We struggled from competitions up front for years now. Under Sven only Yakubu could stick the ball in the net. After last season we had no back up to Nugent or Beckford then this season it's just Wood and Nugent. No one can come ff the bench and get us a goal
... if we were now on the good run having overcome the bad you would have an excellent point ... but nobody outside the loony bin could sensibly say that a season ending in this run in any way indicates 'improvement' ... what are your visiting hours, I'll pop round with some jaffa cakes and a nice cuppa...
We've bottled it this year, but that doesn't mean we cant get the post 2013 form back again, and in my opinion, we don't need a new manager to do that. Ps. i dont like Jaffacakes or tea/coffee, could you bring some Bourbons and Dr Pepper
Since we last got relegated from the Prem we have had miles too many managers. Micky Adams, Craig Levein, Rob Kelly, Nigel Worthington, Martin Allen, Gary Megson, Ian Holloway, Nigel Pearson, Paulo Sousa, Sven Goran Eriksson and Nigel again. That there shows why the club has suffered from a lack of success. We dont back managers enough. Nigel Pearson is the only manager to be here for a full season in them season we finished 1st and 5th. 2 very successful season There is a serious lack of stability at our football club, if we cant get success straight away we just give the manager their p45 and let another through the revolving door. Albeit some managers have deserved the sack we cant continue this way. In the long term we may have to accept 1 season of disappointment to achieve success. With FFP coming in it makes this summer one of the biggest here in a very very long time. We cant afford to spend massive and not achieve promotion as there will be financial penalties placed on the club. We have a very good squad now, in the summer it just needs a little tweaking and a bit of freshening up. Not changing the whole thing. The main problem with modern day football is this need for instant success. As a fan I want long term success. Had we started out properly last season and not gone gung ho under Sven we would have this massive debt hanging over the club and we might even be in the prem now. Cardiff last season under Malky accepted they will probably achieve mid table why they rebuilt, they over achieved and got play offs but then this season look what happened. That could quite easily be us next season if the owners back Nigel
Ferguson's style of manager is not the same as O'Neill's. Wim Jansen actually broke Rangers dominance and started the work O'Neill built on. When O'Neill was at Leicester, Villa were frequently finishing in the top five and competing in Europe. He merely got them back on track, but not quite as successful as previously. It was only after he left that everything went wrong (the same with us). He improved Sunderland form at first (not uncommon), but dropped off at the end of 2011-12 season and almost sent them down this year. No doubt about it in my mind, his biggest achievement was taking a top 30 club like ours and making it a top 10 club. But that was in the 1990s. O'Neill will always be a Leicester legend for what he did. But so will Claridge and I wouldn't want him back in the team. If he comes back I'll welcome him with open arms but I won't be able to remove these nagging doubts until he proves me wrong. Just like Pearson won't convince you until he proves you wrong.
Martin O'Neill would be stupid to come back here Already achieved promotion- Tick Won a trophy- Tick (Won 2 trophies) Achieved legendary status- Tick Established as a prem side- Tick Got team in Europe- Tick (Got us in Europe twice) And if he come back here and didnt get us up then he legacy here would be tainted and what people think of him would change.
Agreed. When I think of Dickov I don't think of the goal machine now, I think of the old man who struggled to run for more than 10 minutes.
My expectation was a top ten finish. This league is too tough and unpredictable to ask for more. We're going to finish somewhere between fifth (if Millwall get their arses in gear) and eighth, so we're certainly not a million miles away from that target like Sven was. Yes our form has been terrible (it's actually two wins in 16) but there have been some very respectable draws in their too (Cardiff, Brighton and Palace away), we have played well in quite a few of those matches and we can't simply discount earlier results because that was then and this is now. From is temporary and we have seen that this team can play. The main thing that matters is our league position and as I said above, we're not a million miles away from where we need to be. .... or under performing players? Many of our performances have been too nervy and that has to come down to the players. There's only so much a manger can do to get you in the right place mentally. When you're send out on that field, it's up to you and you alone to get yourself in the right frame of mind.
Ferguson's style of management is not the same as O'Neil's - don't necessarily agree but actually it's irrelevant ... O'Neil, like Ferguson, has succeeded wherever he has been because he has always been able to adapt ... unlike 'my way or the highway' Pearson Wim Jansen had one lucky season - a blip on Rangers dominance over the precceeding 5 years - but hadn't Rangers won the league the season before O'Neil took charge? - haven't bothered to look but that's my recollection. Villa 'He merely got them back on track' - agreed wholly - and what do we need with a record of 2 wins in 16? ... I'm not looking for him to curel the blind or heal the sick - but I definitely think he can take us up and make us competitive in the Prem. Sunderland would not have gone down under O'Neil this season ... my view ... not yours ... accepted. Claridge back in the team ... now you're being silly ... but actually he could still hold the ball up better than Chris Wood can do currently Each to his own ... what makes you think that an average centre-half whose only footballing achievement was to take a club from the 10th biggest city in the UK from division one to the Championship has the potential to be a better football manager than a guy who was good enough to be in a Champions League winning team as a player and has won multiple national titles, cups and promotions and has a proven track record at the highest level in English football ... So what if he fails this time around ... he's still the best out in the current market that might possibly come to us ...
Interesting reading your thoughts on this, Fosse and Gangsta. Do you actually think there is a chance MON would come back? I'm not so sure it's even an option. If NP were to go, who else would you like to manage us, Fosse?
