laws' legacy

[M Royds]

i think what happened, was Laws bumbled his way through a couple of years and we gradually accumulated bad players, which slowly but surely crept into our performances and over time we just gradually got worse and worse, before he got found out and we sacked him.

You've been reading all of this thread! Edited March 2, 2010 by M Royds

[Brownlad]

You've been reading all of this thread!

I've actually read every rumbleing post

my brain hurts

[mark77]

i think what happened, was Laws bumbled his way through a couple of years and we gradually accumulated bad players, which slowly but surely crept into our performances and over time we just gradually got worse and worse, before he got found out and we sacked him.

So in other words Sturrock left him a very good squad but over time Laws broke that apart (with some help from the board!!) and gradually his poor signing's moulded into the squad we have now.

Look at the quality he had when he started, Brunt, Whelan, MacLean, Tudgay, Bougherra etc etc

Look at us now, is it surprising where we are? Not Really.

Laws was a poor judge of player and made many poor signings. He paid a quarter of a million for Leon Clarke. Argument over.

[DJMortimer]

He paid a quarter of a million for Leon Clarke. Argument over.

[mark77]

So, for example, Potter who was being described on Owlstalk after the 4-0 Sflaphorpe game as the 'new Sheridan' by some suddenly took stock of themselves and brought themselves down to a more appropriate level of performance?

The decline this season was not gradual, it was more like Tangoman falling off a barstool!

I think its as simple as once teams found out how to stop Potter influencing the game (probably from Forest onwards at home) he hasnt been the same player and neither have the team as a whole. Laws never adapted our style once teams found out how easy it was to stop us playing.

Look at the difference between the first few games, how we stroked the ball around and made time for ourselves on the ball. Forest came to Hillsborough, closed us down, frustrated us, time wasted and it worked. Other teams use that and it works to a tee because we dont adapt, we just resort to knocking it long and hoping we get something off the second ball.

[M Royds]

Laws was a poor judge of player and made many poor signings. He paid a quarter of a million for Leon Clarke. Argument over.

And £750,000 for Jeffers, but Laws was forced to buy him! Argument over.

[Bluesteel]

Laws did do a steady job whilst he was here, and it seemed like we were on the cusp of progression under him last season as we had a generally hard working bunch that just needed the extra additions.

Then it went wrong.

Then when it did go wrong and it is pointed out how many we actually won in the last few months of last season and the start of this it was quite shocking. I think Laws did a great job of saying the right things and I actually really liked him, I even felt sorry for him on his last interview despite being utterly disgusted with the performance.