My pro-Dougie stance...

Interesting thread. I support Dougie for now, but for a completely different set of reasons and IMO his strengths and weaknesses tend to be the opposite sides of the same coin e.g.
* Understand what he's trying to do tactically but he hasn't got the players to do it - so should he change tactics to suit or keep hoping the players will improve enough to carry it off? I give him the benefit of the doubt for now because he's still in the process of revamping the squad.
* To revamp the squad with players who can do what he wants/needs (i.e quick, strong, skilful - as he has previously alluded to) he has no money but he seems to be doing all he can in the circumstances. Sure he bought a couple of low-cost stopgaps and loaned a few to tide us over, but I don't think that's what he's aiming for long term. I can see why he bought Beckford for instance even though he has two left feet.
* On the one hand, he's the first manager since Todd who has had the nads to refuse to pay over the odds and is prepared to walk away from a deal even if the fans are baying for a signing. On the other hand some of the stopgap signings have been unimpressive (still better than what he inherited, but not the finished article) Prepared to wait until the end of the summer transfer window to see what he does as he'll be offloading a few then if he can't offload them in January.
* Like every armchair manager, I often disagree with his selections and system but it is what it is and for the most part I can understand his thinking, even if I disagree. For the reasons above I'm OK with this for now on the basis that as he changes the squad, younger players come into contention and the injury list shortens those players will understand what Dougie expects of them and should be confident playing Dougie's way. Then we'll know what he's about.

I have a lot of reservations about Dougie's abilities but he seems to be doing some good stuff that in theory should bear fruit down the line and I'm worried about throwing the baby out with the bath water if we were to change yet again.

Got his tactics right today. We should go with the same format in the league.

Told you its due to come good. I know we changed to a more attacking style - what's your point?

Hipster. Your post about the Kevin Davies video sounds like a piss take, is it? And what was in it? I can't really remember... And I can't find it.

One swallow, it's summer!!

Breadman wrote:We are in 18th place in the second tier of English football and going nowhere fast.

"It's the most long-term plan we've had in my time supporting the club...(etc)."

Great.

But ask yourself, just how desperate does that actually sound....?

It sounds helluva desperate. Unfortunately it's a very accurate summary of where we are at - in desperate need to rebuild a team with f*** all budget.

The sooner the players wake up and realise that they are not premiership players, that we are in deep shit and that the only reason they are still playing for us is because we haven't got the resources to replace them immediately, the better.

Who the f*** do they (and some fans) think they are?
The table would suggest they are LOSERS and if they think otherwise they should prove it.

And seeing as we haven't the resources to change things quickly, a long-term plan seems eminently sensible - or rather our only hope in these difficult times.