Parky - Hero to Zero

Natasha Whittam wrote:Don't start sluffy. You promised me we were staying up. You promised!!

I had 1000 'WE ARE STAYING UP' t-shirts made up on the back of your declaration.

You've made me look like a right knob.

We haven't been relegated yet!

How anyone can say that this bunch of players are good enough to have finished mid table is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, Parky should take his fair share of the blame but taking the Burton game as an example, we had 9 shots off target. He's not taken them out onto the training ground and coached them to shoot like a pub team. Just like the manager, they're well paid professionals. Shoot 5 of them on target rather than over the roof and there's a chance you score a couple of goals. Players take equal blame for me.

Bwfc1958 wrote:How anyone can say that this bunch of players are good enough to have finished mid table is beyond me.

It's more that the rest of the teams are full of shit players too.

How many teams have impressed you at the Macron this season? Wolves, Fulham & Brentford for me. The rest were bobbins.

I went to Burton on Saturday and I was amazed at the line-up. Dervite in place of Wheater? when he has hardly played all season. No place for Tony Robinson at full-back even though he's been one of our better defenders going forward. It's as if Parky went there for a point! Why not put Morais on from the start as well? It's pointless punting the high ball up in the air to Le Fondre because he just isn't tall enough to cope with opposing centre halves. I thought Burton had much more about them and wanted it more. It shows how far we have fallen when a team like Burton beat us home and away. Yes, the lack of money has hindered us in the transfer market but other teams manage to make a better go of it with limited funds. Millwall haven't spent much and yet they look miles better than us.

Natasha Whittam wrote:
How many teams have impressed you at the Macron this season? Wolves, Fulham & Brentford for me. The rest were bobbins.

That’s down to PP’s spoiling tactics.

I've said this many times on here, yes he deserves credit for last season and after the start we had to still be in with even a small chance of staying up but that's where it ends. 
The constant negative football, setting us up not to lose rather than looking to win (even when Madine was still here). Couple that with him having no tactical nous as far as i can see, every sub he makes is a straight swap, he never alters the way the team play or the shape.
The constant swapping of the team as well, why bring back Dervite and why keep changing the full backs every game? He still doesn't have a clue what his strongest line up is and the season is over on Sunday!
After Sunday whether we stay up or not i would say thanks Parky you've done a decent job in difficult circumstances, but we need a big change. He is driving away loyal fans by the bucketload with his tactics and plenty of people will not renew their season ticket if he is still there next season

No topic is ever black and white, and there's an element of truth in all the posts here.....but I do think 58's opening message was excellent.

Norpig wrote:After Sunday whether we stay up or not i would say thanks Parky you've done a decent job in difficult circumstances, but we need a big change.

And this pretty much encapsulates the point I was making. I'm not saying he's a tactical genius, I'm not even suggesting he should stay on as manager. What I'm saying is that the man should be thanked for giving it his best shot. Not get attacked in the dugout and chased out of town with pitchforks. As Bonce mentioned earlier, some of the vitriol being directed towards him is ridiculous.

Bwfc1958 wrote:And this pretty much encapsulates the point I was making. I'm not saying he's a tactical genius, I'm not even suggesting he should stay on as manager. What I'm saying is that the man should be thanked for giving it his best shot. Not get attacked in the dugout and chased out of town with pitchforks. As Bonce mentioned earlier, some of the vitriol being directed towards him is ridiculous.

Do people still have pitchforks?

They do in Preston

The lack of investment in the squad and the indeed the quality of the squad has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the manager's performance as evidenced by that very same squad beating Villa and Cardiff and putting up some strong fighting performances during the season.

If those players are capable of showing heart, passion and the other qualities needed to get results in this league - and they have done on occasions - the players themselves cannot be used as an excuse because if they had played that way throughout the season we would be challenging for a playoff place rather than staring into the abyss.

Surely the only question that is relevant is why the standards they achieved were not maintained?
Was it lack of the correct motivation (Parky) team selection (Parky) or system employed (Parky) ?

wanderlust wrote:The lack of investment in the squad and the indeed the quality of the squad has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the manager's performance as evidenced by that very same squad beating Villa and Cardiff and putting up some strong fighting performances during the season.

