Originally Posted by
blue lewj
The decisions by the club and its direction are directly linked though. Who the club pick as Chairman, manager and playing staff and how they then work with them day to day has a big say on success on the pitch.
It is arguable that under Tan's leadership there have been very large reasons why we went up twice. Thing that we are not doing now. Malky Mackay, for example, was brought in when the consortium, including Tan, were still very hands on with Dato Chan Tien Ghee as Chairman. He was Chairman between May 2010 and March 2013. He resigns a month before we were promoted to the Premier League. The fact we started bumbling from one bad decision after another after Ghee leaves may be linked to him. It might not.
When Mackay came in he took over a team that finished 4th in the Championship so a fairly competent squad. He was then backed in his first season to buy players like Don Cowie, Craig Conway, Earnshaw, Ben Turner, Andrew Taylor, Aaron Gunnarsson, Joe Mason and Kenny Miller. He guided this squad to 6th in his first season.
The next season we add Joe Lewis, Jordan Mutch, Matthew Connolly, Kim-Bo Kyung, Heidar Helguson, Craig Bellamy, Tommy Smith, Craig Noone, Nicky Maynard and Friazer Campbell among others. We went up as Champions that season.
If you look at the above signings and think that we added these to a squad that finished fourth is it any wonder we improved by a few places to win the league. This was Tan in full 'back the manager mode'. All was well.
We then went to the Premier League and added £36 million of players to it, the owner fell out with and ultimately sacked Mackay just after Christmas of that season. The crazy managerial decisions then started.
I believe that much of that first promotion was due to backing the manager fully. I would also guess that Malky was installed by the consortium, involving Tan but also with decent decision making men on board. Dalman and Choo were not making any decisions at this time as far as I am aware.
Since Tan has been the lone ranger with the exception of Warnock the decisions have been questionable to say the least.
The managerial sequence, including caretakers who sometimes have longer spells at the helm than most clubs, since Mackay went is this -
Dave Kerslake
Ole
Danny Gabbidon/Scott Young
Russell Slade
Paul Trollope (sacked while second bottom of the Championship)
Warnock
Neil Harris
Mick McCarthy
Steve Morison
Mark Hudson
Now after Malky left we slid from being a Premier League team to second bottom of the Championship in 5 managers (3 non caretaker role).
Warnock, I believe, rescued this floundering club because of his football knowledge, link etc and bar the mention of Big Sam, is probably the nearest thing you'll get in the modern game to a Director of Football and Manager rolled into one. He had links and knew how to manage Tan's whackyness and Dalman and Choo. Thanked them for all their great work after every signing if I remember rightly.
Since Warnock the slide has then recommenced with our board believing the best men to take us forward are Neil Harris, Mick McCarthy, Steve Morison and Mark Hudson. We sit a point above the relegation zone and may slip in today.
We look rudderless and a club that doesn't know what we are doing because in the main since Dato Chan Tien Ghee left the club we have made one bad decision after another.
Without Warnock working miracles, and let's be honest he was brought in as a panic choice after Trollope, then I firmly think we would already be in League 1.
If you don't agree look at the succession of awful managers above and take Warnock out. We were on a varying degree of a downward spiral with all.
I think that we won the lottery with Warnock. A stopped clock is right twice a day. Is Hudson taking over permanently, nobody knows because the club tell us nothing. They don't value us enough for that. Season ticket adverts won't be as lax though, on time every year.
We need a managerial lottery win again.
I have no faith in the powers that be getting their heads together and picking a competent manager though. If we get one again it will be very much down to luck rather than judgment.