[Archived] Appleton Sacked

[chaddyrovers]

I will straight behind Michael Appleton and still think he was the right manager.

he was getting behind the scenes correct and trying to put together something long term.

venkys and Shebby are clueless.

we need new ownership asap.

[laughatthedingles]

After considering today's events my feelings once again on this are I don't disagree in theory with the fact Appleton wasn't doing a particularly good job, neither do I really think he was the right man, as I didn't with any of our previous venkys managers. However, it is once again the boardroom that needs sorting first, we need a clear direction and decision makers in place for the long haul, then we need to appoint a manager with experience who is given the free reign to rebuild a club, to put a style of play throughout the club in place, to put his staff in place and to buy and select HIS players, then they must back him for at least 2 seasons.

[OJRovers]

I will straight behind Michael Appleton and still think he was the right manager.

he was getting behind the scenes correct and trying to put together something long term.

venkys and Shebby are clueless.

we need new ownership asap.

What was he getting correct behind the scenes?

[Ianrally]

Behind the scenes it is a power struggle between Singh and Sh@gnew both trying to score points of the other and sucking up to the lunes. The lot of 'em couldn't give a to$$ about the club.

Lets get Di Canio in. At least he might have some mafia pals.

[m1st]

I heard this news in a slew of, erm, "witty" texts from non-Rovers-supporting mates at lunchtime. My first reaction was one of incredulity - not that Appleton's results necessarily merited his retention; but at its timing.

When Appleton was appointed, I liked some of the stuff he said about the imbalance in the squad and thought that,with the people he brought in as his backroom team, he might be the man to get the club on the right track. However, the League results under him have spoken for themselves [my last game - only the second home game I've been to this season - was the Peterborough game which I left earlier than I've ever left a Rovers' game] and, while I can understand the reaction of chris_h and BaWA above [which are typical of many others], the only caveat I would enter is spelled out in this http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/17/manager-sacking-reading-premier-league from yesterday's "Guardian" which quotes from research showing that sacking a manager at this time of year in the hope of averting relegation is usually ineffective.

However, we are where we are - with a caretaker manager for the third time this season. As many others have said on here, which currently out-of-work manager worth his salt would want to come to work for our owners? I quite like the prospect of Nigel Adkins because he did the business in a limited scale at Scunthorpe before moving to Southampton but suspect that, in any race for the job, our owners probably think Brian McDermott's leading by a head.

For me, and I'm sure for virtually all of us, the problem is our owners and the management structure they have initiated [and the people they have inserted in that structure].

I was born in Blackpool but my parents were both Blackburners and my first-ever preview for this Board was for the game at Blackpool in the 2010/11 season. In it, I described how my Dad assured me in 1953 that Rovers [then halfway up Division 2] were better than the Blackpool team which had just lifted the F.A. Cup. My "owd feller" with his, literally, blue and white eyes wouldn't be able to comprehend what's happened to the team he brought me up to follow.

I'm rapidly getting to the stage where I can't comprehend what's going on either; and I DON'T LIKE IT!

The thing is I don't know what the solution is. The Walker Trust have got us off their hands and it's surely unrealistic to think that they'd ever want us back in their portfolio and for some reason, Venky's seem intent on keeping hold of us in a management structure which is dysfunctional and counter-productive.

[A cup of beans]

AND Mark Fish, BRAG and Shebby would never mislead us either.

Club goes from bad to worse. Appleton had a shocking record, but look at the players he had to work with.
He had started to rid the club of certain bad apples (no pun) and Idve given him the summer.

But now Shebby is back and it wouldnt surprise me if a major part of the sacking was that they realised it would be cheaper to sack Appleton than pay off Murphy's contract.
Murphy will be back in the team.

I'm sorry for having a pop at those fans who as I saw it "were letting venkys stopping them from watching Rovers"
They have finally worn me down, I wont be attending another game this season.
Bristol City in the FA CUP remains the only game Ewood game ive missed out of choice for 31 years - until now

I was determined that these scumbags wouldnt stop me watching the Rovers, but theyve defeated me.

