.... or is he just good for Watford? Don't rush to have a go at me - at least count to three before you do that. ... and in case you can't be bothered to read all of this let me state at the start that I think he is good and right for us and I want him to stay but....... His bare statistics do not support it. Since getting the permanent job at Watford in 99 games he has won 33, drawn 25 and lost 41 games - a win percentage of just 33% - not exactly impressive. Only Dave Bassett and Colin Lee have significantly lower win percentages in the last 25 years. Why then is he touted around so much for other jobs? Two reasons 1) he got a lot of attention for taking us into play off contention with a squad tipped for relegation and 2) people realise he had the second lowest budget in the Championship with which to work. That is very true but if you were another club would you take a chance on "potential" on the basis that if he does that with "cheap" players how well must he do with good ones. It could only be a gamble. Why would Cardiff sack a man who has twice got them to the play-offs and pay £300k compensation for someone with a 33% win record? For me it is very puzzling - at Watford we KNOW how difficult it is for Malky and we appreciate him and realise that his win % in the circumstances is good but why would other clubs gamble on him? For him too - in his shoes I would consider myself still "under development" and would want another year without the pressure of must get promotion or the sack. If he truly believes in himself he can only do himself good by taking Watford to mid table safety yet again - only if he thinks he cannot do it and would suffer relegation would jumping ship make sense.
totally agree with you on this, he does so well because there is less pressure on him- remember how we were playoff contenders for a fair part of the season? Malky never got fazed and always said the target was 52 points. In Malky We Trust.
Great thread Lenny - A good football debate rather than a load of cut and paste from web sites that have just cut and pasted from another web site and links to football forums full of fishing trips, WUM's and nailed-on knob heads. I think you pose some excellent questions and I think that at the moment Malky is good AT and FOR Watford - but can he continue that and would he be able to replicate that at other clubs are the real questions. I think at the moment he is too much of an unknown to attract bigger clubs - talk of him being consider at Brum are quite ridiculous IMO. But on the reverse, if I was MM would a club like Baardiff hold much attraction? No it would not...even more debt, shady foreign owners (even more shady than Pinocchio), droves of players let go...no, I would stay with the problems I know about. Now if it was Norwich that where in the mix...then I would be very worried!
As said, he is good for Watford. I'm sure a lot comes down knowing the youngsters so well, plus how the club works, and the fan's expectations. Somewhere like Cardiff would be very much an unknown quantity with a lot more expectation, but still is not that much of a step up. The Brum job I wouldn't worry about as they seem to have about 6 on their radar, all of whom are currently out of work!! I guess Malky is in a tough position. His stock is very high at the moment, whereas a tough season might make him less favourable to teams in a years time. Does he go now and risk his burgeoning-reputation, or does he stay and try and build something at us and become much more souoght-after!! I am glad he hasn;t come out and said he is loyal to the club, because you never know - Villa might come in for him, or Lennon sacked at Celtic and swoop and you couldn't deny him that opportunity. We just need the board to refuse any approach and hope (which I think he will) Malky is satisfied with that!!
Malky has top drawer potential. If you look at Watford's ranking, we are at the bottom of the Championship, so to deliver mid table is a huge result - twice. Nowadays I think every football manager has his "window of opportunity", I think everyone was furious when Malky was forced to rebuild the team in January. With AT and JM I thought we were contenders for the playoffs, but when they weren't replaced I was angry. On a personal level if Malky had taken us to playoff contention, then I would reckon he was destined for bigger things. But because he had his ambitions trimmed, I would support him all the way even if he had gone to Cardiff. It would be interesting to see him in the visitor's dugout at the Vic.
Would be a different sort of pressure at Cardiff..they'd expect to battle for promotion all season and wouldn't give youngsters time to bed in etc like we do when Malky has given them a chance.
he would get a clap from me ! He has done so much at this club with so little and with clubs being forced to cut budgets ,His stock can only go up! If he stays and doesnt get relegated ,that would be his biggest achievement yet! If he goes then he goes with good wishs and many thanks!
I will be the first to admit that i was tempted to launch a wave of verbal abuse at you Leo, for even considering that Malky is not the Messiah!! However, on reflection you are right as usuall! He is simply being linked with every job that becomes available, but this happens with every manager who is half decent or achieves anything above his pay grade, and Malky certainly did this last season. However i would not say that all of what was achieved was down to MM alone. I have to believe that a lot of the results were due to a belief the team and the club has that they can win and win well. Malky was just able to bring this out. He has a wonder for working the loan market and free transfer markets, giving us the likes of AT, JM, MT, AW. However, he does struggle in january, as we know from Dishwater and others. This is a skill any team would kill to get, as we know there have been several failures at all levels and these can be costly. However, i have always said that managers are less to blame for mistaks on the pitch as well as less responsible for any success. Granted they do choose the team they put out which can help or hinder the result, but it is the 11 men on the pitch who choose the plays and make the decisions be they right or wrong. Dont get me wrong Malky is a genius and has been right on the money tactically for a lot of the time he has been with us.
MM is the best we could hope for at WFC at the moment ! Its as simple as that , anyone else wouldnt understand the club and its ethos as much as him!(SD excluded because he said he didnt want to be a no 1 yet) and if MM went I think SD would follow him!
See my "good fit" posting on the "This week, next week, sometime, never" thread. Not grumpy,not negative, but arguing that Cardiff and Malky look like quite a good fit at this moment in both their histories.Timing has a lot to do with managerial success--the right man in the right place... at the right time. We saw that with GT here, with Boothroyd even. This could be the right time for Malky and Cardiff, and I suspect both parties sense it.
The real point is that Malky is right for Watford and Watford is right for Malky - he is not the best manager and we are not the best club. He is learning his trade very fast and at Watford he can do so - and make mistakes - and be forgiven for them and praise dfor his good points. We do not expect promotion so can appreciate someone who is trying to help us the best he can. I hope he realises this and that another year at Watford will be good for him The danger is that all these rumours will unsettle him and he will eventually leave not really of his own choosing
As far as management goes, I stand by the "Who?" comment. Sure, it's not entirely his fault that he got Newcastle relegated with five points from eight games, with by far the biggest fanbase, best squad and fattest fat cat of the bottom five. But it's hardly a glowing reference. And whoever Shearer goes to, people dealing with that club will assume that they have money, and therefore demand more in transfer fees and wages.
NNW shush! any cardiff directors perusing this board please ignore above comment ! He didnt mean it really, Shearer is a god
Observer_Owl Watford Observer Alan Shearer is on verge of being appointed Cardiff City manager, reports suggest #WatfordFC
Malky does not work in isolation. I think a big part of the success is the team spirit he builds with players playing for each other without ego. The other elements in this include to no small extent JE, MT and last season DG. The problem if Malky goes is I would expect him to take at least one of his remaining on field generals, key to his success wherever he goes I believe is not having big egos in the club, now Bellamy I believe might be a problem, in fact why doesn't he become player manager at Cardiff?
