Who is they?
If you want to bang on about JW, that is your entitlement, carry on. Most were happy when he stayed on.
He was one of 6? With similar outcomes.
Fair play to you for calling our downfall early and identifying that JW was struggling, well done indeed.
It is not our job as supporters to find the answers but identify problems. We are customers.
For years I have been a member of various boards, commenting on good and bad aspects.
If you want to pinpoint JW as a crux of my pov, carry on. It goes beyond him though RD. Imo.
Why not offer some alternative rather than tag onto other people's reckoning?
What you reckon RD? It's not JWs fault we have been pony for 7 years is it?
To me it just comes across like, rather than admitting you were wrong to back JW for as long as you did, it's easier to point the finger at the BoD and blame them.
I don't doubt the board have many failings. But if the tactics had been superb last season and the squad full of pace and invention and we had still gone down, then I'd fully agree with you.
However, it wasn't.
We had one of the biggest budgets in the division - the board stumped that cash up so can't see how they are to blame.
Was is spent well? Nope. Did we water it down the pan? Yep. Who's fault was that? The man who assembled the squad. Who did that? John Ward.
You can argue 'til you're blue in the face that NH signed off on the deals and yes, perhaps we shouldn't have handed out 3 year contracts willy-nilly. But at the end of the day, if he hadn't have backed JW, he'd have been lynched.
For me, as a BoD, they should be responsible for decent communication, prudent budgeting and marketing (without having a CEO in place). Have they failed on all three of those fronts? IMO, yes they have.
HOWEVER...
Is that reason enough for us to find ourselves in the Conference? IMO no. I don't believe poor communication got us to non-league, I don't believe that poor marketing got us to non-league and I also don't believe poor budgeting got us to non-league.
The board cover our debts most seasons. Is that the way it should be? Christ no. Better financial management would mean there was no need for this. However, they do it nonetheless and, through doing so, ensure we continue to have a budget good enough to (theoretically at least) compete. Similarly, marketing could unquestionably be better, but we are only missing out on additional money as a result of this; and a lack of playing budget wasn't the reason for our relegation last season.
No, the reason for our relegation last season was because we were utter sh***:
- Poor tactics (directly JW's fault)
- A poorly assembled squad with no pace, balance or creativity (directly JW's fault)
- Boring, awful tactics that destroyed the players morale which led to some players who were arguably good enough under-achieving (directly JW's fault)
So, as I say, could the board run the club better? Certainly. However, are they directly responsible for our relegation? IMO no; John Ward is/was.
Yes the club needs to be run better. Yes changes are required. But to simply say "we've had [insert number here] s*** managers in a row so it can't possibly just be down them" is not factually correct.
