The Head Coach Thread.

[Duvel 2,446]

15 minutes ago, mendieta420 said:

Someone seems to have forgotten the days of Lampard and fellow Chelsea players being on the back of every newspaper constantly falling out of nightclubs. His entire career he was called Fat Frank because of his beer gut.

If it wasn't for his injuries Woodgate would've won every club trophy in the game.

And what his nickname was at Leeds 20 years ago literally has no-bearing on his coaching abilities today.

Ok Jonathan fair enough ??

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

57 minutes ago, Oslo_Syd said:

In spite of the many people who seem to assume that it's Woodgate - nailed on - I really do think that's extremely doubtful. There have been suspicions voiced that the recruitment process was all smoke and mirrors to convince the fans that the club were taking the job very seriously, but that's highly unlikely. Even more unlikely is that professional managers would be put to a lot of time and trouble, not to say expense, when a decision had already been made anyway.

The very fact that the recruitment process has dragged on so long suggests at least that Woodgate would be a last resort, if that.

No one knows for sure who has been interviewed for the job apart from Woodgate and Jokanovic. We do know that there has been a lot of interest. People are still getting carried away by betting odds based on rumour and hearsay. 

Gotta say, it's impressive how steadfastly you've stuck to this rhetoric.

[Dan1234 1,056]

The biggest (and possibly only) positive for me regarding Woodgate is a team built around Wing/Tav and Fry. 

There's always a risk that someone new coming in would have binned Wing which would be a travesty. Similar to how AK did with Steele. Ended up ruining Steeles career to some extent.

[Smokedsalmon 1,247]

Just now, Dan1234 said:

The biggest (and possibly only) positive for me regarding Woodgate is a team built around Wing/Tav and Fry. 

There's always a risk that someone new coming in would have binned Wing which would be a travesty. Similar to how AK did with Steele. Ended up ruining Steeles career to some extent.

Except Steele was absolutely awful and literally got sent off in AK's first game, not making the best first impression.

[pikerman 1,121]

I have a friend of a friend who worked for him at Southampton, so I asked him a very simple question, good manager or not.  His answer was very positve, he said, a top bloke who the players would run through walls for.  He apparently had a difficult relationship with the clubs foreign owners and he was sacked after taking them into the Premiership, a situation that he apparently took a long time to recover from. The senior players were given freedom to play forward and the crowd was generally pleased with the type of football he gave them. The youth players and coaches still have fond memories of him as he liked to be involved at all levels apparently. As far as anyone knows he has no links to the underworld, was a paragon of virtue growing up so has no police record and did not dabble with drugs at university, (that one is for Gove). Sounds like he ticks all the boxes to me especially after his successful season at Hull despite the interference of the owners as usual, bring it on.

[TLF10 4,497]

3 minutes ago, Smokedsalmon said:

Except Steele was absolutely awful and literally got sent off in AK's first game, not making the best first impression.

I think its unfair to extreme to say AK ruined Steele's career. Steele left and continued to play in same league as us with Bkackburn. Subsequently went to Sunderland and has now at age of 28 chosen to be 3rd choice keeper at Brighton which is his perogative. Not sure where AK can be blamed for Steele.

Not to mention the fact Steele eventual replacement Dimi played a huge part in the only 2 enjoyable seasons we seem to have had out the last 14 season since McClaren left.

[TLF10 4,497]

Just now, TLF10 said:

I think its unfair to extreme to say AK ruined Steele's career. Steele left and continued to play in same league as us with Bkackburn. Subsequently went to Sunderland and has now at age of 28 chosen to be 3rd choice keeper at Brighton which is his perogative. Not sure where AK can be blamed for Steele.

Not to mention the fact Steele eventual replacement Dimi played a huge part in the only 2 enjoyable seasons we seem to have had out the last 14 season since McClaren left.

Sorry smokedsalmon. I was disagreeing with dan1234 opinion and I have quoted you in error. Was actually agreeing with what you said.

[Oslo_Syd 320]

14 minutes ago, D.Z. said:

Gotta say, it's impressive how steadfastly you've stuck to this rhetoric.

I'll take that as a compliment, mate.

[boronutter 149]

phil neville according to the daily express,15 mins ago,would be interesting

[Brunners 7,982]

1 minute ago, boronutter said:

phil neville according to the daily express,15 mins ago,would be interesting

Not really, that entire article is Phil Neville: England Lionesses boss set for Middlesbrough job - social media theory

[LinoJo3 3,191]

That one guy on twitter seems convinced 

[ABH 470]

57 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

Mid table is generous! We could have been struggling in the bottom 6 without those two.

We would of been relegated playing with 9 men all season 

[boronutter 149]

time will tell,would explain holding back anouncing new manager tho

[estonpidge 1,449]

1 hour ago, Neverbefore said:

A name that hasnt been brought up that I feel could bring something to the team is Paul Clement. Not as a manager as I think his tactics are bordering on pulis territory but either as an assistant or director of football. 

 

He ticks a lot of boxes for me - hes coached from a very young age, hes worked for Fulham's academy and for the Ireland u21s. Hes been an assistant at Chelsea, Bayern, PSG and Madrid so hell have contacts all over Europe at top clubs. Hes been out of work for a while so he could be interested in a new challenge. 

Suggested Clement a few days ago, seems he's a better assistant than boss.

[Changing Times 12,347]

5 hours ago, droopy said:

Still dont see your point. Unless hes gonna be playing for us next season that is.

I think JT's point was simply that Woodgate wouldn't be anywhere near another Championship manager position and he's almost certainly correct on that point.  Whether that makes him a bad appointment or not is a different matter.  I don't think people necessarily overrate Woodgate because of his playing career as the injuries meant that there really wasn't much of one after Leeds when you look at it objectively.  I think the fact that he's a local lad will usually earn someone a few extra points at just about any club not just ours but again that's not reason enough to give someone an important job albeit it does seem to help at Boro.