CONFIMRED - Paul Ince sacked

[Brum Royal]

At least with the appointment of Hunt, it'll be someone the fans can get behind and have a positive attitude towards, which in turn will benefit the team

[NewCorkSeth]

Slightly more confident now. Still think we acted too late.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Shame it wasn’t done earlier, I hope we get a bounce from NHunt but even if we don’t we would have gone down anyway with Ince so it’s no difference

[Millsy]

Inevitable really. Yesterday saw even supporters like me turn on him.

Impressed they actually did it.

Sorry Paul, wish you well, genuinely do. All the best buddy.

[tmesis]

Yeah, the football has been sh!te recently and his post match interviews have become quite bizarre affairs but I'm probably in a minority of one who feels a tad sorry for him. Think he changed the mood in the camp upon his arrival. We had a most excellent home record 'till recent weeks. We all wanted Long and Carroll and he delivered them on a zero budget. His remit was to keep us up and had we kept the six points I'm pretty sure he would have. And Blackburn at home this season we were awesome. Its all too late now anyway. Noel Hunt won't be saving us.

You’re not alone
The job he did last season was massive in the circumstances and the whole club has been hamstrung by previous indiscretions. However, my sadness is tempered somewhat by his own decline since October.
Given what I’ve seen and heard of AC2 I’d like to think he could add something to the team motivation even if he’s not qualified for coaching

Yeah I’ve sympathy for him and he was doing a great job til Christmas but he was taking us only one way and the football has got worse as the season has gone on

Hope people remember him for pushing through necessary change at the club rather than the tired uninspired tactics etc that he ended with

I think his crazy insistence on playing for a draw away from home didn't help, but yes, I think people vastly underestimate the difficulty of the job he faced.

I do wonder when the players found out about the points deduction, because it does feel like there's been a real slackening of attitudes since the start of the year.

Regardless of how it's turned out on the field, I think Ince deserves massive credit for telling the owner that the club was appallingly run and needed a proper structure put in place.

[windermereROYAL]

Wonder what Thomas will do now?

[Royal_jimmy]

Wonder what Thomas will do now?

He'll be a professional and continue to give his all for the club

[Loafer]

Wonder what Thomas will do now?

He'll be a professional and continue to give his all for the club

Hope not as he is shit

[RoyalBlue]

Long overdue to be honest, it needed to happen as we've been sleep walking to League One. Hopefully Hunt can do something for us, although he hasn't been handed a great start with Burnley and Luton.

Still believe if we can win our final 2 games of the season, we will stop up.

Players look like they need a lift. Get the crowd behind them etc, Hunt can certainly do that

I suspect Bowen may also be having his say in the background

I suspect you're right given that his great mate EN is now Assistant Manager.

[The Cap]

What is it about Don Goodman? Whenever he talks about Reading, he never seems to have a positive word to say about us as a football club. His inference on Sky, a short while ago, is that he feels PInce has been hard done by. Really? Am I right in saying that he carries bad blood from the results we had against Wolves at Elm Park? Stick to your golf, Goodman.

[Snowflake Royal]

Huzzah.

Big thanks to Paul for turning around the slump under Paunovic and getting us off to a good start. Plus his work on the behind the scenes changes.

But he really was doing a dreadful job with the team by the end.

He's not a manager, but I think he could do a good job as a crisis consultant to struggling teams.

[Sanguine]

Yeah, the football has been sh!te recently and his post match interviews have become quite bizarre affairs but I'm probably in a minority of one who feels a tad sorry for him. Think he changed the mood in the camp upon his arrival. We had a most excellent home record 'till recent weeks. We all wanted Long and Carroll and he delivered them on a zero budget. His remit was to keep us up and had we kept the six points I'm pretty sure he would have. And Blackburn at home this season we were awesome. Its all too late now anyway. Noel Hunt won't be saving us.

You’re not alone
The job he did last season was massive in the circumstances and the whole club has been hamstrung by previous indiscretions. However, my sadness is tempered somewhat by his own decline since October.
Given what I’ve seen and heard of AC2 I’d like to think he could add something to the team motivation even if he’s not qualified for coaching

Yeah I’ve sympathy for him and he was doing a great job til Christmas but he was taking us only one way and the football has got worse as the season has gone on

Hope people remember him for pushing through necessary change at the club rather than the tired uninspired tactics etc that he ended with

All of this, not quite sure I understand the vitriol directed at him, to be honest. So we've lost our way a bit. Not a crime. And he has operated through his entire tenure in pretty shambolic circumstances.

[BarryWhiteRFC]

My opinion, for what it's worth. I think it is pointless to sack him now. He has really worked miracles on a shoestring budget (well worse than that really). He has created a team that at least competes at this level. I think nearly any manager in the country would struggle to have put together the side he has and gained the points he has. I don't think getting on his back (Ince Out etc) helped the team in anyway. Sometimes, whether you like it or not, you just have to support the team. I think the fans have let Paul Ince down if I'm honest.

I'm not sure changing now will change anything. We should have either changed 5 games ago, or just left it until the end of the season. I think he would've got the results to keep us up. However, we will never know.

I hope I'm wrong and Noel Hunt works wonders. I loved him as a player, I hope I'll get to love him as a manager.

[Delboy]

Be interesting to see if any of our injured players recover quickly !!!

[windermereROYAL]

I think he would've got the results to keep us up. However, we will never know.

2 wins in 3 months and you think he can get 2 or 3 in 5 games? i admire your optimism if nothing else.

[Doolittle]

Up till recently Ince had done OK, but his negativity had clearly affected the players during the past couple of months - they had become scared to play, and the statuesque teams he kept picking made things worse. Noel Hunt is a positive character who may be more likely to pick a team with some energy and balance, because he knows what the young players can do. He might be just what the players need for this last few games.

[clauski]

I don’t think Ince was the future and whether we stay up or go down I think there would have been a change in the Summer so a view probably taken what is to lose by trying something different now. It’s a shame to see some of the comments towards him though, I think he’s genuinely done his best for the club in a difficult time and thank him for that. Now we move forward.

[Wycombe Royal]

I have no doubts the Ince has done his best, but like so many before you can tell when their time is coming to an end because the interviews they give become more strange with each passing match that they fail to win. Gone are the days when managers will resign, because ultimately they want their payoff so just wait and I believe in some instances even try to get themselves sacked, not by setting teams up to lose, but by what they say post match.

We now have 5 matches, and whilst Noel Hunt is obviously very inexperienced he is such a bubbly happy character that if even just a bit of that rubs off on the players we will see some more positivity on the pitch.

It will also lift the crowd which is needed. There is no point making a quick external appointment now. We need to get through these 5 matches and take time to select the right candidate for whichever division we are in.

[stealthpapes]

I do wonder when the players found out about the points deduction, because it does feel like there's been a real slackening of attitudes since the start of the year.

There's definitely been a drop in form directly after the news of a second deduction was announced.

First news of potential points deduction this season was March 1st 2023 (see, e.g. here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... cial-rules)



That's between games 33 (win at Blackpool, 25th Feb) and 34, above.

(The other striking run of poor form is October-November, where we played 11 games in about 43 days around the world cup)

The effect of the deduction, or at least rumours of a deduction, is more marked than last year, I think - our form cratered after Xmas, a month or so after the deduction was enforced. The biggest event before that one would have been Kiddy away - we were actually alright vs Derby, if a bit naive in the last twenty.

[BarryWhiteRFC]

I think he would've got the results to keep us up. However, we will never know.

2 wins in 3 months and you think he can get 2 or 3 in 5 games? i admire your optimism if nothing else.

Forever the optimist!