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General Football & Sports / Re: Alan Pardew

« on: March 11, 2018, 02:30:36 PM »

Pardew's term reminds me of the Saunders regime when it seemed that he was trying to run the club down by playing the few better players we had out of position, and trying to sell fans favourites or just not playing them. Needs to be dumped before he sets us back too far to recover just like Saunders did

Blimey, as if I needed reminding mate!

The Saunders period was odd because he did the things you said, but he also was under strict orders from the Board to get the wage bill down.
Effectively we offloaded all our remaining players with experience and left us with a pretty ropey squad, and then bought replacements in on the cheap.

Net result, as those of us old enough to remember will shudder to recall, was a well below-average squad, which was totally ill-prepared for the rough and tumble of the then Division 2.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Manager Thread

« on: November 21, 2017, 10:30:09 PM »

A certain Mr Mugabe is now available. I knew he was clinging on until Pulis went 

Bit of a disciplinarian by all accounts. Mind you, he does have more staying power in a job than Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, which is saying something.

His post match interviews are a bit rambling too. He tends to blame all defeats on the British Government.

And his number two would be a bit of a problem. She has a habit of dipping into the transfer kitty and buying Gucci handbags.

Then again, what do I know? SkyBet have just installed Mugabe as 1/5 on for the job.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Manager Thread

« on: November 21, 2017, 11:45:47 AM »

The thing is this squad has played a certain way for nearly three years. To have a manager come in midway through a season and change it too much would be a disaster I feel. We just need someone to let the shackles off a bit. Palace did go to Liverpool and Chelsea and beat both 2-1 away last season under Sam.

Yes. Shore up the backline and get the attacking players firing again. Above all make it more joined up and give the fans something to shout for. But the players are professionals. they should be able to adapt. And it's not as if there's a total lack of attacking players in the squad.

The more entertaining winning style folk want to see can be introduced incrementally.

Someone mentioned Michael Laudrup. What's he up to these day? Played decent stuff and won a cup with Swansea, didn't he?

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Manager Thread

« on: November 21, 2017, 10:56:38 AM »

You anti Allardyce lot are convincing me.

I mean, there's a kind of logic in employing him, but as others rightly argue it'd be like being back to square one and putting another Pulis type boss in.

This is a defining moment for the club. We can either go 'safety first' again, or we can splash a bit of cash and /or take a chance on a coach who offers us the something different and extra that we really want. That's why I'm saying Koeman, although there may be better options.

I would like to know the Chinese owner's thinking on this. Surely he wants to be entertained, be the onwer of  a bouyant, successful club, to see some glory from his football team rub off on his business interests, and know that the fans of his club are happy.

If he give a green light to employing an Allardyce kind of boss,  I'd be able to see the logic, but it'd be the same kind of safety first, no real ambition that you'd have got from small minded Albion boards and chairmen of yore. It'd be ironic to go half way around the world only to discover the same over cautious approach.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Manager Thread

« on: November 21, 2017, 10:25:25 AM »

I don't mind Allardyce. He'll keep us up. He'd be a short term appointment but it's not really breaking the cycle we've been in.

Ideally I'd like Koeman. Another shortish term appointment but different from Alladyce in several respects. He has a big point to prove after Everton, like Uncle Roy had after Liverpool.

If we went for him, he'd sort us out, keep us up, perhaps stay another season or two and get us playing better and winning, and then move on to the higher profile club he probably craves. Above all he's our best shot at establishing (or re-establishing) the quicker, more fluid and passing style we're always on about but have hardly seen lately.

 
I just think a coach of Koeman's ilk has a track record, but also the capacity to sesnibly change our style, get the pride and the fans back and smooth the way for the kind of energetic man for the long term ready to identify and grow with the club (our Eddie Howe or Sean Dyche, if you like) that a lot of us would love to see. 

Putting the 'young Ron atkinson' style boss in right now would be too big an ask. But I think a Koeman type boss as an interim would smooth the way. Stabilise the club, eestablish the playing style and headhunt abroad or in the lower leagues from day one so you have a succession in place.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: How will we get the goals?

