Fat Buddha CBE FEAI remember stating on here that I thought Tony Mowbray was a dull, "meh" type appointment, and thought we should have tried harder with Steve Cooper.
But after watching his Blues teams and hearing him speak I was converted.
I think the same will be true of Neil, IF he comes.
No comparison between the two
I think there is a comparison. Their records aren’t much different albeit Mowbray has been in the game longer. Mowbray barely managed us, but is now forever going to be spoken about in terms where he’d have definitely led us to glory playing swashbuckling football but for the horrible news that hit him. It’s all part of the myth building and story telling of football clubs, because nobody knows if that would have happened or not. It’s based on a tiny sample of matches (which weren’t an unqualified success btw) and the fact he is clearly an extremely lovely bloke.
I reckon Neil might be ok. I’m not too bothered if he gets sacked next year provided we’ve gone up. In the grand scheme of lower division football management (and particularly our medium to recent history) if he lasts 12-14 months he’ll be exceptional.
StechyBlueCan we not just let it go, re. the type of football we will play and accept that 'winning football' will do.
We want out of L1 full stop. If we're promoted come next May, i dont think many will give a shit about the style.
Man City aren't always pretty.
They win when they need to.
We were so focused on style we got relegated. Pack it in now.
Yeah, so the Eustace sacking was all for nothing.
I'd be really pissed off with them if they ruined a perfectly good season for the future of the club only to then turn their back on their convictions.
StechyBlueCan we not just let it go, re. the type of football we will play and accept that 'winning football' will do.
We want out of L1 full stop. If we're promoted come next May, i dont think many will give a shit about the style.
Man City aren't always pretty.
They win when they need to.
We were so focused on style we got relegated. Pack it in now.
Rotherham play L1 winning football but regularly drop straight back down to L1 again as they aren't prepped for the step up. Teams like Ipswich and Plymouth played a particular style in L1, got promoted and then were more successful (vastly more in Ipswich's case) in the Championship.
We don't want to prepare a team to play L1 football just to get out, then to have to throw it all in the bin because that type of football won't work for us to be successful in the championship.
This summer is a massive turnover of players and a huge reset, we need to get the playing style embedded now. Do it well and we will be promoted and setup for the championship the season after.
It's not last chance saloon as some have been saying. We could f-up the first half of the season and still end up getting promoted. For that reason I think it's worth taking a chance on an 'up-and-comer'. I think the decision makers are probably fishing in rivers that they're not that familiar with though and we'll end up with a someone that is considered a safe bet. I suppose the one positive with that is that Neil will have built up connections at the right level and possibly be able to assist in bringing reliable fodder in. You're not going to get that with somebody like Challinor, we'd end up with him bringing a Gary Bull-esque centre-forward in because he did a job for him at Hartlepool a couple years ago.
Nikola Zigic- FEAStechyBlueCan we not just let it go, re. the type of football we will play and accept that 'winning football' will do.
We want out of L1 full stop. If we're promoted come next May, i dont think many will give a shit about the style.
Man City aren't always pretty.
They win when they need to.
We were so focused on style we got relegated. Pack it in now.
Yeah, so the Eustace sacking was all for nothing.
I'd be really pissed off with them if they ruined a perfectly good season for the future of the club only to then turn their back on their convictions.
I think the sacking of Eustace and appointing Rooney was nothing more than a marketing gimmick to raise the profile of the club and it that sense it worked well unfortunately from a football perspective it was disastrous. The whole no fear football stuff was just nonsense, I surprised so many people still take it seriously. Relegation will come as a unfortunate surprise for the new owners and will come at a cost, I suspect they will want promotion as soon as possible to mitigate that cost and style of football is the least there worries
Andy62Nikola Zigic- FEAStechyBlueCan we not just let it go, re. the type of football we will play and accept that 'winning football' will do.
We want out of L1 full stop. If we're promoted come next May, i dont think many will give a shit about the style.
Man City aren't always pretty.
They win when they need to.
