Firstly, I want to make it abundantly clear that I have been, and will continue to be a backer of Tony Adams – I do not want him out, but have to be honest enough to admit that there does has to come a time when you say enough is enough, all being well this time will not come though!
I am also positive, and will be getting behind the side as I always do – reality is something I like to deal in, and having these thoughts I am going to share is something that we must have.
‘Honesty’, ‘genuine nature’ and ‘hard graft’, all traits that Pompey fans love right?
And these are all traits that I think the fella has – hence why I like him so much I guess and want him to succeed.
Granted his thoughts at times are most bizarre and knowing when to say nothing at all is something that he needs, also taking the blame instead of apportioning everywhere else needs to be learned – but then again I guess this is a ‘bad trait’ that he picked up from you know who!
Tactically as well he has often been caught very short, but I think he is getting there, he is starting to know when to make changes, and in his defence is even starting to do these earlier than his predecessor did!
That old ’round pegs in round holes’ thought is a good starting point, and he is now starting to do this more – maybe out of fairness to him injuries and inexperience forced his hands at times, but with some players coming in and some players coming back from injuries this will help even more. Then we can kick off if we keep seeing players played out of position.
As I say I back him, but ‘if’ things do not change then change will be needed, we just could not afford any more time as unfortunate as that would be…
Saying that he has ‘3 games to save his job’ might seem harsh, but I think that is fair – he would have been given 20 odd games, and ‘should’ he go then this still gives a new man some 12 games or so to turn things around and ensure the worse does not happen, again something that should be time enough and should happen.
With new signings coming in they need some time to get going, but still need to hit the ground running but Adams also needs to be given some games to work with these to show that these signings are what we need, but an extended time cannot, and will not be afforded – again hitting the ground running is essential for them, him and us!
Liverpool, Citeh and Stoke – from this if we got anything less than 4pts I would have to say this is unacceptable, which would then mean I think the time would have to come when the difficult decision was made and he would have to be asked to ‘leave his post’.
One win and a draw should be attainable from these games and must be achieved.
To go into the Liverpool game ‘expecting to get nothing’ is nonsense, you should never ever go into any game expecting nothing, even more so at home.
Citeh, without an away win since August, multi million pound players or not are there for the taking and if we seriously are staying up that is a must win, anything less is almost unacceptable.
Stoke, well this could prove the decider for his, and our future, and also maybe theirs. If we lost that game then it is going to be very tough to stay up – that said Stoke have a fine home record, coming away with something is again a must though, nothing is just unacceptable at this point of the season, and arguably anyway…
‘Should’ we be beaten by the scousers at the weekend we cannot act in haste, he must at the very least be given until the Citeh game – a game that we might well recall saw us start our ‘great escape’ a few years back, why not again, although starting this on Saturday would be nice, and knowing Pompey would not surprise me at all if we did!
Of course it is easy to say ‘get rid of him’, but you also have to have a plan in place and someone that ‘could’, and of course ‘would’ want to come in. I find it hard to know who would want to, and of course who would even be up to the job.
I am a firm believer of the thoughts that ‘people are out of a job for a reason’, so these fellas out of work are out of work for a reason aren’t they.
‘Someone with charisma is needed’ are some thoughts, are they really though?
I have also thought this, but in reality the only reason we need that is for this person to ‘shelter us’ from the jackals that are the media – ‘Jamie’s Dad’ used to offer us that blanket, but sod it, if the media do not like us am I bothered! I think the last few months have shown you cannot always believe what these slime balls say in the media!
All that aside, I am still at a loss to know who could, and would, come in to do the job ‘if’ we did part ways with Adams. No one really inspires me to be honest, but a certain ‘B.B.C man’ Avram Grant keeps being mentioned, and would seem the most likely. Would I want this? In all honesty it would not inspire me, but experience could be the key. I know it is always a risk, and the thought would always be ‘he is here to replace me’, but bringing him in to help as an assistant could be what we need anyway?
At this point in time we need to all be pulling in the right direction – as fans we have often rallied round in the face of adversity, now is the time for us to do this and the local rag that is supposed to ‘support the club’ is not doing that by comparing records with Alain Perrin and confirming it is ‘official’ that Adams has a worse record than the Frenchman.
We cannot bury our heads in the sand, yep this might be the case but does highlighting this at this point help?
If we are going to do this then lets be fair, Perrin’s record was spread over two seasons, he had a whole summer to ‘get things right’, his poor form was spread over the whole of the summer period when he ‘should’ have done the business to have improved us, not made us worse, which is what he did…
Lets judge Adams after a few more games, make a decision after this. Should he get through this season, as I feel and hope he will, we then see what he and the club can do over the summer and start with a clean slate next season.
The window is closed, what we have is what we will have until the summer at least – it is time for players to earn the vast amounts of money they do, show that they do want to be here and play for the club and the fans, but also time for the manager to make do with his lot and prove that he is the man for the job!
Of course this is all hypothetical and basically is a non event as Adams, and we, will get what we need from these games and kick on from it, we will then look back and think ‘what was the drama’ – he will get through these games and our future is going to look a lot brighter, but as I say we cannot stick our heads in the sand, we do need to think of ‘what might be’ as well, so to give the timescale of 3 games I propose is fair, I am not being negative, I like to think that it is realistic…
PLAY UP POMPEY!
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