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| Alex McLeish Stays; Official (merged) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 23 2011, 11:23 AM (2,752 Views) | |
| BruceysFatWallet | May 23 2011, 03:25 PM Post #151 |
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Bob Hatton
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Well at least we know, I guess... Not especially happy but that will be offset if the club either retains the current squad, minus loans and plus some firepower (as Sully and the Golds did last time) and issues a strong 'hands off' statement to this effect. If they don't then I will be concerned that we are keeping Eck because we can't afford to sack him and therefore we lack funds for more players. |
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| Bluediver | May 23 2011, 03:28 PM Post #152 |
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Alex Govan
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People are always talking about Eck's tactics being boring and negative. I think if we'd played exactly the same way, but with a prolific striker in the side, we'd have finished easily in the top ten. It's taken Cameron Jerome 33 Premiership games to score 3 goals! He just wasn't good enough for the Premiership, and the strikers we hoped would add fire power were either injured too often (Zigic and Martins), underperformed (Derbyshire and Marcus Bent) or struggled with the Premiership pace (Phillips). Our midfield should have been good enough to create tons of chances, with players like Bentley and Hleb supplementing the side. I don't think it's the manager's fault that they had obviously decided that this was their shop window, rather than a scrap in which every player has to give their all. My one criticism of Eck is that he is sometimes too slow to react to what's happening on the pitch (although he didn't put a foot wrong at Wembley). But other than that it wasn't his tactics that led to our relegation, it was the players under performing. I'm happy he's staying. I just hope he's given the money we make from Johnson, Dann and whoever else goes, to strengthen the side. |
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| Woodbine | May 23 2011, 03:39 PM Post #153 |
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Mikael Forssell
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Could be too late by then and you only have to look at our run-ins over the past few years to see that it's always downhill after Christmas. With money being tight and the fact that we can have more loans (Cardiff had 7 this season), even if we scrape home, we wouldn't have a team to take up and survive. |
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| bluenoseghag | May 23 2011, 03:44 PM Post #154 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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Truth is no-one knows about our financial situation. the papers big up talk of administration then the club stamps their foot in denial; its simply a question of who you believe. One thing i would note, is that the club have made it clear that promotion is the target this season for mcleish, which means that we must have the finances available to mount a serious promotion push. if we want to silence the doubters; keep Foster, keep Dann and keep Gardner EDIT: Mcleish Poll this clearly shows fan support for Eck. This forum is far more anti-Mcleish than in reality, so i think this speaks volumes. |
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| PartisanBCFC | May 23 2011, 03:51 PM Post #155 |
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Jack Wiseman
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Less ...... How many times will you be taking the little 'uns to Babbacombe Beach to save on petrol money to Brum again this year ??? :boohoo: |
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| Woodbine | May 23 2011, 03:54 PM Post #156 |
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Mikael Forssell
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What is the point in spending megabucks on a prolific scorer if he doesn't get the ball? |
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| Blues4eva | May 23 2011, 03:56 PM Post #157 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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Just got home from work to the news that McLeish is staying, gutted, the only crumb of hope I have is the statement he is expected to get us promoted next year, heres hoping. |
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| pooley | May 23 2011, 04:21 PM Post #158 |
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The Icon
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Like he struggled last time? From some of your earlier comments you probably won't even bother checking our scores Nevermind watching a game...until we are back un the prem that is...or another final...I bet you won't mind watching a mcleish side then will you? Some teams like Liverpool and arsenal are always in the prem you know...and their shirts are always available in jjb, might be ab idea to support a team like them |
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| GoOnJermaine | May 23 2011, 04:22 PM Post #159 |
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Jose Dominguez
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Fully agree with this. Actually Zigic, with the impact he was making (winner at West Ham, directly responsible for both goals in the final, etc.), would've been enough to keep us safe. I've no doubt about it. :( |
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| lbn | May 23 2011, 04:34 PM Post #160 |
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Martin Grainger
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If you don't like AM's football tactics fair enough but I'm disgusted with those claiming he is not honourable. He has proved himself to be honourable and honest in many difficult situations. I'm gutted that we were relegated but it is beyond me that some people are piling the entire blame on AM, the reasons are many and various. He is not Alex Ferguson or Wenger (and he's not doing brilliantly is he?) but they wouldn't come to us anyway. AM is a good manager and very likely to get better the longer he manages. The board confirming he's staying so quickly is good and stabalises things, but I think they need to take part of the blame for some of the negotiations that fell through and for not understanding the premier league politics. Too many of our targets didn't want to come to us because we're not fashionable. The injuries have definitely played their part with Dann out all season and Zigic and Martins injured when we needed them most etc etc. Ridgewell and Gardener's red cards didn't help either. Even if at some point I think AM has gone as far as he can go with Birmingham, I will always think of him as a genuine honourable decent bloke who loves football more than glory. |
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| stanwood | May 23 2011, 04:35 PM Post #161 |
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Peter Enckelman
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Muppet |
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| abblue | May 23 2011, 04:39 PM Post #162 |
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Frank Worthington
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Don't know whether to :LMAO: or :crying: Hang on, yes I do. :crying: :crying: :crying: |
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| thetoot | May 23 2011, 04:43 PM Post #163 |
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Frank Worthington