I would only want god back if he reunited the old team of robertson ,walford and co..a bit like the return of the magnificent seven.. but better
I sort of agree with IUTBJF's post that I would like MON with Robertson and Walford ... and if you look at the set-up that O'Neil liked to employ when here before, it was not that different from Alex Ferguson's ethos (despite Gangsta's view LOL) - good wide players Eadie, Guppy who could put the ball into the danger area properly (Valencia, Young, Nani, Giggs) (Zaha)) - two dominant centre halves - Elliot, Walsh, Tags (Ferdinand Vidic) creative midfield with goals in them Izzet, Parker, Zagorakis, (Scholes, Cleverley, Kagawa) - good full backs Grayson, Kaamark (Rafael, Evra) - great protective midfielder doing the simple things Lennon (Carrick) .... and goal threats Cottee, Heskey, Collymore, Claridge ... RVP, Rooney Chicarito ... Heard an interview with Craig Brown (former Scotland manager) talking about Sir Alex - he said that SAF had told him that he was 'too young to retire' i.e what would he do instead - felt he still had a lot to give and still loved his job ... I think that is the same for many football managers and MON will still be smarting from his sackig at Sunderland and, I think, will want to prove a point - him coming back will fill the stadium ... and he'd have funding ... .. as to who else if not MON ... very easy for me ... Gary McAllister - very intelligent player who would get us playing in the right way plus ex-city legened - and again from a recent Radio interview - now looking to get back into the game ...
Martin O'Neill took us as far as he could, he left at the right time for him personally. Since he left apart from the promotion with Micky Adams, Nigel is the only manager to achieve success here. That tells its own story Forget ambition a minute and we have made alot of progress this season compared to last. For 2/3 of the season we was up there in 2nd place. When Chris Wood came in we looked like getting 2nd. In the whole of the last 2 seasons we have spent a grand total of 3 days inside the play offs. While this season we have spent the vast majority in it. Yes we have ended the season badly, but squad wise we are alot better for it. We dont have to rebuild in the summer like we have in the past 2 seasons. Changing the management could send us backwards again, just look at Blackburn. They change manager and if he didnt hit the ground running he was sacked. Its no wonder they nearly got relegated. Before calling for Nigel's head think very carefully
You serious? You would really sack Nigel for Gary McAllister? There is a reason he done **** and got sacked by Coventry and Leeds. The year we won League 1 he was the Leeds manager up until January when he got sacked This is what im on about sacking Nigel. There isnt much better out there, people need to stop living in dream world with O'Neill. He wont be the same as before. His business here is finished, there nothing he can add to what he did, just risk losing his reputation. Leave him as a legend and dont ruin his legacy
No - I would sack Nigel full stop ... for arguably the wosre managerial performance over a 16 game spell in any division this season - unless we fluke the play-offs McAllister had a seriously ill wife during the spells you mention but still did OK overall - but IMHO he undersatnds the game far better than Nigel Pearson ever will ... Leeds had a serious injury to their then talismanic striker, Jermaine Beckford, at the crucial run-in to the season and, without which, they likely would have been promoted with us ... Coventry was a basket case of a club with no money and I doubt even King Canute could have held back the tide that has washed them to where they now are .. You say people need to stop living the dream world of Martin O'Neil - each to own but I'd much rather chance that than the nightmare that is Nigel Pearson's management style ... ... and the desperate attempt to give some kudos to Pearson's 'wonderful achievement' of getting us up from League One is laughable - Simon Grayson has done that 3 times with 3 different clubs ... he has not been 'successful' by any proper measurement - he has only achieved what any manager should have done for a club of our size in League One (particularly with Mandaric's financial backing) ... ...as to the 'legacy bit' - who are you to judge? .. or I? .. that is purely down to Martin O'Neil and his appetite for the challenge - I'm happy to leave that decision to him.
Charlton, Forest, Leeds, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United all failed to return first time. Nigel built us a young hungry squad which won the league comfortable and then went on to do very well the next season If Gary McAllister was just unlucky at Leeds and Coventry why didnt he get another job. He might have been a very good player but he is a bollocks manager. Yes we have been **** for 16 games but you really think its purely down to Nigel for the slump? Some players need to look at themselves and question why their own performances have declined. As the saying goes you can lead a horse to the water but you cant make it drink it. Nigel has prepared the team the best he could but as inexperienced team do they have a fragile mindset at times. When Anthony Knockaert was full of confidence he was a joy to watch but now he is struggling. Its the same with the majority players Danny Drinkwater, Matty James, Ritchie De Laet, Jeff Schlupp, Chris Wood and Ben Marshall all in their first proper season as professional footballers. Most of them have just been loaned out before. When they have been of form they have been superb but lack mental toughness at times. The older pro's like Paul Konchesky, Zak Whitbread, David Nugent, Richie Wellens, Paul Gallagher, Lloyd Dyer have failed them. When they are on the pitch there is only so much Nigel can do. He needs to older pro's to lead. Other then Wes and Kasper not 1 older player really leads or sets and example. Nigel has put alot of trust and faith into a very young side, just because they have fell apart it doesnt make Nigel all of a sudden a bad manager
On one thread you argue that we need to be patient with Nigel but on the next that him getting us up from League One at the first attempt is a wonderful achievement - all the clubs you mention are now in the Championship with the exception of Sheff United who won't be there much longer because - like the others and us they are too big a club and will eventually out muscle the rest of that division ... so not really a big deal to come back first time .. Gary McAllister has only just put himself back in the available window having now dealt with the personal problems he and his family had ... per his radio interview. If Nige has prepared his team 'the best he could' ... all the more reson to go quickly ... results speak for themselves I've never said 'all of a sudden he's a bad manager' ... I have always said that so far he has not done enough for me to say he is a good one ... and certainly nothing to make me think he could cut it as a manager in the prem ... You think he's good - I think he is nowhere near as good as you seem to ... and way behind the 'good managers' at leicester City over the 40 years I've been going down ... nothing you can say carries more weight than 16 ganes - 2 wins - we'd have been laughing at any of our rivals on such a run.
