THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Discuss

The worst has to be Dan with a Plan and even Jacko had a worse win ratio. Funnily I liked them all and also Richie Barker, who had a poor win ratio. I guess I like poor managers.

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

No. Ratio and stats etc will probably suggest so and in a few years the opinion might change, but today I say no

Neilson, still takes that cake for me.

At the time, we had a squad that should've been challenging for a playoff place. We'd underperformed after relegation and our favourite/best ever manager had left. The place was bleak. He came in and we saw a slight improvement bit barely.. players needed moving on but maybe not as quickly as they were. A turnover of Powell, Potter, Martin, Lewington (Effectively), Bowditch, Reeves, Baldock and Carruthers to be replaced by Muirhead, Nesbitt, Nicholls, Sow, McGrandles, Cosse and Pawlett was frankly fucking pathetic.
A spine tore up over one transfer window replaced by mostly inexperienced players from the Scottish divisions.
We had a team with little to no personality, no players to relate to, and went from the Championship to League Two in about 15 months. It was God awful. Fanbase chanting for him out, team mates disillusioned, rumours through fans that players were talking to fans about how shit it was etc. Lewie at Charlton, the Aaron Tshibola debacle... it really was a low point.

Dan Micciche was pretty unremarkable but people forget we did have a better style of play once he came in and looked more like us. I hold him barely accountable for how things turned out. He tried his hardest but the damage was done. Why he gets so much hate, for me, is a weird one. I agree he was rightly sacked and didn't do what he was brought in for and probably the wrong man but it was more on Neilson than him.

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That put me in mind straightaway with:

Baldrick:
Which leaves...?

Blackadder:
Caroline of Brunswick as the only available princess in Europe.

Baldrick:
And what's wrong with her?

Blackadder:
GET MORE COFFEE! IT'S HORRID, CHANGE IT! TAKE ME ROUGHLY FROM BEHIND! NO, NOT LIKE THAT, LIKE THIS! TROUSERS OFF, TACKLE OUT! WALK THE DOG! WHERE ARE MY PRESENTS?!

Baldrick:
[flustered] ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! Which one'd you want me to do first!?

Blackadder:
No, that's what Caroline's like! She's famous for having the worst personality in Germany...and as you can imagine, that's up against some pretty stiff competition!

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Not even close in my opinion. I never felt anger towards Lindsey. There were no obvious signs as to why it wasn't working.

With Alexander however, I left every game furious. We were losing and we were letting teams dominate us. We'd just come down from League 1 and had strengthened reasonably well, but then took this bizarre underdog approach as we sat back and let teams attack us over and over again.

Alexander is clearly a good manager and he is doing very well at Bradford, but for us it didn't work and out of all the managers we've had, it is he who I want back the least.

Well he might just have turned out to be the best if he hadn't had the rug pulled from under his feet before he'd got them under the table.

Five months and one window for a man who'd given you a clear demonstration of his abilities at the end of last season was a ridiculously short time. Perhaps he would have proved to be the worst but a manager/coach, particularly one who has had recent success, cannot be judged fairly over such a brief period.

In no particular order

Stuart Murdoch
Robbie Neilson
Paul Ince (2nd run)
Graham Alexander

He doesn't even make the list for me.

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It's the hope that kills you

You're a Sunderland fan, right? Could the same not have been said for Grayson? Proven for years in The Championship and League One he was capable and sufficient at that level. Sacked after a dismal run and poor start.
Same for Parkinson. Even Lee Johnson. All proven and experienced at the level you were at and sacked because they'd underperformed regardless where they'd done well beforehand. Sometimes that's all it is. If someone told you that you were stupid to sack those, you'd probably argue why they were right to go, no? I mean, I'm don't know your views on any of those managers so I'm just assuming but it isn't always as easy as that.

I like Lindsey and wouldn't have sacked him but it was clearly becoming untenable. We weren't exactly a side who'd just got promoted and a poor run that leaves us in the lower part of mid table is still better than where we have been. It's a crap position playing crap football.

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Interesting. Why Ince? We finished mid table and got to the FA Cup 3rd round and Semi Final of the Paint Pot in a season where we were ravaged by injuries (Iirc we applied to have a game against Charlton postponed because we didn't have a fit enough squad)... it was annoying we didn't push on but I was under no impression at the time it was a low point.

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I think it was the fact we did exceptionally well the season before finishing 3rd under a rookie manager after a promotion I expected us to kick on. I also think Ince had amazing stock with me for what he did the first time round. I guess it is more the expectation that clouds my judgement. Probably low point is harsh. Probably was more disappointing, but I guess without Ince we wouldn't have had Robbo.

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It's the hope that kills you