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To get a prolific striker the owners would have to stump up £40 million. So perhaps we can't play that way, if the missing piece we need is never going to be put in place. We need to get something that works with the pieces we have. Something we have failed all season to do and which is, ultimately, the managers fault. Sorry. |
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| 11thhour | May 23 2011, 04:44 PM Post #164 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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I am really quite torn on this one. I have always been squarely in the Alex camp. But this year he has made some big mistakes, and the last year in the championship was dire (but affective)! He has experience and knowledge, he always handles himself with great dignity. If he showed some more trust in the youth at the club and pushed on a bit more 433 NOT 442 then I would be happy to keep him , his tactics this season in the end took us down , we often looked disjointed and what was more alarming was how often players passed back turned round and held their hands out with no forward ball option......... What do we do in training???? He never solved the left sided problem all season , he didn't trust beausejour enough, Ashley Sammons has a lovely left foot, Redmond???? Alex abit more trust and a bit more adventure and we will all be back on your side. |
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| citytillidie | May 23 2011, 05:05 PM Post #165 |
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Kenny Burns
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Overall I think this is a good decision, certainly glad it was made quickly, next step make Gardner captain |
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| Woodbine | May 23 2011, 05:08 PM Post #166 |
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Mikael Forssell
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Fact is that most of AM's targets were unrealistic. On a shoestring budget, you cut your cloth according to your means. In every window since he's been here, he's faffed about for weeks on players who were never going to come here and then finished up with panic buys or loans, the dregs of the player-base barrel. Meanwhile, other managers have identified lesser but promising targets before the window opens and struck while the iron is hot. The theory that a high price-tag player equals team success is flawed if the bulk of the team is, like ours, championship quality at best. |
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| Prawnman | May 23 2011, 05:09 PM Post #167 |
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Paul Tait
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We are going to have to, he might be one of the few players left! |
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| stanwood | May 23 2011, 06:32 PM Post #168 |
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Peter Enckelman
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:applause: :applause: :applause: |
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| lbn | May 23 2011, 07:34 PM Post #169 |
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Martin Grainger
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I know what you're saying for a couple of targets but not others. The board did most of the faffing about and anyway, if he hadn't aimed high sometimes some would moan he wasn't ambitious enough. |
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| royalblue | May 23 2011, 08:22 PM Post #170 |
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royalblue
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The first thing is that the Board cannot afford to sack him because of the pay off he would be enttled to. The second is that the early announcement forces the hands of Gold and Sullivan to make an approach if the rumours that they want him at West Ham are true. If this is the case they pocket a bit of compensation and get him out f the club making money not costing it. The wording of Pannu's statement about him is really quite pointed IMO with the clear inference that 'you took us down, now you get us straight back up'. All that is left is for them to tell him, privately of course, they are dissapointed in him, he will lose most of his better players and will have very little to spend in the summer but must deliver Premier League football the season after next. That should wind him up nicely to go running off to West Ham and the Board to then talk about not wanting to keep an unhappy manager etc....Similar to Steve Bruce's exit! This statement is just the opening gambit in a cat and mouse game between Yeung/Pannu and Sullivan/Gold. I personally think he will be gone sometime in June! Paranoid or what! :ph43r: Let your heart beat strong and all that. |
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| thetoot | May 23 2011, 08:35 PM Post #171 |
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Frank Worthington
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Spot on :applause: |
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| brimful of bovril | May 23 2011, 08:59 PM Post #172 |
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Jose Dominguez
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I'm disappointed with this but I accept it. After all, sacking your manger is no guarantee of getting a better one in replacement. Two relegations and some turgid football has to be weighed against a good season last year and winning only our second piece of silverware ever. Plus, I do feel that people go a bit overboard on the sackings sometimes - surely being a yo-yo club for a few years is an improvement on being a play-offs club like we were under TF. I find it amazing for example, how a promising young manager such as Roberto diMatteo can get penalised for his success in getting promoted, because his club are towards the bottom of the league the following year. These things take time to build. Also, frustrating though it is to be with a manager that you don't entirely believe in, (although I'd take AMcL over TF or SB) it does our club proud that in 15 years, we've only had 3 mangers. |
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| zerofour | May 23 2011, 09:16 PM Post #173 |
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Steve Claridge
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Good points. 11thhour, good points too. Having had time to calm down from yesterday, I'm glad he's staying to be honest. Consistency is generally a good thing - as Ferguson has proved. I do think AM's been overly negative all season, but no-one should question how honourable he's been. How many other managers control themselves so well after bad refereeing decisions. He's also handled himself well in the media. Anyways, that aside one thing I haven't seen mentioned (haven't read everything, sure someone must've said it) is that Blackpool played very attacking footie all season but they were also relegated. Yes, they were more entertaining than us but we can only trust MCL did his best. Zigic was a big loss as he was beginning to improve and even win headers... But basically we weren't good enough and def not up-front (I guess we missed Chucho). Cam is great and gives everything so is a good championship player, hope he stays. At the back without Dann we weren't the same and so the snatched 1-0 results from the previous season didn't happen. Tactically I felt AM was too conservative. Next season will be a new challenge as we'll have to bring in new passionate players and bring the young'uns through.. So we'll see! Just some random thoughts... |
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