[Archived] New Manager? What would you do?

[thenodrog]

Graeme souness got an underachieving rubber dingy side playing 6 months after his appointment, we need that type of figure.

Whats all this daft obsession with Souness? He had some damned good players to work with but lets not forget that he left the squad in an absolute shambles.

[somersetrover]

I'm in two minds...

Option 1

Give bowyer till the end of next season I feel like he's building something (however his lack of tacticL awareness and not playing to strengths is immensely frustrating)

Option 2

Get an experienced manager aka Mackay and move bowyer to head of recruitment / chief scout??

That's up to the new manager and Bowyer. If the new manager wants to keep Bowyer in that role and he's happy to do it (which I doubt he would) then fair enough. But you can't give him the role and tell the new man that he has to have his predecessor at the club if the new man doesn't think he's good enough after all Blackburn Rovers are a business not a charity for the otherwise unemployed and I am sure Gary has been paid very well paid during his time as manager. Some people seem not to want to sack Bowyer or keep him at the club in some way because he's a nice bloke and likes the club, this is football and you have to be ruthless who knows if we'd been ruthless with Kean we may still be in the Premier League.

[thenodrog]

Serious question - do you think this current squad has under achieved this season?

Well it's got to be taken into account that we have had injury after injury to our most influential players but if pressed for a yes or no then it'd have to be NO cos the players that we are bringing in recently are no doubt cheap but are effectively bog bloody ordinary. You cant make a silk purse out of a pigs ear is the case.

btw Anybody else think that Keane is actually slower than Williamson?

[tomphil]

Horses for courses with someone like Souness. He's the type to galvanize the team, fans and club and motivate and lead from the front. The teams lacked strong leadership ever since Big Sam was potted, we are crying out for it on and off the pitch. Souey however probably wasn't a man to keep a club stable in the Prem in the medium term, he's very much a s##t or bust kind of manager.

[booth]

Booth, it may come as a shock to you but the 35 year thing is complete and utter rubbish. We didn't play them for 29 of those 35 years. How can not being beaten by someone you don't play be a cause for celebration? Over that period, including today, we have met on just twelve occasions, in League & FA Cup, spread over six seasons and have won 7, drawn 4 and lost 1. It's hardly earth shattering whichever way you look at it.

Erm, reality check for you Parsonblue, it actually is.

For some of us it stings a bit, especially as we were gimped by tactical naivety. Every time we beat them I suspect they felt the same. Whether we've played them ten, twenty, thirty or a hundred times it's still as you say "Earth shattering". Fair enough you couldn't give a monkeys but many of us do.

Secondly, it really shows how far we've fallen and that hurts the most.

[booth]

Whats all this daft obsession with Souness? He had some damned good players to work with but lets not forget that he left the squad in an absolute shambles.

He would kick them into shape though. The problem with Souness is he seemed to lose interest after a few seasons.

I remember Hughes coming in and saying he was surprised at the fitness levels for some players.

[adsfortheblues]

He would kick them into shape though. The problem with Souness is he seemed to lose interest after a few seasons.

I remember Hughes coming in and saying he was surprised at the fitness levels for some players.

Also to be fair to him, he said just last year, that he regretted leaving and that if he had of stayed he might still be managing today.

[Parsonblue]

Erm, reality check for you Parsonblue, it actually is.

For some of us it stings a bit, especially as we were gimped by tactical naivety. Every time we beat them I suspect they felt the same. Whether we've played them ten, twenty, thirty or a hundred times it's still as you say "Earth shattering". Fair enough you couldn't give a monkeys but many of us do.

Secondly, it really shows how far we've fallen and that hurts the most.

Did you not realise just how far we had fallen until today? I thought that was obvious the day we were relegated with the owners ditching anyone who was decent.

[den]

The problem with only having the "chopping and changeing doesn't get anyone, anywhere" argument, is that it could have applied to Ince, Kidd or any manager who had done not much wrong. It has to be a judgement on whether he can take you to where you want to be and where you think you should be. Just as Walker made the judgement when he sacked McKay.

The arguments about Bowyer having to stay because no one else would come here are the most defeatist I've ever heard. If our owners ever think that way, we're heading to the first division.

