Originally Posted by
Eric the Half a Bee
Not sure connection with the fans means anything in terms of a manager's ability. Warnock and Jones were chalk and cheese in that regard, yet I bet that made no difference to how they managed their teams.
Jones, Slade, Harris, McCarthy, Morison and Slade only managed us in the Championship. In terms of averages of each game played in each tier, Lawrence has an average of 2.39, Mackay 1.84, Warnock 1.72 and Solskjaer 1.28
Quality of squads inherited:
I reckon the squads inherited by Mackay and Jones were the worst. Jones apparently told the board to sell whatever they needed while he was on holiday and he'd sort out things when he got back. Warnock recognised a need for some pace and a presence at the back and turned Trollope's side into one showing playoff form. Lawrence inherited a side that went on an incredible run and had already beaten Leeds in the cup, so he probably had the strongest. The rest were probably all similar; Slade had a lot of very good players at his disposal but many had to go, so unfair to say he had a strong squad.
Transfer budgets and recruitment:
This is almost impossible to quantify. Lawrence had a certain budget but millions had already been spent by Alan Cork. Jones and Ridsdale had a plan of paying high wages instead of transfer fees, then when the Malaysians came in, Jones was backed in his last season. Mackay only had money in our second season after Tan changed the shirt colours, but most of his best signings came before then. Solskjaer was given lots to spend, as was Warnock when promotion became the aim. The rest had little to spend. It has long been the question of whether Jones would have got us promoted if he had the money Mackay had - I don't think he would have as most of his work in getting a promotion team had been done in his first season, others think differently.
Do we also include players sold for big fees? Does bringing in a player that doesn't work out mean the transfer was a flop? Some players don't work out at certain clubs for no reason. We've had a record of bringing in good attacking players who never really shone for us.
Tactical ability and flexibility:
I regard this as the ability to set your team to get the best out of your players but also to try and nullify things with the other team. Jones can't be regarded highly here as he paid very little attention to what the opposition might do. He set his side to play a certain way and that was it. Jones himself said this in an interview that the opposition should be more afraid of us. Jay Bothroyd confirmed this. Warnock and Mackay were, for me, the best of the list at making tweaks and changes during games to sort out problems.
Reply With Quote
