[Archived] Steve Kean

[ABBEY]

and 47er's still googling who Howard Kendall is

+47

[Aberdeen Blue]

The top six is pretty much decided already, barring the order.

7th is possible, maybe unlikely but stranger things have happened.

No club outside the top six could honestly be that certain of a 7th finish.

I'd be happy to stick my neck on the line and say we won't be involved in another relegation battle next season!

Fair play R&O!

Now Iceman, still fancy a wager on your 6th place finish? I've still got £100 that says we don't

[JAL]

I'd be happy to stick my neck on the line and say we won't be involved in another relegation battle next season!

How can you say that when we haven't addressed the weakness in the team of recruiting some top quality strikers and we havent secured the signing of Jermaine Jones or another top quality central midfielder.

[roversmum]

Er- if I'm not mistaken the transfer window hasn't even opened yet ...

[Amo]

Er- if I'm not mistaken the transfer window hasn't even opened yet ...

He can't help himself.

[Rover & Out]

How can you say that when we haven't addressed the weakness in the team of recruiting some top quality strikers and we havent secured the signing of Jermaine Jones or another top quality central midfielder.

whilst our current squad is not great, it's better than all the three promoted teams for a start.

I wouldn't like to test that theory so I do think we need to make use of the money that's made available.

I'd imagine our budget is more than a number of the clubs around us (albeit they may cash-in on some players).

[JAL]

whilst our current squad is not great, it's better than all the three promoted teams for a start.

I wouldn't like to test that theory so I do think we need to make use of the money that's made available.

I'd imagine our budget is more than a number of the clubs around us (albeit they may cash-in on some players).

Even if the budget is more than others around us, what are the guarantees that it will be spent wisely with our inexperienced man in charge.

You only have to witness Keans substitutions and hear his comments about Lowe and Blackman being first team squad members and that gap between the newcomers and us begins to narrow dramatically.

[thenodrog]

Like it or not it was the points we amassed under Allardyce which kept us up. These are the facts of the season:

Under Allardyce: Played 17, 21 points

Under Kean: Played 21, 22 points

Had we sustained that form under SA over 38 games we would have amassed 47 points, finishing 10th. Project Kean's results over 38 games and it averages out at 39 points, which would have left us relying on goal difference to keep us up.

Given that football is all about results, it's hard to see why the same owners who were so sure that Allardyce wasn't up to the job should be willing to stick with Kean.

I've produced all that too HY but it's like water off a ducks back with some. They think if they ignore it it will somehow go away and not be tryue. What in fact would have happened is that we would have gone to Wolves 2nd bottom and on 36 points needing to win to even have a chance of staying up!!! The match was nervy enough but that would have been awful and so bad that the team might have succumbed to nerves and capitulated. Yet some of the goons on here don't have the intellect to comprehend that scenario. We stayed up so it's all fine and dandy. Truth is to continue with this manager is ill advised and foolhardy at best.

So regardless of Sam Allardyce this season under Steve Kean according to the stats we would have survived. Our goal difference under Kean spread over a season would have us comfortably ahead of our rivals.

So 'we only survived because of Sam' line is inaccurate.

Had a quick glance at the PL table in the last 6 years and we would have survived comfortably with Kean's tally in every season- this year has been a freak year, usually 36/37 points has been enough.

I'm sure that the Blackpool and Brum fans will feel so much better for your words of wisdom imy.

[JAL]

Would love to see a stat on what happened next after Kean had made his first then second substitutions of a game.

[thenodrog]

So nobody had anything good to say about a coach that’s never managed, and his ability to keep the side in the premiership against all the odds? You do surprise me mercerman

Former championship manager eh, was it the PC version or Mac?

I recently had a holiday, and all the people I spoke to said what a good job he'd done keeping us up and a couple of them mentioned how our style had changed since Allardyce had left, the difference between Blackpool and Crete I guess

How odd. It seems despite a massive poll result on here and in the LT in opposition to allardyces sacking is at complete odds with those fellow fans who sit around you at Ewood who you have continuously insisted all wanted him sacked. Now it turns out that you've been on holiday with the entire membership of the Steve Kean fan club!

Is it any wonder that so many treat the ludicrous generalisations that you come out with as complete and utter rubbish and in the main a huge pack of lies?

[92er]

If you judge every manager over 21 games, then yes. You would also most likely have sacked Howard Kendall, another rookie, at Christmas just before our 13 wins out of 14 game run. Such decisiveness can swing both ways.

Indeed, but a quick look at the results from that season shoe Kendall won 8 of those matches.

