Does Mac deserve this stick he's getting

[Curtains]

I don't think so. 

Were all gutted but I still want Mac to stay at Derby. 

 

[Guest]

Its a good point. Unfortunatley the collapse has been very tragic. Top 6 since sept and fall out on the last day - its all going to be still raw. The season of 13/14 seems a long time ago now. Its a cruel game, but unless he comes out with a concrete statement about newcastle its going to be difficult. Knives will be out if he stays and we havent won - say by september.

[North_Stand_Ram]

I understand both points. He built the expectation around the club, and then didn't live up to it... His own worst enemy as such

[eddie]

Of course not.

The stick is by and large coming from those who cannot handle the fact that

a) they sucked up newspaper stories like a bucket full of blotting paper

and

b) they are sticking to a) until they are proved wrong - and even then they will choose to believe that the stories changed purely because of decisions made after they had decided to buy into a).

I shall continue to give them a hard time and laugh in their collective faces.

(you watch point a) turn out to be correct all along and it's me with the eggy chops - but you know what? I'll have had plenty of laughs at the precious #ITK buggers to last me a lifetime).

[uttoxram75]

He'll get no stick from me for the Newcastle stuff even if it turns out to be true, it happens, its the way of the modern football world.

I did however expect better from him when the injuries hit. His experience would, i thought, be good enough to see us through to another play off contest, where, as we all know, anything can happen.

His tactics were poor, he couldn't organise the defence, we gave the ball away too easily......so yes, he deserves criticism for that, and that alone.

[Ramos]

he deserves at least the first 10 games of next season to see if he's a) turned the defence around b) turned the form around and c) got us back to playing like we did 13/14 not this season. If we carry this form into the first 10 games of next season we will be in a relegation scrap and he'd have to go.

He has taken this club from a stagnating mid table team to a top 6 challenger, yes we finished 8th, it was a failure but whatever has gone on behind the scenes needs to be rectified before anything can be done. If Mac stays the players causing the disharmony need to go. (If there is disharmony, all rumours but there has to be otherwise we literally collapsed for no reason).

He built the expectation, it has gone to too many fans heads and they seem not be able to be anything but angry about everything. He today rejected Newcastle apparently, so the moaning fans changed their stance to, "What he's waiting till the seasons over!, sack him the t***!" Where has it said he's waiting? It said he's turned them down and now the bookies have Moyes as favourite. Everything Mac said after the game on saturday indicated he was staying. They have their meeting tomorrow, unless the board thinks he should go, which I highly doubt it, I believe he is staying. He said it was a 3 year plan, i'd still like to believe thats what it is.

I will thank him if he does leave, we had some great wins, great comebacks and played the best football I have seen Derby play under him. We actually had two promotion chasing seasons, even if the last 2 months was horrible to watch. 

Tomorrows meeting between him and the board needs to come out with a direct plan, he either goes tomorrow or he stays. I hope we give him a chance to turn it round. 

Also I remember when we had Clough, loads of derby fans kept saying to forest fans about their revolving manager door, "We are a club of stability, this is how its done." Some fans used to love pointing out Clough was one of the longest serving managers in the championship, now where have they gone? We have had a manager for less than 2 years and now its he has to go. 

[Pearl Ram]

For me it's a yes he does. We've been toilet for a while and he has been unable to correct basic mistakes game after game.

A simple "Ignore them, I'm going nowhere" in respect to all the newspaper gossip would also have helped.

If he stays I'll be fine with it, equally if he goes I won't be disappointed because rightly or wrongly I think he's hedging his bets to see if Newcastle survive their crisis and secure their place in the Premier League.

[DEL]

Not really. Too many muppets believe newspapers bookies fake itk is embarrassing tbf. 

[mwram1973]

For me it's a yes he does. We've been toilet for a while and he has been unable to correct basic mistakes game after game.

A simple "Ignore them, I'm going nowhere" in respect to all the newspaper gossip would also have helped.

If he stays I'll be fine with it, equally if he goes I won't be disappointed because rightly or wrongly I think he's hedging his bets to see if Newcastle survive their crisis and secure their place in the Premier League.

​But he can't correct stupid defensive errors once they are on the pitch, they are the ones doing it not mac. You can train well all week then go and do stupid stuff on a sat, thats not macs fault.

And because of injuries it's not like he had a squad full of players for him t be able to drop out of form players.

[-JW-]

I think he does deserve criticism. Maybe he is a victim of his own success but to take a side from the 3rd best in the league to the 8th best the next season, despite heavy investment in both windows, is a failure in my eyes. And a big one at that.

[Pearl Ram]

Oh, ok then.

[Mostyn6]

he deserves criticism for anything on the field like all managers, but the stick he's got about the Newcastle thing is ridiculous and unfair. He could've had a I hate Newcastle tattoo on his forehead and people still would think he's lying.

[robglosta]

There are mitigating factors which may make the criticism a tad harsh, but he has ultimately failed to get us into the playoffs despite being five points clear of 3rd in February.  It is a substantial capitulation, the Newcastle link just adds to the discontentment of that failure.   

[Curtains]

Once Thorne got injured pre season it was always going to be a hard slog .

Injuries have ruined the season and Mac wasn't able to field a settled side. 

