Robson - did you overreact?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Did you overreact?

  • Fuck yeah, I want Robson's children, lots of them

  • Yes, he was just misunderstood

  • Yes, he did wonders for the club

  • No, the wanker

Results are only viewable after voting.

Hamburg Blade said:
Australian red wine, actually. :)
Click to expand...
I can imagine a few German wheat beers followed by a bottle of red can leave one slightly delicate the next day !

Obviously you’ve not indicated you’ve drank any beer, but the thought of the two combined = pain

Edit: Sorry, in relevavance to the OP. I’m sure Robbo could comfortably handle it !
 
Rob86 said:
I can imagine a few German wheat beers followed by a bottle of red can leave one slightly delicate the next day !

Obviously you’ve not indicated you’ve drank any beer, but the thought of the two combined = pain
Click to expand...
Actually the thing that kills you is when they get the schnaps out.
 
blade53 said:
Thought it was a shocking appointment at the time & history has proven just that!
Click to expand...

Agree I had concerns but there were reasons for the appointment.
That season McCabe had decided we would be the most ambitious the club has ever been. He insisted on instant promotion.

1: McCabe wanted to improve our profile in the football world, like many clubs he went for a sexy name.
The 2 contenders were Kenny Dalglish or Brian Robson, two of the biggest names in the game.
No one in China, Hungary or Australia had ever heard of Warnock where as Robson and Dalglish were hero’s and legends for millions of people. Didn’t agree with it but can understand why.
2: Robson’s cv was good, recently managed to get a similiar sized club (Middlesboro) promoted and recently managed to keep a similiar sized club (West Brom) in the PL by avoiding relegation.
3: Some (including me) had doubts about Robson’s managing abilities, however the argument was he would bring Brian Kidd, one of the best assistant managers in world football (now with Pep at Man City) to help. Kidd had been a manager at Blackburn and some assumed that Kidd would be the real brains behind this duo.
4: McCabe was willing to spend big to ensure instant promotion and he knew that Robson would be able to attract top players.
We brought in Hugo Egiogue and Gary Cahill, both said the reason they came to SU was to work with Robson.

I remember when Robson first joined the style of play was patient possession based passing. We controlled many matches but it was too slow so there was little goal mouth action at either end. We’d been used to the high tempo direct hoof it into the box style of Warnock, so the Robson style was a massive change. After receiving criticism of the slow style, he tried to go more direct, but this confused the players. The final straw was listening to Robson’s post match interviews, he said exactly the same cliche words every match. I used to think he can’t have seen the match because nothing was specific, just general comments as though he didn’t know what he was doing.
 

I voted for him doing wonders for the club.

He was so shit, he made me realise just how to really appreciate the better times. Take for example a week ago tonight. Whilst at one time in my life I might have been tempted to be an enormous strop, kick he dog, argue with the Missus, and be in a foul mood all weekend, after watching us chuck away a 3 goal lead in silly quick time, now (post Robson), I quickly realise just how lucky we are to have CW and what a top side of hard-working lads we now have.

Robson allowed me to fully understand that you have to experience the lows to really appreciate the highs.

Of course it took me a good few years of counselling and a fortune to get to the stage where i could mention Robson's name without swearing and going into a rage...but I'm over that now......
 
zablade said:
Here are the list of managers between 2007 and 2016

Bryan Robson
Kevin Blackwell
Gary Speed
Micky Adams
Danny Wilson
David Weir
Nigel Clough
Nigel Adkins

How are we still alive...?
Click to expand...

While each of those could be broken down individually and their failures highlighted (and the odd positive), my take is this; eight managers in nine years. Each one of them (Robson included) were complete opposite of his predecessor, style/formation wise. All of them signed players to suit the way they wanted to play and set up, and on average less than a year later, the players were still there but being asked to adapt to a total opposite style. We spent 9 years putting square pegs into round holes. Every manager on that list had his faults, some far more than others. But this club was an absolute basket case from the top down.
 
zablade said:
Here are the list of managers between 2007 and 2016

Bryan Robson
Kevin Blackwell
Gary Speed
Micky Adams
Danny Wilson
David Weir
Nigel Clough
Nigel Adkins

How are we still alive...?
Click to expand...

