York_Owl

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We hardly ever win when he doesn’t play.

Blue and White Wizards. You’ll like the bit where Trevor Francis asks Nigel Pearson what the players think of him.

We’ve got to move away from signing back up players. If the player is deemed not good enough to improve the first xi then we should move on to someone that can.

I wonder how Big Ron would have handled this. My guess is that if the offer was a good one (which it was) and the player wanted to go he would have sanctioned the move.

We had one, Pearson, but Francis sold him for next to nothing.

If i have answered my own question the answer wasn't Jemson. Dean Saunders more like:) Re Warhust, Francis initially brought him in as a centre back as we only had three and were looking to strengthen that position. Wrong choice for me (as a centre back) but, regardless of that, once he was converted into a striker we should have signed a centre back as we were back to only having three and injuries would leave us short in that position. It came back to bite us in the Finals.

Agree Woods was a good shot stopper and also at one v ones; it was just that physical side, dominating in the air at crosses / corners where he came up short. We shouldn't have been spending 800k on stop gap players (Jemson) and also where was the strategy, the planning for what if one of Hirsty or Williams gets injured? For me that is one area where we should have spent most of our budget ahead of the season. I'm in no way saying Warhusr wasn't a good signing. I thought Warhusr was a great player; that period when he played up front was just brilliant to watch. He really should have been first choice striker going into the cup finals tho that is possibly with the benefit of hindsight as Hirsty was always going to be the number one for me. I think we could have attracted a top drawer manager in 91; we had done so before as a third diviosn team when Big Jack joined and again we were in a bit of a mess when Big Ron joined albeit as a first division side.Didn't we enquire about Dalglish but he wouldn't come to Hillsborough? So I don't think Francis was first choice.

Fine margins isn't it. That Bright chance, the Woods howler. I do hold Francis to account for not winning another trophy with the side he inherited. As I mentioned before you look at the best part of 3m he spent on Woods, Jemson and Warhurst in that 91-92 season and I do believe it could have been spent more wisely. In fact he recognised we needed a centre back in 91 and signed Warhurst for that purpose but then moved him up front (briliant move) but in terms of the centre back position it came back to bite us in the FA Cup finals when Pearson, Shirtliff and Anderson were injured.

just checked they won the league cup in 94 under Big Ron; I was sure they did win it under him!

I didn't think Warhust did play that well as a defender. Looked great carrying the ballout of defence (Leeds away 1-1, 91-92) but defensively made quite a lot of mistakes, rash challenges (e.g. pigs away), gave penalties away (e.g. Notts County), switched off at times (e.g. back pass v Man U at home). We did need a centre back but I think we could have got better (Jobson and Earl Barrett were first choice at Oldham ahead of Warhurst). I actually think Earl Barrett would have been a good signing (in 91 not 98 when we did eventually sign him)! I didn't mention Waddle as he brought him in the following season 92-93.

got that one wrong then:)

He also won the league cup in 96 five years after he first took over. The last trophy they have won not unlike us.

Imagine if we'd have signed him to partner Hirst for that 91-92 season.

Big Ron had put together the side that would enable us to compete in the top flight for the next few seasons. We'd just beaten Man Utd in the Cup Final who went on to beat Barcelona in the Cup Winners Cup. We were a quality side already! In the 91-92 season Francis spent 2 million on Woods and Jemson who didn't really improve the xi or, at least that 2 million could have been spent on other players who could have made a significant difference. Even the signing of Warhust (750K) was as a centre back in that 91-92 season and I would argue, that despite being a great footballer, his inclusion at centre back, if anything, actually weakened the team. I thought Pearson and Shirtliff was a better combination and even one of Anderson or Palmer if there were injuries etc. So that's the best part of 3 million spent without significantly improving the team. We had a great opportunity to win more trophies post Big Ron, possibly even a league title and, whilst Francis came very close in 93 we ultimately ended up with nothing. And I do think that with a better managerial choice at the time we would have ended up with more than just that League Cup that Big Ron won.

Francis asked Pearson what the players thought of him. HIs response wasn't favourable!

You have to set that relegation into context. There’s a recent thread on the 87-88 squad under Wilkinson in which you can see the players that we were bringing in were either on the cheap or free and not up to standard (West, Galvin, Owen, Greg Fee etc.). Due to this lack of investment the team started to decline and led to Wilkinson resigning. We then had a disastrous spell under Eustace before Big Ron came in during the 88-89 season and somehow kept us up. No mean feat. Yes, we went down the following season but you could see that team needed a major rebuild. It started to happen once we signed Nilsson, Sheridan and King mid way thru that 89-90 season along with Palmer, Shirtliff and Dalian Atkinson who he had signed earlier. That’s over half a team. We were starting to look like a very good side but a bad run at the end of the season coupled with a really poor start to the season and we were down. But anyone who was watching at the time could see we now had a very good side. This was proven the following season with promotion but also the cup win. Our only trophy since 1935. We beat a number of first division sides on the way and deservedly so. And then Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd in the final who was putting together one of the best sides in the country but we were the better team on the day. This promotion winning, cup winning side was the team that Francis inherited not a relegated side.

I think it was more a case of the lack of investment in the squad that was starting to bite. The players we brought in around the time cost next to nothing and in most cases did not improve the xi (E.g, the likes of Colin West, Tony Galvin, Gary Owen, Greg Fee, Steve McCall And Mark Proctor).

Yep. Pearson, Shirtliff, Smith and Madden would have been four good centre backs to choose from and would have covered us for the next few years.

Strange that we let Smith and Shirtliff go when we only had Greg Fee as back up and then signed Cranson and Larry May!

So in Jan 92 we weren’t looking for a striker and that was one of the reasons we didn’t sign Cantona. Yet a few months later we signed Bright and were looking to sign Shearer For £3m. Some revisionist history there I think.

They never had the injuries Hirst had nor were they strikers who’s game was based on explosive pace and power.

It probably says more about the lack of leaders in our squad than it does about Lees as a captain.

I’d keep Penney as well

I was in the leppings lane seats for my first ever match as an eight year old. We couldn’t get in the north or south stands as they were full.