Useless Eustace?

[Sutton blue]

Hi all.

Birmingham fan here - I come in peace 🙂.

When Eustace first joined you I saw the the reception on here was somewhat lukewarm, and despite his success with us and the fact that we Blues fans were so gutted he'd been sacked, I can sort of understand why you didn't get that excited about the appointment.

So I'm genuinely interested to see what you all think of him now. I presume you're quite pleased with the results and being up there near the top of the table.  I don't have Sky Tv so I've no idea how you're playing but I presume he's got your team well organised and disciplined. Is your football entertaining, boring, or perhaps a mixture of both? Ours was quite mixed but generally our games were entertaining enough to enjoy.

We were lukewarm when he first arrived too, but in the end he was well liked at Birmingham, our fans in the main thought he was doing a great job, and were so annoyed when he was sacked. It was around this time of year and in a similar position to where you are.

Little did we know what a disaster the rest of the season would become!

Good luck for the rest of the season  👍

[KentExile]

I think he has followed a very similar trajectory here (hopefully without a sacking around the corner due to clueless ownership, which with our lot is still possible),

His popularity has certainly been helped by results,  Even if he is a safety first coach, he seems to know in which games/situations his team should keep it tight, when they should be a little more adventurous, and in patches his teams are capable of some very nice football.

I liked JDT, when his brand of football worked, it really was a pleasure to watch, but with Rovers financial limitations, it wasn't the most economical way of picking up points.

There is an old story about not building houses on sand that might as well be Eustace's motto. 

Edited December 18, 2024 by KentExile

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

He’s doing a great job. He had to deal with the JDT fan boys at first but I think he’s won most of them over.

[RevidgeBlue]

I think a lot of people will be embarrassed by their contributions on Eustace when he first arrived. There was some sort of ancient newspaper cartoon "Useless Eustace" which was reproduced on here and he was perceived rightly or wrongly as the appointment of our very unpopular CEO Steve Waggott and someone who'd been brought in to be a "yes man" and who wouldn't rock the boat unlike his predecessor.

Last season, whilst it was far from pretty,  he kept us up on the final day which was the job he'd been brought in to do, and so far this season I think it's fair to say he's confounded everyone with his results out of a pretty poor squad.

The only note of caution I would sound is that the way we play I think there's a very fine line between nicking games 1-0, or drawing them,or losing by the same scoreline. I think it's possible results might tail off (more down to the quality of the squad than anything to do with Eustace) and his popularity will probably wane again.

So far though, together with his body of  work at your Club he seems to have a certain indefinable something which wins football matches. Whilst we're going well I'm terrified a rival might come in and try and poach him as I don't suppose our useless owners or management will lift much of a finger to prevent it if it does happen.

[RevidgeBlue]

23 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He’s doing a great job. He had to deal with the JDT fan boys at first but I think he’s won most of them over.

Didn't he just.

[joey_big_nose]

He's doing really well, and while we have been very defensively solid we haven't been boring to watch in any way. We pass the ball well, have a lot of energy, counter attack nicely, got a lot of variation to our play. A lot of 1-0 wins but they've been more entertaining than the score lines suggest.  Most players from the GK, defence, midfield look to have significantly improved in his system also, I guess through the confidence and support the solid foundations provide.

A bit early to judge but he could be the best manager we have had since dropping from the Premier League. He's the first one in thirteen years to implement a truly effective defence.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Best manager we have had, since the remorseful day, when bastard Venky's showed up imo.

He is great man manager and an absolute master at setting up his teams.

And, yes, I am worried about another club making him an irresistible offer...

[Rogerb]

16 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

He's the first one in thirteen years to implement a truly effective defence.

Personally thought Paul Lambert was working on that in the limited time he was here.

[J*B]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He’s doing a great job. He had to deal with the JDT fan boys at first but I think he’s won most of them over.

I was convinced we’d let a hugely ambitious and positive football manager leave and replaced him with a small budget Big Sam. How wrong I was!

[Forever Blue]

He’s created an incredibly well drilled defensive unit out of a team that was leaking goals at an alarming rate under the previous manager, and that contains Defenders and a GK that most on here thought were shit. 
 

He’s reinvigorated our previously unfancied captain into the marauding CM that he was when he burst onto the scene, and developed his midfield partner from Norway into one of the best players in the Championship. 
 

Cantwell has been brought in and he’s getting performances and endeavour out of him. 
 

He’s eking the best out of some limited attackers. 
 

We’re winning games and keeping clean sheets. We’re massively overachieving.

You could say he’s doing ok!  

He’s the perfect manager for us considering our financial predicament and dickhead owners. 
 

Now if you could just let us have Jay Stansfield on loan we could have a real chance of staying in the top 6!