Thought Blackwell did an OK job but not quite good enough, the style of play was based on the Warnock style.
Think he knew his stuff tactically but often he’d be like Tony Pullis, being over tactical trying to stop the opposition instead of the players being positive. I remember many away game where we’d stifle the opposition, play crap but somehow pull out a win (very Pullis like). Blackwell tried to lay down the law with the players like Warnock did but Blackwell would then lose his players whereas Warnock had the charisma and charm to get the players back on side.

Thought we played some brilliant football under Danny Wilson but he seemed a bit of a worrier, maybe too nice, when the pressure was on. Even though he had Wednesday ties, seemed a decent bloke, didn’t mind him at all.

David Weir, felt awful listening to his post match interviews, seriously thought he was close to suicide. He had the whole team playing possesion based football. We’d start games looking like Brazil, then a defender would make a mistake and 0-1 down from nothing.

Nigel Clough, was generally pleased with him but I noticed he seemed to have this deliberate tactic of very slow progression each year. It was as though he realised that instant promotion followed by a season of struggle might mean he’d be sacked sooner, so instead let’s drag it out a few years. Aldo towards the end he seemed quite arrogant convince he was doing a good job.

Nigel Adkins, Cloughs interviews were dour so loved listening to Adkins because he was so upbeat and positive, spoke really well.
Then I realised that it was false because even when we were disgustingly crap he still managed to find loads of positives and he seems to forget the negatives. After a while I thought he was deluded as it was the same words during every single post match interview.
 
The other scary thing about that list, is that 7 of the 8 were sacked (Speed the exception), meaning we paid off them and their staff. Bear in mind our usual 3 year contracts for managers and factor in how much we paid for their failed signings, its quite unbelivable how much money was wasted over that period on failed appointments and signings and seriously makes you think what would have happened had we stuck with Adkins or gone another route.

Just in case you couldnt love Wilder and Knill any more...
 
Sheffsteel said:
Agree I had concerns but there were reasons for the appointment.
That season McCabe had decided we would be the most ambitious the club has ever been. He insisted on instant promotion.

1: McCabe wanted to improve our profile in the football world, like many clubs he went for a sexy name.
The 2 contenders were Kenny Dalglish or Brian Robson, two of the biggest names in the game.
No one in China, Hungary or Australia had ever heard of Warnock where as Robson and Dalglish were hero’s and legends for millions of people. Didn’t agree with it but can understand why.
2: Robson’s cv was good, recently managed to get a similiar sized club (Middlesboro) promoted and recently managed to keep a similiar sized club (West Brom) in the PL by avoiding relegation.
3: Some (including me) had doubts about Robson’s managing abilities, however the argument was he would bring Brian Kidd, one of the best assistant managers in world football (now with Pep at Man City) to help. Kidd had been a manager at Blackburn and some assumed that Kidd would be the real brains behind this duo.
4: McCabe was willing to spend big to ensure instant promotion and he knew that Robson would be able to attract top players.
We brought in Hugo Egiogue and Gary Cahill, both said the reason they came to SU was to work with Robson.

I remember when Robson first joined the style of play was patient possession based passing. We controlled many matches but it was too slow so there was little goal mouth action at either end. We’d been used to the high tempo direct hoof it into the box style of Warnock, so the Robson style was a massive change. After receiving criticism of the slow style, he tried to go more direct, but this confused the players. The final straw was listening to Robson’s post match interviews, he said exactly the same cliche words every match. I used to think he can’t have seen the match because nothing was specific, just general comments as though he didn’t know what he was doing.
Click to expand...
I agree with most of that. I did understand the appointment and after Warnock I could understand McCabe wanting to raise the club's profile, which I thought he did for a short time.
 
Hamburg Blade said:
Actually the thing that kills you is when they get the schnaps out.
Click to expand...

My grandfather in Romania used to start the day with a shot of schnaps, thought that was the proper stuff that actually tasted of plums not the sugar flavoured industrial alcohol we get here.

