Bye bye Sheridan (Confirmed)

Whatever happens please make it happen soon. There is so much to sort out we need someone to be at it all summer long.

I hope there is a board meeting or 3 in the diary over the next week.

If Brent wouldn't sack the "Oustanding Individual" Carl Fletcher, I doubt he will sack Shez- even if the Club President doesn't like him.

Shez's downfall is that he won't deviate from what he considers his best side- even playing a clearly unfit Reuben Reid- who has been dire since the Exeter hattrick (due to injury and not training).

I couldn't believe how poorly we defended against set pieces- what has happened to Hartley (it wasn't just him to blame)? who was brilliant at the beginning of the system and now just punts the ball anywhere up-field. Wycombe were the better side though (despite their time wasting antics) and deserved to win both games.

We may need a bit of squad re-building over the summer- I've heard rumours that Nelson and McHugh may want to leave; O'Connor's contract ends and we lose the loan players. Our midfield has been the weakest link through much of the season so we do need to concentrate on that area.

Chemical Ali wrote:

If Brent wouldn't sack the "Oustanding Individual" Carl Fletcher, I doubt he will sack Shez- even if the Club President doesn't like him.

Shez's downfall is that he won't deviate from what he considers his best side- even playing a clearly unfit Reuben Reid- who has been dire since the Exeter hattrick (due to injury and not training).

I couldn't believe how poorly we defended against set pieces- what has happened to Hartley (it wasn't just him to blame)? who was brilliant at the beginning of the system and now just punts the ball anywhere up-field. Wycombe were the better side though (despite their time wasting antics) and deserved to win both games.

We may need a bit of squad re-building over the summer- I've heard rumours that Nelson and McHugh may want to leave; O'Connor's contract ends and we lose the loan players. Our midfield has been the weakest link through much of the season so we do need to concentrate on that area.

That's about the size of it.

SwimWithTheTide wrote:

Shez wrote:

I’m not thinking about it, but the club wants to obviously go forward and be successful, and whether I’m the right man, I don’t know. 

You're not. Bye bye. No excuses for that first half, the players who could win that game were left on the bench. Run Reuben into the ground, failing to rest him when it was needed and thus he was out of steam when we needed him - Brunty showed he could step in and do a job, Reid should have been rested months ago, especially when it wasn't working for him week in week out. Banton and Ansah earned themselves a starting spot on Saturday and 5-3-2 was a proven failure. But no, Johnny smart arse obviously saw something we all didn't - it was Gethin Jones' start that lead to us being 3 nil down the other day and of course Blizzard would step in and raise us from a 3 nil down performance that couldn't muster a shot on target into a side destined for Wembley... Oh wait. *Face-feckin-palm*. Same formation, practically the same 11 and pretty much a repeat performance and scoreline. feckin pathetic. Yes, Brent is a shit head owner and we need someone who can deliver funds to all but guarantee us a route out of this feckin division and actually build a new grandstand ffs, but Sheridan had the squad to beat Wycombe - but his stubbornness saw us fail. No excuses, Sheridan OUT.

Totally agree with this analysis.

The abject failure over the 2 legs of the play-offs can not be set at Brent's door and it's twisted to make an argument which puts it there.

Sheridan picked the wrong team in both games - to make the mistake in the first one could be deemed sloppy but to start with what he did last night was pig ignorance.

John Sheridan has run his race at Home Park.

His ability to bring in players.... especially loanees was a plus.......his ability to tactically plan and adjust when necessary his approach to a match must be a minus.

I feel he has in two years done everything he can .....and it hasn't been enough.....the squad he had I feel was good enough to gain promotion.....but he didn't seem to have the ability to inspire them or find the right tactics to use them to their full potential.

Not moving his family to Devon always seemed to be the wrong approach for full time commitment and availability for training.....it is the nature of the job and you go where the work is....living out of a suitcase nine months of the year doesn't bring a settled mind or family situation and you miss too much interaction with your growing kids......years you never get back.

The Question is......does Sheridan feel that he has come to the end of what he can do at Home Park..... and does Brent and the club directors think he is the right man still for the job.

The worst scenario would be him staying on because Brent doesn't want to pay the third year of his contract off... or negotiate a settlement with him to move on.....if he stays because of that it would be short sightedness.....and in the end cost PAFC more than it saves in possible future success.

