2 if not what do you think is going wrong
3 if yes what is he doing right in your choice
4 bob is getting the nickname of bottom three bob,is this a fair point or not justified
5 bob has a three year plan do you feel he is on track or slightly of target
6 was he right man for the job or just a cheap option
7 do you think he will keep us up this season or is it a bridge too far this year
honest answers
I’m a darksider but I’ll answer the questions anyway:
1) From the end of January onwards last season I could start to see genuine signs of progress & the plus points in what Bobby was trying to put in place. If you average our points per game total from that period over the course of a full season of 38 games that it gives you somet like 53 points & a top half finish. Early days this season but things seem to have gone backwards so far – I’m not a fan of Alcaraz as i feel he plays like a primary school footballer & always gets sucked towards the ball so I’m not sure that his return will see much improvement. For a team low on goals however we were always going to miss the input of Rodallega even if he isn’t a left winger in the memory of man. personally i much preferred the football played by under Bruce prior to his team being sold out from under him in January 2009
2) I think what is going wrong, & has been since Bobby joined, is his inflexibility & determination to force players into his system & way of playing instead of adapting his system to the players he has. More often than not Latics look lethargic, sloppy and devoid of passion & fight. On the handful of occasions where the system clicks it looks pretty good but over 80 odd league games he’s been in charge (IMO) we are literally talking about less than a quarter reaching that level so I’m inclined to believe that they are exceptions to the rule
3) n/a
4) His nickname from a handful of people isn’t justified. In his 1st season in charge Latics were never in the bottom 3. In his 2nd season in charge they spent 68% of the season in the bottom 3 & this season so far its been 14% of the time in the bottom 3. If my maths are right during his reign the club has spent a total of 27% of the time in the bottom 3 & 73% out of it
5) By the end of last season i thought he was on track although I always find it amusing that the length of his plan gets extended every year. Initially it was 3 transfer windows, then it was 2 seasons & now its 3!! That said I don’t really know where his plan aims to have the club at the end of these 3 years. if its surving & becoming self sufficient then he’s on target so far but if the plan is to have latics challenging the top half of the table then he’s way off target
6) I don’t feel that he was the right man for the job but I don’t feel that he was the cheap option either. Bobby was in demand during that close season but I said at the time that if he was anyone other than somebody who used to play for Latics then Whelan would not have gambled on taking on someone with barely 2 & a bit years lower league managerial experience. I also think that if Bobby was anyone other than Bobby (& everything that comes with that) then he would be getting far more grief from the crowd than he does & I think Whelan would have bombed him out. Back to being a cheap option to bring him & his team to Latics cost the best part of £4mill to £5mill – there would have been far cheaper options out there at the time
7) I genuinely don’t know. For the last 2 seasons I’ve said he wouldn’t do it & he has so at the moment I think its far too early to tell