[perthblue02]

R

Its now pretty much certain for me that the main reason he's not being getting results lately after a promising start(Berg parallel) is simply because of the poisonousness little rat Singh(and his group of cheerleaders) staring things and undermining his every decision behind his back, you could say he was only doing what Agnew&Shaw did to him after Bergs appointment(but that only further shows what childish self serving vindictive parasites we have running this club),

Shaw is on record as saying that apart from finalising the details he had nothing to do with Appleton's appointment, was he lying? The official line is he was appointed directly by one of the Rao's so why would Singh sabotage it?

How as Singh interfered with things on the pitch ?, Appleton again on record as said has never met him and apparently Singh has not been at the club much recently, and don't think Singh's popular with the players so can't see him asking the players to throw in the towel. Granted he may have been on the hotline to Pune.

According to Kamy on the last podcast , Appleton has basically had a free role behind the scenes to put things in motion to correct the destruction of the last couple of years, without any interference .As for the done this in retaliation to Berg sacking, not seen any leaked press stories trying to make a fool of Appleton, or the club since his appointment like there was with Berg.

Yes Singh's acted like a prize one tool, but can't see him orchestrating this. lots of injuries , sub standard performances, players criticised , player power at work?

Agree with your summing up though about selfish self serving parasites - clean sweep required

[DE.]

Its now pretty much certain for me that the main reason he's not being getting results lately after a promising start(Berg parallel) is simply because of the poisonousness little rat Singh(and his group of cheerleaders) staring things and undermining his every decision behind his back, you could say he was only doing what Agnew&Shaw did to him after Bergs appointment(but that only further shows what childish self serving vindictive parasites we have running this club)

Do you have any evidence for this at all, or is it just bizarre conjecture on your part? What exactly has Singh or anybody else done to force Appleton to use the horrific tactics we've seen in the last few matches? Shebby's been in Malaysia so what has he been doing precisely to cause us to plunge towards the relegation zone whilst languishing at the bottom of the form table?

[chaddyrovers]

What was he getting correct behind the scenes?

putting a proper scouting network instead of keep using agents and improve the sport science department which was mainly not used under a certain previous manager.

this was vital under Hughes. plus improving fitness of the players.

[Rover_Shaun]

D.E it's a joke the amount of pathetic excuses that are getting rolled out to cover the man's backside.

It's all rather unpalatable.

[DE.]

this was vital under Hughes. plus improving fitness of the players.

*looks at our injury list*

Nope.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

bradley h friedel ‏@friedel_b

Of course I know it's not you all Blackburn fans. I always try to put everyone straight if they have a go at the fans from Rovers!!

colin kazim-richards ‏@colin_kazim08

Just so you know I would still rather play for Blackburn rovers than down at turd moor #fact

FourFourTom ‏@FourFourTom

Blackburn have sacked Michael Appleton? That's phase 5 of "How to run a once successful football club into the ground" completed.

BBC Sporf ‏@BBCSporf

FACT: Blackburn Rovers have sacked more managers in the last 8 months, than Man United have in the last 41 years.

Absolutely right. Any stability that Appleton brought has now gone out the window.

I know DE has made a similar post but it looks like "stability" is now the favoured word to band about.

Stable defensively? Yes....at the expense of attacking. If you don't score, you can't win. Keeping it tight to score from a deflection at home against Ipswich isn't the kind of philosophy that will ever see us promoted. People can argue that with the chance to bring in his own players, we would be more attacking but Dunn couldn't get a look in and the other creative players were shipped out.

He sounded happy with our recent performances and he apparently played in a similar manner at Blackpool so there's a good chance he would have always persevered with those tactics.

Stability by bringing in his own backroom staff? Well, we can't score or create chances these days so the combination of Appleton and his backroom staff clearly wasn't working.

Stability by saying the right things? Well this is the bare minimum that should be expected and is largely irrelevant anyway...if he got results he could have said what he wanted and I wouldn't really care.

Thats a complete myth. The squad is desperately poor and ill suited to this division. How many times do I have to ask people just how many of our squad would even get on the bench of the promotion outfit 12 years ago? And even then with a galaxy of top players we only squeaked in in 2nd place just ahead of potless Notlob.

