It’s even worse when you read the full article
Not sure AN is as convinced it’s a positive window as some posters on here
Going to play Devil's Advocate here - and it's been said before in various ways, to varying degrees.
Neil knew the deal when he came here. He knew the managerial / top-down decision-making constraints; knew the limited budget.
Sure, he would've been sold the idealistic version of the deal (for simplicity, let's call it the 'Ingol' version). However, I'd argue that after a short amount of time he'd have figured out what was really on offer (we'll call this 'Euxton').
I feel he's come in, seen the problems with the setup (top-loaded squad with average players) and has tried - kicking and screaming lately - to affect change in the process.
But let's be brutally honest; it's not worked, has it?
Sure, we've managed to get out of our UK / Ireland mindset and bring in a European striker, but it's taken nearly 3 years to break that habit.
My point here is that our way of operating is very unlikely to change whilst Hemmings is in charge. Whether we can see it or not, there are huge problems on the horizon for many clubs in the EFL if fans aren't allowed back on stadiums soon. Risdale simply cannot be making all of this up for an audience of one.
To that effect; Neil has two viable options.
The former; accept the reality of the situation and the wider extraordinary circumstances (Covid), working with what he has (i.e. accepting the limitations of certain players to not fit his desired system) and accomodate them accordingly (i.e. find a system that they can play in). Why re-sign creative players like Harrop and not even bench them, when we were screaming out for creativity yesterday?
The latter; quite simply, get your agent to put their feelers out for his next move. I wouldn't blame him; he's done good work with our well-publicised constraints, and he will certainly improve as a manager. But in what other job could you publicly call-out (or verge on calling-out) the CEO / Owner of a company, and not expect any sort of retaliation? I completely understand his frustrations and motivation, but it's having a negative effect on and off the pitch.
I suspect this is why they expected him to leave last Summer, and wouldn't be against him going now.
FWIW, I'll support Neil whilst he's here, but he's not above redress should performances and results fail to improve.