He had a great half a season when we went up. He had another great half season first time round in the PL. The rest was average to ****. He's not special, he just advertised HIMSELF as special. No one mentioned him for England manager before he suggested himself. He got found out. He's been found out again. I don't blame him for the financial stuff, but I do blame him for having serious deficiencies in the managerial department. Also, the idea that we would have survived in the PL had he stayed is ludicrous. Laughable. The fact that Dowie was even ****ter just makes people forget Browny's failings a little bit. Just what I think...
Its also very ironic that Phil Brown went down hill fast Once Big Sam Allardyce got fixed up @ Blackburn Rovers.
Under PB only Man U, Tottenham and Arsenal beat us at home and all 3 qualified for the Champions League. Under Dowie we lost at home to Sunderland, Burnley and Villa, the results which effectively sent us down. Do you really think going on that previous record we had no chance of picking up points in those games towards the end which sent us down? We were crap away all the while, but when you don't have a defence that's always going to be difficult. Unless you can think of an alternative to raise £4m, this isn't even a debate. He had his bad points, the naughty step being one, but he can't be blamed for what went on off the pitch. Oh and what dj said.
Sacking Brown when we did was a strange decision, but looking at his record over the 12 months before his sacking any other manager would have been given the boot. We could have survived, but I doubt it. As good as our performances were against Man City, Chelsea and in defeats to Arsenal and Man United we didn't claim enough points from teams around us. The Arsenal game itself was preceded by defeats to West Ham and Blackburn and dropped points at home to Wolves and Blackburn. Over the season we weren't good enough and taking points and playing well against the big team was all well and good but our record against teams around us was poor. We were doomed to relegation whether Brown stayed or went, we were probably the poorest team in the league that season so deserved to go down. The financial side of things I don't blame Brown so much for, that mainly lies at Duffen and Bartlett's door. But for the 12 months before he was sacked Brown appeared tactically inept, playing players in the wrong positions, daft substitutions and not to mention the infamous 'naughty step'. Would we have got more points had Brownie swallowed his pride and played the likes of Geovanni? We'll never know. He did great things for us in taking us up to the premier league and keeping us there and giving us those memorable away days at Arsenal, Spurs, Newcastle, Liverpool and Man United but his record from the Sunderland game in December 2008 speaks for itself and the success he'd had with us was suddenly turning sour and he appeared out of his depth in trying to change things.
He was clueless really. But he had a nice pair of brown shoes and a sharp suit. I genuinely think that superficial bollocks like his tan and ****ing beard, along with his constant natterings in the media, led the more impressionable amongst the Tigers support to actually think he knew what he was doing. Or at least forgive him of his rank decisions every game. Or deny the truth altogether. They bought into the Brown character more than the managing reality. The two were very different.
could have been the suit and the beard...or it could have been the whole saving us from the drop then taking us up that led people to believe he had an idea what he was doing....tough call..
"Yeah his shoes are nice, but I wish we'd win a ****ing game for once" is a thought that often crossed my mind. He rode the crest of a wave, then when it went wrong he had no answers. He was embarrassingly short of them in fact. He didn't so much save us from relegation, we just got out-****ted on the final day. The 2nd half of that season was abysmal. He should have been sacked in January of the 2nd season. The challenge of keeping us in the league would have been a more attractive one to managers of higher ability than Dowie with half a season to go. As it was, no one of decent stock had to take the risk. We were left with daft ****. Brown got us to Prem, yes. He was there while in the first half of season when we were flying, yes. Then he lost it, and never got it back. PNE now shows he is, frankly, not that good.
Yes, he lost the plot, yes he become an embarrasment (pink jumper anyone..) But he still took MY club to wembley & the premier league. That is 2 places I never thought I'd see city play. For that I will always be grateful..........anything else is forgotten. UTT
Things like these tended to make me think he knew what he was doing... please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Just because he's just been sacked by the worst chairman ever to grace the Football League (and somebody who should have been banned from football years ago) doesn't make him a bad manager. Sacking Phil Brown is something City will probably never recover from. Ever.
Precisely. There isnt a single element of that song that is ironic. "A traffic jam when you're already late" - no, that's annoying. It would be ironic if you were the head of transport on your way to a meeting to discuss how there is no need to tackle increasing traffic problems and THEN you got stuck in a traffic jam.
