Baird of the land

Chapel end saint wrote " By last Christmas at the latest any Saints fan with eyes in there head could see it was time for Burley to go , you were there you must have see how poorly we played for much of the 07/08 season . The manager must carry his share of the blame for the teams poor performances last season . It's my opinion that had GB not gotten the Scotland job we would have been relegated last season ." I would agree that i didn't see burley lasting past the end of the season and that i was disappointed that we weren't playing better. It seemed very mediocre scraping 1-0's and draws while occassionally being hammered. However to suggest we would have got relegated if he stayed is pure nonsense. Here's the records from dec till be left (A) Leic won, (H) Sheff W drew, (H) Hull Won, (A) Cov Drew, (A) Preston Lost, (A) Colch drew, (A) Barnsley drew, (H) watford lost, (H) Leic won, (H) scun won, (A) Ply draw. 37 points and ten points clear of relegation. No way is that form relegation form. Whereas dodd and gorman lost 5, drew 1 and won against mighty bury which is relegation form.

Chapel end saint wrote "I will remind you he took over after a humiliating defeat to Bristol Rovers on the BBC , that game being only the last of a dismal run of poor performances under both George Burley and Dodd/Gorman " How you can on one hand complain about people questioning Pearson's record and then on the other attack burley is comical. We were in mid table obscurity when Burley left after drawing games over christmas, hardly any more dismal than pearson's draws. Dodd and gorman presided over the slump to the edge of the relegation zone and pearson worked hard and kept us up. I'll give you that much. Whether he'd have gone on and done anything is pointless debate as its a case 'what if speculation'. you'd get a lot more sympathy from me if you'd tell it as it was rather than build up pearson and knock down burley. Both Burley and Pearson had mixed individual performances but under both we scrapped points while under dodd and Gorman we lost multiple home games and a cup game versus BR.

My view of Burley is that he was a decent manager, not god's gift just somewhere in the middle. Last season's collapse came after he left and i think if he stayed we would have finsihed in mid table mediocrity. In hindsight the most annoying thing is that he didn't have a strong chairman to challenge him over the wages of players he wanted to bring in. His first half a season was getting rid of high earning players lacking motivation and his first full season saw us lose in the playoffs. At the time i thought that was an ok performance. Last year's centre back debacle did damage him badly. I wasn't gutted when he got poached but wasn't hounding him out before as i felt he should be judged on the full season.

end of 03/04 season fans and directors block hoddle appointment. Lowe forced into compromise candidate 04/05 season: Bad signings by sturrock Lowe Bad Managerial decisions 05/06 bad management by redknapp, former pl players playing terribly 06/07 season: too weak in defence but still unlucky in play off final in hindsight burley's spending on wages was allowed to spiral out of control by weak board 07/08 wage bill was allowed to ascalate rather than being slashed. No cb at start of season, not replacing burley immediately