[Waggy76]

Well it's got to be taken into account that we have had injury after injury to our most influential players but if pressed for a yes or no then it'd have to be NO cos the players that we are bringing in recently are no doubt cheap but are effectively bog bloody ordinary. You cant make a silk purse out of a pigs ear is the case.

btw Anybody else think that Keane is actually slower than Williamson?

Also , you have to take into account that it is a poor league ...

[Parsonblue]

The problem with only having the "chopping and changeing doesn't get anyone, anywhere" argument, is that it could have applied to Ince, Kidd or any manager who had done not much wrong. It has to be a judgement on whether he can take you to where you want to be and where you think you should be. Just as Walker made the judgement when he sacked McKay.

The arguments about Bowyer having to stay because no one else would come here are the most defeatist I've ever heard. If our owners ever think that way, we're heading to the first division.

I would agree that is a poor argument for keeping Gary den. However, some of us, a minority perhaps, actually believe that in the long run he will do a good job for the club.

[yoda]

I would agree that is a poor argument for keeping Gary den. However, some of us, a minority perhaps, actually believe that in the long run he will do a good job for the club.

Can't see any evidence to support that view, the team is not good enough, the team is not fit enough, the manager is not good enough and the owners!

well what can you say!

[booth]

Did you not realise just how far we had fallen until today? I thought that was obvious the day we were relegated with the owners ditching anyone who was decent.

Obviously I did but every season it gets worse and you're left with the worry of where it might end. We haven't actually hit rock bottom yet. The amount of people who can't see this any of this is unbelievable.

The only difference is the owners and Shaw are keeping their gobs shut, we've got a nice guy as manager and the leagues a poor one.

Let's hope it's a crap league next season, Bowyer stops making silly mistakes and the owners show some interest in doing the right thing next season.

Personally I don't think that's ever going to happen.

[dr_awol]

I wonder if the people that wanted Allardyce out are the same that want Bowyer out ? I for one have had enough of sacking inept manager after manager.

For the first time in a long time rovers are making progress, I think that's down to Bowyer. hes had to make dramatic changes to the team for many reasons, kean players, reduce wages ect..,

The team much younger team now, so results are expected to be inconstant.

I don't feel hes fully built his own team yet, aka a team can fully implement Bowyer tactics and ideas. (yea defending 1-0 leads ).

The fact is we are progressing maybe not as fast as the impatient fan wants, but enough show next season we can progress for a real promotion fight.which is why i feel he should be given time to grow his team.

Maybe we should get in a manager that will bring high paid Journeymen ?

*im not saying things are rosy at Rovers.there is a long why to go. but they are a lot better than no so long ago.

[windymiller7]

For waht it's worth, I don't think Bowyer's doing a bad job, it's just that he's not doing a great job, everything is just ok, mediocre, average!

Pointless getting shut now, no manager coming in would have any time to change things to his way.

If I was to plump for someone right now I'd go for Malky Mackay, pending how things stack up with his compo from Cardiff.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Pointless getting shut now, no manager coming in would have any time to change things to his way.

Its not for this season -its for next ( this season is over now is unless you belong to the deluded that thinks we are going to make and win the playoffs)

The realisation of it all all depends on whether people see GB as the man to take us further or not - now is exactly the time to get another manager in if they are thinking otherwise so as to enable a-n-other the chance to take stock of what he has and what chance he has of making change before the end of season break and the WC interruption.

The question has to be - has what GB has done thus far been enough under the circumstances and can he now start to learn from his mistakes and build towards next season, or.. is it a case of thankyou very much and install some other erstwhile.

I am not nor will be a lover of keep sacking managers- but as I have stated before I didn't want him in the first place and not convinced yet he is the manage to take us forward - but given there are obvious signs of improvement on the pitch he has to be given at least this/next season to to have a good crack ( and how we fare) before judgement should be taken on his position imo.

[Rover_Shaun]

Can't see any evidence to support that view, the team is not good enough, the team is not fit enough, the manager is not good enough and the owners!

well what can you say!

*Lets see if this get's past the pre-moderation I seem to be in for no apparrent reason, well one that has never been explained to me*

Once again the table backs up the fact that nothing has changed both results wise and in the quality of players, selection and tactics

Last season

10th P33 W11 D12 L10 F42 A40 Pts45 GD+2

This Season

10th P33 W12 D10 L11 F39 A41 Pts46 GD-2

[FourLaneBlue]

I don't think anyone could deny he needs some experienced backroom staff, and fast...

