Trevor Francis opens up on being sacked by Wednesday

[Dutch McLovin]

13 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

That's definitely missing the point

We should have been pushing on to the top 5 not dropping to 13th and replacing quality with dross

Trevor Francis managing our first team was the equivalent of buying a porsche then driving it at 12 mph straight into a brick wall

 

Whilst I agree with this point was this down to Francis ??

 

Look at his early signings in the role, Walker Waddle even tho it didnt work out Ingesson - these were all top quality players. Why would he got from signing these players to the likes of Atherton ? He wanted to sign Shearer but the board wouldnt back him. Wouldnt surprise me if that was the case the longer he was there.

 

That said he broke up our quality side far too quickly they had longer left in them at the top level, and I do agree both cup finals and a 3rd place finsish are not to be sniffed at but that side was quality, the 7th place finshes should have been top 3. 

 

Did he start the decline, yes. Was it totally his fault, who knows. But look what happened after him, that was where the SERIOUS decline started appointing Pleat was shocking then the whole Ron debarcle again has cost us for another 20+ years. 

[Lincs Owl]

On 19/05/2020 at 13:59, @owlstalk said:

 

Pleat inherited Francis complete MESS instead of inheriting a class, winning squad like Francis did from Big Ron

Francis inherited a team which only managed 3rd place in the 2nd Division.

Atkinson took us down in his one full season in the top flight with us.  

 

But rewrite history if you must.  

[Lincs Owl]

On 19/05/2020 at 13:59, @owlstalk said:

Owen Morrison would be a club legend if he'd scored 50 goals a season during his time here.

See how that kind of logic works?

Completely false analogy.

The poster said TF would have been a legend if he'd pulled off a league or Cup Final win, of which he came close 3 times.  (LGE, FACF, FLCF).

 

Owen Morrison was never remotely close to scoring 50 goals a season during his time here, so the argument is ridiculous.  

[ZicoSterland2]

20 minutes ago, Lincs Owl said:

Completely false analogy.

The poster said TF would have been a legend if he'd pulled off a league or Cup Final win, of which he came close 3 times.  (LGE, FACF, FLCF).

 

Owen Morrison was never remotely close to scoring 50 goals a season during his time here, so the argument is ridiculous.  

Owen Morrison would have been lucky score 50 in his career never mind in a season.

[Eightace]

He attracted some good players to the club.

Maybe he started getting a smaller budget? Can't understand why he was signing England players one season and very average players the next.

He had to go but overall i liked him.

[sheriwozgod]

On 20/05/2020 at 09:28, Ronnie Starling said:

Pleat signed some very good players. Degryse, Nicol, Stefanovic, Kovacevic, Blinker, Newsome, Carbone & Di Canio.

 

He also spaffed the best part of  £8M   from the charterhouse money on ,

 

Scott Oakes, Wayne Collins, Andy Booth, Matt Clarke, Jim Magilton, Orlando Trustful, Patrick Blondeau, David Billington, Mark McKeever, Mark Pembridge, Pettr Ruddi

[Inspector Lestrade]

On 19/05/2020 at 13:54, DJMortimer said:

 

As it is with Carvalhal, you cannot accept his tenure came as two halves and then pretend one of them didn't happen.

 

If we were Manchester United, then you might have the beginnings of a case. But we're a club who has amassed precisely one major trophy in 85 years, and for most of that time we haven't been anywhere near one. Francis put us right on the brink of being the best team in the country, bar none. Yes, he (and the board) made an arse of it in the end, but "regrets" !? Only that we came so close without adding to the honours board. Even if we'd maintained that kind of status for a while, the odds are that we'd have gone back to our historic level before too long. Even at that time, the debts were starting to mount and would have caught up to us in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

 

 

Go on DJ, keeping it real. 

[Inspector Lestrade]

On 20/05/2020 at 19:50, bradowl said:

Tbf I'm struggling to think of a player who slagged him off publicly. 

 

Even the Mole never revealed him sen in public. 

 

Good point that, can't say I have ever heard any ex player really laying in to him.   

[victorturner]

On 19/05/2020 at 13:50, Jim said:

It started to go downhill for Francis once he started signing the likes of Atherton, Nolan, Pearce and Coleman. Shocking players.

