JHRover

When was the last time a coach was promoted to the managers chair in the Championship and it worked?

https://www.irishfa.com/news/2020/july/damien-johnson-joins-ian-baraclough-s-coaching-staff Isn't clear if he's leaving Rovers or doing both jobs.

I agree with you. His tenure was by no means as bad as some like to make out. Some like to revise history because they didn't like the bloke or the fact he walked out. It might not have been riveting to watch but I could see clear evidence of a way of playing, improved fitness and defensive improvements. Clearly once word got out that he was on his way and we were safe from relegation the end of the season was going through the motions time. As usual though personalities rub off. Seems the order of the day with the owners and down at Ewood/Brockhall is to have someone who is a nice bloke. Such a body on reception likes him because he makes her a brew and has a natter on a Monday morning and the owners like him because he goes to India and tells them how fantastic they are. No matter if results are crap. Give me a win at all costs bloke any day.

Hopefully Hummel or Macron as they put effort in. Umbro and Nike very dull.

Think it was the same sort of story as Eddie Davies at Bolton. Getting on in life, glory days behind him, looking to a future beyond death where his family would need to be provided for and probably they weren't interested in bankrolling Wigan forever. Probably also know that the costs of funding football clubs getting very high even for people like Whelan and Davies who aren't billionaires. Can't imagine he really wants to get involved with it all again at his age. Suspect he might bail them out if they need it but won't want to own and fund them moving forward

Shudder.

I think he inserted the get out clause as he was doubtful from the start that Venkys would come up with the goods and so needed an insurance policy. By the time he'd sold Rhodes, had no money in January and it was becoming clear they weren't going to back him in the summer either he realised what he was up against and got out whilst his reputation was still relatively intact. And it worked for him because a few months later he got the Wolves job. I agree his stock has fallen massively and he's going to be finished if he doesn't get Ipswich back up quickly but I'll never believe he was to blame over Venkys. Not when we look at the rest of the shenanigans that have gone on here. Lambert had a decent reputation to protect and had the sense to ensure he could get out quickly if they didn't deliver. And like with pretty much everything else in their time here they didn't deliver. All talk, no action. Only difference is that all the other managers they've had have been grateful to be in the job and wouldn't have got any other Championship position, so they put up with being mucked around.

We'd have an even lower wage bill if Mowbray hadn't clogged it up with signings that he barely ever calls upon e.g. Davenport and Chapman. Pulis got Stoke up in about 2008 - then established them in the PL, reached the FA Cup final, got them into Europe, did an amazing job keeping Palace up from near certain relegation, turned West Brom around and kept them up and then got Middlesbrough into the play-offs. Not brilliant but a hell of a lot more impressive than Mowbray's last 12 years. McCarthy worked wonders at Ipswich with absolutely no money to spend. Oh for what he could do with the millions we have squandered on project signings. He knows the importance of a mean defence that gives nothing away and doesn't get distracted with airy fairy principles of how the game should be played. All about the results and doing the necessary to get them. Took Ipswich to the top 6 in his first full season and also to 7th the season after on no money at all. Both better than anything we've done in the last 10 years. We also had a chance to appoint Wilder before then e.g. when we brought Lambert in under false pretenses. At that point Wilder would have jumped at the chance to join us. Just needed some foresight and nous.

Well I will be going at 2pm for a couple of pints. Then watching Rovers from 3pm until 4:45pm and then if I fancy a celebratory few to go with the 3 points I might decide to do so.

How on earth is that one going to be enforced then? Are pubs going to start stopwatches when people arrive and force them out on 2 hours even if the place is empty? They won't make any money if so.

You get what you pay for. Leeds were mucking about with Christiansen and Heckingbottom not long ago. Then their owner quickly learned that the road out of this division is to get the right manager and back him. Bielsa brought with him an array of his coaching staff who cost an arm and a leg but the results have followed. Lesson to be learned = don't try to do things on the cheap. Don't appoint a loser like Coyle over a winner like Warnock just because he costs less. Don't force the manager to work with staff already at the club who might not be up to the job.

Huge result there for Hull. Crazy at the bottom. Everyone picking up points. Almost feel sorry for the bottom two who have had some great results yet can't climb out of it. Could well end up with it being 50+ to survive Thank god we won't be embroiled in it but it is more exciting than the Premier League

I've no problem with cherishing promotions which don't happen often. But using this as a reason to keep a manager in place more than 2 years after it happened no.

