Shrimpsvoices

Jim Bentley has been an outstanding servant to Morecambe FC for many years, first as a great player and club captain, and then as a Manager giving everything he has, his tenure as manager, although hampered by lack of funds , has been a success , despite being favourites for the drop on an annual basis Jim has kept us in the football league.

Our club faces an uncertain future at the moment , both on and off the pitch, a new owner (or owners) ,when in place , might think Jim is the man for the job and might not, Jim might himself decide he wants a fresh challenge after this summer, who knows, but one thing is for certain, Jim is a Morecambe legend , and will always be so, we, as fans, will always be indebted to him, and he deserves our utmost respect whatever the future holds for both himself and Morecambe FC.

mrpotatohead wrote:Jim Bentley has been an outstanding servant to Morecambe FC for many years, first as a great player and club captain, and then as a Manager giving everything he has, his tenure as manager, although hampered by lack of funds , has been a success , despite being favourites for the drop on an annual basis Jim has kept us in the football league.

Our club faces an uncertain future at the moment , both on and off the pitch, a new owner (or owners) ,when in place , might think Jim is the man for the job and might not, Jim might himself decide he wants a fresh challenge after this summer, who knows, but one thing is for certain, Jim is a Morecambe legend , and will always be so, we, as fans, will always be indebted to him, and he deserves our utmost respect whatever the future holds for both himself and Morecambe FC.

Think most of us would agree with most of this.Certainly huge respect person and as a player. As a manager he has to have respect for his commitment and hard work, yes and for keeping us in this league on a small budget (which does have a big impact whatever any others say). He's brought in some good players and has improved the overall quality of the team but....he has failed over the past few years, and particularly this season, by not having the nerve to play attacking football. Year after year we have started really well and Jim has suddenly got cold feet before the halfway mark in the season.

Respect? Certainly but, having lost the fans, with that limitation.

Agree Mr P, can't believe how much stick Jim gets on here. Don't agree with quite a lot of his decisions, but would not post some of the stuff people do. What happenened to the Morecambe mantra, Don't let the football spoil your day! When the team is struggling that's when the supporters are needed most. Keep the faith!

Jim, if you're reading this, I still believe in you.

You will turn this around. You bleed red. Literally.

Sorry seasider but respect don't bring results.if it wasn't for Dag an york we would be back in the conference

Seasider9601 wrote:Jim, if you're reading this, I still believe in you.

You will turn this around. You bleed red. Literally.

I've a huge amount of sympathy for Jim. He has no idea if he's going to be in a job because of the potential changes at the club. Anyone who doubts Jim's commitment and love of the club is frankly an idiot. However that doesn't stop him getting things wrong and he's well aware of the position he's in. Whether you think he's doing a good job or not he deserves our respect.

Nobody's knocking what he's done for the club in the past as a player and manager, everyone agrees he's a legend but that doesn't mean the fans shouldn't show their frustration towards him for the terrible season we've had ! If jims sacked tomorrow or leaves when new owners come in he'll always be welcomed back and have a good relationship with the fans. The longer this type of football gets played tho the more frustrated fans are getting and choosing not to come back to the globe. We've got a very talented squad and it seems Jim can't get them to play together, similar to Everton in a way top players but the guy in charge isn't getting the best out of them. A change would do the club the world of good I think, roll on the new owners !

This post as written in an attempt to show the Manager some respect, there are currently another 7 posts for fans to criticise him on.

I still believe Jim can turn it around, but he's got to listen to & understand the fans' frustration.

He's a top bloke and I hope he's managing us for a long time to come.

Keith wrote:He's a top bloke and I hope he's managing us for a long time to come.

sadist!

mrpotatohead wrote:Jim Bentley has been an outstanding servant to Morecambe FC for many years, first as a great player and club captain, and then as a Manager giving everything he has, his tenure as manager, although hampered by lack of funds , has been a success , despite being favourites for the drop on an annual basis Jim has kept us in the football league.

