Has Derek Thrown in the Towel?

[thedoc]

If this management lark was easy, we’d all be doing it wouldn’t we? I personally have complete faith in Derek Adams. He is indisputably the best Manager we have ever had. The situation we are in is not of his making: Robbo signed the players that Derek has inherited and never got the best out of any of them. Aaron Wildig rarely played; Adam Phillips was hopeless and people like Wes MacDonald never even tried. But Adam is showing all the old potential again at times and Aaron is also back in the frame. This is the clearly effect that Derek has had on them. Dylan Connolly has improved markedly since Derek returned, too. Motivation is an art. Some people respond well to being challenged; other people are demoralised by it. Everything I know about Derek Adams shows me that he knows which individuals to have a go at and which need an arm around their shoulders instead. I’ve no doubt that we would be relegated if Stephen Robinson had stayed – that’s one of the main reasons he left in my view because he knew it too. At least we have a chance now. If anyone can keep us up, Derek can. So let’s get behind him. After all – what’s the alternative?

[Andy D]

just read this thread, i dont think Derek is playing mind games he’s just being honest, and when he talks about better players last year i think he means commitment and attitude, carrying out instructions.

[Redalert1970]

It was Derek's choice to come back and he knew what players were at the club
He didn't have to take the job

Personally if he stays he shouldn't be judged till maybe Xmas and see where in League 2 we are positioned

[mrpotatohead]

Derek , in my opinion, will know his job is safe and has probably got his eyes set on next season, when Robbo came here he had a "squad" of around 5 players and brought in 18.
...Derek will probably get rid of as many of them players as he can, wether we stay up or go down, he has plenty of time to plan ahead and we know he has one style of play and these players dont fit that mould.

So we will probably go down but be better equipped to challenge for promotion next season, with Robbo we may have got demoted two years on the trot.

[Redalert1970]

Unless we get 4 wins from last 7 games we are down simple as that

Burton
Oxford
Cambridge
Charlton
Portsmouth
Mk Dons
Sunderland

To be honest can anyone see us getting 4 wins from them 7 games
We have conceded 79 goals and lost 21 games from 39 so in all fairness we deserve to go down

[Wild Bill]

Unless we get 4 wins from last 7 games we are down simple as that

Burton
Oxford
Cambridge
Charlton
Portsmouth
Mk Dons
Sunderland

To be honest can anyone see us getting 4 wins from them 7 games
We have conceded 79 goals and lost 21 games from 39 so in all fairness we deserve to go down

The way things are going I think three wins and a draw or two might be enough. Burton, Cambridge and Charlton and see if we can scrape a draw or two. Need to improve massively though but you never know.

[black morse]

Derek , in my opinion, will know his job is safe and has probably got his eyes set on next season, when Robbo came here he had a "squad" of around 5 players and brought in 18.
...Derek will probably get rid of as many of them players as he can, wether we stay up or go down, he has plenty of time to plan ahead and we know he has one style of play and these players dont fit that mould.

So we will probably go down but be better equipped to challenge for promotion next season, with Robbo we may have got demoted two years on the trot.

Agree entirely with this. The double drop was certainly a possibility if Robbo had stayed due to the style of play he required, not suitable for League 2.

[Little Shrimp]

If I'm honest, I think we had a better chance of staying up with Robinson in charge. And before anyone has a meltdown - that's not a criticism of Derek, or an attempt to say one manager is better than the other.

Robinson was given January to fix the gaps in the side, did that well with the players he brought in and we looked miles better. But then just as he was finding a bit of a groove, he ups sticks and leaves. Derek then comes in to a squad that has been trained a certain way all season with players more suited to what Robinson wants rather than himself, and has very little time to mould things his way and no transfer window.

We were playing well post-Jan and playing better than some top half sides we faced - that tends to be the best way to win matches. Continuity in that would have been our best chance of survival, but unfortunately Robinson's not given us with a say in that.

The timing has been very difficult. I think Derek will serve us well again long term whatever league we're in when he has a summer to get things how he wants them, but it was always going to be very tricky coming in at this point. Hopefully he can work some magic over this two week break.

[Keith]

We all know you don't like Derek Keith and looking through your painful to read posts today it is clear to see you are leading the bandwagon for the anti Derek crowd. I think you should support the club and enjoy the rest of League 1 rather than letting your Derek anger eat you up.

And we all know you've got Derek posters on your bedroom wall.

I don't like hearing a manager repeatedly saying that the players aren't good enough, at a time when we crucially needed them to believe that they are.

He wasn't brought in to keep us up, he was brought in to replace a man who promised the earth but jumped ship the first chance he got. We were only going one way with Robinson and his his eutopia football,.I can't get my head around it being Dereks fault.

It wasn't his fault that we were in a relegation spot when he arrived, but a record of...

Won 0 Drawn 2 Lost 4 Goals for 4 Goals against 16

...is no improvement. If you don't think he was brought in to keep us up, you are saying the board of directors had given up before they appointed him?

He had a huge job, no doubt about it, but repeatedly telling his players that they aren't good enough doesn't get them to fight or the confidence to believe they can survive.

If the manager doesn't think we can survive, and the players are told they aren't good enough to survive, then failure is pretty inevitable. When Neil Harris was appointed Gillingham's manager on transfer deadline day, they were second bottom, nine points behind us, ten points from safety. They are now out of the relegation zone and may well survive. Do you honestly think they did that by Harris telling them they weren't good enough?

While there is still a mathematical chance of survival, then we cling to that hope. But with players already looking at where they will be going in the summer, having been told they aren't going to be with us, I can't see them putting it all on the line. Can you?