The Thorne injury was a major problem and if he's fit from the off next season we will be ok and so will Mac. 

PS Mac will make changes to the squad and we have U21s coming through. 

 

[RamNut]

I'm perplexed.

on the one hand, last season we had a feelgood factor and entertaining football.

This season it has ended on a very sour note. the margins between success and failure are slim. A 0-0 and 5th place and the season would have been considered ok. But 0-3  and 8th place is failure and then every decision gets scrutinized in detail. then we / the club / the media  begin to find fault and one thing leads to another.

there are three issues for me.

1. There were many mistakes made from pre-season onwards, some of which upset the squad. Does schteve recognise those errors?

2. The speculation. either you believe him and accept that there is nothing going on, and he is committed to Derby, or you harbour doubts about his loyalty, his commitment, and his honesty. I have doubts. Why? Because of the comments attributed to Eric Steele according to Uttox which indicated that they had had their heads turned. Secondly the fact that newcastle decided to defer making an appointment until the end of the season. This seems to fit with Schteve's eventual commitment to us for this season. The reports today seem again to imply improper dialogue between newcastle and schteve. Either the papers are inventing the whole thing or there is some truth in it. finally like everyone else has said he could have killed this months ago, but he'd rather risk damaging squad morale and focus than offend fat Mick. I don't think the local media have ever had the balls to ask the two fundamental questions. have you had direct or indirect dialogue with Newcastle? If Newcastle came in for you, would you want to talk to them. given the fact that everyone was asked to commit to Derby County, the answers to those two questions should be 'no' and 'no'. If either answer is a 'yes' then his time here is probably over.

3. I don't think the 433 works. As stated elsewhere as soon as the keeper gets possession the full backs push up and the centre backs split. This leaves big holes and the defenders can't cover for each other. Christie gets blamed for leaving gaps but is it the system. at the risk of being shat on, i would argue that the close passing, pass and move game that schteve refined was actually - wait for it - established under nigel. We've lost it and we need to get it back, instead of being obsessed with this crazy system.

 

[Duracell]

He deserves criticism but nowhere near the levels he's getting. He's failed this season, but why does that mean we have to sack him? Every manager, even during successful spells, have failed seasons. Things aren't going to be as rosy as 13/14 for every season with McClaren in charge. If he stays with us for another decade, there will at least be another two or three seasons even more disappointing than this season (can you imagine that? No, me neither. It's not like we've had the worst season of all time within living memory, is it?).

We've taken ourselves well too seriously this season. Our manager gave us one good season and the sense of entitlement and arrogance we got from that was embarrassing. Fans get excited when their team does well, and there's nothing wrong with that. Oh, how we laughed at Forest for being silly enough to enjoy their good start to the season! Nothing like us at Derby at all, is it? We never got carried away this season. We were humble and respectful about the other teams and their fans and we were gracious in defeat. That right, isn't it? Forest fans very much have the last laugh this season and we set ourselves up a treat.

Even worse than being mardy when we were beaten fair and square this season, and even worse than the arrogance we've been rightly hated for this season, is the fact that we've turned on our manager. He's raised our expectations - him alone. The moment he doesn't live up to those expectations we've got from one good season in blue moon, we cry out that it's time to go. And for what? Because he hasn't "properly" denied those rumours you've read in your comics? 

McClaren's got a lot wrong and 8th place, from where we were, isn't good enough. There are plenty of good reasons why it's happened, but we couldn't coach our way out of this one - we needed management. The management came up short this time. But he deserves a second chance - he's still had the best win ratio of any manager in our lifetime and it would be just so classic Derby to forget that because of a two or three month spell.

[Pearl Ram]

Change the thread title to reasons Mac isn't blame for the capitulation and ask people who think he should shoulder some of the blame to not post in it. 

[Daz_The_Ram]

This season has ended in abject failure. We have looked absolutely rudderless since the Fulham defeat. A minimum requirement with the side and resource at his disposal was the automatics. As it transpired, we were feeble. In the end, the buck will always stop with the manager. However, he will be the first to acknowledge that, and realise he still has it all to prove.

To be top of the division and in the position we were ... to then finish 8th ... injuries or not, is criminal.

I for one, hope that he stays however, and finishes the job. We need some real bloody experience in that side ... some old stagers who have been there and done it already...some 30-somethings who can lead.

If the manager goes to Newcastle now, where ultimately, he will fail, as have so many with good pedigree ... he will more or less retire himself from the English game.

The timing for him isn't great to be walking out the door. It would be a big mistake.

 

[Gypsy Ram]

I couldn't care less about Newcastle and haven't really commented and much on that and actually defended him in the beginning. But my problem is that he turned into Clough. 

 

1. No plan B

2. Square pegs in round holes 

3. Wrong tactics

4. Awful permanent signings 

5. No real back up for Martin and Eustace.

[Curtains]

I couldn't care less about Newcastle and haven't really commented and much on that and actually defended him in the beginning. But my problem is that he turned into Clough. 

 

1. No plan B

2. Square pegs in round holes 

3. Wrong tactics

4. Awful permanent signings 

5. No real back up for Martin and Eustace.

Did the board back him with enough money after Thorne injury.

Im not sure they did !