Graham Potter's thoughts on how to succeed as a manager - and why some of City's recent managers may have failed.

[Cyclops]

Potter (with maybe a sideways dig at Everton) has aired some sage comments about how to succeed as a manager at a football club:

""The mistake is often to think you are better than you are and can succeed in any environment. That is not the case.
"I am ambitious. I want to succeed. But I am no magician. I need help. To be successful as a coach, you need good people around you - staff, board, CEO, the strategy of the club, the structures around it, the players. I have got senior players here who are so helpful and supportive.
"We have a fantastic chairman who provides the clarity, vision and support for us all and allows us to get on with our work.
"Everything around the club gives you a chance as a coach."

City have dismissed several managers in recent years as performances have dipped. One wonders whether any of the aspects outlined by Potter are lacking at the club.

[MacAdder]

Potter (with maybe a sideways dig at Everton) has aired some sage comments about how to succeed as a manager at a football club:

""The mistake is often to think you are better than you are and can succeed in any environment. That is not the case.
"I am ambitious. I want to succeed. But I am no magician. I need help. To be successful as a coach, you need good people around you - staff, board, CEO, the strategy of the club, the structures around it, the players. I have got senior players here who are so helpful and supportive.
"We have a fantastic chairman who provides the clarity, vision and support for us all and allows us to get on with our work.
"Everything around the club gives you a chance as a coach."

City have dismissed several managers in recent years as performances have dipped. One wonders whether any of the aspects outlined by Potter are lacking at the club.

I would say all, with the possible exception of staff and (most) players.
There seems very little support from those above and even less clarity on what we are trying to do.
The owner and the board seem clueless.

[Don Corleone]

I would say all, with the possible exception of staff and (most) players.
There seems very little support from those above and even less clarity on what we are trying to do.
The owner and the board seem clueless.

And yet Malky and Neil Warnock got us promoted twice under the same board and owner

[Cyclops]

And yet Malky and Neil Warnock got us promoted twice under the same board and owner

Agreed - which I why I wrote "some" managers.
But they were in a different class to the other guys who have managed since then, some of whom were relatively inexperienced. Ole has revealed that Tan meddled with his team selection and maybe some tactics - and I'd guess others would make the same complaint.

What I like about Potter is that he's evolved a playing style that works and I enjoy watching. Looking forward to the game against Chelsea tonight.

[sneggyblubird]

And yet Malky and Neil Warnock got us promoted twice under the same board and owner

Warnock use to wax lyrical about the board and the owner too.

[goats]

Warnock use to wax lyrical about the board and the owner too.

Playing the game I reckon….

[Rjk]

Playing the game I reckon….

100%

[goats]

And yet Malky and Neil Warnock got us promoted twice under the same board and owner

Shows what decent managers can do at champ level….did it despite the board. Tan did invest quite heavily for this level in the red if I recall, imagine spending £25 million now?

[NYCBlue]

And yet Malky and Neil Warnock got us promoted twice under the same board and owner

Threw money at promotion. Didn't invest in a decent premier league team. Got ****ed twice.

[stan butler]

Threw money at promotion. Didn't invest in a decent premier league team. Got ****ed twice.

How much did Malky spend?

[goats]

How much did Malky spend?

Can’t recall but we appeared as the big spenders that season I think…..I doubt more than 10 million, nothing really by todays standards

[2b2bdoo]

How much did Malky spend?

I remember the promotion season we totally outspend everyone in the division, I think about 10m which was huge at the time.

Then on promotion I remember it being said we had spent a record amount for a team that had just been promoted.

[Dorcus]

Potter (with maybe a sideways dig at Everton) has aired some sage comments about how to succeed as a manager at a football club:

""The mistake is often to think you are better than you are and can succeed in any environment. That is not the case.
"I am ambitious. I want to succeed. But I am no magician. I need help. To be successful as a coach, you need good people around you - staff, board, CEO, the strategy of the club, the structures around it, the players. I have got senior players here who are so helpful and supportive.
"We have a fantastic chairman who provides the clarity, vision and support for us all and allows us to get on with our work.
"Everything around the club gives you a chance as a coach."

