fans views regards SOD around the country

comments by fans around the country below.


6:Believe me pal, you've appointed a top class managed in Sean O'Driscoll.He might irk some of the more simpleton fans by not jumping up and down on the touchline, but if you listen to his interviews you can see an intelligence that is rare in football.SOD has succeeded at every club he's been at. Even if Bristol City go down this year he'll have you back up at the first attempt.url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21010274Some[/url]

*Ticky*5 HOURS AGOPerhaps the best managerial appointment this season.

*Steve*5 HOURS AGOA great move by Bristol City. I only wish that Doncaster Rovers had taken their chance and re signed this tallented manager. I wish Sean all the best and surely he must receive the respect he deserves. The biggest mistake Doncaster ever made was sacking him. Look forward to entertaining football you City fans.Good luck Sean.


*MOTLeeds*4 HOURS AGOI have never seen Sean O'Driscoll in an interview before but he came across as being quite nervous and seemed to stutter a little bit. That aside Bristol City have appointed an experienced manager and he will do well with them I think.


4 HOURS AGO Why did he not take the barnsley job or the blackpool job and decide to join Bristol City?That's beside the point, he should still be at Forest


Brizzle have got themselves a good new manager it's a pity they're not getting a new ground


He was doing a very good job with Forest. The championship really is a madhouse! Managers get sacked because owners panic if the club isn't sitting in the play offs at christmas!

*Leeds1965*4 HOURS AGOlast match as a manager?leeds united1st match as city manager?leeds unitednot a bad time to be playing the whites to be honest although we are a different proposition at ER than away from home.he's a good manager and i wish him luck - after saturday that is!

Birmingham City fan here, stunned that Nottingham Forest believed that McLeish was a better prospect than Sean O'Driscoll, certainly Bristol City have come out on top in this particular managerial merry go round.

All the best to SOD at Bristol
we still miss him at Donny!

*Bhatti Boy*42 MINUTES AGOSOD sounded very uneasy in this interview but he's a great manager who gains the respect of the players and plays attractive football.

As a Forest fan I'm glad he's back in work and feel guilty that we treated him as badly as we did. He was doing a damned good job and the football we were playing was a joy to watch...and was getting many admiring comments from other teams.

All the best to Sean. He was just getting it right at the city ground.True gentleman with allot of respect from the forest players and fans hope brizzle look after him better than the forest board did

 

Thanks Savvy10

He's been on our radar ever since his successful days at Bournemouth (which obviously isn't that far away from us) and we all naturally hope he can see the mistakes made by his predecessor and instill some pride and belief back into the squad even if we do drop a division.

I still cant believe the way he was treated by Forest

 

And in the interest of balance, From a Donny fan who otherwise spoke very Highly SOD, but some of these comments are spine chillingly familiar.


SOD weaknesses....

- Tendency to fill the squad with 'safe' central midfielders. You might quickly find yourself with 8 players like Simon Gillett but only two centre forwards.
- We were never good at defending or attacking set plays because he's not interested in height or physical attributes. It was common to have two centre halves who were only 5 foot 10 playing. If you get a corner, you might as well kick it straight into touch and get on with the game from a goal kick. If the opposition get a corner and have a couple of six foot plus players who are decent in the air, feel free to **** yourself.
- Lack of emphasis on physicality means teams can set up to bully you, and there's usually no answer to that from a SOD team.
- We used to concede a lot of late goals. SOD has said himself repeatedly that he didn't like doing fitness work like running up hills when he was a player, so he doesn't make his players do it. Could be a reason for the late goals, as fitness levels never seemed that good. Also led to regular injury crises.
- He can be very negative. He's lauded as a manager who likes to play attacking football, but when you scratch beneath the surface, it's often very cautious. Sometimes even overly cautious. Expect to see an extra centre half repeatedly brought on for a striker when leading by the odd goal, which usually led to a retreat to being camped in your own half and inevitably conceding.
- Subs are very rarely made before the 80th minute, even if the game is crying out for a change.
- You'll never play with wingers, and everything will be narrow and congested. Can be okay when it works, but when teams stop you playing through them, his refusal to have an outlet on the wing can be very frustrating.
- He very rarely signed players with any pace, which is another thing that you may not see as essential, but sometimes a game is crying out for a bit of pace, and we very rarely had that option.
- His interviews can sometimes come across as talking sense, but sometimes it's just riddles and nobody is any the wiser. He used to bang on for years here about 'doing the right things' without ever elaborating on what they are.
- He tends to focus and worry a lot about the opposition. I mean, there's no doubt it's good to look at how the opposition play, but it seems he sometimes obsesses over it, and focuses on that more than his own side.
- The football is known as revolving around possession, but it can be annoying when there doesn't seem like any end product or any emphasis on doing something with that possession in the final third. We frequently came away from matches with 60% possession, but hardly any shots on goal, and a 1-0 defeat or something similar

 

Every manager and human being have their weaknesses. Let's give the guy a break before we start slagging him off..............

 

I'm not slagging him off!

I am repeating what a Doncaster fan (who also spoke very warmly of him) posted as to what he believed were his perceived weaknesses. That post to read could so easily have been written word for word by any of the Mckinnes doubters, its spooky.

I hope he does well, as I do for all City managers but I have to tell you I am totally underwhelmed by his appointment and if that post has any ring of truth about it We will be hearing all the same criticisms in a few months time.

