Mike Phelan

[The Butler 0]

Rumour he''s linkung up with Bruce at Hull

Interesting if we let him go and he ends up there.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

But is this really McNally''s fault? And IF Mike Phelan''s left to coach or assist manage a Prem team, surely it''ll be us that''ll be receiving the (albeit small) compensation, not the other way around.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Well that McAvoy guy has only linked up with us this week, so maybe it was all planned.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

[quote user="Alex "]But is this really McNally''s fault? And IF Mike Phelan''s left to coach or assist manage a Prem team, surely it''ll be us that''ll be receiving the (albeit small) compensation, not the other way around.[/quote]

He''s had his contract terminated, so we won''t get anything. Perhaps he could send us a Man U youngster on loan as compo? Have they got any decent CB''s or LW''s?

[mrs miggins 0]

the reason for him leaving is not clear or ''obvious'' yet as we don''t know if it is indeed because he didn''t get the top job here, or if he''s been offered a coaching job at a bigger club.

Lets not pretend we know things before we do.

[Tumbleweed 106]

3 potential scenarios for me:

1. Phelan wasn''t performing and this became obvious to everyone PDQ. Very unlikely, but would justify the decision.

2. MP says he wants to leave to go somewhere else, if so there''s not much we can do but would question why he came in the first place. he''d be just as well placed to take over from Alex Neil as he would have been under Neil Adams so this is an unlikely reason for me.

3. Effectively fired by NCFC because AN wants his own team. This would be bonkers behaviour by the club. Why bring in such an experienced coach/No2, not involve him in the planning for the new manager and then risk all by letting this happen. It would defy all sense of planning or strategy about the whole AN appointment. Just when we need stability for a push up the table.

All in all I am very surprised frankly as I had thought the AN/GH/MP combo was, on paper, a plausibly good management team and the presence of MP de-risked the appointment of an unknown 33 year old

[Indy 3,283]

Well now we will see if the recent upturn in form was down to Phelan.....5 wins 1 loss 1 draw in the league since he came in is good form.

So those who wanted a change now have another change behind the scenes......time will tell!

For me poor from the club, ans experienced man with big respect for what he did with Man U.....this might come back to bite the new manager. Now we are back to a inexperienced manager with an unknown backroom.

Not good in my opinion.

[ricardo 7,345]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]the reason for him leaving is not clear or ''obvious'' yet as we don''t know if it is indeed because he didn''t get the top job here, or if he''s been offered a coaching job at a bigger club.

Lets not pretend we know things before we do.[/quote]

You might very well think that.I couldn''t possibly comment.

[River End Canary 0]

I am outraged I have never been so outraged well not since the last time I was outraged when Neil was appointed

This is very much another nail in our promotion coffin. Well done McNasty another master stroke of incompetence

Get this fool out the club now

[kantata soul 0]

[quote user="Feedthewolf"][quote user="Poceni Kanarski"]If this circus is allowed to continue then we''ll have a tuppenny ha''penny management team, a squad full of second rate jocks and the players will be walking onto the pitch to the sound of bagpipes. We''re an absolute joke of a football club, a laughing stock.[/quote]Nicely done!Now let''s see who bites... [:)][/quote]Another crisis and anyone who''s disconcerted in any way is a troll? There will be trolls who''ll make out it was best that Phelan left, otherwise that terrific new Lambert-a-like manager wouldn''t have agreed to leave the mighty footballing hotbed of Hamilton Academical. They''ll probably be the same ones who cheered Phelan''s appointment in the first place, remarked what a coup it was and how it was essential to have an experienced old hand on board.The usual suspects will chip in to say that Phelan was never going to stick around at lil ol'' Norwich and it was obviously best if we got in a less prestigous coach in order to the minimise the disruption resulting from his inevitable departure.There will undoubtedly be a few trolls who''ll conjure up some ''stats'' from

the bottom of their tea cups to suggest we were right to get rid of

Phelan and replace him with a coach from a tiny Scottish club.

