Whats everyones views on Grayson then? To me, to judge whether someone is a good manager you have to judge there: Man Management Transfer Record - Includes loans both ways Style of Play Motivational Skills Leadership Qualities Improvisation (Sudden injury, loans called in etc..) Youth Production (Slightly lesser extent, slowly bringing them in) Feel free to add any I've missed? Its a funny one for me, some players love it at Leeds such as Keogh/McCarthy, some hate it, such as Bannan.. He makes some great signings but for me a majority are poor, underused and pointless. We don't really have a style of play, not a counter attacking side, a footballing side like Swansea, or a Stoke in fairness, although some games are like this. Motivational skills again is weird, we fail to start well, but team spirit sees us score endless late goals. Leadership, again a weird one as player have mixed opinions on him, generally seems good though for me. Improvisation, a weak one to me. Knee-jerk reactions are often poor, terrible loan signings and lack of use of our players. This season he has trusted youth and reaped the rewards, however you can argue his hand has been forced. So what do you think? Over to you
I've always thought that on the "imporvisation" front his substitutions have been very good, and some have been inspired. He's never been scared to change things around if a game isn't going well.
The main issue i have with grayson is not his reactions but more his preactions. He doesnt do things that need to be done for example, I was saying to give McCormack a rest after the Brighton game, it wouldn't have looked like we were dropping him, more resting him. Only for one game and he needed it, I think after that game he was went he went on his dry spell, thats the sort of stuff good managers do and see. Managers need to see the problem before its a problem, it was always gonna happen to McCormack and he coulda protected him better. In saying that though, I think he has been very good in a hell of a lot of ways, the way he has brought through youngsters like Lees and White has been good, Also like simon says his subs have been good (although it almost seems like they are pre-planned before the game and are almost always like for like) and some of his transfer dealings have been good as well although albeit a bit hit and miss. I like his apparent free flowing style he wants to achieve though rather than boring football
Morning all. I just think we have a young Manager managing a massive club with considerable expectations, particularly among the fans. He hasn't got quite the budget he might like. But he's making his way & we're moving in the right direction. He will make mistakes & not all his signings will live up to expectations. But I think this is a pivotal season. If we at least make the playoffs, it will progress even if we don't goup. If we don't make the playoffs & tail of to 10th or worse, Papa Smurf might have to re-evaluate things. & in answer to the next question, I think we will be in the playoffs at worst & still remain a good bet for auto. Keep the faith. MOT
I think to be fair to him that with the money or lack of, that he's had to work with I think he's done ok. It's not like he can offer 2 or 3 million for a player like W.Ham or Leicester can. I'll judge at the end of the season.
Morning Shaks. Seems like a very sensible approach. We're still 6th with the prospect of moving up over the next few games.
Done well handling tricky characters like Kandol, Gradel, Beckford, Johnson and Kilkenny who could all have been potential flashpoints if handled wrongly. Been bold enough to strip away dead wood like Prutton, Hughes etc. Pretty good overall for someone on such a crap budget. Gradel, Clayton and Lonergan have been great signings. Sodje, Kisnorbo and Naylor were all good short-term solutions which didn't develop as planned. I won't blame him for the sales of Delph and Gradel; that looks like it was Bates' fault. Some weak loanees brought in (especially during the Division Three days), but it hardly did us any harm, did it - aside from a couple of grand a week in wages. Loaning out Somma, White, Clayton, Nunez and Lees was a good idea and has strengthened their game. Enjoyable. Not too poncey like Arsenal or Barcelona, but not long-ball merchants either. Encouragingly flexible and generally, there's some good attacking football which is what makes us one of the country's most entertaining teams. As long as we cut out the habit of centre-backs hoofing it and centre-mids slacking off in the middle of the park rather than pressuring the opposition, we'll keep having an effective style of play. Hard to say without seeing him in the dressing room and on the training ground. He did well motivating the ones I mentioned in the man managament section above. See above! As per Simon's post. White and Lees have both been decent after lower league loan spells. I'd like to see more youth being involved, but it's hard to chuck Taylor and Thompson (for instance) into the hustle and bustle of the Championship or play them for more than a short while at the Arsenal. Overall, I really rate the guy. Suppose I never shut up about him on here. I just think he's the best thing to have happened to us in years and he's revolutionized this football club. Without him, we could well be Third Division hoofers with 15k crowds.
I like his apparent free flowing style he wants to achieve though rather than boring football ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cant agree with that at all. Its either big boot from the centre back or get it to snoddy and hope he does something. I think grayson at times is a lucky manager, but You make your own luck and hopefully his luck doesnt run out
Have to agree with LIW re the style of play. Also , with regards his transfer policy, I know he's got a limited budget but he seems to target squad players who aren't good enough to command a starting place but can fill in two or three positions when needed, such as Pugh. I'd rather see him bring in quality rather than quantity, spend say £10k a week wages on a player who specialises in one position rather than three players who fill in when needed. Overall he's not doing a bad job, but part of me thinks if we did go up we'd get slaughtered every week in the PL as the team would need improving drasticallly just to survive. May be best just to consolidate this season, & get all the players we want to keep tied down to long-term contracts. The way we ler players get so close to the end of their contracts is a joke.
He's done well to take the squad we have to 6th and only 5 points off 2nd. So it's not as if he's doing a terrible job, he's doing a good job. But some decisions he makes hold us back. I don't think Bates has given him enough money to spend, but it's hard to argue that he's spent the money he's had well. He's done a poor job building the squad. Obviously, he's been held back by the club (this isn't his decision) letting Kilkenny, Johnson, Gradel, Beckford etc. leave when he will have wanted them to stay. But he's wasted money, and it does add up to a lot, on awful signings like Paytner and unused loanees. If he hadn't signed such deadweights, then he'd have a bigger budget and more free wages. He's awful in the transfer market and the squad he's built is poor with some quality players keeping us up there like Snodgrass. He clearly can motivate well - Man Utd 2010, getting the result at Bristol after half time, coming back from 2-0 at Burnley, etc. We score late goals. Tactically he is poor though. We hoof it too much and by pass the midfield. Basically, he's done a good job with the squad at his disposal, but if we fail to gain promotion this season, it has to be the end for him because our shortcomings are his fault.
One thing that is missing in the above list is respect, and having the respect of the dressing room. Thats really important...
What I'm interested to see about is the AOB incident. The fact that Bates didn't even criticise him in the press, and that he is still being paid, shows that something's happened. Whether SG has said or done something...
The two best performances with regards being up & at it from the first whistle seem to be the two matches following the tragic death of Gary Speed, when the players were 'playing for Speedo', so maybe there is an issue with respect for Grayson, his tactcs, team selection & the way he conducts himself in general. Apart from those two games most of the time we've been slow starters & not pumped up at all. It's as if the players themselves take the game by the scruff of the neck when they realise, despite poor tactcs & a poor display, a draw or a win is still there for the taking. I'm not saying Grayson's losing the dressing room, but perhaps he doesn't command as much respect from the players as he should.
