The latest Manager in the cross-hairs is supposedly Gary Rowett. I can't see it happening, it's not an impossibility though. The fact Birmingham are still a mess off the field may factor into Rowett's decision should we give him one to make, but still I can't see it. Rowett is someone who I rate ridiculously highly, and I would absolutely love it if he came on board- but basing it off Rowett's Press-Conference from yesterday it doesn't seem likely. The thing with the Rowett link, and it's something that I don't think should be legal in all honesty- for want of a better term it's "Betting Market and Consumer manipulation". I don't have any "insider knowledge" and I don't claim to, with that said- and especially in the case of SkyBet with their obvious media reach I think they're guilty of doing "Betting Market Manipulation".
To try and describe this, media outlets create a story to create interest- it's the same thing that happens with the Papers over the International Break where everyone is suddenly buying Messi. With "New Manager" markets, and one that doesn't have an obvious market leader at this stage in our case- they basically manipulate people into backing in this case Gary Rowett in the Market by reporting on a "story". Then when there's an obvious shift in odds as a result, and as result more people pile on and it's the blind leading the blind and the Odds are greatly shortened as a result. There's your Conspiracy Theory for the day.
Anyway, back to the Manager situation. Supposedly should we fail with Gary Rowett, which we will- the report is that our "back-up" option is Mark Warburton. The only situation where I'd want Mark Warburton would be if he came in just in time for the Brentford game in a few weeks. I don't really "trust" Mark Warburton. He knew the Brentford system like the back of his hand, and it's similar to the Eddie Howe situation where I'm not sure how good he'd be outside of the Bournemouth dugout. Even though Warburton's stepped outside of his "comfort zone" now, Rangers is hardly the hardest job in the world- and again I don't know why he'd come to us in the first place.
So now that I've successfully ruled out two more Managers on the ever dwindling list, we get back to the drawing board. I still want Oscar Garcia, especially now Pearson's out of the running I'm even more "interested" in us getting him. If not Oscar Garcia, I want (and I realise this is somewhat contradictory to what I've said about "comfort zones) us to at least take a look Karl Robinson. I wanted us to go after him when we sacked Magath, and I think Robinson's starting to realise there's a ceiling at MK Dons. He's not really that dissimilar to Gary Rowett, except Rowett's already taken the "next step" by leaving Burton Albion and going to a "bigger" Club to expand his horizons.
I don't know if you can call this Season a write-off already, while it's 99% not likely we get Playoffs- it's not an impossibility. If we can get on a run under whoever we put in charge who knows what's possible? Momentum is such a key factor in the Championship, even to the point where I'd argue it's more important than having the Squad. Obviously the Squad supplements the momentum, but a team greater than the sum of it's parts can be Top 6 material. With that in mind it basically comes down to the sort of Manager we want, a "builder" or a "catalyst". If we wanted a catalyst, I don't think there'd have been a much better choice than Nigel Pearson- which is why I'm now leaning more toward a "builder" now.
Right then, Conspiracy Theories and Manager angst out of the way once again. EVERYONE IS INJURED. Literally everyone; McCormack? Injured. Stearman? Injured. Tunnicliffe? Injured. Billy the Badger? Culled. Ivan? Injured. Obviously I'm exaggerating somewhat, but the fact so many people are even in the "doubtful" bracket for tomorrow so soon after an International Break is quite frankly ridiculous.
Annoyingly, one player that wasn't mentioned in the "round-up" of injuries was Andy Lonergan. In some cases "no news" is good news, in others it's bad news- and sometimes "no news" is no news. The fact there hasn't been an update on Andy Lonergan leads me to believe that he isn't going to be back to face one of his Former Clubs tomorrow. In Andy Lonergan's absence it's obvious Joe Lewis will continue. As I've said a number of times, in Lonergan's absence I'm happy for Lewis to continue in goal.
