[Archived] Henning Berg - Rovers Manager

[patrickvalery]

You have contradicted yourself completely in one sentence Kelbo. Truth is Murphy was at best moderate when he was 26 never mind 36. He's here simply cos no one else would pay him what Kean would...... for whatever reason.

How can Murphy possibly be good for us when he's got Lowe on the right wing and Pedersen / Olsson on the left? Give Murphy space and he can pick a pass. As things stand he's had his wide players right on top of him and consequently the opposition 4 or 5 man midfield on top of him. Until we can press the opposition wide men further back Murphy is wasted. I agree that his attitude has been poor. But i would say that's down to frustration more then anything. If Murphy was signed to be our key man, then we need to learn to play to his strengths. I still believe that a Murphy / Etuhu midfield can work, but we are lacking anyone out wide to free the space up. As you rightly say Theno, Murphy wasn't the quickest in his early days, and he's worse now. But given the opportunity he can still be effective for us. IMO his lack of pace is also highlighted by the fact we don't have anyone capable of holding the ball up front. By the time he's ambled forward the ball is back in his territory and he's out of position. If we had someone capable of looking after the ball up top and some decent outlet for Mr X to release the ball to out wide, Murphy would be an asset to us. As things stand we get the ball forward and hold it for maybe 2-3 seconds before either losing posession or passing to far deep. If we had a better target man and wide players looking to get forward rather than protect the fragile back four, then Murphy would have the center of the pitch to orchestrate something. This pattern of play just never happens at Rovers.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Berg's just been on SSN talking about Andre Santos swapping shirts with Van Persie.....every time I've seen him he's talked sense and I find myself agreeing with it all.

[booth]

It is interesting - I admit we had a better squad when we got promoted - but at the start of the promotion season would people not be saying "Jansen - too greedy needs to learn when to release a ball" - "Duff - when will he ever get to the next level" - "Dunn - needs to cut out the showboating". Souness built a team around these players - added some experience - and second half of the season it all came together.

We have a large number of players who need to make the step up - as the likes of Duff, Jansen and Dunn once did. Berg needs to bring a better team and work ethic - and hopefully improve the fitness - I still think we have players capable of getting us out of the division given the right platform.

Correct with all that apart from about Duff. That guy was a superstar since his amazing debut against Preston. Annihilated them and I don't remember him having a bad game for us. If only we had someone like him supplying crosses for Rhodes now.

Edit, just realised that wasn't his debut... But it was the moment I thought he was going to be world class. League cup if I remember correctly. My memories shot.

[RoyRover]

I just hope Berg has the stomach for all this. If he walks out citing outside influences we'll be in all kinds of kean.

Wasn't one of the things he said at his press conference was that he had total control on team affairs? Now, not even a week later, apparently a player is being offered a new contract without his knowledge. These owners of ours just can't help themselves.

Pedersen getting a new contract is total joke. The guy has been absolute p!$$ going on for six years now.

[Athlete]

Wasn't one of the things he said at his press conference was that he had total control on team affairs? Now, not even a week later, apparently a player is being offered a new contract without his knowledge. These owners of ours just can't help themselves.

Pedersen getting a new contract is total joke. The guy has been absolute p!$$ going on for six years now.

Hardly looks like he has full control..lets hope theres no interference with team selection..

[Mike Graham]

Unfortunately there is not a hope in hell that Henning is in charge.

Those finger lickin chicken idiot owners, and Shaggy the Nutter, will be stiring the pot and interfering big style.

Welcome to the nut house/chicken shack Henning.

[bypass06]

Maybe this is one reason, we're not fit enough.

[alexanders]

If that is the case PB I will promise you that this is going to be wildly reported in Norwegian media. It looks for me as though the big sport media in Norway (TV2 - broadcasting FA cup, Capital One Cup, Championship, Premier League) are on the pulse and interested in whats happening at Rovers.

Look at what job Mark Howard did. Why the F**** should he be claiming constructive dismissal?

[bypass06]

Morten, New deal?

[Jock]

Maybe this is one reason, we're not fit enough.

Did we ever get a fitness coach then? Or was it just another sly way of running the club on the cheap.

