dunsbyowl Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Sheffield Wednesday have sacked head coach Stuart Gray after 18 months in charge. Wednesday finished 13th in the Championship last season, 18 points off the play-off spots and 19 clear of the relegation zone. Gray's final game in charge was a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road which denied Watford the Championship title. He was appointed head coach in January 2014 after taking over on a caretaker basis when Dave Jones was sacked. In a statement, club chairman Dejphon Chansiri said: "This is not a decision I have taken lightly but one that I believe is in the best interests of our club ahead of the 2015-16 season. "The club will be taking a new direction next season and it is my belief that the appointment of a new head coach will help achieve my desire of bringing Premier League football back to Hillsborough. "I would like to thank Stuart for his hard work and diligence on behalf of Sheffield Wednesday and wish him all the very best moving forward." Gray becomes the fourth Championship manager to leave his job after the end of the season, following the departures of Brentford's Mark Warburton, Leeds' Neil Redfearn and Derby's Steve McClaren. Meanwhile, coach John Deehan, who was brought to Hillsborough by Gray in 2014, has also left the club. That went well :-) Could Gray have done the job given the resorces that were handed to Carlos? Discuss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARMYARMY2010 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 There's no definitive "yes" or "no" he could/wouldn't have, hindsight says maybe before going "foreign" he deserved a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OWLS about that? Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 To be fair for two seasons it nearly paid off. If I'm honest I think SG would have done a decent job given the resources offered Carlos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markowl Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 The fact that he's never been offered a manager's job in the 4 years since this happened, makes me think the answer is probably no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradowl Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Did ok under budget he had but some of football was dull, not as dull as under Jos but dull. I think he knew we hadn't a great team so just wanted to make sure we picked up enough points up to stay away from relegation area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatter Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 36 minutes ago, markowl said: The fact that he's never been offered a manager's job in the 4 years since this happened, makes me think the answer is probably no. Could just be he prefers being a coach and hasn’t applied for any manager’s jobs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanzaroteowl Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 He was always just a stop gap manager. Whilst we were trying to stay up with no money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markowl Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 3 hours ago, Blatter said: Could just be he prefers being a coach and hasn’t applied for any manager’s jobs. Which probably reinforces my point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areNOTwhatTHEYseem Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 I rated Stuart Gray and thought he did a very good job with limited resources. When he briefly had a top-notch forward in Connor Wickham, we looked a decent team. I'd have liked to have seen what he could have achieved if given some proper backing, but it wasn't to be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beighton Owl 87 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 The majority of the team that got us to Wembley the following season was put together by Gray. We will never know what he would have acheived but I reckon we would have been up there challenging for promotion with Gray in charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseyowl Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 I think more to the point, the club should have realised the real driving force of our time under the Portuguese was the potential of Bruno Lage, should have let Carlos move on,clearly wanted to, and give the now Benfica manager the opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsheri Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 “As such Barmy Army” 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoop Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 In 2014/15 he had attacking options that included Maghoma, Madine, May, Bus, Keane, Nuhiu and Maguire. Plus he had to send his team out to play on sand every other week. Imo Gray did a good job here. He spent next to nothing and left a really solid squad behind, some of which we still depend on now 4 years later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibKev Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Brought in Westwood... Best signing in years... Guy deserves a lot of credit for doing a job that had no decent players, no money and a bad pitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asteener1867 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Trouble with some of our managers its often been about "desire" as much as budget.....Jones lost interest...Carvalhal became the new Jones..Gray was similar, Irvine had the badges but did nowt but talk up the opposition.. Shreeves, jewell, Laws, Jos? all halfway capable but ordinary It was reflected in all their teams in the end.... I forget which season it was under Gray when we had a chance of actually going for it with a fair few games left,,,,and we just faded all that being said...DC never gave him a chance, all the whitter about The wednesday family etc....obviously "the family" started post Gray..Cos he hung on to Carlos and Jos far too long 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 biggest memory of gray was ballsing up that game against Charlton to meet pigs in 1/4 finals of Fa cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRedanator Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Not a bad word to say about Gray, did what was needed at a time where we had a poor squad and kept us up and then was unfairly shunted out for Carlos once we'd got some money. Who knows, Gray having a better knowledge of the English game than Carlos, we could have got promoted under his watch. Although it would have required a total change in tactics and philosophy from having more attacking options at his disposal. Would like to have seen him given at least half a season in hindsight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthefish2002 Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Once we had a bit of money to spend I think the crowd would have been very impatient with Gary and be wanting someone more glamorous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 The one thing I would say about Gray he was a great coach, he bought cheap and developed players, had he stayed he would have made the lads he signed into better players. We would have a match fit, well drilled team and would not be having to sell the ground to pay the debts. He got good loans in and we forget Westwood, lees, hutch, lee, loovens, all Gray signing that cost the grand sum of 0 pounds. we probably would not had got to Wembley, the first year but he would had built year on year improving the team and the infrastructure of the whole club. Youngsters coming through would have developed into first team players and now we would have been knocking on the door if not already promoted.an but we will never know except the team Gray left us for got promoted last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChinaOwl Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 I have always thought the biggest factor was the timing of Chansiri taking over the club. If he had bought the club just before the decision to sell Antonio was made, the course of history could have been very different. With Chansiri's money, the club could have made a better fist of keeping Antonio (or at least forced a sale at a considerably higher price). It would also have been possible back then to sign Wickham for possibly around £4 million. It would have been far easier to build a promotion winning side a year or two earlier than Chansiri took over. Of course, that is all water under the bridge now and we will never know. But it is one of those things that is interesting to surmise and think what if? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now