Zero to Hero

[Katie Borkins 1]

** Adams appointed **

"Dreadful decision."

"Best manager in Europe?"

"Puppet, smacks of desperation by the board."

** July/August/September **

"Anyone could be top with the squad we''ve got."

"Easiest job in football to manage this lot."

** October/November **

"We''ve got fantastic players but a clueless manager!"

"He''s just a radio commentator!"

"Best squad in the league, any half-decent manager would have us ten points clear by now!"

** December/January **

"DJ Neyul!"

"Puppet!"

"Worse than Hughton!"

"Dead man walking!"

** Adams resigns **

"Great guy."

"One of us."

"A real fan."

"Gave us attacking football again."

"Players let him down."

"Shame he wasn''t given more time."

"Really done the decent thing, respect due."

It''s like when a politician dies and politicians from all other parties confirm what a jolly good fellow he was all along.

Do you think we maybe all need to look at ourselves a little bit?

[alex_ncfc 686]

Mentioned this earlier on Twitter. I have never changed my stance from day one. Yet many now can''t chuck compliments at him fast enough!

Endless Tweets of "Oh I am so glad he''s coming back in July, he''s one of us" and having respect for him etc etc was sickening, some from the many people claiming a few short days ago that he is a useless manager.

For the record, I believe he is a useless manager and that has been my stance all along.

Hypocrites a-plenty.

[Indy 3,471]

Agree bor.....would never have appointed him but once there and with Phelan alongside might have been OK.

Still he''s gone now and time is right to start fresh with a new manager and team.

Just wish he''d been successful as I respect the guy and wanted him to do well.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Well I am happy to admit that I thought Neil could do a good job for us, and apart from one wobble was prepared to continue to back the man.

I am however relieved he has gone, but I do worry that getting rid of a manager is often see as a bit of a victory, when of course all it does it create a lot more uncertainty.

He is a good guy who I have some personal knowledge of, I am glad he went as he did, it may be a contrived situation but at least it preserves his dignity.

Good luck Neil and thanks.

[barclay_boy111 0]

At least I''m not the only confused person here, I wanted adams gone and I''m glad he has left simple as.

Although I am glad he will still have a position at the club

[danielsroundabout 9]

Regardless of what success or failure is experienced by the next manager, it will not alter the correctness of the decision to change. And yet even now, there are individuals who would have persevered with Adams for longer.

Many are making noises long the lines of what a great bloke he is for falling on his sword. It doesn''t strike me as being likely that he fell. I am thinking that he was pushed and that the future arrangement for continued employment is simply a device to avoid paying up the remainder of a three-year contract.

I don''t think the supporters should be too liberal with their plaudits, after all, he has done nothing much other than hung around just about long enough to destroy our promotion chances.

[Evesham Canary 0]

[quote user="danielsroundabout"]Regardless of what success or failure is experienced by the next manager, it will not alter the correctness of the decision to change. And yet even now, there are individuals who would have persevered with Adams for longer.

Many are making noises long the lines of what a great bloke he is for falling on his sword. It doesn''t strike me as being likely that he fell. I am thinking that he was pushed and that the future arrangement for continued employment is simply a device to avoid paying up the remainder of a three-year contract.

I don''t think the supporters should be too liberal with their plaudits, after all, he has done nothing much other than hung around just about long enough to destroy our promotion chances.[/quote]

Destroy our promotion chances? I think we are 3 points of the play offs...hardly destroyed! Some people need to get a grip!!

[Holtcantshoot 0]

[quote user="barclay_boy111"]At least I''m not the only confused person here, I wanted adams gone and I''m glad he has left simple as.

Although I am glad he will still have a position at the club[/quote]Agreed entirely.Now we can only hope Delia will remember back to Adams, Gunn and Grant and accept that ex-players with no prior experience at managing a pro football team are a major risk.Let''s have a young hungry manager with a proven track record in the lower leagues ready for a new challenge.

[lake district canary 4,830]

April - Reacted with shock at his appointment.May - Tried to buy into it and gave him time.November - Saw it wasn''t working and said I wanted him out.January - Actually thought he was here to stay and tried to see a way of getting positive about him. Its ok for people to change their views as circumstances change.  Its called being human.  Anyone that thought he was rubbish to start with but never tried to get behind him at all is just bl**dy minded, much like some were with Hughton.

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="lake district canary"]April - Reacted with shock at his appointment.
May - Tried to buy into it and gave him time.
November - Saw it wasn''t working and said I wanted him out.
January - Actually thought he was here to stay and tried to see a way of getting positive about him.

Its ok for people to change their views as circumstances change.  Its called being human. 
Anyone that thought he was rubbish to start with but never tried to get behind him at all is just bl**dy minded, much like some were with Hughton.


[/quote]

 

Not quite the same at all, Lakey.

 

I was surprised when Neil was appointed for this campaign but assumed it was as a result of a more experienced choice falling through, for whatever reason. Neil, inexperienced as we know, also had to be disappointed that the idea of having Joe Royle at his side fell through before it even got underway. However, once Neil was in the position I was extremely disappointed with those who were ready to write him off after a little more than a dozen games given that it is rarely easy to motivate a team that still contains a healthy number of those players that were relegated. This to me was not giving the man a fair chance. It appears to be fairly obvious that, for whatever reason, the players are not giving it their all. We may not know why, but the players know. Professional footballers know who is not putting their foot into a tackle, who is a second or two off the pace they are capable of. Maybe it''s just a few but that''s all it takes for malaise to go through a team. Neil Adams and his superiors know why too, so the decision was made for the good of the club. We don''t yet know how long Phelan will have hold of the reins but we probably know that we still have inconsistency problems on the pitch that will not go away until the problems are faced squarely and dealt with. 

 

It was a different situation for Chris Hughton. He didn''t have an easy task in replacing Paul Lambert but, conversely, he took on a team that still had momentum from a positive three seasons before he arrived. Slowly but surely he took the players away from that positive belief they had in themselves, while also having had good money available to invest in forwards that did not suit the style he wanted to play. This, from an experienced manager.

 

Two entirely different scenarios, but both ending in failure.

[Tumbleweed 106]

Excellent comments YC, I agree with your summary there.

I too was underwhelmed by the Adams appointment, but I could also see some of the thinking behind it. I am surprised at the timing with this Board''s past record of dithering, but glad that it has now happened so there is still a chance of a new man coming in with some January signing potential. In a different context Adams may have had much longer but I would imagine the Board are of the view that the best chance back is this season so this is not now so much about sustainability but a short term fix. It would not surprise me to see someone in on a relatively short contract.

I would also be very surprised if the Board went for another "safe" option. Lambert wasn''t safe by any means, and Hughton came with a good reputation. We could actually be more attractive now, with a good squad and a possible promotion on the CV, than last April when we were only heading one way and any incomer would have a relegation on there instead.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Yankee, I was also very disappointed that''s some wrote him off before the season had even began, and stuck with that agenda throughout his tenure going silent when we won a game then pouring out their bile when we lost.

Anyway that''s all now water under the bridge, I just wonder whether the new manager will be treated the same by those that didn''t support his appointment.

I suspect the Adams situation was more extreme than most would be due his complete lack of experience at a senior level, I will console myself on that presumption.