Why Coyle needs to go now - a reasoned approach

If he stays nothing is going to improve anytime soon - he's proved he's tactically clueless and despite what may have been claimed in the past, he simply can not motivate the team.

Ok it will take money that we probably do not have to get rid of him but what is the alternative - no promotion this season - that is what!

Why go now - well apart from the obvious if he did go now it would give the next manager a month of using the 'loan' transfer window to try and sort a few things out - Coyle clearly isn't up to it - and his transfer dealings have been frighteningly bad - Holden apart.

There needs to be somebody to come in and take immediate charge - we do have some decent players - Sordell was prolific less than a year ago at Watford, Eagles as been good at this level with Burnley, Petrov, Lee (if he's over his injury), Kevin Davies, Mark Davies, should cope at this level. Spearing should be ok. Mills was a star at Reading season before last, Ream seemed comfortable at times in the Premier, Andrews looks competent so far, even Knight has played some good stuff - so we need a manager who can find loan players to add to what we have, organise it and lead us forward. Clearly Coyle is not able to do that.

Who do we get in instead of Coyle - I'm guessing if we have to pay Coyle and his mates to go, we will have to find somebody cheap - so I can't see it being someone already in a job, unless their club is happy to let them go.

Can't see a big name manager wanting to come here so maybe we need a decent manager who has had a bit of a bad break - like Sean Dyche for instance. He did ok for Watford then the club got taken over and the new owners brought in their own man.

I'm not necessarily advocating Dyche but he knows the division, managed competently in it last season, Knows the players in it, knew how to get the best out of Sordell last year, and would not have any high expectations of being given loads of transfer money in January.

What do we need - the defence to be organised immediately. I don't know what they do in training but iirc we let in the most goals from set pieces last season - which is unforgivable really. This can be worked upon and improved - maybe we need to get Ricketts and Knight together as our centre backs, and bring in a competent right back on loan - maybe give Riley a chance to make the left back spot his?

We need to move away from two wingers - it is a luxury we simply cannot afford. We need to establish ourselves in this league as a hard team to beat and thus need two defensive midfielders (at least for now) to protect the back four, we need another creative midfielder alongside Mavies, and perhaps somebody with a great 'enginee' to get box to box.

That for now would mean we played Sordell up front on his own with Afobe and or Kevin Davies to come on as impact subs late in the game.

Anyway the bottom line is we need someone in with a plan of how to organise what we have, add to it a couple or so key loan signings and turn the ship around.

Coyle may well be a lovely bloke but he simply cannot do the job that ie required of him - and the longer he stays the less likelihood we are going to get promoted this season.

When does Coyle's contract run out? How much would it cost for us to get rid?

It's not just about Coyle going , it would have to be The Full Monty all the other Coaches, Kit man.etc.

Then whoever comes in will want his own crew. going to cost a fortune.

If i was Eddie Davies i'd put a contract out on Gartside.

The cost of not getting promoted will far outweigh the cost of getting rid of Coyle and his "team", and replacing them. Football clubs are pretty badly run in general. Why would a kit man be given a long contract ? I know that it's hard to get rid of people in normal companies unless they really fuck up, but at a football club they are effectively contractors. Give everyone except the manager 6 month renewable or rolling contracts. That way you aren't forking out shed loads when you make the change.

If you want to take on a manager who won't sign unless his "team" all get the same long term contract, tell him to fuck off. It's not jobs for the boys, it's business. If the team has success or meets its goals, then there isn't a problem anyway.

I'm more concerned about avoiding relegation than getting promoted to be honest. The prospect of OC leaving is a dilemma for me. Anyone can see that what he's trying to do isn't working and needs to change. Going forward we're OK, but we're having to use a minimum of 6 outfield players to do it, all with a brief to push on. Fine if we have a rock solid defence to keep the door shut whilst everyone else piles forward, but disastrous if we don't - and we don't.
The top priority for new manager will obviously be to stop us leaking goals, and unless he's a tactical genius, trainer and motivator par excellence it's likely that he'll play one or more midfielders in a defensive role - which will weaken our attack and give the younger midfielders even less game time if you put names to it.
What I like about OCs approach is that he's trying to resolve our lack of spending power by developing younger players, but unless they get more time on the park it won't work. I suspect a new manager would compound the current problem.
If the new manager was prepared to have a radical rethink about how to get the best out of this squad and shore up the defence without sacrificing opportunities for the younger squad members I'd be good with that, but I can't see it happening. The only solution I can see is to go narrow - completely against the OC way of thinking - and play 2 defensive midfielders in front of 2 CBs but allow the FBs to work the wings more instead of a conventional 442 with designated wide midfielders like CYL, Petrov and Wylde. Nasty medicine but we'll have to swallow it sooner or later if things don't improve either under OC or someone else.
For now I'd play Riley instead of Mears, and tell Spearing and probably Andrews (until Holden or Vela are ready) to sit in front of the CBs and reign in their attacking instincts. Maybe 4231 as the default but ensuring only one FB goes up at any point in time to make a 325?
What I don't want is a new manager that throws the baby out with the bathwater.