: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:09 pm
anarkik wrote:
Arguments for:
I'm sure by now everyone knows the AF position which is that we can't replace McNamara in case the incoming coach is worse. This is of course will always be the case no matter what happens, as things can always get worse, but if we never make that change we can never know, so essentially the argument is circuitous.
The second but connected argument is that no-one of any quality would want the job, but once again if we take that seriously we wouldn't get rid of McN and we'd never know if that were the case. The other difficulty with this argument is that both Tony Smith and Nathan Brown have taken over struggling/under performing teams during McN's tenure and have improved them enormously. So whilst we don't know if either of these coaches would have come to the Bulls we do know that coaches have been available that would have likely made a significant improvement.
The third argument is that McN is doing something (usually poorly specified) to 're-build' the club and that this will yield some future benefits. However given his lack of success with the team he has currently built this also seems unlikely.
A fourth argument concerns finances, which are all a little opaque, however it is apparent that declining attendances and the possibility of reduced revenue from sponsors because of a lack of success might contribute as much to a worsening of our financial position as any costs involved in removing McNamara.
I would have loved him to be successful, particularly as a young british coach, but that hasn't happened and the time has come.
I have not yet called for Macca to go. But I would not be surprised or too disappointed if he was gone before the next game. And I say the following in full knowledge of the quite justified mitigating circumstances behind the scenes and the poisoned chalice that he was handed;
I agree with a lot of the above quote, but the highlighted bit is what's really worried me for a few weeks. We can only take other peoples views on how good and important a job Macca is doing in the "rebuilding/attracting talent/being our USP etc" Problem is, we as paying speccies only get to judge his competence for ourselves on match days, and he is clearly lacking in this department IMHO. Weather its a disorganised sliding defence, dodgy use of interchanges, or seemingly producing a team not being switched on for certain games and being so for others, which is a state of mind and culture within the team that should be created by the coaching team and is clearly missing.
So, we see his obvious weaknesses on match day, and that is all we can go on, so calls for his head are easy to understand. And my main worry is that who is to say that he will show better judgement with the rebuilding project than his management of 1st team results? Do we just trust to faith? What if he does as bad a job in that process as he is doing in overseeing results this season?
I dont know the answers, none of us do. But I will guess that Macca is doing as good a job as he can, that Hood will stand by him, he will be our coach for next season, and that we will just have to trust that Macca and Hood can see the future better than a lot of us......