[Mike Graham]

Maybe Shaggy is our fitness coach......or should I say couch (potato)

[RoverScot]

Did we ever get a fitness coach then? Or was it just another sly way of running the club on the cheap.

I think Chris Rush is the new fitness coach, used to be the assistant fitness/warm up coach apparently I think its more to do with how little the fitness coaches were instructed by Kean to work with the players than the quality of Mark Howard's fitness coaching itself.

[alexanders]

I think Chris Rush is the new fitness coach, used to be the assistant fitness/warm up coach apparently I think its more to do with how little the fitness coaches were instructed by Kean to work with the players than the quality of Mark Howard's fitness coaching itself.

Surely a fitness coach would do something about it himself and not just slack. I think it is rude of Mark Howard to be whining about getting kicked out. He did a horrible job - what the reason was doesnt matter.

[Jock]

I think Chris Rush is the new fitness coach, used to be the assistant fitness/warm up coach apparently I think its more to do with how little the fitness coaches were instructed by Kean to work with the players than the quality of Mark Howard's fitness coaching itself.

Exactly. I can imagine these coaches being good at their job but with Kean in charge they wouldnt have had a look in.

Surely a fitness coach would do something about it himself and not just slack. I think it is rude of Mark Howard to be whining about getting kicked out. He did a horrible job - what the reason was doesnt matter.

Why a horrible job?. Under Sam we were fit and more often than not we could see a game out.

[alexanders]

Why a horrible job?. Under Sam we were fit and more often than not we could see a game out.

You sure ? I can remember many points got lost during Sam's era in the dying minutes. If this was down to fitness or we sitting back and let chance after chance come against us I dont know.

[Jock]

You sure ? I can remember many points got lost during Sam's era in the dying minutes. If this was down to fitness or we sitting back and let chance after chance come against us I dont know.

Surely our last ten minutes stats in matches with Kean in charge were worse. Norwich away summed Kean up.

After we threw away the points at home to City, Sam gave Darbyshire the boot.

[Parsonblue]

Surely a fitness coach would do something about it himself and not just slack. I think it is rude of Mark Howard to be whining about getting kicked out. He did a horrible job - what the reason was doesnt matter.

Totally disagree with your comments about Howard. He did an excellent job under Sam and is highly regarded within the game. Unfortunately, as Henning will find, this club is run like a circus and the chances of any professional succeeding here is remote with the way it is run at the top.

[RoverScot]

You sure ? I can remember many points got lost during Sam's era in the dying minutes. If this was down to fitness or we sitting back and let chance after chance come against us I dont know.

According to David Dunn, the squad did close to nothing in regard to fitness work in the summer - it was mentioned on the last podcast. If Kean didn't allocate fitness sessions its little wonder that some any players weren't fit enough. Added to the Kean 'do what you want' culture, it was a prime reason why a midtable Premiership side became a Championship team.

Totally disagree with your comments about Howard. He did an excellent job under Sam and is highly regarded within the game. Unfortunately, as Henning will find, this club is run like a circus and the chances of any professional succeeding here is remote with the way it is run at the top.

Perhaps someone(Kean) told Shebby that the fitness coaches were the reason for the poor fitness of the team so Shebby thought a random Croatian fitness guy - recommended by Gerry Armstrong(probably), would sort it out.

[alexanders]

Surely our last ten minutes stats in matches with Kean in charge were worse. Norwich away summed Kean up.

After we threw away the points at home to City, Sam gave Darbyshire the boot.

Norwich away I remember very good as I tore my shirt up and the buttons flew all across the room. We were extremely unlucky with the penalty and Petrovic not finishing the game, but it sums up Kean unfortunately.

I am sure we did throw away points against others than City.

ParsonBlue: Highly regarded within the game - So was SK wasnt he ?

I am just saying that if you have any workpride (dont know if its a word) you surely would try to give the players the fitness required.

As a player I reckon I would agree with it and put in the effort required.

Since the beginning of premier league only 15 of 58 teams have bounced straight back up.

That gives Berg a 75% chance of failure with promotion.

[bob fleming]

ParsonBlue: Highly regarded within the game - So was SK wasnt he ?

No, I'd suggest that was just put about in the papers by certain people with a vested interest and then believed by many to be true - after all no one, including me, really wanted to believe that the club was managed by a wrong un and owned by complete imbeciles do they ?

