Tony Mowbray

[JJ Sefton]

post: 236163"]Bougherra is at Rangers, and they are on a lot less playing budget than Celtic.

Very true. Still, they have their fair share of makeweights in Lee Naylor and Niall McGinn (from Derry City). I doubt that, in a couple of years, either Glasgow club will have the financial resources to compete with top half Championship clubs.

 

[happyhippy]

Dave Cusack did it the very same season, taking both Rotherham and Doncaster down to the 4th division, although I have seem dozens of references to Bassett being the only person to relegate 2 sides in the same year.

Yes, you are the new Darren

 

[happyhippy]

post: 236158"]He still did well until he left Barnsley.

He did well at Palace and left then in a better state than he found them, took Forest to a promotion and then took Barnsley to a play-off final.

After he took Forest up, i wrote to him and recieved a nice letter back thanking me for my kind words and telling me he still had a big soft spot for Sheffield United.

I met him at work a few years back, and usually meeting your heroes is a disappointment, but i really enjoyed talking to him to the extent that he couldn't get away and get on with my job as he was too busy chatting away.

Dave Bassett, a proper gentleman

He certainly is a very nice bloke. He also had a sly grin when I told him that I was at Kevin Gage's testimonial against Chelsea at Plough Lane.

It was his last match in charge of Wimbledon. Yes, he certainly is a very chatty bloke

 

[DuncDisorderly]

Apparently now out of work.
Now, if we wanted to shift a few more season tickets...

All hail the new messiah!

Errr, did you consider the possibility that we might do a 'Celtic', rather than a 'West Brom'..?

 

[sitwell]

From one of Europe's most famous clubs with Champions League pretentions, to a financially retrenching Championship club?

Dreamsville I'm afraid.

Didn't Strachan go from Celtic to Middlesboro and john Barnes go from Celtic to Tranmere ?

 

[lenners]

All hail the new messiah!

Errr, did you consider the possibility that we might do a 'Celtic', rather than a 'West Brom'..?

Doesn't really matter. The key thing is setting out a clear agenda that involves United becoming a footballing club again and sticking with it.
We need to change, to put our academy to proper use, to get rid of the Blades Way for good.
To say we've had 20 odd debuts this season and I don't know how many players overall in the first team, what does it say about the general management of the footballing side of our club that none of them - not one - has been a young player coming through our ranks?

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Mowbray would surely be on any short list if he was available and we were looking - he ticks the all important McCabe criteria of 'must have experienced relegation'.

 

[broomhillblade]

post: 236158"]He still did well until he left Barnsley.

He did well at Palace and left then in a better state than he found them, took Forest to a promotion and then took Barnsley to a play-off final.

After he took Forest up, i wrote to him and recieved a nice letter back thanking me for my kind words and telling me he still had a big soft spot for Sheffield United.

I met him at work a few years back, and usually meeting your heroes is a disappointment, but i really enjoyed talking to him to the extent that he couldn't get away and get on with my job as he was too busy chatting away.

Dave Bassett, a proper gentleman

His speech at Derek Dooley's funeral service wasn't bad either.

 

[JohnDenver]

How many clubs can you name, including in the Premier League, that are not financially retrenching?

Good question. I guess only those clubs with benefactors (or kamikaze Chief Execs).

But we're currently going backwards faster than most as we have to cope with the loss of the Prem money and service the debts incurred by our previous shows of ambition.

 

[JohnDenver]

Didn't Strachan go from Celtic to Middlesboro and john Barnes go from Celtic to Tranmere ?

You're quite right, but Strachan will be on the sort of money we can only dream of paying, and poor old Barnes is a charity case these days.

 

[ghandi]

Alex Ferguson failed and was sacked by ST Mirren.

To be fair AF was sacked by St Mirren because he was talking to Aberdeen about the mangaer's job, his management record with them was very good.
On the wider point I would like someone like Tony Mowbray as manager but I think we would have to give him until his 2nd season where we would be challenging for the play-offs playing entertaining football.

 

[JohnDenver]

With respect Celtic will be retrenching a bit pretty soon. Keane is on his way back to Spurs as soon as they can get him a train ticket as the £68,000 a week hes on is rogering them. Also, look at their squad. They are a club with Champions League pretensions buying carthorses like Bougherra from the Pigs.

I thought Bougherra played for Rangers? But your point stands - they are both on a downward financial curve at the moment.

