Certainly a thankless role knowing that the earlier you scored, the less likely you were to have anything to do for the rest of the game whilst the rest of the team focused on parking the bus.
Indeed had Taylor allowed a Harrold/ McLeish partnership to develop rather than sidelining the diminutive one, he might not have thrown his toys out of the pram and we might have seen more goals and not had to depend on someone losing to get promoted. (Other opinions are available!)
If all these players can do the business we may be covered in most areas (new striker?) and also be strong enough to be able to rotate nicely for three decent cup runs.
Really? I’m not defending him as a manager, but from a pure signing perspective, if we take his one close season:
Quality:
Mike Williamson
Decent:
Gus Uhlenbeek
Stuart Nethercott
Joe Burnell
Clint Easton
Russell Martin (took a while to develop as a young player, which is only to be expected, so I rated him how he was when he arrived, not when he left)
Adam Birchall (4 goals in 12 apps - we’ve had plenty worse)
Less Successful:
Gary Silk
Ian Stonebridge (hair conventionality aside)
Shahed Ahmed
Plus not forgetting (outside the close season) he also signed Tyson and one Matthew Bloomfield in his first year, not to mention loans for Steven Taylor, Luke Moore…and less successfully, Scott Marshall.
I was very lucky in that I was under threat of death from my good lady to take the kids to Legoland for the day. I still remember standing in heaven knows how many agonisingly long queues to probably go on about 5 rides, but checking in on the scoreline at Norwich regularly. My only solace was at least I hadn't driven a few hours up the road to be miserable, instead to only drive 45 minutes for the same feeling! 🙄
Summer 2003 will also be the high water point for me, regarding dreadful summers. Admittedly there was no transfer window back then, but our summer activity consisted of Charlie Mapes on a permanent transfer from Berkhampstead, Steve Dell from Beaconsfield for 3 months, and Simon Patterson on loan.
We were apparently in for Darius Henderson at Reading though and there is this wonderful story on COTN about why we didn't land him:
Reports that Reading striker Darius Henderson was lined up to join Wycombe on loan have been knocked on the head following quotes in the Reading Evening Post by Royals boss Alan Pardew. Refering to Lawrie Sanchez and alsoex-Reading assistant Colin Lee at also linked Walsall, Pardew said “They have not spoken to me about Darius and I have no intention of sending him there anyway as neither of them like me.”
I totally agree. He was an absolutely dreadful manager/ man manager, but as you say he brought all those players to the club so obviously had a half decent eye for a player. Perhaps he shouldve concentrated on being a head scout for someone rather than a manager.
If you remember he culled most of the team with lots going on to play plenty of football at the same or higher level and then struggled to put a team out in pre-season, not sure if all of those above were in the window but yes to be fair he did sign some good players during his otherwise fairly awful reign.
Matt is using the building blocks put in place by the previous manager but is clearly constructing his own team in his own image.
Exciting times ahead and Matt deserves success for all his amazing hard work. I see Matt becoming a manager along the lines of Russell Martin who did an amazing job at Swansea with a lovely style of football and is now at Southampton.
Interesting that in the MB interview after the Arsenal U21 game he implied we got the matchup because he did his badges with the U21 coach, Mehmet Ali. Could be promising for future loans if they are close?
Definitely good to have options, though loanees aren’t necessarily great just because they come from Arsenal (or indeed any Prem club) - going back a bit now, but I remember we had Anthony Jeffrey from them who had a ton of pace and very little else.
I hope you haven’t been dumped yet, I’m not sure you fit the company profile these days…middle aged to elderly white males are definitely not the flavour of the month. But if you’re a gobbing inarticulate Jamie or a guffawing irritant like Micah then you’ve cracked it.
If that’s what you meant I apologise , but you didn’t make it clear in your original post. I think most people who read ‘put on about 5k’ would conclude that he’d put on weight.
Comments
Matt Harold ?
I liked Matt Harrold.
Me too. Vastly under appreciated for the difficult job he did leading the line in Taylor’s team. No surprise he ended up having an excellent career.
Certainly a thankless role knowing that the earlier you scored, the less likely you were to have anything to do for the rest of the game whilst the rest of the team focused on parking the bus.
Indeed had Taylor allowed a Harrold/ McLeish partnership to develop rather than sidelining the diminutive one, he might not have thrown his toys out of the pram and we might have seen more goals and not had to depend on someone losing to get promoted. (Other opinions are available!)
If all these players can do the business we may be covered in most areas (new striker?) and also be strong enough to be able to rotate nicely for three decent cup runs.
Exciting times. Looking forward to Cardiff.
Tony. Adams.
