THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Yes we finished mid table but that isn't the full story.

Sligo pretty much gutted the club of all oomph and of course GA walked/pushed/golden handshaked. Being beart over two legs enough to give a guy the punt, probably not but they'd be on notice from the owners for months for their conduct.

The issue here was it was a legacy of the previous 7 months where shocking decisions and a moral crash dive resulted in possibly the luckiest Euro Qualification in the history of our league. It's not hard, look at transfermarket and you'll see the run. But it doesn't covney what else was going on why I decided to post.

During those 7 months its came to light that numerous players either individually or collectively asked to see our CEO privately to voice concerns. Quite a bad place when things get to that stage, circumventing the manager. As a Band of Brothers all NCO resigning their ranks about it.

On his departure the squad was left with resigned crap, most good players had massively regressed, kids, permacrocks and his handful of signings. The club was devoid of any positivity.

OUr Academy Director and former player with the post war appearance record too over as caretaker and we got a result, it was a smash and grab on the opening day but we'd take it. The main thing is the players had a smile and there was a degree of cohesion. We did pretty well in January, most of us felt, get us to the summer safe and we'll reassess. In interviews after the subtext they were all thrilled he walked.

From mid September things started to go wrong for the new guy. However the world cup was coming and a break to regroup. It seems we wasted the time many players saying we were amatuer. After we returned we had a run of 7 games where 6 were our beatable peers. Pretty much a shit show, scraped through in the cup with a team at the foot of the league below. Another few league games, same disjoined stuff and next round of the cup. We were put out by Raith Rovers and missed out on a visit to Ibrox and half the 50,000 gate.

So GA's replacement was mutualled and another caretaker who was already in the building, Stuart Kettlewell who was manager of Ross County, one of the hardest teams in the league to recruit to due to its isolation and did pretty well wass offered it. He was without a gig for months and appeared on a radio show and we asked him to come in and do the U18 academy role, vacated by the new manager and his assistant.

It was natural he was given the reigns and we were joint bottom on 20 points. He identified who he had in the building, what they were capable of and in our first game we came out in a 3-5-2 to suit that. We played well and got a win with purely playing to his squads strengths rather than crowbarring tactics and a "philosophy" that too many modern managers spout.

Under him we have a record of 14 matches, 9 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses (1 to Rangers which is a given). He did get a draw at Parkhead which is a massive feat. So its the new guy who took what we have after two scrambled transfer windows (the first of which was a disaster under GA's replacement) and the second was also his but we got a few gems which made the difference. He got us 30 points from a possible 42 all in the last three months, that alone took us from 20 to 50 points. This is a manager we're enthused about as he seems sane and not prone to lose his shit.

To counter some of they "stop raining on our parade", fair one. It wasn't designed to do that. Often you pick up on snipbits of the choice parts of a CV, agent grafting, soundbite or friendly journo. as they have no interested in full disclosure. Maybe you'd go to buy a car you just listen to the salesman and ready the glossy brochure. Someone other look for warts and all reviews from a few sources.

I for one sincerely hope his experience at my club was a learning one and a strong realisation not to let history repeat itself. If his ego takes over and its more of the same I fear for where you will be in a years time. This start to go wrong about 10-12 months in. Supporters of some of his other clubs said that too, surprised to see a few of you cite they were all enthused.

Thanks to those who seen the motive for my post, to those who went for cheap shots or tried the yawning troll of Scotland is a shite league, bit of a well trodden bore.

Thanks for your input Well Fan. Ordinarily I'd dismiss this sort of thing as trolling but considering the detail you've gone into I think it's worth us bearing in mind.

Obviously he gets a clean slate with us, and he's had success before (notably in England). We don't know what the dynamics were between him and the Motherwell team/board/staff. I think of Neilson's time here which is seen as one of the lowest points we've had as a club, but then think of the success he's had with Hearts before and after - not every club and head coach are going to be a perfect match.

Hopefully we don't see anything like that here, he's been promoted from this league before so we have to give him a chance, he's only been here a matter of days. He brings something to the table that we haven't had for a while from a coach - experience of winning and promotions as a manager. If he was perfect I suppose he'd be managing at a higher level than us now.

Just to be on the safe side we'd better sack him. Can't be too careful.

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

Well it seems a rehash of the earlier points which were answered in GA's Sky article, especially in respect of lack of funds available. Another case of blaming the guy who left, rather than those who remain.

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Disclaimer: All my comments are my opinions unless stated otherwise. I'm just a fan following my club.

Ah well, that definitely won't be an issue here, will it

I think the OP is remarkable. I see little malice in it, but it may also be very biased. The smart thing would be to moderate our expectations of GA. If we play dull football, let’s not be surprised. But will we outperform the league? That’s the challenge.

If GA repeats the alleged errors in handling the squad, I guess that will become apparent quite quickly in how the less hard working players respond. Not just whether they achieve a high performance and play with freedom, but whether that is done consistently.

If he did make those misjudgments at previous clubs, then I would hope he would have learned how not to make the same mistake here.

Bump for anyone who hasn't read this extremely informative article.

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The greatest fools are often times more clever than the men who laugh at them.

In regards to falling out with players. The fella on the MK1 podcast said the polar opposite. In fact he, Alexander, went to great lengths to protect them according to him.

I'm not saying that the OP is wrong, look at our fanbase where Martin and Swansea are concerned, but if GA is being praised elsewhere for both his man management and playing style, then who are we to believe!

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

Fair.

We miss him a lot. Did everything Navarro did and could link up play better too.

Would suggest Well Fan looks at the positives and moves on. As expected there's always going to be one. I will take the negativity, pack it up in a imaginary box labelled 'whatever' and look forward to seeing what GA can do for us.

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Anti-Labour Alliance