Wee Alex

[Surfer 1,547]

If WBA choose Alex Neil they clearly learned nothing about his time here at Norwich. Exactly the wrong mix of players and egos for him to manage. 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by Surfer

[Hucks6 186]

Never forget how he treated mike phelan at Bournemouth the year we went to premiership ( big ego)

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 605]

7 hours ago, Hucks6 said:

Never forget how he treated mike phelan at Bournemouth the year we went to premiership ( big ego)

I have forgotten. Please remind me.

[Orly 291]

He was supposed to be watching from the stands, but came down at half time and told Phelan to sling his hook, and went into the dugout for the second half to take over from the sidelines.

Seems more a determination to win and innate competitiveness, more than 'ego' to me, but that's what happened.

[Ross1 1]

Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?

From my limited knowledge of Norwich things seemed to start well but unravelled badly towards the end but I am sure there is more of a tale to tell.

 

[Ian 1,211]

In my opinion, he did very well when tasked with an existing squad, but struggled with recruitment and managing the bigger egos. Up until last season we were still very much suffering with the poor players on high wages that were brought in under his tenure.

His other major error was to change his style of play after a defeat to Newcastle in the Prem - I think he lost belief in his own abilities at that point. That said, he was a very young manager when with us, so doubtless would have learnt from his experience. Odd choice for the Baggies tbh.

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?

Not sure he is really what your board are expecting. If they told Moore that they expected automatic rather than just play offs then they didn't leave much scope. It could be goal difference between second and third.

Teams in the divisions under the Prem are starting to play better football and I think it was a culture shock to you and Stoke when things didn't pan out.

Who knows with a coach. Many of us, me included couldn't see what Farke was doing at Norwich and wanted him out but the turnaround has been breathtaking. If we go up, we have someone else to look after recruitment and that will be the most important. Our football is good enough to play in the Prem and even better players would love that style. But we won't be buying better players, well certainly not much better than we already have.

I think Neil would need time at Albion to get things sorted and I'm not sure your board are going to wait.

[Mason 47 1,923]

Alex Neil works best getting the most out of more limited, hardworking players. It was when we went up and he was given the freedom of the chequebook that he then showed his inexperience that things went backwards. I'd argue he would suit our current set-up a lot better, as a Head Coach and not a Manager so that Webber could keep an eye on him.

Must also be noted that when it comes to dealing with ego, he packed a soon-to-be £22-million rated midfielder off to Aberdeen because he wasn't a fan of his attitude; take that whichever way you choose.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,035]

12 hours ago, Surfer said:

If WBA choose Alex Neil they clearly learned nothing about his time here at Norwich. Exactly the wrong mix of players and egos for him to manage. 

 

 

If he went to WBA now...(if thats being proposed)....isnt the situation he'd be walking into there similar to that which he came into here.....albeit it 3 months later into the season?

A group of newly relegated under-performing players that need a bit of a kick and some organization?

...I'd certaintly back WBA to get through the playoffs with him there perhaps more than James Shan??

[king canary 8,751]

2 hours ago, Ross1 said:

Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?

From my limited knowledge of Norwich things seemed to start well but unravelled badly towards the end but I am sure there is more of a tale to tell.

 

Keep him away from transfers- his record on squad building with us was woeful.

Seemed to be quite easy to fall out with- rumours were that if he'd stayed he'd have sold James Maddison without him getting a game.

Decent motivator and played an entertaining style of football. 

For me, a lot will depend how much he's learnt since he left us. He was a young manager and probably a bit arrogant at times. If he's now learnt how to deal with egos and learnt that you can't just throw 10 people forward on every attack I think he can do well.

[BobLoz3 609]

2 hours ago, Ross1 said:

Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?

From my limited knowledge of Norwich things seemed to start well but unravelled badly towards the end but I am sure there is more of a tale to tell.

 

Gave us one of the best memories in recent times, with the play off final win but can't really say there was much more than that. KC is right about transfers... He was terrible at picking players and paid well over the odds for them! Perhaps more the board's fault for handing out huge contracts, but Neil oversaw these signings and we're still paying for one or two of them now! He seemingly had no ability to develop players and he didn't trust in youth, instead preferring seasoned veterans who, for the most part, were useless for us.

One thing I will say is that he gives the most dull interviews after a match and always looks completely pi$$ed off whether his team has won or not... Take from that what you will!

[All the Germans 1,239]

37 minutes ago, BobLoz3 said:

Gave us one of the best memories in recent times, with the play off final win but can't really say there was much more than that. KC is right about transfers... He was terrible at picking players and paid well over the odds for them! Perhaps more the board's fault for handing out huge contracts, but Neil oversaw these signings and we're still paying for one or two of them now! He seemingly had no ability to develop players and he didn't trust in youth, instead preferring seasoned veterans who, for the most part, were useless for us.

One thing I will say is that he gives the most dull interviews after a match and always looks completely pi$$ed off whether his team has won or not... Take from that what you will!

Spot on. Playoff final was one of the best days I've ever had, but that was it, I don't think I have anything else positive to say about his tenure.

Anecdotal but I also spoke to him briefly at "an evening with Alex Neil" and he was very rude and not a particularly nice bloke. I realise he's paid to win football matches and not to be nice, so would have happily accepted that if he had kept us up. He didn't.

[Mr Apples 1,407]

"Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?"

Steven Naismith's available on a free...🤭

Apples

[Drazen Muzinic 1,502]

5 minutes ago, Mr Apples said:

"Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?"

Steven Naismith's available on a free...🤭

Apples

Still too much.

[KeiranShikari 1,524]

5 hours ago, Orly said:

He was supposed to be watching from the stands, but came down at half time and told Phelan to sling his hook, and went into the dugout for the second half to take over from the sidelines.

Seems more a determination to win and innate competitiveness, more than 'ego' to me, but that's what happened.

I thought he came down during the second half after a game changing event happened (Howson getting sent off).

[Grant Holts Moustache 113]

Bad on transfers? I think there is too much focus on Naismith here. He was also responsible for Timm Klose, James Maddison and Ben Godfrey. 

[Jack Barak 46]

5 hours ago, Ross1 said:

Guys Albion fan here. It looks like we are going to appoint Alex Neil what are we getting?

From my limited knowledge of Norwich things seemed to start well but unravelled badly towards the end but I am sure there is more of a tale to tell.

 

He would do well with the squad you have but as many have said, don't let him pick the signings. 

His football isn't bad - quite direct at times but not in a Warnock way, more of a very quick transition from front to back. He reminded me of the Lambert approach at Norwich more than where we currently are. 

He struggled to arrest the slide when it came and was prone to chopping and changing the team. He didn't always give the impression that he knew his best 11 and was going to make alterations until he stumbled across something. 

He was very reluctant to play one of our best players at that time - Pritchard - despite us crying out for the creativity he could offer. 

 

However, that sounds a bit negative but he has had a reasonable time at Preston and seems to have developed over that time. He had the foundations of possibly being a good manager and he may well be that now. If he has learnt how to stop a slide and can pick a player now then he could do good things.

[Ian 1,211]

Just now, Jack Barak said:

He would do well with the squad you have but as many have said, don't let him pick the signings. 

His football isn't bad - quite direct at times but not in a Warnock way, more of a very quick transition from front to back. He reminded me of the Lambert approach at Norwich more than where we currently are. 

He struggled to arrest the slide when it came and was prone to chopping and changing the team. He didn't always give the impression that he knew his best 11 and was going to make alterations until he stumbled across something. 

He was very reluctant to play one of our best players at that time - Pritchard - despite us crying out for the creativity he could offer. 

 

However, that sounds a bit negative but he has had a reasonable time at Preston and seems to have developed over that time. He had the foundations of possibly being a good manager and he may well be that now. If he has learnt how to stop a slide and can pick a player now then he could do good things.

 

24 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

I thought he came down during the second half after a game changing event happened (Howson getting sent off).

Was that the Bournemouth game we ended up turning around despite being down to 10?

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

Bad on transfers? I think there is too much focus on Naismith here. He was also responsible for Timm Klose, James Maddison and Ben Godfrey. 

And he only played Klose. What a season we missed sending Maddison to Aberdeen.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Shock horror.

Young, inexperienced manager plucked from a lower division Scottish side fails in his first attempt at managing a side in the English Premier League despite having one of the bigger budgets available to him (not.)

AN is proving to be more than useful at the gig despite the fact that the "tinkerman" came unstuck at Carrow Road.

On the whole the wee man was good for NCFC and gave us one of the better days of recent years. A simple amount of perspective can be gleaned from  the fact that he has achieved more in the time since he has been a manager in England than a certain Paul Lambert has done during that period.

In fact, if the binners wanted to go for an ex-city man then it's my opinion that they would have done better to have got AN rather than the present chancer and furthermore that he would have made a much better fist of getting that club out of the clag than Lambert has done, although that's probably not a difficult assumption.

Edited April 12, 2019 by BroadstairsR

[Orly 291]

1 hour ago, KeiranShikari said:

I thought he came down during the second half after a game changing event happened (Howson getting sent off).

Yeh, that sounds about right. I just vaguely remembering it happening.

[KiwiScot 1,684]

AN came on board in january into a very good squad just relegated, but already bloated and with a few expensive bad signings and It was looking like no chance of automatic promotion. Alex came in and kicked everyone up the **** and from there it was all attack on the way to playoff glory(haha middlesbrough). Next season in the premier league the obvious problems occur and we struggled which is where Alex's ability was found lacking and we started to doubt his team selections, man management and signings. This continued into next season where we struggled to hold leads and the defence needed work(which never happened), but we kept signing midfielders. He seemed to have ran out of ideas and not solving the problems and the squad full of experienced players clearly were not trying as hard as they could. He as known at Hamilton before us for his youth development, but his selection problem was he gave more game time to the older experienced players rather than some of the younger ones he had at his disposal. Preferring to bench them or loan them out with the exception in the last season with the Murphy Twins. Either way we were inconsistent and in the end and he admitted it he should have cleaned house earlier which is what Norwich have done now.

With Alex Neil you will get a hard working no nonsense manager who can certaintly drive an attack in the championship, but whose ability to manage less driven more high profile players, and high level tactics are not developed enough. It might work, but I don't think he's really what you want long term. Hope he proves me wrong.

[king canary 8,751]

1 hour ago, Grant Holts Moustache said:

Bad on transfers? I think there is too much focus on Naismith here. He was also responsible for Timm Klose, James Maddison and Ben Godfrey. 

Not bad at transfers- ****ing awful at them.

He signed 3 players who all wanted to play number 10 (Tony A, Pritchard and Naismith) despite already having the exceptionally talented Hoolahan to play there.  Yet despite the defence being gash he only signed 2 defenders in his entire time here. Even his 'successes' in the transfer market (Klose, Pinto) have become Championship squad players.

Also I believe Ricky Martin was in charge of the younger signings- Maddison and Godfrey both fell under his remit and if Neil has his way Maddison would have been sold without kicking a ball for us.

FYI this is a hill I will gladly die on.

[Surfer 1,547]

So WBA fan... as you might expect it's a mixed bag of experiences, he did a good initial job with a team that was underperforming. Then the following PL season we felt he ran out of ideas (not a big surprise or criticism) and woefully unbalanced the squad - multiple attacking midfielders and no defenders (a major problem). So it depends on what you want, if you are re-building he's a good choice, but I suspect you want someone who will hit the ground running.... Tony Pulis may be available soon I understand 🙂

[Grant Holts Moustache 113]

21 minutes ago, king canary said:

Not bad at transfers- ****ing awful at them.

He signed 3 players who all wanted to play number 10 (Tony A, Pritchard and Naismith) despite already having the exceptionally talented Hoolahan to play there.  Yet despite the defence being gash he only signed 2 defenders in his entire time here. Even his 'successes' in the transfer market (Klose, Pinto) have become Championship squad players.

Also I believe Ricky Martin was in charge of the younger signings- Maddison and Godfrey both fell under his remit and if Neil has his way Maddison would have been sold without kicking a ball for us.

