Iron Bru › Forums › Blast Furnace › Taxi for Cox ! › Reply To: Taxi for Cox !
remember the Cox/Lillis appointment was hailed as the dream team at the the time.
Yes, let’s wind back to last summer. The league had been declared null & void so we were spared the nervous end to season we’ve just witnessed. Wilcox declared that he didn’t want to be first team manager, so the vacancy was there.
I was one of the many who said that it had to be the right appointment as we couldn’t continue as a hiring and firing club. It had been the same the previous year when Hurst was appointed. As ‘tash says Cox & Lillis looked to be the dream team. A young, hungry manager eager to cut his teeth in his first managerial role, and a wily old fox who knows the ins and outs of the game. The bonus being that they were both ex Iron players and, indeed Cox was a Scunny lad!
Fast forward a year and we are still in the same position. So why didn’t it work?
Well it hadn’t worked with McCall, Daws/Dawson or Hurst so should we have expected anything different?
Cox has still suffered the same frustrations as previous incumbents. Training ground injuries, players going through mood-swings, players being asked to play out of position, realising in October your keeper isn’t good enough so bringing in someone on a short term contract/loan. Not having an on field leader in the Crozzer/Bish mould. Not having a plan B!
All these things have happened before Cox and Lillis set foot through the door. It’s been a season of more of the same. What had made this season even worse is the quality of players Cox has had to work with. He is responsible for bringing some here, but most were sourced by our erstwhile recruitment “committee”.
I don’t disagree with SS24 or IITB, I just think that whilst the present ownership continue as they have, changing the manager will have minimal effect on our performances. Sack Cox and appoint Wellens, Mourinho or whoever and I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll be back having the same conversation next Spring.
Peter Swann comes on and talks a good job. We’re restricted by budget, Covid has been terrible, we’ve been unlucky with injuries to our best players etc etc etc. But it’s the same for every club in L2 (and many in L1). Look at Morecambe. Absolute garbage last year, could get automatic promotion this. They’ve done it during a pandemic with no fans in the stadium and a small budget. Accrington Stanley in L1. Harrogate Town FFS!
This malaise has been set in at our club since Chris Lucetti left. I don’t think a sixth manager since we sacked Alexander will do any better, especially if we keep signing too many poor players.
The guys who needs to learn from their mistakes are not just the ones sat in the dugout.
