Mark Wiggins

A word also for @AndyBayes. This is a brilliant, brilliant interview. I've built up a decent archive of Ryan Lowe interviews for profiling purposes and this is the best by far. The whole exchange is built on trust and comfort. The question that leads to the much talked-about response is beautifully framed to open up a potentially thorny subject while holding rapport. Outstanding. However, I've seen people congratulating Bayes for getting Lowe 'rattled'. I think that's grossly unfair. That's clearly not his intention and I'm sure such a suggestion makes him feel uncomfortable. When local BBC reporters are losing their jobs left, right and centre, the last thing we need is more amateur interviews on many club channels because managers refuse to open up to the guys who do it best.

The game's nearly up for Ryan Lowe at Preston, judging by the reaction to this. This is the end of Michael Duff's reign at Swansea all over again - except Lowe's been in charge for 2 years, not 2 months. When a fanbase is on the brink of fully turning, you must tread very carefully with what you say nowadays if you want to stay in your job. Results make no difference when you give your most sensitive critics an excuse to sway the swing voters. A perfectly authentic response, when clipped minus all of its surrounding context, becomes a grave insult. Lowe was true to his personality when he laughed about the credentials of unknown individuals posing broad questions about the team's identity. He values real-world experience and he values hierarchy in the social order. He wouldn't dare tell a Premier League manager how to do their job. He didn't say fans aren't entitled to an opinion, as many want to imply. Rather, he believes he shouldn't be answerable to the opinions of random or anonymous characters without any context of their knowledge or credentials. If so, where does he draw the line? Should he walk along Friargate and answer them all one by one? You might not see the world that way, but he does. He then went on to share details of a conversation he enjoyed with another fan who didn't just throw the word 'identity' around but actually contributed some value and gave him serious food for thought. However, Lowe's big problem - and he's not alone here - is that he was the one peddling the word identity when he walked through the door. I went back and watched his first interview (6 mins long) and he used the words identity, philosophy and exciting brand of football at least four times each. He painted himself as a process-driven manager when he's quite clearly outcome-driven. This is part of a much wider issue nowadays. Too many managers are pretending to be something they're not because the desire for a process is so strong. Buzzwords might add to the buzz to begin with but Lowe didn't need to inflate his perception among North End fans at that point. And he'd be in a much stronger position now had he built the perception of himself around results all along. His actions would be congruent. Although I totally understand why he didn't. However, I say the game's nearly up because Lowe is fundamentally a tribe-first manager and his tribe is getting smaller by the week. It's one thing fans calling for his head, but when he starts talking about fans like they're outsiders - ie. not part of his tribe anymore - then he's in big trouble. His departure might still be a week away or a month away. But it's in the post.