Him and Grayson the worst for me, atrocious and showed the lack of ambition/football knowledge by the owners.
It's all contextual, but many of the appointments made by Ellis Short were horrendous: O'Neil - busted flush at club level (Short wasn't to know that) DiCanio Moyes - had no interest in being there once he knew Short had pulled the plug financially Grayson Coleman All minging
I reckon Coleman would have been okay, he begged for some funds to bring in a goalie and striker, was turned down flat... iirc we had a crap keeper and nobody scoring..lose lose situation
He marginalised Grabban - a lad who had scored 12 in 19. Had he managed him better we might well have stayed up Instead we had Fletcher who scored 2 in 16 I don't rate Coleman at all, We should have stayed up with that squad and he completely failed
positives are that we have a young back line that teams have tried to target and failed, we have a lad at right back who is doing a great job there, also a target at times plus when lads have had to come in they have been just as solid. in midfield we have lads that can help control a game and lead attacks, again, if changes are made they are almost seamless and some may argue even improve us. i wonder if LJ is looking at giving players a few games then letting them have a couple of games rest/recovery, while it might look strange in the first dozen games, over the course of a season it could save players from fatigue, i feel embo and neil will benefit from a break, gooch has had one enforced while geads looks to be getting to his best now so could maybe handle a couple more games. the negatives are really only down to the players, they will all want to be out there playing, especially during this 'good run' and this is where LJ will stand or fall...he somehow has to keep them happy and fired up for the next game, personally i would be tempted to stick with the same 11 (injuries dependant) as it would be a crying shame for broadhead not to get a wee run in the side and get on the score sheet, obrien also but his work rate and defensive work 'excuse' him for not scoring regular although i feel goals will come for him (think he headed most corners away on tuesday). basically, i feel that 11 moved the ball forward faster and mixed it up a lot more...cheltenham just never knew how we were going to play and to me that is the best aspect of this season so far considering how 'one dimensional' we were forced to be last season.
Let's not forget previous awful appointments too. Harold Wilkinson comes to mind. We were supposed to be looking for a new ambitious young manager, and then out of nowhere we appointed that dinosaur. Worse than Parky in my view, given we were in th Prem at the time.
In my time supporting Sunderland the following appointments were made: McMenemey SMITH Crosby Butcher Buxton REID Wilkinson McCarthy KEANE Sbragia Bruce O'Neil DiCanio Poyet Advocaat Allardyce Moyes Grayson Coleman Ross Parkinson Johnson The ones in bold are the only ones I class to be a relative success, the ones in CAPITALS were a real success
Don't agree with you on O'Neil Should have a third category as well; Good, Bad and Mixed - partly for Mick Mac, who brought us play-offs and promotion as well as relegation, but also for those who brought us miraculous saves from premiership relegation.
I honestly can't remember us having a squad where almost any player can be rested and replaced with someone of the same quality, this we really be so positive for us in the second half of the season when most of the other teams fighting for promotion will have used the same core of around 15 players. This is why the likes of man City win the league because any injury they get the replacement fits in seamlessly and squad rotation keeps players fresh without effecting the quality
Isn’t just about the players it’s also about the style and system of play which is being rolled out at all age levels , successful clubs adopt a style of play and they develop or sign players that are capable of the roles expected of them . The new management style we have now works on data driven information which is why we recruited so well during the last transfer window .
Colemans tactics were shocking and his insistance in playing Fletcher as a lone Striker even at home was painful to watch.
