Another post this evening got me thinking back to the time when The Gate WAS a fortress, a noisy and intimidating place for opposition teams to visit. This goes back a long time now, back in fact to the early 2000's when Louis and Scotty were operating down the right wing, Mickey Bell/Jim Brennan down the left with Tinns pulling the strings and Brooker/Lita up front, this was the last truely exciting team we witnessed. Things were noisy because we were up and down out of our seats frequently during the game, the football was exciting AND, quite often winning as well but the problem was with the drinking culture within the club... However, when Danny Wilson failed at the final hurdle again (possibly as a result of this) Tinns was thrown in, maybe in the hope that his connection would pull the players together but this didn't work leading to his sad demise at Swansea. By the time Gary J arrived in late 2005, there was chaos and anarchy in the dressing room leading to GJ throwing the famous "hand grenade" and disposing of the undesirables and we became a club with discipline and an unquestioned leader. This is turn gave us total unity in the dressing room for 3 years and we all saw what it achieved HOWEVER, the organisation was at the expense of flair and exciting football and we gradually scored less and less goals as the football became more and more mechanical and all about effort and hard work rather than the love of the game itself.... Some people will say so what, this got us to within 90 minutes of the premier league but everyone knows that we came close to becoming the first team promoted to the PL with a virtually 0 goal difference and if we are all totally honest about it, we probably would have scored less points than Derby had we made it as GJ simply wouldn't have attracted the players that we would have needed to survive... ANYWAY, here we are again 7 years later, the wheel has come full circle and DM is in a fantastic position to rebuild this club from the bottom up (a process that has already started). I do believe that there are similarities to GJ's attributes as a firm disciplinarian who won't tolerate disharmony HOWEVER, the one massive difference for me is that he has played football at the top level where he displayed fantastic leadership and subsequently, he has also clearly demonstrated a knack of finding players with ability who can do their job well having already assembled a team that attracted plaudits and were capable of holding their own against much bigger clubs. The other major difference is that I believe that DM WANTS TO PLAY GOOD, ATTRACTIVE FOOTBALL something that we have been starved of for the last 5 years at The Gate. I am really looking forward to seeing footballers who are comfortable on the ball and don't treat it like a hot potato and I am looking forward to seeing joined up and exciting football with, LOTS OF GOALS. The difficult thing is going to be getting the balance between being reckless and cavalier and keeping our defence tight but I have every confidence in DM and the team's ability to get this right and if he does, I CAN'T WAIT...!!! Lets make The Gate a fortress again... COME ON YOU REDS...!!!
Lots of goals means at both ends generally I would rather see a well balanced side that plays from the back. If we played like Swansea I would happily settle for a 1-0 win. Then we would soon be playing Arsenal & Man U, not third rate teams who we could thrash 5-0
Back in the 60's/70's I remember Man City scoring 100 goals but letting in 99! Fun football but they did not win much with it. The best examples to follow; Firstly Forest in the 70's/80's with Brian Clough. His spine of Shilton, Lloyd, McGivern and Birtles/Woodcock plus a fat little winger who destroyed teams. Clough's philosophy was "Keep the ball and the opposition cannot score". They did and for a medium sized city club, they achieved a lot more than others from big cities. And secondly the Swansea way which I think is based on the European approach of the same "keep ball" method. A team plays 20 or 30 passes continually through a game so it means the other side can't play football! Instead without it, they can only chase the ball. Remember how that used to be as a small kid playing in the park with older, bigger ones? After a while you got fed up and went somewhere else to play. It's the same for the pros as well. I think we are more likely to see that type of approach from DMc. Gung ho is not the way. The crowd must learn to be patient during games while we develop a squad that controls games simply by keeping the ball. If we can play that way, we will see the best of Albert and Yannick and even Foster who all have electric pace to create openings when the other team begin to lose concentration. I believe that we are about to witness a tactical revolution at City. We have already seen evidence of this with some superb results/performances when no-one expected them. On a lighter note, with Scotty's appointment as kit man; an inspired choice as Scotty is such a bubbly character who will help to keep morale high. If Jim McIntyre stays here, and we get a shedload of Scottish players, how about we apply to join the SPL if they throw the 'Gers out? At least it's a load of new away trips instead of the same again!
'I do believe that there are similarities to GJ's attributes as a firm disciplinarian who won't tolerate disharmony' Are you getting mixed up with Discipline and Bullying ? Bullying works for a while but if you don't have substance you're finished. That applies in all Management not just Football. ps - Rumours in Yeovil - GJ's first bout happened half time against Stevenage. Surely not this soon.
I wasn't suggesting a 10 man attack, it is possible to play good attacking football AND have a good solid defence as well. I am just looking for a return to the days when we played football putting plenty of good quality supply (i.e. not just hit and hope) into the box and, to have strikers who are smart enough to actually ATTACK THE BALL... As for discipline, this comes with respect which has to be earned - we already hear good things coming from the players in this respect so I have no worries on this front. Firm but fair is the key however I also believe that you have to hav ea bit of fear of the manager to complete the mix...
Granted, Prem. As you say, a passing side who keep the ball and attack incisively, or as I say, a team who play like Swansea. However, I dont believe that pining for a team who scored a lot of goals in Div 1 is really superior to watching a low scoring game between 2 quality teams. This definitely applies when BCFC are the club concerned. There is nothing to beat watching your boys perform at the top level, as we found out in the 70s. Now THERE was a team
