An ex-manager speaks

[Clampy]

A mate of mine was in a box for the Wolves away game where Keane scored two against them and he met McLeish afterwards. He also said he was a really nice bloke.

[supertom]

Good bloke. Not a premier league level manager. His football is too outdated. It's not like Rangers where he's guaranteed a top 2 finish and could be more adventurous. I've no grudges against him at all. It's not his fault he was offered a job way over his head and inherited a squad where we'd lost our 3 most productive players over 2 summers.

I actually think had Dunne, Petrov and Bent not been out the side during that run in, we'd have finished more comfortably and he'd possibly still be here now. Which is a scary thought. But honestly, some of those tight games could have garnered more points had we had Benty there to put them away. Petrov up until Jan was playing extremely well, then he'd begun fading for reasons we now know. Dunney's presence was missed when he was out injured for a couple of months. At the end of Jan we were around mid-table, fairly comfortable. At the end of feb when we lost Dunne and Bent and we were losing Stan we were slipping but pretty safe, though importantly, Benty was in a run of form in front of goal. He's scored 4 in his last 7.

I actually think his game plan, for what it was (which was fucking ugly) was reasonably effective on the proviso you have your best players available. In that regard he's not too dissimilar to O Neill, which I guess was Randy's thinking, that the Houllier approach was too different, too soon. Had the three key spine players above lasted the whole season I think we'd have tacked on 5-10 more points to be honest and been safe as houses. As it was we only managed 9 points from the end of Feb onwards in our last 12 games.

In the end though we stayed up but not convincingly enough for him to stay on. I'm glad we have Lambert now. He's a bit more modern in his thinking.

[Damo70]

He stated that there needed to be big changes and a clear out at the end of a season where he had shown no desire to attempt these things. Lambert got stuck into that from day one. But agree with everyone that he is a decent bloke.

[dave.woodhall]

He wasn't good enough and never would have been, but you also have to factor in the fact that straight down the spine of the team we were missing key players for lengthy periods. Bent in particular was a big loss; from Wigan onwards we had eight games out of 11 where there wasn't more than a goal in it. We could easily have got another eight points from them and finished comfortably mid-table. 

[eastie]

He wasn't good enough and never would have been, but you also have to factor in the fact that straight down the spine of the team we were missing key players for lengthy periods. Bent in particular was a big loss; from Wigan onwards we had eight games out of 11 where there wasn't more than a goal in it. We could easily have got another eight points from them and finished comfortably mid-table. 

Petrov also was a huge loss not just as a player but captain also  - we really had a lot of players out that season .

[LeeB]

He stated that there needed to be big changes and a clear out at the end of a season where he had shown no desire to attempt these things. Lambert got stuck into that from day one. But agree with everyone that he is a decent bloke.

That's the problem for me, and rather than sort those issues out he added to them with his three signings.

He was clearly on a hiding to nothing, so why he didn't attack the job in the way Lambert did I don't know. He really did have nothing to lose.

[Damo70]

He stated that there needed to be big changes and a clear out at the end of a season where he had shown no desire to attempt these things. Lambert got stuck into that from day one. But agree with everyone that he is a decent bloke.

That's the problem for me, and rather than sort those issues out he added to them with his three signings.

He was clearly on a hiding to nothing, so why he didn't attack the job in the way Lambert did I don't know. He really did have nothing to lose.

Because he doesn't gamble and always plays safe. Even at Rangers he wasn't adventurous. After finishing in the top half with Small Heath due to an on loan keeper and his defence having a fantastic season they were unlikely to repeat he needed to kick on and evolve but just tried to repeat the trick and got relegated.

[Clampy]

I think his main problem was that he didn't know how to use his attacking players. He used to play Cameron Jerome up front on his own for Small Heath and they were forever slagging him off for it.

[supertom]

It was utterly bizarre that he signed a player like Hleb too. Quite why Hleb actually joined that mob I don't know. But he was never, ever going to be used right under McLeish. The same goes for N'Zogbia, but I feel he was simply a signing made more to attempt to appease fans having lost Downing and Young in one summer.

[Chris Smith]

This a reminder not to get too bogged down in personality when it comes to players and managers. It's great if you can get both, a likeable bloke who is also good at his job, but, given the choice, I'd take the bastard who gets results over the affable plodder every day of the week.

[dave.woodhall]

This a reminder not to get too bogged down in personality when it comes to players and managers. It's great if you can get both, a likeable bloke who is also good at his job, but, given the choice, I'd take the bastard who gets results over the affable plodder every day of the week.

Without a doubt. I don't think Ron Saunders made many friends in football.

[saunders_heroes]

This a reminder not to get too bogged down in personality when it comes to players and managers. It's great if you can get both, a likeable bloke who is also good at his job, but, given the choice, I'd take the bastard who gets results over the affable plodder every day of the week.

Without a doubt. I don't think Ron Saunders made many friends in football.

Years ago I remember hearing Tony Morley say that Saunders used to try and turn players against each other to try and get better performances out of them. I can imagine him not being so popular in the dressing room at the time

[Matt Collins]

Glad to see some reasonable comments on this thread rather than the bile this man can undeservedly prompt

Bad manager though.

[Pete3206]

If he'd stayed last season, we'd have been looking for snookers in February. A disastrous appointment.

[supertom]

If he'd stayed last season, we'd have been looking for snookers in February. A disastrous appointment.

Never mind us trying to desperately flog anyone on over 50k a week, a lot of players would have been actively seeking a move. The likes of Bent, Ireland, Zogbia would have been desperately looking to jump ship. Again, as showed when we didn't have our main spine in the side, results would have sunk disastrously.
The injuries to Bent and Dunne could have been seen as a blessing in disguise that season (obviously Stan excluded). Benty had netted enough times early season that we had the points (just about) to survive, but finishing on 38 points, which in another year could have sent us down, saw McLeish's position unsalvageable.

I think the signing of Holman was a sign of how he would have shaped our squad. Industry, good attitude but very little quality.