Should we get promoted who could we realistically get as manager in 2010/2011?

[Pilko]

It most certainly isn't a good idea when the committee in question consists of 2 fundamentally bad footballers.

 

What on earth has that got to do with it? Surely the committee is where players are able to raise queries, suggestions and opinions to try and help bring the club forwards, both on the pitch and on the training pitch?

 

For example; Butt may well be shite but you can see that his football brain still works, just the execution (the important bit) is way off as his legs are shot. This is more to do with the 'mental' side of football than the 'physical' side.

[TRon]

It most certainly isn't a good idea when the committee in question consists of 2 fundamentally bad footballers.

 

The players who are most senior or influential usually have the most say, it's got nowt to do with their football ability. Nicky Butt for example has been a big voice in the dressing room long before Hughton arrived here.

[Ronaldo]

I think any sort of team hierarchy is a bad idea tbh. But this is compunded when the players in question aren't fit to be in such positions.

 

Alan Smith for example, if that qualifies as football intelligence then it's about time monkeys were allowed to get a game.

[BottledDog]

There's a 'players committee' ffs. What self-respecting manager with a hard-line would allow anything like that to actually happen at his club with his squad? Nolan's said on countless occassions that - in pre-season - the players sat down together, asked who wanted to go, who wanted to stay. To the players' credit, the ones that stayed have kept their word, knuckled down, been very professional and got us top. Now i'm not saying Hughton has nothing to do with that - but he's only maintained it. Had we not have been able to sell some of the cunts whose attitudes took us down last season, the squad be in a mess.

 

His attitude - and this farcical 'players committee' - has, bizarrely, actually worked. For him and for the squad, cos all anyone cares about this season is getting back to the PL. And like i say - it's worked mainly cos we've got, by far, the best players in the division.

 

"What self-respecting manager with a hard-line would allow anything like that to actually happen at his club with his squad?"

 

I think you are taking the 'players committee' idea far too seriously. It was absolutely nessasary for the players to get away from the management and start to take responsibility themselves to a degree, and it'd be wrong to think this as a unique thing to happen at our club. Hughton will have sounded out their individual commitments and been party to player discussions via his senior players presumably, but ultimately while it is his decision to sanction players leaving or arriving, no manager out there will seek to keep an unhappy player and this was a great tool to sort things out.

No manager in their right mind would stop it happening at their club as you suggest (as if they could ever ban such a thing in the first place).

 

Following on from the senior players taking a greater role, the team now go out for dinners together, something they say has not happened before. It is just something for the team, something that no manager could impose or ban.

And as such, it, like the player meetings, is not something to use as evidence against Hughtons management or the respect they have for him.

[Colocho]

I think any sort of team hierarchy is a bad idea tbh. But this is compunded when the players in question aren't fit to be in such positions.

 

Alan Smith for example, if that qualifies as football intelligence then it's about time monkeys were allowed to get a game.

 

Racist.

[Pilko]

I liked it how Nolan said the team went bowling with the new lads for two hours and just larked about together. That sort of thing is really good, breaks the ice nicely between the new players and the existing ones and stops there being any rifts.

 

Hopefully we'll be able to sustain the dressing room harmony. Funny how under "tough, hard-line" managers like Souness the dressing room was split but under a "wuss" like CH, its as good as its been in years.

[Yorkie]

I never said we needed a disciplinarian btw.

[Pilko]

I know, but it seemed to me like you were saying player committee = wussy manager.

[BottledDog]

I never said we needed a disciplinarian btw.

 

No, you said 'hard-line', just as Pilko did (as in any self resecting hard line manager wouldn't have put up with it).

 

Either way, I'd be interested in seeing how you'd have gone about banning the meetings somehow as I took you to be suggesting in my last post, or how you tally the players respect for Hughton now with the way he handled it all.

[Yorkie]

Well aye, i see your point Pilko - and maybe i'm being harsh on him there [re: the players' committee]. I'd be willing to retract that, so to speak - cos you and Inochi both make good points.

