Shearer as Bolton Manager?

[TRon]

Maybe so, it is your opinion and you are entitled to it.

 

However, how anyone on here can continue to criticise Chris Hughton or his abilities is well beyond me and just goes to show a complete lack of understanding in coaching/managing a football team.

 

The times when he was caretaker manager in the PL were probably at the lowest points of this great club of ours. I doubt many would have shown any degree of success during those periods.

 

However, for what the man has done this season under extremely difficult circumstances and with a wonderful calm image that he has portrayed throughout, anyone criticising him really needs a wake up call.

 

Or maybe you would like Joe Kinnear back?

 

With the players we have, we should be top of the league.  I would say he has done what should be expected of him to be honest.

 

I'll bet if Shearer had thought we'd be top of the league he'd have snapped Ashley's hand off when offered the job. At the time he was warning of rooms burning every day he wasn't offered the job IIRC.

[macca888]

Granted, he has a good squad at his disposal. However, have you forgotten the state the club has been in for most of the season after relegation:

 

No players coming in

Best players leaving

No permanent manager

Owner has club up for sale

low moral

Injuries to key players

inexperienced or unwanted loanees coming in

Fans demonstations

Under performers from PL

Cost cutting measures

no say in transfers

players not knowing if they were staying or going

constant bad press speculation

 

Over the past 7 months or so, Hughton has had to deal with all of the above pluis many many more situations within our club and to get these players motivated to gain the amount of results they have, with little or no assistance from anyone, is testament to the way Hughton has gone about his business in an extremely professional and calm fashion.

 

We also need to realise that this is his first appointment as manager and what he has achieved in such a short time is well above my personal expectations and I am sure, those of many contributors on here.

 

As for Shearer, does anyone wonder why he was not given the job permanently? Could it be anything to do with his sky high wage demands, impressive list of players he wanted to bring to the club or to keep the players at the club he wanted such as Owen? In my opinion, Shearer's wish list and personal demands were too high for our club at the time and we could easily have ran the risk of doing a Portsmouth, if the board had adhrered to his requirements.

 

[Mick]

Granted, he has a good squad at his disposal. However, have you forgotten the state the club has been in for most of the season after relegation:

 

No players coming in

Best players leaving

No permanent manager

Owner has club up for sale

low moral

Injuries to key players

inexperienced or unwanted loanees coming in

Fans demonstations

Under performers from PL

Cost cutting measures

no say in transfers

players not knowing if they were staying or going

constant bad press speculation

 

Over the past 7 months or so, Hughton has had to deal with all of the above pluis many many more situations within our club and to get these players motivated to gain the amount of results they have, with little or no assistance from anyone, is testament to the way Hughton has gone about his business in an extremely professional and calm fashion.

 

We also need to realise that this is his first appointment as manager and what he has achieved in such a short time is well above my personal expectations and I am sure, those of many contributors on here.

 

As for Shearer, does anyone wonder why he was not given the job permanently? Could it be anything to do with his sky high wage demands, impressive list of players he wanted to bring to the club or to keep the players at the club he wanted such as Owen? In my opinion, Shearer's wish list and personal demands were too high for our club at the time and we could easily have ran the risk of doing a Portsmouth, if the board had adhrered to his requirements.

 

 

I think most of us over estimated this division so I think Shearer didn’t get the job because he wanted to keep more of the players who got us relegated than Llambias or Ashley would allow.  I think we’ll get away with it this season and pay for it next when we come back down.

 

As for what Hughton has had to put up with, having no players coming in isn’t really true, he’s had three loan players in who I can only think were his choices and we’ve signed two other players, one on a 3 year contract and one until the end of the season.  We no longer have a Director of Football so Hughton must have sanctioned incoming players.  I’m not too sure that our best players have left us; I think only 2 of them were worth keeping anyway, Beye and Bassong.  Martins just didn’t deliver and Owen (who Shearer dropped) doesn’t even need talking about, the same goes for Viduka, Duff and Edgar.

 

I don’t see what not having a permanent manager has to do with anything; it may have helped as Hughton wasn’t under any pressure to do well.  The club being for sale was the same last year but again we’re not in the Premiership, we’re in the Championship and we’ve got away with is because of that.  And key players haven’t been injured much so far this season, we missed our two centre backs and shola but we’ve still brought in players who should be better than the opposition.

