The bottom line is if most people were offered more money and better conditions in a new job then they would give it very serious consideration. Yes it's disappointing that he's left but sadly understandable. What we need to do now is move on very quickly and sign a new amanager as quickly as possible.If the board sits around licking its wounds and indilging in recriminations then things will get worse rather than better - and with a few clubs looking for new managers we want to be ready to get the best one available. I'd quite like Chris hughton or david Jones - hardly original or particularly inspiring I know......
No, Roger. Utter rubbish. As others have pointed out, the reason we did not get them had nothing to do with money. Further, the fact that we brought in three players and were rumoured to be looking at more, with only two going out, suggests that money was not a problem - we put a cash bid in for Taylor. Seriously, I'm all for everyone having an opinion and being able to voice it but you spout nonsense and pass it off as a factual account of events.
Bradleys dad-- well OK, maybe a bit rubbish, but not utter rubbish. The main point I was trying to refute was Leonardo's claim that Malky was not handicapped by lack of funds last season , and so does not deserve credit for "keeping us up on a shoestring", but can be criticised for letting the season fall away after Christmas.The suggestion is that the squad was strong enough/deep enough to maintain the challenge , he was somehow at fault for letting it slip. I was using the fact that he has had to rely on loan players,(who often have to return at the wrong moment for us ), and his inability to transfer in experienced players in key positions as evidence that lack of funds DID hinder him --and frustrate him , as he publicly stated. Take the famous "left back" issue. We did not succeed in keeping Taylor(I think money must have been a factor there--you don't, OK) neither could we afford to play our own Sadler, because it would have triggered extra payments. So we played Doyley out of position--an unsatisfactory solution to a problem that money would have solved. My main point is that Malky did very well on limited resources, creating a squad that was competitive in this division; the lack of depth in the squad came home to roost in the second half of the season, especially when the better loan players went home and were not/could not be replaced by players of similar quality.
When I look back at the 2nd half of the season I thought quite a few players ran out of steam (Eustace and Cowie) and I couldn't see the players to "freshen the side up". As such the season petered out in my view and I thought Malky had done all he could with what he had. My fear now is the squad needs a number of new faces, as the Eustace's and Taylor's are not getting any younger. This will be a major challenge for the new manager. So my choice is for a new broom - Waddock is the man for me, if Dyche was the club's choice why the delay in the appointment?
Fair play, Roger. I agree with quite a bit of that. Elixir might have it there as well saying we ran out of steam towards the end. Was that due to a lack of bodies or because there was a feeling of 'job done', Malky played down the chances, who knows? Does he deserve credit? Yes. Could he have done better at times? Yes, probably. Its all a bit funny for me. I think overall you have to say Malky did a good job but for me it is tainted because it appears (though this might be wrong) that some discussions were going on before he had permission to do so.
Well I do realise that football contracts are completely different to others. However when he signed the three year deal I thought not that he would stay 3 years but that we would now have him for a t least one year - and that then we would get compensation. I did not think it would be quite so cynical on Malky's part but hey ho - I am over it - on reflection I think he did a fairly good job with limited budget - but believe there are others out there as good - when Rodgers left I was more worried as I did not think Malky was ready - but he exceeded my expectations. Oh - and Malky signed AFTER Baz took over so I don't think the club made a good move to prevent him from cheap dismissal. Would I ever trust MM again no - if I shook hands I would count my fingers afterwards - I also thin Cardiff have appointed totally the wrong man for hte job they want doing but that is their problem not ours
Well said kchorn, I see nothing wrong in MM wanting to buy a bigger house or to afford things he couldn't when he was manager of Watford FC. They probably offered him a bigger salary, a bigger transfer budget and Cardiff has more ambition then we do. Leonardo, your confusing the real world with football, which are two separate entities. Contracts mean absolutely nothing in terms of a player agreeing to spend the whole of the agreed length of the contract there, in fact these days they are used by most clubs to say to other clubs courting their manager or player: 'we've just put him on a long-term contract, which means if you want him you need to pay us more'. On the subject of MM he has been an absolute success, I'm astonished people don't see that. He came to the team with us having lost our manager, plus most of our first team in terms of loanees being recalled (Cork and Rasiak) and actual player sales (Williamson, MacAnuff, Smith, Priskin). He had to built a whole new squad, without a penny to spare. In both of his seasons in charge we were favourites to go down, the fact that we didn't makes him a great success. Yes there have bee some stinkers in terms of transfers (Severin, Noble, Travner), but then think of all the great players who came to the club (Martin Taylor, Andrew Taylor, Buckley, Cleverly, Lansbury, Mutch) We also played a very good style of football, mixing up between direct and short-passing, and it was good entertainment. Yes we got tonked a number of times (5-0 West Brom or 4-0 Cardiff), but we also produced some memorable performances it beating QPR 3-1 and Cardiff 4-1. I also applaud him for producing a number of academy graduates who have broken into the first team, like Hodson, Sordell, Wichelow, Bennett and he's brought back Jenkins as well. I will always look back on Malky's time fondly, despite the rather messy circumstances of him leaving. The club is entering a new era, by the time we meet Cardiff on boxing day we'll know if Malky has made the right choice. I fear he hasn't, there is a rebuilding job to be done at Cardiff as well, only the difference between them and us is that they want promotion, we only desire to be 21st.
