Not looking back but just wondering where we would be if he had stayed. Don't shoot the messenger, just thinking.
...as I'm sure quite a few of us have done. I always liked Colin - still didn't get my email though...
I wasn't one that thought that he couldn't cut it in the Premiership. I also don't think any divisions in the squad would have been allowed to persist under his stewardship. I think he falls into the "not glamourous enough" category but I have a feeling he'll do well at Palace this year. Definitely a few regrets from this poster.
I liked Warnock, he overachieved to get us back into the prem. However, he ultimately led to his own downfall with the signings he made once we were back. It was he that started the rot that we now find ourselves in. Signing the likes of Barton, SWP, A.Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Traore and Luke Young among others, while at the same time disbanding the back four that broke all records in our Championship winning season. We came up with a good squad with a good camaraderie and team ethic but arguably lacked a bit of quality. Warnock in all his wisdom decided to cast them aside like an oily rag and introduce the 'proven prem players' on their inflated wages to bring a disparity to the dressing room that has since remained.
I think he would have signed very differently if he'd had the whole Summer with a normal budget rather than just a week (and having to sell the likes of Gorkss to find the £1.25M required to sign DJ Campbell).
Absolutely this - people have very short memories about the situation Colin was in - club was being sold... no-one knew how much (if any) budget was going to be. The club was deeply unsettled and we got ripped off because we bought anyone out of desperation very late in the day. Despite all this, no-one knows what may or may not have happened if the situation was different - what we do know is that we ended the season in 17th - exactly where we were when he was sacked. I might go and watch the 4 Year Plan now - I need cheering up.
One thing is for sure is that I bet Everton fans don't like him. As well as guiding Palace to victory yesterday it is worth remembering that we had our first away win in the premiership at Everton under Colin in the thanks to Tommy Smith.
The promotion achieved with Warnock in charge possibly came a season too soon. In his first full season he built a solid defence and got the best out of he who should not be named. With his hands tied he had to chop up our promotion winning defence to make some money...and so began the cycle of older players and wholesale changes. I think we'd have gotten relegated with Neil at the helm for all of that first season back, but we'd have scrapped. So we'd have probably gone down but come back up a season earlier- maybe we could have avoided the Hughes experiment.
I too like Warnock and thought he was pushed into a no-win situation. The oily rag comment could equally be applied to Harry with some of our players from last season, Nedum, Simpson. What we have seen with the performances of teams like Leicester, Burnley and Palace is that passion and determination can get you results. Watching MOTD 2 yesterday highlighted that I could barely name three of Leicester's team most of whom have never played at the top level before. I think Warnock will keep Palace safe and has not had to tinker much with what Pulis left him.
I still think they will struggle. They scored three goals from three shots on goal yesterday. Impressive stats but they won't get away with that very often. 25% possession as well.
Never liked the bloke but accepted that he was probably what we needed at the time Developed a squad that was destined to fail in the Premiership....just not good enough with tactics that would hurt us....! thanks for what he achieved buyt happy that he has gone...He was the root cause of so much that is wrong right now !
"What we have seen with the performances of teams like Leicester, Burnley and Palace is that passion and determination can get you results." And this is why i still cant quite get my head around the results at Spurs and United. This is the way teams that have been promoted get results against bigger, better opposition. It's the only way mostly. Everyone knows that. So, given that it's fairly obvious, why were we so abject? People keep on going on about HR being a dinosaur but those away performances had as much to do with us playing without commitment and determination as they did with tactics. They're the two things HR usually gets out of his teams aren't they?? As far as i can work out we lost due to not being old school enough in our approach!
