There's a lot to what Saltergate says. Harrogate's young-ish manager is enormously assisted by the fact his millionaire father-in-law owns the club. He clearly doesn't have the internal politics to deal with that MA must face daily. And Sam Ricketts - former international - doing great so far, but Dean Saunders took Wrexham to the top of this league and clear. They crashed and he burnt with them.
Neil Warnock becomes old-fashioned and out-of-date as soon as he has to confront opponents with Premier League players and finance. Sean Dyche's methods are suddenly in question now Burnley are bottom.
My biggest criticism of MA would be that in common with our managers from Danny Wilson onwards HE ISN'T MANAGING. He's firefighting. He's reacting to circumstance. Danny Wilson took over a team of individuals he tried to make the best of, but several of whom he was lumbered with throughout his time. So Caldwell's legacy was poor, but he started by discarding players he didn't even replace. He did get a brief chance to manage a team he thought he'd built, but all that did was to hand a flaming baton to Jack Lester, which proved singularly impossible to extinguish. Martin Allen took over the fire Jack Lester started whilst trying to make firebreaks against the roaring blaze Gary Caldwell set ....... and behind the scenes the chaos was worse than it had been in Danny Wilson's time. MA quickly took charge, but rushed into some decisions that seem themselves only to have started new fires to extinguish. So he kept Weir, Barry and Gozie and now not only doesn't he want them, but he can't bring in anything new until the burnt wood has been hauled away. He's reacting, that's all, not managing and the reason is there are too many fires for him to fight. He needs a long-term plan, but they aren't easy to generate in burning buildings.
Neil Warnock becomes old-fashioned and out-of-date as soon as he has to confront opponents with Premier League players and finance. Sean Dyche's methods are suddenly in question now Burnley are bottom.
My biggest criticism of MA would be that in common with our managers from Danny Wilson onwards HE ISN'T MANAGING. He's firefighting. He's reacting to circumstance. Danny Wilson took over a team of individuals he tried to make the best of, but several of whom he was lumbered with throughout his time. So Caldwell's legacy was poor, but he started by discarding players he didn't even replace. He did get a brief chance to manage a team he thought he'd built, but all that did was to hand a flaming baton to Jack Lester, which proved singularly impossible to extinguish. Martin Allen took over the fire Jack Lester started whilst trying to make firebreaks against the roaring blaze Gary Caldwell set ....... and behind the scenes the chaos was worse than it had been in Danny Wilson's time. MA quickly took charge, but rushed into some decisions that seem themselves only to have started new fires to extinguish. So he kept Weir, Barry and Gozie and now not only doesn't he want them, but he can't bring in anything new until the burnt wood has been hauled away. He's reacting, that's all, not managing and the reason is there are too many fires for him to fight. He needs a long-term plan, but they aren't easy to generate in burning buildings.