Goodness--we are converging on agreement, but with enough disagreement to keep it interesting. I think emiatss puts it well--Malky did well for us while he was here, left in messy circumstances and time will tell whether his leaving was bad for us and good for him or vice versa. I hope we get over him going, but I do not hope he fails at Cardiff. That would just be sour grapes. Leornardo--Mr B was not in full control when Malky got his new contract, and would not have been the person who decided to give it to him. I can see that the then Board would want to offer Malky some sort of insurance policy against what a new owner might want to do with the managership--Mr B was an unknown quantity at that point (well he still is...)
I wonder if you will feel the same if we go straight down - Malky could have been held for a year at least - some clubs DO keep their managers in the face of another club's bid especially on a new contract - a contract even in football is not just about compensation levels - I am not that naive - I have followed football for over 50 years
I dont agree about that Roger - I have been in enough takeovrs to know that the incoming party makes those decisions as otherwise they can blow the deal - if he had not wanted MM to have a new contract he would not have got it
I wonder how much that Garry guy has been celebrating! As for MM..well good luck to him in a job which will bring a better chance of gaining success BUT also added pressure and expectations.
Personaly I think MM has made a mistake going to Baardifffff because the pressure and expectation to get promotion in his first year will be too great. He would have been better served staying for one more year with little to no pressure or expectation. An extra season learning his trade would put him better placed to move to a club bigger than Baardifffff. I think he did an OK job but don't think that he is ready for a step up yet (If going to Cardiff is a step up). I can see them struggling and MM sacked by Xmas. As for him signing a three year contract and leaving after three months I feel that he has sh*t on the supports the stood by him and chanted his name week in and week out. He is the one that wanted to speek to them after the club had said no.
I find this argument extraordinary, really. There is an assumption that he left because of money - we have no idea that that is the reason he left. The turmoil of our club's ownership compared with a club that (although in great debt) is a city club with greater immediate potential than us, must be very serious factors. What sort of genuine threat did we have for an automatic last season? And Cardiff? The red herring of the contract situation is also baffling. So many people here must be disgusted with every player who leaves for whom we do not receive a fee . I'm with Roger that the signing of the contract meant he was more likely to go but with us receiving greater compensation (and him better Ts & Cs). I've never bought Rodgers' 'all so innocent' bull TBH, he was a victim of being hounded down by whom? A couple of local newspapers? Do me a favour. If he couldn't fend them off . Just tell his secretary he's not answering the phone . They're not exactly bugging his car or sending in a fake sheikh now are they? No, he sought them. He wanted the attention and got the whole thing seriously wrong. He wasn't man enough to own up to his appalling faux pas at the time. And his recent interpretation of the timescale of events doesn't add up to me. I agree I want 6pts from Cardiff, but I do every club.
Good post SLB ( and in line with my reasoning) as long as he doesnt pillage the club too much , I hope he does well , as I do DG and WB!
Leonardo, Mackay was going to go, if not to Cardiff than I imagine it would't be long before a club at the start of the season sack their manager due to not meeting expectations, and they would come straight for Mackay. It was pretty much accepted he would be leaving this summer.
Oh silly me I have just realised how dopey I have been. A man who makes a stupid comment saying he has integrity and then proves he has not by leaving two days later is a real villain. No wonder he is so much hated by our fans. That he turned the club round after a 46 game run that yielded only 42 points - relegation form proper - and took us to mid table security after being misled by the Board about the amount of funds available is hardly worth even thinking about. Getting the best out of Priskin and McAnuff and then selling them for well over £2m is what anyone would have done. Being approached by his former club and going back to his roots shows complete self interest and avarice. We must hate that villain JUDAS. On the other hand the man who took over that mid table team and kept them there despite lack of transfer money but with an England Under 21 International keeper and the Championshipâs leading scorer signed by the man we must hate is clearly a Demi God. We must elevate him to legend status and not question his motivation for leaving. We must shut our eyes to the obvious fact that he or his agent had preliminary talks with Cardiff and that when Watford turned down their approach he insisted he wanted to talk to them and then chose to walk away from a contract signed less than 3 months earlier. Well that contract was only a piece of paper was it not â it meant nothing â none of us thought that Watford were clever to try to secure their future in the Championship by giving him a longer and better contract. We all knew he was about to leave us. No - how silly of me â Watford did it as they wanted compensation â not his managerial skills. He did not know who the new owner was who signed the contract with him, he did not know that DG would be sold in the summer or that other players too would have to go, he did not know that there would be very little money to spend on new players. In fact he just did us a favour by signing a worthless piece of paper to try to improve our funds. And how ridiculous to think that money might have been the motive for his move â no Cardiff are such a progressive, stable, well owned and financially secure club with good youngsters that he would have gone on the same salary or less â certainly not a doubling or more of his salary. I should get my facts right â contracts are worthless but verbal statements are binding contracts so BR was the evil villain for one stupid sentence and MM has nothing but honour to follow him to Cardiff despite probably doubling our chances of relegation â he did it for us the fans. He is a HERO I apologise to all those who realize how silly I was to have mixed up the hero and villain
Tried to give you some rep points for that post Lenny, but the system won't let me. I profoundly disagree with your analysis of Rodgers (more than a mere pantomime villain in my eyes; rather a disingenuous toad!) However, I think you convey my cynicism better than others on here and I feel you are more in tune with how football seems to work nowadays. So, as regards Mackay, I think your view is fair. He did alright in his time with us and no-one in their right mind would deny he operated in straitened circumstances, but let's not go overboard. We haven't lost a true gentleman or tactical genius. We've lost a decent manager (churlish to deny that, in my view) who was always on the lookout for other opportunities. S**t happens.