Still think we're a long old way behind them though.

 

[Oreyt]

......we would have to give him until his 2nd season where we would be challenging for the play-offs playing entertaining football.

And there lies the problem. Do you think our fans have that much patience? You hear a lot of ''all I care about is being entertained'' type comments nowadays. You wonder how long any manager of ours would last delivering nice football in the lower half of the league.

 

[ghandi]

And there lies the problem. Do you think our fans have that much patience? You hear a lot of ''all I care about is being entertained'' type comments nowadays. You wonder how long any manager of ours would last delivering nice football in the lower half of the league.

Yes that certainly is a worry however I would hope that my modest expectations of challenging for a play off spot (as we and about 8 others are at this point in the season) could be achieved via entertaining football but with hope for the following season as opposed to this season's end where the the thought of being served more dross next season feels one with dread. BTW I'll be renewing yet again even in the mistaken belief it makes my moaning more valid

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Good question. I guess only those clubs with benefactors (or kamikaze Chief Execs).

But we're currently going backwards faster than most as we have to cope with the loss of the Prem money and service the debts incurred by our previous shows of ambition.

In the next 12 months

Hull
Cardiff
Portsmouth
Forest
Watford
Wednesday
Leeds (with no promotion)
West Ham (with relegation)

could all make our backwards move look like it's slow motion!

 

[LoughboroBlade]

And there lies the problem. Do you think our fans have that much patience? You hear a lot of ''all I care about is being entertained'' type comments nowadays. You wonder how long any manager of ours would last delivering nice football in the lower half of the league.

That is admittedly a distinctly likely danger, but I think it altogether depends on the manager appointed. McCabe, in all honesty, wasn't totally misguided about getting a new style of manager in when Robson was appointed. The problem was, it was Bryan Robson - a man that frankly would have been about as shocked to be given the opportunity after a stream of failures as we were to see him appointed.

Once, just once, it would be quite nice to appoint someone where we've had to compete for their services, because they are genuinely considered to be a good manager. That has never happened whilst I've been a fan - we've always turned to people who would have been surprised to be phoned up and offered the job, because nobody else will have been clamouring for their services. That isn't always a problem (it worked in the Bassett/Warnock cases), but it would be good to appoint someone and it be considered a bit of a coup.

 

[JohnDenver]

but it would be good to appoint someone and it be considered a bit of a coup.

I bet McCabe thought Robbo was a coup.

If I'm honest, I think the appointment needs to set the tone for the next couple of years. For instance, if we got SOD, I think most people would understand it's an investment in the medium term, and instant success is unlikely.

Should we get another big name, I really doubt expectations could ever be met.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

If I'm honest, I think the appointment needs to set the tone for the next couple of years. For instance, if we got SOD, I think most people would understand it's an investment in the medium term, and instant success is unlikely.

I'm not one to ever normally praise the other lot, but that's sort of how I look at their appointment of Irvine. They will probably stay up (we can always hope otherwise), and if they do could then be on the way to significantly improving next season. They probably had at least one or two other clubs that would have been interested in Irvine. The old mentality would have probably seen them appoint someone like Megson.

The cost in compensation to Donny would probably immediately mean we wouldn't go near him. And there is a legitimate argument that in coming to a substantially bigger club with substantially higher expectations, he might find it much tougher. In WBA and Celtic, Mowbray has had those high expectations. He met them immediately at WBA. It hasn't quite worked out at Celtic admittedly.

 

[Torrix1889]

Take away 40,000 fans a week is there in reality much difference between us and Celtic?

I'm obviously not talking about history/heritage but they are pretty much a Championship side (as evidenced by their seasonal capitulation in European competitions)in a mickey mouse league. Certainly not much (as a club anyway) between us and WBA.

Mowbray could do an excellent job at BDTBL and with only 12 contracted players would be the perfect person to build his own side in the summer.

Go get him.

 

[AlienWoodward]

I'm not one to ever normally praise the other lot, but that's sort of how I look at their appointment of Irvine. They will probably stay up (we can always hope otherwise), and if they do could then be on the way to significantly improving next season. They probably had at least one or two other clubs that would have been interested in Irvine. The old mentality would have probably seen them appoint someone like Megson.

The cost in compensation to Donny would probably immediately mean we wouldn't go near him. And there is a legitimate argument that in coming to a substantially bigger club with substantially higher expectations, he might find it much tougher. In WBA and Celtic, Mowbray has had those high expectations. He met them immediately at WBA. It hasn't quite worked out at Celtic admittedly.