[simongarnerisgod]

have to admit,i thought he was hopeless at first,plymouth at home with the high line and a few other tactical faux pa`s over the rest of the season

he`s really sorted out the squad this season,got them all fighting for points and for the first time in years,developed a cohesive defensive unit,can`t fault him tbh,he`s destined for bigger things i think,with our owners,there is only so much he can do

[Andy]

His record last season, as well as our general performances were very valid reasons to be critical.
We did not win a single home game under him in the entire time he was here last season, despite playing several teams around/below us.
I will caveat that with some very impressive away wins at Leeds and Leicester.

However.
This season has been an unmitigated success, to date.
Early performances weren't the best, yet we still picked up some decent wins.

Then following a little run of defeats, we've gone on this 6-game winning streak - and we have shown a bit of everything. Grit to grind out wins in dull games, flowing football leading some great team goals and we look a greater sum of our parts than we ever did under JDT (or TM).

My gut feeling says that he's trying to leverage this wave of success by trying to find another job, either closer to his home, or in the Prem. 
But either way, this season I feel that he's answered a lot of questions some fans had about him.

I think he's doing an excellent job right now.

[chaddyrovers]

Eustace has shown why he is good coach and very good man manager. He and his staff have well organised and well drilled the team tactical and you see that every game. 

The fan based really like him and the bond between him, the players and the fans is great to see

[BlackburnEnd75]

Personally I think criticism of him last season was at times justified. He took over with us about 6 points clear of the drop and then didn't win any of his first 11 games in charges. It was only 2 wins away from home in the last 3 games at Leeds and Leicester that got us home and they were the definition of backs to the wall nick a goal wins. We massively struggled against teams around us at home and going forward we looked very much pump it long and hope szmodics can find a goal (which he did enough to keep us up).

That's not to say he didn't have to deal with massive massive problems and deal with a team and a club heading in one direction. The squad was lacking any depth at all, we'd sold our best player in adam wharton who our whole style of play under jdt flowed. We also were haemorraging goals.

However he did keep us last season, so job done but with big question marks. Some of his approach from last season has really paid dividends in this. The switch to 4-2-3-1, the building of a solid base, the pragmatic approach. The players appeared to warm to him quickly and work for him.

He got handed a fairly bad hand in the summer too. Szmodics gone, little of it reinvested in terms of transfer fees. When the transfers came, they came very late in the day and still the squad lacked a certain firepower.

What he's done this season has been incredibly impressive with the hand he's been dealt. He's integrated the new signings well along with the reintegration of former captain lewis Travis. With Travis he's given the team a proper captain back and is getting the best out of him. We're a hard working, very well organised side that often lacks a touch of firepower. But we've reintroduced some of the build up and passing we saw when things went well under jdt. Some of the goals we've scored this season have been extremely well crafted. This difference is we pick our moments and aren't fundamentalist about playing out from the back resulting in a mixed style. Put simply he's good at finding different ways to win, largely based on a solid defensive structure. 

Bar back to back away defeats away at Coventry and Plymouth it's hard to fault him this season and he's quickly becoming our best manager post relegation from the prem in 2012.

[47er]

Travis arguably our player of the season. Forcing him out last season to save his wage looks an abominable decision from so many angles.

Thank goodness he's got guts and has chosen to show his real value rather than throwing his toys out of the pram.

His dignified response is in stark contrast to the behaviour of those who made the club a laughing stock last season.

I really thought we were doomed this year and can hardy believe how its been turned around, but Travis can be proud of his role in it.

[Ossydave]

Your team sacked him at the start of October, we're in the middle of December now, its not that similar. The position he has us in is a lot more impressive. Must be at least 10 games further in.

[Sutton blue]

 

Thanks all for the great and detailed responses. I love to see in depth how other clubs (outside the boring Premier League) are doing, and particularly so with you lot because I really like Eustace and what he achieved with us and then the appalling way he was treated.

 We all obviously passionately love our own teams, and loathe certain others, but we all share the same passion for this wonderful game of football, especially when we’re doing well.

 With you he’s done exactly what he did here, i.e firstly making you hard to beat and organised, then building on that with some decent football. Add in some tremendous workrate and team spirit and you get the winning formula.

 But just like we are, you’re always fearful that this won’t last, particularly as it was unexpected, and you’re fearful it's going to go pear shaped and your hopes dashed. It’s in the DNA of fans of teams such as yours and ours I think.

 This is what happened to us last season, except it wasn’t a dip in form, it was losing Eustace when doing well in 6^th place, and the chaotic downward spiral and laughing stock of a mess that followed and resulted in relegation.

 We may be riding high at the moment after our obscenely massive transfer dealings, but most Blues fans including me, are still fearful that it may all go wrong.

 The irony last season was that we were so relieved to finally getting rid of sh*t owners after years of struggle and turmoil, yet it was the new owners who made this crazy decision. Thankfully other than that they’ve been brilliant.

