And his inability to handle the media, or his own PR.

I think someone said on here that there was absolutely no need for Roeder to be as hated as he was - he was in credit with the fans at the end of last season for keeping us up, and he'd made plenty of decent loan signings - Pearce, Camara, Bertrand, Evans and Martin Taylor all did a lot to keep us in the Championship.

But giving Huckerby a proper send-off wouldn't have cost anything - I really don't understand why that situation was handled in the way it was. If he'd thanked Hucks for his contribution to the club, acknowledged Hucks' place in City's history and given him a proper, dignified send-off, whilst saying that he didn't want Hucks' legacy to be soured by playing for us beyond his peak, I think most fans would have accepted it.

Instead, he set himself up for a fall by kicking Hucks out with the youth players, without a send-off, and then coming out with this chest-beating stuff about New Heroes.

The AGM as well - thoroughly unnecessary. "I missed your tenure as England manager" will probably become the defining statement of Roeder's tenure. Talking to the fans in an intelligent, reasoned way doesn't cost anything (the question asked about creative midfielders wasn't particularly unreasonable or aggressive, was it?) - talking to them as Roeder did that last does cost, because we're not the kind of club that can afford to alienate ticket-buying supporters!

And, of course, everyone who supports Norwich remembered his tenure as West Ham manager, relegating a good number of the current England squad.

Ultimately, that's what has cost Roeder - not his signings, or even the results (although I concede that a more genial manager would have gone during such a run, although he would probably have got longer to turn it around).

At the end of the day, dealing with PR, the media and fans, and fans' forums, is as much a part of contemporary football management as signing players and setting up a team, and if you can't handle that side of it, you either need to appoint another member of staff who can, or you won't be up to the job. Roeder didn't, and, so, ultimately wasn't.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot on January 14th 2009 at 20:26:39

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