City have dismissed several managers in recent years as performances have dipped. One wonders whether any of the aspects outlined by Potter are lacking at the club.

Given what he's said there it's a good job for Graham he didn't come here.

[Rjk]

if you look at somewhere like man u

since Sir Alec left

Moyes - failed
van gaal - failed
mourinho - failed
ogs - failed
Rangnick already some moaning about him.

some of those guys are capable managers with much success, and OGS, so why doe they all fail there? must be the other things in the club

[tforturton]

We were promoted twice by recruiting the right players to do the job. We were relegated twice, after failing to recruit the right players to do the job. A bit of money spent on either occasion might have allowed us a few more seasons in the top flight.

[Ivortheengine]

We were promoted twice by recruiting the right players to do the job. We were relegated twice, after failing to recruit the right players to do the job. A bit of money spent on either occasion might have allowed us a few more seasons in the top flight.

Cardiff were also relegated twice because on both occasions they never had the right manager in charge. Both were clearly out of their depth. Blame Tan for not acting sooner.

[Cyclops]

Cardiff were also relegated twice because on both occasions they never had the right manager in charge. Both were clearly out of their depth.

I disagree. I believe that if Malky hadn't shot himself in the foot, we would have stayed up. And we were only a couple of points from surviving under Warnock. If Sala had played, perhaps we would have survived. Warnock was clearly affected by that saga. Both Malky and Warnock were competent managers.

[Dorcus]

Cardiff were also relegated twice because on both occasions they never had the right manager in charge. Both were clearly out of their depth. Blame Tan for not acting sooner.

Warnock should never have been allowed to have managed us in the Premier. Apart from his historical failings at that level I also believe he was responsible for convincing a naïve Tan that we didn't need a whole lot of money spent on the squad to survive our first year back.

The mantra about us doing a "Burnley" was started by Warnock without a realistic assessment of the status of the two clubs, the quality of the squads and their management set up.

[Don Corleone]

I disagree. I believe that if Malky hadn't shot himself in the foot, we would have stayed up. And we were only a couple of points from surviving under Warnock. If Sala had played, perhaps we would have survived. Warnock was clearly affected by that saga. Both Malky and Warnock were competent managers.

Agree, we were doing okay under Malky until the falling out with Tan ( though at least that did eventually end with getting rid of those damn red shirts!) and Warnock almost kept us up , as you say , a few goals from Sala may well have made the difference , sadly we will never know

[Rjk]

Agree, we were doing okay under Malky until the falling out with Tan ( though at least that did eventually end with getting rid of those damn red shirts!) and Warnock almost kept us up , as you say , a few goals from Sala may well have made the difference , sadly we will never know

I think we were always going down under Malky.

the Sala signing could have kept us up though

[City123]

I think we were always going down under Malky.

the Sala signing could have kept us up though

I don't know, results only started to dip from that Liverpool game on and up until that point were averaging about a point a game, that would have kept us up fairly comfortably

[Rjk]

I don't know, results only started to dip from that Liverpool game on and up until that point were averaging about a point a game, that would have kept us up fairly comfortably

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

we might not have finished bottom under Malky but I think we would still have gone down.

[Cyclops]

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

'From the start'? Is that so? Even after we beat Man City in the opening game?
My memory is that we had a slightly easier run-in of fixtures to the end of the season after MM was dismissed.

[City123]

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

we might not have finished bottom under Malky but I think we would still have gone down.

That's a surprise, I don't recall us ever looking massively out of our depth under Mackay

[Fatty Thornton]

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

we might not have finished bottom under Malky but I think we would still have gone down.

Under Malky we were getting progressively deeper every week to the stage we were practically defending on our goal line at Anfield! Despite the bright start and a few decent results at home, we were only going in one direction, Ole got us there in a different way.