[Archived] Michael Appleton - New Rovers Manager

[Mike E]

The difference is (going off updates on twitter) he's right. Hit the bar 2/3 times and several chances went by us.

They say another day, they'd have gone in. Well for the next 10 games, they'd bloody well better do!!!

[bboy]

I hate the 'play like that and we'll win more than we lose line'. We couldn't win a game against Blackburn ladies right now.

Could have sworn Kean used that line a few times too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17593356

sorry in advance

[Rover_Shaun]

Yet to walk the walk. Big mouth strikes again.

[RibbleValleyRover]

His record is pretty similar to his previous management jobs, average at best.

I haven't seen anything yet that has convinced me he is the manager to take this club forward.

[DE.]

To be fair to Appleton, he did remove Murphy, Orr and Rekik, which is a small but important step.

My big concern in regards to Appleton is that he seems to know nothing outside of a fairly basic defensive 4-4-2 tactically, and this is causing us to struggle to create any chances whilst inevitably conceding quite a few goals. His transfer dealings have been pretty poor to date too, which doesn't bode well for our supposed summer rebuild job.

[G Somerset Rover]

They way he has us set up, to (try) nick a goal and keep a clean sheet means that if we concede first then it's game set and match. No plan b, no nothing.

As others have said, unfortunately for us we have a rookie learning his trade.

[martonrover]

I haven't given up on Appleton but his substitutions ( or lack of them) worry me.

Freedman got his right and that won Bolton the game.

Appleton got his wrong, should've made more and we lost.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Fans on this very forum were saying Rovers don't have the midfield to play a 4-4-2 (we haven't since the days of Savage and Tugay). If the fans can see it why can't a person who does this for a living?

I think it's time we ditch it and play something like a 4-5-1 with Bentley behind Rhodes. If he wants to revert back to a 4-4-2 then he can do that at the beginning of next season with a pre-season and transfer window to get the right players in. He is far too reactive and needs to be more proactive.

[Amo]

Problem is that even if Appleton says all the right things and identifies what's needed at the club (new owners?) it doesn't necessarily mean he's the man to do it. He'll get time from me, though, cause... you know,.. almost past caring now.

[onlyoneDuff]

with his Orr quotes today and his seemingly lack of tactical changes, I'm starting to wonder...

[Tom]

Lets be honest, none of us would have chosen Michael Appleton to be our manager when we had a vacancy recently, just as none of us would have chosen Henning Berg before that.

I think there is some hope he can turn it around BUT if he is deemed a failure and people want him out now then what?

For the sake of argument lets say Appy is a Shaw / Agnew choice and Berg was a Shebby choice, all sides have proven along with the owners that between them there is nobody there capable of making the right decisons and appointing a successful manager.

I personally can't see us going down so don't see what would be gained by getting shut now.

I just have a horrible feeling that I can't shake that some people have been wanting him to be a failure from the off to be proven right in some twisted way (hopefully shebby isnt one of those people) 99.9999% of us just want what's best for the club, is that Appleton? Is it someone else? Personally I don't know.

The most worrying thing is the people making the decisions know less than I do!

[47er]

I couldn't speak for the inner sanctum of Venkys Fumble Factory but I honestly don't believe any fans actually want him to fail. The squad has looked more balanced since he came but, for one reason and another, he isn't getting the results those changes led us to anticipate. As you say, he is all we've got and we have to hope he turns it round.

He's got the summer to sort out our inflated squad, and then some weeks to get us up the table. If he doesn't he's gone and the same would occur for any manager. What then? I haven't a clue. Sadly nor have our owners.

[Tom]

That last sentence is the killer though 47er

We sack him because he isn't getting results and then we are back to Shebby / Shagnew power struggles and scraping the barrel for replacements. Now until now I haven't considered relegation as a threat and still don't just yet so id rather let Appleton see out the season and see what he wants to do going forward.

The results may not be much better but we seem to be building a proper structure and Shebby is quiet and I much prefer it like that than it was under Berg

If say mark Hughes or Alan Pardew wanted the job it may be different but I can't see that being the case

[Guest Norbert]

We need someone to basically move mountains and turn around 2 1/2 years of stupidity, madness, neglect and wilful maliciousness. Is Appleton, a 37 year old starting out on his managerial career capable of doing this? I really do not know. We need actions to back up the good words, but there seems to be a sense that we're hanging on for dear life until the summer right now which is not good.

There needs to be a big rebuilding job in the summer that's for sure, and Appleton needs to vary his tactics a bit more.

[RevidgeBlue]

Fans on this very forum were saying Rovers don't have the midfield to play a 4-4-2 (we haven't since the days of Savage and Tugay). If the fans can see it why can't a person who does this for a living?

I think it's time we ditch it and play something like a 4-5-1 with Bentley behind Rhodes. If he wants to revert back to a 4-4-2 then he can do that at the beginning of next season with a pre-season and transfer window to get the right players in. He is far too reactive and needs to be more proactive.

We had the perfect player to play that system in Rochina before Appleton saw fit to ditch him. As for Bentley, wouldn't pay him in washers based on his efforts so far.

[RevidgeBlue]

What a disastrous appointment Appleton has proved to be, just as the season seemed to be coming nicely to the boil under the capable stewardship of Gary Bowyer as well.