 

All i'm saying is that i stand by the first line of that big post i made - that as a manager - all he's got is his personality. He's probably a very good coach cos he's worked at established Premier League clubs in that department, but great coaches don't make great managers. He's made a promising start in the transfer market but the jury's certainly still out - certainly as far as the top league goes.

 

He motivates, he keeps the squad sticking together, he boosts morale - he's also made some good signings. That's what he's 'excelled' in this season in my opinion, and when you tie it to the fact that we've got the best players in the league - it's worked an absolute treat.

 

He has to improve his tactical awareness and general matchday activities if he's gonna keep us up next year. And transform bargain-bucket-Championship signings in to bargain-bucket-Premiership signings. That's what i said in my main post and i still think that's true.

[KaKa]

 

Hughton is going to be a great one. Sit back, relax and enjoy it ...

[KaKa]

Regarding the player's committee, I think it was a smart way of putting a bit more responsibility in the hands of players who were ducking responsibility at every turn last season.

 

It's one of those things that can be done right or wrong. I think he's got it right, as from what i recall he has used it as a buffer between the rest of the squad and the manager. I think it's good for the players to talk things out amongst themselves more often, with any issues then being brought before the manager by the leaders. Rather than always have every individual going to the manager one-on-one.

 

 

[BottledDog]

 

Hughton is going to be a great one. Sit back, relax and enjoy it ...

 

Not a chance. If he doesn't get poached by Barcelona, It's bound to all fall to shit within weeks and we'll lose in the playoffs.

[Pilko]

Regarding the player's committee, I think it was a smart way of putting a bit more responsibility in the hands of players who were ducking responsibility at every turn last season.

 

Good point.

[Exiled in Texas]

Do they mean a formal players committee or the team lead Kangaroo Court which is quite common in sucessfull teams.

 

Usually made up of the senior and most charismatic personalities of the team, they hold the team to certain standards and deal with minor infracations like being late for the bus, or incorrectly dressed or screwing up in training in fun and jovial ways, yet the team sets standards that must be met by all members, and management can stay out of minor issues unless they become big issues.

 

I think it's great that the team itself deals with minor issues and holds itself accountable.  It's like being late to the pub to meet your mates, and they make you buy an extra round as penalty. Next time you're not late.

 

Maybe this is different to a formal players committee that acts as a go-between for players/management but if that is needed on a regular basis then the team is screwed.

[Guest gggg]

Mick McCarthy

Nigel Worthington

Tony Mowbray

Roy Keane

Steve Coppell

 

Would you have any of them? no and nor should Hughton be kept on if he achieves what they did and wins this league.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Basically Hughes is a Hughton upgrade. He still does what the owners tell him to, except he has the capability of getting us mid-table. From what I can see, Hughton doesn't. Hughes is the only viable option for me until we're sold.

[Optimistic Nut]

One name I'm surprised hasn't been suggested who might fancy it, I'd say was realistic, and could be attainable given their current situation, is Sven.

[KaKa]

Would love to see Hughton thrive and go on to be great.

 

Barring that then Sven Goran Erikkson, who would be a realistic option I think.

 

[colinmk]

If we go up and get a new buyer etc then I would be quite happy to see Mark Hughes come in. He did well at Blackburn with average players and he is respected most in the footballing world.

[colinmk]

Bruce or Hughes would get us mid-table in my opinion. They'd bring staff with them.

 

To be honest, while Hughes and Bruce are ex-players with more experience in the role (and arguably the better of the possibles out there), I just can't get too excited by them. At a time when we seem to be heading in the right direction with a good group of staff at most levels, forgive me for wishing to avoid yet another period of upheaval at the club.

 

 

Upheaval is inevitable with Ashley in charge, he is looking to sell the club as soon as we go up, if we don't I'm not sure what he will do.

[Stu]

Basically Hughes is a Hughton upgrade. He still does what the owners tell him to, except he has the capability of getting us mid-table. From what I can see, Hughton doesn't. Hughes is the only viable option for me until we're sold.

 

He took Blackburn to 6th.

[Village Idiot]

I just spotted Co Adriaanse on that list, you should sign him just for his mental training sessions 

[sh74]

Got to be Sven 'adultbooks' Erikkson for me like.

[Dave]

How is Sven in any way realistic?