[Google Bot 3,256]

It''s very simple you can only have one assistant (By that i mean a true number 2) and Alex Neil is sticking with a person he has already built up a successful combination with.

Good luck to Phelan, if he goes on to do well, or fall on his face history tells us that it will have very little relevance as to what he could''ve achieved here in the same role.

What is important is that the club support Alex Neil in doing the job asked of him. In hindsight this whole development of staff who oversee continual improvement and work in advising future managers ''the norwich way'' is a nice fairy tale, but in reality it ultimately undermines a manager of the type that we need here.

I think that was most of Neil Adams problems, he was a nice round peg that fitted perfectly in a nice round hole. Was never going to put demands on the board and wanted the job too much.

I would rather the board act swiftly in such matters, and the issue with how Phelan was going to fit in here was the main concern i had with A.Neil coming in - So at least we can move onwards now.

[Petriix 2,834]

I''ve got a bad phelan about this...

[Jim Smith 2,314]

Its not a crisis by any means. Its just further evidence of the slightly shambolic way we have operated for the last 12 months or so and particularly in respect of the appointment of Adams and his support team.

Macavoy will come in now so Phelan will be replaced and lets hope that is an end to the comings and goings for a while so we can get some continuity.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

I think you wouild have to be behind the scenes at Carrow Road to know what kind of influence, good or bad, Phelan had in the short time he was there. But his now having taken another job as coach/assistant strongly suggests either he is happy not being a manager or possibly that he is coming to the conclusion that boards of directors are wary of taking a chance on his lack of experience.If he really wanted to be a manager he should have ignored the Hull offer and applied for a lower league hotseat.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]Macavoy will come in now so Phelan will be replaced and lets hope that is an end to the comings and goings for a while so we can get some continuity.[/quote]Some good things about him HERE Jim

[smooth 114]

I think with Neil appointed it was inevitable, but if think we have lost one of he best coaches this club could have had. Certainly if we go up Phelan would have been ideal to steer us at the training field to be right for the premiership.

His knowledge of back room staff and contacts would have been first rate, his man management style would have been superb and his training techniques of the highest level.

I feel Neil could have learnt a great deal and had Phelan as a good supportive member of his team. For me it weakens us considerably and if in the premiership we have a weaker unknown training staff

But in reality it was not going to happen.

I would give our promotion challenge a much higher chance if Phelan was here.

Certainly if he goes to hull I wish him well.

This new management team have a lot to do. I expect promotion to be the aim, if we miss it will be a calamity of a season with the opportunity we had. But the club blew that and Neil will have a tough job year 2.

He needs to get players in ASAP at the moment he should be well aware of what is needed. Phelan knew after a few days that leaders were needed.

Phelan had 5 wins in 7 since his involvement. We will see if he was a catalyst or the blip that saw us have some consistency.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

A lot of people going on about how excellent a coach Mike Phelan is, but the reality is he was unemployed for over a year (and was very much looking for jobs in that time) and no one apart from Norwich gave him a job. Whilst a very nice guy, he doesn''t have the greatest reputation in football and certainly doesn''t have a massive contact book.

 

At Man U he was often joked about being "Assistant to the Manager" rather than "Assistant Manager" (fans of The Office will get this). "Fergie did tactics, Mulensteen did the coaching and Phelan put the cones out" is the quote from one experienced jurno reporting in Manchester - he has a connection to Norwich due to his playing days, and I''m sure the club would have been happy to keep him on as a coach, but Phelan wants to be an assistant manager at least so won''t want to hang around while Alex Neil brings in his own staff.

 

As soon as Adams left Phelan was always going to be either also out the door, or the manager - there was never an option of another alternative. Will be interesting to see if Gary Holt survives the summer into next season.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="smooth"]I think with Neil appointed it was inevitable, but if think we have lost one of he best coaches this club could have had. Certainly if we go up Phelan would have been ideal to steer us at the training field to be right for the premiership.

His knowledge of back room staff and contacts would have been first rate, his man management style would have been superb and his training techniques of the highest level.

