It's a sad state of how far we have fallen that some could even make a case for him to be manager. We've forgotten what good performances are and some of the adjectives used to describe play when we hit the heights of average were verging on propaganda. They have been badly let down by players though, some on damn good money as well which much be very frustrating for them.
As much as Matt Doughty has been let down by the players on the pitch, I think he has equally let himself down by his own conduct off the pitch at times.
I was never impressed with the way he tried to carry favour when he first came in by publicly distancing himself from Jim Harvey and slagging him off. He might have been right or he might not have been, but as an ex-assistant you don’t sit and slag your ex-boss the minute he’s out the door and you have his job.
He then made every interview he did as manager all about Matt Doughty. It’s been like watching/reading his own personal diary for the past 5 months. No-one wants to hear how fantastic/improved we have been after another regulation 2-0 defeat, and that the lads are all playing for the manager. I don’t want to hear how good they are in training (every week!) for him, and how much effort they are putting in. For him. Funnily enough, what I actually want to hear is that they are as sh*t on a Thursday night as they are on a Saturday afternoon. Perversely, I would have found that more reassuring at times.
His social media conduct has hardly been befitting of a paid football manager either. In fact it’s been downright embarrassing at times. That includes his weird mates who keep popping up and telling everyone what a great lad he is and how he definitely needs to be our manager next season.
And publicly slagging off the judgement of the board (get to the back of the queue…!) when they opened up the job to applicants, despite his abysmal points return? Seriously? Did he really think that was ever going to help his job prospects?
The childish outburst on Twitter yesterday said it all really.
All that said, we can only hope the new manager has as much enthusiasm for the football club as Matt Doughty clearly does, and puts in half the effort that Matt has, and holds the job of ‘Altrincham manager’ in such high esteem. We will have a much better chance of success for next season if he does.
As for the new manager I think we have to look a bit deeper than "what have they won". All these guys interviewed will have done a presentation on what they want to do, how they want to play, thoughts on youth and reserves etc and contacts etc. Their conduct in the interview and their demands are another factor. If we can catch a manager on the way up with the right ideas then we can be a force in that league I am sure of it if we can unite people and pull together.
Yes, I agree. I actually think it’s a decent enough appointment (if the twitter announcements are true), although along with everyone else that’s not the first time I’ve thought that in the past 12 months and so we shouldn’t be surprised if the reception appears ‘lukewarm’ this time round.
Maybe it’s just me, but when we make the announcement (I mean the proper one later this week, not the one from Matt Doughty’s lot on Twitter) I would like to see him described as a “young up-and-coming manager with an array of local contacts and who knows the level” rather than us exaggerating or inventing past achievements.
As for uniting people, I think what happens off the pitch might have more of an influence on that than who the manager is, or a few early wins against Barwell, Grantham and Coalville. But we’ll see I suppose.