Messageboard Are Must Reads And Key To Managers

[life on mars]

An article from the Rod :

TS Eliot was wrong. It is October, not April, which is the cruellest month, for football managers at least. The time of the great sackings. The month is usually cited on the first day of the season when your team has just drawn 0-0 with Wigan, or something. “We’ll give him until October . . . ” Well, October is here, in its bluster.

My lot sacked our manager last week after a draw with Luton Town. Or, at least, Neil Harris “stepped down” as manager of Millwall, where he has been for more than four years, during which time we have won a promotion from League One and reached the FA Cup quarter-finals twice.
Last season, however, was a grim battle for survival, the quality of football often abysmal and despite spending a fair whack of money pre-season, this campaign has been even worse. Until yesterday, when Millwall beat Leeds United 2-1, I can’t remember the last time we scored more than one goal in a game, and as we are incapable of defending one-goal leads this is a recipe for trouble.

Still more crucially, no team in Europe lost more points through goals conceded in the final 10 minutes than Millwall last season.

Harris had a penchant for securing a lead and then making defensive substitutions which invite the opposition to attack — most notably in our quarter-final against Brighton last season when we were two goals to the good and subsequently lost. It happened again, midweek, against Luton. You would have hoped Neil might have learnt, but nope.

What is interesting, though, is the increased rate at which these sackings occur: according to Business Insider, the average tenure for managers, especially in the top flight, reduces almost year on year. It is now nosing down to three years.
My suspicion is that social media plays a part in this. I have watched the Millwall message boards as support for Harris declined from almost unanimous acclaim two years ago to virtually nil today. The odium and poison poured upon the bloke — a club legend, both as a player and a boss — has been remarkable in its personal vituperation.

These message boards are always more confrontational and impatient than the rest of the fanbase, but these days the loathing transfers itself to the stands and, of course, the boards are read (with epic disdain) by club insiders.

Lose a few games in a row and the shouts of “Out!” can be heard, first in the moronic inferno of cyberspace and later during games.

Possessed of unrealistic expectations, the online contingent (of which I am one) hasten the fall of managers who may simply be going through a bad patch. Such as Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur, the 5-2 favourite to become the next Premier League manager to get the boot. The odds shortened dramatically after Spurs’ hilarious 7-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in midweek and Pochettino’s position looks even more insecure following yesterday’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton.

Pochettino has stated that he wished to be still at Spurs five years from now. There is a growing feeling among the fans, however, that he should leave — a poll last week on one of their fan forums suggested 37% wanted him to get lost, citing his stubbornness and a disaffection for his diamond formation. That’s still a minority of supporters — but give it a few more games with mediocre results and that number will increase.

Should he go? Supporters had hoped Spurs might establish themselves as part of the gilded top three. That does not quite seem to have happened, yet, at least. But it is only a few months since they contested a Champions League final — which, along with their trophies in the early 1960s, is surely the pinnacle of the club’s achievements. Even by today’s hectic standards, nudging Mauricio towards the door seems to me a little pre-emptory, you know?

Does changing a manager work? On average the stats tell you that it doesn’t make much difference. Most of the long-term studies suggest the importance of the manager is overstated by the press and public, and that while a new boss can sometimes exert a short-term change in a team’s performances, this is usually a kind of dead-cat bounce which soon regresses to the norm.

Again, the stats indicate that the surest way to transform a failing team is, in this order:
1) find a new owner .
2) buy some better players.

The manager comes a lowly third.

At Millwall, we wait a little trepidatiously to see who will be brought in. Gary Rowett and Chris Hughton are among the favourites, and Roy Keane has been mentioned. Harris? I doubt he’ll be out of a job for long.

I just hope that wherever he goes, he doesn’t read the message boards.

