KR in / KR out?

[slappy]

I still think the stadium site being downsized from Stratfield Brake to the Triangle has had a large impact on our owners thoughts and intentions. Instead of a money making asset they can sweat through the ancillary development, they are now left with a stadium and a football club, and perhaps the excitement of making a load of money has been diminished by facing funding the club.

Presumably the lack of any headline signings in January was either because the cheque-book had been closed, or a complete lack of trust in Robinson. Perhaps the reason Taylor had to go out on loan is if we are getting some sort of loan fee from Port Vale.

Sacking Robinson not only costs his pay-off, but bringing in Manning on contract unknown, plus Chris Hogg. At least Manning was out of work. Perhaps also they will want rid of some of the backroom staff who will also need paying off.

Were the club waiting to see if Robinson would resign? Well why give up a pay-off.

Anyway, we are now left hoping that there are four clubs worse than us over the rest of the season.

[Dr Bob]

My understanding was that:
Jodi Jones stood up to KR on a matter of principle which, if correct, JJ was absolute right to do;
Taylor and Findlay directed a practical joke at KR and his (ahem) indiscretion that saw KR lose the plot in dealing with them;
Plus Whyte happy not to come back to Oxford under KR and Sykes happy to get away from Oxford under KR. And Agyei happy to get away...
And why was Moore stripped of the captaincy, only to be given it straight back by Short with words that showed he really disagreed with KRs decision?

Just rumours - I am not "ITK".

Whilst my understanding is that talk of a manager "losing the dressing room" usually relates to issues around performance, training, management style, etc, with KR over a period of time going back into last season (when the significant downturn in form began), the issue seems to have been personal vis a vis several players, for different reasons, all of which seem to be down to the person KR had become. I do wonder if his off-field 'issues' had a role to play, but even if they did, that would be an explanation but neither a justification nor an excuse.

And yes, Mark Thomas became Head of Recruitment at Derby which was a great opportunity, but I keep wondering whether he was being over-ridden by KR. Looking at our signings, the squad we have, the loans that have come in, if Thomas was responsible for all of that I wonder if any club would touch him with a barge pole.

Ultimately I think things had become seriously toxic under KR. But if we go down, it is all very well talking about the responsibility of KR and even LM if he cannot keep us up, but some of the responsibility would have to be shared by the Board, who should have acted well before they did.

[ty cobb]

KY - we ended up 12th in his first full season with us which is the very definition of mid table!

One before we were on a poor run when he took over and still suffering from the morale sapping home defeat to Wigan under Clotet. He would have done a bad job had we gone down but managed to squeeze enough out of a pretty unbalanced squad as LM is now having to do.

My point is one has season should not undo the three good seasons that came before - even this season we had some good performances eg sheff wed away.

It's right he went but he took us to our highest league position for years, on a decent budget yes but other teams have had a much higher one than us.

[Isaac]

In my view, a lot of the rumours come about because we were performing badly. Players and managers fall out all the time, practical jokes are common in dressing rooms (although aiming one at your boss might not be the brightest), people will have affairs quite often. I very much doubt a professional football dressing room is a hotbed of moral puritanism on the subject. Ultimately Robinson signed some duff players over the last 3 transfer windows and then failed to get them playing in a coherent way and should have been sacked about a month before he was, at the least.

Also, regarding the boards potential declining interest since the stadium site moved to the Triangle, I listened to one of the fans forums where Tim Williams was asked this directly and said it definitely wasn't the case. Now, he might have been lying, but he could have given a more ambiguous answer.

My concern over the board is more around their judgement than their commitment, although perhaps the two are related. Robinson's contract meant he got fully paid up, so effectively we're paying him until the end of next season - this seems unusual/unwise, but perhaps it's common in football. We've replaced him with effectively 2 people (Manning and Hogg), although the assumption is the coaching staff will be reduced in the summer. Meanwhile, at a point in the season where we should be deep into thinking about next seasons recruitment, we still don't have a head of recruitment, ours left in January and presumably actually resigned at least a month before that. Seems like a key position left ignored.

[Dr Bob]

Isaac, you might well be right about the rumour mill - and I am certain that you are right about the moral rectitude of a football club dressing room. My intention was more about the point that I think KR had reached in his tenure as to how he (over)reacted to certain situations.

Maybe the rumours I heard were indeed factually incorrect. On the other hand, I heard these rumours some time after a lot of words had been expended pondering why JJ saw so little game time; why a defender we had chased for months was suddenly sidelined, why the club's only experienced and fit striker was shipped out - and to a competitor club; let alone earlier musings about the treatment of Sykes and Agyei, for instance. Then there was Moore being stripped of the captaincy, only to have it reinstated as soon as KR was out of the door.

The bigger picture, into which all of this and much more, fits I believe is KRs mindset and mental state, over perhaps the best part of a year. Maybe the rumours I heard were an ex post attempt to explain the issues with players. Maybe KR had a really good reason for taking the captaincy from Moore. Maybe KR turning against Sykes came after he wanted away, rather than being the cause of it.

But the more I reflect on the past, and the more I see in terms of the immediate shift at Lincoln and against Derby, even if both ended up as losses, makes me wonder whether even if I have got the details wrong, I feel I am pretty close with the big picture. It might also offer a non-monetary explanation as to why KR did not resign, but kept going, because by that point (and he certainly said this in public right up to the end) he really believed he was the best, maybe the only, person who could keep Oxford up...however deluded a view that was.

[OtmoorYellow]

My understanding of the KR position is very similar to Dr Bob.

But I also understand that KR told Matty Taylor that he was not going to be given a new contract, which was a bit foolish on the part of KR. Whether this was said in response to the alleged cardboard cut out, or already on the table, is uncertain.

I think most managers have a use by date, and KR was starting to smell a bit off. He was a good manager until this season when he could not deliver. The board was very slow to recognise this.

[Dr Bob]

The board was very slow to recognise this.

The more I reflect on things, the more frustrated and angry this aspect of the whole mess makes me feel. Hard to know if they were asleep at the wheel, or sat in the kiddie seats in the back whilst KR was up front.