No slating from me, pretty much agree with views on players although i can't recall anyone questioning the signing of Cresswell!! The only thing i will say is that when you need to change virtually a whole squad you should start at the back, not ignore it, for me this was a big mistake by Jewell. I don't rate the guy as a manager but will wait until xmas before any more head calling, i promise!!
I actually think I was questioning thhe signing of Cresswell, that was before I saw him play though!!! I was like why do we need another LB when we've got alot of players who can play in that position but no proper RB!! We had Kennedy, O'Conner and Whight coming through and also if need be Smith, Peters & Delaney could all play there but no RB!! Obviously though that was before I saw him play. And I think thats a point to take, its not as easy as just identifying a position we need to strengthen like CB and gettiing someone in, there is a real lack of good defenders out there atm and if a player comes up in a position that we are ok in but would improve us we should certainly go for them. Defence is certainly the priority though atm. I will be extremely dissapointed though if we don't get at least 1 GK & 1 CB over the summer, that is the absolute minimum!! I think we need 1 GK, 1RB, 2CB's & 2 strikers, I'd say we need a target man and also someone who can come in and replace chopra if he gets injured especially if Scotland leaves and also if leadbitter leaves we need a more defensively minded CM as Hyam would be our only midfielder who isn't an attacking midfielder. Plus maybe another winger, although this is not a priority. Not sure who I'd like to see us bring in, most of the players I would like to see are probably unrealistic and I'm not aware of many outstanding prospects in the leagues who wouldn't go for a big price or probs wouldn't come to play for us. GK's, do we go for a younger keeper, someone like Loach or Lewis where neither have played alot of 1st team football this season. Or do we go for a GK who's proven in this league someone I like is Lee Camp still a decent age and a good keeper at this level, but would he be prepared to leave forrest and could we afford him? Or Speroni from Crystal Palace. Or perhaps a premierleague GK who's not getting 1st team football someone like Kuszczak or Guzan or even Stockdale but I'm sure these would all be on decent wages. Or go for an unknown goalkeeper from lower leagues?? I wouldn't mind us going for Fraser Forster if Celtic don't want him or maybe even Alexander who looked superb for us in his short time here. RB's I like the look of Trippier from Burnley but he only signed for them in January. I also wouldn't mind getting Billy Jones from WBA, I think we should have gone for him last summer when he was a free, he hasn't had alot of first team football this season although saying that he's been in the team recently. CB's, I'd like to see us sign Pearce along with maybe St Ledger and also Killgalon from Sunderland. I'd like to see us sign Murphy as long as he's not on high wages and there's no big fee along with in an ideal world Andros Townsend and Jordan Rhodes, may be slightly unrealistic there!!!
How could I have missed Walters?? If we’re chucking names about, there are surely loads of right backs. I’ve always been impressed with Laurie Wilson at Stevenage on the rare occasions I go there (ditto Michael Bostwick – not a right back though). For months I’ve mentioned Tom Hateley and David Wotherspoon from the SPL (Motherwell & Hibs respectively – no idea if they’d come here). Staying below the Championship, isn’t Michael Kay at Tranmere supposed to be quite handy (if they’d put up with us nicking another full back). Then there’s that Nicky Hunt bloke at Preston, if you want a bit of experience. Would Callum Woods at Huddersfield be poachable by the likes of us – especially if they don’t get promoted? I’ve been looking at a stats site and the best young central defenders in Lg 1 (for what it’s worth) are coming up as Luke Ayling of Yeovil and Richard Duffy of Exeter. I know nowt about either, but I hope we’ve had them watched.
Just thought maybe an option for a target man could be Boothroyd. He's not getting much game time at QPR & formed a great partnership with Chopra at Cardiff!!
sorry jonah! it was the word which was most appropriate for what filled my screen at the time!! i'm a bit surprised many of you still look back at the magilton era with the feeling he did a poor job - looking back, it looks like he did very well initially and only really struggled in his final season - even then, you weren't as bad as you are now
Superman I was a very big Jim fan and was absolutely gutted that it didn't work out for him here. I always thought he had the potential to be a very very good manager, maybe there is a question mark over his temperament, in that he can get overly passionate at times. I think he needs to work his way up perhaps going to a league 1 or 2 club. Although I was one of his biggest followers and did not want him to leave, there was almost an inevitability about his sacking. Most of the fans and the press had turned against him more so than anytime under Keane (which I was disgusted by as he was one of our own) and the performances were very disjointed on the pitch. But in hindsight who knows how he would have done if he had another season here, I'd like to think he could have turned it around and got to grips abit more with the change in money situation and expectation at the club, especially with John Gorman coming in. We had a pretty good coaching set up then. He bought some very very good players in for no money and in spells got us playing some of the best football I have seen, if not the best pure football I have seen at Portman road, better than that under Burley or Royle. The thing was we could never do it for 90minutes. But you could really see he worked with the players on the training ground, something I haven't seen with any other manager, after the first summer, the players we had suddenly started being able to pass the ball and have a good touch, they played in triangles and footballers like Alan Lee actually started playing football(which I think took something away from his game). Tactically Jim never really took much notice of the opposition and just played the best team he could, he played to our strengths. Then the money came in, whilst he didn't make any complete howlers, he overpaid for a few and brought in players who didn't overly improve us and tactically he became more cautious, his first priority was to stop the other team playing rather than playing to our strengths and this resulted in disjointed performances and what with the sudden increase in expectations this did not go down too well. Like I said his sacking almost seemed inevitable but he left us in a position where we had a decent squad for this division and could have improved it with a couple of quality signings to push on for promotion next season with an experienced manager and well that really didn't happen did it?? I think Jim deserved alot of credit, his first season the squad he inherited was terrible and threadbare and by the end of that season he had developed a pretty decent squad(probs better than the one we have now) with no money, he stabilised this club with no moeny and this attracted the investment of ME.