As this must be the 50th time I've read this, I'd love to hear why this is even slightly relevant.

And surely anyone who thinks this squad is desperately poor must have thought Kean was doing a brilliant job earlier on? And "luck" doesn't come into it.

That didn't help but they got rid of the players who would have walked this league leaving the current shower.

The players who would have walked this league would never want to play in it eg Samba and Nzonzi....Hoilett as well probably.

Doesn't seem to figure much in Spain. Four starts, three sub outings, never completed 90 minutes in any game and has yet to score with his team just one place above the relegation zone. It would appear that the show pony struggles no matter where he plays. We will do well to get any sort of fee for him.

I can understand the lad wanting to leave because he is simply not cut out for the Championship. Personally, I thought Formica and Vukcevic were more suited to English football and neither of them really made much impact. The foreign experiment simply didn't work particularly once we were relegated.

I've watched him play a couple of times now and he's been one of their best players on both occasions....opposition teams quickly learn to put a couple of men on him and close him down quickly. Although he did fade a little as the games wore on.

Although he did play higher up the pitch in his rightful position, where attacking players of his ilk like Taarabt should be playing in the C'ship.

[chaddyrovers]

great article by Ben Smith from bbc sport

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21849416

*looks at our injury list*

Nope.

cos the players were so unfit so couldnt cope with simple fitness training so pick up injuries.

[John]

Shouldn't be surprised with these idiots in charge but I was genuinely shocked when I heard the news of his sacking. Threw me well off track today.

[Rover_Shaun]

We were in chaos prior to it. Check the table, the form guide, the snow on the ball.......

[rossyrover]

I see the hand of Shebby Singh in this and Danny Murphys involvement the club and owners have become a football Joke.

[LDRover]

There can be no covering of such a p1ss poor set of results as the last 8 games.

When you throw in the pathetic performances, non-commitment of players, appalling tactics and shocking player recruitment it surely can't be argued that he was the manager to take us forward. I'd say relegation this year was more than possible had we stuck with him.

I'll re-iterate though, the problem is not the sacking but appointing him in the first place.

[Mike E]

great article by Ben Smith from bbc sport

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21849416

cos the players were so unfit so couldnt cope with simple fitness training so pick up injuries.

He should've tailored his fitness training accordingly. I wouldn't start train for a marathon by running 26miles a day. I'd to 2 for a week, then 5, then 10 etc.

[chaddyrovers]

I see the hand of Shebby Singh in this and Danny Murphys involvement the club and owners have become a football Joke.

wouldnt surprise me if Murphy became manager in the summer

[DE.]

He should've tailored his fitness training accordingly. I wouldn't start train for a marathon by running 26miles a day. I'd to 2 for a week, then 5, then 10 etc.

Exactly. If the players were getting injured as a result of Appleton pushing them too hard it's still his fault.

[Mike E]

wouldnt surprise me if Murphy became manager in the summer

If that happens I'm getting a Darwen AFC season ticket.

[T.J.Newton]

I see the hand of Shebby Singh in this and Danny Murphys involvement the club and owners have become a football Joke.

I think most people that have a little common sense see that also.

[LDRover]

He should've tailored his fitness training accordingly. I wouldn't start train for a marathon by running 26miles a day. I'd to 2 for a week, then 5, then 10 etc.

Well said mike.

Of all the arguments for Appleton the 'getting players fitter' has to be the most ridiculous.

[T.J.Newton]

There can be no covering of such a p1ss poor set of results as the last 8 games.

When you throw in the pathetic performances, non-commitment of players, appalling tactics and shocking player recruitment it surely can't be argued that he was the manager to take us forward. I'd say relegation this year was more than possible had we stuck with him.

I'll re-iterate though, the problem is not the sacking but appointing him in the first place.

when its put that way then yes that's a very fair opinion

[DE.]

Indeed, bottom-line is that he was never the right appointment. We needed experience and we got another rookie. You'd think by now Venky's will have learnt their lesson, but if there's one thing they've taught us about themselves it's that when it comes to football they are utter morons and never learn from their numerous mistakes.