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‘ The question of whether Neil Harris ‘

Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:31 am

The question of whether Neil Harris should remain as manager or go ...... is gaining momentum this weekend.

I like many have my own view but I am not saying it in this thread. Here I am just presenting facts .... each can have his own reasons and conclusions.

(1) Harris came as a relatively cheap option because Tan was , possibly , doing a very understandable decision of needing to trim the size and the wages of our squad. As fans we do not care and even may like an owner to buy players for massive amounts of money with wages to match ....... but we also totally understand and support keeping the club’s finances in check


(2) the club was not doing well under Warnock whose time was obviously coming to an end - we have to be honest and say that Harris outperformed the master by a long way ..... and putting us in the playoffs was a major achievement ...... especially considering that it was “the same” team .


(3) yes a manager is responsible for the team’s performance but also of extreme importance is ....... how much is a manager being backed financially. We have to admit that Harris was no where near Warnock as far as financial backing is concerned nor as far as the depth of the squad is concerned.


(a)Smithies was a great buy .... so is Phillips as a cover ..... also releasing Etheridge and getting in money and saving wages ...... very good business.


(b) releasing and getting rid of so many players thus saving us a lot of money ..... being the Club’s policy is also a major achievement. (c) buying Moore was very good business considering that a striker was very essential for us.

(d) getting Wilson + Ojo + Osei-Tutu on loan - was excellent business considering that there was not the funds to buy.

(e) after years and years of only buying older players ..... he is the 1st manager who seems to want to blood younger players with Began and Harris leading the way.

These are the good things that we have to give a lot of credit where credit is due to Harris. Namely - successfully executing the club’s financial policy and restrictions and clever recruitment and trimming the squad . However , now come the question marks


(f) is he reading the game and the opposition well ? Is he picking the best team and making the right substitutions ?

(g) does he have the leadership and the respect of the squad ? (h) is he too much of a yes man ? Can insist and implement his own technical and footballing beliefs or is he being influenced ? The jury is still out on these last questions .


I am interested to hear your views ........ and to debate this important topic. This is what this forum is about.
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Re: ‘ The question of whether Neil Harris ‘

Sun Nov 01, 2020 11:01 am

First full season in charge Warnock was given about 2.5 mill to spend on Tomlin and Danny ward. All the rest were bosman free signings until we needed that extra push in January to take us up with the signing of Madine.

This season Harris has been given over £3mill to spend plus 4 Premier league players. Two of which are on big wages.

Its hard to say Harris has not been backed like Warnock as I'm pretty sure if we went up this season Tan would give Harris the same as he gave Warnock and Malkey.

You also have to give our club owner, chairman and transfer committee credit for these signings as they are blamed for the ones that go wrong. They are the ones who put together deals and financially make them happen .

I'm not convinced on the blooding players bit either. Would Bagan have been anywhere near the bench let alone starting if Bennett and Cunningham didn't get injured ?
Will we see him again this season in the league?

Harris is also only on the bench because there are no other alternatives, if Vassell was fit Harris would be in the stands.


I dont believe the players have faith or even understand what Harris is trying to get them to do. He looks like he has lost them and will struggle to get it back.

Re: ‘ The question of whether Neil Harris ‘

Sun Nov 01, 2020 11:05 am

Spot on Thomas

Re: ‘ The question of whether Neil Harris ‘

Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:30 pm

Reply FB:


GRAHAM MAURER:



Hi Annis. In fairness you make all the points and leaves me in a dilemma , however have given this a great deal of thought and not emotionally answering , I think in the long term Harris and his team should be relived of his duties certainly the next two games may decide his fate , I don’t mind a loss if the team battle and give their all over 90 minutes this side just don’t do it , yesterday was pitiful allowing a poor side to out play us. Even the win at forest was not great, but it was a win , I believe he has lost the dressing room , even our good players don’t look right ,and as a manager why didn’t he demand another right back , with such a lot of games coming one after another , with this current squad there isn’t enough there to turn this around , so reluctantly new management team required

Re: ‘ The question of whether Neil Harris ‘

Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:30 pm

With regards to reaching the play offs last time..how much of that was the Tomlin factor and if he hadn t come back as he did where would we have finished.
This time around ..he got sent off at Blackburn and booked within minutes yesterday...is the old Tomlin back?


I think there is one crucial question
Has Harris lost the dressing room? ..if he has then the writing is on the wall