@chris but the side which won promotion from the conference was the overwhelming bookies favourite to do so
The comparison would be if we'd win the fa cup then sacked Sanchez the following season when we weren't in the relegation zone and still in the UEFA cup
Although it is a disgusting lack of loyalty, I think under him they were going down. I don't believe he's a particularly brilliant manager, and his brand of 'good vibes' were fine when the stars aligned to just keep momentum going, but I doubt it helps him rouse an angry enough performance from the team.
I'm very old so that is probably why I have difficulty in relating 'Second Division' (for example) twenty odd years ago to the current designations but @Chris is right in saying that his hypothetical scenarios would have been closer analogies.
But back to the Sanchez analogy, and this is very personal, I found Laurie a hard man to warm to and I know that towards the end of his spell at AP a significant number of players felt the same. Against that of course the squad that took us to the semi-final clearly responded positively to his management. Or can I be provocative and suggest that the FA cup is a greater motivator than league matches in the third and fourth tiers?
Ranieri is a very different character to Sanchez (or at least in the way he comes across). He seems warm and avuncular and a complete gentleman. Maybe too gentle? Whatever, I feel sad to see him go but I doubt whether he'll be shedding too many tears !
I find the timing a little odd too -
Neither early enough (that would be wrong could be justified a little more) and too late to have much of a realistic change in outcome.
Why not before / after the last league game?
The FA cup v milwall - very much a reserve team so not sure how that can be indicative of what the first team would have done,
the Champions league game - 1st leg against a team currently higher than Barca
Puts them in a right mess 3 days before the Liverpool game and next weeks '6 pointer'
Amazing that you can get sacked whilst your team are still in the later stages of the Champions League!
Madness isn't restricted to the Premier League. Just look at Birmingham who sacked Rowett when they were a couple of points outside the play offs and are now looking over their shoulders at the relegation places. Even Eastleigh are catching the disease by sacking Mad Dog after only 14 games.
When they make the film "5000/1" (that's what I'm calling it, anyway) they should stop it at the ticker tape firework scenes with Ranieri smiling and holding the trophy aloft, slow motion, crowd cheering, miracle complete, end of story. To be fair to him, he really had nowhere to go after that.
@eric_plant Agreed, although we weren't favoured to go up again from the Third Division were we? And that's also why I added the second part. It would have been unthinkable to sack O'Neill and it should have been unthinkable to sack Ranieri.
@micra I did have to look up what the divisions were called at the time.
Yep, here you go, from the excellent chairboys on the net:
"Despite Wycombe's lack of signings, bookmakers still made had Martin O'Neill's side 9-2 favourites to take the Division Three championship, with the Wycombe boss reacting, "We had a quiet chuckle to ourselves when we saw our odds, but not as big a laugh as they must have had at places like Preston and Crewe."
He was on full meltdown mode by then. The MK business, the "henpecked" fans bit, saying fans wouldn't even have noticed us selling Devine if he hadn't scored a couple the week before, the treatment of Roberts.
Not to mention that he had a contacts book that made Waddock look well connected, and he couldn't replace some of the terrific players we had.
He was right when he said we wouldn't be relegated under him though.
Cos he was sacked way before we would have been!
It'd be interesting to measure how unpopular we were with rivals fans then v now though. Probably quite close.
Opposition view comments have been more or less preditable for the last three seasons at least @Blue_since_1990 In fact, they have a life of their own and I find they often don't necessarily reflect the games I watch!
Maybe but I suspect a vote between the rest of Div2 teams would put us somewhere pretty close to bottom regarding popularity. Not that I care but that is probably what would happen.
Claudio's press statement just cements my belief he is the nicest and most humble gentleman in football today; no sniping at the board or his players even though they are the ones who have failed him.
It would be an interesting exercise but I suspect Doncaster, Plymouth, Carlisle and maybe even Exeter would be higher in popularity stakes if votes were taken now and they are higher up the league.
Let us be honest Malone, our style of play and our time wasting tactics can be annoying even for us, let alone the opposition support. Chesterfield was a prime example what this group of players can do if allowed to cut loose.
Let us hope for a wider pitch - 4-4-2, with wide men bombing forward and full utilisation of Sam Saunders and Luke O'Nein by playing a passing game. We have the players to do it.
Hear hear @Blue_since_1990.
Just said something similar on the Crawley debacle thread. At least try it. Heaven forfend that we should switch to 4-4-2 in the course of a game (!). That might be step too far. Any concomitant pitch widening will probably have to wait until next season now that the linesmen have worn muddy towpaths just outside the lines.
Comments
@chris but the side which won promotion from the conference was the overwhelming bookies favourite to do so
The comparison would be if we'd win the fa cup then sacked Sanchez the following season when we weren't in the relegation zone and still in the UEFA cup
Although it is a disgusting lack of loyalty, I think under him they were going down. I don't believe he's a particularly brilliant manager, and his brand of 'good vibes' were fine when the stars aligned to just keep momentum going, but I doubt it helps him rouse an angry enough performance from the team.