[chaddyrovers]

Mark Howard was highly regarded by the football world but under Kean he wasnt allow to work to his best.

Chris Rush is currently running the fitness side of the club. he was MH number 2 in the sport science and fitness department.

we need an experience head of sport science and fitness coach to come in and oversee this department. Chris Rush doesnt have the experience to do it.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

How long do you propose to keep this up ? He doesn't actually own the club you know. You're not Derek Shaw by any chance are you? Still sulking cause you didn't get your way ?

Well there's nothing else to talk about is there? There's been 1,000 posts in this topic, I've probably done about 10 of them, you've probably done the same. I'm hardly swamping the board a la Braddock.

I certainly agree with Shaw. Even a Preston reject can see what Shabby was up to, give someone a massive boost up the career ladder and in exchange get influence over him. Had our MD appointed the manager, as happens at every other club, where would that have left Shabby? Out in the cold, exactly where he should be.

[bob fleming]

Well there's nothing else to talk about is there? There's been 1,000 posts in this topic, I've probably done about 10 of them, you've probably done the same. I'm hardly swamping the board a la Braddock.

I certainly agree with Shaw. Even a Preston reject can see what Shabby was up to, give someone a massive boost up the career ladder and in exchange get influence over him. Had our MD appointed the manager, as happens at every other club, where would that have left Shabby? Out in the cold, exactly where he should be.

You've done 17 I've now done 12. You weren't far off ! and nobody, but nobody, floods the board like braddock.

Thing is though, you're judging Berg even before he's had a chance - and it will take time. You might be right, I'm hoping your wrong (not cause it's you) but it will mean that we've got a good guy in place who will work for the betterment of the club. Just imagine that! How refreshing. It's very early days, he's working with loose canons to say the least. We may as well give him a chance and support him - which in all fairness I'm sure you do on match days.

The other thing to consder is that even if a more experienced manager had been appointed - who's to say they would still end up being over ruled ? Ultimately no decisions have taken place yet where you would conceivably go - "I don't think that's a Berg decision".

We've had the new contract article - but has he got a new contract ? As I posted elsewhere, you've got to ask how the story got out there in the first place and why? I wouldn't be putting Shelfy up on a pedestal just yet - they're all as bad as each other.

[Oklahoma]

Berg should have the support of all fans, at least for the next 3 to 4 months.

I hope the V's allow him to use the squad as he wants. Even if it means dropping Murphy or CKR to the bench.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

You've done 17 I've now done 12. You weren't far off ! and nobody, but nobody, floods the board like braddock.

Thing is though, you're judging Berg even before he's had a chance - and it will take time. You might be right, I'm hoping your wrong (not cause it's you) but it will mean that we've got a good guy in place who will work for the betterment of the club. Just imagine that! How refreshing. It's very early days, he's working with loose canons to say the least. We may as well give him a chance and support him - which in all fairness I'm sure you do on match days.

The other thing to consder is that even if a more experienced manager had been appointed - who's to say they would still end up being over ruled ? Ultimately no decisions have taken place yet where you would conceivably go - "I don't think that's a Berg decision".

We've had the new contract article - but has he got a new contract ? As I posted elsewhere, you've got to ask how the story got out there in the first place and why? I wouldn't be putting Shelfy up on a pedestal just yet - they're all as bad as each other.

17 (well, 18)! Hmm maybe I should shut up for a bit. Oh yeah I'll get behind him and the team at the games. I just don't think its sensible to ever appoint a manager from a level below unless his record is close to flawless. Even then it can still go wrong as it did with Ince. We could have gone for Holloway, Freedman, Davies, McCarthy, Megson, Jones or anyone who's done this before. In every other walk of life experience of doing a job will put you at the top of the pile if you apply for that job elsewhere, obviously the reason being they know you can already do it. If there was nobody we could have got with experience and success in the Championship, only then should we have started with candidates from leagues lower down. I'm just wound up by the whole amateurish process, its the stupid risk-taking attitude that got Kean the job happening all over again. Anyway, I'll leave it at that and pray promotion somehow happens before the money vanishes and we return back to our 1980s level.