 

As for motivation, I’m sure that I read a few quotes from players saying that they got together as a team and talked about what they were going to do.  I’m sure it was the players who sat down together to discuss this season and told whoever didn’t want to stay at the club to leave the meeting.  Here’s the quotes from Alan Smith “We went to Leyton Orient and it was a disaster. But everything came to a head. It was clear that five or six of the players wanted to leave, which was fair enough. We had a meeting when we came back from the game - just us players.  We said whoever wants to leave, they can leave, and we’ll help them to go. Whoever wants to stay then commit yourself to stay. That’s where we are now. That was a massive turning point. In a way getting that bad result was the best thing that could have happened. It was what needed to happen.  It was one of the strangest things ever. We were managing ourselves. Chris knew that we were having that meeting and he stood back and let us sort things out.”

 

As for Hughton being very calm and professional, I agree with you, that doesn’t make him any better than he is.  We’re doing better than I expected but again, I over estimated this division.  I also think we’re doing better in spite of Hughton, not because of him, I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[macca888]

Mick

 

Whilst most of your points are very pertinent, I cant help feeling that the state the club was in, both on and off the park, led most of us, both players and supporters with the view that we could be disappearing into obscurity and thus, as many have said on this site, doing a Leeds.

 

There has been a total lack of leadership throughout our club in recent months/Years etc and the one shining light above all has been the way Hughton has gone about the business of quietly gaining results to give the club some sort of self respect back.

 

I am a fully qualified football coach and have been in similar situations myself in the past so I know just how difficult it is to raise the levels of moral and motivate p,layers into achieving the level of results they were capable of in order to gain back the respect the club has lost. It is not an easy task and whilst fans can nly see the end product on the field, there is an awful lot of work conducted in the background that does not relate to footballing terms such as psychological, organisational, preparation, leadership functions which all play a part. I can see so much evidence of this over the past 6 months with this lad in charge of the club. I just understand what he must have been through and believe he deserves the credit due for his hard work.

 

 

I think we can all say that there is such a difference in approach work and liaison with the press etc than there was in the days of the likes of Allardyce and Kinnear.

[Jayson]

Its very simple. Hughton deserves some praise & Shearer shouldnt judged on 8 games for the same reason you are saying.

 

Your content to give Hughton 10 games & say nothing because you know how difficult it is to "raise levels of moral and motivate", but you think Shearer failed dismally because he didnt win in his first 5? It doesnt add up to well. We've no idea how Shearer would have done at this level, theres little reason to think we'd not have been doing just as well with a more premiership ready team.

[macca888]

Jayson

 

Not at all. It is my belief that Shearer was the wrong man for the job anyway. The last thing we needed was a novice as manager. We craved stability and most backers on here were shouting Shearer's name from the rooftops as some god given messiah mark 2 in the same vein as Keegan.

 

You might remember that Keegan wasnt initially particularly successful at the start of each of his terms as manager of the club and Shearer only had 8 games to save the club. It was not about Shearer the person that I made my comments, rather that we needed someone in the same muld as a Roy Hodgson or similar, with a great deal of experience in motivating crestfallen players to achieve results rather than a whipcracking novice with a failure as a sidekick.

[TRon]

Jayson

 

Not at all. It is my belief that Shearer was the wrong man for the job anyway. The last thing we needed was a novice as manager. We craved stability and most backers on here were shouting Shearer's name from the rooftops as some god given messiah mark 2 in the same vein as Keegan.

 

You might remember that Keegan wasnt initially particularly successful at the start of each of his terms as manager of the club and Shearer only had 8 games to save the club. It was not about Shearer the person that I made my comments, rather that we needed someone in the same muld as a Roy Hodgson or similar, with a great deal of experience in motivating crestfallen players to achieve results rather than a whipcracking novice with a failure as a sidekick.

 

Ironic that we ended up with a novice anyway in Hughton. I agree though he deserves some credit for this season, however he will be judged properly next season. The football he is encouraging is dire and while I won't argue in this division, I wouldn't put up with it in the premier.

[macca888]

Yes, ironic.

 

He wasnt the choice of any of us admittedly but he deserves credit, as you say.

[Pilko]

SSN says Owen Coyle, with some bookies suspending betting.

Hope not, I like Coyle but hate Bolton.

 

I bet those games of FIFA we played pretty much compounded that.

[Guest iliketoonarmy]

That woud be a bad move for Bolton. Their current status doesn't need 'big name' like Shearer, it would be a repeated mistake just like we did last year, while he has had enough games to get us stayed up (not to blame him, but someone else would have done better than him).

 

Not sure about Speed as manager though, but if Shearer gets the job then it would be a good managerial experience for him.

[Rob W]

Its the classic English answer to a problem - if in doubt appoint a guy who was a good player but who has bugger all experience of coaching

 

All the top teams in the PL and yurop are managed by experienced managers who learn't their trade the hard way, not someone fresh off the pitch

 

You need to start near  the bottom and work up..................