I feel Neil could have learnt a great deal and had Phelan as a good supportive member of his team. For me it weakens us considerably and if in the premiership we have a weaker unknown training staff

But in reality it was not going to happen.

I would give our promotion challenge a much higher chance if Phelan was here.

Certainly if he goes to hull I wish him well.

This new management team have a lot to do. I expect promotion to be the aim, if we miss it will be a calamity of a season with the opportunity we had. But the club blew that and Neil will have a tough job year 2.

He needs to get players in ASAP at the moment he should be well aware of what is needed. Phelan knew after a few days that leaders were needed.

Phelan had 5 wins in 7 since his involvement. We will see if he was a catalyst or the blip that saw us have some consistency.[/quote]It is not certain that Neil being appointed manager in itself made it inevitable. Not least because it is not all all clear that Phelan actually wants to be a manager. He seems - judging by all his actions - happy to stay as an assistant/coach, and might have been content to be Neil''s number two. But the news that Neil wanted McAvoy to follow him down made Phelan''s departure likely.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Noticed on Saturday that Neil and Phelan didn''t really converse too much during the game. Phelan never came out of the dugout too. Predicted this last week. Once Neil came in I think this was inevitable.

If we still manage to get promoted despite all this behind the scenes stuff, it''ll be mighty impressive.

[sgncfc 1,221]

You could of course look at all of this another way.

Using the benefit of my 30 odd years in business, employing people and losing people, and having to get rid of people in the face of contract and employment law......the one thing which is certain is that things change.

It is possible that, having realised that Team Adams as originally planned was not working, the debacle at Forest and the reaction of coach Robson gave a chance to lose him for not a lot and approach Phelan to try to make Team Adam work.

The no shows at Reading and Preston gave little indication that anything had changed and Mr Adams decided or was persuaded to fall on his sword. The promise of a return in a coaching capacity is probably not one which will be followed through on, but it gave all parties the dignity of an "amicable" and probably financially agreeable parting.

This left Phelan in charge, albeit temporarily. The rumour at the time was that he wanted to remain a coach rather than be a manager. Hence the approach to Alex Neil who was only ever going to accept with his number two in tow, which gave Phelan the chance to move on to be a coach elsewhere. Again, all very amicable and financially astute.

Just maybe they do know what they are doing?

However, as for where that leaves us and promotion - I''ve said since November that automatic is long gone. It''s very unusual for a team falling behind to catch up an 8 point gap on clubs in form. Reading did it a few years ago, and it does happen for 6th place but seldom for the top two. I don''t think Phelan would have made a scrap of difference as we simply are not good enough to get to 2nd place.

I think we might scrape the playoffs. That is failure.

My position last year was that relegation was ultimately the fault of the CEO and he should have fallen on his sword. If he refused, he should have been sacked. (Incidentally I got hammered for that opinion - funny how so many now seem to agree with it)

If we don''t get promotion this year the same argument applies and I''m pretty sure McNally will be on his bike, one way or the other.

[westcoastcanary 0]

I agree with much of what smooth says. According to Paul Scholes (writing in the Independent), Phelan had a huge influence at Man U, but not as a coach. "People don’t realise just how important Mike was at United.

He took so much of the day-to-day pressure off Sir Alex by making sure

players’ commitments to sponsors never affected match-day preparation

and got everything to run smoothly and on time.

Mike was

always the first port of call when you had a problem. I went to see him

first when I wanted to come out of retirement in 2012. He knew the

character of the players so well – who needed some consoling words, and

who needed a kick up the arse.

Mike would watch training

every day and was always absorbing information about performance,

fitness and mood. He had a great eye for detail and was liked and

respected by the players and the manager. I have no doubt he will make a

great manager himself one day."

So the role he filled at United was rather unusual, a cross between assistant manager and analyst (performance and player well-being). This to me explains why Phelan didn''t behave like a coach, staying in his seat in the dugout and disappearing at the end of games. The experience and expertise he brought was of a different kind from that of a traditional coach and I can see the logic of bringing him in as support for Neil Adams. But, from what I''ve read about McAvoy, he will provide exactly that kind of support to Alex Neil, the difference being of course in their range of experience.