I'm very old so that is probably why I have difficulty in relating 'Second Division' (for example) twenty odd years ago to the current designations but @Chris is right in saying that his hypothetical scenarios would have been closer analogies.
But back to the Sanchez analogy, and this is very personal, I found Laurie a hard man to warm to and I know that towards the end of his spell at AP a significant number of players felt the same. Against that of course the squad that took us to the semi-final clearly responded positively to his management. Or can I be provocative and suggest that the FA cup is a greater motivator than league matches in the third and fourth tiers?
Ranieri is a very different character to Sanchez (or at least in the way he comes across). He seems warm and avuncular and a complete gentleman. Maybe too gentle? Whatever, I feel sad to see him go but I doubt whether he'll be shedding too many tears !
I find the timing a little odd too -
Neither early enough (that would be wrong could be justified a little more) and too late to have much of a realistic change in outcome.
Why not before / after the last league game?
The FA cup v milwall - very much a reserve team so not sure how that can be indicative of what the first team would have done,
the Champions league game - 1st leg against a team currently higher than Barca
Puts them in a right mess 3 days before the Liverpool game and next weeks '6 pointer'
Amazing that you can get sacked whilst your team are still in the later stages of the Champions League!
Madness isn't restricted to the Premier League. Just look at Birmingham who sacked Rowett when they were a couple of points outside the play offs and are now looking over their shoulders at the relegation places. Even Eastleigh are catching the disease by sacking Mad Dog after only 14 games.
When they make the film "5000/1" (that's what I'm calling it, anyway) they should stop it at the ticker tape firework scenes with Ranieri smiling and holding the trophy aloft, slow motion, crowd cheering, miracle complete, end of story. To be fair to him, he really had nowhere to go after that.
@eric_plant Agreed, although we weren't favoured to go up again from the Third Division were we? And that's also why I added the second part. It would have been unthinkable to sack O'Neill and it should have been unthinkable to sack Ranieri.
@micra I did have to look up what the divisions were called at the time.
We were one of, yes. I think we may well have been favourites actually as I seem to remember Martin O'Neill commenting on how crazy that was
Yep, here you go, from the excellent chairboys on the net:
"Despite Wycombe's lack of signings, bookmakers still made had Martin O'Neill's side 9-2 favourites to take the Division Three championship, with the Wycombe boss reacting, "We had a quiet chuckle to ourselves when we saw our odds, but not as big a laugh as they must have had at places like Preston and Crewe."
Psh fourth was a failure then. Should have been sacked in December. Dogshit football.
Chuckled at people using Sanchez as an example.
He was on full meltdown mode by then. The MK business, the "henpecked" fans bit, saying fans wouldn't even have noticed us selling Devine if he hadn't scored a couple the week before, the treatment of Roberts.
Not to mention that he had a contacts book that made Waddock look well connected, and he couldn't replace some of the terrific players we had.
He was right when he said we wouldn't be relegated under him though.
Cos he was sacked way before we would have been!
It'd be interesting to measure how unpopular we were with rivals fans then v now though. Probably quite close.
Maybe my memory is going but I cannot remember a time where we were as unpopular as we are now.
Opposition view comments have been more or less preditable for the last three seasons at least @Blue_since_1990 In fact, they have a life of their own and I find they often don't necessarily reflect the games I watch!
Maybe but I suspect a vote between the rest of Div2 teams would put us somewhere pretty close to bottom regarding popularity. Not that I care but that is probably what would happen.
Claudio's press statement just cements my belief he is the nicest and most humble gentleman in football today; no sniping at the board or his players even though they are the ones who have failed him.
In fairness, in Sanchez's day, were we so aware of other fans' views? I don't recall an "opposition view" type weekly roundup.
@Blue_since_1990 , it'd be interesting to compare popularity in our league versus league position/status though.
I dare say we would be more popular if we were bottom 4 but played lovely football!
It would be an interesting exercise but I suspect Doncaster, Plymouth, Carlisle and maybe even Exeter would be higher in popularity stakes if votes were taken now and they are higher up the league.
Let us be honest Malone, our style of play and our time wasting tactics can be annoying even for us, let alone the opposition support. Chesterfield was a prime example what this group of players can do if allowed to cut loose.
Let us hope for a wider pitch - 4-4-2, with wide men bombing forward and full utilisation of Sam Saunders and Luke O'Nein by playing a passing game. We have the players to do it.
Hear hear @Blue_since_1990.
Just said something similar on the Crawley debacle thread. At least try it. Heaven forfend that we should switch to 4-4-2 in the course of a game (!). That might be step too far. Any concomitant pitch widening will probably have to wait until next season now that the linesmen have worn muddy towpaths just outside the lines.