Trevor Francis opens up on being sacked by Wednesday

[Guest LondonOwl313]

45 minutes ago, @owlstalk said:

Then mis-managed the players, signed some absolute dross, started on a downhill journey, and got fired after we got BATTTTTERED by Nottingham Forest at home (remind me how many did they score? seven?) whilst our fans were screaming for his head throughout.

It has taken a whole generation to recover from the mess Francis caused

We still haven't recovered to anywhere near the same levels... think it's harsh to blame him though as we had 3 more managers and 5 more seasons before going down. I can't pin the demise down to any one individual, they all had parts to play. It usually comes down to money because we never seem able to compete for the best players... a part of that is that we never sell anyone for a good fee even back then. Kept Waddle, Sheridan, Hirst, Walker etc until they were finished or didn't command much of a fee... then let Carbone run down his contract and sold Di Canio on the cheap too. When you raise no funds to reinvest it's no wonder that the replacements are all cheap garbage. Much like what has happened post 2016 too

[@owlstalk]

4 minutes ago, LondonOwl313 said:

We still haven't recovered to anywhere near the same levels... think it's harsh to blame him though as we had 3 more managers and 5 more seasons before going down. I can't pin the demise down to any one individual, they all had parts to play. 

Ok let's narrow it down to the two people responsible

• Dave Richards
• Trevor Francis

 

 

[DJMortimer]

8 minutes ago, LondonOwl313 said:

We still haven't recovered to anywhere near the same levels... think it's harsh to blame him though as we had 3 more managers and 5 more seasons before going down. I can't pin the demise down to any one individual, they all had parts to play. It usually comes down to money because we never seem able to compete for the best players... a part of that is that we never sell anyone for a good fee even back then. Kept Waddle, Sheridan, Hirst, Walker etc until they were finished or didn't command much of a fee... then let Carbone run down his contract and sold Di Canio on the cheap too. When you raise no funds to reinvest it's no wonder that the replacements are all cheap garbage. Much like what has happened post 2016 too

 

I never understand how a series of complex events that snowballed over a long period of time like that can be distilled into, 'it was Pleat's fault' for example. But it happens all the time.

 

As demonstrated above.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by DJMortimer

[MAL]

17 minutes ago, rickygoo said:

I don't recall you implying something as direct as that. 

 

Not as directly as that no, but i kept trying with little innuendos, but you kept arguing against them  

 

Obviously the BIG innuendos work better  .

 

 

 

 

[Pastor Kidneys]

37 minutes ago, @owlstalk said:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Recover from what exactly?

The chairman is covering all finances currently isn't he?

 

You said 'God knows when we will actually recover from it'

 

So you tell me what you're on about?

[@owlstalk]

2 minutes ago, erowl said:

 

You said 'God knows when we will actually recover from it'

 

So you tell me what you're on about?

Sure.

Relegation from the Premier League with players on incredibly ridiculous contracts (some of whom got appearance bonuses even if they didn't appear, and most didn't include relegation clauses), and the subsequent financial repercussions of it, added to fans expectations that we should be a Premier League club still.

[Pastor Kidneys]

Just now, @owlstalk said:

Sure.

Relegation from the Premier League with players on incredibly ridiculous contracts (some of whom got appearance bonuses even if they didn't appear, and most didn't include relegation clauses), and the subsequent financial repercussions of it.

 

What's that got to do with TF?

You think Francis negotiated their contracts and paid them? 

[@owlstalk]

1 minute ago, erowl said:

 

What's that got to do with TF?

You think Francis negotiated their contracts and paid them? 

I'll leave you to it mate.

[DirtyLeedsOwl]

If any manager is at a club long enough they will have a mixed bag in terms of transfers and divide opinion amongst the fan base.

 

I think one of the main reasons our signings wern’t as good later on is that transfer fees really started to spike up and we just didn’t keep up with the teams that were our competitors and who normally finish in the top 8 to 10. Whether this was right or wrong I don’t know but I do get fed up of teams historically the same size (or smaller) than Wednesday somehow finding the money to spend on decent players.

[Guest]

Here we go with OP's agenda against Francis again 

[@owlstalk]

12 minutes ago, WelshOwl74 said:

Here we go with OP's agenda against Francis again 

 

How can I have an agenda when he no longer works here.