« on: November 20, 2017, 09:06:01 PM »

How to get goals? I reckon take a good look at what Pulis was doing in the last few weeks and then do the exact opposite.

The only ways is up lads...

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Manager Thread

« on: November 20, 2017, 09:03:53 PM »

Of the current 'front runners' I think this O'Neill bloke is a non starter.

Allardyce wouldn't be the end of the world, but he wouldn't be a bright new dawn either. Reckon they could only sell that to the fans if it were known that he's parachuted in to do a Red Adair job, then leaves in the Summer or only stays, pending some brilliant performances. For an Albion fan of my vintage I personally would only be happy with Allardyce if he had Brian Talbot as his number two and got John Thomas in as cover for the strikers.

I quite fancy AVB. Not literally like, cause I'm a married mon, but he might be a good fit for us in terms of what fans want, and giving him a platform to build for the long term back in English football, assuming that's what he wants.

It's Koeman for me. Best of the bunch available. I reckon we should aim high, and pull out all the stops for him. Top wages, big transfer kitty, and a detached house in Brownhills to live in rather than the club flat in Solihull or wherever it is.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Tony Pulis

« on: January 16, 2015, 01:20:02 PM »

I think you make some fair points Astle 68, but Pulis by his own admission sounded people out about this job before he took it. If he really was a 'blank cheque' type of manager through and through he simply wouldn't be here.

Personally I'm not fearful of him being here in 3/4 years time. In fact I'm very hopeful, because it'd mean that things were going well, and to think that Albion could have the same boss for getting on for five years down the track would surely qualify as a victory in itself.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Downing, Kiely & Kelly Released/ New Coaches

« on: January 16, 2015, 09:55:18 AM »

Ever heard the old saying that "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on"?

I look forward to seeing how this one plays out.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Downing, Kiely & Kelly Released/ New Coaches

« on: January 14, 2015, 10:57:35 AM »

This is the quote from the Albion that all the main media outlets are going with [this from the BBC story]:

"In a statement, West Brom said Jewell "decided that he will not be continuing his recent assistance on a more formal basis".

Whichever way I look at it is a bit of a shame.

Still, there are other coaches out there.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Downing, Kiely & Kelly Released/ New Coaches

« on: January 06, 2015, 10:39:21 AM »

Blimey! Pulis and Jewell! It'll be like Fight Club in that changing room! All they need is Roy Keane to complete the "tough love" brigade!

 

You've heard the one about players being willing to run brick walls for certain managers?

I wouldn't be surprised if it's part of the training regime for this lot.

With Jewell on board I'm a happy man. He's had his downs, but at his best his Wigan side were very good.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Tony Pulis

« on: January 04, 2015, 02:20:16 PM »

During the game yesterday he kept calling Sess to go wide right and get the ball to him "quicker" and when he received the ball, it was "take him on! take him on!" "go on!" "Push up!"

It was also interesting to note that he kept calling Berahino in the first half but Saido didn't once look over. That changed in the second half after the hair dryer treatment in the changing room fur HT.

I think we're likely to see a lot of Mozza, Varela, McAuley and Dawson. After all their running and tackles he was applauding them and encouraging them. Great management.

It's great to see a manager do that.

As other have said, that was a characteristic of Megson on the touchline too. I lost count of the times I heard him over the crowd noise during games barking out instructions.

I do like that engaged and proactive approach from a Boss. It rubs off on the players but it stirs the crowd as well. Terrible for the manager's blood pressure, but overall it sends the right signals out to everyone.

Come on you Baggies.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Tony Pulis

« on: January 01, 2015, 09:57:10 PM »

We have a guy who when we lose or god forbid give up i think these players will be scared to get in the dressing room

You're not wrong there mate.

I've just seen a picture of his number 2, Kemp as well.  He looks like he's built like a brick out-house and his stare could stop a charging rhino. No way I'd want to be on the wrong side of those two, but they're also just the kind of blokes you want  backing you up in a fight. 