We were so focused on style we got relegated. Pack it in now.
Yeah, so the Eustace sacking was all for nothing.
I'd be really pissed off with them if they ruined a perfectly good season for the future of the club only to then turn their back on their convictions.
I think the sacking of Eustace and appointing Rooney was nothing more than a marketing gimmick to raise the profile of the club and it that sense it worked well unfortunately from a football perspective it was disastrous. The whole no fear football stuff was just nonsense, I surprised so many people still take it seriously. Relegation will come as a unfortunate surprise for the new owners and will come at a cost, I suspect they will want promotion as soon as possible to mitigate that cost and style of football is the least there worries
Agreed!
StechyBlueCan we not just let it go, re. the type of football we will play and accept that 'winning football' will do.
We want out of L1 full stop. If we're promoted come next May, i dont think many will give a shit about the style.
No, not for me.
It's as though some people think it's impossible to win whilst playing decent stuff. It's not.
The choice isn't losing Tiki-Taka or winning by shithousery.
There is a vast area in between.
I refuse to believe that we can't get comfortably promoted whilst playing with decent expression.
If people really believe - as a good number seem to do - that our ambition should be to be shit-scared of our own shadows in League One and try to grind out wins, then I'm really not on board.
I think a lot of people are very jittery at this stage given what's happened in the last 6 months or so.
It's nothing a couple of decent early wins won't put right.
SpikeStechyBlueCan we not just let it go, re. the type of football we will play and accept that 'winning football' will do.
We want out of L1 full stop. If we're promoted come next May, i dont think many will give a shit about the style.
No, not for me.
It's as though some people think it's impossible to win whilst playing decent stuff. It's not.
The choice isn't losing Tiki-Taka or winning by shithousery.
There is a vast area in between.
I refuse to believe that we can't get comfortably promoted whilst playing with decent expression.
If people really believe - as a good number seem to do - that our ambition should be to be shit-scared of our own shadows in League One and try to grind out wins, then I'm really not on board.
I genuinely can't understand how people can have watched football in the last 10 years and think there is a trade of between success and a possession style of play.
And we're going to be faced with a lot of teams who will be looking to not lose against us - our play is going to have to be technical and intelligent to give us the best chance of breaking them down.
IanTI think a lot of people are very jittery at this stage given what's happened in the last 6 months or so.
It's nothing a couple of decent early wins won't put right.
If people are allowing themselves to be THAT frightened that's their fault.
How are we ever going to be more than we are and always have been if people don't dry their eyes and pull their pants up?
I’m still embarrassed that we were the only team that failed to score a goal against Rotherham.
We couldn’t because we didn’t have managers that know how to breakdown stubborn defences. The Coventry team we beat put 5 past Rotherham.
if the club want to go for revolution then they need to come out and say that, it may be difficult to go up first time of asking, to lower expectations.
And we're going to be faced with a lot of teams who will be looking to not lose against us - our play is going to have to be technical and intelligent to give us the best chance of breaking them down. [/quote]
What we need to do is sign a minimum of 4 strikers with pace, power and mobility, we have struggled to break down teams because of this, opposition teams know this and set up accordingly. Having decent forward options will transform the team
Going back on your decisions is something the owners might HAVE to do, at this moment.
They've admitted to mistakes - the clanger (in hindsight) being sacking Eustace when we had some momentum.
There's no telling where we'd be now if we kept John, but there's also no point in moping around about it any longer - and believe me I was the biggest critic of the decision.
I don't think going back to pragmatic football means we've sacked John for no reason. It just shows the owners may understand that THEIR ambitions (on field) were a little high for this club 'at that moment'. After all, they're paying the price metaphorically and literally, for their misjudgments.
Right now it isn't about style, world-class or no fear, it's about rebuilding a solid squad of winners.
Whether we shithouse the season, or play like madrid - ultimately we need to have 3 points on the board at the end of each game.
Lets change the mentality first. With winning, the ethos will fall into place over time, naturally.