Completely irrelevant given the scope of the whole season and what the manager has had to deal with. Millwall are currently four places above where they finished last season. Hardly comparable I'd say, especially as Neil has had years of Championship experience.
Match Day Thread Hull City v Birmingham
- Thread starter Chazz Rheinhold
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Yes I'm saying Neil deserved it.
I also cringe a bit at the constant pointing to our embargo as if we didn't already have good players and bring more good players in. It's not like we have Sheffield Wednesdays squad.
Ive sent a strongly worded email about this
The ones who were injured like millar and Belloumi, yes.
They also severely underperformed last year due to a shocking managerial appointment.
Jak had us in the playoffs long before Belloumi and Millar came back from injury whereas Neil merely built on an already strong squad. Just can't see how you qualify for manager of the season based on such a modest improvement.
I don't think last season's league position is particularly important or relevant. That was the outlier for us. We had an expensive squad who should've been miles better than that, and our form from mid December onwards in fact was miles better than that, we were only close to relegation because of our form in the autumn.
We had an embargo yes, and if that had prevented us from building a good squad then my expectations would be lower, but we built a bloody good squad despite it, so at some point I think we have to let go of that.
This comes back to the thing that's irritating me a lot lately: we're so small time. We think going from mid table form in the second half of last season to 6th now is a miracle. We talk as if we're totally out of place competing near the top of the Championship. This isn't the 90s any more, we're not playing in front of 5,000 and barely hanging on as a club. We're a decent sized championship club who get good gates and we have an ambitious owner who spends loads of money on the team, so we really shouldn't be so apologetic about being a competitive side at this level.
Our wage bill will be significantly more than Millwall's and probably similar to Coventry's.
Tbf lampard has done a great job winning the league fairly comfortably without the benefit of parachute payments and a relegated PL squad. Serj rightly a contender and could even have pipped him had our form not fallen away as it has. No complaints on this occasion.
Completely with you on the small-club mentality that some people adopt, but that's certainly not where I'm coming from.
Simply put, the award is for the Championship Manager of the Season, so how do you quantify that? Surely you have to start with what tools the manager has to work with and what baseline he starts from. Factor in levels of Championship experience (or lack of) and the number of injuries to key players and I just can't see beyond Jak.
Don't forget, the bookies and every gob on a stick had us down as certs for relegation - that alone puts him above every other candidate.
Dunno but they were in the playoffs last season so obviously built on an already successful season.
They signed Rushworth in the summer and that was it. I get what you're saying but we haven't achieved anything yet. It's why it's stupid the award is announced now.
Should win this one...
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Don't get promotion bonuses mixed up with promotion wage increases, which are very much standard for players. Promotion bonuses are rarely written into contracts and are generally made by the owner to the squad in pre season.
A wage increase is absolutely useless to most of our squad given they will be spending the summer looking for a new club and moving house if we are promoted. Im not sure Coyle, Crooks, Pandur and the gang will be excited about having to decide if they move for football or rot in the reserves just to get a few more quid and a 'promotion on their cv'.
So yes, there is plenty of reason for some players to favour another season in the championship where they will play regular football and not have to move again!
But they don’t have to move
If Coyle gets an extra ten grand a week as we’re PL why would he move somewhere who won’t pay him that?
He’ll just sit on his contract as they all would and will if we do it
Is that the type of players you would want around the club? Most players want to play, and the current squad (except two or three) know they are not Premier league level, so would need to move to play.
The club wont want them so will be trying to force them out, and the players wont want to be sitting around playing reserves or even not playing at all if they've got anything about them.
So long as he can afford to keep himself in ale, he won't be bothered.
According to some.