Mark Bowen

[Delboy]

Mark Bowen doing a Q & A Wednesday night at Blue Collar corner, be interesting to see what he says.

[NathStPaul]

Thanks for reporting this Delboy, had no idea.

[Hound]

Wow, yeah that will be an interesting one

[morganb]

https://twitter.com/BiscuitAnalytic/sta ... 7764732928

I know, I know - Twitter rumours but:

...heard this rumour over the weekend that Bowen wanted to sack Ince in mid Feb, and Dai was the one hold out in terms of getting rid.

With a couple of "I can confirm"s and "In mid-Feb" replies.

Wonder if Bowen will be asked directly on this, though he probably won't/can't give a straight answer.

[Snowflake Royal]

https://twitter.com/BiscuitAnalytic/status/1650277497764732928

I know, I know - Twitter rumours but:

...heard this rumour over the weekend that Bowen wanted to sack Ince in mid Feb, and Dai was the one hold out in terms of getting rid.

With a couple of "I can confirm"s and "In mid-Feb" replies.

Wonder if Bowen will be asked directly on this, though he probably won't/can't give a straight answer.

At best, it's not true.

At worst, Dai is still a clown holding the club back with poor decision after poor decision.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Not likely to be true even though I assume Bowen would known about the points deduction at that time.

We were I think 13 points clear back then and the bottom three were losing every week, Hudds run started in March.

I'm sure the plan then would have been to change in the summer.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

One of those where I wouldn't be surprised if it's true, but I don't think it is. Easy to make up in hindsight, although there were rumours a few weeks prior to Ince's sacking that the club were looking at alternatives as they didn't believe Ince was the man to take us forward. So maybe there is something in it, who knows.

[leon]

After his performance this season I can’t imagine the club wanted to continue with Ince. However they gambled (with zero evidence) that we’d have enough to keep us up.

It would not surprise me if Bowen was agitating to get rid sooner as the warning Was there after the Cardiff game mid February to anyone who had an ounce of football knowledge.

If he wasn’t he shouldn’t be in post.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Sorry if covered somewhere else (can't see it) but Bowen said last night we needed £12m player sales to achieve the business plan target.

How can that have been remotely possible?

Its obvious we only agreed to it to keep last season at -6

[Clyde1998]

Sorry if covered somewhere else (can't see it) but Bowen said last night we needed £12m player sales to achieve the business plan target.

How can that have been remotely possible?

Its obvious we only agreed to it to keep last season at -6

I wonder if that included the sold player’s wages (ie. a player sold for £1m on £1m per year would account as £2m towards the target). There would be absolutely no chance of us selling £12m worth of players otherwise.

[SCIAG]

Sorry if covered somewhere else (can't see it) but Bowen said last night we needed £12m player sales to achieve the business plan target.

How can that have been remotely possible?

Its obvious we only agreed to it to keep last season at -6

Not sure when the BP was agreed. Makes a big difference to how much we could have got for Meite, and to a lesser extent Ejaria, Joao, and Moore. Puscas was £3m if Pisa got promoted? Think we could reasonably have got at least that for fully-fit Meite and Joao.

If we'd had a chance of meeting it then we might have indicated that we would listen to offers for players like Holmes and McIntyre, who there has been soft interest in but never any bids as I understand it.

Of course then we'd presumably not be able to reinvest any of the money we took from sales. Losing Puscas, Moore, Ejaria and Meite wouldn't have affected us much this season, and Joao's form hasn't been good, but losing Holmes and/or McIntyre would have hurt.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Sorry if covered somewhere else (can't see it) but Bowen said last night we needed £12m player sales to achieve the business plan target.

How can that have been remotely possible?

Its obvious we only agreed to it to keep last season at -6

Not sure when the BP was agreed. Makes a big difference to how much we could have got for Meite, and to a lesser extent Ejaria, Joao, and Moore. Puscas was £3m if Pisa got promoted? Think we could reasonably have got at least that for fully-fit Meite and Joao.

If we'd had a chance of meeting it then we might have indicated that we would listen to offers for players like Holmes and McIntyre, who there has been soft interest in but never any bids as I understand it.

Of course then we'd presumably not be able to reinvest any of the money we took from sales. Losing Puscas, Moore, Ejaria and Meite wouldn't have affected us much this season, and Joao's form hasn't been good, but losing Holmes and/or McIntyre would have hurt.

I assume it was signed when we took the first -6 so Nov 21?

Meite and Joao I believe were both injured at the time, from the start of the season, Meite with an ACL injury and wasn't expected back last season. Ejaria £2m? Moore similar (at that time)?

[Only one Trevor Morley]

I do wonder whether we should give Bowen another go as manager if we get relegated. He knows the league, our players etc, he has got a structure in place and bluntly I suspect he’d be the best option of Kia’s mates. We haven’t appointed a manager without a connection to Kia so I’d rather it be someone I trust.

[Crowbar6753]

I do wonder whether we should give Bowen another go as manager if we get relegated. He knows the league, our players etc, he has got a structure in place and bluntly I suspect he’d be the best option of Kia’s mates. We haven’t appointed a manager without a connection to Kia so I’d rather it be someone I trust.

Bowen is a good appointment as a DOF and is steadily getting things together behind the scenes so i wouldn't be to inclined to disrupt his work at present.
I have faith in Bowen to find us a manager of a much higher quality than over the previous 5 years as long as Dai doesn't get involved and leaves him to do his job.

[Elm Park Kid]

I agree. I think Bowen is more valuable for us in his current job.

It surely can't be difficult for the club to find an ambitious manager with League One experience. We'll be a tempting prospect for them in that league.

[Snowflake Royal]

Bowen would be a good choice if it weren’t for the previous baggage.

But there's an element of the fanbase that would be toxic to the appointment, accusing him of appointing himself again. If it went wrong it would get nasty quickly. And we'd be losing the one good bit of structure at the club to do it.

Definitely not a good idea for me.

[Hound]

Definitely keep him as DoF and let him see the job through

He is our best bet of getting the club back in a good state imo. He seems to have a clear plan and direction. It might not work but at least it’s coherent and basically sensible

He seems pretty popular as well which is quite an achievement considering how shit we currently are

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yeah he's better in his current role than as manager. He's got a hell of a job on though to turn us around again.

[Forbury Lion]

I agree. I think Bowen is more valuable for us in his current job.

It surely can't be difficult for the club to find an ambitious manager with League One experience. We'll be a tempting prospect for them in that league.

Not if they go back to searching the lower European leagues for managers they won't.

[Forbury Lion]

I'd like to know who appointed Ince as manager and why, I suspect being available and cheap ticked a couple of boxes, being a well known also helped. Given the limitations I imagine we had and the fact he achieved the goal of keeping us up last season I won't say it was a bad initial appointment but we now need a manager who, combined with their coaching staff/assistant can do a better job of managing/coaching players and choosing tactics.

Hopefully Mark Bowen will be involved in manager recruitment, If we go down we needs someone with League One experience, ideally someone who knows how to get a team promoted. If we stay up, we need someone with Championship experience who can keep us up or maybe a League 1 high flyer ready to step up a league.