Its a pity this thread has generated into "the reasons I think Watters is crap"
as Im pretty sure that is not what the OP intended
The fact is SW got the seniors off-side from day one - when he stated that reputations accounted for little and he would be selecting & playing kids on their merits (to paraphrase) I remember follow up statements from senior players that they were on board with this.
The kids were happy, and it was reported here as such- but it wasnt long before we started hearing some grumblings from the old guys.
It must have such as shock after living in a bubble for so long, regardless of behaviour if the H/A results kept coming - all was ok (with club & fans alike)
And yep the results kept coming for two years (and certainly not in Lyons last year) but if people were honest they would realise 5 years ago is like a generation in football terms, and generational change is usually hard to cope with for most.
Do i think that a coaches position comes with an automatic inferred level of respect - Yes
Do i think that players as employees have to earn the respect of the coach - Yes
Do I think this happened in this case - NO