The New Manager Thread

[MrMichael]

I think we can all agree that we are not in the position that we want to be in, whether you think that it is the fault of the owners, the manager, the players or all of the above, we all want what's best for the club.

Now a couple of points I'd like to make, not to disregard any other points made but these have not really been discussed yet.

Loyalty - Rafa has shown a fair bit to the club over the years and I feel he is due some back. If the next season is as poor as this by say november then it is adios.

Judgement - Unfortunately we don't pick the new manager the owners do and they wanted Klinsmann. If Rafa goes do you really trust them to know enough to hire the right person.

And lastly as has been discussed who would be the replacement (ignoring my last point for a moment) there seems to be six types of manager under consideration-

<snipped for quoting>

Now I can't see any of the big name types signing up for it, especially if there is no champions league which could rule out the likes of Blanc and Magath too as they should have their current teams in it next season.
Of the others I can't really see anyone that I would want to take over jumping through hoops to get the job.

And therein lies the problem how do you change from a (for arguments sake) 8/10 manager for a 8 9 or 10/10 one when you can only offer a 5/10 workplace? And I don't mean the city or club but the two running the place and the financial problems

Good post dude.

I think there'll always be plenty of people willing to give managing us a shot whatever the current circumstances, to be honest many would probably feel they could be getting more out of what we've got than Rafa is at the moment. The problem we have imo is not bringing in someone who might get us playing again for a few months, (a la Glen Roeder at St James' a couple of years ago) but someone who is good enough to make a success of it in the long term despite pretty difficult circumstances. That alone would make it a difficult search where it not for the probability of our owners hiring someone totally inappropriate no matter who the candidates are.

17 pages in and still not a realistic BETTER option that Rafa to come in and manage our pub set up of a club as it stands at the moment.

Our manager is largely irrelevant while H&G are in charge.

But not entirely.

Its a real shame that Rafa's footballing mentality is so intransigently system-based. If we were playing something approaching decent football, but losing games because the squad isn't quite good enough and we don't have the money to improve it, then I think the case for Rafa staying would be stronger. However with the fans having to endure abject entertainment as well as poor results, the feeling that "anyone decent will improve things" becomes harder to shake. If we have to fall short we could do it in some sort of style (like we did under Evans).

I'm not sure I agree with that viewpoint fully, but its hard not to feel it at least partially when watching us play.

i am so split on this like I never have been before. My brain says that rafa's time is over and as a club we need a new change of direction.

My heart says that rafa has been treated like **** by the owners and that he just hasnt had the backing to do this properly.

If you look at rafa in the press conferences his body language doesnt look good, he looks tired and worn out - physically and mentally drained.

Its not fair to the fans and its not fair to rafa and we need something to change on the ownership front.

This, I feel EXACTLY the same way.

[Neil Young]

I think there'll always be plenty of people willing to give managing us a shot whatever the current circumstances, to be honest many would probably feel they could be getting more out of what we've got than Rafa is at the moment. The problem we have imo is not bringing in someone who might get us playing again for a few months, (a la Glen Roeder at St James' a couple of years ago) but someone who is good enough to make a success of it in the long term despite pretty difficult circumstances.

That's exactly what I meant by a "better manager."

[Danish_Pastry]

Someone, who has managed to make his players work their asses off - and even with low-budget players to gain something would be Morten Olsen. He has managed Ajax once, had a go with 1FC Köln and now DK for several years. He likes the 4-3-3 tactic in a flexible positive way, where the ball has to move fast and direct. He has made even Rommedal, Bendtner and several players from the Danish league look strong against Sweden and Portugal.

Another not mentioned, could be his former colleague, Michael Laudrup, who had a long run with Getafe in the UEFA-cup (former EuropeLeague) a few years ago. He is presently just working as a consultant - so there will be no releasefee for him. He also uses man-management a lot - uses positive flexible footy and really cares for the talented in developing players.

well - it was just meant to be a few other suggestions - as we still not know if there will be a need for another manager.... ;-§

[frank the tank]

Someone, who has managed to make his players work their asses off - and even with low-budget players to gain something would be Morten Olsen. He has managed Ajax once, had a go with 1FC Köln and now DK for several years. He likes the 4-3-3 tactic in a flexible positive way, where the ball has to move fast and direct. He has made even Rommedal, Bendtner and several players from the Danish league look strong against Sweden and Portugal.

