shurlock

You forgot this bit which is especially telling "another thing mentioned was the fitness of the players and he was ******ed at AP after spending all that money on pre-season tour (more than most prem teams) and coming back in the condition they did".

Absolutely

At one point he sported a goatee and looked like david guest on steroids - so bad that benitez followed suit He wears black shirts and has sparkly northern soul gel in his hair He's always on the goals on sunday sofa with chris kamara and the other retired, pally-pal p issheads on SKY Can only claim to having one good season. He managed a team that plays in a rugby league stadium. He learnt his mangerial trade under Sam Allardyce who probably did more than anyone to put the beautiful game back in the stone age with his brand of route-one. Oh yes and he's the Northern Pardew

Keegan went to Fulham (L1) after his first successful spell at Newcastle (and then went onto manage England). Joe Royle dropped down with Man C (also L1)- after managing Everton and winning the FA Cup there. Both were big names at the time.

Sexy beast

Boll*cks. Luddy failed not because he was a lower-league manager but because he had an old school management style. He thought it was old-school to take the squad to an army barracks to instill discipline - gimmicks that were like cracking a nut with a sledgehammer. That's what alienated the prima donnas. SOme like WGS could get away with treating players like children to the extent that they were respected as ex-pros who had been there and done it. NA is totally different from Luddy because though he's not 'name', his approach to dealing with players is modern. While I don't buy into all this sports psychology guff, it probably does make you more diplomatic and sensitive to morale and different personalities around the club. If anything, NA's man-management skills are his strongest asset - something he attributes to his years as a physio.

If NA comes, at least, someone will be able to understand Lambo.

Wasn't our playoff season, i think- it was the following season which, after the departures in the summer and GB's increasing disinterest, was a disaster waiting to happen. They played very well at SMS - the return fixture at their place was more scrappy, though they should have won it after, i remember, we were gifted a very fortunate penalty.

Sounds hungry as hell - this is his career-defining break. Like him even more.

I guess not as youve you decided to post this now rather than wait to see how he actually performs let alone to see if he's even announced manager. talk about obtuse and pointless questions.

Not at all - Hoddle was a lifelong Spurs fan who saw himself as returning to his spiritual home - this gave the move a totally different charcter and made it nigh on impossible to convince Hoddle to stay. We also had no shortage of replacements, being a Premiership team with decent infrastructure (youth team) in, so we could ultimately afford to let him go; by contrast Scunny are totally up the Swanny if they lose Adkins - they are only where they are because of him. They are going to find it very difficult to attract decent candidates to a club with the lowest budget and attendances in the NPC, something which might cause them to fight a bit harder for Adkins.

There are precedents. When FUlham and Man City were in L1, they both attracted Prem League Managers - Keegan (who had just come from Newcastle and then went from Fulham to England) in Fulham's case (Ray WIlkins also dropped down) and Joe Royle (who had come from a relatively successful spell at Everton which had seen them win the FA Cup).

I couldn't see where we were going with Pardew - and while I didn't boo or hound him, I'm not shedding any tears now he's gone. No contradiction in that - and im sure that's true of quite a few supporters.

Not necessarily - it also brings massive pressure and an expectation that the 'name' will automatically guarantee success - something that can be hard to manage; 'names' often believe their own hype - some might think its a good thing that they don't pander to chairmen, especially given developments at Saints; but it can create massive friction and undermine cooperation. The only reason Clough was successful is that he manged smaller teams - as soon as he tried to impose his ego on a larger, more powerful structure, it kicked back. Its one reason why i don't think Clough would have made a good England manager.

Even better is the weekly round-up on Saints Player - the old gaffer tape routine - we're total putty in their hands.

Backing a seemingly winning horse to fit your anti-Cortese agenda. Chump.

And both had to fight off the lack of brand value when they first arrived. Recall the Evening Standard's infamous headline "Arsene Who?".

Its a false distinction - most managers who are deemed to have potential also have proven success, just that it has beeen accumulated at a lower level. The question is whether success translates from the lower leagues to the higher leagues. Wigley and Gray were never managers, so its difficult to talk about potential in the managerial sense; who knows with Sturrock - wasn't ultimately given the time, though he did have the vision of signing Crouch. Fact is that most successful managers have progressed from the lower leagues upwards -Ferguson, MON, Redknapp, Hodgson, Moyes - you name it. At some point, a club had to take a gamble with them. Its only in recent years that there has been an assumption that that you need a big name- and that has proved harmful for the managerial gene pool.

FFS - writing him off before he's even been hired. How many games are you willing to give him? Frankly I'm more disturbed by some of the fans reaction than a temperamental CEO.

Back to the good old days. When grit wasn't just something you found in your exec lounge oysters and canapes.

Wouldnt say it was deep-rooted support - some of the uninformed comments at Swindon - people berating DW for not bringing on Lallana, for instance - spoke volumes to the kind of fans that were there that night. Rochdale was more out of frustration at going 2-0 down than real endorsement. A few good results and he'll be forgotten pretty quickly.

Can imagine NC is the type to be impressed by new-fangled qualifications and management fads.

What's most impressive is how he maintains his sweaty-palmed earnestness and self-belief. Never once does he descend into parody or let the abuse get to him; got to give the dogged bugg*r credit.

Average age of the Scunny side that started their last game was 25 - hardly fresh out of nappies as NI implies.

Mate you're talking utter s**t. You claimed in another post that NC had p issed MoN off because NC had gone ahead and interviewed Adkins. Of course, if you believe Sky (who've hardly covered themselves in glory), NC has not yet opened talks with Adkins.