Managers

[S36 OWL]

2 hours ago, Blue and white said:

Enough said.

 

[The Night-Owl]

In my lifetime Big Ron; Big Jack, Francis and Sgt Wilko, in that order, stand out head and shoulders over every manager that as come and gone since. The rest apart from some fleeting moments have mostly been forgettable to be honest.

 

Honourable mentions for Pleat; Sturrock, Laws, Megson and Carlos. Bruce would have made my honourable mentions, if he had stayed around longer and not left us in the lurch. I felt, at the time we had finally had the right man for the job. 

 

Even the stand out ones are sadly tinged with what if's but the football played under Big Ron and Francis was by far the best football I've seen Wednesday play during my lifetime. However, the highs we had with Sgt Wilko, Big Ron and Francis, arguably may not have even occurred had it not been for Big Jack. 

[CrosbyKitchens]

2 hours ago, torryowl said:

i didnt think so ....he got us to 7th in league and the football was easy on the eye .....he signed some good players that were a pleasure to watch....he was never going to be liked because of who he was and binning sheridan,hirst and waddle but someone had to .

He replaced brilliant players with mediocre ones and started us on the path to ruin. He signed Degryse and let him leave after one season. He replaced Waddle with Regi Blinker. I could go on but it’s too depressing. He always thought we were smaller than Spurs and managed us as such. Hopeless ******** he was. 

Edited September 4, 2020 by CrosbyKitchens

[Hitcat]

Peter Eustace

Lee Bullen

Terry Yorath

David Pleat

[Simaniac Owl]

6 hours ago, Blue and white said:

Enough said.

Our beloved Ginger Genius. 
 

Simply the best. 
 

[Plonk]

Pleats a funny one. Can’t believe some people rate him. He was the start of the rot for me. Spent a small fortune most of who left for frees or nothing. Trouble is people forget the likes of Scott Oakes and the two kids from Peterborough. 

[fatzooma]

Shreeves

Yorath

Jewell 

 

 

[torryowl]

8 hours ago, hirstyboywonder said:

 

 

 

Are you saying Turner never had a chance of being successful? If so, why? Sturrock was successful with the same team. Turner could spot a player but couldn't turn them into an effective team.

 

 

Turner at the start and was stuck with an awful squad and little money to turn it round ..what good young players he had left for free as we couldn't afford to keep them .....like you say he then cobbled together a decent new team but wasnt given long to get them to gell.i think we were 3-4-3  when he was binned which for newly put together side wasnt a disaster so taking all that into account I dont really think he had much of a chance.

[Prince]

Here is my top ten from my lifetime watching. 

 

1. Big Ron - Amazing to see him transform the club from the shocking state it was in and champagne football too, Who knows what could have been if Villa didn't call.
2. Sgt. Wilko - His side was exciting to watch and just lacked a few ingredients to be title contenders through no fault of his own.
3. Big Jack - See Big Ron above but without the champagne football. 
4. Trevor Francis - Brought in quality and played some good stuff but lost the plot after the Arsenal finals.
5. Paul Sturrock - Got a Job done with a very average squad and limited resources. 
6. Dave Jones - Instilled belief into Megson's falling away squad and achieved promotion with an unbelievable run of form.
7. Carlos - Great while it lasted but resorted to dire football and a rabbit in the headlights style in the later stages despite spending fortunes
8. Stuart Grey - Did amazingly well on scant resources. in my eyes should have been given longer even though the football was dire
9. Brian Laws - Same as SG punched above his weight in difficult times and his side wasn't too bad to watch.
10. Megson - Built the side the Jones promoted but lacked the ability ultimately to do it himself.

 

[matthefish2002]

Think in last 20 years the best two managers we have had have been Laws and Sturrock.
Seemed to get best out of what they had available.
I know many people will say Carlos Carvahaul as well but it was all built on sand and throw money at it rather than good scouting and coaching.

 

I suppose the worst has been Jos when I think the last few weeks of his being here he just knew it wasn't working and was just going through the motions waiting for his pay off. He had zero PR skills as well, which count for a more then it should in modern football.

Jewell, Yorath and Shreeves were not very good but had the excuse of the club being on the slide in a big way and they were just fighting fires really.

 

[room0035]

If it was not for megson sorting out the issue in league one we could still be there.

 

The same way as if Pearson had not kept Leicester up they never would have won the premier league the season after.

[soldierboyblue]

12 hours ago, Lawrie Madden said:

Tricky Trev :- Maligned somewhat i think many say he rode on the back of Big Ron but was a whisker and a few quid from making us champions and played great football IMO

A few quid - really he spent a load of money on a lot of inferior players and dismantled a side that just needed tinkering with. The start of the current demise

[Blatter]

10 hours ago, torryowl said:

i didnt see catterick .....buckingham i did and while you cant really argue with his record he didnt seem popular with the fans .

That was because he changed Catterick’s up and at em style for a more cultured approach. Both very good managers compared to much of what followed though.

