I think fan support is keeping Cooper in a job but at some point this support will piss the owner off. Around 300 million pounds lighter and another relegation battle wont please him. I already suspect he thinks the fans are ungrateful and they would sooner turn on him than Cooper should we get relegated. Cooper got a result of sorts yesterday and in isolation it wasn't bad but still no win. Results went against us and should Everton win, they go above us with a ten point loss.
My biggest concern is Cooper dropped some really expensive well paid signings as he cannot get them to play successfully. Will our Greek overlord try to get someone who can get them to play?.
Maybe, but, as ever, Donny, it's a bit more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm not sure I can think of another coach who's had to deal with the insane levels of real-time change and unrealistic expectation that he has.
The truth is that what was left of the squad which came up though the play-offs would have been relegated out of that division the following season without major recruitment. It was made so much harder by the promotion, in terms of a near quarter-century gap having to be closed in a month just to even get anywhere close to the other teams likely to be fighting relegation.
He's had a ludicrous number of players thrown at him - younger and older, from all corners of the globe - to settle and integrate. Getting them to function as a coherent unit takes time and patience - it's pretty childish and entitled (in my view) for fans to expect otherwise.
Are we where we'd ultimately like to be? No. Are we a well-oiled, effective side at the level? Not yet. I know I'm in the minority (and accept the valid points others make about owner's expectations) but I quite like the journey we're on. I think it's likely to get better if we hold our nerve with this young coach, who's the perfect fit for our football club and clearly learning all the time.
Do I think he'll be given some more of that? Sadly not. But I have very little confidence that the next appointment will have the impact people seem to hope it will. I agreed with the point made on here the other day that once Cooper's gone, it will become apparent quite quickly that the fervent City Ground atmosphere was his, not Forest's, and we might not see it back for a while.
I'll be surprised if we don't get some form of statement this week, even if it's just an "I'm your overlord, you will fear me" type outpouring to remind us all who the rich man is. I'll go with Monday at 10.
Squad is arguably weaker now than 6 months ago. Weaker keepers, weaker left wingbac with Tavares a downgrade on Lodi, right wing backs brought in who are no better than what we have, weaker forwards (CHO as much use as a JLingz, Elanga not as good as a Johnson, Origi clearly no better than a Surridge) and in central midfield, Dominguez is having as much impact as a Freuler, and Sangare yet to show he is at Premier League level.
Progress that you pre-cursed this with "I think" donny. There's a lot of projection from a personal value set here.
Maybe someone would do better in the entirely unique set of circumstances that the self-made miracle has put Cooper in. But it's hard to know, because nobody else has really done it (in terms of the shift in pyramid position in time to the top flight, and the recruitment turnover with unproven players who may or may not settle). Someone who might be a 'better' manager might do better. But they might do worse. There's a temptation to think that pep is the best manager, so pep would do better for us. But I don't think like that. Pep is a cherry on top of the ultimate playing resources sort of manager....and if a player doesn't adjust to him, he fucks them off and gets another elite player to replace them. I'm really not sure he could do brilliantly with a bunch of players who are as likely to shank it, as kick it properly, and regularly spend half of their possession chasing their touch.
Yes Cooper is making mistakes. Yes he is learning on the job....but he's also some-way down learning that job, with a track record of success in the closest comparison (last season). I have seen no credible suggestion of a manager with recent experience of the directly equivalent situation.
For that reason, and because Cooper and his coaching/first team management team is demonstrably one of the highest performing functions at the football club - in terms of quantifiable performance versus comparable competitors, it's stick for me. Then when things get tougher, and you are thinking of lashing out and doing something stupid, it's stick again.
Do I think the owner feels the same? Almost certainly not. I think it's a miracle that Cooper is still here...but lets not forget what an absolute fucking basket case that we were to allow Cooper the opportunity in the first place. Go back to that point, and what we were - irrespective of the net spend, which has to be balanced against value (I can pay £100 for a trebor mint, it doesn't make it worth £100 quid, even if it is really satisfyingly minty), and it's impossible to not conclude that Cooper has worked a miracle (or two). Then had a slight bumpy spell...as all managers, squads, teams, do.
Be careful what you wish for.
The question I would ask is: Which is the next best performing area of Nottingham Forests operation? If we take Cooper out, and get no better outcome in that aspect of activity, what parts of the organisation and its relative performance versus our competitors will guarantee success? In other words, what are we better at, than other clubs, if it's not first team coaching/management?
Interesting that Cooper side swiped the number of signings made on Wednesday, picked a team that sidelined all the new signings yesterday, apparently had a little pop at John Percy in the post match press conference, then told Fray that it was ridiculous to give anyone one game as an ultimatum.
Also interesting that the team selection turned out not to be the suicide note that some were predicting.
Change management is the hardest thing for an organisation to do smoothly and successfully. There is large scale change in almost all of Nottingham Forests operation. I do not advocate further unecessary change in the first team management.
This is key for me. I'd genuinely put survival last season up there with nearly any other achievement I've seen from Forest in my 35 years as a supporter - maybe the greatest because it simply should never have happened in the circumstances.
For me, it eclipses what Cooper pulled off the season before by a country mile (and promotion was incredible enough in itself), and is up there with anything Cloughie pulled off towards the end of his tenure with a young, established side at the level, Frank Clark finishing third in his first PL season after going up (when the top flight was unrecognisable to what it is now), or Dave Bassett pissing the second division in 97/98 with the handy luxury of a Premier League-quality squad at his disposable and a load of cash to spend on more.
Then there's the fact I find the constant manager churn boring and predictable. It's also not exactly worked well for us in the past.
Wasn’t that supposed to happen last Saturday v Everton?
Maranskis will do what he thinks is right, whilst I’m sure the fans support has helped Cooper he will pull the trigger when he thinks enough is enough.
We are hardly an intimidating fan base. A few moans on social media and a bit of singing for Cooper for a few games.
Cooper has given me at least two of my all time favourite games watched inside a football stadium. So he gets a lot of leeway on that basis.
It doesn’t feel like enough is being made of the loss of Awoniyi - the replacements are clearly not at the same level and that’s probably of three quarters of the teams in this division, if you take away their best striker. Interesting that Percy’s article pinned the blame for Wood on Cooper but I’m sure when Geraldi was fired, him pushing for Wood was cited as a big part of the reason.
If Cooper does go, I think you can forget the example of Brighton - they are astutely run and know what they are doing. The two closest analogies are Villa sacking Smith and Leeds sacking Bielsa.
Presumably if you have a league winning squad, it takes a bit of time to turn it into relegation fodder? Although not as long as the other way around, obviously.
Not sure how applicable this is to our current situation.
