Thankfully I don’t feel treated with contempt and, not viewing the world through Mellon-tinted glasses, I’d say it’s premature to be inferring much about Adkins’ appointment beyond the fact that it’s clearly interim. Nor, incidentally, should Adkins somehow be taking much, if any, blame for Dawes’ failure - he didn’t appoint him and a couple of months’ mentoring and advice won’t make a manager out of someone who isn’t.
Bottom line is Dawes was a poor appointment and, although MP has been generous with his words today, actions speak louder. Relieving him of his duties is unquestionably the right action.
Two big questions now.
First, this is hardly an unforeseeable situation so how well advanced are we already in finding, if not ‘just’ agreeing terms with, the replacement?
Second, to what extent has this experience made MP question the structure and philosophy he’s tried implementing? There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with either in theory but, so far, it certainly hasn’t gone well in practice, including filling one of the key positions with someone who clearly wasn’t up to it (and maybe more than one).
Hopefully the answers to some of this will become apparent very soon. Otherwise lurching may indeed be the apposite word.
But I suppose a third question, which may be the biggest of the lot, is whether Dawes, with Adkins as the insurance policy if the wheels fell off (as some suggested he was at the time), were both appointed simply to tide the club over for the short term until a potential sale of the club is completed? In which case, having today cashed in the policy, we’re now driving uninsured..
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