I don't think Brent will sack him. But I believe Sheridan wouldn't be disappointed if it happened. He'd get a payoff of course and move back up North. It wouldn't surprise me if some Sheridan comments in the coming days are geared towards engineering the sack.

Czarcasm wrote:

I don't think Brent will sack him. But I believe Sheridan wouldn't be disappointed if it happened. He'd get a payoff of course and move back up North. It wouldn't surprise me if some Sheridan comments in the coming days are geared towards engineering the sack.

That's maybe how it will pan out in the end.

Thinks its a tough one. Remember the preferred starting 11 we all wanted but didn't get last night was of Sheridan's making too.  In the end Wycombe were better and that's that.

Reckon if he does go and the team is completely reset, then mid table mediocracy, or worse, is likely.
Maybe with Sheridan, its better the devil you know. And in his case we know he stopped certain relegation when he arrived and built a team that this season made the playoffs. If the players had performed more consistently towards the season end, we would have been promoted.  

That said I think he's lost the majority of the fans and that's never good.

SwimWithTheTide wrote:

Shez wrote:

I’m not thinking about it, but the club wants to obviously go forward and be successful, and whether I’m the right man, I don’t know. 

You're not. Bye bye. No excuses for that first half, the players who could win that game were left on the bench. Run Reuben into the ground, failing to rest him when it was needed and thus he was out of steam when we needed him - Brunty showed he could step in and do a job, Reid should have been rested months ago, especially when it wasn't working for him week in week out. Banton and Ansah earned themselves a starting spot on Saturday and 5-3-2 was a proven failure. But no, Johnny smart arse obviously saw something we all didn't - it was Gethin Jones' start that lead to us being 3 nil down the other day and of course Blizzard would step in and raise us from a 3 nil down performance that couldn't muster a shot on target into a side destined for Wembley... Oh wait. *Face-feckin-palm*. Same formation, practically the same 11 and pretty much a repeat performance and scoreline. feckin pathetic. Yes, Brent is a shit head owner and we need someone who can deliver funds to all but guarantee us a route out of this feckin division and actually build a new grandstand ffs, but Sheridan had the squad to beat Wycombe - but his stubbornness saw us fail. No excuses, Sheridan OUT.

Totally agree with all that Sam.

Our major handicap in these playoffs wasn't referees, away crowds, injuries, timewasting or wet pitches.

It was stubborn Sheridan and his refusal to deviate from tactics and personnel that was successful around Christmas.

We had 180 minutes of battle. 70 minutes of the first leg were played 3-5-2 with Reid and Alessandra that was evidently not working. We conceded 3 and scored 0. Brunt/Ansah came on and we scored 2 and conceded 0 (having started at Shrewsbury, scoring 2 and conceding 0). In the second half last night, Reid/Alessandra scored 0 and conceded 2. Brunt/Ansah came on and scored 1 and conceded 0.

So if you are talking about the form players, in the last 3 matches, one partnership/formation scored 0 and conceded 5, the other scored 5 and conceded 0.

To defend Sheridan starting the exhausted and borderline injured Reid is absolutely crazy. Everyone who was there at Shrewsbury could have seen how much more Brunt had to give than Reid, how much livelier and hungrier Ansah was than Alessandra.

To have not noticed it at Shrewsbury is one thing, to ignore the playoff home leg is just absolutely shocking. Sheridan is supposed to a professional football manager for crying out loud!!

Nothing Brunt, Ansah or Banton could have done to prove themselves to a stubborn and shortsighted manager, who did not give us a proper chance of getting to Wembley.

Starting with Reuben was a mistake IMO, that said, WTF were we doing at the back, Luke included ? In the words of Alan Hansen "feckin shocking defending"

AstiSpumante wrote:

Starting with Reuben was a mistake IMO, that said, WTF were we doing at the back, Luke included ? In the words of Alan Hansen "feckin shocking defending"

Foreshore.

No amount of "it's all Sheridans fault" can be attributed to 5 goals being conceded by comical defending from set pieces. Especially when our defence had been superb all season. The four Wycombe games have been a perfect microcosm of our season as a whole. Lose at home before a stunning 0-2 away win. Then awful at home before a stirring finale. Then the most inept first 45 minutes for years, before winning the 2nd half 0-1 and being the better team.

Gloriously inconsistent, innit.

