I see people on here who appreciate Mel’s footballing philosophies and want him to succeed, yet you claim that these people are ‘shoving their Pro Mel agenda down everyone else's throats’. Now you have been, shall we say, ‘Anti Mel’ and have posted your thoughts frequently, yet your opinion is based upon claims that are completely unsubstantiated ie that Downing and Kiely are doing all the coaching and making the tactical decisions.
What footballing philosophies are we talking about here? I cant honestly see a single difference he has made. Defensively we are still a shambles, we create very few chances and in the times we do and score a few goals we end up drawing a game that we should have won of which there are plenty of examples this season.
What improvements has Pepe Mel made to the team?
I tell you what I think has happened this season. We were failing under Clarke and the board turned to McDonough who championed Mel. Downing and Kiely have questioned (correctly I will add) McDonoughs involvement and he's got the boot. A rather lonely Mel finds it difficult to put his points across to the players without the help of his own backroom team (another Albion mistake).
When it quickly became apparent that Mel cannot get his points across the players together with Downing and Kiely have approached the board who have put pressure on Mel to compromise. IMO he should have walked out at the point with his pride intact. Now he is merely going through the motions, playing along if you will, until he leaves in the summer. The club think too highly of Downing and Kiely to get rid, as it was the reason for so many managers (even Mel) not wanting the job.
It will be far cheaper to pay Mel off for the remainder of the season rather that overhaul the backroom staff together with a huge turnover of players especially (again IMO) that he has shown very little in terms of improving us.