I didn’t always agree with his style of play and his tactical acumen, and I’m happy we have Manning in the building, but, there’s something about JHT I liked and I miss. He’s a gentleman, and had a plan. Who knows what would have happened had he been retained.
That’s how I feel. No regrets about having him as our manager, disappointed he was fired when he was as I thought he could be given a shot at another season, but equally I’m pleased the club has acted decisively and seem to have chosen a replacement sensibly. We will never know, but it doesn’t feel like some of the shambles of previous managerial changes we have seen - hanging onto a manager for too long or sacking them without a plan
I liked JHT, he was dealt an incredibly tough hand with so much change in the club to contend with - ownership, Sporting Director, coaching staff, star players, lowering the average age of the playing squad and changing the playing style. Very difficult job for him but he always handled it gracefully and was very perosnable in his interviews I felt. He was however also naive at times, one of the biggest mistakes he made was to declare that his teams didn’t want duels, that unfortunately became the way that all teams set up against us - to be aggressive. Since leaving it has also been alluded to that he could be quite cold with the players including the younger ones, barely speaking to some on a one-to-one level, and too many meetings - every morning was a meeting I’ve heard.