I'm not gonna jump up and down with excitement, but you crack on if you want...

 

I wont be getting carried away, If he keeps us up great but said it a few times I cant see it. Next season in league 1 will be a real test for him. We will be one of the big teams and we should be aiming for a instant promotion. With hopefully some of his trademark sexy football getting us there. We will be in a better position than Donny when he first took him up as we have money. Im confident he can do well but not confident he will keep us up (AND THATS NO SAYING HES A **** MANAGER!)

 

McInnes kept us up last year

 

I would'nt say I am "underwhelmed", nor "over the moon" with SOD's appointment tbh. When you consider we are only Bristol City.....in financial trouble, no new stadium in the foreseable, bottom of the league, no clean sheets, dwindleing crowds.......need I go on?
We plain and simply got the best of the current bunch available. Realy could'nt see the board forking out for a big BIG name, and being as he was un-employed AND almost got the job last time, it was a no brainer.

Suffice to say, I am happy with the new boss and he will recieve all my support.

 

Take a read of this

Just wanted to say you've made a great appointment today. Sean is one of the most intelligent, perceptive and likable guys in football and I'm delighted he's got this opportunity. If your board and fans give him the time and backing that he deserves then I have no doubt at all that you'll be in for a great future.*Sean has a reputation for playing attractive football but it's more than that. It's not just passing the ball on the floor for the sake of it. You'll hear the words organisation and discipline coined many times and he'll find ways of getting more from players that you may have given up on in the past.*Some fans may not understand it and we had plenty that would prefer to hear someone cracking jokes in interviews and ranting on raving on the touchline, but a quick read of this board tells me a number of your fans are tired of that. O'Driscoll is, without doubt in my view, the best manager we've ever had. We may have had more decorated periods in our extensive history (I beg to differ) but the way he went about getting success made me all the more proud of it. When it works, it's great to watch and with no disrespect to my own club, he'll probably end up with more tools to work with at Bristol. I have no doubt that Nottingham Forest made a big mistake in pulling the plug too quickly but that's to Bristol City's gain and I think the club should be a good fit for Sean. Even if you don't manage to stay up this season, I hope everyone sticks with him as he deserves the chance to be given the time and resources to achieve what he sets out to, and that will be to put the entire football club in a much better position, long term, than it's currently in.*Anyone that isn't already sold should have a read of this if you haven't already seen it. Managers that make so much sense are a rare commodity in the modern game:*http://www.goalfood....-interview.html*Good luck and enjoy.

 

Sorry RR I am tending to take your over-enthusiasm with a massive pinch of salt, We've been there, seen it, and done it..

 

Thanks for this Red Robin, it is a fascinating insight into Sean O'Driscoll's football philosophy.
I'm copying the full link as it took me a while to find the site where this is.
http://www.goalfood.com/fanzine/interviews/june-2009-sean-odriscoll-interview3.html
Can't paste in full web address so here it is after the .com /fanzine/interviews/june-2009-sean-odriscoll-interview3.html

 

I really think we have taken a fantastic step in getting city back on the right track,respect to steve and jon and the board,i would imagine he has not come cheap.My opinion a proper football manager,who l have every confidence in,even if we are relagated.
We as fans need to get behind him,i am sure he will deliver.

 

Agree RR I wanted S O'D to replace Johnson them Coppell then KM mainly because he seems to think about the game, I'm not sure about what the Donny fan was saying about never playing with wingers cos I seem to remember he did at Bournemouth I suppose it depends on which playes he could get to play for his team, and he seemed to get Florist playng well. Having read the article I think I understand a bit more about what he was saying in his interview about having to get things right, if you don't get the basics right at a club you will end up in a mess. The only slight problem I have is that the main pluses I saw in S O'D were the same ones that made SC look such a good signing for us but different to SC, S O'D hasn't been out of football for ages trying to decide if he wants to come back S O'D has been out looking for work.
He might even make LF start playing like he is able when he gets his digits out because if he doesn't then it will be bye bye Liam don't slam the door when you leave and I rather think a lot of players are oing to face the same things in the future either play properly (S O'D's way) or play somewhere else.

 

When i use to post on OTIB I used to shout from the rafters that SOD was the man to take control,when copout got the job,I also rate Billy Sharp as a player,I just hope if Stead goes then he can bring Billy in,he makes maynard look crap.

Seriously we have a great manager here with a eye for progress,I hope we can have one long journey together.

 

Honestly, I couldn't care less what other fans think.

It was barely a year ago that we had hired McInnes, and that we were flooded by the cries of St Johnstone fans saying about how he was the best manager in Scotland and that he'd drag us toward promotion within three years. After a few victories this season people on here were comparing him to Fergie and saying that this would be our year.

I'd be surprised if SOD kept us up, but if he did I'd be more surprised if he kept us up next season.

 

WOW very harsh-SOD is proven at this level Del-boy was not,St Johnston are a smaller club than Yeovil.
Many of us did not believe Del was the answer,no experience at this level etc.
SOD is very highly respected in football,and all his previous clubs have given him good reviews,including fans.

We all have our views,i really think we have come out of this with a manager that was available at the right time,Lucky for us he turned down Barnsley and Blackpool and our board acted quickly to get him here.

 

"Many of us did not believe Del was the answer,no experience at this level etc"

Unbe- ****in - lievable....

 

Noted. Thanks.