Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Lastfootstamper]

I can see a career similar to that of another heroic club and country Terry, Butcher.

[Billy Walker]

if he keeps us up he'll have succeeded in both of his seasons, with a cup final thrown in as a bonus. 

Yep, it would be a fantastic achievement in the space of twenty-ish months.  I'm willing him and the boys to see it through.

[gpbarr]

Hannes Wolf, Florian Khofeldt, Julian Nagelsmann.

Once the club does the right thing, one of those three would be a breath of fresh air the club needs. I'll despair if we go for someone like Dyche

[Lastfootstamper]

Hannes Wolf, Florian Khofeldt, Julian Nagelsmann.

Once the club does the right thing, one of those three would be a breath of fresh air the club needs. I'll despair if we go for someone like Dyche

I'll question how our owners accumulated their wealth if they approve an appointment like Dyche.

[Simon Page]

I can see a career similar to that of another heroic club and country Terry, Butcher.

Somehow I can't see John Terry washing up in the Moray Firth. TV beckons, a la Andy Gray.

In all seriousness, do we know he's not a decent coach in the making? I know we aren't very good, but we seem to have placed that at the clipboard of John Terry when there could be many reasons.

[curiousorange]

Boils my piss whenever people defend Terry's coaching by saying he doesn't have overall responsibility for the defence. Yeah, maybe so, but he's one of the best defenders the country has produced and a head coach at the club. I would like to think he has advice to offer and influence over the team as a whole.

[SoccerHQ]

Does this also mean that if we go down he has failed and should leave?

If we go down with all guns blazing I'd be happy to give him a couple of months into the new season, whenever it might start.

Yes. If we won three more games but likes of Watford, West Ham and bournemouth all went on mass winning streaks and we still went down I imagine that would keep him here for August as at least we'd have gone down fighting.

If we go down without winning a game in run in and ending 7-8 points adrift of 17th can't really see what grounds DS would have for staying on as we've been awful since mid January pretty much. Also couldn't take our cup performances into league performances when you think how abject we were at Bournemouth, three days after the Leicester second leg. That result could really hurt us once it's all done.

[RamboandBruno]

Sorry to continue to nit pick but "possibly even Wes"? The most expensive player we have ever signed?

I think you are nit picking a little bit Brian. I just made a comment about the players that we bought in the summer that might possibly come good over time and those that I personally just don’t think are good enough (even then not sure about Targett as I think he’s ok going forward).
I think the price tag of Wesley is completely irrelevant in the context, it was quite clear from the first match he was wet behind the ears and untried at this level. He might never come good, but he showed the odd rare glimpse here and there.

It may be at odds to what else I said in the earlier post but I’m glad there’s sympathy for Smith in recent posts, makes a change from the usual relentless barrage

[Simon Page]

For clarity, I wasn't defending anyone (a bit like...), merely asking if we KNOW he's the/a major problem.

[Sexual Ealing]

Dean Smith: “People keep talking about playing two up front but it's very difficult to play two up front & keep Jack Grealish on the pitch. Jack's one of our talisman so we worked a situation (at Newcastle) where Jack could play in behind Keinan & Ally.

You have to be careful because there's a big shift for the midfielders then. Their out ball will always be the full-backs. It's funny, you put two up front and you go from back to front too quickly.

I still thought we needed to go through our midfielders and, once we did that, we were much more of a threat. What we've got to do is convert our chances. The confidence hasn't diminished. The dressing room's a tight dressing room.”

Via @villareport on Twitter

[Drummond]

I don't want rid of Smith. I know I've a record of defending managers and wanting to give them more time and that whatever, if you take that view you'll always be proven wrong at some point!

We've made 19 managerial appointments since we last won the league and had 9 in the last decade alone. We're a big club, wanting big success, and yet we don't allow anyone the time to get in and do anything; Smith has been in his role for two part seasons and had one pre-season in that period where we had about a dozen players in and the same out.

If he'd not been promoted last season, and let's face it that was an unlikely target when he took over, I'd agree with criticism of him if we weren't top 2 in the Championship. I think there is a lot of mitigation for this season and I'd like him to be given next as well. If you look back at the comments when he was appointed, it was far more favourable than pretty much any appointment since MON with many people saying he was the best thing ever now having changed their minds. Surely all that caused that positivity can't have gone already?

There are issues with the way we set up at times, I'd agree, yet given the resources at his disposal, there isn't a great deal more that he could have done. We'll keep the vast majority of our squad even if we do go down, and they'll be better for knowing each other. I suspect Grealish will go regardless and possibly one or two others as well but the revenue from those sales will allow good investment. Yet again though we'll need to identify targets for two different divisions.

I think he's done okay considering where we were. Give him time to develop with his squad and ideas.

[SoccerHQ]

John Terry is probably here until he decides he really wants to become a manager right now.

Perhaps the club might start encouraging him a bit more to apply for any vacancies this summer, there was talk of Boro job about 18 months back I think and that might be available again in the summer. Unless he thinks he's in line to get it here once DS is no more but can't see anything but him getting it as a caretaker.

[themossman]

Is there any chatter anywhere about how (and what) Terry has done in his coaching role with us? There is a weird lack of evidence either way - very little back-biting around him but also it doesn't seem like the players ever mention him - or have I missed this? It just seems weird for such a big character to be so anonymous within the set up.

[Chris Smith]

Hannes Wolf, Florian Khofeldt, Julian Nagelsmann.

Isn’t that the current Kraftwerk line up?

[villadelph]

Dean Smith: “People keep talking about playing two up front but it's very difficult to play two up front & keep Jack Grealish on the pitch. Jack's one of our talisman so we worked a situation (at Newcastle) where Jack could play in behind Keinan & Ally.”

Via @villareport on Twitter

“So, I isolate him out on the left side and hope there’s a single unproven striker between 3 defenders on the other end of his pass..”

Stubborn fool.