[Guest gggg]

Its the classic English answer to a problem - if in doubt appoint a guy who was a good player but who has bugger all experience of coaching

 

Yes unlike the Dutch (Rijkaard, Van Basten) Spanish (Gaurdiola) Italians (Leonardo) Germans (Klinsmann) Argentinians (Maradona) Brazilians (Dunga) and so on.

[Cronky]

What Shearer seems to lack is hunger. If you look at the top club managers - Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez, Ancellotti, Wenger, Scolari - they did not have particularly successful playing careers and that left them with the need and determination to prove themselves. Shearer seems in two minds whether he wants to make the necessary sacrifices. It's like he doesn't want it enough, and is reluctant to lose his pundit's armchair. He could have had our job if he'd really wanted it, but he was only prepared to accept it under conditions which boosted his chances of success.

 

There are exceptions to this - notably Cruyff - but a lot of very good players find the long haul of building a management career not worth the hassle.

[Frazzle]

Shearer lacks hunger or desire to be a (top) manager because he wouldn't agree to Ashley's demands?  **** me.  There's a reason we ended up with Hughton you know?  No manager with an ounce of self respect would work under Ashley with Ashley calling the shots. 

[Dave]

Still not read the Keegan tribunal I see.

[TRon]

Shearer lacks hunger or desire to be a (top) manager because he wouldn't agree to Ashley's demands?  **** me.  There's a reason we ended up with Hughton you know?  No manager with an ounce of self respect would work under Ashley with Ashley calling the shots. 

 

I still don't see where Shearer is going to get his break as a club manager though. There are only a few clubs who can pay a big salary and apart from us I don't think any of them will pay it to a novice. Bobyule is dead right on that score, which is why the idea of Blackburn appointing him is laughable.

[Frazzle]

Apart from hearing it from our trusty friends working for the rags, do we have any evidence Shearer made unreasonable demands?  Keegan apparently made the same unreasonable demands...

 

Under Ashley unreasonable demands include full control of team affairs, a transfer budget etc. etc.  Let's wait a few years and see which job Shearer takes, if any, before we slag him off for only wanting money.

[TRon]

Apart from hearing it from our trusty friends working for the rags, do we have any evidence Shearer made unreasonable demands?  Keegan apparently made the same unreasonable demands...

 

Under Ashley unreasonable demands include full control of team affairs, a transfer budget etc. etc.  Let's wait a few years and see which job Shearer takes, if any, before we slag him off for only wanting money.

 

It's not hard to put two and two together, given Shearer was pretty clear himself that he would be looking for financial backing and that the squad needed investment. No one is slagging him off btw, just pointing it out.

[Frazzle]

On the other hand though you've got Ashley didn't give Hughton and penny in the summer and so it seems anything over £0 would be unreasonable in Ashley's eyes.

[TRon]

On the other hand though you've got Ashley didn't give Hughton and penny in the summer and so it seems anything over £0 would be unreasonable in Ashley's eyes.

 

Yes we've pretty much got it by now that Ashley is a tight bastard, that stil doesn't mean Shearer is going to get a job anywhere else unless he lowers his expectations. If he takes the Blackburn job it will be on the chairman's terms not his. Assuming he's even offered it, which I highly doubt.

[Frazzle]

It depends how mental his demands were, we still haven't got a clue what he wanted.  You say to put two and two together but that doesn't get us anywhere, as I said, anything over £0 is unreasonable to Ashley, Shearer's demands could have been £1m budget or £10m budget, either way they'd have been rejected.

[TRon]

It depends how mental his demands were, we still haven't got a clue what he wanted.   You say to put two and two together but that doesn't get us anywhere, as I said, anything over £0 is unreasonable to Ashley, Shearer's demands could have been £1m budget or £10m budget, either way they'd have been rejected.

 

Believe whatever you like then if it serves your purpose.

[Frazzle]

Tell me what his demands were and I'll tell you if they were unreasonable or not...

[TRon]

Tell me what his demands were and I'll tell you if they were unreasonable or not...

 

Why don't you tell me as you seem so certain the rags are making things up?

 

 

[Frazzle]

Tell me what his demands were and I'll tell you if they were unreasonable or not...

 

Why don't you tell me as you seem so certain the rags are making things up?

 

 

 

The papers may be right, they may be wrong.  Looking at how much Hughton was given in the summer (nothing, fact) I'd hazard a guess that Shearer was going to get little to nothing from Ashley.

 

Any other evidence you can provide that Shearer was asking for pie in the sky budgets etc.?