I think it's more a question of realism versus desire.

1. We don't have the money that the desirable managers will want and so they won't come. We've clearly seen that in the past.

2. Lopetegui and Potter have been mentioned. Yes, a nice dream but the former will want the money we haven't got and the latter will want a bigger club IMO.

3. Roy played more attacking football when he came in to replace Vieira BUT this season, injuries to key players have shown how threadbare our squad is and how few we have who can enable us to play on the front foot

4. Paddy certainly isn't the answer.

5. As for Cooper, he did a decent job at Swansea with a limited squad and no money taking them to consecutive play-offs - hence his attraction to Parish. At Forest, he seems to have been undone by an owner who bought a pell-mell of players which Cooper struggled to keep happy as there were simply too many of them. Also, he only had the one real striker (I don't count Wood) who has been injured during the recent poor run.

I am not surprised that Cooper is touted as the the number one name on our manager shopping list. He's basically a Roy Mark 2 with a bit more desire to attack and I expect him to be our next manager, possibly after the Brentford game if Roy is happy to step down (I don't see Parish sacking him).

Is that what I want?

No, I'd love a Lopetegui or an Arne Slot but that's dreamland. Reality points to Cooper IMO.

Edited by doombear (22 Dec 2023 1.33pm)

Might be a controversial question, but what's a discussion forum for:

Is Potter's recent record obviously better than Cooper's?

Potter:

- Finished 10th in the Championship with Swansea in their first season down.
- Finished 15th and 16th in his first two seasons at Brighton. Finished 9th in his third season, then left the following September for Chelsea. De Zerbi takes the team on to a record finish.
- That team that finished 9th (which is widely acknowledged to have been built by Dan Ashworth) included Sanchez, Cucurella, Bissouma, MacAllister, Trossard, Gross, Welbeck, March, Dunk ... is it that wonderful an achievement for the manager?
- Survived a few months at Chelsea. 31 games, 11 defeats. Club around him is a shambles but didn't manage to instil any of his passing philosophy on the players.

Cooper:

- Replaced Potter at Swansea. Got Swansea into the play-offs, lost out to Brentford.
- Second season, into the play-offs again. Again lost out to Brentford. Left in the summer. Swansea finished 15th the following season without Cooper.
- Takes over at Forest who got 1 point from their first 7 games. Loses the same number of games in the next 39 and gets them promoted on top of knocking Arsenal and Leicester out the FA Cup.
- Keeps Forest up with 38 points form 38 games in a strange season where all 3 promoted clubs stayed up - therefore bettering 4 existing PL clubs.
- Sacked with Forest in 17th having taken 14 points from those games, 3 points behind Palace at the time.

There is a clear difference in style - Potter favours a possession based game and Cooper could take it or leave it. Based on their output though... does Cooper get more out of the resources he's given?

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
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Although we have the core of a good team (without injuries) this has been the biggest concern all season and will be the reason we'll get drawn into a relegation scrap.

Personally I’d like to see Lopetegui appointed.. he’d be expensive but hey he’d do a great job...

Really curious as to peoples thoughts now.

It's not a question of if when Roy goes just when. And we know he will almost certainly be gone at the end of the season.

I'd say there are 3 possibilities now, Cooper, Lopetegui and interestingly some links now to McKenna (Ipswich).

I'm undecided on Cooper and given Lopetegui's issues with transfer funding at Wolves I can't see him fitting with us. McKenna is an interesting and potentially exciting one for me.

I'm still more concerned with any potential funding for the team as opposed to the manager. I anticipate that will be the primary factor in determining how our future pans out.

Personally, I'd like to see Roy stay to the end of the season for two reasons:

1. Purely for sentimental reasons - keeping us up and perhaps a bit of a cup run? He had his send off last time, was asked to step back in and did so without a fuss. Deserves to end it all with dignity and a sense of achievement again.

2. From a footballing and business standpoint - I can't see anyone coming in and changing the world as things stand, much as I detest some of the performances and of course results we churn out. If Roy falls below required standards, or rather results do, then yes someone better will be required. Changing the dynamic completely however, I'm very sceptical.

I hope and think it reasonable to speculate that the club are praying they can get through this limited ambition season with Roy before he leaves at the end of it. We will then of course be forced to look for a new manager and I suspect that will have to coincide with some investment in the team. It would be nice if some planning for this was done in advance and a plan executed in the summer. Seems simple, I am sure will play out very differently though.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!