If those players are capable of showing heart, passion and the other qualities needed to get results in this league - and they have done on occasions - the players themselves cannot be used as an excuse because if they had played that way throughout the season we would be challenging for a playoff place rather than staring into the abyss.

Surely the only question that is relevant is why the standards they achieved were not maintained?
Was it lack of the correct motivation (Parky) team selection (Parky) or system employed (Parky) ?

Excellent points... but it may be due to the fall after injuries to Pratley and Henry and the utter failure of Beevers who stood tall with Wheater earlier in the year.  The lack of offense in the past 7 games has not gone unnoticed, and the constant shuffling of a starting eleven is done by someone who fears he has no starting eleven. 

Kudos to Parky for getting us out of League One... something that may not happen for years if we do go down on Saturday.  He has not shown the same prowess in the Championship, and the first eleven games and the last seven (hopefully not eight) games of this season were below dismal.  We purchased strikers who never saw the pitch.  We had one good patch of play all season.  We have been less than dismal on the road. We missed Madine bossing the box, and probably would have beat Barnsley had he been defending in the final minutes.  Did the team run out of gas, or did Parky run out of creativity and instead put out teams looking for draws or just nicking an odd goal?  Whatever, we should have been safe with a six-point lead and seven to play... especially when we could have sent Brum, Barnsley, and Burton to the bottom three.  We did not, and for that, Parky is responsible.  

Parky is probably as miserable by the situation as we are.  I wish we had changed after losing three on the trot, but KA didn't pull the trigger.  That may have been the impetus to get a result from our threadbare squad.  Mickey was available, and his cost for 3-4 games would be far less than being relegated.  It is obvious Parky has run out of ideas, creativity and has lost the clubhouse.  The players should be ashamed of themselves.  Burton looked like Real Madrid running around us all day. Our defense looked like an ordinary runner facing Usain Bolt.  Friends, Burton is not Real Madrid, nor did they have Messi or Bolt on the pitch.  When you see the rot, you have to be proactive, not reactive.  KA was neither. His investment took a big hit, but he should have made the change.  I can't blame him for taking the money for Madine, but the replacement strategy under Parky did not work.  Be proactive and make those changes.  Nat said it correctly... we have to light a fire under the players with a new manager.  KA's job was just that.  So failure has been spread around.

Now we hope to get a result and that Barnsley and Burton don't win.  It still can happen, but the past few weeks won't be erased easily.  Let's hope we can smash that tout who gave 1500-1 odds of relegation after eleven weeks.  I still have hope for us!

observer wrote:

wanderlust wrote:The lack of investment in the squad and the indeed the quality of the squad has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the manager's performance as evidenced by that very same squad beating Villa and Cardiff and putting up some strong fighting performances during the season.

If those players are capable of showing heart, passion and the other qualities needed to get results in this league - and they have done on occasions - the players themselves cannot be used as an excuse because if they had played that way throughout the season we would be challenging for a playoff place rather than staring into the abyss.

Surely the only question that is relevant is why the standards they achieved were not maintained?
Was it lack of the correct motivation (Parky) team selection (Parky) or system employed (Parky) ?

Excellent points... but it may be due to the fall after injuries to Pratley and Henry and the utter failure of Beevers who stood tall with Wheater earlier in the year.  The lack of offense in the past 7 games has not gone unnoticed, and the constant shuffling of a starting eleven is done by someone who fears he has no starting eleven. 

Kudos to Parky for getting us out of League One... something that may not happen for years if we do go down on Saturday.  He has not shown the same prowess in the Championship, and the first eleven games and the last seven (hopefully not eight) games of this season were below dismal.  We purchased strikers who never saw the pitch.  We had one good patch of play all season.  We have been less than dismal on the road. We missed Madine bossing the box, and probably would have beat Barnsley had he been defending in the final minutes.  Did the team run out of gas, or did Parky run out of creativity and instead put out teams looking for draws or just nicking an odd goal?  Whatever, we should have been safe with a six-point lead and seven to play... especially when we could have sent Brum, Barnsley, and Burton to the bottom three.  We did not, and for that, Parky is responsible.  