[Andy D]

i wonder when St Mirren asked permission to speak to Robbo, we could of said not now, its not the right time, come back when the season as finished?

and basically Robbo could of done what Derek did with us and seen the job out?

[Wild Bill]

Agreed

[redrobo]

A couple of points.....

Sorry Keith but I'm struggling to find AND LISTEN to the interview where DA actually used the ACTUAL words 'they are not good enough'

....and as for Judas...he would have walked ANYWAY due to the increase in salary that he was offered and had he done that we would have got less compensation....if any at all.

He wanted out and St Mirran was his escape route.

For me I'm over the moon he's gone and EFL2 was a certainty under his misguided management and he knew it and that is why he walked at the earliest opportunity.

I may have reservations about DA's style of football BUT it's a result based business and when he is able to bring in his own players then he and us will be successful once again. Whichever league we are in next season there will be a clear out of players who are NOT EFL1 standard thanks to some stupid signings by Judas....

[vvm]

Did he really say that 2 weeks with them on the training pitch won't make a difference? I would have thought that is exactly what he would need

[Keith]

Sorry Keith but I'm struggling to find AND LISTEN to the interview where DA actually used the ACTUAL words 'they are not good enough'

'You'll have some time on the training pitch, with next weeks game called off...'

"Time on the training pitch isn't going to help us. Individually we have to be better. You could have 24 hours, seven days a week, it isn't going to make us much better than we are".

Does that suggest to you that he thinks we ARE good enough? And that's just one of the last three interviews.

[redrobo]

Still didn't say the actual words 'we are not good enough'....

He's correct in that no amount of training will improve them in 2 weeks BUT he hasn't actually used the exact words 'we are not good enough'...

You certainly are coming across as someone who dislikes DA for some unknown reason.

It wasn't him that dismantled the Wembley squad...that was down to Judas who decided the retained list.

9 of that match day squad departed the club before we played our first game in EFL1.

So he's to blame for assembling the current squad.

[Keith]

You certainly are coming across as someone who dislikes DA for some unknown reason.

I don't "dislike" Derek, I simply don't think that telling the squad they aren't 'good enough' (or 'infer' it if you'd rather...) is a good way to build and motivate players. At a time when we need to be raising our game and fighting for every scrap, he's telling players (or 'inferring' it if you'd rather...) that they have no future at the club.

It isn't a style of management that I think is likely to work. I'll be absolutely delighted to be proven wrong.

[Andy D]

You certainly are coming across as someone who dislikes DA for some unknown reason.

I don't "dislike" Derek, I simply don't think that telling the squad they aren't 'good enough' (or 'infer' it if you'd rather...) is a good way to build and motivate players. At a time when we need to be raising our game and fighting for every scrap, he's telling players (or 'inferring' it if you'd rather...) that they have no future at the club.

It isn't a style of management that I think is likely to work. I'll be absolutely delighted to be proven wrong.

not taking sides, but maybe Freeze in the next podcast could put this to DA, about players not being good enough and knocking confidence in a relegation fight, and how Fans feel hearing that?

[marky No.1]

i wonder when St Mirren asked permission to speak to Robbo, we could of said not now, its not the right time, come back when the season as finished?

and basically Robbo could of done what Derek did with us and seen the job out?

They were probably counting £££ signs and saving themselves a job.

[BerlinWaller]

Robinson dug out his players after every defeat yet nobody mentioned it. Derek says something similar and the usual suspects jump all over it. It's predictable and it is a shame because it is tainting an experience we never ever thought we would have. The chants yesterday were poor IMO. I don't think Morecambe Football Club are a laughing stock,.we are punching well above our weight and should be so proud of where we are. I think the real fans know this.

[Gone_Shrimping]

I think we can now safely say Derek has not thrown in the towel.

Just very clever man-management.

[BerlinWaller]

Baffles me how this thread never made it on to Out of context Shrimpsvoices. Possibly the worst thread ever.

[Keith]

It isn't a style of management that I think is likely to work. I'll be absolutely delighted to be proven wrong.

Absolutely delighted. Safe to say a fortnight off, concentrating on training was rather useful

[KenH]

You certainly are coming across as someone who dislikes DA for some unknown reason.

I don't "dislike" Derek, I simply don't think that telling the squad they aren't 'good enough' (or 'infer' it if you'd rather...) is a good way to build and motivate players. At a time when we need to be raising our game and fighting for every scrap, he's telling players (or 'inferring' it if you'd rather...) that they have no future at the club.

It isn't a style of management that I think is likely to work. I'll be absolutely delighted to be proven wrong.

Jim did the same though, didn't he? He said a few times something like "I couldn't afford to get the players I wanted", which is a kick in the teeth to the players he signed, basically saying he only got them because they were cheap!

[Keith]

You certainly are coming across as someone who dislikes DA for some unknown reason.

I don't "dislike" Derek, I simply don't think that telling the squad they aren't 'good enough' (or 'infer' it if you'd rather...) is a good way to build and motivate players. At a time when we need to be raising our game and fighting for every scrap, he's telling players (or 'inferring' it if you'd rather...) that they have no future at the club.

It isn't a style of management that I think is likely to work. I'll be absolutely delighted to be proven wrong.

Jim did the same though, didn't he? He said a few times something like "I couldn't afford to get the players I wanted", which is a kick in the teeth to the players he signed, basically saying he only got them because they were cheap!

Yup, I didn't like that either. I also disliked Jim's 'never too high, never too low' mantra. I'll bet someone like Alex Ferguson never said 'never too high, never too low', he'd have probably said 'love those highs and get addicted to them. Hate the lows and feel the pain.'

[Westgate Wanderer]

To me JB saying never too high never too low meant never too high just getting lower! Bit like his managerial career nowadays.