Caddis bollixed

[Bogus Dave]

Caddis never sound thrilled in any of his interviews ever.

Get off your high horse too Peter. People have been saying similar to you for months. It wasn't just you.

[dalumpimunki]

Lets not completely over look the fact he has the best win % ratio...

I think you need to be careful about using win percentage stats as the baseline for judging how good a manager is.

There are a lot of circumstances to take into account that can completely fuck up a manager's stats.

PDC, like Wise before him, had the advantages of:
- a side just relegated into a division the club would be a big fish in
- a complete pre-season
- the opportunity to build his own side

Not everyone got that. Ossie and Hoddle managed all their games a league or two higher up the table and is much more strained financial circumstances.

If PDC gets a job with Reading or Leeds we might get a better idea of how he compares

[Saxondale]

Though PDC is probably licking his lips thinking hes on to a winner if he goes to reading.  Even if they go down he then has a warchest of parachute payments to spend getting back up and a pre season drilling his team to his mindset.  And drilling the club into his way of thinking.

[BruceChatwin]

When did the phrase 'warchest' become so embedded in the discourse of football finances discussions? I can't turn for seeing a warchest somewhere being bandied about on this forum. Every time I hear it I can't help picture an actual old oak chest with a manager in furs lifting the lid for inspection.

[Saxondale]

Football is not just a game.  It is a war.  My players must be warrior dogs not chihuhuas.

Someone probably said some shit like that and warchest was derived from the imagery.  Or I could be talking shit.

[wiggy]

Warchest is a term I associate with political parties and election funding.

[wiggy]

And Xena - Warrior Princess...

[DiV]

I think you need to be careful about using win percentage stats as the baseline for judging how good a manager is.

Better than using political beliefs though.

Being a big fish, having a pre season and being able to build your own team guarantee you nothing.

[dalumpimunki]

Better than using political beliefs though.

Being a big fish, having a pre season and being able to build your own team guarantee you nothing.

Can't see where I claimed they did. I'm just saying it's a better way to start your management career at Swindon than coming in part way through a season with the team in the relegation zone, the last manager having just been given the push, your top striker just having been sold and no time to find a replacement.

As for the politics thing, I'm not making any kind of big P political point about it. But I'm not suprised that someone who has built his life around certain principles, brings those into the way he runs the club. Authoritarian is a management style (it's in the management theory books and everything). People who like authoritarianism in their politics aren't likely to be touchy, feel facilitative types in their working lives are they really. Why is it some sort of crime to point out this bleeding obvious fact?
I mean look at it:
Charismatic leader - check
Demanding absolute loyalty - check
Demanding unquestionning obedience - check
Eliminating any dissent - check

I'm not even saying that it was entirely a bad thing in the context of the club as it was; there have been plenty of managers that work along similar lines and been really successful for spells. But you can't ignore that the style has consequences because we lose players that other managers might have been able to work with in a more constructive way. Harry Redknapp managed to get the best out of Paolo as a player. Paolo as a manager would probably have had his player self out the door in the first month.

I'm also not sure the approach works in the long term, and suspect it might be more difficult as you progress through the leagues and the quality and paygrade of the players increases.

[horlock07]

(On a side note I find it unbelievable that people still maintain that PDC didn't allow his politicial convictions to intefere with his running of the club when it's pretty clear that the entire ethos of his management style was modelled on authoritarian politics).

Sorry I respect your views but that is total rubbish, his manner of management has nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with being a super confident arrogant man who is entirely convinced that he is right and everyone else is wrong!

In that way he is similar to a certain Scottish manager who would never back down and push out any players who disagreed, and he is a well known socialist.

I don't disagree with many of the things you say on here, although like many polorised views on here its all black and white, but don't dilute your views by trying to attach a political angle to everything to repeatedly (and getting to the stage of boreishly) over labouring the point.

[FreddySTFC!]

The constant political angle on here is getting very boring now. Surely there are forums designed for this type of discussion. Your're support for a football club shouldn't hinge on the political beliefs of an individual whose sole purpose for hire is to get good results ON THE PITCH.

[dalumpimunki]

Sorry I respect your views but that is total rubbish, his manner of management has nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with being a super confident arrogant man who is entirely convinced that he is right and everyone else is wrong!

In that way he is similar to a certain Scottish manager who would never back down and push out any players who disagreed, and he is a well known socialist.

I don't disagree with many of the things you say on here, although like many polorised views on here its all black and white, but don't dilute your views by trying to attach a political angle to everything to repeatedly (and getting to the stage of boreishly) over labouring the point.

I'm obviously not explaining myself well, because I don't think we're saying very different things. For the record I AM NOT attempting to say that PDC was attempting to found a new 1000 year empire from a base in SN1. I don't think he held a session with his coaching team to plan his first league campaign with a big header across the white board reading "what would benito do?" All I'm saying is pretty much what you just posted. That his politics, his style of management, the way he conducts himself are all a part of the same package. They stem from his personality. It's who he is.

I started to make the Ferguson comparison myself in the post. He still has a big streak of authoritarian management style in how he does his business, but he's got the ability to go other ways to get things done. Which is why that Rooney lad still wears red and plays in Salford, rather than in blue in Manchester.

And the left wing thing is a bit of a red herring to be honest, that Stalin was a bit of an authoritarian after all.

[corner]

Town have turned down offers for caddis from brum, bbc wilts.

[Red Frog]

Someone on thisis reported that the BBC said Brum were offering two instalments of £125k but we want £275k upfront. Can anyone confirm? If so, are we still in fire-sale mode?

[Costanza]

Our transfer policy over the years has been generally baffling (with a few exceptions).

It's so nice of Swindon to help ailing sides like Birmingham by giving them one of our best players who has proven himself at Championship level at a cut-price.