I have found reading this forum since the appointment quite interesting. It would appear nobody is happy with the appointment but peoples responses go from giving him a chance, to those who seem to be desperate to organise protests, banners, etc.
Personally if you wish to make a stand then to me that would to ask for Season Ticket refunds, Greenock Baggies post was quite touching as there is somebody who travels thousands of miles to watch his team (and i know there are load of others who do the same) and this appointment has pushed him too far so he is wanting a refund, hope he changes his mind but if not fair play to him for making his personal stand, no agenda just personal action.
I think the club have got it wrong on a few occasions, i think its poor form to let the news break when the whole country is focusing on the England match, they must of known what the news would be greeted like. Also i think the last 12-18 months wrong appointments have been made, i still dont understand the Clarke was a failure thing, yes we were struggling and it was boring, but he also got us our highest ever Prem finish and we werent in the relegation Zone when he left, whatever factors, built on the back of Roys team, lucky with Lukaku, etc the facts stay the same so on that basis, overall i would say Clarke was a successful appointment, previous managers before him the last 10 years also achieved certain milestones so to say constant wrong appointments is harsh.
Garlick and McDonough it would seem were mistakes, one has now gone, the other has been moved elsewhere and we have brought in somebody who has been involved with football all his life and is well respected, on paper that would seem we have learnt from the mistakes, of course it could go wrong but surely worth giving him a chance? Same applies to Alan Irvine, Pepe Mel was a strange one, ultimately he kept us up and that was his remit, however it would it wasnt down to him, things werent right and he was sacked at earliest opportunity and we have looked at another angle in Irvine.
Like i think 99.9% of Albion fans, Irvine wouldnt of been my first choice, probably wouldnt of even made my top 10 but he is here now. JP and Burton must of seen something and got a plan that they see with him and can work together, we tried the older 'proven' types last year and it got us nowhere so it would seem we are targeting the young hungry players, ideally from our own academy, the academy has to serve a purpose and if young players can see a route to the first team, maybe they wont clear off to Liverpool aged 14, etc. Also from what we know there were some bad eggs in the dressing room last year, perhaps in the players who have left some of those bad eggs have gone and new younger hungrier players can come in and not be part of the old 'clique' its a new start.
The comments from Preston and Sheffield Wednesday fans arent great towards Irvine, but maybe with Burton taking care of the day to day rubbish, ie - player disputes, contracts, etc then Irvine can focus on the coaching which would appear is his main attribute, we have 4 x coaches now it would seem (that in itself could be a bit confusing) but if Irvine comes in, lets the players know who is boss, it may just work, we are building a new team which needs to be coached, Irvine can certainly do that, its whether his managerial skills are upto scratch.
I have major reservations about the appointment but now he is here, its going to be a new look management, a new look team, (even a new look kit!) so i want to try and look forward to seeing that with hungry players, not over paid premadonnas, and see what happens before writing us off, if it goes t*ts up then JP has to face all the flak that comes his.
One final thing, there seems to be this obsession that we are trying to things on the cheap, we want to be in the championship (he didnt actually say that), in what way would that benefit JP or anybody at all? JP is trying to buy shares at £3k a pop i believe? If we go down we lose millions and millions in value off the club, our income reduces greatly, and after incurring 5 years of premiership income and outgoings, there is no way any sane person would actual want us to go down as a business, let alone the bloke who runs it! I have backed JP but i think this time he really has put his neck on the line but lets see what happens, we could be an all out entertaining side doing well, or we could be bottom without a point but surely give people a chance, especially when probably 8 times out of 10 they have got it right in the past.
