@ivoralljack ... one of the gravest errors a company can make is to continue with a boss under the hope that the person can stop digging the hole and climb out of it. Hope is not a strategy; it is the last resort of those without a strategy. We should have a contingency plan, It used to be insert Curt, hire yet another, replace Curt. This time we should insert Curt, have him aided by Leon and Toshack, and let him run with it ... could he do any worse, I think not .... and then figure out where we are end of season.
As I have pointed out previously (I think in the Barnsley autopsy), something happened during the September international break. Where we are now in terms of output is not the result of a slow trend down, but a dramatic shift down with a sequence of results and performances that have persisted at a very low level and creeping downward still. Our collective high from August prevented us from recognizing immediately what had happened and only now is the hangover setting in.
If there's one thing Cooper has plenty of is data and information, perhaps too much for him to cogently process, but you only need a superficial glance at the numbers to understand what has happened. Cooper, if there are any brain cells functioning behind that blank expression, has to realize that something has shifted, and he has to be the one to be savvy enough recognize what it is, savvy enough to know how to revert back, and the one to remedy it. I'm not hopeful. I'm not hopeful that he has the ability to step back and objectively asses the situation, that willing to recognize an oh-shit, that savvy to fix it. If you're going to avoid the iceberg hit the brakes or turn the rudder, but do it. Does he even see the iceberg or know where the rudder is.
@Jackflash in the Brentford thread posted something along the lines of Potter's legacy was enjoyed until the end of August then Cooper in a fit of hubris discarded it and went off on his own .... and here we are. One of the hallmarks of the series of coaches Martinez, Sousa, Rogers, Laudrup was that they embraced and embellished what they inherited and we benefited by the continuity and the evolution. Monk broke that and every coach thereafter, with the exception of Curt, tried their own thing and failed miserably because they didn't have the chops. The one exception being Potter who like a skillful Jedi master started a new school. Was what Potter did too sophisticated for Cooper? Is it a case of through practice after practice Cooper just washed the dye right out of the cloth, or was it a more abrupt shift in theory and practice, and the players have just not bought into it or have but technically, tactically its all falling short. Players would run through stone walls for Potter, Roberts often did, but I don't think one of them are motivated to do a fraction of that for Cooper.
Where do we go from here? I don't think we can wait. We waited on Monk ... gave him enough rope to hang himself thrice over. We waited on Clement ... and he had Portuguese starlets passing into the advertising boards. We waited on BoBo ... he tried to teach Leon how to pass (WTF he really did). How much rope can we spare Cooper. What's his pay off? Can we afford it - everybody is crying poverty? Will we make a decision driven by cash or performance? If performance, then if the Shit Streak continues against Cardiff, he's hung himself - he will have demonstrated no leadership, no ability to recognize Club culture and history, no ability to select and motivate a team worthy of our shirt. If cash, then Cooper remains at the helm, the iceberg looms, and the season is done!
The unknown factor ... Birch ... is he his own man with a good sense of when enough is enough, or is he an owner's toady.
