Most underwhelming Managerial appointment

[Gutter Boy]

Jeez I know some people despised Redknapp but was the appointment really worse than Gross? :ross: Or George Graham?

Gross was an unknown. He could as easily have been a Wenger if Sugar had known what he was doing.

Redknapp was well known - it was like appointing Allardyce or Pulis.

 

[milo]

I really liked the appointment of Redknapp. He was the manager that I wanted at the time. I wanted so keen who could get the most out of the players that we had & thought Redknapp could achieve that.

Graham, I also thought could be good. He was a success at Arsenal, so 'why not?' I thought. The biggest problem was his Arsenal reputation.

My biggest problem with him is that he had been caught taking backhanders and the incredibly dull and antiquated football his teams played.

 

[Mumorn]

The reason why I wasn't underwhelmed appointing Redknapp was because at the time we were fighting a relegation battle. I think the majority of us knew that if Ramos had stayed he WOULDNT have got us relegated but Redknapp was a guy, with Prem experience, known as "Harry Houdini" for his ability to beat the drop and do unthinkable things, the guy had just won the FA Cup with Portsmouth. I was actually happy with the appointment, never liked the guy but I supported the decision and his reign .

 

[El Guepardo]

Forgot about the backhanders

And he definitely delivered some boring football! How many 0-0s did we have in a row?

 

[parklane1]

Jeez I know some people despised Redknapp but was the appointment really worse than Gross? :ross: Or George Graham?

I do not detest Redknapp but like some i do not love him either. The question was what managerial appointment was most undewhelming, we took Redknapp as a manager who had won one major trophy in nearly 30 years, took two clubs to relegation and paid a part in bankrupting Portsmouth and Southampton. That is why the appointment was ( as the question asked) underwhelming.

 

[Libero]

Santini for me. We endured that entire shambles of a season in 03/04 with performances that can only be described as weak and pathetic for the most part, in order to get it right for 04/05 and beyond. Considering what I sat through and watched that previous season, games like the 4-4 with Leicester, 3-4 Emirates Marketing Project, 0-3 Fulham, 1-3 Southampton to name a few, I was expecting to see vast changes in performance. That might have been unrealistic but we were so bad the previous season that I was certain it was a fresh start.

Yet after 5-6 games it was obvious that the appointment was just nonsense. The only plus points of that appointment was the amount of transfers into club after struggling along on free transfers for a few years and getting Frank Arnesen although that never lasted long.

Graham was always going to be controversial but I was prepared to go with the appointment given how weak defensively and just generally crap over the course of a season we were in the last year of Francis and the year of Gross.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Gross was an unknown. He could as easily have been a Wenger if Sugar had known what he was doing.

Redknapp was well known - it was like appointing Allardyce or Pulis.

Just what basis do you have for that first comment? :lol: That's like saying Arry could have been the next Fergie if Levy had given him more money.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Just what basis do you have for that first comment? :lol: That's like saying Arry could have been the next Fergie if Levy had given him more money.

I just meant that it wasn't underwhelming because there was mystery about him.

I meant if Sugar had known what he was doing in terms of recruiting the right guy (like Dein did), rather than how he supported him after the appointment (sorry, that wasn't clear).

 

[Stenno]

To be fair, I've never seen Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis make a team a regular top four threat, let alone get to the champions league. I think that's a lazy comparison GB.

 

[Mulletperm]

Graham. Bent. Gooner. Dinosaur.

This.

 

[billyiddo]

To be fair, I've never seen Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis make a team a regular top four threat, let alone get to the champions league. I think that's a lazy comparison GB.

At the time of his appointnent you wouldn't have seen a Redknapp side do so either. Very lazy conparison in terms of playing style though for sure.

At the time, especially coupled with the end of the DoF set up, i thought it was just a premature reaction to a possible relegation battle and a giving up on any long term plans we had as club.

 

[Hully]

I was totally underwhelmed by Gross, had nothing on his CV to suggest he'd change us for the best.
I was against Redknapp's appointment, certainly underwhelmed, didn't think he would play expansive football, how wrong I was proved.
I was simply angry at AVB's appointment, I thought he was a very poor choice and would turn us into a very boring ineffective side just like he did chelsea. Proved 100% correct.
I think Sherwood is a interesting appointment, being a bit underwhelmed by it is maybe a good thing. We were going nowhere under AVB so a change was needed, giving it to someone who knows the club and the squad could turn out to be a master stroke.

 

[Gutter Boy]

At the time of his appointnent you wouldn't have seen a Redknapp side do so either. Very lazy conparison in terms of playing style though for sure.

At the time, especially coupled with the end of the DoF set up, i thought it was just a premature reaction to a possible relegation battle and a giving up on any long term plans we had as club.

Portsmouth were a horrible team to watch. They packed 3 or 4 big clogging players like Papa Bouba Diop and Sulley Muntari across their midfield, and had Krancjar as their only creative outlet.

 

[paxtonwolf]

For me it's got to be "****y" Jacques Santini.

Appointed after a year long search to get the right man.

Way to go Danny boy.

Didn't have a clue who Burkinshaw was when he was appointed, just glad to be rid of gooner Terry Neil.

Seeing it all from block 29.

I'm with Nayim and Magna on this one. Jacques Santini for me, had no idea what we were thinking appointing this clown.

Christian Gross I could live with, he had had success winning titles with Grasshoppers, and as has been suggested, at the time appointing foreign coaches was pretty new.
But after the disappointment of him, to then make another gamble on Santini was bizarre, the plus out of it all was we got Martin Jol which obviosuly was a gamble that worked

 

[AdamB]

Has to be either SHerwood or Gross. I went for Sherwood because as a club we're more attractive to managers now given our squad, cash etc so should be able to attract a higher quality of manager than when we appointed Gross

 

[jts1882]

Sherwood easily.

A number of the appointments were not inspired or even worrying, but that isn't the question. Graham has not underwhelming due to who he was; it was more overwhelming animosity to this appointment. Likewise, there were questions about Redknapp's record, while Santini was a big name, but its hard to say either were underwhelming. Jol could have been if an out-of-the-blue instead of Santini rather than promoted from with as Arnesen seemingly wanted all along. AVB was a known and an intriguing, if risky, choice. Gross would be second choice as he was unknown; he had a managerial record at home but hardly one to make him a household name.

 

[Roland Beurre]

Didn't have a clue who Burkinshaw was when he was appointed, just glad to be rid of gooner Terry Neil.

Terry Neil was the most underwhelming appointment, to be sure, to be sure.

 

[DeanoAustin]

I'm surprised so many people are saying Santini. In hindsight, it was a disaster but at the time I remember a lot of excitement at having paired up Arnesen (one of the best talent spotters in Europe) with Santini (manager of France who had been World and European champions in the not so distant past). Was also encouraged by his start. The football was crap but we didn't lose in the first few games despite having some tough fixtures (we won away to Everton and Saudi Sportswashing Machine and drew away to Chelsea where Atouba had that epic substitution). He'd made us tough to beat after seasons of being soft.

Then he started to lose to Bolton at home and Fulham away and it all went south. In hindsight, he was poor and the set up was obvioulsy ill defined but at the time, he was certainly a lot less underwhelming than Gross, Harry or Timmy in my view.

 

[Grays_1890]

Anyone who says Gross just don't understand football.

Spurs at the time was Underwhelming as a club and could not attract any decent coaches...Gross came as a success in Switzerland and went back and became a success, and on European level

 

[clevelandspur]

I would say it is Jol. He was relatively unknown when he got appointed and we were hoping for a bigger name. That worked out pretty well for us, similar to Timmy so hopefully we end up liking this just as much as Jol