Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Either way, it's less responsibility than Taylor enjoys at Exeter.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Either way, it's less responsibility than Taylor enjoys at Exeter.
I agree, I am old fashioned a manager gets sacked if results are poor so he should be allowed to build a team.
I am not sure what Martin Sandgaard does, or any detail at all as to why he is disparaged, although I am sure people will reasonably say others could do whatever MS is supposed to do much better, but beyond that what damage to good stuff balance is there? I certainly don’t know. However what does make sense to me is Thomas Sandgaard having somebody in location he can trust, and to be honest I don’t blame him.
Appreciate your thoughts Seth but its not about trust it’s nepotism and it’s bonkers. Yes he can do what he likes it’s his money but it’s pure wrong for our football club.
None of us really know though. I suspect it’s just a good fit for TS to have his son here, to keep an eye on things as Seth said. I doubt very much that Martin is throwing his weight around overruling people who have much more experience than he does, even if TS is bigging him up, saying he runs the show. Fwiw, the body language between him and Gallen seemed ok after the U18s match at the weekend. If Martin *is* being is nightmare then I’m sure we’ll hear about it one way or another.
There are two camps here - blind faith in Sandgaard or enormous sceptics. One is based on evidence, one is based on hope.
Do you think so? I think it is more nuanced. Certainly Sandgaard could’ve made some better decisions, then again if his interest in the academy and added facilities at Sparrows lane that would be marked down as a good decision. Things don’t cancel each out that easily, and maybe what is called blind faith is closer to utter relief we’re not in the clutches of Southall.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
That parts obvious. What about input into transfers?
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
That parts obvious. What about input into transfers?
Got to find someone willing to work under the structure you’ve put in place, or change it.
Wonder if that’s a reason we haven’t hired anyone yet?
It’s not a unique structure to us and can work but MS is completely unproven, it’s not as if he’s worked his way up from being an analyst in the academy or joined after being successful elsewhere.
I can see a head coach coming in as I don’t expect TS to change the structure at this point in time.
I am not sure what Martin Sandgaard does, or any detail at all as to why he is disparaged, although I am sure people will reasonably say others could do whatever MS is supposed to do much better, but beyond that what damage to good stuff balance is there? I certainly don’t know. However what does make sense to me is Thomas Sandgaard having somebody in location he can trust, and to be honest I don’t blame him.
Appreciate your thoughts Seth but its not about trust it’s nepotism and it’s bonkers. Yes he can do what he likes it’s his money but it’s pure wrong for our football club.
None of us really know though. I suspect it’s just a good fit for TS to have his son here, to keep an eye on things as Seth said. I doubt very much that Martin is throwing his weight around overruling people who have much more experience than he does, even if TS is bigging him up, saying he runs the show. Fwiw, the body language between him and Gallen seemed ok after the U18s match at the weekend. If Martin *is* being is nightmare then I’m sure we’ll hear about it one way or another.
There are two camps here - blind faith in Sandgaard or enormous sceptics. One is based on evidence, one is based on hope.
Or somewhere in between which I suspect is the bigger camp than either of your options.
Thanks for your post on all things Exeter and Matt Taylor. Best of luck in 44 of your games next season.
You say 5-3-2 but is it more attacking in the sense that most of the time it is 3-5-2 with the wing backs playing a large part of the game attacking rather than holding their positions in a defensive shape in a Tony Pulis type formation where you double up on the opposition's wide player/s ? You negate more than be offensively minded ?
Formations are always flexible when you are in or out of possession obviously and also is the word locally that Matt Taylor is a mate of the players or he is the gaffer and expects players to show discipline on and off the pitch ?
I, like you have doubts about the working relationship between Thomas Sandgaard and Matt Taylor if he was offered or if he accepted the Job as Matt had a lot of freedom at Exeter and major decisions were all down to him within the monetary constraints.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Either way, it's less responsibility than Taylor enjoys at Exeter.
Interesting stuff Dave and thank you for taking the time and bother of posting. My only comment on what you’ve said is that should Matt at some point decide to move on to a bigger challenge than Exeter City, and I say that with all due respect, it’s unlikely that he’ll ever get the control and responsibility he’s enjoying currently.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
That parts obvious. What about input into transfers?