 Hopefully you will soon be rid of the Venky’s. I know your situation is a bit different, but we really were in despair and couldn’t see any way that we’d be able to get rid of ours, then out of the blue they announced they were selling. So there may be hope for you yet.

 Anyway, thanks again for sharing your thoughts, it’s been really interesting. Who knows what the rest of the season holds, and we of course will never know how Eustace would have fared had he stayed with us, except that we definitely wouldn’t have gone down. The same as you don't know either, but I really hope that he gets you into the play-offs, and who knows, promotion even?

Best of luck .

[Sutton blue]

1 minute ago, Ossydave said:

Your team sacked him at the start of October, we're in the middle of December now, its not that similar. The position he has us in is a lot more impressive. Must be at least 10 games further in.

Very true. I'd forgotten it was that early in the season.

[47er]

6 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

A lot of 1-0 wins but they've been more entertaining than the score lines suggest.  

A lot of those wins should have been greater than 1-0----we just miss too many good chances. So, yes, those games were more entertaining than the score line suggests.

Just highlights again the need for a more competent striker or two.

[...]

5 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

have to admit,i thought he was hopeless at first,plymouth at home with the high line and a few other tactical faux pa`s over the rest of the season

he`s really sorted out the squad this season,got them all fighting for points and for the first time in years,developed a cohesive defensive unit,can`t fault him tbh,he`s destined for bigger things i think,with our owners,there is only so much he can do

You can tell they all want to play and they're all stepping up in training fighting for a starting place it's evident

[RevidgeBlue]

11 hours ago, Andy said:

His record last season, as well as our general performances were very valid reasons to be critical.

No it wasn't.

I had a look back through the John Eustace thread and you were one of many who were particularly critical of him with no real justification. Perhaps that's your self defence mechanism kicking in trying to justify the unwarranted criticism.

From our unusually lofty position now it's easy to forget what a mess we were in when Eustace took over. At that point we were conceding 2-3 goals a game had just sold Adam Wharton, and his replacement was a crock who lasted 15 mins.

We were also struggling badly after the crazy decision to let Travis go out on loan and we can see what a massive difference he's made this season.

Eustace had one job to do last season, keep us up, and he did it. End of story. We'll have to see where we finish at the end of the season but so far he appears to be replicating his performance at Birmingham and proving himself to be a very good coach.

[London blue]

Yeah, it was.

Just as the praise this season is justified and free-flowing, the criticism last year was fully justified. The context of the club he joined notwithstanding, some of the performances against teams around us were very, very poor. 

You can't have it both ways.

[BRFC4EVA]

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

No it wasn't.

I had a look back through the John Eustace thread and you were one of many who were particularly critical of him with no real justification. Perhaps that's your self defence mechanism kicking in trying to justify the unwarranted criticism.

From our unusually lofty position now it's easy to forget what a mess we were in when Eustace took over. At that point we were conceding 2-3 goals a game had just sold Adam Wharton, and his replacement was a crock who lasted 15 mins.

We were also struggling badly after the crazy decision to let Travis go out on loan and we can see what a massive difference he's made this season.

Eustace had one job to do last season, keep us up, and he did it. End of story. We'll have to see where we finish at the end of the season but so far he appears to be replicating his performance at Birmingham and proving himself to be a very good coach.

Complete rubbish.

His critism was fully justified last season and it was only good fortune and SS that kept us in the division. 

Now this season, he has been an utter revelation. He is doing an incredible job, so much so I would say he is doing the best job currently out of all 4 divisions. I and many others have been completely proved wrong.

However, let's not go re writing history.

Edited December 19, 2024 by BRFC4EVA

[arbitro]

Managers will always be criticised when things aren't going well (see Guardiola) and whilst Eustace ultimately succeeded in what he was brought in to do he made mistakes. But there absolutely was no dissent towards him at any game. I love it how some posters take the moral high ground by looking back at old posts and latching onto them to try and discredit others.

[K-Hod]

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

No it wasn't.

I had a look back through the John Eustace thread and you were one of many who were particularly critical of him with no real justification. Perhaps that's your self defence mechanism kicking in trying to justify the unwarranted criticism.

From our unusually lofty position now it's easy to forget what a mess we were in when Eustace took over. At that point we were conceding 2-3 goals a game had just sold Adam Wharton, and his replacement was a crock who lasted 15 mins.

We were also struggling badly after the crazy decision to let Travis go out on loan and we can see what a massive difference he's made this season.

Eustace had one job to do last season, keep us up, and he did it. End of story. We'll have to see where we finish at the end of the season but so far he appears to be replicating his performance at Birmingham and proving himself to be a very good coach.

Sondre Tronstadt has entered the chat.