Jody Morris, why am against the hire on balance?
Firstly let's deal with the Gourlay and the Chelsea/ManU old boys network. This is the way our CEO operates through contacts with people he knows in the game. Frankly I would have been staggered if there wasn't some connection however tenuous between Gourlay and whoever we hired. We know that process is rubbish generally, but that does not mean that Morris will be rubbish but it almost certainly not the best we might have got. We spoke to a number of coaches outside that network and lo and behold the best happens to someone who is part of it.
Secondly I am generally in favour of hiring younger coaches. However when we hired Darren Moore I was very concerned that he had no experience as a Head Coach. If anything our circumstances as a club a good deal worse than when Darren took over and Jody Morris has no more experience as a Head Coach. It does not have to be masses of experience just enough to make a few mistakes and learn from them.
There isn't anything else but those are two huge issues and as with all hires the infrastructure around him is wholly inadequate and this makes his lack of experience a bigger issue.
I totally get what you're saying and would agree it's a big risk, but I don't really see an alternative to a risky appointment for us in this current situation. I don't think Dyche is the man, I personally think that's just going to end up with more unsuccessful crosses and long balls into our short strikers.
I hope this doesn't come across as argumentative or anything, genuine question, but would you rather Gourlay doesn't use his links? I understand that it went wrong with Bruce, but with (yet another) huge decision to make, I'd be more worried if he didn't consider his contacts. I'm completely against it when the candidate is completely past it and obviously a bad fit (Bruce), but that doesn't mean I'd want Gourlay to take a stab in the dark with someone he knows nothing about next time. If there are good things being heard about Morris, I think it's worth a shot myself
** Just to clarify further, Morris wouldn't be my first choice, I'd prefer Schumacher or McKenna myself. But I'd be excited and want to give him a chance if Morris got the gig - whether he's known to Gourlay or not