Got to find someone willing to work under the structure you’ve put in place, or change it.
Wonder if that’s a reason we haven’t hired anyone yet?
It’s not a unique structure to us and can work but MS is completely unproven, it’s not as if he’s worked his way up from being an analyst in the academy or joined after being successful elsewhere.
I can see a head coach coming in as I don’t expect TS to change the structure at this point in time.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Either way, it's less responsibility than Taylor enjoys at Exeter.
And a whole lot more pressure and expectation. Even whilst an asumed salary bump and move to a, respectfully, relatively higher profile club may be enticing on paper the reality may be different when factoring in additional expectation and implied less control.
I'm sure Taylor at this point has more insight of what it's like managing Charlton Athletic in 2022 from inevitable chats with Jackson and others he may know than most of us on here and therefore may not be the assumed no brained in accepting any offer he may have received.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
That parts obvious. What about input into transfers?
Got to find someone willing to work under the structure you’ve put in place, or change it.
Wonder if that’s a reason we haven’t hired anyone yet?
It’s not a unique structure to us and can work but MS is completely unproven, it’s not as if he’s worked his way up from being an analyst in the academy or joined after being successful elsewhere.
I can see a head coach coming in as I don’t expect TS to change the structure at this point in time.
I believe it is
Well in that case, they might as well not hire anyone at all and just do it themselves.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
That parts obvious. What about input into transfers?
Got to find someone willing to work under the structure you’ve put in place, or change it.
Wonder if that’s a reason we haven’t hired anyone yet?
It’s not a unique structure to us and can work but MS is completely unproven, it’s not as if he’s worked his way up from being an analyst in the academy or joined after being successful elsewhere.
I can see a head coach coming in as I don’t expect TS to change the structure at this point in time.
Agree and in my opinion, that’s still a huge problem. You’d think they’d compromise on the recruitment strategy a bit as it clearly hasn’t worked.
He said Martin is charge of recruitment analysis. That is only one part of the recruitment function. Scouting, analysis, decision making on which recruits to negotiate with and the ultimate negotiation are all separate functions in recruitment. All of these fall under Gallens and ultimately TS perview Martin is responsible for one aspect but reports to Gallen. I have no clue if he is qualified for that sub role but the ultimate decision of recruiting and signing players lie with Gallen and TS
That seems logical but that's not the way it has been explained by TS and that set up as described, crucially, doesn't include the manager either when JJ was here or now
And yet Adkins had to be convinced to sign Dobson. Sounds to me as it is a team effort identifying targets, but I suspect that it is TS that has to be convinced to pay the money.
Obviously that will be easier if there is broad agreement.
It would be nice if we could give them a modicum of time and see how the new recruitment team do in their first summer.
Forever the case at every club. Obviously Roland was all about that but back when we actually seemed to be properly run I remember Murray would kill a lot of transfers based on cost. Not always the worst thing, we were well run because we were careful, but I believe he killed off the signings of Sidwell and Bullard that Curbs wanted at peak periods in their careers because he didn't want to spend the money. I have a memory of him saying no to signing Julian Gray as well becuase he would have cost something like £500k. Makes it all the weirder because after Curbs he lost his mind and let Dowie do whatever he wanted, which was seemingly try to create the world's most hilarious clown car line-up. Football is replete with stories of owners who insisted on poorly-judged signings to foist on their managers and transfers coaches wanted which were rejected. Guardiola couldn't convince City to sign van Dijk for the money Southampton wanted and that really was the catalyst for Liverpool's recent unstoppable success. He did ask for Claudio Bravo, John Stones and Nathan Ake though so who knows. Ultimately in these situations there's always someone at the top who has to give the go ahead and there will always be stories of missed opportunities, failed signings and false dawns.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Either way, it's less responsibility than Taylor enjoys at Exeter.
I agree, I am old fashioned a manager gets sacked if results are poor so he should be allowed to build a team.
