Who is in favour of sacking Clark?

After everything Deano has done for Town, if he thought it was the right decision, then in Deano we trust!

So glad he sacked him before it became necessary to protest etc...

No the two will do.

My mate e-mailed me this just before the news broke...sums it up perfectly for me:

The dust has settled on another depressing night in the life of a Town fan.

I haven't seen a performance that has divided opinion as much for a while.

Some people are lambasting Clark's selection and tactics last night, and looking at his managerial ability in general.

Others are praising the amount of chances we created, ruing our bad luck in the final third and pointing out that we're still in the mix.

Whilst I am generally not one to call for a manager's head, I believe that now is the time for change, for the following reasons:

I believe LC has run out of ideas, been found tactically wanting, and has potentially lost the confidence of a number of his players.
The man wastes money (in a recession!). The more players we sign that are garbage, the more it looks like we got lucky with the good ones we signed. (See appendix for Clark's signings). It was ridiculous that we had no genuine midfield cover on the bench last night.

The players he signs need consistency that he just doesn't give them. One poor match and you're out for a month. The midfield has been like a carousel, so much so that it looks like they aren't actually bothered about fighting for their place any more. Simpson is binned off entirely (agree he was poor), but then we start playing a formation that'd suit him (4411), and we flog him. We have turned to Alan Lee and Cadamarteri, that's all you need to know. God knows what Higgy Stardust must have been thinking about not even getting on last night, straight in on debut, and then zero minutes next time out.

The man is a dullard. I have no problem with his level of passion, but he's becoming embarrassing when he talks to the press. His insolent face and stoic attitude are not what is required when people have paid a lot of brass and been rewarded with disappointment. People like Mourinho can use this attitude / facade because they've earned it. We've been treading water for longer than Eric the Eel.

The team looks mentally weak – his problem.

The team looks physically weak – his problem.

He has now tried a number of formations / tactics without prolonged success (442, 451, 433, 4411, 352, target man). How many attempts are required before you cut your losses?

Despite possessing an infrastructure befitting of a club at a higher level, we are consistently unable to compete with clubs with more experience historically. Leicester, Leeds, Forest, Norwich, Southampton, Scunthorpe, Millwall (probably Charlton and a Sheffield club too) have dropped down to our level and mustered the cohonies to get out of it. We have even let teams like Brighton and Peterborough usurp us. Our inability to stand up to the fiercest of competition is chronic, and plainly, not good enough if we want to succeed. I appreciate this problem goes back further than LC, but he has certainly done nothing to change or resolve it. With everything else in place (even the fans with delusions of grandeur), it is solely down to the manager, his staff, and the (his) players.

He's systematically removed the local / community connection from the club. The academy staff and most academy graduates have gone. At the moment it's a club based in Huddersfield with him and his mates working for it. I have no beef with this if it moves us forward but it hasn't.

Even if we somehow contrive to get promoted this season, can you honestly see none of my above points continuing to be a problem in the Championship? We'd be left with the same issues at a higher level, against teams who will spare us no mercy whatsoever.

A fresh outlook could reinvigorate the entire club (including supporters), and breathe fresh life into any remaining chance of automatic promotion, or take some momentum into the playoffs. Just close your eyes and imagine how exciting it'd be right now with a new management team on board, someone chipper and charismatic. Granted, rubbish players don't turn good overnight but a kick-up the backside, or an arm round the shoulder and renewed vigour will do everyone the world of good.

Even without promotion, a new manager would get a good look at the current crop before deciding their fates in the summer. Bring someone in when the season ends and all they've got to rely on is pre-season, training, and DVDs.

One highlight of LC's reign is that the dreary unbeaten run has given Town a little more time in the limelight. As a result of that and the fact that Dean Hoyle is God there are likely to be more top calibre applicants than ever before.