i'd compare the time you got rid of magilton to the time in the early 90s when man city sacked peter reid. it was a move which set them back 7 or 8 years as a club, until royle got them up. reid had done a very good job in manchester, guiding them to 5th i believe, but because united were challenging at the top, the pressure was on and they felt they needed someone else to take them to the next level. i get the same impression with magilton's situation. all the new money came in and because results weren't amazing initially, he had people on his back and the clamour for a bigger name to move you on to the next level came in to view. could be totally wrong, just how it seems looking back, i believe sacking magilton put your club back 5 years. easy with hindsight as always!
Totally disagree supers, Magilton had to go because he had no direction and at the time we needed a more established man in my opinion to know what we needed and not be like a kid in a sweet shop. What set us back was the appointment of the darklord after Magilton. We needed a more savvy manager than him and some of his signings on average players on high wages has put us back and only now are we seeing any light at the end of the tunnel with players like Leadbitter now going to suck the life out of other clubs. In that respect, i feel next season is a big one for Jewell, he won't need to just bring in players in the summer to see us through and make up the numbers, its all about being selective that the players are really going to be a asset to the club.
hi guru, perhaps you have a point. i still believe you would have reached the premier league had you stuck with magilton - you might have gone straight back down, who knows, but i believe he would have got it right over the following two years in terms of promotion. i'm glad you sacked him! one things for sure, keane set you back further than magilton ever did
Staying on topic I would have chosen Coppell over Keane any day! We had the chance to get Coppell when Magilton got the elbow. He would be a great fit for our club and it makes me so bleeding angry just thinking about the lost opportunity! I agree that Keane has set this club back at least 5 years and I stand by my view that Jewell is definately not the visionary we need to get us back in the big time!
Glad of your imput Hamps, these type of conversations only happen once in a blue moon on this site!! So get ready for another essay!! Like others have said, I don't think sacking Jim neccessarily set us back but the next appointment was crucial and we got it sooooo wrong. Along with the appointment of Clegg we had 2 people at the top of the club 1 who had never run a football club before and one who doesn't know the first thing about football management. Whilst like I have said in the past I don't think Clegg is the major problem, it didn't help the situation that he came in at the same time as Keane. If a better manager someone like Coppell would have come in, I don't think it would have been a problem. When the money came in the situation completely changed, the ambition of the club changed and also the ethos. I don't think Jim handled it very well but it was a new situation to him. He made mistakes, the performances weren't as entertaining or good, it seemed like we actually were going backwards and like you say because of the increase in pressure/expectations fans and the press got on his back quite quickly and that just made the situation worse, like I said it was inevitable that he got the sack in the end. I think we could have perhaps shown a bit more patience with him and he may have learnt from his mistakes and been able to take us forward but as we all know patience in football is virtually nonexistant!! But as I said I don't think sacking Jim set us back but the next appointment was crucial. Appointing Keane is the biggest single reason for the turmoil at our club, others have played their part but these are nowhere near as significant as the effect this man has had on our club!! I would imagine if we would have appointed PJ after Jim at the very least we would be competing at the top of the championship or already been or be in the PL now!! I agree with you Guru that next season is a big one for Jewell. I think its been hard to judge him this season as any manager would have struggled. He won't be quite so much 'firefight' as JWM said and yes can afford to be more selective and perhaps not panic buy quite so much. It will still be one of squad building but we are starting to have the basis of a good team and have some quality in the team. But I still think expectations will be too high, which could be his and the clubs downfall. A top 10 finish next season for me will be seen as decent progress and anything else will be a bonus. If this happens next season I think 2013/2014 could be a big season for us. In hindsight I would have preffered any manager rather than Keane, I cannot think of a manager who could have done more damage to the club, I think I would have even preffered Glen Roeder, Bryan Gunn or Gary Megson than Keane!! I just wish we could rewind 3 years and go from that point on, what a waste, what a waste!!
I hope everybody is sitting down, because itfcptc i agree with everything you have said! apart from the bit about Clegg, he is a clueless idiot who claim to fame is sometime connected Eddie the friggin Eagle!
If we are not loitering in the top 6 come christmas then he shoudl walk, his contract certainly should not be renewed if we don't make the play-offs next season. He was brought in remember to gain promotion at the earliest opportunity!
JWM, Not that i'm really for or against Jewell. But after the debarcle of the dark lord, when is the earliest opportunity considering the ****ing mess we were in?