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General Football & Sports / Re: Tony Pulis

« on: January 01, 2015, 07:49:59 PM »

Really pleased with a point against an otherwise in form West Ham today. That's the kind of result we need to be taken seriously.

Everyone in the squad will be on their toes from now on, which is good, because he has no preconceptions about who should/ shouldn't be in the team, and there's a transfer window looming.

Onwards and upwards. 

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: 21 years ago today...

« on: January 01, 2015, 07:44:31 PM »

Everton 1-1 FA Cup January 1989.


Remember you couldn't move in the Brummie.  I was rammed up against the left hand side trying to clamber up something to see anything before the half way line.  Remember Colin Zico Anderson scoring a header at that Smethwick End.


Kevin Sheedy scoring a penalty at the Brummie.  Seem to recall it was a big decision and the Brummie went mad.  Cant recall why as I couldn't see what the hell was going on in our half.





I remember how well we played against a really good team back them.  Everton had won the League a couple of years before.  I was hooked from that moment.

That was a massive game, our first against a 'big' team since we'd gone down at the end of 85/86.

The atmosphere was great and it certainly got to Everton for a long while during the match. They had the whole of the 68 cup winning side come on the pitch which ramped the atmosphere up several notches before the start.

And I tell you what, that was NEVER A BLOODY PENALTY!!!!!! Okay, maybe it was a fifty-fifty, but what happened was the Everton player went down easily like a sack of spuds under a fairly clumsy challenge, we played on to clear it, but the ref got surrounded by the likes of Reid, Nevin etc who were basically barracking him, bawling in his face to give a pen.

And the weak so and so gave in to their gamesmanship.

I know all this because I was standing right in front of it, right up against those disgusting cage bars they had in front of the terraces until the Hillsborough disaster.


For the record my first ever game was the last home match of the dreadful 85-86 season, which we lost 3-2 to West Ham, who ended up third that season, but who still had an outside chance of the title when we played them. I was in the old Woodman corner. I remember walking back down Halfords Lane with my uncle who'd taken me, mostly surrounded by very quiet West Ham fans who were listening to the news on the radio that Liverpool had beaten Chelsea away to effectively clinch the title.


I considered myself a curse on the Albion until many years later, when I was there in the Smethwick to see us beat Crystal Palace at home, complete the cycle and go back into the top league, long since renamed the Premier.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 31, 2014, 06:50:08 PM »

Problem is us of a certain age have been spoiled and we like to look back to the 78/9 season for example and always aspire that we'll get something like it again (and some on here even further back no doubt).  That game is now gone and this is what Sky have left us with where entertainment is sacrificed by clubs for the £££££.

We can either have entertainment and relegation or effective football but not the best and staying in this league. At least for the time being until we get major investment or suddenly find a coaching and tactical genius from somewhere.

We can probably agree (most of us) on what we mean by 'entertaining' football.

Definitions of success might differ more, but for me Pulis has everything in his favour to be a successful manager in the here and now, 2014/15 season with a middling squad, an irritated fan base and a club management who desperately need to regain their confidence and touch.

For me as someone whose first games at the Hawthorns when I was old enough were in the diabolical 85/86 season and all the garbage that followed for 15 years plus, success means having a team that plays with pride, determination and a bit of flair when the circumstances allow. Above all it means stability.

Forget what the stereotype says about him: Pulis is no fool. I anticipate that he will set us up very much like Uncle Roy did to start with: tight at the back, competitive without being nasty and playing counter attacking football.

Welcome Tony Pulis.

Come on you Baggie Boys. 

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 30, 2014, 09:06:18 PM »

Paul clement anyone?

No way. I've heard all the stuff about him being a good coach, and total drongos don't get to work at Real Madrid. But so far all he's been is a coach and a number 2.

I'm sick of getting in coaches and solid number two types. All that's happened is we've ended up stuck right in another kind of number two at the smelly end of the table.   