But unavoidable if the owners insist on investing only in attacking players and insist on 'leasing' the defensive positions. But of course that's just a conspiracy theory. In reality every manager we've had has just not taken the defence seriously.....

I think it is coming to the point where we need to stop harking back to the League One season. It was a good novelty season which saw us move in the right direction on and off the pitch for once. It was a good job done by Mowbray to get us straight back up albeit with all the tools needed to do so. Of course others have failed to do it - Sunderland, Ipswich - but many others of a similar stature did do it - Bolton, Wolves, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton. Either way I don't think that success 2 years ago should entitle Mowbray to endless time and goodwill. I think people are concerned because the squad is a complete mess. That is a result of flawed business over previous windows. We do have a good XI when everyone is fit but they never all are, Mowbray loves to chop and change and several are on their way through loans or contract expiry. Add to that the spectre of Venkys cashing in again on a prized asset or two and rather than a few additions we could be facing a revolution. The fact remains that 3 years into his tenure we are still reliant on players Mowbray inherited at the club - Williams, Mulgrew, Lenihan, Nyambe, Bennett, Travis, Evans, Graham. Other than Dack, Armstrong and Tosin the rest of those signed by Mowbray aren't really up to scratch. So really we have to ask if it is going to take us much further enduring another long transfer window to end up with more long term projects and non contributors.

Big win for Huddersfield last night just as they had slipped into it again. Stoke must be feeling very nervous right now. I still think it will be Luton, Barnsley and Hull that go.

That cannot be allowed to succeed. If it does then there will be many other clubs thinking of doing the same thing. We might as well do it too if there's no points deduction. Reality is that if Wigan aren't deducted points then a Luton or Barnsley who have managed to pay their bills so far will be relegated at their expense.

Think there's something in this. Add Stockport into the mix too. It seems to have followed the direction that those towns have followed. Once proud, independent Lancashire towns in many ways consumed and virtually reduced to suburbs of Manchester over the last 20-30 years. With behemoths of United and City hoovering up all the talent and young fans subsidising tickets and a few tram stops away who grows up supporting Oldham or Bury now? 100 years ago it was a no brainer. Support your town team. Now not so. Jump on the bus to the Etihad and watch Champions League football for similar to League Two.

New owners have to prove they have the funds in place to run the club for the next 12 months before the League approves any takeover. I'm not sure how the coronavirus excuse washes when the takeover was done in May well into the crisis so surely they knew what was coming. Can only assume therefore that the League haven't requested proof of funds or alternatively they have proved the funds are there but subsequently pulled the plug. Either way something doesn't smell right and it once again shows up the League as not being fit for purpose. Reading between the lines something very dodgy going on here and I suspect coronavirus is a convenient cover story.

It looks to me like what has happened at Wigan is what was about to happen to Charlton a few weeks ago, and still might if they don't sort themselves out At Wigan Dave Whelan sold to IEC who have the cash to fund them but have since decided they dont like pouring £10 million a year into a football club so passed the club on to this other bloke. Turns out he can't or won't fund it and the money hasn't arrived to pay bills so admin it is. Not sure how much is down to coronavirus or whether they were going into trouble anyway and this has sped things up. Covid is probably a convenient excuse to clear the decks and stop putting money in. I was reading earlier that their Hong Kong owners thought they would drastically increase revenues by putting a new tv screen in the ground and other random ideas to increase income and it hasn't paid off. Not sure who advises these people but Wigan Athletic with their 7000 a week crowds NW rugby town were always going to lose cash at this level. They were lucky to have Whelan for 23 years who put them somewhere they never should have been and it is perhaps inevitable they will sooner or later end up in the lower leagues. At Charlton when Duchatelet sold up he passed it to a group from UAE and people got excited thinking they were loaded. But they soon got fed up and didn't want to pour millions in so walked away. From a selfish perspective if Venkys are billionaires keen to see the club promoted and never refuse a cheque then we could come through this in a good place if numerous rivals struggle to pay.

Shouldn't be a surprise in the circumstances but still a shock to see a Championship club suddenly go like that. The interesting thing will be the points deduction. I understand that the rules are clear on a mandatory 12 point deduction for administration irrespective of circumstances. So whilst Covid 19 may be to blame the rules do not provide for any exemptions. They changed it so that if it happened after the end of March it was delayed to next season, but given the delay to the season will that still be enforced as if the season had continued and Wigan had 6 games left we would still be in March....