[Watto]

12 hours ago, Lawrie Madden said:

Seeing as Carlos has made a comeback in the Wallace thread i thought i'd stick my twopennorth in on Managers i've loved during my time as a Wednesdayite 

 

Jack Charlton :- Not the prettiest football at times but boy was it 100% up and at em and i loved him for it 

 

Sgt Wilko :- Sadly JC couldn't get us over the line and Wilko expounded on Big Jacks side and got us up slightly better football and most importantly successful football 

 

Big Ron :- Probably the best football i've watched as Wednesdayite and of course brought us Roland 

 

Tricky Trev :- Maligned somewhat i think many say he rode on the back of Big Ron but was a whisker and a few quid from making us champions and played great football IMO

 

Paul Sturrock :- OK it was 3rd division, it was largely kick and rush but it was an exciting sometimes bumpy ride to and epic day in Cardiff 

 

Carlos :- I'm a fan ok there i said it, 2016 was at times some of the best football i've seen a Wednesday team play since the days of Tricky Trev and Big Ron ( some of the worst as well ) but the finish of the season and the run to the play-offs was just awesome and i for one will always thank him for that 

 

 

 

You forgot Steve Burtenshaw 

[room0035]

36 minutes ago, soldierboyblue said:

A few quid - really he spent a load of money on a lot of inferior players and dismantled a side that just needed tinkering with. The start of the current demise

Really he manage us to our highest league finish in over 40 years.

 

Got us to 2 cup finals in the same season, took us into Europe and I am not talking about a preseason tour. 

 

He signed Warhurst, Bart man, Chris Woods, Chris Waddle, Mark Bright to name a few

 

The football under Francis and the consistent team he put out every game was one of the best teams I have seem in 40+ year of following the owls.

 

I think you are mistaking Francis for Pleat he broke up the team and replaced everyone with poorer defensive players

[soldierboyblue]

2 minutes ago, room0035 said:

Really he manage us to our highest league finish in over 40 years.

 

Got us to 2 cup finals in the same season, took us into Europe and I am not talking about a preseason tour. 

 

He signed Warhurst, Bart man, Chris Woods, Chris Waddle, Mark Bright to name a few

 

The football under Francis and the consistent team he put out every game was one of the best teams I have seem in 40+ year of following the owls.

 

I think you are mistaking Francis for Pleat he broke up the team and replaced everyone with poorer defensive players

No I'm not mistaking Francis for Pleat - Francis was the start of the demise and saying that he was a few quid short of winning the league is totally wide of the mark. 

[prowl]

12 hours ago, matthefish2002 said:

 

Is Bruce low because of the way he left? Wasnt here long enough to be thought of as good of bad for us. More a what might have been.

 

Also think Dave Jones is low down on there. His PR was awful but wasnt that bad overall.

Jones was good that first season, he got us up that first season when I don't think Megson would have. After that he lost it. I suspect it was because MM wouldn't fund squad rebuiling with enough money to satify Jones. He realised he was on a hiding to nothing and effectively gave up. That subconsciously transmits to the players. Giving up is the last thing you want in a manager.

[room0035]

9 minutes ago, soldierboyblue said:

No I'm not mistaking Francis for Pleat - Francis was the start of the demise and saying that he was a few quid short of winning the league is totally wide of the mark. 

Well I must remember it different the only thing he did was not stay longer under Francis I saw Waddle, Hirst Sheridan, Walker, Wood then when Pleat came in that team in 18 months became Atherton, Pembridge, Nolan, Nicol,Stefanovic, Booth, Wayne Collins and Scott Oakes. That for me was the demise of the owls bring in Pleat. 

 

Other than what we have had to watch under Monk and Jos some of the most depressingly boring football under Pleat we need 1 win from 3 games to guarantee European football in 1996/97 and he could manage it. He was a truly awful manager and probably the biggest mistake we made in the Premier league.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, torryowl said:

Turner at the start and was stuck with an awful squad and little money to turn it round ..what good young players he had left for free as we couldn't afford to keep them .....like you say he then cobbled together a decent new team but wasnt given long to get them to gell.i think we were 3-4-3  when he was binned which for newly put together side wasnt a disaster so taking all that into account I dont really think he had much of a chance.

 

Which good young players did he lose?

He came in with half the season left and although we were in trouble at that stage he showed no signs of thinking he could keep us up and was negative from the start. He was planning for the 3rd division from January. That planning proved futile as the 2003-04 season was the 2nd worst league finish in the history of the club. We scored the least amount of goals in the 3rd division that season and when he was sacked the following season we were in 14th place.

 

[room0035]

11 minutes ago, The_Limit_Owl said:

 

Cannot argue with any of that really.

 

On Carlos, sometimes it's a fine line between legendary status and people unfairly calling him a "clown", had we have gone up his stock would be immortal on here, unfortunately our "now" generation-millennial-moon-on-a-stick brigade can't hack disappointment, so tear people to shreds like the brainless pack of pathetic hyenas they are.

I think Carlos big mistake was not getting Stuart Gray to stay as his No2, he built us a fit well drilled team that we saw in Carlos first season, the engine room of Hutch and Lee where there because of the conditioning of Gray.

 

Had Gray stayed instead of Bullen, I think Carlos would have had a better chance but equally what manager would be No2 when he was No1.

 

Had we played the way under Carlos in the next 2 season but will a fit and health team coached well by Gray we probably would have got up, the other issue of course was the Chairman's advise advicing to buy a load of players that added little to nothing to the team other than Debt, Emanuelson - who ever signed him should have been sacked on the spot thousands a week for 37 minutes of football.