Czarcasm wrote:

AstiSpumante wrote:

Starting with Reuben was a mistake IMO, that said, WTF were we doing at the back, Luke included ? In the words of Alan Hansen "feckin shocking defending"

Foreshore.

No amount of "it's all Sheridans fault" can be attributed to 5 goals being conceded by comical defending from set pieces. Especially when our defence had been superb all season. The four Wycombe games have been a perfect microcosm of our season as a whole. Lose at home before a stunning 0-2 away win. Then awful at home before a stirring finale. Then the most inept first 45 minutes for years, before winning the 2nd half 0-1 and being the better team.

Gloriously inconsistent, innit.

If we can't make it stick up front, we can't play in the opposition half.

Therefore with a broken forward partnership, we are constantly returning possession with every upfield punt - to the 4th best team in the league.

If Wycombe are going to pressure us for 45 mins at home, by nature they will get a fair few corners and chances.

Not many teams will defend against 45 mins of pressure, corners, crosses and runs. This is League Two, one player makes one slight lapse of concentration and you're a goal behind.

In the second half when we actually had some forward play, Wycombe weren't all over us. We defended competently when it wasn't wave after wave.

In short, Sheridan got the team wrong. Expose any back line to a constant battering like that and heads will drop. Unless you are a highly skilled defensive team something will give and we got what dpwe deserved from our first half play.

The 3 man midfield was useless. Has been all season. You can't legislate for the slapstick defending but we'd have still lost.

The team weren't good enough to be promoted, Wycombe were the better side, they showed this by finishing fourth as opposed to our seventh and beating us convincingly over two legs.

I'll be surprised if Sheridan is still in the Clubs Employ come Monday by choice or otherwise.

Iggy wrote:

The team weren't good enough to be promoted, Wycombe were the better side, they showed this by finishing fourth as opposed to our seventh and beating us convincingly over two legs.

Imagine being Brunt, Banton and Ansah though.

They have either started or came on against quality opposition together, and battered both Shrewsbury and Wycombe twice.

The team scored 5 goals when they were on the pitch, as opposed to none without them.

The team conceded no goals with them on the pitch, as opposed to conceding 5 when they were on the bench.

In spite of what was obvious to so many fans, Sheridan gave the lion's share of pitch time to the completely ineffectual 3-5-2 and defunct forward pairing, giving Wycombe all the time in the world to come at us, wave after wave...giving them the ball back, punt after punt.

If the magical trio had started these playoff ties, I am not convinced at all that Wycombe would have beaten us. I really think we would have made it to Wembley.

zyph wrote:

John Sheridan has run his race at Home Park.

His ability to bring in players.... especially loanees was a plus.......his ability to tactically plan and adjust when necessary his approach to a match must be a minus.

I feel he has in two years done everything he can .....and it hasn't been enough.....the squad he had I feel was good enough to gain promotion.....but he didn't seem to have the ability to inspire them or find the right tactics to use them to their full potential.

Not moving his family to Devon always seemed to be the wrong approach for full time commitment and availability for training.....it is the nature of the job and you go where the work is....living out of a suitcase nine months of the year doesn't bring a settled mind or family situation and you miss too much interaction with your growing kids......years you never get back.

The Question is......does Sheridan feel that he has come to the end of what he can do at Home Park..... and does Brent and the club directors think he is the right man still for the job.
                       
The worst scenario would be him staying on because Brent doesn't want to pay the third year of his contract off... or negotiate a settlement with him to move on.....if he stays because of that it would be short sightedness.....and in the end cost PAFC more than it saves in possible future success.

This for me, every single word.

Oh and to concede FIVE BLOODY SET PIECES is an absolute joke. Wotton? Defensive coach my arse.

Yea Man wrote:

I'd take Holloway back in a heartbeat.  He had us believing and had players that were passionate about the club.

He was, imho, the best motivational manager we had - forshore.

I see on the official site that Sheridan admits getting his team selection wrong. That is something, at least.

Innocent Egbunike wrote:

I see on the official site that Sheridan admits getting his team selection wrong. That is something, at least.

He said the same after the first leg and STILL went with that team, apart from swapping Blizzard in for Jones. Although my point was lost on GS earlier in the thread, was Sheridan's thinking really that Blizzard in for Jones would make the difference in performance from first leg to second? 

