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I found some interesting comments about Roy Hodgson from Blackburn Rovers fans over on the Sky Sports website.
Patrick Doolan (Blackburn Rovers fan) said "A surprising appointment i think. But as a Blackburn fan knowing of his time at Rovers. I thought he was a good manager, he just had a split dressing room, a certain Mr. Sherwood didn't like him and caused unrest. As long as he keeps all his players in the dressing room working with him, rather than against him i think he could keep you up! Good luck".
Fraser Ormerod (Blackburn Rovers fan) said "Roy Hodgson was an unknown to English football after managing Inter and the Swiss national side. He started full of promise , but it became all too obvious that he had other things on his mind, i.e. a top four or national team. He was on Sky every other game pontificating about other teams tactics etc and how it should be done to improve things, it didn't take long for him to take his eye from his REAL responsibilities which [in his 2nd year] was to halt a rapid decline. I think Sherwood had too much to do in the dressing room because Hodgson was never there and was lining his nest for his next move. Pity for him it took to long as he'd neglected Rovers for so long he was no longer admired. So, if he keeps his eye on the ball, decent manager! only problem is does he see Fulham, like Blackburn, as a stepping stone to BIGGER clubs! HMMMM sounds like i m talking about Benni McCarthy now, that s a different story".
There's also a very sensible post from Fulham fan Steve Linsell who says "An experienced manager was the prime requirement in Fulham's current position. When you look at the viable alternatives, Roy Hodgson would be high on that list. Steve McClaren; Ericsson, Venables, Martin Jol all have good CV's - but also skeletons in their cupboards. That unfortunately comes with longevity of career. Roy should have good football contacts both home and aboard. Sometimes it is not what you know , it is who you know to get the right people into your coaching or playing squad. Realistically, his first job is to stabilise Fulham and that probably means getting approximately 35 points this season. It doesn't have to be pretty, but with every player needs to work for the team and not individual glory. Roy has Bullard; McBride and Cook coming back from long terms injuries. The players are under performing and with 1 or 2 good new signings his current squad can turn from 'zero's to heroes!' He needs to ensure everyone pulls together and hit hard any negative karma should there be doubters.Results are everything, but confidence must not be undermined even in jest. Fulham fans need to get behind the team and the new manager. It is a new sunrise and perhaps belief comes in front of confidence and getting those vital points.
Some good points to ponder then. It all starts on New Years Day with the SW6 derby of course. Win that one Roy and you'll be a hero before you've even begun!
Well he's maybe not the most exciting appointment but there's no doubt Roy Hodgson has bags of experience. It's been a fairly depressing couple of days with no sign of an appointment being made and the realisation of exactly what a mess we're currently in really sinking home. My only real experience of Hodgson, as I'm sure is true for most English fans, was an ultimately disastrous period in charge in charge of Blackburn Rovers. I do know, however, that he is highly regarded throughout Europe and has had successful periods in charge of the Swiss national team (with whom he qualified for the '94 World Cup and the '96 European Championships) and Inter Milan.
I would have loved to see John Collins get the job had he also brought Jean Tigana along in a director of football role. Having scoured the message boards for news however, it appears whilst we did interview Collins, Tigana was not part of the deal. That would have meant replacing one unproven manager with another, which I don't think would be a good choice for us now.
It doesn't really matter what I think now, of course. Hodgson's got the job and if he's going to work the miracle that's needed to avoid relegation we're all going to need to get behind him and the team. We are exactly half way through the season with a paltry 14 points. Simple maths says that if we don't improve we'll be a long way short of the likely 40 points required to stay up. The only thing in our favour is that there are six other teams in the same boat. Hodgson's first target then is to gain another 26 points in the remaining 19 matches. If he can do that then he deserves the opportunity to take us on from there.
Ray Lewington gets one final game in charge against Birmingham at St. Andrews on Saturday. The Blues have found a bit of form under Alex McLeish and it's going to be another tough away game, but who knows, with nothing to lose and the new manager to impress maybe we can pull off an unlikely result.Update: Interesting piece about Hodgson here > http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A30497916 from the BBC.
