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Dibden Purlieu Saint

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Great for us and we all lived his crazy ways! - we actually had not a bad bunch of players at the time and he was able to get the best from them. i didn't think we were boring either - but a guess not losing so often made it more interesting!!!!

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He isn't a bad manager but not outstanding, he made us very hard to beat, it was almost boring under him.

 

I don't know, sometimes things just don't turn out.

 

 

If he was as you say, then I will happily have a not oustanding manager who makes us almost boring every season please

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Got us very fit and playing consistent, if slightly one dimensional football.

 

Think he was lucky that we had some decent players at the time whose morale and team ethic he improved. Seemed like the players (Fernandes excepted) wanted to do well and win for him. Either that or they were just all **** scared of Pendry and were too afraid to lose.

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His achievements at Boro shouldnt detract from the job he did for us. He got us into the top ten of the EPL, and one step away from an FA Cup.

 

To me, he made only two bad calls : getting rid of Kevin Davies, and sh*tting himself after the Arsenal league game and playing the wrong team at Wembley.

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He isn't a bad manager but not outstanding, he made us very hard to beat, it was almost boring under him.

 

I don't know, sometimes things just don't turn out.

 

Boring?! We played some great football under him, Beattie was awesome and we got to a cup final and finished 8th in the Premiership. I certainly didn't find that season boring!

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If he was as you say, then I will happily have a not oustanding manager who makes us almost boring every season please

 

Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed the season we were in the cup final and top 8, mainly because of the results. I wasn't great football though, very defensive.

 

Even some chelsea fans had had enough of the defensive tactics towards the end of Mourinho's tenure.

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Oh, and Boro have more than enough quality to succeed in the Champ, their team just needs to gel. They've made a lot of new signings, including some quality players like Boyd, Robson and Thomson, and they will need a bit of time.

Boro would be stupid to sack him now imo, especially after the investment that they've made in transfers. It will definitely pay off eventually. It's almost the same situation we were in last year.

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getting rid of Kevin Davies

 

Not sure Strachan had much to do with that. Davies' ankle wasn't right at the time after his injury, and his head was in a very bad place due to one of his best mates dying and other family related issues.

 

For his own good Davies needed a fresh start, and to get away from the area.

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Any manager who buys Neil McCann has no clue!

 

In all seriousness though, think he did great here getting the best out of our players and making us very tough to beat, and I am very surprised he hasn't done a good job at Boro. Perhaps he has just been unlucky.

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Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed the season we were in the cup final and top 8, mainly because of the results. I wasn't great football though, very defensive.

 

Even some chelsea fans had had enough of the defensive tactics towards the end of Mourinho's tenure.

 

Mate you are tough to please. Like I said I would love to have this not great type of football every season. Beattie third highest scorer after Van Nistelthingy and Henry. Beat Arsenal 3-2, Fulham 4-2, Leeds 3-2, City 2-0 and managed to rack up some decent away wins. Thrashed Spurs at their place the following season. if thats dull then bring on the snoozing please

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I never really warmed to the bloke,but you have to acknowledge his achievements at the Club. Saying he got lucky is too simplistic are we therefore saying Stewart Grey got "unlucky".He took us to a cup final, the top 10 of the Premiership and made us very hard to beat. He signed some duds, but so did Lawrie and Ted. Svensson and Claus were the best centre half pairing we had for 20 odd years, Chris Marsden played out of his skin and Antti was the best keeper bar Shilts I've watched at the club. These people were coached, were set up to play, it's not just a case of throwing the team out there.

 

Yes, he had his faults, too negitive in the cup final, the manner of his leaving, being two. However, I'd only put Lawrie, Ted and Chris Nicholl above him in my time of watching the club.

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He took a poor team and made it competitive through fitness and hard work.

 

Sadly, that seems to be the trick most managers in the championship go for. He's been found out.

 

Are you talking about Saints or Celtic

 

Because under Hoddle Saints were quite a good team which Strachan took over

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had a good run

 

was not as good for us as Hoddle

 

we had peaked before he left.

 

over-rated imho by many saints fans due to the great day out he gave us

 

Strachan essentially inherited a good team built by previous managers and built on the fitness levels. A good manager at saints one that the players looked up to because of his experience. To appoint Luggy after him was always going to be a disaster.

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His achievements at Boro shouldnt detract from the job he did for us. He got us into the top ten of the EPL, and one step away from an FA Cup.

 

To me, he made only two bad calls : getting rid of Kevin Davies, and sh*tting himself after the Arsenal league game and playing the wrong team at Wembley.