[imy9]

I've produced all that too HY but it's like water off a ducks back with some. They think if they ignore it it will somehow go away and not be tryue. What in fact would have happened is that we would have gone to Wolves 2nd bottom and on 36 points needing to win to even have a chance of staying up!!! The match was nervy enough but that would have been awful and so bad that the team might have succumbed to nerves and capitulated. Yet some of the goons on here don't have the intellect to comprehend that scenario. We stayed up so it's all fine and dandy. Truth is to continue with this manager is ill advised and foolhardy at best.

I'm sure that the Blackpool and Brum fans will feel so much better for your words of wisdom imy.

Keans performance of 21 games is extrapolated to cover 38 games- fine, I dont like it but let's go with that, 39 points from 38 games is exactly that- it does not mean we would have gone into the final game on 36 points! Why don't you look to see how many points he'd attain over 37 games to show you where we'd be going into the Wolves game- 38 points I reckon. Your hypothetical thus is pointless.

I don't care about Brum or Blackpool-they can console themselves that it's been an unlucky year for them. I commented on our total under Kean would have been enough, full stop. Sam's points would not have mattered, it's that simple.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Keans performance of 21 games is extrapolated to cover 38 games- fine, I dont like it but let's go with that, 39 points from 38 games is exactly that- it does not mean we would have gone into the final game on 36 points! Why don't you look to see how many points he'd attain over 37 games to show you where we'd be going into the Wolves game- 38 points I reckon. Your hypothetical thus is pointless.

I don't care about Brum or Blackpool-they can console themselves that it's been an unlucky year for them. I commented on our total under Kean would have been enough, full stop. Sam's points would not have mattered, it's that simple.

But BFS would have had us clear of danger long before the last game of the season. All the evidence points to Kean being out of his depth. His tenure is far too risky. We should get the best manager we can afford.

[yoda]

But BFS would have had us clear of danger long before the last game of the season. All the evidence points to Kean being out of his depth. His tenure is far too risky. We should get the best manager we can afford.

maybe we have the best we can afford!

[47er]

You're on ignore Gav so i read you courtesy of EIT. And you're still a twerp making assertions to provoke.

Remember Kendall well actually. Pity the drink got the better of him.

He took a rag-tag team of nobodies and turned them into a team even though we were dead broke. The football wasn't pretty though, a lot of 1-0's as I recall.

And NOBODY COMPLAINED that we weren't playing like Real Madrid! Allardyce type of manager.

[Aberdeen Blue]

You're on ignore Gav so i read you courtesy of EIT. And you're still a twerp making assertions to provoke.

Remember Kendall well actually. Pity the drink got the better of him.

He took a rag-tag team of nobodies and turned them into a team even though we were dead broke. The football wasn't pretty though, a lot of 1-0's as I recall.

And NOBODY COMPLAINED that we weren't playing like Real Madrid! Allardyce type of manager.

Spot on. I never remember anybody moaning after another 1-0 win under Kendal. I was only a young un at the time but a win still felt better than a lose.

BFS was not my cup of tea not so much for the way we played but the fact that I think he's an *****. Fact is you cannot fault the guy on his results. I firmly believe that if he had remained in charge we would not have been in the dogfight that we found ourselves at the end of last season.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

You're on ignore Gav so i read you courtesy of EIT. And you're still a twerp making assertions to provoke.

Remember Kendall well actually. Pity the drink got the better of him.

He took a rag-tag team of nobodies and turned them into a team even though we were dead broke. The football wasn't pretty though, a lot of 1-0's as I recall.

And NOBODY COMPLAINED that we weren't playing like Real Madrid! Allardyce type of manager.

A rag-tag team of nobodies - Kendall was no slouch in midfield, Duncan McKenzie not exactly a nobody, Keeley/Faz/Rathbone/Branagan best defence outside 1st div, Jim Arnold probably best keeper outside 1st Div, a certain Simon Garner, Noel Brotherston. I think you do them a disservice - yes a team built on a sound defence - but they could also play a bit.

[tonyoz]

If you judge every manager over 21 games, then yes. You would also most likely have sacked Howard Kendall, another rookie, at Christmas just before our 13 wins out of 14 game run. Such decisiveness can swing both ways.

Well, I think you should judge a guy on his most recent form. Like the last 4 matches.............that'll be 76 points next season then...........puts us in line for a fair crack at the title.

[patrickvalery]

Basically I've formed my views on Kean on the entirety of his period in charge. Two wins against a WBA side about to sack their manager. A win against a Liverpool side that had lost confidence in the manager and who didn't really play for him - as results since Kenny took over have shown. A win against a Bolton side that had gone on holiday after the FA Cup debacle. Admittedly, the first half performance against Wolves was outstanding and fair play to him for that.

Considering the platform he was left to build on I really don't believe that we should have been sucked into such a desperate fight to stay up. However, that is now in the past and the future is all that matters. Our owners clearly want Kean in charge and that really is the end of the matter.

