I was at times critical of CP although I loved the bloke as much as anyone else. The turning point for me was the Sheff Wed home game where he refused to use subs. As time went on, his tactics became more negative and one dimensional. That may have been a result of pressure and perhaps his state of mind because he started off being a very positive manager. I would love to know whether any of his staff pointed this out to him, to help become more positive, or whether they simply went along with his ideas. If that's the case, I don't think they did him any favours. No one knows whether he would have kept us up. To speculate otherwise is disrespectful to a great man who has done so much for the club. We should just be thankful for his service, and grateful to Jose Riga who took over the challenge and done a fantastic job.
I'm firmly in this camp too. The board, the manager, the players are transitory - the club is permanent. That doesn't mean of course that encumbents/custodians are at any given point in time above criticism.
We ended the season in a far better place than we started it.
I like AFKA's conspiracy theory. It is certainly plausible and has good explanatory power. However, I still think that the alternative and simpler explanation (I'm a believer in Occam's Razor) that RD tried to meddle, but stopped doing it when Riga started telling him exactly the same things about his imports that Powell had, also fits the bill.
I'm firmly in this camp too. The board, the manager, the players are transitory - the club is permanent. That doesn't mean of course that encumbents/custodians are at any given point in time above criticism.
We ended the season in a far better place than we started it.
I do understand what you mean but actually we started the season as a top half Championship side and have finished it narrowly avoiding relegation.
Jose Riga deserves some praise but let's not diminish Chris Powell's achievements in so doing. Powell had the financial rug pulled from under him by the previous regime and was inevitably fire fighting this season from that moment. That's before we even consider the unsettling effect of takeover uncertainty culminating with the different culture and ethos of RD and his network.
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I like Riga and back him
We ended the season in a far better place than we started it.
Jose Riga deserves some praise but let's not diminish Chris Powell's achievements in so doing. Powell had the financial rug pulled from under him by the previous regime and was inevitably fire fighting this season from that moment. That's before we even consider the unsettling effect of takeover uncertainty culminating with the different culture and ethos of RD and his network.