At least in one case from Peter Grant's Press Conference an Injury situation has been properly cleared up. We now know Jazz Richards isn't fit and available as Kit had said he would be prior to the Internationals, which is quite annoying really. The fact Grant highlighted Tunnicliffe as the one most likely not to "make it" to tomorrow means I'm expecting Ryan Fredericks to be starting tomorrow. It's definitely not an ideal situation, we may well be risking aggravating whatever nagging injuries Fredericks has- but I don't really see an alternative. I'm praying to multiple gods that Tim Ream's recovered properly from his illness. I just can't even suggest Dan Burn start any more after the Month he's had. I've been one of Ream's biggest critics this season, and without a doubt I want us to sign a Centre-Back in January (if we can)- but I'd take Ream over Burn any day. Obviously partnering Ream would be Stearman, who's another one of the "doubtful" ones for tomorrow. With Garbutt's lack of anything resembling a convincing performance last Saturday, it falls back to James Husband coming back from Suspension. As I've said a number of times at this point, even when Husband goes back in a few weeks time I don't really want Garbutt starting. I'm happy for Garbutt to be starting up until January, but then I want us to sign a Centre-Back (which is necessary anyway) and start Tim Ream at Left-Back.
We saw the return of the Diamond last weekend, proving that Diamonds are indeed forever. It's not my first choice, but I'm not as against it as I was last season- because we've got players better suited to a Diamond this season. You'll know if you were reading these last season that I wanted Tim Hoogland to be played as a proper DM, and in Sakari Mattila I think we've gotten one. I don't want him to become a regular starter, but in the current situation I'd be all for him starting. That current situation is of course in relation to the Ryan Tunnicliffe injury. I said it before, and it's worth repeating now. Ryan Tunnicliffe is necessary to the overall team dynamic, and he balances the team quite a lot. I'm just hoping that his Injury doesn't hit us quite as hard as I think it might.
While we're only playing on the Weekends I'm happy for O'Hara to retain his place, Mattila coming in will push O'Hara a bit further up the pitch- which can only be a good thing knowing what O'Hara's strengths are. I'm going to keep suggesting this until it actually happens, I want Alex Kacaniklic to at least get in the Squad this Weekend- but hopefully also start and get a run in the team. The fact Sean Kavanagh got into the team when to my best knowledge Kacaniklic wasn't injured is just crazy to me. Kavanagh did nothing to suggest he should be starting over Kacaniklic last weekend, and I'm just hoping Kacaniklic gets the chance he really deserves tomorrow. The only proper option we've got for the top of the Diamond is Tom Cairney, and that's perfectly fine by me given it's without a doubt his best role.
The Striker Selection is pretty simple, as is the case for the next few weeks heading into the Christmas Fixtures. There's even more supposed interest in Dembele over the course of the week, and it's just really annoying at this stage. I'm hoping for Dembele's sake if he doesn't sign a Contract he moves to a Club that'll help nurture his talent as opposed to "stockpiling" him like most "big" Clubs do with Young Players. I don't doubt Dembele has the ability to make it at the very top level with the rate at which he's developing, but stalling him at this stage of his development is going to kill him. I obviously want Dembele to stay, but if he goes for Free heads will roll. McCormack's another of the doubtful ones for tomorrow, but I hope he's fine for obvious reasons. If he isn't I don't have a big issue with Matt Smith coming in, I don't have high hopes- but if Grant can play Smith without turning us into a completely Route One team I'm over the moon.
Team for Preston
I said it in my MK Dons Review, and I think with the further criticism there's been of the Managerial Appointment process over this week- I'm not going to get on Mike Rigg's back yet. In an ideal world we'd have had a Manager in place for the MK Dons game, but the fact is we didn't. If we take all this time to just give Peter Grant until the End of the Season (or something similar) then I'll obviously get annoyed about the whole thing. However, I'm willing to wait for the "right" appointment, whatever that appointment may be. Whether it's Rowett, Warburton, Robinson, Garcia- whatever it is unless it's someone like Harry Redknapp I'll be happy to give them a proper chance.
Thanks for reading as always, the game tomorrow is definitely going to be an interesting one- but it's one that even without a permanent "Head Coach" we really need to be winning. Whether we actually do win or not is a completely separate matter, and one that I'm not at all confident in. Anyway, that's for tomorrow and the Review- in the meantime we can only hope for the best. Thanks again for reading, as always the Review will be up tomorrow so hopefully you'll stay tuned for that and the Review tomorrow is a positive one.
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