Reuben Reid > Ryan Brunt > Unfit Reuben Reid.

One of the great accolades of Sheridan's time at home park was turning Reuben Reid into a goal scoring machine. He persisted with Reuben despite the goals not coming, despite the performances being poor and he was criticised heavily at the time for it. But, his persistence paid off and he was rewarded with a 20 goal a season striker, consecutively. However, this period of decline in Reid's performances are not down to form, its down to injury. The poor guy hasn't be fit for ages, ticking over with injections in his foot, but his performances have suggest that the short term gain wasn't worth the long term effects of not properly resting the injury. That's where the previous master stroke of persistence from Sheridan turned into stubbornness.

I think too much emphasis is being placed on RReid here. He was the focal point of the team but the team as a whole just didn't pass the ball or keep the ball or feed him with any sort of decent service at all. It wasn't just RReid who was wrong but everybody else too.

For instance how many times did Hartley boot it long to nobody? Blizzard might not do much but he usually protects possession and moves the ball on simple. Last night he dribbled it out play. Then a few minutes later THD did the same thing! Did Alessandra successfully pass to a team mate all night? Right from the kick-off Wycombe pressured us. They'd won their first corner before 60 seconds were up!

There was nothing RReid could have been expected to do, fit or not, about any of that.

But, for what it is worth, I would not have started him. I would probably have gone for Ansah and held RReid back in a role reversal thing. I'd've wanted RReid on the pitch come the end just in case it ended up going to penalties (and I did call that before the game so it isn't just hindsight).

The weak point in the WW team seemed to be the RB in the first game. He should have been targeted - and so should the rookie goalie - but we were so far off it we didn't even get near the goal until after HT.

All in all it was a horribly empty, frustrating experience.

There ain't much point in getting into the play-offs at all if we are going to perform like we did, is there?

That wonderful 10 mins of Marley-inspired mayhem seems like a very distant memory now.

Dick Trickle wrote:

There is an former manager who is currently unemployed.

hollowords can do one,
don't want him back

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

I think too much emphasis is being placed on RReid here. He was the focal point of the team but the team as a whole just didn't pass the ball or keep the ball or feed him with any sort of decent service at all. It wasn't just RReid who was wrong but everybody else too.

For instance how many times did Hartley boot it long to nobody? Blizzard might not do much but he usually protects possession and moves the ball on simple. Last night he dribbled it out play. Then a few minutes later THD did the same thing! Did Alessandra successfully pass to a team mate all night? Right from the kick-off Wycombe pressured us. They'd won their first corner before 60 seconds were up!

There was nothing RReid could have been expected to do, fit or not, about any of that.

But, for what it is worth, I would not have started him. I would probably have gone for Ansah and held RReid back in a role reversal thing. I'd've wanted RReid on the pitch come the end just in case it ended up going to penalties (and I did call that before the game so it isn't just hindsight).

The weak point in the WW team seemed to be the RB in the first game. He should have been targeted - and so should the rookie goalie - but we were so far off it we didn't even get near the goal until after HT.

All in all it was a horribly empty, frustrating experience.

There ain't much point in getting into the play-offs at all if we are going to perform like we did, is there?

That wonderful 10 mins of Marley-inspired mayhem seems like a very distant memory now.

Absolutely, Errington tweeted at Half-Time about the triple sub coming, but said that it doesn't matter who's coming on and replacing Reuben if they don't get better supply. But a lot of that was down to the shape, 5-3-2 against a 4-3-3 left their fullbacks with an easy job and they were never stretched as a team - until we did switch to 4-4-2 again and suddenly they're the team on the back foot. I do understand the argument that had it have been nil nil and we started 4-4-2 rather than the 5-3-2 it wouldn't have panned out the same as switching to 4-4-2 when 2 down (3 down agg), but I don't think Wycombe opt to back off quite as much as we had them pinned. Ainsworth certainly wasn't happy and was very nervous (he admit this in his post match), he clearly wanted them to continue to dictate play, but with a change of system and some exciting attacking players on the field, we didn't allow it. Brunt or Ansah in for Reuben alone wouldn't have made enough of a difference, perhaps a little, but not enough. Brunt, Ansah and Banton in for McHugh, Blizzard and Reuben on the other hand...

feck it, anyway, its all hindsight and our stubborn manager fecked it for us.

He's admitted as much tbf to him.