Funding the club during this crisis.

[northwalian dragon]

Darlingtons role in our god awful football is exaggerated in my opinion

He did reasonably well when managing us after Wilkin left and it worked very well under Ricketts

People pin the blame on him for the terrible style of play, negative football and overly defensive tactics but that is down to Keates and Keates alone.

Hughes (although terrible) did play some fantastic football on the rare occasion and went out to play attacking football (scoring in every game bar 1 this season)

Saying all that though I still think Darlington needs to leave


I wonder if they'll leave that decision up to Keates though?

[northwalian dragon]

Just looked it up:

Under Keates:
Failed to score in 33 games out of 97 = 34% of games

Under Hughes:
Failed to score in 4 games out of 28 = 14% of games

[Answer Release]

Originally Posted by davewilli

How do we know Darlington is the problem? For me there is one major factor that has led us to where we ended up last season and that is the constant change of manager. Darlo has been a constant for a few years, but far from long term, only part time and having to work under managers who have never been around long enough to put their stamp on things other than short term fixes (tactical and new players) to the first team.

Darlington has a poor reputation outside of the FAW Classrooms.

It's no secret that the playing staff don't like him, several will happily tell you! They don't rate him and find him and his teachings / methods boring.

[davewilli]

Originally Posted by northwalian dragon

Darlingtons role in our god awful football is exaggerated in my opinion

He did reasonably well when managing us after Wilkin left and it worked very well under Ricketts

People pin the blame on him for the terrible style of play, negative football and overly defensive tactics but that is down to Keates and Keates alone.

Hughes (although terrible) did play some fantastic football on the rare occasion and went out to play attacking football (scoring in every game bar 1 this season)

Saying all that though I still think Darlington needs to leave

I wonder if they'll leave that decision up to Keates though?

If you recall back to the early Keates era, the plan was to stop us being pushovers particularly a soft touch on our travels. He prioritised a strong, consistent and proven back 4 and it was working as all successful teams have to get that right first before trying to play expansive football. The plan, having listened to Darlingtom was then to build on that solid platform with better attacking players and that is where Ricketts tried take the next step, but even he had to concede it wasnt an easy task and had to shore things up a bit with a defensive mid (Walker). When Keates left for Walsall, Davies tried to change it and a couple of games in, we heard he was a breath of fresh air, but again the wheels came off, similar to Bryan Hughes bringing in 2 defenders this season, who were more attacking than Roberts and Manny but unfortunately both couldn't defend at NL level.

Give Keates a bit of time to bring in some solid professionals, get a solid spine to the team then the likes of Jarvis, Hooper (if he stays) and Keilor-Dunn can express themselves. Jay Harris was the first cog and a right back who can get up and down but above all, can defend and we will see a massive difference.

[davewilli]

Originally Posted by Answer Release

Darlington has a poor reputation outside of the FAW Classrooms.

It's no secret that the playing staff don't like him, several will happily tell you! They don't rate him and find him and his teachings / methods boring.

He is a coach and not there to be liked by the players. I used to drink with a few Crewe players and they slated Dario Gradi, but he was doing the business and the fans loved him. Maybe the pub thing was the clue, but players are first and foremost interested in themselves and not always what is best for the team.

[TomWFC]

Originally Posted by davewilli

He is a coach and not there to be liked by the players. I used to drink with a few Crewe players and they slated Dario Gradi, but he was doing the business and the fans loved him. Maybe the pub thing was the clue, but players are first and foremost interested in themselves and not always what is best for the team.

Problem is he's not very good at being liked, but neither is he very good at coaching outside of a classroom/FAW training course.

[Answer Release]

Originally Posted by davewilli

He is a coach and not there to be liked by the players. I used to drink with a few Crewe players and they slated Dario Gradi, but he was doing the business and the fans loved him. Maybe the pub thing was the clue, but players are first and foremost interested in themselves and not always what is best for the team.

Whilst I take you're point, it's often the case now that players down tools for staff they don't respect.

There's no comparison with Gradi then and Darlington now! Sadly, player rule is far too common in the modern game. Players don't fear Darlington neither do they respect him or his lack of football background. For that alone, it's time for him to move on.

There's also the ridiculous part of him assisting in picking the new manager and subsequently protecting his own job, I still cannot believe this goes on.

[northwalian dragon]

Originally Posted by davewilli

If you recall back to the early Keates era, the plan was to stop us being pushovers particularly a soft touch on our travels. He prioritised a strong, consistent and proven back 4 and it was working as all successful teams have to get that right first before trying to play expansive football. The plan, having listened to Darlingtom was then to build on that solid platform with better attacking players and that is where Ricketts tried take the next step, but even he had to concede it wasnt an easy task and had to shore things up a bit with a defensive mid (Walker). When Keates left for Walsall, Davies tried to change it and a couple of games in, we heard he was a breath of fresh air, but again the wheels came off, similar to Bryan Hughes bringing in 2 defenders this season, who were more attacking than Roberts and Manny but unfortunately both couldn't defend at NL level.

Give Keates a bit of time to bring in some solid professionals, get a solid spine to the team then the likes of Jarvis, Hooper (if he stays) and Keilor-Dunn can express themselves. Jay Harris was the first cog and a right back who can get up and down but above all, can defend and we will see a massive difference.

Or another way of looking at it - Keates brought in 3 decent defenders and we defended for our lives and got on a run of nicking some results with absolutely dire football.

After 3 months he was found out and then won just 4 from his last 15 games. He realised it was all going south and jumped ship before it fully collapsed. Went to Walsall and failed massively and now he's back here and doing poorly.

The game is about balance, chucking all your resources into defence doesn't deserve credit. Playing 7 defensive players in a game, being camped in your own half and just playing Keatesball doesn't show a good defensive team. It shows a scared manager that has no clue how get a team functioning as one

The majority of Keates' signings have been poor and him remaining at the club means a huge chunk of budget is gone for next season, it's a vicious circle of continuous failure.

Get rid of him.

[Quay Red]

Originally Posted by northwalian dragon

Or another way of looking at it - Keates brought in 3 decent defenders and we defended for our lives and got on a run of nicking some results with absolutely dire football.

After 3 months he was found out and then won just 4 from his last 15 games. He realised it was all going south and jumped ship before it fully collapsed. Went to Walsall and failed massively and now he's back here and doing poorly.

The game is about balance, chucking all your resources into defence doesn't deserve credit. Playing 7 defensive players in a game, being camped in your own half and just playing Keatesball doesn't show a good defensive team. It shows a scared manager that has no clue how get a team functioning as one

The majority of Keates' signings have been poor and him remaining at the club means a huge chunk of budget is gone for next season, it's a vicious circle of continuous failure.

Get rid of him.

I am not in anyway a fan of Keates but I was pleasantly surprised by the signings he made in January. Even the lads who got injured looked good. The only exception being the lad from Stockport at full back who didn't seem to know where he was.