Did you see his Hibs team Loughboro or had you left Edinburgh then ?
They were superb to watch,I think his win % was almost 50% in two years as I remember that is amazing with a team like Hibs.
He also left a very good West Brom team behind him when he went to celtic.
Mowbray will never manage a bigger team than celtic again and is very unlikely to be offered a premier league club as in effect he has failed there. He would certainly come to united on whatever the wages are,but I reckon his next stop will be his beloved Ipswich when keane gets the boot.
I am sure he would get us playing very attractive football if he came.I wonder if the press would still call us a long ball team. I am reasonably sure we would get promoted.
However Mowbray is very set in his football ways and we would certainly struggle in the premier league. Maybe he struggles with the big boys hence is relegaton with west brom and the struggle he has had with tic.

Mind you all this talk of a new manager don't we still have a manager

 

[Coily]

There is plenty of truth in the thought that you learn more from failure than you do from success. Mowbray has failed at Celtic, in the most part due to trying to change things far too quickly than the club could adapt. He's not the first manager to do that by any means, Paul Le Guen at Rangers did much the same but without Mowbray's congeniality.

I for one would welcome Mowbray to us on the back of his principles on how the game should be played, which many of you will remember is a million miles away from how he played, the dirty get! I'd also trust that he'd learn from errors made, I think there is a very good manager there who can produce an entertaining side. And that is something we've been dying for!

UTB!

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Did you see his Hibs team Loughboro or had you left Edinburgh then ?
They were superb to watch,I think his win % was almost 50% in two years as I remember that is amazing with a team like Hibs.

Certainly did - the Brown-Thomson-Riordan axis on the pitch was a definite highlight. That said, it wasn't all entirely good, I can remember a few shocking games too. And a shocking Scottish Premier League game is substantially worse on the eye than a bad Championship game... Though for the most part, he did excellently with the limited talent available to him. They were exciting to watch.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Agreed Bassett was right place right time but we are still paying the price for the 'Bassett mentality' of pressure fottball.

I think it is time to 'play' some football.

 

[Grecian2000]

I bet McCabe thought Robbo was a coup.

We all did didn't we.

Oh sorry. You've put coup. Thought you'd put c. . . .

 

[grafikhaus]

Go get him.

I agree. Thanks KB and you have had an extraordinarily bad run with injuries but, as has been said, some of these problems have been addressed too late and with a desperate last-minute loan system.

Also, most of us appreciate that KMc is 'restructuring' and we could be in financial trouble. Just like most teams. The CCC is packed with teams such as Blackpool, Wendy, Palace etc. who are all up shit creek financially. Doesn't make them capitulate away from home, does it?

Yup, I'd say go for Mowbray. No guarantees of course but what is certain is that we're on a downward path and next season could as easily turn into a relegation fight as a promotion push.

Mowbray would be interested. At the moment it's us or the Sky Sports studio.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

'Sky Sports studio'

Bliss

 

[mattbianco1]

It's a no from me.

When was the last time Celtic were out of the title race in March? In fact, they were out of it by the new year! If you can't keep the scottish league a two horse race you must be bad.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Doesn't really matter. The key thing is setting out a clear agenda that involves United becoming a footballing club again and sticking with it.
We need to change, to put our academy to proper use, to get rid of the Blades Way for good.
To say we've had 20 odd debuts this season and I don't know how many players overall in the first team, what does it say about the general management of the footballing side of our club that none of them - not one - has been a young player coming through our ranks?

Matthew Lowton.

I don't think our "players through the ranks" record is too bad recently, it's just that the club is too eager to cash in on them rather than build a team around them.

 

[LouTheBlade]

I'm not sure Tony Mowbray is the answer to be honest. It's not that I think he's a bad manager but his principles are far too strong, which is a respectable trait but it can land you in trouble. He is firmly intent on playing short passing football come what may, which is nice to watch but I prefer managers that can mix it up a bit (dependent on the circumstances).

You also have the problem that he would want to transform us overnight and we know what happened when Robson tried that

 

[JohnDenver]

You also have the problem that he would want to transform us overnight and we know what happened when Robson tried that

Robbo specifically said that wasn't what he was trying to do.

Just a shame no bugger knew what he actually was up to.