I really don't understand the stick he gets on here. He happened to start out at a big club - one where he had a longstanding association - and do exceptionally well - he's hardly going to go, 'Right, I fancy a crack at the Swindon Town job now'...
Que? I'm not sure anyone has given Pep any stick? And no-one is going to disagree with your statement about Swindon.
However, he has only managed big clubs, with the best budget in that league and has had a huge amount of success.
A lot of football fans, and quite rightly so, detest clubs that have bought success. This has certainly happened at Man City who were nobodies for years until the money turned up. Obviously Bayern and Barca were not.
In the same way, a David Moyes or Roy Hodgson, got incredible success with limited resources they do not seem to be able to translate that to success at Man Utd or Liverpool. I suspect Pep would not do well at Everton, West Ham, Fulham etc who tend to be looking down rather than up more often than not.
One thing I am struggling to come to terms with at Wycombe, is that we were always a small budget/underdog club and it was something that has created this fantastic spirit, togetherness and family. With MLs billions, we are moving into the "buying" success category and I do not know how I feel about it.
It's so easy from the outside looking in to criticise but now it's happening to our club, albeit on a smaller level, it's now hard to stick to my views of other clubs that have thrown cash at it. It's so emotional to compare the love of small time Wycombe and my 30 years supporting with my dislike for throwing money at success. I'm alright this season but I'm not sure how I will feel if we did sustain ourselves in the Championship of even made the Premier League. Definitely hypocritical. Only time will tell.
Greatness is open to interpretation by everyone. Another man's greatness is another man's averageness.
For me, he is clearly a master of managing a squad of exceptional players with unlimited funds.
Maresca is doing a fantastic job at Chelsea, with what you could argue is a similar situation to what Guardiola has had at City, except it would seem Guardiola is choosing who he wants in the squad. Guardiola has done it year after year, Maresca has been there five minutes.
Ferguson managed across the whole spectrum, an unfancied Aberdeen, a Man Utd in the doldrums to number one in the World. Ferguson will always get the nod, for me, because he built that team from the ground up - something Guardiola has never really done.
That's fair enough - I can see the case for Ferguson. I'd probably go with Pep or Michels myself - both as good as perfected football, in different ways.
With Pep, I usually talk about it like F1. He has always had the best car, but (usually) drives it superbly and laps the field, setting record lap times. So you know that if you put him in a brilliant car with no mechanical issues, he is going to drive it smoothly and quickly. But you just don't know how he would do if everyone had the same car.
I like to put it as he has never achieved a single thing against the odds, and in an area such as sports where we love the underdog, that's a little uninspiring to many people. Fergie is still the last manager to break the OId Firm deadlock (and won in Europe with Aberdeen too) and was doing well even at St Mirren. Klopp took Mainz from the doldrums to what for them was a great high, and successfully challenged Bayern in the Bundesliga.
I don't think anyone should ever say Pep is anything other than a great manager - just look at how many titles Man City won before and after his arrival - but his managerial story is about as inspiring as Amazon putting a family run furniture store out of business and then boasting about selling the most chairs that year.
It's ok. As long as we only spend millions on infrastructure we can still be 'little Wycombe'. If Lommy goes nuclear and decides to buy Neymar and the like then we are in trouble.
So Iceland and the Faroe Islands were kept apart in the WC qualifying draw because they're deemed the most prone to severe weather, but Serbia and Albania, who generally despise each other, are in the same group... Strong work, FIFA.
I have nothing against Swindon, but I do find it amusing that after Holloway "masterminded" that stunning victory over us in the Pointless McEmptyStadium trophy in midweek, we got back to hammering the opposition in the league, while Swindon lost with no shots on target and Holloway had to be pulled away from his own fans.
It's almost as if there is a difference between first teams playing in the league and rusty backups playing in a trophy no-one wants!
Don't tell the midweek Sky commentator, he'd have had you believe they'd be selling DVDs of that game and talking about it for years to come, I suspect neither side now give a toss about it.
Comments
I really don't understand the stick he gets on here. He happened to start out at a big club - one where he had a longstanding association - and do exceptionally well - he's hardly going to go, 'Right, I fancy a crack at the Swindon Town job now'...
Que? I'm not sure anyone has given Pep any stick? And no-one is going to disagree with your statement about Swindon.
However, he has only managed big clubs, with the best budget in that league and has had a huge amount of success.
A lot of football fans, and quite rightly so, detest clubs that have bought success. This has certainly happened at Man City who were nobodies for years until the money turned up. Obviously Bayern and Barca were not.
In the same way, a David Moyes or Roy Hodgson, got incredible success with limited resources they do not seem to be able to translate that to success at Man Utd or Liverpool. I suspect Pep would not do well at Everton, West Ham, Fulham etc who tend to be looking down rather than up more often than not.