Really? I’m not defending him as a manager, but from a pure signing perspective, if we take his one close season:
Quality:
Mike Williamson
Decent:
Gus Uhlenbeek
Stuart Nethercott
Joe Burnell
Clint Easton
Russell Martin (took a while to develop as a young player, which is only to be expected, so I rated him how he was when he arrived, not when he left)
Adam Birchall (4 goals in 12 apps - we’ve had plenty worse)
Less Successful:
Gary Silk
Ian Stonebridge (hair conventionality aside)
Shahed Ahmed
Plus not forgetting (outside the close season) he also signed Tyson and one Matthew Bloomfield in his first year, not to mention loans for Steven Taylor, Luke Moore…and less successfully, Scott Marshall.
I was very lucky in that I was under threat of death from my good lady to take the kids to Legoland for the day. I still remember standing in heaven knows how many agonisingly long queues to probably go on about 5 rides, but checking in on the scoreline at Norwich regularly. My only solace was at least I hadn't driven a few hours up the road to be miserable, instead to only drive 45 minutes for the same feeling! 🙄
That's it.
Oddly I can remember things as obscure as him saying his feet were like "blocks of ice" when coming on as sub on an insanely cold day.
And his expression when moaning again at a linesman. Arguably second only to Reece Stryche for linesman gesticulations?
But couldn't remember his name!
Summer 2003 will also be the high water point for me, regarding dreadful summers. Admittedly there was no transfer window back then, but our summer activity consisted of Charlie Mapes on a permanent transfer from Berkhampstead, Steve Dell from Beaconsfield for 3 months, and Simon Patterson on loan.
We were apparently in for Darius Henderson at Reading though and there is this wonderful story on COTN about why we didn't land him:
Reports that Reading striker Darius Henderson was lined up to join Wycombe on loan have been knocked on the head following quotes in the Reading Evening Post by Royals boss Alan Pardew. Refering to Lawrie Sanchez and alsoex-Reading assistant Colin Lee at also linked Walsall, Pardew said “They have not spoken to me about Darius and I have no intention of sending him there anyway as neither of them like me.”
I totally agree. He was an absolutely dreadful manager/ man manager, but as you say he brought all those players to the club so obviously had a half decent eye for a player. Perhaps he shouldve concentrated on being a head scout for someone rather than a manager.
If you remember he culled most of the team with lots going on to play plenty of football at the same or higher level and then struggled to put a team out in pre-season, not sure if all of those above were in the window but yes to be fair he did sign some good players during his otherwise fairly awful reign.
Matt is using the building blocks put in place by the previous manager but is clearly constructing his own team in his own image.
Exciting times ahead and Matt deserves success for all his amazing hard work. I see Matt becoming a manager along the lines of Russell Martin who did an amazing job at Swansea with a lovely style of football and is now at Southampton.
Great work Matt!!!
Wigan away at their old ground, with the curved terracing behind the goal, 1997.
Yes!
Talk about the excitement being sucked out of the season.
Back at that age I longed for the season to begin. These days I love a few months off!
I was on holiday in France at the time and had to wait until the Sunday to get a copy of an English paper to catch the result, not ideal.
Went up on the Independents coach for that one, wish I hadn’t bothered.
Interesting that in the MB interview after the Arsenal U21 game he implied we got the matchup because he did his badges with the U21 coach, Mehmet Ali. Could be promising for future loans if they are close?
Definitely good to have options, though loanees aren’t necessarily great just because they come from Arsenal (or indeed any Prem club) - going back a bit now, but I remember we had Anthony Jeffrey from them who had a ton of pace and very little else.
JJ looks like he’s put on about 5kg. Similar to when Grimmer did last season. Definitely suggests JJ will be kept more central next season (LCB).
JJ is a model professional and even if you are right about his physical condition he has 3 weeks to get in top shape.
I hope you haven’t been dumped yet, I’m not sure you fit the company profile these days…middle aged to elderly white males are definitely not the flavour of the month. But if you’re a gobbing inarticulate Jamie or a guffawing irritant like Micah then you’ve cracked it.
What are you on about? I’m not saying he’s got fat I’m saying the club have put him on a muscle/growth diet to bulk up for a centre half position.
If that’s what you meant I apologise , but you didn’t make it clear in your original post. I think most people who read ‘put on about 5k’ would conclude that he’d put on weight.
Indeed. He looked in good shape at the fan day and him moving to a left sided centre back makes sense to me.
If I read that someone had "put on 5k" I'd say they had a gambling problem.
Are you suggesting that at 36, he's specifically bulking up due to the plan being to use him solely at centre back!?
At 36? That'd be hilarious.
Got to admit that I read it the way it was intended. Otherwise why reference Grimmer?
But can see the potential for misinterpretation.
Though JJ certainly didn’t look like he was overweight or bulked up when I was stood about a metre from him last week.