[tforturton]

Sometimes, it's hard to decide who exactly uses these message boards. Who are these people, and should we take them seriously? I suppose that anyone who has gone to the trouble of logging on and posting to any football message board must have at least some love and knowledge of their club - so why are some of them so vitriolic in their condemnation? But then, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Going online to a messageboard is a bit like finding out that the new guy in work is a big City fan - at last you have someone to talk to, and someone to bounce opinions off. But it's still banter and bluff - no different to a chat in the pub.
I don't believe that many clubs take the slightest bit of notice of fans' message boards. They have much better things to do, and anyway, it would be a full time job, for the poor unfortunate sod given the task. Someone at the club may well browse occasionally, but they were going to do that anyway - they have the same interest, after all.
The turnover of managers is down to the same old things - results firstly, and money a very close second. Poor results hit gates, league position, and eventually sponsorship. That's why managers get sacked - not because some guy on a message board doesn't like the way his team plays. The way his team plays may well be the cause of those poor results, but it's the results that cause the manager's departure - not the guy on the message board.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

The funny thing about message boards is that for all the hours spent writing posts (and some people seemed to be on here every day and all day) is that they make little difference to anything and all the effort put into such missives effectively disappears into the ether. Maybe we all think that our contributions are more interesting than they really are (this post being an example)

[life on mars]

I think there's an element of therapy for some using these platforms , allowing them to better deliver a view or opinion , perhaps in a verbally loud group they are unable to deliver thier view, in the same way as a message allows .

As to manager's or players taking notice of the messages, I'd be suprised if they did .

[David Vincent]

I think there's an element of therapy for some using these platforms , allowing them to better deliver a view or opinion , perhaps in a verbally loud group they are unable to deliver thier view, in the same way as a message allows .

As to manager's or players taking notice of the messages, I'd be suprised if they did .

I asked that question to a former Premier League manager a few years ago. He said he never read them but there was someone at the club who did. This manager is a very approachable and friendly person so I don't want to name him, but I got the impression that managers didn't think they had much to learn about football from people on messageboards.

[dembethewarrior]

I asked that question to a former Premier League manager a few years ago. He said he never read them but there was someone at the club who did. This manager is a very approachable and friendly person so I don't want to name him, but I got the impression that managers didn't think they had much to learn about football from people on messageboards.

They won’t learn a lot off us, no matter how much we pout and shout “change it Neil” in random threads.
It I suppose it does help to know how the fans are feeling?

Mind you Warnock seems so stuck in his own ways maybe someone on here CAN inspire him to change it up a bit.

[Jimmy the Jock]

I think there's an element of therapy for some using these platforms , allowing them to better deliver a view or opinion , perhaps in a verbally loud group they are unable to deliver thier view, in the same way as a message allows .

As to manager's or players taking notice of the messages, I'd be suprised if they did .

If you were a football player or a manager of a football club , you would have to be an extremely strong character not to read message boards . I dont believe they are representative of the fan base in general but they certainly carry some influence.
Same as football players and managers listen to Talk Sport. There is a lot of crap spouted on there , alongside some very decent comments and subjects discussed.

[Don Corleone]

Thing is with message boards and social media in general people post controversial or extreme views to get a response and get the attention they want or crave , things they probably wouldn’t say in “ real life”

For example on here posting a reasoned view on a city manager or player might get you a few “yes that’s sensible or I agree with that “ reads but nobody tends to write a reply so your point or thread quickly disappears

Post something controversial, even if contrived, and add in a bit of written abuse to for example posters on here in general and you’ll soon end up with a 4 or 5 page thread and the attention you wanted, even if you don’t even believe in your original view

It’s the shock jock / Piers Morgan way of doing things that is so widespread on social media now

[life on mars]

Thing is with message boards and social media in general people post controversial or extreme views to get a response and get the attention they want or crave , things they probably wouldn’t say in “ real life”

For example on here posting a reasoned view on a city manager or player might get you a few “yes that’s sensible or I agree with that “ reads but nobody tends to write a reply so your point or thread quickly disappears

Post something controversial, even if contrived, and add in a bit of written abuse to for example posters on here in general and you’ll soon end up with a 4 or 5 page thread and the attention you wanted, even if you don’t even believe in your original view

It’s the shock jock / Piers Morgan way of doing things that is so widespread on social media now

I never thought of it that way , yes your right the personal outbursts at times can be very emotional and direct at times , and not something you would may deliver verbally to someone .

And being controversial on these platform's is a safe zone .

[lardy]

If you were a football player or a manager of a football club , you would have to be an extremely strong character not to read message boards . I dont believe they are representative of the fan base in general but they certainly carry some influence.
Same as football players and managers listen to Talk Sport. There is a lot of crap spouted on there , alongside some very decent comments and subjects discussed.

You think? I doubt a single player reads this. Message boards aren't a young person's thing. The majority of users here are 40s or 50s - how many under 25s are there here?

Players will have their official social media account which they will NEVER read (PR will do that for them) and their private ones which they will.