Personally I don’t think that it is the way to move forward as a Club.
I would prefer a Director of football to set up a style and direction of football at the club, and then get all the sides playing the same style so we are developing players that fit the system and can therefore slot into the first team. Managers will leave, but you recruit a new manager that fits us, or promote managers.
The old fashioned way kinda worked when managers were given a few years to build a team, but the likes of Matt Taylor and Exeter are one of the few exceptions in today’s football. Only 8 managers in the whole of the EFL have managed to remain in post for ofour years or more. Now it is more like two seasons, but feels like one window!
@ExeterDave the great Fred Binney played for both of our clubs. The best person I ever employed and worked alongside arrived with a first from Exeter University. I like the ground development seen on the telly since my last visit to the proper St James’ Park, what is the away capacity? My understanding is that true Devonians pronounce it ‘Egg-zet-ur’, unlike our terrible Grockle mispronounciation. Looking forward to us playing each other next season, and whatever the management situation I hope you do well.
He said Martin is charge of recruitment analysis. That is only one part of the recruitment function. Scouting, analysis, decision making on which recruits to negotiate with and the ultimate negotiation are all separate functions in recruitment. All of these fall under Gallens and ultimately TS perview Martin is responsible for one aspect but reports to Gallen. I have no clue if he is qualified for that sub role but the ultimate decision of recruiting and signing players lie with Gallen and TS
That seems logical but that's not the way it has been explained by TS and that set up as described, crucially, doesn't include the manager either when JJ was here or now
And yet Adkins had to be convinced to sign Dobson. Sounds to me as it is a team effort identifying targets, but I suspect that it is TS that has to be convinced to pay the money.
Obviously that will be easier if there is broad agreement.
It would be nice if we could give them a modicum of time and see how the new recruitment team do in their first summer.
Forever the case at every club. Obviously Roland was all about that but back when we actually seemed to be properly run I remember Murray would kill a lot of transfers based on cost. Not always the worst thing, we were well run because we were careful, but I believe he killed off the signings of Sidwell and Bullard that Curbs wanted at peak periods in their careers because he didn't want to spend the money. I have a memory of him saying no to signing Julian Gray as well becuase he would have cost something like £500k. Makes it all the weirder because after Curbs he lost his mind and let Dowie do whatever he wanted, which was seemingly try to create the world's most hilarious clown car line-up. Football is replete with stories of owners who insisted on poorly-judged signings to foist on their managers and transfers coaches wanted which were rejected. Guardiola couldn't convince City to sign van Dijk for the money Southampton wanted and that really was the catalyst for Liverpool's recent unstoppable success. He did ask for Claudio Bravo, John Stones and Nathan Ake though so who knows. Ultimately in these situations there's always someone at the top who has to give the go ahead and there will always be stories of missed opportunities, failed signings and false dawns.
I’ll never ever understand Dowie being allowed to spend more in one summer than Curbs did in a decade.
I don't think it's a cert that Taylor woild take the job if offered.
He'll possibly speak to Jackson about how the club is run, what the owner is like to work with etc. & then decide against it
I agree. I genuinely don't see that anyone upwardly mobile would want to work with TS, unless he's going to provide any enormous budget. The perception in the wider football community is bound to be that Jacko was harshly treated.
I don't think it's a cert that Taylor woild take the job if offered.
He'll possibly speak to Jackson about how the club is run, what the owner is like to work with etc. & then decide against it
If he makes decisions based on the views of just one person, and someone who has just left the Club, then the job is too big for him. We need a manager that can make his own decisions during a match. Phone a friend is not available.
Even as a major promoter of Taylor and with a financial interest in him becoming manager too, I hope that he turns it down if he feels that he cannot do the job that he wants to without unnecessary interference from TS - one because it would send a message to TS that even someone who is relatively new to management doesn't want that but, also, because I don't think it's fair on him to move from a place where he has the full support of the fanbase to a club with building blocks and a structure in place to where he is having to do a job with one hand behind his back and where fans will, invariably, point the finger directly at him for any failure.