What's the agenda? To get him sacked AGAIN?

 

Instead of turning this personal feel free to debate the topic

[Finney on the Wing]

2 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

Then mis-managed the players, signed some absolute dross, started on a downhill journey, and got fired after we got BATTTTTERED by Nottingham Forest at home (remind me how many did they score? seven?) whilst our fans were screaming for his head throughout.

It has taken a whole generation to recover from the mess Francis caused

 

 

Funny how things seem to repeat themselves (the above is happening now), especially at our club

 

and I don't think we've ever fully recovered from that purple patch.

 

Again, we had a chairman who probably had good intentions, but wasn't up to the task.

 

Eventually, after brief forays into more promising spells, we always seem to come back down to earth.

 

Will it ever change?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sexpistol]

5 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

Wednesday made a fatal mistake when giving the managers job to Francis.

He was a Wednesday player, had an awful record in management, and didn't have the experience or skills to manage our club.

If we'd made the right decision at the time we could have been long time successes in the Premier League

Appointing Francis wasn't just a bad business decision, it was fatal for our ability to compete at the highest level.

God knows when we will actually recover from it

But we came 3rd and had two 7th place finishes, as well as 2 cup finals and a semi final. Hardly a disastrous appointment. It was due to Francis that we signed Waddle, who in his first season with us won player of the season. He also signed Bright, Walker, Bartman, Warhurst. Overall he was a success. Yes he had probably peaked but that’s the history of our club. We have a few good seasons then regress again.

[WadsleyOwl]

3 hours ago, Stoop said:

Should have gone for Dalglish before he went to Blackburn 

IIRC Dave Richards approached him and he said something along the lines of how could you expect me to work there after what happened.

 

We should have gone for Bobby Robson after Big Ron left or Venables after losing both cup finals. 

[sexpistol]

4 minutes ago, WadsleyOwl said:

IIRC Dave Richards approached him and he said something along the lines of how could you expect me to work there after what happened.

 

We should have gone for Bobby Robson after Big Ron left or Venables after losing both cup finals. 

I think to have sacked Francis after the 92/93 season would have been ludicrous.

The season after some were tipping us for the title. We signed Walker and Sinton which everyone was excited about at the time. Walker was outstanding whilst Sinton didn’t work out.

[finluxowl]

Trev had lost the dressing room and the fans. I was at Hillsborough on the last day of the '94-'95 season and technically we could have gone down had Palace beaten Newcastle away and we had lost at home to Ipswich who were already relegated. After a shaky start we beat Ipswich 4-1 and so stayed up. Francis went straight down the tunnel at the end, barely acknowledging the fans. Earlier that season (April Fool's day) I witnessed the embarrassment of the home defeat to Forest 7-1. Granted that Forest team were a good side but we had no fight and the fans were calling for his head that day. It became apparent that Trev was out of his depth, despite his achievements.

 

Hindsight is wonderful but Pleat was the beginning of our demise. There's a reason he was a commentator for so long and also a reason why he no longer is. To quote, "Eighty percent of teams who score first in matches go on to win them. But they may draw some - or occasionally lose".

[WadsleyOwl]

3 minutes ago, sexpistol said:

I think to have sacked Francis after the 92/93 season would have been ludicrous.

The season after some were tipping us for the title. We signed Walker and Sinton which everyone was excited about at the time. Walker was outstanding whilst Sinton didn’t work out.

After being tipped for the title by many the start to the 93/94 season was atrocious he should have been gone and replaced by Venables. Big clubs do this, we’re not or ever have had big club mentality. 

[Harrysgame]

Off subject but is it correct that Pleat known to drive around certain inner city areas on occasions?

[DJMortimer]

5 minutes ago, Harrysgame said:

Off subject but is it correct that Pleat known to drive around certain inner city areas on occasions?

 

Yes, but be fair to him, he was unlikely to cause any accidents going at that speed.

 

[ZicoSterland2]

Francis built on big Rons legacy and produced the best Wednesday team I have seen. For 3 seasons we were up there with the Man Utds Arsenal and Liverpool. As some have said on here we failed to build on this and sell players at peak values. I for one will remember Tricky Trev with fondness and thank him for the memories his team gave me . Sadly I doubt I will see anything like again in my lifetime.