We need a proper manager with a track record. I've been saying it since flippin' May. All of us have been saying it since flippin' May. We need a bloke who has been there, done it, knows how to kick some backside, knows how to galvanise the club and who can tell a rubbish signing from a good un.

Pulis in.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: The problem with the head coach structure

« on: December 22, 2014, 09:46:49 PM »

Father Ted could always buy her a tea making machine for Christmas!

 

Ah go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 21, 2014, 10:10:10 PM »

Correct.  I am increasingly confident that JP will rip up the current structure.  He's no fool. Its obvious that its not working.  Relative success under Roy and Clarke (for a while) I think had convinced him that it was a viable structure.

I don't know about rip up, because you could argue that'd be tantamount to saying it is wrong.

Truth is, it HAS worked. It's just the current personnel that's wrong.

I reckon there's nothing wrong with retaining the skeleton of the existing structure, but rejigging it somewhat if you had an outstanding candidate- with A TRACK RECORD hint hint- who comes in and says 'with respect we need to do a few things differently'.

Long story short, I think if JP was willing to budge there'd be a few decent candidates who'd be willing to meet him halfway.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 21, 2014, 07:53:30 PM »

I've seen some excellent comments on here from all angles wether AI should stay or go, yesterday for me was probably the final straw. To lose to a relegation rival after being two up is inexcusable.

This, this,this and this again.

It was the kind of thing that Roy eventually put right, and Clarke (inheriting Roy's set up and general preparation with the players then at hand) carried on.

Under AI we're backsliding and committing the same kind of errors that we'd eradicated.

It's not just him. It's the coaching staff as well.

Pulis or bust for me. He can drill a team. Points on the board and stability at the back are what's needed first. He can make it pretty once the ship's steadied and we're safe. Just like Allardyce has done at the Spanners.

If JP has half a brain, he'll realise that some accommodation and adaptation of the club's set up will be needed under the circumstances, to accommodate a boss like a Pulis who might want more of a say over things. It's all about adapting to the circumstances at hand.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Alan Irvine sacked by Albion

« on: December 12, 2014, 09:03:56 PM »

Terry burton talks of don Howe being the man . He was a great full back for us but has a manager it was defensive tripe . Very much like we have now . Playing DEFENSIVE is not the baggies way .

Don Howe was held in much higher regard as a coach than as a manager.

Deja vu all over again...

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 12, 2014, 07:41:38 AM »

Tim Sherwood seemed to be a little sore for a while after we turned him down and couldn't bring his mates along due to big compensation packages for them. Ironic that they were sacked a week later. I assume Sherwood was pushing his luck there trying to get some jobs for the boys knowing full well they could have come for free sooner or later.

I think that was the assumption we all made at the time, but didn't someone post the other day saying how Les Ferdinand had said that in principle deals were agreed and that the Albion just wanted to go with AI?

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 11, 2014, 12:55:04 AM »

No one wants Irvine in spite of his playing career. It's not even debateable who has had a more successful managerial career...

I'm not championing Roy Keane far from it I wouldn't really want him but he'd be vastly preferable to what we've got now.

Point taken absolutely. I understand what you're saying.

I think when all's said and done we need someone with a track record of success in leading a club long term and also consistently motivating players. Neither AI or RK can really be defined in those terms.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 09, 2014, 11:35:47 PM »

Not true, Keane took Sunderland from the Championship bottom 6 to the title and promotion. Irvine has got relegated and sacked.

Keane then walked from Sunderland, made a hash of the Ipswich gig, found it easier to talk the talk on ITV, is a number two for an indifferent Irish team, took the Villa number 2 job and walked...

The first few months at Sunderland were good, but the rest of his CV does not suggest he's capable or even willing to do the job we all want to see done at the Albion.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: New Manager thread

« on: December 09, 2014, 06:07:20 AM »

Roy Keane....anyone??? He would sort out the dressing room and "pinky and perky"....would probably get a mass walkout of players!!!

Roy Keane is the last person I would like to see heading up the Albion.

His track record is as bad as AI's.