NEW: Kevin Blackwell interview

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I can remember the play off semi final where we played well, but had totally forgotten that Blackwell managed us then. I remember the poor performance in the final too, and can't forget blaming Blackwell's tactics for the defeat.

It's almost as though you have a selective memory when it comes to unpopular managers and players. You remember the shit and forget the good stuff.

Many of us associate KB with poor football and failure, which looking back is perhaps unfair. If he's guilty of anything it's playing football that was often unattractive to watch (but got results).

I have no idea about his training methods, but if he upset younger players he wouldn't be the only manager to do this. Brian Clough was reportedly a twat on the training ground at times, as were plenty of others.
 
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Two minutes in and he’s getting on my nerves already. Not sure I’ll make it to the end.
 
Dkc said:
I was on London Rd after that game. The news that he'd been sacked was greeted with big celebrations, almost like we'd scored a goal. Everyone thought that better days were just around the corner.

Doubt the celebrations would have been as jubilant if we knew that we'd get through two more managers that season, drop into the third tier, see the pigs promoted at our expense and fail to achieve promotion in the next five seasons.
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Its a strange one really. If we’d have kept him I agree with a couple of others that we wouldn't have gone down, however, the football would have been nothing short of fucking abysmal.

I still think he’d have gone at some point in that season but maybe with relegation looking less likely. It was the decision to bring in Micky Adams that put the final nail in the coffin that season.

Gary Speed was a gamble but it looked as though we were getting it together until he was offered the Wales job. Its a shame because I think we’d have been okay under Speed. Replacing him with Adams took us straight back to kick and rush which relies partly on being difficult to beat. We couldnt have been any further from that in that season.
 
Dkc said:
I can remember the play off semi final where we played well, but had totally forgotten that Blackwell managed us then. I remember the poor performance in the final too, and can't forget blaming Blackwell's tactics for the defeat.

It's almost as though you have a selective memory when it comes to unpopular managers and players. You remember the shit and forget the good stuff.

Many of us associate KB with poor football and failure, which looking back is perhaps unfair. If he's guilty of anything it's playing football that was often unattractive to watch (but got results).

I have no idea about his training methods, but if he upset younger players he wouldn't be the only manager to do this. Brian Clough was reportedly a twat on the training ground at times, as were plenty of others.
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Judging by what ex-players have said about Clough, it was all about bringing players into line and not letting them get above their station. Clough is well regarded as one of the best man managers to have ever been in the game. Blackwell is known by many as an arsehole.

The comparative success of the two also goes without saying. There are many managers who similar, Sir Alex is another example, but these successful managers are some of the most respected in the game. Probably because they know theres a time and a place to be a bit nasty to get the best out of a team. Clearly, Blackwell had very little respect in the dressing room which suggests he was just a bit of a prick.

He comes across alright in the interview it has to be said. Maybe being under Warnock, he felt like dishing out bollockings 24/7 was the way to get the best out of a team. Warnock was another who clearly knew the right time and place. I also think its quite telling that many of the players who dislike Blackwell so much, hold Warnock in such high-regard. That to me suggests, Blackwell was a very poor man-manager and by the sounds of it he’s pissed many of his former players off.
 
Managed to listen to it all and tbh, he came across alright. Spoke well about his time at United and seemed to really enjoy it.

Obviously his relationship with some players has come into question at times.
 
BettingBlade said:
Gary Speed was a gamble but it looked as though we were getting it together until he was offered the Wales job. Its a shame because I think we’d have been okay under Speed.
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I'm not so sure. We were trying to play pretty football, but plenty of teams have been relegated trying that. Seem to remember we were close to the relegation zone when he left
 
I enjoyed the interview very much.

I haven't changed my view of him really. He was an average manager who did a good job with a lot of resources and when those resources were stripped away from him did a lot worse. He seems to have been widely disliked by the players he has managed, though particularly in 2009-10 there were a number of arseholes in the squad. There is also a lot of anecdotal evidence that he was a bully.

The football was not great to look at and he was not great tactically, but his biggest handicap was the shocking transfer policy in place from January 2009 to the summer of 2010 which saw us replace all of our good players with loanees and rubbish. And that wasn't Blackwell's fault. He was also fired at a stupid time, but everyone knows that.

I have said it before, but if United still exists many years into the future, there are a few managers who will likely be better regarded than they were at the time because their negative qualities are not obvious from their records. Blackwell is one of these. Clough and most of all Ian Porterfield also fall into this category.

I also think that one of the reasons Blackwell is disliked by players is because he was a goalkeeper. Many of them have said on Undr the Cosh that they do not rate him tactically and cite this as one of the reasons.

Finally, I have had a number of arguments over the years with posters who think that the sale of James Beattie was good business and benefitted the team. Blackwell doesn't agree with you.
 
Revolution said:
I enjoyed the interview very much.

I haven't changed my view of him really. He was an average manager who did a good job with a lot of resources and when those resources were stripped away from him did a lot worse. He seems to have been widely disliked by the players he has managed, though particularly in 2009-10 there were a number of arseholes in the squad. There is also a lot of anecdotal evidence that he was a bully.

The football was not great to look at and he was not great tactically, but his biggest handicap was the shocking transfer policy in place from January 2009 to the summer of 2010 which saw us replace all of our good players with loanees and rubbish. And that wasn't Blackwell's fault. He was also fired at a stupid time, but everyone knows that.

I have said it before, but if United still exists many years into the future, there are a few managers who will likely be better regarded than they were at the time because their negative qualities are not obvious from their records. Blackwell is one of these. Clough and most of all Ian Porterfield also fall into this category.

I also think that one of the reasons Blackwell is disliked by players is because he was a goalkeeper. Many of them have said on Undr the Cosh that they do not rate him tactically and cite this as one of the reasons.

Finally, I have had a number of arguments over the years with posters who think that the sale of James Beattie was good business and benefitted the team. Blackwell doesn't agree with you.
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Cheers for checking out the interview and for your thoughts, always appreciated.
 
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