It is now up to Kean to buy wisely in the summer and hit the ground running from game one next season. If he gets some wins under his belt early on he can end the negativity that surrounds him, if he doen't the pressure will simply increase. However, in fairness to Kean, much will depend on how much backing he is going to get from the owners and at the moment that is the great unknown.

I'm not sure he had much of a platform to build from in the circustances. If reports are true, the Venky's mob were not best pleased with Sam's style of play. For Kean to try and jazz it up using the same bunch (some of which signed by Sam for his style of football) was a big ask. I'm pretty sure some very experienced managers would have struggled in that regard.

Your last paragraph is spot on. I've always believed that the one of the marks of a good manager is his ability to buy well. Good coaches, like Peter Taylor for instance, ruined their big chance with awful signings. Some coaches are great at creating a side and some are pretty effective at pollishing turds. Some, it has to be said, are less than adequate at both. In this regard Mark Hughes was pretty close to perfection in recent times.

The things which pleased me towards the end of the season was a degree of consistency with our starting line up. If Kean has settled on a style of play which he feels can work, then this summer gives us a really good chance to drill all the lads on exactly what is expected. Work on plans B and C for when things aren't happening for us, and try to get some personnel in who can strengthen certain areas. Early into his tenure we chopped and changed the team too much and it showed. If we can go into the season with a definitive plan, formation which the side are comfortable playing and some better quality, we'll give ourselves a chance.

[patrickvalery]

I've produced all that too HY but it's like water off a ducks back with some. They think if they ignore it it will somehow go away and not be tryue. What in fact would have happened is that we would have gone to Wolves 2nd bottom and on 36 points needing to win to even have a chance of staying up!!! The match was nervy enough but that would have been awful and so bad that the team might have succumbed to nerves and capitulated. Yet some of the goons on here don't have the intellect to comprehend that scenario. We stayed up so it's all fine and dandy. Truth is to continue with this manager is ill advised and foolhardy at best.

I'm sure that the Blackpool and Brum fans will feel so much better for your words of wisdom imy.

I think you've sovled all the problems with fixture congestion, winter breaks, burn out and fatigue. Next season the Premier League will probably only play 19 games and then double the points tally you get in those games!

Nothing in life is this straight forward. Its a really tough thing to predict, hence why these football accumalator bets exist. Everyone thinks they are an expert and can predict a series of results. But in realisty its rare anyone does. I'm not defending Kean's record nor criticising Allardyce's. But you can't equate this logic to why we stayed up. If this system worked Bolton would have been fighting for 5th or 6th. Closely followed by Sunderland and Blackpool.

[47er]

A rag-tag team of nobodies - Kendall was no slouch in midfield, Duncan McKenzie not exactly a nobody, Keeley/Faz/Rathbone/Branagan best defence outside 1st div, Jim Arnold probably best keeper outside 1st Div, a certain Simon Garner, Noel Brotherston. I think you do them a disservice - yes a team built on a sound defence - but they could also play a bit.

Remember that when Kendall took over we'd just been relegated to the 3rd division and morale was at rock bottom. That's what I mean by "rag-tag team". I also think they were nobodies outside Ewood. I accept that to us they are legends!

None of them thrived at the top level once they left us either as far as I recall. Gav can google that one though.

But you do see the similarities with our current team surely? You refer to it yourself. We had the best defence outside the 1st Division. We have the best defence now outside the top few and a better one than Arsenal/Spurs I'd say.

That was our strength and we played to it. We ground out results week after week. And we loved it. There was no booing of the manager though the style was dire. You say they could play a bit (that's not what comes to mind) but so could Sam's side.

My point? Its personal with Sam. I can't remember that or the level of hostility with any other successful manager we've had.

[cruz]

We have the best defence now outside the top few and a better one than Arsenal/Spurs I'd say.

Joint 14th best defence last season. Never considered 13 to be a few

Joint 14th best attack too

[47er]

Joint 14th best defence last season. Never considered 13 to be a few

Joint 14th best attack too

So you've looked up the League table and come up with this breath-taking conclusion have you? What a dope!

How well your back 4 and keeper do is dependent on performance throughout the squad. If your mid-field and strikers are outstanding your defence comes under much less pressure than ours does.

I wouldn't swap our current back 4 individuals and keeper for Arsenal's. If you would that confirms a lot.

[T.J.Newton]

sick too ###### death about reading about Sam Allardyces stats ect..., hes west hams manager now end of story.

im not keans biggest fan and would love too see him replaced by a top quality manager, i dont see how comparing him too allaryce in every other post is going to change anything, yes keans stats in his short time in charge are ###### poor, but Allardyces are only slightly better relatively speaking(taking into acount his experiance and reputation).

[Ferrit]

I wouldn't swap our current back 4 individuals and keeper for Arsenal's. If you would that confirms a lot.

You wouldn't swap Salgado and Givet for Sagna and Gibbs/Clichy?