It seems Ray actually fancies another crack at the Fulham job. The BBC are now carrying an article with all the quotes from the Radio 5 interview I mentioned earlier. Lewington has apparently been told by Mohamed Al Fayed that he will retain a position on the coaching staff whoever succeeds Sanchez and also expects to be in charge for the Boxing Day trip to Spurs.
"I am realistic enough to know they will probably look outside, and I am OK with that. If that is the case I will just get on with my job."
Lewington believes that with the addition of one or two players in January - he identified a lack of ball-winners as one problem - Fulham have the makings of a "decent little side".
"It is a difficult task but I am absolutely confident we will survive. I have got no doubt about that, whoever the manager is."
Fairplay. I always liked Lewington as a player and a manager. He did reasonably well in his full spell as manager, and possibly only fell short due to the financial limitations of the time. He also served us well in two previous periods as Caretaker Manager. I'm not convinced he's the right man to take us forward, but I'm pleased to see him retain a role at the club.
The Dempsey quotes are really interesting. Clint has been one of the few players to have performed so far this season and yet it seems he was never that comfortable trying to play the style of Football Sanchez was after.
"I am happy with the manager we have right now," Dempsey told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"I like Ray and Billy; they give us more freedom to express ourselves as players; I enjoy that.
"I think we showed a better style of play and I think you could hear the response from the fans, even if they were frustrated we didn't get the win, as the players were.
"I like the style of keeping possession more, not playing so direct, and trying to create chances instead of trying to jump the ball in.
"That is just what I think personally, I can't speak for the team, but I think the fans showed they agreed by the way they got behind us."
I'm looking forward to seeing how Dempsey performs under the new manager. The Tigana/Collins/Clarke triad is still the hot rumour, but we've also been linked in today's papers with Glenn Hoddle, Martin Jol and Slaven Billic.
With feelings running high following last Saturday’s desperate defeat there has clearly been a shift in the number of supporters now agreeing Sanchez’ time is up. That's added fuel to speculation on the message boards that the club are already lining up a replacement. The Internet is a powerful medium, and past experience has shown that much of the goings on at many football clubs are accurately reported unofficially. The problem is for every true rumour you read there are probably 50 false ones.
Posters on The Fulham Independent speculated early in the week that Jean Tigana was in the crowd for the Newcastle game. A photo was found that seemed to prove JT’s presence a few rows in front of Al Fayed. This may not seem like much but if true would suggest a seismic shift in stance between both men. The fallout from JT’s sacking was pretty hefty leading to litigation and lengthy court proceedings. Having seen the relationship between Tigger and MAF turn so acrimonious it was hard to believe we'd see him back at the club at any capacity other than opposition manager. The photo is not conclusive but it does look a lot like Tigana, and if so suggests a definite reconciliation between the two men. Coincidentally, I’ve been thinking about the Tigana years a lot recently. The last few months under him were difficult but I strongly believe that under Tigana we would at least be trying to play good football. We might not always win, and surviving in the Premiership would be no less certain than it is now but we'd be better placed to come back should the worst happen.
Prior to this exciting piece of news my leading contender for replacing LS was Martin Jol. I like him a lot, he's a bit of a character and, I believe, a good coach. Like Tigana I feel he’d get us playing decent football again and would be good for our long term development as a team. My biggest problem with the Sanchez era is my lack of confidence in his ability to develop our team in the right way. I have no proof of that, it’s based on gut feeling and some fairly minor things that have happened so far. However, having reached that conclusion it’s hard to shake off and, when coupled with our poor run of form, is probably magnified out of proportion. Jol had previously talked about being keen to stay in England and the Premier League. This seemed to add credence to a suggestion some time ago that he was being lined up to replace Sanchez. However this week Jol came out with a flat denial that he was interested in the job, stating that he did not want to be involved with a team in a relegation fight.
In between the speculation there was some good news in the shape of returning cult hero Jimmy Bullard. JB played for the Reserves against Reading where he completed 60 minutes and scored a goal. Great news for Jimmy who must have begun to wonder whether he would ever play again, and great news for the club. I’m sure his recovery has a long way still to go. However desperate our need for a player of his calibre we must make sure his return to full league football is managed at a sensible pace. Having been out for so long it would be foolish to rush him back into first team football. But still very good news.
