Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

[Moodybluebird]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

It was the continuity I s’pose. He was manager from my age of 9 to 18, so from junior school through to starting work he was a constant. Those 9 years are equivalent to about 40 years now at my age. That’s the way the life clock seems to work throughout your days. 5 years nowadays fly by, yet your 5 years at senior school seemed a lifetime and you can still remember minute details, Scoular was there throughout this. Plastics, if any, were very thin on the ground, everyone was a City fan. We ‘lived’ his early days relegation scrapes, then the epic ECWC adventures, culminating in the heartbreaking near misses of promotion.

Fans of my age also lived through the ‘fan transition years’, the moving on from the rosettes & rattles eras to the raw & gritty ‘protecting our ends’ era, swapping bobble hats and cloth caps for Doc Martens & stay press. Scoular, our tough, legendary manager, was always there, snarling, shouting, ordering Lew Clayton onto the pitch with a sponge & bucket to treat a broken leg. Tales of his remarkable playing career were fresh in the memory of many, League Champion, Cup winning skipper and he was our manager.

He was loved, respected & , yes, feared but, even through sticky times, I was glad he was in our dug out. No doubt, he’d be labelled a bully today but a bully who was on our side. He’s my favourite but I’d imagine it’s because of my age and that era.

Scoular didn't suffer fools gladly that's for sure. A very, very tough man and yes I suppose he would be considered a bully in today's more 'enlightened' times.

He did have the good fortune that a certain John Toshack was unearthed during his tenure but he had the nous to buy Brian Clark to play alongside him, which almost overnight made us a force to be reckoned with.

When you think of his other acquisitions, it's not hard to see why we rated him so highly. Brian Harris to bolster a leaky defence, Ian Gibson and Bobby Woodruff to give a bit of sparkle to midfield and Barrie Jones to provide some wonderful wing play. Very few dodgy signings in fact, almost the complete opposite of today.

[Vindec]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Leaving non football issues aside Malky McKay was a manager who got the team to play attractive football and get us promoted to the Premier League where during his employment we were never in the relegation places.

[Cleve van Leef]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

I wasn't born when Scoular was our manager and I guess this is a stats vs opinion post, but statistically, Scoular never ripped up any trees as our manager. It's interesting that quite a few older City fans cite him as their favourite manager, so for a young 'un like me, I'd be interested to know why.

Hated him as a player, but loved him as a Manager at City and really did underachieve, but he had a bit of aura about him.

[Sloop_Jon_Bee]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

It was the continuity I s’pose. He was manager from my age of 9 to 18, so from junior school through to starting work he was a constant. Those 9 years are equivalent to about 40 years now at my age. That’s the way the life clock seems to work throughout your days. 5 years nowadays fly by, yet your 5 years at senior school seemed a lifetime and you can still remember minute details, Scoular was there throughout this. Plastics, if any, were very thin on the ground, everyone was a City fan. We ‘lived’ his early days relegation scrapes, then the epic ECWC adventures, culminating in the heartbreaking near misses of promotion.

Fans of my age also lived through the ‘fan transition years’, the moving on from the rosettes & rattles eras to the raw & gritty ‘protecting our ends’ era, swapping bobble hats and cloth caps for Doc Martens & stay press. Scoular, our tough, legendary manager, was always there, snarling, shouting, ordering Lew Clayton onto the pitch with a sponge & bucket to treat a broken leg. Tales of his remarkable playing career were fresh in the memory of many, League Champion, Cup winning skipper and he was our manager.

He was loved, respected & , yes, feared but, even through sticky times, I was glad he was in our dug out. No doubt, he’d be labelled a bully today but a bully who was on our side. He’s my favourite but I’d imagine it’s because of my age and that era.

Good write up Steve. Enjoyed that.
Spedger

[Moodybluebird]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

I wasn't born when Scoular was our manager and I guess this is a stats vs opinion post, but statistically, Scoular never ripped up any trees as our manager. It's interesting that quite a few older City fans cite him as their favourite manager, so for a young 'un like me, I'd be interested to know why.

What you haven't taken into consideration or maybe was unaware of was that Scoular never had a great deal of money to spend. If we managed to get 2 or 3 new players a year we were lucky and they were generally not that expensive. The club was owned by Fred and Viv Dewey and they kept the purse strings drawn very tight. However the players he did buy very rarely failed us.

[Maurice Swan]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

My best years of supporting City...european games....Moscow Torpedo....Hamburg...Real Madrid.....ye gods...he did not suffer fools gladly...but we had Toshack...Dean...Clarke...Ronnie Bird.....exciting football...not like the sterile stuff served up today....maybe it's my age.....he never got promoted...but he was a great motivator.....in those days we used to travel on the same train to away games...

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Scoular didn't suffer fools gladly that's for sure. A very, very tough man and yes I suppose he would be considered a bully in today's more 'enlightened' times.

He did have the good fortune that a certain John Toshack was unearthed during his tenure but he had the nous to buy Brian Clark to play alongside him, which almost overnight made us a force to be reckoned with.

When you think of his other acquisitions, it's not hard to see why we rated him so highly. Brian Harris to bolster a leaky defence, Ian Gibson and Bobby Woodruff to give a bit of sparkle to midfield and Barrie Jones to provide some wonderful wing play. Very few dodgy signings in fact, almost the complete opposite of today.

Alan Foggon?

[chrisp_1927]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

I can remember liking Frank Burrows and Billy Ayre although it was along time ago and i was pretty young.
Warnock I thought was exactly what the club needed when he came.
Dave Jones for his first few years- although I wanted him gone long before he went. The man knew nothing about setting up a team, and just relied on his contacts in the game to bring in good players, who he then let do whatever they wanted. Probably the reason his teams blew up when the crunch games came around.

[Moodybluebird]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Alan Foggon?

That's the one anomaly that came to my mind too so for you to mention it only gives weight to my argument that there were very few poor signings.

[Taffy Blue in Berkshire]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Scoular was our 'Bill Shankly'.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Dave Jones. Finest manager we've ever had. I'll have absolutely no criticism about him whatsoever.

[Dembe]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Ole because I just really wanted to see it work

[Dembe]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

I've never had a foursome. That will never stop me trying.

This is the issue with City fans, we are so limited in what we think we can achieve.

"Never had that before, so it'll never happen, lets all give up and go home"

[Dembe]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Dave Jones. Finest manager we've ever had. I'll have absolutely no criticism about him whatsoever.

Ramsey FA Cup Final.

[Father Dougal]

Re: Managers you have LIKED at Cardiff City

Ole because I just really wanted to see it work

Strangely I know what you mean. If it didn't work I think we all knew even then what was coming.