Our club faces an uncertain future at the moment , both on and off the pitch, a new owner (or owners) ,when in place , might think Jim is the man for the job and might not, Jim might himself decide he wants a fresh challenge after this summer, who knows, but one thing is for certain, Jim is a Morecambe legend , and will always be so, we, as fans, will always be indebted to him, and he deserves our utmost respect whatever the future holds for both himself and Morecambe FC.

Well said man. Jim will know himself it's been disappointing at times this season but what a job he's done. The fact we look at this season as a disappointment is evidence of how well we are doing. We'll have league football next season again by the looks of things. That's a massive success for a club our size.

Year after year he gets players from the football league dustbin and makes real players out of them. Look at Devitt and Miller. People disrespecting the man on SV on a regular basis make themselves look like fools.

I'm also of the opinion that Jim needs to be judged fairly on his record and the facts taken into account.

Some of the comments on here are overly personal and not considered. Jim led us to the promised land, he won at Wembley, single-handedly beat Chester in the FA Cup, got us the 6-0 win against the coach driver, got us the 4-3 versus Chesterfield, rejuvenated Sean Miller's career, beat Wolves despite me having to watch it in Majorica and realised we can get nowhere with journeymen.

Whatever happens he's a legend.

There are a couple of people on here with personal vendettas.
There are a couple of people on here who don't attend games but won't be happy until Jim's gone (then they'll find something else to moan about).
There are a couple of people on here who think anything less than Champions League is a failure.

But I think the vast majority of negative posts are a release of frustration. Many can't wait for the season to be over and we can try again next season. That group still believe Jim *can* get things right and certainly still have complete respect for him.

Keith wrote:There are a couple of people on here with personal vendettas.
There are a couple of people on here who don't attend games but won't be happy until Jim's gone (then they'll find something else to moan about).
There are a couple of people on here who think anything less than Champions League is a failure.

But I think the vast majority of negative posts are a release of frustration. Many can't wait for the season to be over and we can try again next season. That group still believe Jim *can* get things right and certainly still have complete respect for him.

There are people who don't share their frustrations.

There are people who just stop following Morecambe altogether, hence the hardcore dropping by the hundreds each season.

There are managers who accept getting stick is part n parcel of the job when you get things wrong.

There are people who think where underachieving after a great start, because of tinkering.




PS don't think anybody on here as a personal vendetta against Jim, how can you if you don't know him to speak to personally ?

I for one can't wait for this season to finish! JB has done some good things as manager but he has taken the team apart this season, lost us a large percentage of followers thus reducing his beloved bemoaned budget. Already he has the excuses out saying he doesn't know what is happening because the club is up for sale. A couple of weeks ago he said that didn't affect anything, more defeats later it is just added to the excuses list (which gets bigger every week)! Sammy had about 5 seasons worked miracles, spent too much near the end. I feel the same things are happening under this management team. 5 years ago we were threatened with relegation, it's like going back to the last season under sammy. Nothing has improved, we are looking at our worst finish. If we count finishing (probably) 3rd bottom as success then that is sad. I don't expect Champions League football (yet) but more entertainment, especially at home. If the management tried to let the opposition teams worry about us a bit more then perhaps things would be better, but i don't think that will happen. I feel like we are a non-league club playing every game like it's a big FA cup match. The football league is a difficult place but is also a place where professionalism is needed, sometimes i wonder about this on and OFF the field. I go to every home (have traveled all over the country too) game and always will whoever is in charge, but now i go hoping for a good game and a victory but so far this season it has been a let down (13 home defeats). Win or lose is all the same now. I just hope this isn't all we can expect for the foreseeable future!

I have a lot of respect for Jim as a person and he was a class act as a captain and defender. However despite a low playing budget some of his formations and substitutions have been baffling to say the least. Personally I think we had a pretty decent squad at the start of the year and on the whole it's has underachieved. A lot of this can be directed at Jim who plainly has tried to tighten the defence which has been leaking goals all season. I think the jurys out on Jim as a manager.