He lived well into his nineties.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Agree I had concerns but there were reasons for the appointment.
That season McCabe had decided we would be the most ambitious the club has ever been. He insisted on instant promotion.

1: McCabe wanted to improve our profile in the football world, like many clubs he went for a sexy name.
The 2 contenders were Kenny Dalglish or Brian Robson, two of the biggest names in the game.
No one in China, Hungary or Australia had ever heard of Warnock where as Robson and Dalglish were hero’s and legends for millions of people. Didn’t agree with it but can understand why.
2: Robson’s cv was good, recently managed to get a similiar sized club (Middlesboro) promoted and recently managed to keep a similiar sized club (West Brom) in the PL by avoiding relegation.
3: Some (including me) had doubts about Robson’s managing abilities, however the argument was he would bring Brian Kidd, one of the best assistant managers in world football (now with Pep at Man City) to help. Kidd had been a manager at Blackburn and some assumed that Kidd would be the real brains behind this duo.
4: McCabe was willing to spend big to ensure instant promotion and he knew that Robson would be able to attract top players.
We brought in Hugo Egiogue and Gary Cahill, both said the reason they came to SU was to work with Robson.

I remember when Robson first joined the style of play was patient possession based passing. We controlled many matches but it was too slow so there was little goal mouth action at either end. We’d been used to the high tempo direct hoof it into the box style of Warnock, so the Robson style was a massive change. After receiving criticism of the slow style, he tried to go more direct, but this confused the players. The final straw was listening to Robson’s post match interviews, he said exactly the same cliche words every match. I used to think he can’t have seen the match because nothing was specific, just general comments as though he didn’t know what he was doing.
Click to expand...
So is that a yes or a no?
 
Tom Bott said:
My grandfather in Romania used to start the day with a shot of schnaps, thought that was the proper stuff that actually tasted of plums not the sugar flavoured industrial alcohol we get here.

He lived well into his nineties.
Click to expand...
Recently had a bottle of Alde Gott Williams Pear Schnaps, very nice indeed. They do have some lighter-fuel type shots, but there are some good fruit schnaps that go down nicely.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Agree I had concerns but there were reasons for the appointment.
That season McCabe had decided we would be the most ambitious the club has ever been. He insisted on instant promotion.

1: McCabe wanted to improve our profile in the football world, like many clubs he went for a sexy name.
The 2 contenders were Kenny Dalglish or Brian Robson, two of the biggest names in the game.
No one in China, Hungary or Australia had ever heard of Warnock where as Robson and Dalglish were hero’s and legends for millions of people. Didn’t agree with it but can understand why.
2: Robson’s cv was good, recently managed to get a similiar sized club (Middlesboro) promoted and recently managed to keep a similiar sized club (West Brom) in the PL by avoiding relegation.
3: Some (including me) had doubts about Robson’s managing abilities, however the argument was he would bring Brian Kidd, one of the best assistant managers in world football (now with Pep at Man City) to help. Kidd had been a manager at Blackburn and some assumed that Kidd would be the real brains behind this duo.
4: McCabe was willing to spend big to ensure instant promotion and he knew that Robson would be able to attract top players.
We brought in Hugo Egiogue and Gary Cahill, both said the reason they came to SU was to work with Robson.

I remember when Robson first joined the style of play was patient possession based passing. We controlled many matches but it was too slow so there was little goal mouth action at either end. We’d been used to the high tempo direct hoof it into the box style of Warnock, so the Robson style was a massive change. After receiving criticism of the slow style, he tried to go more direct, but this confused the players. The final straw was listening to Robson’s post match interviews, he said exactly the same cliche words every match. I used to think he can’t have seen the match because nothing was specific, just general comments as though he didn’t know what he was doing.
Click to expand...
At that time Terry Robinson was running the football side of things at the club and Robson I believe was his choice though presumably KM approved the appointment. I have never met or heard from any supporter who thought Robson was a good appointment at the time and it was no surprise that he turned out to be a disaster. I don’t accept that he had a track record that merited the appointment and it was well known that he had a drink problem. His classic interview was before the derby match when he said it was just another game where 3 points were at stake. Just did not get it.
If only Warnock had stayed I think we may well have bounced straight back but we’ll never know.
Robson was the start of the downward spiral which took us to 6 seasons in the third division.
 