The question I have is how the City players will view Phelan''s departure. According to Scholes, Phelan "was liked and respected by the (Man Utd) players". If he had already made himself liked and respected by the City players, his departure could add further to the destabilising effect as far as the squad is concerned.

[Chip20 69]

[quote user="Poceni Kanarski"]We''re an absolute joke of a football club, a laughing stock.[/quote]I don''t s''pose you could provide some evidence of this, could you? I doubt many people not connected with NCFC (and perhaps ITFC) have even really noticed. Certainly nobody''s mentioned it where I live or work...at least not within earshot or to my face!!

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Bethnal Yellow and Green wrote the following post at 20/01/2015 2:53 PM:

A lot of people going on about how excellent a coach Mike Phelan is, but the reality is he was unemployed for over a year (and was very much looking for jobs in that time) and no one apart from Norwich gave him a job. Whilst a very nice guy, he doesn''t have the greatest reputation in football and certainly doesn''t have a massive contact book.

Interesting Bethnal, most poster on here put our revival, ten points from five games before Christmas, as being all down to Phelan.

[ca 1]

I think its a real shame but understandable with Alex bringing his own assistant down and with Phelan being disappointed at not getting the job.

Rumour is he might go to Hull so good luck to him there if thats where he ends up.

[daly 500]

Cannot say I''m sorry to see him go. He always looked emotionless at ManU and as someone else said he had little to do re the coaching, His Assistant Manager  job was making sure Mr Misery had a supply of chewing gum and going to Aldi''s for the ginger nuts.

Not going to be missed at all.  Nothing changed in his time with Adams regarding tactics etc.

He was on the dole for a year or so, if he was that good some club would have snapped him up. Think his move by McNally was to humour us mug fans who NCFC think are at times idiots.

Be interesting how much he has pocketed for the short time he was here.

[Webbo118 0]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]PS All that money wasted just in a forlorn attempt to try and prop up Adams and justify their ludicrous summer managerial appointment. Phelan treated pretty badly as well really. Real shame. We move on as we have no choice but I hope Mcnally has finally got a grip again because the last 12 months have been a complete shambles.[/quote]

But no doubt he will again trouser a massive bonus for "achieving his personal objectives"

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,219]

To lose one Director of Football is unfortunate. To lose two is careless.

Parma

[ca 1]

He wasn''t a Director of Football Palma, he was a coach

[Highland Canary 76]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"][quote user="Jim Smith"]PS All that money wasted just in a forlorn attempt to try and prop up Adams and justify their ludicrous summer managerial appointment. Phelan treated pretty badly as well really. Real shame. We move on as we have no choice but I hope Mcnally has finally got a grip again because the last 12 months have been a complete shambles.[/quote]Could not have put it better myself, Jim.PS, whoever it was who gave the list of personnel in and out since the summer, he''s forgotten Joe Royle. Another farcical situation.The one bright side to this is that AN has so far given the impression that he will not stand for any ''here today/gone tomorrow'' stuff.   He appears to be a man driven by what HE wants, and will not stand for any ''revolving door'' appointments. Let''s hope so......[/quote]

Reggie, Jim agreed.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="Mr Jenkins"]Bethnal Yellow and Green wrote the following post at 20/01/2015 2:53 PM:

A lot of people going on about how excellent a coach Mike Phelan is, but the reality is he was unemployed for over a year (and was very much looking for jobs in that time) and no one apart from Norwich gave him a job. Whilst a very nice guy, he doesn''t have the greatest reputation in football and certainly doesn''t have a massive contact book.

Interesting Bethnal, most poster on here put our revival, ten points from five games before Christmas, as being all down to Phelan.[/quote]Quite a few did, but without trawling back I don''t remember one post on those lines that looked as if it was based on actually knowing what was going on at Colney. They were all making the assumption that since the revival coincided roughly with Phelan''s arrival there must be a link. Possibly there was, but there was a distinct lack of inside knowledge to back that up.