Martin Ling

[PhilGull]

Still fairly young but has the experience and I'm sure, the contacts too.
Had a bad time in his last appointment but did very well in his job before that.

Not a name I had considered but I am happy to have a manager with League Two experience. Hopefully this will be the ship steady influence we need. All that is left is for the fickle fans to shut up their whining and offer some support :na:

[Regiment]

hey, the man applied, he got the job. ok, it's taken us all by surprise, but it is what it is, so lets see what he does for us. sometimes, managers and clubs just click. Roy Hodgson failed TERRIBLY at Liverpool, but he's a fantastic manager.

maybe he'll do really well with our current players, and bring in a few of his own, although you have to feel the likes of Forster, Barraclough may have had better contacts, but lets wait and see. time will tell.

let's get behind him, give the man a chance.

[PhilGull]

Also on the plus side, at least this manager looks like he is actually older than all the players and doesn't have a stupid haircut. These things are important!!

[Regiment]

but is he ambitious ??

[hector]

On Cambridge messageboard there is a thread called the 'Martin Ling debacle' and this was before he was even with our job.

[CP Gull]

What I find strange in all of this is the rapidity with which this decision has been made, or at least that's the way it appears to me.

The general concensus is that Martin Ling wasn't even on the shortlist (certainly never been mentioned in the Herald) and has quite literally only been interviewed for the job TODAY. So, it appears that this decision has been made today, presumably by those members of the board involved in the interviewing process?

It is a surprise appointment and he is certainly viewed as "damaged" from his turbulant time at Cambridge Utd. We should not however forget that he had built himself quite a good reputation with Leyton Orient prior to that.

A surprise appointment, no doubt a relatively cheap appointment .... we were probably saying exactly the same about Paul Buckle 4 years ago though and that didn't work out too bad did it.

[miltonkeynesgull]

Ok I think I may have overreacted. Underwhelmed by the appointment but will of course give him time. Will need to bring in a fair few players pretty quickly though. And hopefully a decent assistant too. Welcome to the club Martin.

[PhilGull]

but is he ambitious ??

Who knows? I just hope he is modest enough to learn from his mistakes and proud enough to strive to do better.

[Richinns]

On Cambridge messageboard there is a thread called the 'Martin Ling debacle' and this was before he was even with our job.

Have you a link to their fans forum? Would be interested if they blame him or circumstances for the failings.

[Sexy_Gulls]

THE HORROR, THE HORROR!!

So he's had one success (Orient) and one failure (Cambridge). Seems like an even record to me. (He kept Orient up in L1 as well so perhaps that colours his win % there)
This board has seen a lot of mud thrown at BR fans, saying they're fickle and will turn on Buckle if they're not top by November. Well here we are 10 minutes after the appointment of Ling....
This club doesn't have much in the way of finances, prestige or even location. So lets at least have some optimism, we've had a shite 2 weeks but now we have a new manager who will be looking to bring in new players and new backroom staff. Give the man some chance to build, there are some awful teams in this division and we are not one of them.

Also on the plus side, at least this manager looks like he is actually older than all the players and doesn't have a stupid haircut. These things are important!!

I bet he does his top button up when on telly as well! There you go, 3 positives already.

[loyalgull]

Here's the reaction from a Cambridge fan..."Hahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaha, just seen the news. He is an idiot on and off the pitch, good luck!"

[Regiment]

What I find strange in all of this is the rapidity with which this decision has been made, or at least that's the way it appears to me.

The general concensus is that Martin Ling wasn't even on the shortlist (certainly never been mentioned in the Herald) and has quite literally only been interviewed for the job TODAY. So, it appears that this decision has been made today, presumably by those members of the board involved in the interviewing process?

It is a surprise appointment and he is certainly viewed as "damaged" from his turbulant time at Cambridge Utd. We should not however forget that he had built himself quite a good reputation with Leyton Orient prior to that.

A surprise appointment, no doubt a relatively cheap appointment .... we were probably saying exactly the same about Paul Buckle 4 years ago though and that didn't work out too bad did it.

could be that him and barraclough had both been interviewed already, and then both called back today for a second, or does that not really happen any more ?? whatever it is, he must've brought something special to the table, if we can believe the list of candidates he beat to the job. he's in now, lets see what else happens between now and friday, because he's got a lot of work to do, and fast !!

[stevegull]

Underwhelmed would be the best word. But people shouldn't be saying that we're destined for failure just yet. Giver him a chance, get behind him and get behind the team! That would give him the best chance to succeed.

Martin Lings' Yellow Army!

[jocktheknife]

Experienced............check!

Knows Lge 2............check!

Got promotion from Lge 2..........check!

Kept team in Lge 1............check!

Has plenty of contacts........check!

Used to working with tight budget...........check!

Ling has got the job because he ticks every single one of the boxes above........unlike any of the other candidates.

Not saying he''ll be succesful but he is the obvious and best candidate when you look at the man we wanted.

But still the serial moaners like to deride this appointment........on both the main sites, embarrassing really

[Fonda]

We can only hope 'the Orient years' were the true reflection of his ability, and at Cambridge he suffered from having his hands well and truely tied...

He does have knowldege of this level of the game, and he does like his teams to play football so there are some positives.

Clutches for another straw...

Perhaps the other 'favourites' were just out of our price range in the end? If we'd not heard the famous 'short-list' first, would Lings recruitment have been so badly recieved...?

It's fact now so we might as well get behind him. There's no point making things even harder for him. Let's hope he can make some inspiring signings in the near future and is able to spread some positivity.

In my opinion, it could have been better (Forster or Barraclough), but he isn't John Cornforth or Richard Hancox!!