 

I know you're getting old and the memory goes first, but it was Cardiff Alps, Wembley was a flat pack at the time.

 

 

 

8)

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His achievements at Boro shouldnt detract from the job he did for us. He got us into the top ten of the EPL, and one step away from an FA Cup.

 

To me, he made only two bad calls : getting rid of Kevin Davies, and sh*tting himself after the Arsenal league game and playing the wrong team at Wembley.

 

Blimey Alps, I agree with you!!!!

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I loved the man when he was here and welcomed his appointment.I looked forward to his interviews with the media and he did a great job with us.

 

The job he done here was a mixture of extreme fitness,confidence and being the right person for the job at the right time........saints will probably be the pinnacle of his career although he did a decent job at Celtic.

I can see him managing the Scottish national team at some point.

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Strachan essentially inherited a good team built by previous managers and built on the fitness levels. A good manager at saints one that the players looked up to because of his experience. To appoint Luggy after him was always going to be a disaster.

 

Come on Dalek, I've already corrected that myth a number of times. Luggy wasn't a disaster, he had a very reasonable record during his short stay at Saints. The rot started when Luggy was ousted and replaced by that disastrous buffoon Wigley.

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If you've read his autobiography, to me it's fairly clear that he never really got a chance to buy the exact players he wanted in the close season of 2003 (although KP was decent enough). I can't remember the precise figures but he went on about possibly having the chance to buy Louis Saha and Steed Malbranque for something like £10m+ combined, although that was an amount of money that simply was never going to be made available (and before anyone says this is a pro/anti Lowe comment, I am merely stating the fact that we have never been in the market to pay those sort of fees). We'll never know what impact they might have had, but they would certainly have added something different.

 

That close season we didn't really do well enough in the transfer market, and I think deep down he probably knew that he couldn't do any more with the players he had. The way he left in the end was disappointing all round as he went out with a whimper really.

 

As for his current spell at Boro, it just hasn't worked out for him at all, especially when you look at the players he's bought. He doesn't seem particularly chirpy in interviews either although that ain't too much of a shock!

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I could do well at Celtic, I could guarantee a couple of SPL titles and a couple of 2nd places.

Doesn't say much for Tony Mowbray then if a PC Warrior could achieve what he couldn't.

 

I was not surprised that WGS could not achieve much at Boro last season, I thought he would need a preseason to instill the fitness and work ethic into a side. But he does seem to have lost his way now. We look back on his time at Saints with rose-tinted specs because we were moderately successful, but I suspect it was all unravelling at the time he left anyway. I enjoyed his time with us, but I suspect he was in the right place at the right time and is really very one-dimensional and has been found out.

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I think WGS was great for us and we were great for him. He'll look back on his time with us with fond memories and he'll probably move back to the area post-Boro. 2002/3 was only behind the 1983/4 season which was my first ever as a Saints fan and possibly 1989/90 where we finished 7th I think under Nicholl and MLT/Shearer/Rod Wallace/Case were all firing. Michael Svensson and Niemi were brilliant, he got Beattie and Oakley properly fit and playing the best football of their careers after there were rumours that neither player was a fit as they could be and he built on Hoddle's work in getting the very best years out of Claus. There was decline in 03/04 but then the club had a difficult decision - spend the money and gamble or bloat the squad with average players (Kenton). Lowe to be fair to him only owned a fraction of the club and even he knew we needed investment badly but Askham and mates would have had to have co-operated in the club's best interests! So we stagnated and appointing Sturrock and then Wigley said it all really.

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Loved WGS with us. The team always appeared to step up a gear in the second half and never ran out of puff. The comments to this day remains classics. Reporter: So, Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today?

Strachan: What areas? Mainly that big green one out there... :)

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I have always thought that strachan benefitted enormously from Hoddle's legacy- he kept the team playing the same way as Hoddle had them doing, and kept all the off-the-field improvements to training and fitness that hoddle had instigated. He changed very little. I think we'd have been relegated at a similar time even if strachan had stayed, he was doing a coventry all over again.

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Doesn't say much for Tony Mowbray then if a PC Warrior could achieve what he couldn't.

 

I was not surprised that WGS could not achieve much at Boro last season, I thought he would need a preseason to instill the fitness and work ethic into a side. But he does seem to have lost his way now. We look back on his time at Saints with rose-tinted specs because we were moderately successful, but I suspect it was all unravelling at the time he left anyway. I enjoyed his time with us, but I suspect he was in the right place at the right time and is really very one-dimensional and has been found out.