CLARK OUT

Appendix: LC's dealings with GS opinion

Dominik Werling - Odd
Lionel Ainsworth – Cost a bit, had potench but also a bad attitude, can obviously play a bit though.
Theo Robinson – Cost a bit, was laughed at a bit, but in hindsight wouldn't be far of out team now whilst he plays in the Championship.
Anthony Pilkington – Ace, patchy at times but generally ace.
Lee Novak – Fans like him cos he works hard, scores the odd goal.
Jonathan Tehoue - Didn't play.
Lukas Jutkiewicz (Loan) - Awful
Martin Kelly (Loan) - Ace
Antony Kay – Rubbish, prone to the odd good game which makes him even worse in my eyes. A leader but that's it.
Peter Clarke – A leader but rubbish.
Robbie Simpson - Waste of time on the face of it, a lengthy and expensive one too.
Lee Peltier – See Pilks
Danny Drinkwater (Loan) – I liked him, not everyone did.
Jordan Rhodes – Ace, has really progressed.
Krystian Pearce – Embarrassing waste of time – not his fault though.
Neal Trotman (Loan) – Was a cult figure because he was rubbish, says it all.
Dean Heffernan - Rubbish
Nathan Eccleston (Loan) – Waste of time
Taser Hassan - Never played.
Scott Arfield – Good squad player because he's versatile, but not actually a very good player.
Joey Gudjohnssen - Had one good game and now sits on some fat bunce.
Gary Naysmith – Bare injuries and has now come through all that to prove he's rubbish.
Ian Bennett - Ace
Jamie McCombe – Ok at this level, good at defensive basics, little else.
Alan Lee – I'll love him forever for The Emirates but he was embarrassing last night, as is his general goals return.
Lee Croft (Loan) - Waste of time. Given little chance in fairness to him.
Graham Carey (Loan) – started ok then went rubbish.
Joe Garner (Loan) – 6 months no goals.
Damien Johnson – Good when he joined, hasn't hit the same heights and is rotated like everyone else in midfield.
Nick Colgan – third keeper
Benik Afobe (Loan) – Generally decent, although his arrival stunted Rhodes' big-game development. Pinned our promotion hopes on a 17 year old up front on his own.
Kadar (Loan) – Unlucky due to injury
Kevin Kilbane – Started well, good engine, went rubbish.
Calum Woods – Bad start but then looked decent but got injured, Nosmith is somehow now keeping him out of the team.
Tommy Miller – I honestly though he started alright but he's rubbish now.
Donal McDermott – What? He can play at Bournemouth but not for us? Are you kidding me? Clark gets 100% of the blame for this from me.
Oscar Gobern – laid back clown. As odd as it sounds he's probably suited to playing at a higher level. Effective given time and space, useless in the hustle and bustle.
Anton Robinson – looks like he's never played on a big pitch, waste of money to date.
Danny Ward – Massive transfer fee, showed touches of brilliance, very basic player, needs consistency.
Kallum Higginbotham – jury out.
Jon Parkin – Cover for Alan Lee, says it all.
Alex Bruce – Can't really judge on a few games.
Liam Cooper – Wasted time – embarrassing for us.
Sean Morrison – Embarrassing first time round (LCs fault), looks ok this time.

Apologies if I've missed anyone.

Dean Hoyle is so end of

should have gone earlier

Definitely the right decision, his time was up!

Is this guy for real or 10 years old? He doesn't know who Mark Lillis is !!!!

He's a WBA fan. And clearly nothing more than a little boy with nothing better to do during half term.

All i know is that i trust Dean.

If Dean wanted him for the rest of the season i was happy to back him too. Dean decides it's time to go, I agree.

I do hope we have a replacement lined up, and would love Warnock or Mick McCarthy (don't know if that is unrealistic for this league)

my only concern is that i am about to shave my head, start only wearing orange clothes, transfer all my savings account into the card factory and join a Deano religious cult.

I`ve only ever wanted ONE Town manager to go - Ritchie.
( Wadsworth. Ternant and a host of others I`ve always maintained you can`t keep chopping & changing, give em time etcetc )

While I didn`t want LC to go, after last night I had given up on automatic and was resigned to the lottery of the play offs - the fact that I say "resigned to the play offs" shows how far expectations as a TOWN fan have changed since the first semi final against Posh - and I was worried that LC started to sound like Ritchie by telling us how good recent performances have been when they clearly were not.

So IMO LC had a 25% ( 1 in 4 via the play offs ) chance of taking us after last night, a new manager has at least the same odds, hopefully even better.

In Hoyle We Trust.

To say that this came as somewhat of a shock to most of us, particularly in the matter of timing, that percentage is quite amazing. It appears that the number of people not satisfied with the way things have been going isn't just a 'vocal minority' that some have led us to believe.