The New Manager Thread

[Kenneth]

I'm a little confused about why people are so down on Hodgson.

I know he isnt the exciting foreign type and he probably offers more stability and calmness, than flair. But he over achieved with Fulham and if he did the same with us, we're looking at a potential title challenge.

For me it's more about perceptions, and how the current players and potential signings react. We are dealing with a bunch of ego driven cunts here (players) and I am not sure whether it will be harder to hold on to our best players with Roy in charge. And after all the Kenny stuff, will Roy really have a mandate from the fans (everyone must be aware of the EST 'who would you prefer' poll results. I dunnnnno really. I am confident he'd actually do a decent job.

[Kenneth]

I actually can picture him.

I've moved on now from Rafa and TBH, I do feel like a UK manager is the right choice. Especially one so continental in approach. The perfect balance for me.

People rate oneil as a manager to get the best out of this squad, well i'd always choose roy over him on the basis that he is tactically much more astute.

I think he'll surprise a lot on here and for the time being, he's a reasonable choice. we clearly need a man used to wringing the best out of a tight budget. no point hiring a big time manager who needs 80mill to spend when we dont have it is there

I would much rather have him than MON. He's not a **** for a start.

[Tee]

I would rather have Kenny. PLEASE!!!

[dom9]

I would much rather have him than MON. He's not a **** for a start.

[BobTheCharmer]

If its not Kenny, then Hodgson is a fantastic option.

I'm really truly happy. Really looking forward to the new season. **** the world cup its ****.

[Chris]

If its not Kenny, then Hodgson is a fantastic option.

I'm really truly happy. Really looking forward to the new season. **** the world cup its ****.

Yep, he's proper fantastic alright. Hopefully with better players he can improve on his 1 away win from 19 last season.

[Shaggy]

Yep, he's proper fantastic alright. Hopefully with better players he can improve on his 1 away win from 19 last season.

The season before they managed a whole THREE away wins. Four away wins in two seasons, good stuff. Bring it on.

[Chris]

The season before they managed a whole THREE away wins. Four away wins in two seasons, good stuff. Bring it on.

Buzzing!!

It is a huge concern, it wasnt much better at Blackburn either where he ended up getting sacked.

Thought the whole idea of sacking someone was to get someone better but obviously not at this club.

[Tee]

He will be ideal for the current regine. Quiet, unassuming and respected figure who will not get involved in the internal politics of the club and play the cards he is given by the cunts. A 'Yes' man in the nicest form.

[CJ]

He will be ideal for the current regine. Quiet, unassuming and respected figure who will not get involved in the internal politics of the club and play the cards he is given by the cunts. A 'Yes' man in the nicest form.

a yes man as lots of people put it might be better than Rafa. I didnt want Rafa to go and still want him to be our manager. How much did the politics distract him and the players etc from the day to day football stuff.

I believe he was doing it for the right reasons but sometimes having a team all going in one direction is better.

[BobTheCharmer]

Yep, he's proper fantastic alright. Hopefully with better players he can improve on his 1 away win from 19 last season.

so ****ing what. He was at Fulham. Do you really expext us to win only two games away next season? ****ing hell give the guy some credit. He's an outstanding candidate with a wealth of experience.

Hopefully this appoint will be the turning point in our national game. Its not all foreign is best. The guy has well and truly earnt his chance at a big team.

Why are you so quick to jump on anyone that wants Roy appointed? Our opinions don't count?

[dww]

I'm a little confused about why people are so down on Hodgson.

I know he isnt the exciting foreign type and he probably offers more stability and calmness, than flair. But he over achieved with Fulham and if he did the same with us, we're looking at a potential title challenge.

I think Hodgson is a decent appointment but it is a big step down.

The problem as I see it is that he is not a big name likely to help keep the players we have or attract big names. His training is reported to be boring and repetitive which is fine when your team has lowly aspirations but I think it will be hard to impose such a regime on better quality players with bigger egos.

His tactics are if anything more defensive than Rafa's and he has been less flexible - 4-4-2 with 'inside-out' wingers on rare occasions putting Duff on his natural wing. People seem to have been hoodwinked into believing that because he has two up front and his team are neat passers that they are actually an attacking team.

That description seems a bit harsh in that it is only highlighting the negative points. He has got the most out of a bunch of unfancied players and got them over performing and seemed to develop the odd young player.

[barnes10]

Buzzing!!

It is a huge concern, it wasnt much better at Blackburn either where he ended up getting sacked.

Thought the whole idea of sacking someone was to get someone better but obviously not at this club.

So he's managed two clubs now in the prem. one didnt work out, the other he saved a club from relegation with tactical astuteness and then pushed to them to 7th and then on to the europa final and 10th without massive investment.

I think its clear he overachieved with fulham which for me more than offsets his failure at blackburn. he's spent longer in the league now and somehow gets a lot (in an attacking sense) out of seemingly sh1t footballers. give him some better footballers and lets see what he can do.

a 'better' manager is one that works for us, not necessarily one with a better track record. looking forward, which afterall is what we have to do here, then roy isnt a bad option at all and I wouldnt be surprised if he took us forward from rafa.

I wouldnt have sacked rafa personally. I would have backed him. I think he created the rod for his own back tho as I just dont see how purslow and himself could have fallen out so badly so quickly (only reason i can think of is sale of torres/gerrard and funds). I dont think we'll be giving any kitty to a new manager to build on the current squad, i think we'll be losing some top players and some of those proceeds going to the new manager.

if we lose gerrard, torres and masher then we are basically at fulham's level. if roy gets 50 mill of that to sign some decent players then who knows. he's not had that before and has gotten the most out of players he did have. we could be sh1t or we could be like spurs last season only with a much better defence. so its a gamble yes, but if he can get us to 4th, then frankly i'd take that right now.

[calvoboy]

Right - trying to look on the positive side:

- he's a well respected manager in the game, and has been judged by the media and fans to have done a successful job just about everywhere that he's been (apart from Blackburn).

- He's tactically astute, running top UEFA coaching courses on tactics, and took Fulham to the UEFA final so should have a good chance of challenging for it again with our better squad.

- He may just inspire Gerrard to stay, as Danny Murphy has gone on about how highly he rates him in numerous interviews, and I'm sure Stevie will be asking his mate what he thinks about the appointment (maybe even a return for Danny on the cards for a Garry Mac style occasional role?).

- The latest word is that the club expects Torres to stay too, and if Mascher goes for £30m+ to Inter then Roy should have a few quid to spend over the summer to re-model the side. He's shown at Fulham that he can find players to do a good job in the premiership in that £1m-£7m bracket where Rafa struggled to find them.

- He's also shown at Fulham that he's got good man-management skills and can get the best out of players that have struggled elsewhere, so he might even get a bit of consistency out of Babel and improve N'Gog (OK, sorry, let's not get carried away...)

He wouldn't have been my first choice, or even my fourth to be honest, but there are lots of positives with his appointment. And at least he knows what the premiership is all about...

[Chris]

so ****ing what. He was at Fulham. Do you really expext us to win only two games away next season? ****ing hell give the guy some credit. He's an outstanding candidate with a wealth of experience.

Hopefully this appoint will be the turning point in our national game. Its not all foreign is best. The guy has well and truly earnt his chance at a big team.

Why are you so quick to jump on anyone that wants Roy appointed? Our opinions don't count?

So what? Even Mick McCarthy managed 4 away wins last season, whatever you try and spin it it is absolutely dismal.

Outstanding? Christ, do me a favour, he's nowhere near it. He's decent and thats it. Your hatred of all things foreign is bizarre.

Jumping on people? Coming from a xenophobe?!