A lot on here blamed all our problems for the past twelve months on bates and his lack of investments. For many, it seemed Grayson could do no wrong. Personally I never rated him better than a good div one manager and said so many a time. Changed team weekly with absolutely not a clue how to motivate. How many of you still rate grayson as a manager who could lead a team to the premiership cos I dont
I don't, but I also don't believe he was given a fair crack. I feel a bit sorry for him because of this, especially since he is still a relatively young manager with lots of promise.
Grayson did us well and I have always shown support for him. In the later stages of his Leeds career though i did say it was time for a change. There was a problem and he didnt have a clue how to fix it, it was absolute desperation he was showing to fix it by bringing players in very short term and changing the team weekly in hope that it would work. I'm happy with what he did for leeds but sacking him was a good move by Bates and I stand by that. I don't particularly like Warnock as a person or the style of play he brings but he has more chance of promotion with leeds than Grayson did
I still rate Grayson's achievements at Leeds very highly including turning us around when we were really struggling in league 1 under McAllister and really low on confidence due to Histon. 'January 3rd remember the date' last team to beat scum at Old Trafford with a clean sheet. Spurs and Arsenal draws proved it was no fluke. Starting with victory against Posh (3-1) we went on and set a new club record for consecutive home wins and also set a new record in the promotion winning season for winning 8 consecutive games at the start of a season. Was a wonderful feeling turning up at Elland Road and 100% believing that we were going to win (unlike the previous regime which included comfortable defeats to the likes of Oldham and Cheltenham which were so frustrating). Great season back in the championship after losing Beckford (the top scorer for the previous 3 seasons). Has to take a lot of credit for Gradel's successful season considering what happened against Bristol Rovers. Did well to adapt us to the new formation of one upfront as i thought it looked disastrous when watching the first game back at home to Derby as Becchio looked isolated and i thought we would struggle for goals without Beckford's pace. This season we lost Johnson and Kilkenny 2 established players who will have been on poor wages for nothing so how can you improve on them when you are hardly saving anything from the budget. We paid one fee in the summer which resulted in a profit on goalkeeper trading. A poor defence last season and only 1 arrival on loan, a player who isn't in Celtic's plans and can't have impressed Ipswich that much. Fans chanting 'Bates out' on the opening match against Southampton and holding protests for the 1st home league match against Boro is hardly the best environment for a manager to succeed. It then got even worse when the club sold Gradel very close to the deadline to a squad that already wasn't good enough. A very tough start on paper wasn't helped by injuries to Becchio and Somma yet we still managed to turn our form around and got in and around the playoffs for much of the season. In January we try to solve our lack of quality on one of the wings with Townsend, yet we sell Howson because in reality the board have no confidence of us getting up, despite stating the reason for changing manager as getting more out of the existing players and make the difference (i assume reach the playoffs). The timing was poor because it was just before a nice run of games (one in which Redfearn succeeded), but defeat at home to Brighton, defeat at bottom club Cov, a struggling win V Donny and a poor point at Pompey under Warnock have seriously hindered our top 6 chances. Overall i am happy with Warnock due to his experience and hopefully Bates will have 100% confidence in his ability and will commit more funds to the playing side. The general feeling among fans is also a lot more upbeat so hopefully we can be the twelfth man (Bates pricing permitted of course). If no improvement is made by next season (a playoff spot the minimum aim) then we and Bates have big problems.
Who? I wouldnt have Grayson back in a million years. Credit to him he took us up from League 1 (after doing his upmost to throw it away) Then he was found wanting in the Championship, first season he reaches second... then throws it all away to finish 7th... a total disater which we never turned around.... and the defense... three years he tried to sort it out, Warnock took one week ! Whether you like Warnock or not, you can't argue that he knows what he is doing. In only three games you have seen the influence he has had on a team most had written off (including me) as a bunch of useless has beens etc. His passion, his instructions, the sense he talks, I can't fault him at all.
A bit unfair because you are saying Grayson was basically crap and that any manager could have come in and done a better job - No they couldn't... Grayson was doing a decent job with what he had been given, Warnock is doing a fantastic job at the moment. If Warnock had not been sacked by QPR who would you have seen in place of Grayson? Do I think Warnock is a better manager than Grayson yes I do but if he had not taken the job would I have felt Jones, Bruce, Ince, Clark, Keane or a host of other associated names could have done better NO Do I blame Grayson or Bates - Bates without a doubt as he is the one who pulls the purse strings and he is also the muppet that decided the end of the transfer window was the ideal time to sack a manager and get a new one in. We have only won one game under Warnock so now isn't the time to get too excited and say none of the problems were down to Bates. While I am excited about what the future under Warnock holds let us not forget he hasn't actually done anything yet apart from win one, draw one and lose one.
I think its unfair to grayson to compare him to warnock. theres only gonna be 1 winner at this point. thats not to say grayson wont go on to be a great manager when he has the experience warnock has
Hmm, I agree with most of what you say but I don't think Warnock is the only better manager out there, I woulda taken a few managers over Grayson but he did do well for us and it was ****ing stupid timing to sack a manager
I honestly believe Leeds United and Simon Grayson in the end where probably hindering each others progression.
I get to see Grayson on Saturday. Colchester are on a good run at the moment and haven't conceded in 4 games now I think, so i'm putting my money on a 4-4 draw.
Not intruding on your thread to wum or anything like that. But as to sentence I quoted I think, from an outsider, sums up the situation. Warnock said when he took over (I believe) that he didnt think your squad was good enough to go up, whereas maybe perhaps Grayson did. Whether he was obliged to peddle that view, I don't know, but I think what it all came down to is that Grayson didnt seem to know how to plug your defence. Warnock will. Be it this season or next, he will resolve that issue. I suppose that is what 20+ years will give a manager in situations like yours. Edit: Just to add, I echo the sentiments of You'll never beat Kisnorbo and AdamBanana just a few posts abouce
QPr were nuts to let Warnock go,the results of that are now coming home to roost.Wouldn't be at all surprised to see you in the play offs.Your manager is a motormouthed gob****e but he knows how to get promotion.Good luck,and no you can't have Howson back.
Because Colchester can't score. Drew 1-1 with the blunts last night. Absolute cracker from Steven Gillespie, never looked like it was going in.
Cheers Boris, fair post. Grayson is still developing as a Manager. He got us out of L1. So let's not diss his memory or performance. We made 7th in our first season back in the championship last season. Again, let's not diss his performance. This season, we weren't moving forward. Grayson either lost the dressing room or couldn't see what minor tweaks needed to be made to close our biggest problem. He's now back in L1, slightly older & possibly a bit wiser. Going forward, we have NW who is the finished article at this level. We will go up either this season (with a bit of good fortune) or next in auto, possibly even as champions. That's the difference between Grayson (a few years as a Manager still learning his trade) & Warnock (who's got 7 or 8 teams promoted in his 30+ years as a manager)
Simon Grayson achieved some measure of success but ultimately could not cope with being the manager at Leeds United during the 2010-2011 season. We can all speculate as to the reasons for that but he deserves some degree of gratitude and accolade for what the team achieved while he was with us.
Is he doing well for you guys. I heard he played quite badly in his first game Its good to see that people are trying to remember grayson doing a good job though. His last season was disappointing but he did well in general
