rooney will be far wider reaching than changing manager. 
Feels like one of those situations where he will be sacked if we go down (and probably if we stay up, too). Makes no sense. Why wait until the consequence we should be trying to avoid has already happened to make a change that could have stopped the consequence we should be trying to avoid actually happening?

Yes the issues run much deeper than the manager, but you are not telling me we are not underperforming? 
This starting XI is not considerably different to the one that had play off form for the second half of last season. Wisdom, Clarke, Forsyth, Shinnie, Bird, Sibley/Knight, Lawrence, Waghorn were all regulars last season. The squad isn’t great but it is a lazy excuse to say it is rubbish and for some (not necessarily you) it wasn’t an excuse granted to the previous manager. Rotherham, Wycombe, Luton would kill to have some of the players that we do. 
So no, Rooney isn’t the only problem at the club, but he is one of them and he is causing more problems with each passing week. I don’t think anyone thinks everything will be solved by sacking the manager, but by not sacking the manager we are actively choosing to increase the chances of us being relegated. That makes the rest of the problems at the club much, much harder to solve. We have someone sat in some weird role who has literally been a successful manager both at this club and elsewhere, but particularly at this club. Tell me it isn’t complete and utter lunacy that we have our most successful manager of the last decade sat as an advisor to the board while we have someone who has never managed, being assisted by three coaches who have never managed, presiding over a run of 1 win in nearly a third of the season, seemingly completely untouchable? Let’s not forget he only got the job after his ‘performances’ contributed to the last manager getting sacked.

While they then appointed Pochettino as a link between the current and prospective owners.

Yes the issues run much deeper than the manager, but you are not telling me we are not underperforming? 
This starting XI is not considerably different to the one that had play off form for the second half of last season. Wisdom, Clarke, Forsyth, Shinnie, Bird, Sibley/Knight, Lawrence, Waghorn were all regulars last season. The squad isn’t great but it is a lazy excuse to say it is rubbish and for some (not necessarily you) it wasn’t an excuse granted to the previous manager. Rotherham, Wycombe, Luton would kill to have some of the players that we do. 
So no, Rooney isn’t the only problem at the club, but he is one of them and he is causing more problems with each passing week. I don’t think anyone thinks everything will be solved by sacking the manager, but by not sacking the manager we are actively choosing to increase the chances of us being relegated. That makes the rest of the problems at the club much, much harder to solve. We have someone sat in some weird role who has literally been a successful manager both at this club and elsewhere, but particularly at this club. Tell me it isn’t complete and utter lunacy that we have our most successful manager of the last decade sat as an advisor to the board while we have someone who has never managed, being assisted by three coaches who have never managed, presiding over a run of 1 win in nearly a third of the season, seemingly completely untouchable? Let’s not forget he only got the job after his ‘performances’ contributed to the last manager getting sacked.

While they then appointed Pochettino as a link between the current and prospective owners.

While they then appointed Pochettino as a link between the current and prospective owners.

Yes the issues run much deeper than the manager, but you are not telling me we are not underperforming? 
This starting XI is not considerably different to the one that had play off form for the second half of last season. Wisdom, Clarke, Forsyth, Shinnie, Bird, Sibley/Knight, Lawrence, Waghorn were all regulars last season. The squad isn’t great but it is a lazy excuse to say it is rubbish and for some (not necessarily you) it wasn’t an excuse granted to the previous manager. Rotherham, Wycombe, Luton would kill to have some of the players that we do. 
So no, Rooney isn’t the only problem at the club, but he is one of them and he is causing more problems with each passing week. I don’t think anyone thinks everything will be solved by sacking the manager, but by not sacking the manager we are actively choosing to increase the chances of us being relegated. That makes the rest of the problems at the club much, much harder to solve. We have someone sat in some weird role who has literally been a successful manager both at this club and elsewhere, but particularly at this club. Tell me it isn’t complete and utter lunacy that we have our most successful manager of the last decade sat as an advisor to the board while we have someone who has never managed, being assisted by three coaches who have never managed, presiding over a run of 1 win in nearly a third of the season, seemingly completely untouchable? Let’s not forget he only got the job after his ‘performances’ contributed to the last manager getting sacked.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

To add to this, under Rooney we also sold Whittaker to a play off team for less than we’d have got for him before he’d even played a minute of first team football. 

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.

Cocu had to go, results were poor but he did at least help to create millions of pounds worth of assets from the academy
Rooney’s results are just as bad (worse) and he has wiped the value of those assets right back down. Look at Sibley, Bird and Knight compared to a year ago. Genuinely frightening regression. Probably worth £20m + a year ago, we’d not get £5m for the three of them now. 
Every minute longer he spends at the club is creating more damage. I genuinely believe that to be true.