[Mike E]

I don't think anyone could deny he needs some experienced backroom staff, and fast...

I would. He needs to be the 'experienced backroom staff' to an experienced manager.

[FourLaneBlue]

I would. He needs to be the 'experienced backroom staff' to an experienced manager.

That doesn't negate what I said. If he is the manager, he still needs experienced staff, regardless of whether or not he should be manager.

For me, I'd tell him to be Assistant to an actual manager. Build experience that way.

[Mike E]

That doesn't negate what I said. If he is the manager, he still needs experienced staff, regardless of whether or not he should be manager.

For me, I'd tell him to be Assistant to an actual manager. Build experience that way.

Indeed I'd certainly prefer the latter scenario. Likelihood is any new manager would want his own staff and Bowyer can go back to the reserves.

[FourLaneBlue]

I wonder if the people that wanted Allardyce out are the same that want Bowyer out ? I for one have had enough of sacking inept manager after manager.

Nope. Allardyce was experienced, knew his best team and generally got his players to rise up for the games that he targetted as winnable. It wasn't always pretty, or fun, but he turned us around from relegation certainties to mid-table, and on a negative transfer budget. Allardyce wasn't inept, that's the point. Those wanting neither Allardyce or Bowyer out are not acting with any logical consistency. They simply are totally different cases. Therefore, they want stability for stability's sake, rather than because of the managers having the same qualities. It's a valid point to have, to be fair, but equating the Allardyce and Bowyer cases doesn't really work.

I don't particularly want Bowyer out of the club, but he's not got the experience to be the manager yet. A revamped managerial setup with an actual manager in would make more sense. Still, who's every had sense from Venkys?

[blondie]

Everything Bowyer has done correctly,is as a D of F role,having lived through the kean era and seen everything first hand.As a football manager he lacks the experience and whether he is a nice chap who has steadied the ship, is of little consequence , we need more.

[Jimmy612]

Tricky situation. As I was walking up Livesey Branch Rd yesterday afternoon (in a fairly 'numb' state of mind) I did say that I thought it might just be time to thank Bowyer and ask that he kindly takes a step into nurturing the youngsters for the future. Would he accept that? Probably not. It would be a shame to lose him completely from BRFC - he's been an excellent servant and is one of the good guys.

Then I started to analyse the situation. Thinking about the job that he has undertaken in the past 12 months. There is no doubt that when he was given the job, Blackburn Rovers was heading one way; a second successive relegation. The atmosphere was poisonous, the squad feeble and riddled with underhand chancers picking up a wage for nothing.

Now I see a squad of young, talented footballers. Cairney, Marshall, Evans, Gestede, Conway, Keane... even Taylor, Kilgallon and Spurr are decent championship players who don't let you down. There is an attitude change and I do honestly believe that the players are enjoying representing Blackburn Rovers. Throughout a season of lousy goalkeeping, individual errors, and yes, the odd poor poor performance, we still find ourselves a good run away from sneaking into the play-offs. Something that in August I would have accepted willingly. Just like the playing staff, Bowyer is raw and yes he does make mistakes, and yes he can be infuriating, but I do believe that those that have been critical to the point of abuse need to take a little perspective and recognise the improvements from last year.

I hear a lot of 'we're two points better off than last season'. Perhaps we are, but the difference now is that GB has built a foundation of very good footballers, with a passion, energy and desire to play for BRFC.... a foundation that I feel can mould into a very capable outfit in this division.

The looming possibility of administration weighs heavy in the back of my mind. Is this season really kean or bust? Or can we look toward next season, once these young players have had a season (or half) together. A full summer and pre-season to prepare and focus as one unit to push on next season.

Yesterday was one of the lowest moments of my time as a Rovers fan. But I do still believe that with two or three further additions (a right back, CB and striker), and a squad that God willing stays fit for a decent length of time, we might just push on next season.

Whether Bowyer can progress within his role... who knows? But personally I am prepared to give him next season too - providing of course that administration or th'Indians doing a runner doesn't interrupt our progress.

[JAL]

Why are there so many players injured ?