In my view a good manager would have embraced the fact we had an embarrasment of riches (relatively speaking) in attacking positions and got the players at his disposal playing for him and to the best of their ability as Bowyer did. Not complained that the squad wasn't good enough and gone running to the owners for yet another raft of new players like a kid in a candy store.

Berg only got ten games. How long does this clown get?

[RevidgeBlue]

Thank goodness for Steve Kean .... without his points at the start of the season we would be in the bottom 3 now.

Changed your tune somewhat, according to you a few weeks ago Appleton was the messiah and it was a good job we'd got rid of all these Carlos Kickaballs and you looked forward to seeing a more honest and committed Blackburn Rovers etc etc.

[Paul]

For the sake of argument lets say Appy is a Shaw / Agnew choice and Berg was a Shebby choice, all sides have proven along with the owners that between them there is nobody there capable of making the right decisons and appointing a successful manager.

I feel you hit the nail on the head Tom. Reality is Shabby - it's hard to believe some called this guy the real deal when he arrived - appointed Berg and he was an outright disaster. Good guy, great player, pathetic manager, questionable values. It seems Shaw or Agnew influenced the Appleton choice. Not much better results than Berg really.

I like the words Appleton uses but we should worry about the players he deems good enough to come in. Granted Jones had a good 45 minutes on Saturday but then Murphy has had one good game as well. Signings since Appleton arrived are not good enough and if they are an indication of the calibre he views as capable of gaining promotion next season we are sunk.

We have a squad full of failed PL players who have proved they are not good enough to gain promotion. Appleton is busy signing Championship journeymen who are not good enough - anyone considered why we signed Campbell? A 31 year old who has played at 6 different clubs in 5 years plus had two other spells with Blackpool. That's effectively 8 clubs in five years. Why ? Because he's no bloody use at all.

It's clear now if we continue to sign players of this quality we will not be promoted next year.

[Rover_Shaun]

I'm in the "I knew he would fail" camp and not the "I want him to fail" camp

[Parsonblue]

What a disastrous appointment Appleton has proved to be, just as the season seemed to be coming nicely to the boil under the capable stewardship of Gary Bowyer as well.

In my view a good manager would have embraced the fact we had an embarrasment of riches (relatively speaking) in attacking positions and got the players at his disposal playing for him and to the best of their ability as Bowyer did. Not complained that the squad wasn't good enough and gone running to the owners for yet another raft of new players like a kid in a candy store.

Berg only got ten games. How long does this clown get?

Rev, we have never had an embarrassment of riches since Venkys started to dismantle a mid-table Premiership squad and replace them with cheap foreign dross. I admit Rochina had some tricks and flicks but he was never going to succeed in English football as his game was never suited to it. The fact he wanted out I think underlines the fact that he knew it was beyond him. I said after the opening game at Ipswich that the squad wasn't good enough to get out of this League and I have seen nothing since that would lead me to change that view.

Appleton may or may not be successful in the long run but he now needs to be backed by the owners with some money in the summer to rebuild the squad on solid foundations - hard working grafters who are hungry for success and who will be prepared to battle their way out of this League. Sadly, I think far too much damage has been done by Venkys for the club to recover from and I firmly believe that we will now return to what we were before Jack took over, namely a small town Lancashire club with a small support trying to mix it with bigger clubs in the second level of English football. For that reason I believe Appleton is probably as good as any in that I suspect his job next season will be keeping us in the Championship rather than looking to win promotion.

Appleton is not to blame for the mess this club is in that honour goes to the woman in Pune who has managed to destroy everything that Jack and the Walker Trust had put in place to keep us in the top flight.

[jim mk2]

Changed your tune somewhat, according to you a few weeks ago Appleton was the messiah and it was a good job we'd got rid of all these Carlos Kickaballs and you looked forward to seeing a more honest and committed Blackburn Rovers etc etc.

Never said Appleton was the messiah but I was glad to see the back of the likes of Rochina and Formica who were contributing very little.

Rovers are more honest and committed now than they were weeks ago but Appleton still doesn't know how to win football matches.

[Rover_Shaun]

Rev,

Appleton may or may not be successful in the long run but he now needs to be backed by the owners with some money in the summer to rebuild the squad on solid foundations.

His record so far, with the loanees he has brought in, suggests that is way beyond him

[Parsonblue]

His record so far, with the loanees he has brought in, suggests that is way beyond him

He has had to make do and mend thus far and also had to get some of the dross off the wage bill. You cannot keep changing the manager every ten games and hope to build anything. The simple fact is that Venkys have destroyed everything that Jack and the Walker Trust put in place. We have gone back 30 or 40 years in the past couple of years. Exactly the same things that are being thrown at Appleton now were thrown at Gordon Lee during the second half of the 1973-74 campaign when he abandoned a promotion push and began to sell popular players to fund the rebuilding job he had in mind for the following summer. That didn't turn out to be too bad I seem to rememeber! Appleton is our fifth manager in a matter of months. No club can chop and change like that and expect anything other than failure.

[PAFELL]

His record so far, with the loanees he has brought in, suggests that is way beyond him

Can these loanees do it themselves? Whilst there are individuals within the squad not pulling their weight, it will always be difficult.

As Appleton has said, the clubs needs rebuilding from the base upwards. From solid foundations and not from quick sand. Appleton can only be judged when that has been done. If he is given the time to do it.

[Rover_Shaun]

October for his p45 then