He was too keen to move on some of the mature players. Atherton was OK.  Pearce for Shirtliff was not a good idea and Warhurst as another centre back was mediocre. He was though sensational as a striker..a touch of inspiration from TF..and although he was mardy about the Cup Final selection at cb, he should have been retained instead of Bright and Hurst.
They were two strikers in decline , older and slower. Bright was already 30 when he arrived!

Yes TF was sacked too soon but behind the scenes there was possibly trouble from some of the players. We don’t know. 

[@owlstalk]

4 minutes ago, victorturner said:

 Yes TF was sacked too soon but behind the scenes there was possibly trouble from some of the players 

 

One short sentence

Two things completely wrong in it

 

 

[Jim]

1 minute ago, victorturner said:

He was too keen to move on some of the mature players. Atherton was OK.  Pearce for Shirtliff was not a good idea and Warhurst as another centre back was mediocre. He was though sensational as a striker..a touch of inspiration from TF..and although he was mardy about the Cup Final selection at cb, he should have been retained instead of Bright and Hurst.
They were two strikers in decline , older and slower. Bright was already 30 when he arrived!

Yes TF was sacked too soon but behind the scenes there was possibly trouble from some of the players. We don’t know. 

 

I think he did a better job than initially expected. He obviously had a decent platform from which to move the club on from.

 

I think things may have been different had we beaten Arsenal in one of the two cup finals. He therefore may not have broken the squad up as quickly as he did?

 

His signings post 93 were by and large poor. Maybe his signings may have been better had we continued to be successful. We may have attracted better players. The players we did attract were not as good as the players they were replacing and therefore the decline started and we’re still trying to recover almost 30 years on?

[sexpistol]

After the 93 cup final we signed Des Walker, one of this clubs best ever signings. He signed Sinton whom whilst not a big hit at Wednesday, it was a major coup at the time and the signing was well received.

[matthefish2002]

2 hours ago, Eightace said:

He attracted some good players to the club.

Maybe he started getting a smaller budget? Can't understand why he was signing England players one season and very average players the next.

He had to go but overall i liked him.

 

Think Francis kept getting a larger budget as did the next few managers after. The debt increased which sowed the seeds of 20 years out of the Premier league.

 

[Ronnie Starling]

5 hours ago, sheriwozgod said:

 

He also spaffed the best part of  £8M   from the charterhouse money on ,

 

Scott Oakes, Wayne Collins, Andy Booth, Matt Clarke, Jim Magilton, Orlando Trustful, Patrick Blondeau, David Billington, Mark McKeever, Mark Pembridge, Pettr Ruddi

Is he the only manager we've had that's signed players that didn't work out?

[sheriwozgod]

5 minutes ago, Ronnie Starling said:

Is he the only manager we've had that's signed players that didn't work out?

 

No far from it.......................but speaking personally he is the one i have disliked the most that is for sure,

[Ronnie Starling]

1 minute ago, sheriwozgod said:

 

No far from it.......................but speaking personally he is the one i have disliked the most that is for sure,

Did you dislike finishing 7th in the Premier League too?

[@owlstalk]

1 minute ago, Ronnie Starling said:

Did you dislike finishing 7th in the Premier League too?

 

 

"I bet you weren't saying that when we  had that day out at Wembley"

 

etc

[sheriwozgod]

No....but i did dislike him dismantling a squad full of quality , spending ALL the chareterhouse money and finishing up with a midfield 4 of Whittingham , Hyde, Humpreys and Atherton.

 

Or you could just accept i have a different opinion to you.............if you rated him , fine....I didnt , i thought he was a fraud.

[4evaowl]

3 hours ago, sexpistol said:

After the 93 cup final we signed Des Walker, one of this clubs best ever signings. He signed Sinton whom whilst not a big hit at Wednesday, it was a major coup at the time and the signing was well received.

Sinton turned down Arsenal to join us. 

[@owlstalk]

8 minutes ago, sheriwozgod said:

No....but i did dislike him dismantling a squad full of quality , spending ALL the chareterhouse money and finishing up with a midfield 4 of Whittingham , Hyde, Humpreys and Atherton.

 

Or you could just accept i have a different opinion to you.............if you rated him , fine....I didnt , i thought he was a fraud.

 

 

Big time