Not this old chestnut again. Surely everyone can agree that there were two Brownie's - Good Brownie - the one who kept us up, got us to Wembley, and had such a great start to life in the PL. I remember the amazing spirit amongst the players, fans and entire club in that promotion season, summed up when the team warmed up on the touchline by the away fans before the 1st playoff leg at Watford. Then there is bad Brownie - probably caused by the attention he was receiving - who fell out with players, bought over-priced donkeys, refused to play a striker upfront, and who couldn't win a game from Jan 2009 onwards. He ruined the team spirit completely and hired a load of people who didn't care about the club. It was right to sack him as the good Brownie was long long gone - the timing was wrong though, they left it too late. So to sum up - Brownie, thanks for all the good memories but unfortunately you outstayed your welcome.
We were the weakest and poorest club in the PL, odds on to get relegated and we stayed up. A year later we were still the weakest and poorest club in the league, again odds on to get relegated, and this time did get relegated. I don't see how that is a failure of any kind. EDIT: TWF's comment was about right until the last part :/
I think Brownie just got carried away and then when his bubble burst that was it, somebody should make a Downfall parody video about it. This has been done to death so many times before. We are a in a good spot now and lets enjoy the good times, thanks for the good memories Brownie
Agree with this, in all honesty we weren't expected to stay up in either of our two premier league seasons. To take us up to the premier league and keep us there was an achievement that no one can take away from him and rightly so. The way we played without fear in the opening 3 months of our Premier League season was fantastic, and Wigan at home aside until the Sunderland game in December we fully deserved the plaudits we got. His faults were evident however with his tactics and team selections post December 2008. I remember reading on the old 606 after most games people bemoaning Brownie's tactics, team selections and substitutions. We may not have underachieved and failed by struggling in the premier league, it's the manner in which things were going through 2009 and into 2010 that leads to most criticism of Brown for me. Annoyingly we showed at times we were good enough to compete in 2009/10, Chelsea and Man City home and away, Arsenal at home and Spurs away to mention a few but when it came down to beating the likes Wolves, West Ham, Blackburn, Birmingham and Burnley we were found wanting. I've heard many people use 'victim of his own success' when discussing Brown, and that sums things up well. Ok, teams may have found us out after our early season success in 2008, but we didn't do ourselves any favours at times and that is partly down to Brown. And I agree with what you say on TWF's comment, pretty sensible until the last bit. Not like we're currently enjoying a good run of form and potentially challenging for promotion. City never recovering from Brown's sacking is a ridiculous thing to say.
we needed 6 more points than the 6 we got under dowie. first game under dowie was march 20. we had won ONE game since NOVEMBER. that is NONE in december + NONE in january + ONE in february + no points in march. in dowie's 9 games we won 1 and drew 3. in brown's last 15 games we also won 1 and we drew 6. that is 9 points from 15 games and you think we would have got 12 points from the next 9 games? we also lost at home to birmingham which you seem to have forgotten about. if liverpool had had any reason to bother they would have beaten us on the last day too. do you know how many points we got off sunderland in the two seasons in the pl? when brown left we were 19th. when dowie left we were 19th. who's fault was it that we didnt have a defence? dowie's? if so, how do you explain conceding 61 in 29 under brown and 14 in 9 under dowie?
In our first season in the premiership we got hammered by Wigan.........Phil Brown placed most of the blame on Wayne Brown and soon after got rid of him out on loan . We were still riding the crest around that Xmas but I still believed Brownie was clueless (his square pegs in round holes in the championship led me to doubt his ability).On another forum I asked the question...."Have we got rid of the wrong BROWN" I was laughed at and ridiculed by the rose tinted spectacle wearers who wanted to ride Brownies coat tails and kiss his Brown brogues. Many of these butt lickers are now his most vociferous denigrators who want to blame him for the total debacle. Personally I detest him for turning a team and a City into a laughing stock for a short period of time , but I also realise he was NOT alone in his ineptness at soccer management. He has quickly shown his lack of ability at Preston and that he hasn't learned from his previous mistakes perhaps it is NOW time for him to realise he should choose another vocation.