Yewsman said:
At that time Terry Robinson was running the football side of things at the club and Robson I believe was his choice though presumably KM approved the appointment. I have never met or heard from any supporter who thought Robson was a good appointment at the time and it was no surprise that he turned out to be a disaster. I don’t accept that he had a track record that merited the appointment and it was well known that he had a drink problem. His classic interview was before the derby match when he said it was just another game where 3 points were at stake. Just did not get it.
If only Warnock had stayed I think we may well have bounced straight back but we’ll never know.
Robson was the start of the downward spiral which took us to 6 seasons in the third division.
Click to expand...

I doubt we would have bounced back under Warnock, he had outstayed his welcome by that stage and had lost a lot of respect with his manoeuvres for a new contract whilst tamely fighting a relegation battle. He had to go. But the appointment of Robson was McCabe’s biggest mistake and set us back 10 years. A half decent appointment at that point would have seen us do a Burnley.
 
Robson's damage was in the money he blew.

Blackwell was a weird one because sacking him was always on the cards but we decided to let the season start and then sack him two games in. I don't think many wanted him to stay over the Summer but it was utterly stupid to time it as we did. As miserable a season as it would've been, I don't think we'd have gone down with him in charge. It has to be said that watching Blackwell's team at its best was almost as bad as some of the League One at its worst. I feel for the Boro fans at the minute because they sound exactly like we did, their league position is alright but it's fucking dire to watch and we all know this is as good as it gets.
 

Robson was the biggest disaster to happen to this club in recent times.

The squad that came down was strong enough to go back up (and win the Championship). With the right management and a couple of replacements we could have easily gone back to the Premier League the next season. I even go as far as to say the 07-08 squad was stronger than the 06-07 one (although obviously Jags was a huge loss).

Not only that, but if we'd found a manager that could also recognise/bring through young talent, we'd could have had the likes of Walker, Naughton, Maguire, Brooks, Calvert-Lewin, Ramsdale, etc come through the ranks and be pushing to be part of a Premier League squad (and even if we sold them, we'd get a hell of a lot more than we did). Another manager playing different tactics would also recognise Sharp's obvious goal scoring ability when played to his strengths, and we could have had him banging them in for us for the past 12 years.

I honestly believe everything was in place for us to become a sustained fixture of the Premier League. We only had to see it for a few years and keep the core of the team to be in the *huge* money going around now.

The game has change beyond anyone's wildest imaginations in the past 10 years. Robson was a dinosaur even back then, and he (and I would argue Blackwell) set this club back at least 10 years from where we were now. We're just damned lucky we eventually found Wilder!

For sure, there's a lot conjecture and ifs and buts in the post, but if we'd hired the right manager in that year, the sky was (potentially) the limit. But McCabe wanted to rub shoulders with Robson, so here we are.... (after dossing around in League 1 for 6 years).

Robson was boobar - we're still living with and suffering from that decision 12 years later. Everything that happened after that was due to his appointment. I don't like Blackwell, but the one piece of slack I'll give him is that he had to rely on a huge turnover of players and many loans, because the bank had already been pushed out for an instant return under Robson.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Bladepicker
  • Poll
When did you leave the game? (AKA how big a Blade are you?)
2 3
Replies
79
Views
3K
Terry Poole
T
ThatJa
  • Poll
How do you prefer our club is run?
2
Replies
54
Views
2K
Caseh
C
RecordBreakers
Policing at football matches
Replies
21
Views
2K
Grizzly blade
Grizzly blade
Champagneblade
Did COVID set us back years?
Replies
20
Views
753
Working Class Hero
W
S
  • Poll
Would you re-new Season Ticket with Hecky still in charge? Yes? No? Etc?
2
Replies
42
Views
2K
Canterbury Blade
C

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom