Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Mariner

Managerial Competence

Recommended Posts

Is there a moment when one is allowed to question managerial competence? There is such a climate of "I can''t praise my players too much against such great opposition", that the matter of whether we should have done better this season in the Premiership is being obscured. There''s too much of the, "We''re just a small club in a big league" about. The MOTD comment is the right one, we can''t defend. The ''Goals Against'' column tells the story. Palace can keep a clean sheet but it seems to be beyond us now. Shackell should probably have been in the team weeks ago and Fleming, good servant that he has been, is hardly up to the task these days. His lack of speed was brutally shown up yesterday and the third goal was embarrassing. Worthington has the sort of sunny smile that suggests he at least is under no pressure at all. I suppose we are back to the pre-season comments that it doesn''t really matter if we are relegated as long as the club goes forward. Yes, the ground improvements are excellent but I still that, even with limited playing resources, we should have made a better fist of this season than we have.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I''m open to the possibility that Nigel may not be able to hack it as a Premiership manager, but so far all we can say with any certainty is he''s been less successful than Ian Dowie. However we should be careful about treating this as evidence of incompetence.

What we do know is that Worthy has what it takes to get us promoted, so he should at least be allowed to try and repeat the trick next year and if necessary the year after.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Without Andy Johnson, Palace would be below us in the table. We''re down at the bottom because we can''t afford quality throughout the team; where we have spent serious money (by our standards) on Deano, the quality shines through. It''s obscene, but a transfer budget of at least £6-7m is the minimum that a Prem manager needs these days to buy a handful of ordinary players.  Nobody, with the exception of Gordon Strachan, is available or affordable enough to do a better job thatn Worthy is doing, especially in the Fizzy League. Where he must get it right next time round is with his spending, however limited the money is; out of the transfers and loans this season, a significant number have proven to be unwise investments.   

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Worthington has been very poor this season and can thank his lucky stars he is managing at a NICE club like Norwich that had accepted relegation before a ball was kicked . Look how much West Brom have improved since they got shot of the negative Megson.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nigel Worthington has done a superb job for Norwich City, for those with short memories, remember where we were when he took over just over three years ago. He has given us a play off final, the Championship and a season in the Premiership.

Ok I know we are now at the bottom, but as a result of Nigels skills, we are likely to actually have money to spend on the team in the next year, we would not have that if we had stayed in the Championship.

I have really enjoyed the experience this year, which still has nine games to go, so all is not lost yet. Yes we do need to start picking up points, but we are playing the best teams in Europe, every week, and more often than not, holding our own.

I say thank you to Nigel - for restoring the pride in Norwich, if we do go down, I am sure that we will bounce back, even stronger - just as Charlton did some years ago

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wow, that yellow highlighter requires sunglasses! I agree with the last poster - consistency is the key to getting into, and staying in, the Premiership for teams like ours. We will never be a big, rich or fashionable Club (unless Bill Gates decides he wants an unusual UK investment). Worthy has done brilliantly for us, despite his mistakes and obstinate attitude! He will continue to learn, year upon year. Who would replace him, anyway? Any suggestions? Do we want a return to the era of managers like Hamilton and Megson? I don''t think so.      

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don''t think you can even compare Worthington & Dowie given the financial position of each club (& have you seen how much Palace are charging for tickets!) but Worthington has been good enough in the last 3-4 years and who better are you hoping to get????

There''s not many supporters who are not going to be disappointed if we go down but unsettling what seems to be a fairly well-run set-up is not going to help and may even encourage some players (who were attracted to Norwich by the set-up AND Worthington) to want to leave.

I say support him and improve the club through support and pulling together.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As relegation beckons I have to say that I expected us to be doing a little better but I think it says something when the three teams that came up are struggling to stay there. If we all go down then it''s a sad reflection on what football has become.

Sure Worthy''s probably made some mistakes this season but the injuries haven''t helped. But you can''t deny the effect he has had on the club since he took charge and I''d rather be staring at relegation from the premiership safe in the knowledge that we''ll be stronger for it than looking at relegation into Div 2 and obscurity. I''m sure that everything that has been uttered about the team, players, management etc on this board was pretty much what Charlton fans were saying about their club 7 years ago and look what happened there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I dont see where the bad investments are. I''m sorry but if you are refering to any of the players that we have brought in this campaign you are wrong.

Its all very easy to slag off a manager for bringing in a player who hasnt lived up to what you expected but that is the advantage of hindsight. You have to look at where they were before we signed them.

Helveg - Vastly experienced utility player who is solid enough and reliable enough to captain an international team and has one hell of a CV when it comes to a footballing career. Inter and AC Milan plus others. Not such a bad record really, especially when he was on a free transfer.

Jonson - Was wanted by loads of clubs including Blackburn if I remember rightly. He has a good record in the league he played in and is also another accomplished international player. His price will total 1 million depending on appearences etc. Price may be a bit high but there is no doubt it was a good risk to take especially considering we were incredibly week on the wings.

Safri - I am still possitive that we havent seen the best from this guy yet. However, he was one of the best midfielders in the league last year and has shown that there is a quality about him. 500k is about this right. Again he is an established international.

Gallacher - Quality sound keeper. May soon be first choice for Scotland if Douglas keeps making gaffes. Has been patient in waiting for his chance to prove his ability and is a dead cert to replace Green should he leave.

Ward - Same as Gallacher really. Sound international player and comes with experience too.

Bently - Promising youngster that had displayed times of quality and a worthwile loanee. Again a player capable of playing out wide where we needed presence.

Dean Ashton - Do I need to explain his quality? Scored 20 goals in div 2 and the championship in two seasons, he has shown what he is capable of and now I think we at least have a striker that is capable of forming a good steady partnership with other players. An england U-21 international, and at 20 is bloody fantastic.


I would like to argue why any of these players were bad investments! They may look like it now but when the scouts see the players and when we get them here on trial they can only go on what they have achieved so far not what they might and might not do for us. Slagging off signings now is pathetic.

Secondly you have to look around and see what other players were brought in by other clubs. Kanu, Scimica - have shown why other premiership clubs rather wouldnt want them! And other players went for more money than we could afford.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Worthys mistakes are all around favouring

  • ball chasing long distance runners ahead of players who can do a footballing role
  • having rose tinted shades concerning core underperformers and costing us pointsgame in game out
  • reacting slowly to situations unfolding on the pitch - should he start in the stand where he can see theoverall picture far more effectively.
  • learning from his mistakes too slowly.

However he will do well in the champs again - he understands it and knows what it takes to get out of it - however it make take a couple of seasons to get the stability needed in the squad - we will lose some key personnel during the summer and some ruthless decisions (a la Malky) also need to be taken around some current first teamers.

As far as Dowie is concerned - he stinks of a John Gregory who had a couple of successful seasons (considered England manager material!!) before his one dimensional approach was found out.  Palace are similar in that they have only one game plan and the loss of Andy Johnson will mean certain relegation for them. 

Worthy is the right man for next season - but the year after?...

OTBC

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...