Another not mentioned, could be his former colleague, Michael Laudrup, who had a long run with Getafe in the UEFA-cup (former EuropeLeague) a few years ago. He is presently just working as a consultant - so there will be no releasefee for him. He also uses man-management a lot - uses positive flexible footy and really cares for the talented in developing players.

well - it was just meant to be a few other suggestions - as we still not know if there will be a need for another manager.... ;-§

HMMMMMM Great calls there Danish Pastry - or maybe we could tempt both to come and work together with laudrup taking over from Olsen after a few years. We could then sign Kjaier (sp?) to play alongside our new captain Agger and offer Arsenal a straight swap for Bendtner with Torres going to them....... I'm sure Lovenkrands is out of contract at Newcastle in the summer so he could definately replace Kuyt as our player that nobody knows is a right winger or a striker - but everyone knows is ****e at both!!!

[BigChief]

It's almost certainly nothing without a major increase in transfer budget since better managers are very unlikely to come here. I'm entirely unconvinced the odds are good enough.

True, any manager coming in will have a tough time with our budget. Which is why we need a manager who is 2nd or 3rd tier, ie will not be winning us the league asap but will change our style of play and start putting an arm around lesser players (Big Eck?). If we can get Jose or Hiddink, excellent, but we have to be realistic.

More importantly a change of manager may signal a renewed energy from our squad (everyone playing for their places, etc) which we got when transitioning from GH to Rafa. Gerrard and Torres may also feel re-invigorated with the club under a new manager.

More money from owners would ideally be lovely, but that's a situation that ain't changing. So lets change what we can.

[Mike]

Rumours are that if we dont get anything tonight he is going to walk....

I still think we should go in for Mourinho or Hodgson as back up.

[RichC]

Rumours are that if we dont get anything tonight he is going to walk....

I still think we should go in for Mourinho or Hodgson as back up.

Where did you hear this from?

Gutted for Rafa how things have gone this season but may be the right thing for the team and his stress levels!

[dww]

There is zero chance that Mourinho would come to us. In my opinion even if he did he wouldn't succeed without a large budget.

Hodgson is an interesting case. Difficult to know how he would do. His Fulham team has consistently performed above expectations but he has not yet found any sort of answer to their poor away form and that sort of problem is the type he would have to get right to succeed with us. Obviously he has a smaller budget at Fulham but then the measures of success are lower too.

I still think we will either need to appoint a director of football along with a manager in all likelihood if we do make a change as none of the managers mentioned has any record of building clubs from the ground up. I suppose we could move Kenny into a more prominent role.

Overall I still think Rafa is the best option we have.

[cream]

Rumours are that if we dont get anything tonight he is going to walk....

I still think we should go in for Mourinho or Hodgson as back up.

This ties in with Phil Browns sacking, we've found our new man.

[barnes10]

oh my foooking word. just imagine if those two dumb yank fooks did that. phil 'its all about me' brown.

[Chrono]

I wouldn't be massively unhappy with Bilic IF Rafa was being replaced.

[red g]

I wouldn't be massively unhappy with Bilic IF Rafa was being replaced.

would definitely bring passion

[Slim]

I wouldn't be massively unhappy with Bilic IF Rafa was being replaced.

He's quite an impressive character. Good outside bet I think.

[Chrono]

There is zero chance that Mourinho would come to us. In my opinion even if he did he wouldn't succeed without a large budget.

Haven't seen anyone mention this but didn'tread the thread cover-to-cover. I think regardless of what Mourinho felt about the job, transfer budget, etc is irrelevant as the owner are never in a million years going to offer him the position knowing that he will go public with any issue they have between them.

Rafa takes pot shots at them and he is probably one of the mildest managers in the league.

[carheex]

By keeping rafa, we know we have little chance of qualifying for the CL. Never mind winning the league.

It's not a new manager that will win us the league......unless that manager has a few hundred million to invest in the team. Quite simply, if we can't compete financially then we can't compete, regardless of the manager.
I feel sorry for Rafa in a way. Whilst other managers have been given money to spend, spend, spend, Rafa actually had earmarked funds taken away from him via the Alonso sale! It's no coincidence that our "progression" went backwards the same time as our finances.