One thing I am struggling to come to terms with at Wycombe, is that we were always a small budget/underdog club and it was something that has created this fantastic spirit, togetherness and family. With MLs billions, we are moving into the "buying" success category and I do not know how I feel about it.
It's so easy from the outside looking in to criticise but now it's happening to our club, albeit on a smaller level, it's now hard to stick to my views of other clubs that have thrown cash at it. It's so emotional to compare the love of small time Wycombe and my 30 years supporting with my dislike for throwing money at success. I'm alright this season but I'm not sure how I will feel if we did sustain ourselves in the Championship of even made the Premier League. Definitely hypocritical. Only time will tell.
Maybe not stick, but his greatness definitely gets downplayed on here because he's 'only managed big clubs'.
Greatness is open to interpretation by everyone. Another man's greatness is another man's averageness.
For me, he is clearly a master of managing a squad of exceptional players with unlimited funds.
Maresca is doing a fantastic job at Chelsea, with what you could argue is a similar situation to what Guardiola has had at City, except it would seem Guardiola is choosing who he wants in the squad. Guardiola has done it year after year, Maresca has been there five minutes.
Ferguson managed across the whole spectrum, an unfancied Aberdeen, a Man Utd in the doldrums to number one in the World. Ferguson will always get the nod, for me, because he built that team from the ground up - something Guardiola has never really done.
That's fair enough - I can see the case for Ferguson. I'd probably go with Pep or Michels myself - both as good as perfected football, in different ways.
Messi, Pedro, Pique (was still a kid when he came back from Man Utd), Sergi Roberto, Thiago Alcantara...
With Pep, I usually talk about it like F1. He has always had the best car, but (usually) drives it superbly and laps the field, setting record lap times. So you know that if you put him in a brilliant car with no mechanical issues, he is going to drive it smoothly and quickly. But you just don't know how he would do if everyone had the same car.
I like to put it as he has never achieved a single thing against the odds, and in an area such as sports where we love the underdog, that's a little uninspiring to many people. Fergie is still the last manager to break the OId Firm deadlock (and won in Europe with Aberdeen too) and was doing well even at St Mirren. Klopp took Mainz from the doldrums to what for them was a great high, and successfully challenged Bayern in the Bundesliga.
I don't think anyone should ever say Pep is anything other than a great manager - just look at how many titles Man City won before and after his arrival - but his managerial story is about as inspiring as Amazon putting a family run furniture store out of business and then boasting about selling the most chairs that year.
Doesn't look like much perfection at the moment.
One win in ten is pretty mindblowing, and strengthens the argument that Pep needs everything perfectly calibrated.
It's ok. As long as we only spend millions on infrastructure we can still be 'little Wycombe'. If Lommy goes nuclear and decides to buy Neymar and the like then we are in trouble.
Astana 0 Chelsea 2 after 20 minutes.
The worse Kazakhstan's premier team play, the more chance that Lommy will release 1 billion in funds for a January spending spree.
No?
So Iceland and the Faroe Islands were kept apart in the WC qualifying draw because they're deemed the most prone to severe weather, but Serbia and Albania, who generally despise each other, are in the same group... Strong work, FIFA.
Mehmeti to face England at Wembley, possibly, too.
The relations have been much improved recently but that won’t stop football fans
Heads up all, St Pauli on Sky in 10 minutes.
Just enough time for a cuppa
Kick off delayed by the amount of smoke from the pyro. Love it.
A crafty ploy to get another round in before kickoff?
lol at this.
VAR sucking the life out of football once again in the Forest-Villa game
Looks like it didn't matter in the end. Our Nottingham contingent will be very happy.
Wycombe 1st and Forest 4th must be the happiest day in the Wycombe-Nottingham clique's life.
I have some very happy family members ringing this evening. I will assume all newspaper reports will be about how Villa lost it.
I am indeed living the pre-christmas dream.
I have nothing against Swindon, but I do find it amusing that after Holloway "masterminded" that stunning victory over us in the Pointless McEmptyStadium trophy in midweek, we got back to hammering the opposition in the league, while Swindon lost with no shots on target and Holloway had to be pulled away from his own fans.
It's almost as if there is a difference between first teams playing in the league and rusty backups playing in a trophy no-one wants!
I’m in dreamland too!
…and that VAR offside decision looked very suspicious…what about the defender in the middle playing Elanga onside?
….and the Villa fans will say they were robbed and that Cash was fouled in the build up to the winning goal.
Don't tell the midweek Sky commentator, he'd have had you believe they'd be selling DVDs of that game and talking about it for years to come, I suspect neither side now give a toss about it.
Not one but two 7pm kick-offs in the Prem today. Who gives a stuff about the fans, eh?
What has happened to Pep?
Genuinely not sure Pep sticks with this much longer.
Brilliant goal by Amad