[Archived] Graeme Le Saux

[RevidgeBlue]

.....on My Sporting Life with Danny Kelly on Talks port tonight.

Should be a fascinating listen. Very intelligent and articulate bloke and apart from the infamous punch up he was quite outspoken about how cheaply we gave up the League the season after winning it.

[VinjayV4]

There's a "listen again" option on Talksport too for a few days after broadcast.

http://talksport.com/radio/schedule

EDIT-Actually if you change the date in URL you can go back to schedules longer than 7 days ago. Since at least last December haven't checked beyond that.

[T J Hooker]

sorry to digress(already) but on a similar note I've really liked Chris Suttons punditry on the final score in recent weeks, very honest and down to earth

[RevidgeBlue]

Fantastic stuff from Le Saux in the programme.

I was only really interested in the Rovers related stuff and the two things that really struck me were that he felt he were far fitter than any other side under Kenny, he said he used to go home from training every day absolutely shattered and it was a different intensity level completely to what he left behind at Chelsea.

The other thing was I didn't realise how bad the situation was in the dressing room after Kenny moved upstairs. GLS said Kenny had certain management skills Ray Harford didn't have and the dressing room split into various factions.

I knew man management wasn't exactly Ray Harford's forte but I would have expected a squad that had just won the League to be a lot more professional and also for an experienced football man like Harford to quickly identify and stamp out the unrest.

[1arC]

Fantastic stuff from Le Saux in the programme.

I was only really interested in the Rovers related stuff and the two things that really struck me were that he felt he were far fitter than any other side under Kenny, he said he used to go home from training every day absolutely shattered and it was a different intensity level completely to what he left behind at Chelsea.

The other thing was I didn't realise how bad the situation was in the dressing room after Kenny moved upstairs. GLS said Kenny had certain management skills Ray Harford didn't have and the dressing room split into various factions.

I knew man management wasn't exactly Ray Harford's forte but I would have expected a squad that had just won the League to be a lot more professional and also for an experienced football man like Harford to quickly identify and stamp out the unrest.

Someone suggested the other day on another forum, that King Kenny wasn't the best and if it wasn't for Harford, we wouldn't have been half as good. I think he was quickly shot down in flames and I have to say, I found it a weird thing for him to say.

[Stuart]

Someone suggested the other day on another forum, that King Kenny wasn't the best and if it wasn't for Harford, we wouldn't have been half as good. I think he was quickly shot down in flames and I have to say, I found it a weird thing for him to say.

It's entirely plausible that Kenny was the motivator and man-manager and Ray was the tactition and coach. Very much like Clough and Taylor.

It takes a very special kind of person to be both, and it takes a very clever manager to keep changing the coach but continue to motivate (Ferguson).

Kenny without Ray might have been as unsuccessful as Ray without Kenny.

This is where I would champion a Sherwood as a manager. His enthusiasm and energy could well motivate but he would need a respected coach and tactician alongside him.

[RevidgeBlue]

Someone suggested the other day on another forum, that King Kenny wasn't the best and if it wasn't for Harford, we wouldn't have been half as good. I think he was quickly shot down in flames and I have to say, I found it a weird thing for him to say.

I think the answer was they were a good team. There were reports in the press at the time Harford wanted Kenny to come back after a few games.

GLS said Harford had coaching talents (obviously) but Kenny had certain skills on the management front Harford lacked. Still seems bizarre that a championship winning dressing room should descend into a playground rabble just because "the gaffer" has moved upstairs. You think they'd be experienced and responsible enough to police themselves

Another point on GLS he came to Chelsea's attention when then boss John Hollins went over to Jersey to dish out some pre season awards at the tiny Club GLS was playing for. Hollins was told by 3 or 4 people whilst over there they had this young lad etc etc so he twigged that it might be worth a look and invited him over for trial.

GLS refused to sign until he had retaken a failed biology A level which Hollins allowed him to do then he was offered a 3 year deal but GLS said he only wanted a 2 year deal saying if he wasn't good enough to make it in 2, he wouldn't make it in 3.

Can you imagine a 17 or 18 year old displaying such integrity nowadays? They'd be turning down the 3 year deal and demanding a top of the range BMW or something on top.