Is Russell Slade doing a good job?

Who would dare answer yes to that question?  Well here goes.
He was obviously brought in to ‘do a job’, and I would humbly suggest that from a club perspective he is doing, or has done just that.
1. Championship status looks safe for another season at least and for many of us that seemed very unlikely under OGS.
2. He’s trimmed the squad, getting rid of some of the most highly paid players, replaced them with cheaper options, allowed players out on loan and in so doing reduced the wage bill, working within FFP guidelines of the club.
3. Has given some of the youngsters a chance, e.g. Harries and Ralls and brought in some more youngsters who could well have a good future with the club, e.g. Kennedy.  
4. Stated his intention of seeing all of the players in action before deciding on their future with the club, e.g. Mason.
5. Already looking to next season, having had Semi Ajayi in on trial from Arsenal and now on loan to assess him before giving a contract for next season.
6. Increased the number of club ‘scouts’ throughout the country to improve our chances of ‘picking up’ potential bargains.

The football hasn’t been great, but he has done his cost cutting, whilst (hopefully) securing Championship status, something the likes of Southampton, Wolves etc. only achieved after relegation to the 3rd. tier.  Let’s all hope that the current style of club management pays off and VT’s admiration of how Swansea have achieved their present status and his desire to follow suit means that we’ll never be blue in Div 3 nor 2.
This doesn’t make me a Slade supporter; I’m just stating some facts.  I’ll still be at CCS next season and prepared to give him and the team another chance.

Wouldn't say he's doing a good job, but he's certainly helped steady things over the past couple of months. My worry is we'll make a slow start to next season, sack him at Christmas time and have another season of mid-table mediocrity.

have come to the conclusion that russell deserves another season as we did not go into into freefall following the disasterous management spell of ogs and the necessary cost cutting exercise we were forced into. hope he does well and solidifies his position

No doubt it was a poisoned chalice and I think off the field he certainly has done what was deemed necessary by the board but I'm yet to be convinced by his approach to onfield issues or whether he is indeed The Man to take us forward.

I think only Tan can really answer that question. We were all expecting a playoff challenge, so with that completely out of sight and the core of the team decimated you would say he has failed. It's seemingly looking more and more like Tan instead wanted cost cutting and championship stability - and on that basis he has done a very good job.

In reality I think it's somewhere in between - you can't blame the funds for his horrific style of football and downright awful man management.

The players we already had shouldn't have been playing Slade Hoofball. I don't think it a coincidence that the shape of the team and performances have improved (they could hardly get worse), since the appointment of a very ordinary coach in Paul Trollope.

My feeling is that Slade's brief was to alienate as many of the high earners as soon as possible and actually make them want to leave the club. This he has achieved with aplomb.

To me, Slade is nothing more than Tan's hatchet man and if I had been a season ticket holder, I would have been livid in the way that the ambition in the club has been tossed aside in the pursuit of God knows what.

The wording in his interview today announcing next season's aim of hoping for the playoffs is so woolly, you can imagine him thinking "no-one but WO is going to buy this, but I'm going to say it anyway".

Bloody marvelous job Russ. Take comfort from the fact if it hadn't been you, it would have been another patsy.

Mine (and I hope many of yours) worry remains that if Tan has indeed settled for championship mediocrity - what exactly does he stand to gain from that? He's made no secret of being in it for the money and I hold no grudges for that - but his investment has been so substantial he will never make it back unless we start challenging for the title once more.

What solution does it have bar him looking to sell on, and what's that mean for all the money we still owe him?

Walking away from City suffering a huge financial loss would do nothing for Tan's credibility in a area of business he has set his heart on conquering.

That said, he has clearly fallen out of love with Cardiff City............and who can blame him? The mess is much of his own making, but he has been badly let down on all sides.

I have no doubt that there is an exit strategy in place that is fundamentally to make City more appealing to someone looking for a club with potential. Our catchment area is unparallelled in the UK and our brief stay in the PL showed how easily we can fill our stadium.......compare that to the Burnley's, QPR's, Hull's of the world who struggle to draw a decent crowd in the PL.

Tan may well be willing to take a loss of some sort on City, but the club had to be stabilised to make it saleable at all. Mid-Championship mediocrity is the price for that.

Why assume he'd be leaving on a loss? Quite the opposite - he'd be leaving with a 100 million pound loan owed to him, plus tens of millions in interest. he said that he would think about sorting out the debt once we were in the premiership again - then quietly gave up hope on that and sold our major players. What's that tell you?

He cannot, and will not, make his money back if he doesn't find another premiership challenge. He will also not make all his money back if he sold tomorrow - the club is now worth far less than it owes Tan regardless of our market share.

He just wants to make a profit, one way or another. He really doesn't give a damn if we fold completely and have to sell the stadium to pay him. I can't partocularly say I blame him - he's never hid the fact that he's in it for a short term profit. Can't stop me being angry about.

Red614 wrote:Why assume he'd be leaving on a loss? Quite the opposite - he'd be leaving with a 100 million pound loan owed to him, plus tens of millions in interest. he said that he would think about sorting out the debt once we were in the premiership again - then quietly gave up hope on that and sold our major players. What's that tell you?

He cannot, and will not, make his money back if he doesn't find another premiership challenge. He will also not make all his money back if he sold tomorrow - the club is now worth far less than it owes Tan regardless of our market share.

He just wants to make a profit, one way or another. He really doesn't give a damn if we fold completely and have to sell the stadium to pay him. I can't partocularly say I blame him - he's never hid the fact that he's in it for a short term profit. Can't stop me being angry about.

One thing he cannot do is sell the stadium.

I think it has gone past the point of no return on his debt, so far as Tan is concerned.

My guess is that he is looking to recoup as much of his investment as possble and then sell the club. No-one will take the club on with the present level of debt, so I can see Tan biting the bullet, writing off a sizeable chunk and putting the whole sorry episode down to experience.

Although a huge figure, a £50m write-off wouldn't be beyond Tan's means.

Just as clarification I wasn't hinting he would sell the stadium - just that it's an asset that would be seized if the club folded.

i think you all are getting carried away on a wave of hysteria. what business would not as we have not had a decent manager since dave jones left. malky was corrupt of mind and brain and ogs incompetent.

we have to live and hope as far as russell slade is concerned. he is doing what all good managers should do and that is run the business effectively and in a businesslike way. if that means getting rid of your prize footballers to maintain a healthy balance sheet then sobeit.

It's not the managers job to run the clubs finances Dave - that's the boards job. The manager simply does what he can with the funds he is given (or lack of). You are right though that if the task was to slash the squad while surviving the championship, then he at least hasn't failed.

when a new guy come in it usually takes several months for him to settle, players to respond and the whole set-up to gel. in our case it happened just at the right time