It would be interesting to see if Taylor stays where Exeter end up against us in the table - one would expect that they will be flirting with relegation and that that we will be challenging for the Play Offs at the very least but, as we found last season when we couldn't even finish in the top half and barely outperformed the likes of Cambridge, Cheltenham and Burton, there really is no certainty of that unless we employ the right manager and sign the right players. But we have to start doing that yesterday and not tomorrow. Be it Taylor or someone else.
I am not sure what Martin Sandgaard does, or any detail at all as to why he is disparaged, although I am sure people will reasonably say others could do whatever MS is supposed to do much better, but beyond that what damage to good stuff balance is there? I certainly don’t know. However what does make sense to me is Thomas Sandgaard having somebody in location he can trust, and to be honest I don’t blame him.
Appreciate your thoughts Seth but its not about trust it’s nepotism and it’s bonkers. Yes he can do what he likes it’s his money but it’s pure wrong for our football club.
None of us really know though. I suspect it’s just a good fit for TS to have his son here, to keep an eye on things as Seth said. I doubt very much that Martin is throwing his weight around overruling people who have much more experience than he does, even if TS is bigging him up, saying he runs the show. Fwiw, the body language between him and Gallen seemed ok after the U18s match at the weekend. If Martin *is* being is nightmare then I’m sure we’ll hear about it one way or another.
There are two camps here - blind faith in Sandgaard or enormous sceptics. One is based on evidence, one is based on hope.
To a greater or lesser extent the story of every ownership (discounting ESI2) over the last decade is the same - movement from optimism/goodwill to disappointment/ antagonism. The timescale and depth of disillusionment differed but the trajectory has been the same. I think that is more accurate than “two camps” - it is a dynamic and people move from one to the other position over time. The movement has been one way only.
Perhaps it was ever thus. You can apply it to the Glikstens, Hulyer, Fryer and even the Murray-led administration although there was significant success mixed into those (over and above promotion from the third tier).
I do not think the fans were responsible for what happened with the spivs/Duchatelet/ESI - the reality was that all of these owners were wankers, to use the technical term. The movement in opinion was thus inevitable as they got found out, on and off the pitch. None of those people were going to run the club successfully over time, however the fans reacted. All of them, incidentally, were overtly or covertly opposed by their own staff.
It’s important both to learn from history and not to conclude that this dynamic is inevitable. But right now the trajectory is the same, whether people like it or not.
The trouble is our fan base have been scarred from the wankers as you technically call them, has your stance changed on TS? As your tone of post regarding him seems to have changed or am I misinterpreting things( easily done) are we in danger of trying to find TS out as you say and eventually push the guy away for what has been described as naive mistakes?. If the people with an agenda against him have concrete evidence that history is repeating then show the evidence so it can be acted upon, otherwise it could end in tears and open ourselves up to Thomas giving it bollox, and low and behold we’re asking the same questions of the new incumbent, eventually the doubters are going to have to accept what we have and not what they would want in a perfect world.
Heyo, Exeter fan here popping along to share some thoughts on Matt Taylor as there seems to be a lot of talk about him going to you. No idea if any of it is genuine or not and obviously hope he doesn't go, but that's the nature of football.
He's clearly done some great stuff with a midtable budget this season. It's taken some time to get there though, you might need a little patience to get to where you want to be. Doesn't sound like your owners are in for that. We've had some dire results over the last 4 years and there was a vocal minority calling for him to be gone, particularly the end of last season.
As far as tactics go, we've done really well with 5-3-2, which I read is what you've been playing and it not being an ideal fit. I wouldn't worry too much about that, we were forced into it by having a bunch of players best suited to wingback and no fullbacks or wingers.
Developing academy players is something we're known for and I've seen people on here are keen on it. Obviously a lot of this is down to the academy itself, which was churning out gems before Taylor and will continue to do so after he's gone (hopefully!). He deserves credit for bringing them into the first team, but again that's been a longterm project requiring patience as they are gradually introduced. This close season he's been unusually ruthless culling them, with some real surprise releases. I guess that's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The big issue seems to be your owner's interference, which I think might be the thing that really gives Taylor pause. At Exeter he has pretty much complete control over everything. Unlike in the past we don't have an experienced director of football behind the scenes. I don't know if he'd be willing to work with an owner who is telling him how to play and who to sign.