Parky is probably as miserable by the situation as we are.  I wish we had changed after losing three on the trot, but KA didn't pull the trigger.  That may have been the impetus to get a result from our threadbare squad.  Mickey was available, and his cost for 3-4 games would be far less than being relegated.  It is obvious Parky has run out of ideas, creativity and has lost the clubhouse.  The players should be ashamed of themselves.  Burton looked like Real Madrid running around us all day. Our defense looked like an ordinary runner facing Usain Bolt.  Friends, Burton is not Real Madrid, nor did they have Messi or Bolt on the pitch.  When you see the rot, you have to be proactive, not reactive.  KA was neither. His investment took a big hit, but he should have made the change.  I can't blame him for taking the money for Madine, but the replacement strategy under Parky did not work.  Be proactive and make those changes.  Nat said it correctly... we have to light a fire under the players with a new manager.  KA's job was just that.  So failure has been spread around.

Now we hope to get a result and that Barnsley and Burton don't win.  It still can happen, but the past few weeks won't be erased easily.  Let's hope we can smash that tout who gave 1500-1 odds of relegation after eleven weeks.  I still have hope for us!

We all have hope, but with a return of 1 point from the last 21 available and zero shots on target in the last game allied to the form of both Barnsley and Burton we are perhaps clutching at straws.
My point is simple though - if they have done it before, why can't they do it again?
We are trawling around for answers, but the only consistency we have seen recently is the defence-orientated approach in every game regardless of the opposition or situation.
Underpinning that is that whilst Parky has done a lot of "experimenting" with his selection in defence, he hasn't been very creative in changing his approach or selection going forward despite having numerous system and personnel options.
Only now, when we have choice but to score goals rather than focus entirely on not conceding is their any hint of a change  and that's only in the media so I'm yet to be convinced it will happen on the pitch and it wouldn't surprise me if we were winning on Sunday for Parky to switch things around to try to hold on if the debacle at Barnsley was anything to go by. It would be just our luck to lose a lead in the dying minutes - or perhaps predictable?

We'll probably finally win a match, but sadly get relegated on goal difference.

Correct we have a poor squad but I can't believe a more adventurous manager couldn't have got us one or two more points somewhere in the season. And that would have seen us safe.

Birmingham lose 2-0 to Fulham
We win 2-0

Same points, same GD we go above them on goals scored, plus if we win a draw is not enough for Barnsley and Burton. so we do have a chance. But after the Villa game anything other than what we have achieved (under achieved) would have been enough.

If we play the same tactics its hard to see anything other than at best a 1-0 so lets just go for it.

wanderlust wrote:The lack of investment in the squad and the indeed the quality of the squad has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the manager's performance as evidenced by that very same squad beating Villa and Cardiff and putting up some strong fighting performances during the season.

If those players are capable of showing heart, passion and the other qualities needed to get results in this league - and they have done on occasions - the players themselves cannot be used as an excuse because if they had played that way throughout the season we would be challenging for a playoff place rather than staring into the abyss.

Surely the only question that is relevant is why the standards they achieved were not maintained?
Was it lack of the correct motivation (Parky) team selection (Parky) or system employed (Parky) ?

Id argue the selection, motivation and system are what have us going into the last game of the season with a chance. 

So for the season as a whole the three crtieria you mention above have been correct. This is a squad geared to being solid and grinding out points. Thats how we got promoted and thats how we’ve earned our points this season. 

If you think this squad should be challenging for a play off place, i’d arge you dont know what you’re talking about.

If you're talking about football, pass and move, playing out from the back, a mobile midfield with good link up play, look no further than the U 23s tonight, most enjoyable and not a hoof in sight apart from when it benefited the team, Parkinson should hang his head in shame not including any of them.

MartinBWFC wrote:If you're talking about football, pass and move, playing out from the back, a mobile midfield with good link up play, look no further than the U 23s tonight, most enjoyable and not a hoof in sight apart from when it benefited the team, Parkinson should hang his head in shame not including any of them.

What was the gate last night Martin? 
Interesting the development team are up against Forest in the final BTW.

wanderlust wrote:What was the gate last night Martin? 
Interesting the development team are up against Forest in the final BTW.

Not sure wandy, looked to be around 3 to 400