Today it’s all kicked off on The Independent Fulham Forum with the news that John Collins has resigned from Hibernian. People “in the know” are suggesting that Sanchez had been dragged off the training ground for show down talks with MAF and was soon to be fired with Jean Tigana returning as Director of Football and John Collins becoming the new manager. I am ridiculously excited about this and have been trying to calm myself down since first reading it. For me the Tigana/Collins combination is a dream team that would mean a return to classy passing football and genuine development of young talent. I would feel the club was back in safe hands and we could enjoy the football again whatever our final position in this years Premiership.
It’s all just rumour though. No actual facts. We’ll have to wait and see.
Whatever happens, I can’t wait for the Wigan game.
The last 3 months have seen a fairly high turnover of managers throughout the English leagues. Unlike players, who can be judged on actual performances, assessing how good a manager is can be a more nubilous task. Watching your own players week in week out gives a much clearer view of their style and ability than you can gain for players of other teams who you only see play occasionally. With a manager, whilst you can see certain characteristics in the way his team plays, it’s more difficult to judge exactly how good he is at his job. Most of what he does on a day to day basis is done away from the public view, and so opinions tend to be based on 5 minute post-match interviews or rumours picked up from people "in the know". The bottom line for all managers is that, no matter how good you might be as a coach, you will be judged on results and often won’t get much time to change things if those results are not going well.
What I am trying to get to here is how do you judge when enough is enough and it’s time for a change or when giving a manager more time will yield the right results. It’s clear the best managers around now tend to be the ones who have been in their jobs for longest. A quick look at the League Managers Association website shows the current top 10 to be thus;
I think it’s surprising to see that it’s possible to make the top ten after only 3 seasons but It’s also interesting to note that, with all but a couple of exceptions, the clubs involved are currently in the top half of their respective tables and several of them pushing for promotion or silverware.
Just giving a manager time does not, on its own, mean you’re going to do well. You need to pick the right man for the job in the first place and THAT is the crux of my post. How do you pick the right man? What indications are there to know you’ve found someone who will take the club forward? I think many recent premier league appointments have shown how difficult that is.
Bolton Wanderers are a good example of the quandary. When Sam Allardyce left I think everyone expected them to find life difficult. They choose Allardyce’s assistant Sammy Lee in an attempt to maintain consistency. It didn’t look good from the start, and as Lee tried to introduce a more classic passing style of football to the side, the results were poor and papers were full of reports about fall outs with senior players and disharmony in the squad. When Lee was subsequently sacked Bolton fan’s must have been hoping for a "name" manager to fill the role. Someone with a "proven track record". Instead they got Gary Megson who was instantly derided in the media and not given a particularly warm welcome by the fans. Less than two months in and, following some great results in Europe and at home, Megson’s name is being sung with gusto. Megson does have a track record, but bar two promotions to the Premier League with West Brom he's not looked that impressive. Has he learnt from past mistakes? Should he have been given more time at previous clubs?
Down the bottom of the Premier League Derby, Wigan, Birmingham, Bolton and Spurs have all changed their manager this season. Arguably those five clubs have all seen an upturn in fortune. It's still early days but I reckon the fans of those teams are happier now than they were. That leaves only us, Middlesbrough and Sunderland sticking with the men that began this campaign. I’m sure Roy Keane will see the season out whatever happens to his team (if nothing else keeps him in the job, who would have the guts to sack him?) and Southgate has a very supportive chairman who would not make any changes rashly. Does Sanchez have the support of our board? They certainly backed him in the summer with a decent investment, but are they prepared to stand by their man in the longer term.
Is Sanchez the right man to take us forward or should we fire him now and begin the search again? There are some interesting names out of work right now; Billy Davies, Martin Jol, Martin Allen, Paul Bracewell, Roy Hodgson, Gerrard Houllier, Leroy Rosenior, Terry Butcher, Glenn Hoddle, Joe Royle, Berti Vogts, Marcello Lippi even Jose Mourinho. Probably reading that list there are names that get you excited and others that make you cringe, but I wonder how many we’d all agree on. Being realistic we’re unlikely to see Mourinho or Lippi rolling up at Craven Cottage any time soon but there are some good options should we (or in reality the board) decide it's time for a change. For now Sanchez is still the man but, if he’s going to stay in the job, he needs to get some results very quickly.