FYI this is a hill I will gladly die on.

The only person I have ever seen suggest that Maddison would have been sold by him is you. I also see plenty of criticism about sending him to Aberdeen but ultimately he needed regular football as he wasn't yet ready for that here/ there were players ahead of him. 

There was nothing wrong with the signing of Pritchard either. It was widely considered that Hoolahan was nearing the end of his career and it was time to bring in a successor. The problem here was not playing him often enough but we still sold him at a profit. 

He also signed Brady who was decent and sold him for twice the price. 

There were problems with recruitment and some certainly didn't work out but a disaster is a huge over reaction. 

[Ross1 1]

Thanks for this.

One of the current reports suggest that Neil is seeking assurances over the level of control he will have over transfers which from your feedback seems ominous.

Our current position seems not dissimilar to the one he inherited with you a relatively strong squad for the Championship on paper but in reality it has some serious imbalances and it is due a major overhaul. The troubling thing is the perception some have that he isn't keen on using young players. If Albion don't get promoted through the play-offs then our academy graduates are going to be critical. 

 

 

[Feedthewolf 5,885]

Just now, Ross1 said:

Thanks for this.

One of the current reports suggest that Neil is seeking assurances over the level of control he will have over transfers which from your feedback seems ominous.

Our current position seems not dissimilar to the one he inherited with you a relatively strong squad for the Championship on paper but in reality it has some serious imbalances and it is due a major overhaul. The troubling thing is the perception some have that he isn't keen on using young players. If Albion don't get promoted through the play-offs then our academy graduates are going to be critical.

While you're here, what are your thoughts on Darren Moore? I know you were on a very poor run at home when he got the chop, but on the whole he seemed to be doing a really good job. Not sure Neil is any kind of upgrade on Moore, personally.

[KiwiScot 1,684]

1 hour ago, Ross1 said:

Thanks for this.

One of the current reports suggest that Neil is seeking assurances over the level of control he will have over transfers which from your feedback seems ominous.

Our current position seems not dissimilar to the one he inherited with you a relatively strong squad for the Championship on paper but in reality it has some serious imbalances and it is due a major overhaul. The troubling thing is the perception some have that he isn't keen on using young players. If Albion don't get promoted through the play-offs then our academy graduates are going to be critical. 

 

 

Have you posted on the preston forum and what have they said. Or the link.

[king canary 8,751]

1 hour ago, Grant Holts Moustache said:

The only person I have ever seen suggest that Maddison would have been sold by him is you. I also see plenty of criticism about sending him to Aberdeen but ultimately he needed regular football as he wasn't yet ready for that here/ there were players ahead of him. 

There was nothing wrong with the signing of Pritchard either. It was widely considered that Hoolahan was nearing the end of his career and it was time to bring in a successor. The problem here was not playing him often enough but we still sold him at a profit. 

He also signed Brady who was decent and sold him for twice the price. 

There were problems with recruitment and some certainly didn't work out but a disaster is a huge over reaction. 

@Bethnal Yellow and Green who is pretty plugged in on this sort of thing is who mentioned the Maddison stuff.

Also saying we needed Pritchard as a successor to Wes- what was Maddison? I liked Pritchard but if we'd spent that money improving the defence instead we'd have been far better off.

Signings like Naismith, Nelson and Jarvis are still costing us to this day, his bad signings far outway the good and his squad building was non-existent. Disaster is absolutely fair in my opinion.

[king canary 8,751]

1 hour ago, Ross1 said:

Thanks for this.

One of the current reports suggest that Neil is seeking assurances over the level of control he will have over transfers which from your feedback seems ominous.

Our current position seems not dissimilar to the one he inherited with you a relatively strong squad for the Championship on paper but in reality it has some serious imbalances and it is due a major overhaul. The troubling thing is the perception some have that he isn't keen on using young players. If Albion don't get promoted through the play-offs then our academy graduates are going to be critical. 

 

 

I'd caveat everything I say with he may have learnt and improved since he left here and more power to him if he has. To go and manage a team of our size at his age was always going to be a huge learning curve.