Credit where credit is due .. McCann has turned it round at the moment and is getting the results. I look at our squad that has been built and am certainly more confident now then at the end of last season .. however there is a but (yup there's always a but) as I said recently .. managing a team full of confidence and winning is much easier then working out whats going wrong if you're losing games and being flexible enough to change systems to combat that. He has already shown a couple of times that he may be learning .. Tuesday night for example he made the changes at the right time .. albeit like for like .. but it did the job. But I still have this worry that teams and in particular coaches/managers may work us out .. Will he continue to learn and alter the formations accordingly or will he still stick blindly to his preferred plan A. This season so far B+ ... last season U and major fail
Exactly I’m often found in East Stand responding to chants of ‘{insert manager’s name here} give us a wave’ by shouting “Don’t you ****ing dare...concentrate on doing your ****ing job!”
Said as much earlier in the season. Going down is only acceptable if you do it fighting for the shirt. We’re still work in progress...and the standard is obviously lower in this pot hole but the team spirit is obviously there again. Fair play and Kudos to the bloke.
I once drove all the way to Newquay in order to chant 'Fistral Beach, give us a wave'. It didn't. Worst day's surfing ever.
Believe in McCann? No! Happy with the START? Yes! Still annoyed & pissed off at the way we capitulated last season? Yes! Had a bet we’d go down at the start of last season & wish I’d put on another bet in January when I was still saying we’d go down? **** YES! Maybe getting rid of players that weren’t up for it was the way to go, but until we get promoted back up, steady ourselves & start competing properly in the Championship, he’s got a long way to go before I’m going to credit him. I will say though he has gone from, IMO, the worst manager in our history, to now tie with Hateley.
He saw his budget cut massively from the squad he inherited, and we all know where the responsibility for that lies. I do agree he needs to get us up and keep us up to redeem himself fully, as I believe he had the tools and points on board to stay up in the second half of last season, but expecting mid table championship as a newly promoted side to 'restore parity' is in effect a feat of improvement over Adkins if you consider respective budgets. Grant's will likely be about half of the one Nige walked away from.
The MK game was the first time I really thought that I got him as a manager. In scuba diving we have a saying “Plan the dive and dive the plan.” McCann has probably planned every game but it was the first time I believed that he and his team had it in them to deliver it. Then up comes Ipswich and by **** it came together. You could see the team draw the Ipswich attack and mid field in and **** the defence up. Marvellous, ****ing marvellous.
We struggled in Defensive midfield last season, now he has two decent options to call upon; at the same time if necessary, which certainly helped to put Fleetwood back in their place.
Loved Newquay, though my most vivid memory was having to drive all the way back to Hull with no brakes, just a hand brake. Took some doing, but I had no money left after the holiday to get it repaired.
We struggled due to his insistence of playing a 3 man midfield and a 3 man attack .. teams worked us out .. everyone saw the problem apart from him. There were options there .. play 5 at the back .. play two banks of 4 .. get legs in the middle of the park etc. The quality this season is lower then that of last season and yes as I have previously said the spine of the team has improved immeasurably.. but I remain cautious as to the quality of McCann and his ability to evolve his tactics during a game.
I would put Mike Smith above them. It was impossible to believe a team with the players we had at that time could get relegated but he managed to get them to do it.
Of course that. Having players like Smallwood and Jones would have helped though. It was also often said that there wasn't a proper leader on the pitch, particularly after lockdown.
Terry keeps referring to 'The Plan', he obviously got that part but completely messed up with his understanding of the 'dive' aspect as he successfully dropped us through The Championships trap door!
Slightly before my time though, started following City 85/86, first game 91. I’ve seen a lot of games since, so just going off that.
I live in hope, almost expectation that he'll get this right. It's just a hunch, but I remember having a hunch that we'd reach the top flight one day and that was back when we were in div 4. I'd go to a games at BP and come back gutted that we'd just given away a 2 goal lead to Peterborough and lost 3-2. People laughed at me when I said we'd get there (the top flight) eventually. Even my Dad told me to 'shurrup'. I have that same hunch right now. ****! I forgot to order sandwich
Just had a further text from McCann, "enjoy the good times, endure the bad ones, some give the impression they're jumbling that up".