Our owner doesn't want to pick the side, he just wants to tell the manager to play a certain style and recruit for him. All well and good to play attacking football if you are good enough.
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
Which is still a problem. Any manager or coach you recruit has been successful because they’ve chosen to play a certain way, with certain types of player etc. Why would you then force them to change that and expect it be successful?
You wouldn’t, you’d hire a manager who has a similar footballing philosophy to you. If I owned the club I’d never hire a manager who only plays a long ball game for example.
That parts obvious. What about input into transfers?
Got to find someone willing to work under the structure you’ve put in place, or change it.
Wonder if that’s a reason we haven’t hired anyone yet?
It’s not a unique structure to us and can work but MS is completely unproven, it’s not as if he’s worked his way up from being an analyst in the academy or joined after being successful elsewhere.
I can see a head coach coming in as I don’t expect TS to change the structure at this point in time.
It just so happens that we have a head of recruitment and performance analysis who did just that. Started as a performance analyst intern straight after university and worked his way up over 8 years. Last summer we made a bunch of underwhelming signings who went on to be really successful, a lot of people put that down to him finding the gems.
Said the other day that no manager worth their salt would get involved with us once they've heard how TS plans on doing things. Until TS pulls his head out if his arse we are going nowhere.
My god this place is both tedious and depressing at times.
Literally nobody knows what terms have been offered to any prospective manager (if any have), what restraints will be placed on that manager, what structure they'll work within.
Yet the hand wringing and incessant bleating is endless, "nobody will come in under this system", "why haven't we got anybody in yet", and on and on and on.
The season hasn't even finished yet! Only 2 clubs have appointed new managers so far, and I think we're all in agreement that one of those may have been a bit hasty. I'd far rather the club takes it's time finding the right appointment, and that the negotiations to get the right deal and system in place take whatever time is needed.
It's like you're all desperate for the worst possible outcome just so you can justify your self flagellation.
My god this place is both tedious and depressing at time.
Literally nobody knows what terms have been offered to any prospective manager (if any have), what restraints will be placed on that manager, what structure they'll work within.
Yet the hand wringing and incessant bleating is endless, "nobody will come in under this system", "why haven't we got anybody in yet", and on and on and on.
The season hasn't even finished yet! Only 2 clubs have appointed new managers so far, and I think we're all in agreement that one of those may have been a bit hasty. I'd far rather the club takes it's time finding the right appointment, and that the negotiations to get the right deal and system in place take whatever time is needed.
It's like you're all desperate for the worst possible outcome just so you can justify your self flagellation.
Thanks for your post on all things Exeter and Matt Taylor. Best of luck in 44 of your games next season.
You say 5-3-2 but is it more attacking in the sense that most of the time it is 3-5-2 with the wing backs playing a large part of the game attacking rather than holding their positions in a defensive shape in a Tony Pulis type formation where you double up on the opposition's wide player/s ? You negate more than be offensively minded ?
Formations are always flexible when you are in or out of possession obviously and also is the word locally that Matt Taylor is a mate of the players or he is the gaffer and expects players to show discipline on and off the pitch ?
I, like you have doubts about the working relationship between Thomas Sandgaard and Matt Taylor if he was offered or if he accepted the Job as Matt had a lot of freedom at Exeter and major decisions were all down to him within the monetary constraints.
Cheers.
It's been more of an attacking formation, but if we stick with it then obviously the step up in quality may necessitate it being tested defensively. Imagine our wingbacks could probably get away with playing as wingers if we had any fullbacks. We got in a hell of a lot of crosses that weren't converted last season. Goalscoring was our big problem, and we only won a couple of matches by more than a single goal. The formation was really more like 3-3-3-1 in practice. Our main striker was injured for a big chunk of the season and if we'd had him (or someone like Stockley) up front and fit we'd have walked the league.
