Who realistically replaces Paunovic…?

[John Smith]

Steven Reid.

It’s fair to say that since he left the club we have gone downhill.

It's not just fair, it's 100% accurate. He was the man with the Midas touch

[Forbury Lion]

Do we have a director of football currently? If so, I guess they will interview people and then appoint theirselves.

[Forbury Lion]

I'd like someone I've never heard of who has managed 12 different sides, never spending more than a season in the same job.

without achieving any level of success and with no experience if the English leagues, they should also have a completely different way of playing which doesn't suit any of our current players and want to bring in their own staff and be willing to sign a very long contract which will cost us a tidy sum to terminate and given a false promise of transfer funds being made available but also being told to sell players immediately and stick the Meite and Jao, our two best strikes in the youth team until they find a new club. That is afterall in keeping with the new Reading way.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

In fairness to Paunovic, after doing a bit of digging when he was first appointed, he actually sounded like somebody that seemed a fairly sensible appointment. Whilst being relatively inexperienced, he spent a considerable amount of time at Chicago Fire, doing a decent yet unspectacular job and enjoyed success with Serbia's U20's and was renowned for a possession based style and blooding through youth players. He did (and still does in my opinion) actually sound like somebody that would be a fairly solid appointment, I think he's just not come into the club at the right time.

[Dai Brainbocs]

How does modest success at Chicago Fire and Serbia U20s qualify anyone for the Championship?

[Snowflake Royal]

How does modest success at Chicago Fire and Serbia U20s qualify anyone for the Championship?

Badly apparently.

YR and I have very different views on what we should be looking for.


Has he gone yet btw?

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Because he seemed like a decent fit. I'm not suggesting he was the best choice, but had a style of play that suited our good players and has a history of good youth development that obviously suits our academy.

But just looking at some of the other names that I've seen dotted around as his replacement, what have most of the other managers done? Alex Neil didn't do much with Preston and it's been years since he got Norwich promoted, Gareth Ainsworth has done a great job with Wycombe but they are in a division below, Michael Flynn did well with Newport in League Two but didn't get promoted, Ian Evatt got Bolton promoted from League Two etc. What kind of manager should we be going for?

[Dai Brainbocs]

Flynn did get as far as two playoff finals both lost 1-0 because of poor refereeing decisions and had unbelievable cup success.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yes but in League Two. The cup run is good and being regular contenders for promotion from League Two is also good for a club like Newport, he did a very good job there but why is he suddenly good enough for where we want to be because of that? I'm not saying he couldn't do well with us, I just don't think that's the right step at this time.

For the record, I'm not saying any of the aforementioned managers wouldn't do well with us, but it depends on what you class as doing well. I think the fact that we are surviving this season for me is doing well given our situation. Our players should be doing better given the quality and reputations a lot of them have, I'd agree they are underperforming and our recent results haven't been good enough, but teams that end up with points deductions, for whatever reason, usually end up struggling in their respective leagues.

Pauno isn't immovable and I said it elsewhere that losing to a team four divisions below you given our recent run is a sackable offence, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone, but he does seem like a manager that fits what I'd want to see at our club do/build and has been in some pretty bad situations at this club for basically the entirety of his tenure so far, it's been a tough job for him. Any other manager would have to deal with the same situation and I don't think a manager would propel us from where we are now to a safe mid table position for instance. That's just my stand point anyway.

[Millsy]

Parky (seriously)

Let's get him away from Wrexham.

[Hound]

How does modest success at Chicago Fire and Serbia U20s qualify anyone for the Championship?

Badly apparently.

YR and I have very different views on what we should be looking for.


Has he gone yet btw?

Who actually sacks him and appoints someone else out of interest? Any ideas?

[Snowflake Royal]

How does modest success at Chicago Fire and Serbia U20s qualify anyone for the Championship?

Badly apparently.

YR and I have very different views on what we should be looking for.


Has he gone yet btw?

Who actually sacks him and appoints someone else out of interest? Any ideas?

Would assume Dai or his sock puppet CEO.

[Chairman Mao]

but id keep pauno till end of season, at least
highly doubt many managers could do better with 1/2 the squad injured all the time
(though why that is, is another matter)
and with our financial constraints, squad/contract issues, and threat of relegation etc, who the oxf*rd would want to come in and take over now?

[NathStPaul]

[Chairman Mao]

id take any one who threw playing out from the back & zonal marking in the bin though.
Ainsworth?

[Chairman Mao]

I'll be amazed if Sonko is in the frame for anything more than Academy Manager - that may well be with a view to him finishing his UEFA Badges and becoming first team coach in the fullness of time and if so, I'd have no issue with that as it would show that we are starting to build in some succession planning.

The near term future of our first team is likely to revolve around a bulk of academy graduates being supplemented by some loans/freebies, so it would make sense to hire the next first team manager as the U23 manager with an eye to promote when needed. Would also likely make the academy more appealing to top talent as there will be an obvious path to the first team as impress the guy in charge of the academy and you know sooner rather than later he'll be in charge of the firsts.

Anyway, silence is deafening from the club - this often means something is brewing in the background, fully expecting Paunovic to be in charge tomorrow though.

there is always silence from the club
so doubt its a sign, either way

[Snowflake Royal]

but id keep pauno till end of season, at least
highly doubt many managers could do better with 1/2 the squad injured all the time
(though why that is, is another matter)
and with our financial constraints, squad/contract issues, and threat of relegation etc, who the oxf*rd would want to come in and take over now?

It's nice to have another in our small band who think this way, but you'll not find the Team board receptive.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

id take any one who threw playing out from the back & zonal marking in the bin though.
Ainsworth?

Ainsworth would probably do well short term but I don't think he would be afforded the time to get it all right, we don't exactly have a good history of keeping managers long term which is why I'm keen to give Pauno enough time, within reason, to try and build something. He hasn't been given much chance and has been severely restricted throughout his time at the club.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

but id keep pauno till end of season, at least
highly doubt many managers could do better with 1/2 the squad injured all the time
(though why that is, is another matter)
and with our financial constraints, squad/contract issues, and threat of relegation etc, who the oxf*rd would want to come in and take over now?

It's nice to have another in our small band who think this way, but you'll not find the Team board receptive.

But yet I've also stated this and you think myself and yourself have completely different views on what we should be looking for? Unless you were speaking specifically about a replacement manager?

[Snowflake Royal]

but id keep pauno till end of season, at least
highly doubt many managers could do better with 1/2 the squad injured all the time
(though why that is, is another matter)
and with our financial constraints, squad/contract issues, and threat of relegation etc, who the oxf*rd would want to come in and take over now?

It's nice to have another in our small band who think this way, but you'll not find the Team board receptive.

But yet I've also stated this and you think myself and yourself have completely different views on what we should be looking for? Unless you were speaking specifically about a replacement manager?

Replacement

I don't think we should have appointed him in the first place, or that his prior experience was what we should have been looking for.

I don't see a change now being positive. I think the club needs a clean break, with a carefully made decision with careful planning on a replacement, not a rushed decision under time pressure mid-season without knowing where we'll be next season to compete in a relegation battle from the off.

I certainly think he needs to do something spectacular to have his contract extended.