Brilliant post which shows that things clearly for what they are. Rightly or wrongly Lambert's spell in charge is criticised, mocked and scorned by many as being dull, underwhelming or even a failure. Yet your statistics show that actually it was pretty much identical to what Mowbray has delivered, albeit condensed into 6 months rather than more than 2 years with Mowbray. I also feel that it is necessary to remember that Lambert never had the benefit of a summer window, transfer funds or a pre season to put in place what he wanted to do. Mowbray has had a lot of money, time and two pre seasons to put in place his vision and we look all over the place approaching his third. At a functional normal football club there would be an owner, chairman or director sat watching things, forming a view and then there would be an inquest with the manager asked to explain himself. Does anyone really think that ever happens at Ewood? What it boils down to is whether finishing a few places higher than last year is good enough in return for millions upon millions of investment. It didn't take baby steps for Warnock, Dyche or Wilder to get up. The only question on the minds of those running the club should be whether they believe promotion is achievable under the existing staff or whether an alternative would give us a better chance. I absolutely dread another transfer window of Mowbray's recruitment and lining up for the start of next season. We know exactly what will happen.

Mowbray got WBA out of this division in similar fashion to how he got us out of League One. Inherited a recently relegated side, put his arm around players, made them feel wanted, signed a few good players with a good budget and the quality shone through and got them up. In the Championship he doesn't have that quality here and doesn't have the budget to blow the rest of the division away. Ergo rather than change his approach to deal with this he just persists with his principles and experiments to the detriment of results. The talk of him playing nice football that is easy on the eye is a myth in my experience. More often than not it is dull, disorganised and predictable. One of my biggest issues is that at 0-0 at HT at both Wigan and Barnsley Mowbray is incapable of going into the second half to preserve the clean sheet away from home and win the game 1-0. It just doesn't happen. You know the opposition will score, you know we will find a way to concede probably in the last 10 minutes. We must be dream opposition for struggling clubs to play as we just can't deal with it. Pressure, expectation, just isn't something this team copes with. Very, very disturbing that Mowbray's mate in the boardroom still thinks he's our version of Guardiola and we are lucky to have him here. Disturbing that the club has paid for a flag of the manager to be flown pre match. Mowbray has well and truly landed on his feet at Rovers with this setup. To think he missed out on the Chesterfield job shortly before coming in here. Even now we've fans saying we should be happy because we've finished higher each season under him (we havent done yet). Nice bloke, done a lot of good but also left us a disorganized mess and this needs sorting with a manager who has a plan and focuses on results. Nobody at the club will think this because they aren't up to the job. Time for Big Mick and give him some of the cash Mowbray has squandered.

Well another trademark Mowbray week. Start it off in a good place, looking up the table, starting to be taken seriously as a play-off contender after impressing against a rival side in Bristol City. Ten days later two appalling defeats against two poor sides, two golden opportunities wasted, no goals, four against and ending up a disorganised rabble with baffling subs, lineups, formations. In the end he falls back on his career long solution of chucking an array of attackers on for the last 15 minutes in the hope that one of them manages to conjure up some magic, but in the end they rarely do and the scoreline gets worse rather than better as we look completely lost and are wide open at the back. He isn't going to change because he did the same thing 10 years ago at Celtic. He is either incapable or unwilling to do it any differently. He gets sympathy from me insofar as I am gutted that after such impressive performances we have now seemingly lost both Travis and Evans to injury for the rest of the season. Meanwhile who knows what is happening with Bell and Williams but i have my suspicions on that front. Point is that we all expected fatigue with such a schedule of games but to be missing so many so soon after 3 months without a game is a big problem. But at the same time this is his squad, and the woeful lack of contribution from his signings in Samuel, Gallagher, Brereton, Rothwell and Chapman means he shoulders the blame and must ultimately pay the price for it. We aren't ever going to get up from this division with this manager because we can't defend properly and can't achieve any level of consistency in selection, approach or performance. There should be an analysis taking place upstairs as to whether they are happy with that or whether their aims are going to be met by this group of staff but instead there will be nothing of the sort. Waggott will tell fans we are lucky to have Tony, they'll go and tell the owners everything is fine and dandy and ticking over nicely, Trav, Nyambe and Lenihan's values have gone up a bit more, happy days and off we go again.

Think Leeds might be tempted to.