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Whatever you say about Iaen Wood love him or hate him hr has to manage the finances of the club within the budget allocated to him.He was instrumental in finding us better training facilities and by all accounts does a lot of work behind the scenes which nobody sees.Some mistakes will be made along the way but cast your mind back to what our ground used to be like compared to today with the fazone,improved floodlights,better toilets and refreshment facilities.Rome wasn,t built in a day so give the guy a chance.

Hadrian wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 2:07 pm First they came for the Head Coach

Then they came for the CEO

Then they came for the Board

Then they remembered Colne Dynamos

But it was too late

Barrows problems have no compassion with Colne Dynamics.
White and a mate bought Colne Dynamos and he tried to move them up the pyramid.
In 1989 they won the NPL but were refused promotion to the National League that was the season we beat them in the semi final if the Trophy just shows you money does not buy everything
He folded the the club .

Our Model is owners who are fans and that will give us financial limitations but that's no reason not to succeed.
All that glisters is not gold.
If Wood is not part of the solution he is part of the problem.


The Manager had to go .
Wood not sure if you know him but he has hardly done anything more that a decent administrator could do

Methuselah wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 2:22 pm Whatever you say about Iaen Wood love him or hate him hr has to manage the finances of the club within the budget allocated to him.He was instrumental in finding us better training facilities and by all accounts does a lot of work behind the scenes which nobody sees.Some mistakes will be made along the way but cast your mind back to what our ground used to be like compared to today with the fazone,improved floodlights,better toilets and refreshment facilities.Rome wasn,t built in a day so give the guy a chance.

I am not doubting what he does is above and beyond his remit but like many, and I have no evidence to support it, just a feeling that in whatever way. he had a hand in Pete Wild leaving, the best manager since Evatt.

bluessupporter wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 2:33 pm

Methuselah wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 2:22 pm Whatever you say about Iaen Wood love him or hate him hr has to manage the finances of the club within the budget allocated to him.He was instrumental in finding us better training facilities and by all accounts does a lot of work behind the scenes which nobody sees.Some mistakes will be made along the way but cast your mind back to what our ground used to be like compared to today with the fazone,improved floodlights,better toilets and refreshment facilities.Rome wasn,t built in a day so give the guy a chance.

I am not doubting what he does which is above and beyond his remit, but like many I have no evidence to support it, just a feeling that in whatever way. he had a hand in Pete Wild leaving, the best manager since Evatt.

Maybe Pete Wild had just as big a hand in leaving but due to the NDA none of us will ever know. What was very telling was when Paul Hornby disclosed at a Q&A that Wilds solicitors were straight on the phone to him the moment after he had spoken to Radio Cumbria about Wilds departure.

It was unfortunate that Wild left as I think we would have progressed. However, the reasons for his departure can only be guessed and in any case the ship sailed a long time ago and it is time we stopped crying about it.

I am disappointed that Andy Whing thinks his dismissal was harsh. Two wins out of ten home league games this season and falling attendances is surely something that owners and fans can not tolerate and IMO it had to happen.

The next big decision is whether to seek a new Manager/Head Coach urgently or leave Neil McDonald in charge. Stick or twist?

Jim wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 5:33 pm

The next big decision is whether to seek a new Manager/Head Coach urgently or leave Neil McDonald in charge. Stick or twist?

It looks like he was brought in to step up when it became obvious that Whing couldn't handle it.

Personally I would see how much difference he makes before seeking a new manager. Hope it's a manager and not head coach.

If McDonald steers us in the right direction and can get some shape into the side, I would stick with him until the end of the season and take it from there.

I would be interested to know who put forward the names of every player we signed pre season. Were they Andy Whing's suggestions or did they come from someone else.
Some have been a success some less so.

Pedro wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 2:29 pm

Hadrian wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 2:07 pm First they came for the Head Coach

Then they came for the CEO

Then they came for the Board

Then they remembered Colne Dynamos

But it was too late

Barrows problems have no compassion with Colne Dynamics.
White and a mate bought Colne Dynamos and he tried to move them up the pyramid.
In 1989 they won the NPL but were refused promotion to the National League that was the season we beat them in the semi final if the Trophy just shows you money does not buy everything
He folded the the club .

Our Model is owners who are fans and that will give us financial limitations but that's no reason not to succeed.
All that glisters is not gold.
If Wood is not part of the solution he is part of the problem.

The Manager had to go .
Wood not sure if you know him but he has hardly done anything more that a decent administrator could do

I get tricked by auto-correct, too! Presume 'comparison' intended, in which case I can only agree up to a point.

Your summary of the Colne situation fails to mention the level of personal abuse that developed towards the owners and their families, moving from keyboard warriors to the real world. Sometimes in life, enough is enough. You will remember the numpty who chose to abuse our club's owner live on air following the dreadful performance at Shaw Lane. Within twelve months he had gone. Was that why? I would imagine not. Did it and all the other sneering and ill-informed negatives towards him and his family play no part in his final departure? Imagine for yourself.

What we are finding is, increasingly, people are seeing problems based upon assumptions, hearsay, angry social media posts (I include this forum as such) and there has been an increasingly vindictive, sneering and unpleasant attitude. I accept that some people may post without thought but these comments can affect the well-being of those who work with the club. People from the Simple Solutions brigade will doubtless suggest that those in the club and their families shouldn't read such posts; such naïvety is touching, however in the real world...



Why do you image in Wood is no part of your imaginary solution? What administration had Whing been doing that left so little time to do "hardly...anything " more?

Some interesting comments in this thread, some odd ones.

Wingers? - tend to be outside midfielders nowadays; five forwards no longer.

Right back? Do we play a back five or a back four? Sometimes the team adapts to those in-game but neither appears to be the preferred formation.

Recruitment? Repeatedly we have been reminded on here that it is a team process. Assume final say will be that of management - CEO and Head Coach.

Manager? What do people imagine a Head Coach does all day? He manages the football side of the club under the Sporting Director (also the CEO) with the Football Staff, based in Manchester. In the same way, the Club Staff listed in 'The Bluebird' have Joseph Harvey listed as Head of Football Operations, Rickie Wallbank as General Manager as part of perhaps the leanest behind the scenes team in the EFL.