 

Moderately successful?! FFS - you expected more than a Cup Final, 8th place and a UEFA spot?

 

Yes its been season after season of proper success since he left, silly me. I will take off my rose tinted specs right away

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I have always thought that strachan benefitted enormously from Hoddle's legacy- he kept the team playing the same way as Hoddle had them doing, and kept all the off-the-field improvements to training and fitness that hoddle had instigated. He changed very little. I think we'd have been relegated at a similar time even if strachan had stayed, he was doing a coventry all over again.

 

Well he changed the keeper and i think most people would agree Niemi made a difference.

Saints were 4th at christmas in his last season which is not exactly relegation form.

He got the best out of Marsden, Ormerod, Delap, Fernandes etc

Hoddle on the other hand played very negative boring football while at Saints playing some ridiculous formations at home to Man Utd and substitutions away at Tranmere. He bought in Rosler and some other midfielder who name escapes right now who were rubbish. Got lucky with the form of Dean Richards. Hoddle has a very poor managerial record IMO and this is the reason he has his academy in Spain due to not being able to cut it in the real world of football league management.

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I have always thought that strachan benefitted enormously from Hoddle's legacy- he kept the team playing the same way as Hoddle had them doing, and kept all the off-the-field improvements to training and fitness that hoddle had instigated. He changed very little. I think we'd have been relegated at a similar time even if strachan had stayed, he was doing a coventry all over again.

 

agree - when Hoddle left we were still heading upwards, when Strachen left I feel we had peaked and played some disappointing football

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Well he changed the keeper and i think most people would agree Niemi made a difference.

Saints were 4th at christmas in his last season which is not exactly relegation form.

He got the best out of Marsden, Ormerod, Delap, Fernandes etc

Hoddle on the other hand played very negative boring football while at Saints playing some ridiculous formations at home to Man Utd and substitutions away at Tranmere. He bought in Rosler and some other midfielder who name escapes right now who were rubbish. Got lucky with the form of Dean Richards. Hoddle has a very poor managerial record IMO and this is the reason he has his academy in Spain due to not being able to cut it in the real world of football league management.

 

I won't defend Hoddle#s personality, beliefs, record at other clubs, how he left us etc etc - but he did exceptionally well with us and left us at one of our most optimistic points in a generation

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I could do well at Celtic, I could guarantee a couple of SPL titles and a couple of 2nd places.

 

 

I know you're just trolling, but anyway:

 

Strachan won the title three times in a row, only the third Celtic manager ever to acheive that - MO'N didn't do it.

 

And he did better in Europe than M O'N, getting through the CL group stages is all a Scottish team can ever do these days and he did it. Twice.

 

He did brilliantly at Celtic and brilliantly at Saints. He did pretty well at Cov until the constant player sales defeated him and he ran out of steam.

 

He's a good manager with a good record.

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I won't defend Hoddle#s personality, beliefs, record at other clubs, how he left us etc etc - but he did exceptionally well with us and left us at one of our most optimistic points in a generation

 

 

I don't particularly like Hoddle and did not want him back but he did very well for us when here. But in terms of whose team was more "boring" between him and WGS, I'd say Hoddle.

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Did he finnish 8th in the premier league and reach a cup final?

 

 

 

not sure if you were around then? Have a look where we were, and how we were doing before Hoddle came in and compare to here we were and how we were doing when he left

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not sure if you were around then? Have a look where we were, and how we were doing before Hoddle came in and compare to here we were and how we were doing when he left

 

Calm down. I disagree with your premise that Hoddle somehow laid the foundations for some glorious future - he was here barely a year, and signed not one player of longevity - the great players of our Strachan glory days that were here under Hoddle were Dave Jones signings.

 

For one - If Hoddle had stayed, Beattie would have been flogged to Crystal Palace. Maybe we'd have built the team around Mark Draper football genius.

 

Stuart Gray signed more significant players for us than Hoddle did. Hello Anders.

 

Hoddle did very well for us, but when he left it was perfectly possible that it was a single good season in the same way that Dave Jone's first and Alan Ball's full seasons were.

 

In fact, of course, he didn't actually complete a season for us. He did well. He is gone. Strachan was better.

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Am calm mate - just think its funny how Hoddle, becuae of who/what he is, is slated as a manager for us.

 

If people were more honest, the main gripe people had was how positive we were feeling about saints and where we were going when he walked out

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