Yep I'm sure a season or two to stabilise in the championship would be part of KLD's planning. I'm just glad to finally leave League 1 behind - If Derby manage to keep their squad together after their artificial relegation then they should be L1 champions this time next year.
I wasn't sure about Neil before his appointment, but I suspect that's more me not really knowing more about what he achieved at other clubs. He needs tying down to a proper contract and backing in the transfer market. Yesterday proved how good a manager he is, he picked the best 11 and style of playing to completely neutralise Wycombe. Apart from the one slip and chance, I never felt they threatened, it felt like we even when we lost the first ball we won every single second ball and they didn't know what to do. Most people I spoke to before and after the game are happy to have a few seasons building up in the championship and I agree, we need to build from this with solid foundations
Think I remember (at some point in the playoff final) our Dave Jones being willing to take some credit for pushing for appointing Neil when Keane was the popular choice, fair play to him. I fancy he's somebody we should keep at the club at a high up level for the long term.
Weird comments that are obviously prompted by some weird man crush on Lee Johnson. The totally deserved 6-0 defeat at Bolton was one of the worst performances I've seen in fifty years. We knew, walking out of that ground, that it was the last straw in a season of humiliating defeats. 'Bottling it' would've been looking at our league position and lacking the courage to act.
What annoys me (ever so slightly I must say) , is that some of our own fans still think this way, despite the evidence, admittedly few in numbert, but they will re-surface at the first opportunity, .
How anyone can say LJ would have got us promoted, let alone automatic promotion obviously didnt watch us. Neil has been a breath of fresh air and clearly a level above LJ tactically. To take someone else's squad and conjure up 2 / 3 formations that fixed our obvious deficiencies and took us on an unbeaten run that LJ could have only dreamed of
I like Alex Neil and I'm glad we appointed him. He's doing an excellent job. But we can't be sure that Johnson wouldn't have got us promoted. We don't know what impact the January signings or the players returning from injury would have had on Johnson's team and, given his record, he could well have pulled another unbeaten run out of the bag. At this approximate point in Johnson's stint as manager he was getting huge praise on this forum, just as Neil is now. People will continue to think Alex Neil is great until he starts to lose a few games and then criticism will come. I just hope, in his case, that the start he made is remembered when that starts to happen.
That's all fair mate and I agree to a large extent. It is true though, that Johnson was excused terrible results such as Sheff Wed and Rotherham. It wasn't an instant reaction, but Bolton was absolutely shameful. It was Bolton who aren't very good but Johnson waved the white flag with his tactics a d selection.
I believe LJ had give up the ghost and didn’t have a hope of getting us promoted, I did like the lad but wanted him replaced
No, I agree he wasn't sacked unfairly when the aim of the owners was promotion this season. The Jekyll and Hyde results obviously raised question marks over that but I still think its not possible to predict what would have happened either way. It doesn't really matter though because we got Neil and we did get promoted!
very true... i cant say i really wanted LJ gone but he never seemed to pull it round after that first 'blip' of the season then that one kind of merged into the next one, from having a team that played good passing football to a team that struggled to find team mates is one hell of a change, i also suspect (no real basis mind, just a thought) that there was something amiss in the background, whether that was a fall out with players or owners or just general disagreements with others we will never know and i may even be well wide of the mark...the fact is, he was struggling to get the team playing as it could and i dare say it was not just the fans that were worried another 'blip' was coming to end the season. teams had learned to play against us and did not have to work too hard to do so, long balls over the top were doing most of the damage yet nothing seemed to be getting done on the pitch to counter that, i enjoyed what LJ brought to the club and at times, enjoyed the football on display and i also wish him all the best in his new job but i feel it was the right time for him to go if i am honest. i also was not too eager for keane to get the job, steeped in nostalgia alone for many fans and i reckon there are reasons he has been out of management for so long...AN had to basically hit the ground running and he somehow managed to get the team playing again, as to whether he will be a 'long term' manager (i hope so) time will tell but football manager has to be the most ruthless position to hold in the world right now with some sacked within weeks of taking a job.
I think its all worked out for the best in the end. I would have been happy if Johnson had stayed and addressed some of the problems that were apparent but I'm certainly not going to complain that we appointed Alex Neil. Like you say, football managers aren't given a lot of leeway and fans and boards are very impatient with them. I hope that Alex Neil has gained himself enough credit in his first few months that he's given a bit more time to turn things round if/when things start to go against him. I don't like seeing managers sacked.
yup, totally agree with that. especially when only given a few weeks and no transfer window to work with...mainly i just want to be able to keep hold of a manager for a change and progress steadily as 'instant fixes/rapid promotions' rarely, if ever, work out long term unless there are multi billions to keep throwing into it all but then what happens if those playing real life fifa get tired?
In my opinion Alex Neil is a next level manager to Johnson. I wouldnt say otherwise, even with my Johnson tinted specs on. He has simply done it at a higher level, and with more medals in the bank, and frankly we were lucky to get what is a minimum championship level coach to come to league 1. I dont mind he was sacked in all honesty, it is what clubs do. I do think it is allowed to be too easy to sack coaches, but that is a different subject. My guess is it was both an on pitch and off pitch culmination of things that did for Johnson. Form was bad for sure, but I do not believe any coach with any degree of experience would want Defoe. There was definitely a power struggle on that one and I reckon Johnson was done before Bolton as a result of that. One of his faults was his discipline, he was a poor example at times, and I wouldnt be surprised if that has played a part too. Do I think Johnson would have got us promoted? No, not likely. If you look at the 2 points a game it took to make the play offs I think that would have been a stretch for anyone to imagine Johnson doing, based on the form he was in. Remember coaches are like players, they lose confidence and start to do things they wouldnt normally do - they are humans. I have done it myself many times and you look back and question yourself. Johnson has done so about Bolton. I dare say Neil has done so a couple of times too. I dont know a coach who doesnt challenge themselves and torture themselves after a game that doesnt go to plan. What I would say is Johnson left us in a much better place than he found us, in my opinion. I know some disagree. In my opinion he walked into the worst squad and style of play I have ever seen and he got them into the play offs. In the summer he completely rejuvinated the squad and went with probably the youngest side we have all seen for a long time. He brought in lads like Stewart, Winchester, Baath, Matete, Roberts, Broadhead, Pritchard. He gave Embleton and Neil their place. Alex Neil himself has praised the work Johnson did. At the end of the day though he wasnt good enough to finish what he started, but I do think he helped set some pretty good foundations for us going forward and I now think we have the manager for the championship. It is all about levels in football, Johnson was a step up on Parkinson, Neil is a step up on Johnson, someone else will come in at some point and be a step up on Neil I suspect. Being a coach isnt a whole lot of fun most of the time, it is a bloody hard struggle, when you get the end of season outcome you want it is the only time you get to relax and feel satisfied.
As usual with your posts I agree almost 100%. LJ certainly had us playing some great attacking football at times but our defensive frailties caught up with us and his touchline antics didn't help his cause. I am certain that neither he nor Keane would have got us promoted. I really like AN and think he's a great fit for us. I believe the championship may well suit a lot of our current players better than L1 but we're also up against better teams and managers. Hopefully the vast majority of our fans don't expect us to go another 16 unbeaten at the start of the season and have patience. A solid mid table with no relegation worries will be fine for the first season. Anything more will be a bonus.