As to whether he is friends with the players, I can't say for sure. The last few seasons he came into some criticism for being very open about why he was releasing or not picking players. People felt this would negatively impact the players' futures and would therefore put others off signing for him. It didn't appear to though and in one case it worked out well: he said that Piers Sweeney had not done enough to keep himself fit during covid and after some weird shenanigans last summer (he turned down a contract with us, signed for Swindon, then the next day they mutually terminated his contract and he came back to us) he had his best season for us.
Comments
The main drawback with our owner is the fact he is on Twitter, the idiots get in his ear and then he finally reacts.
I think it is more nuanced.
Certainly Sandgaard could’ve made some better decisions, then again if his interest in the academy and added facilities at Sparrows lane that would be marked down as a good decision.
Things don’t cancel each out that easily, and maybe what is called blind faith is closer to utter relief we’re not in the clutches of Southall.
Wonder if that’s a reason we haven’t hired anyone yet?
It’s not a unique structure to us and can work but MS is completely unproven, it’s not as if he’s worked his way up from being an analyst in the academy or joined after being successful elsewhere.
Thanks for your post on all things Exeter and Matt Taylor. Best of luck in 44 of your games next season.
You say 5-3-2 but is it more attacking in the sense that most of the time it is 3-5-2 with the wing backs playing a large part of the game attacking rather than holding their positions in a defensive shape in a Tony Pulis type formation where you double up on the opposition's wide player/s ?
You negate more than be offensively minded ?
Formations are always flexible when you are in or out of possession obviously and also is the word locally that Matt Taylor is a mate of the players or he is the gaffer and expects players to show discipline on and off the pitch ?
I, like you have doubts about the working relationship between Thomas Sandgaard and Matt Taylor if he was offered or if he accepted the Job as Matt had a lot of freedom at Exeter and major decisions were all down to him within the monetary constraints.
Cheers.
I'm sure Taylor at this point has more insight of what it's like managing Charlton Athletic in 2022 from inevitable chats with Jackson and others he may know than most of us on here and therefore may not be the assumed no brained in accepting any offer he may have received.
Managers will leave, but you recruit a new manager that fits us, or promote managers.
The best person I ever employed and worked alongside arrived with a first from Exeter University.
I like the ground development seen on the telly since my last visit to the proper St James’ Park, what is the away capacity?
My understanding is that true Devonians pronounce it ‘Egg-zet-ur’, unlike our terrible Grockle mispronounciation.
Looking forward to us playing each other next season, and whatever the management situation I hope you do well.
He'll possibly speak to Jackson about how the club is run, what the owner is like to work with etc. & then decide against it
It would be interesting to see if Taylor stays where Exeter end up against us in the table - one would expect that they will be flirting with relegation and that that we will be challenging for the Play Offs at the very least but, as we found last season when we couldn't even finish in the top half and barely outperformed the likes of Cambridge, Cheltenham and Burton, there really is no certainty of that unless we employ the right manager and sign the right players. But we have to start doing that yesterday and not tomorrow. Be it Taylor or someone else.
Until TS pulls his head out if his arse we are going nowhere.
Literally nobody knows what terms have been offered to any prospective manager (if any have), what restraints will be placed on that manager, what structure they'll work within.
Yet the hand wringing and incessant bleating is endless, "nobody will come in under this system", "why haven't we got anybody in yet", and on and on and on.
The season hasn't even finished yet! Only 2 clubs have appointed new managers so far, and I think we're all in agreement that one of those may have been a bit hasty. I'd far rather the club takes it's time finding the right appointment, and that the negotiations to get the right deal and system in place take whatever time is needed.
It's like you're all desperate for the worst possible outcome just so you can justify your self flagellation.
As to whether he is friends with the players, I can't say for sure. The last few seasons he came into some criticism for being very open about why he was releasing or not picking players. People felt this would negatively impact the players' futures and would therefore put others off signing for him. It didn't appear to though and in one case it worked out well: he said that Piers Sweeney had not done enough to keep himself fit during covid and after some weird shenanigans last summer (he turned down a contract with us, signed for Swindon, then the next day they mutually terminated his contract and he came back to us) he had his best season for us.