For the first time in 20 yrs I have failed to see a single live non televised game under a particular manager. The games I caught on TV didn't really give enough away to objectively judge Dowie, but he does seem to have developed a habit of remaining at clubs for very short periods of time. Does that make him a bad manager or just bad at getting along with his bosses?

I don't know and I don't care, his appointment never excited me. It was the type of journeyman , safe option appointment i though the board would shy away from. Looking back LDC was a fantastic appointment, I had never heard of him but he took a ramshackle and demoralised squad and without english as his first language turned them into a stylish team which got results in the space of a few months. The form in the 2nd half of last season was great and not only that the football i saw (about 8 live and 2 televised games) was great to watch. LDC also spotted the potential coach in Gareth Ainsworth, something that may well be of long term benefit to the club.

My rather rambling point is that I would love the board to get LDC back or make another similarly daring appointment. This appointment is key, when David Dein appointed Wenger he changed Arsenal's destiny. So other than wishing for the return of LDC, I do hope the board think outside of the box. Not neccessarily abroad (look how well Phil Brown has done at Hull) but please no Kinnear, Allardyce or anyone else of that ilk. Dowie, if nothing else, taught us that to go forward we need a forward thinking manager.

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