Thetownend.com

In reverse chronological order (i think)

The worst is less of a debate, as the win% and PPG probably tells you that. So its most hated.

Caretakers don't apply. Sorry Gav, I don't care whose house you've been to.

To make it interesting, I'm allowing two votes each.

Choose wisely.

I went for Sheridan as don’t think Hart was in charge long enough.

Hart or Malpas for the dulleest manager :D

Two votes each remember, unless you loathe one so much nobody else comes close in that motley crew of cunts. 

I believe the kids call this 'nightmare blunt rotation'

Sheridan had no positive qualities and actually made decent players worse (Dominic Thompson being the one that sticks out in my mind)

Hart was ultra negative and only ever played 1 striker - main memory is season tickets being thrown on the pitch.

Kennedy and Morris were just poor coaches not managers.

Too young to remember the other three  ;D

Hart was an atrocious manager - he’d had enough jobs for us to already know that.
I probably hate the appointment of Hart more than Hart if that makes sense. Yes, he was shit & his tactics were awful & then he tried to convince us it wasn’t 451 & he played Calvin Andrew but it’s kinda our own fault for appointing him.

On the flip side - I was keen on the Jody Morris appointment. We’d been a bit naff & he was the young good coach ex player route we’ve done well with in the past…but…his first starting XI just annoyed me. We’d been better & played a lot more attacking during Gav’s short stint after Lindsey but Morris went right back to Lindsey’s formation & tactics - exactly what no one wanted. 10 minute into his first game & I just had this gut feeling he was going to be an absolute clown & had this (marginally irrational) hatred for him.

Then as his tenure went on the more I heard about his conduct around the club the more I felt vindicated in my hatred.

Voted for two in Sheradactyl and Hart, but McKay and McMahon have special places in the "Destructive Dungeon".  Les Allen allegedly split the squad by providing improved contracts for players he brought in causing resentment among the existing squad.  Todd was apparently clueless, paying 300,000 quid for a striker from West Ham when he could have signed Bobby Zamora from Bristol Rovers (IIRC) for free (Who later played for Spurs) against the advice of assistant, Andy King.  Unfortunately, there are no shortage of candidates.

Jody Morris reportedly spent considerably more time at the golf course than coaching the team, strange given the juncture of his career.  However, just before he arrived the wage bill was slashed, with experienced players being transferred out with the exception of Austin. Perhaps, the idea was that Jody could win with less experience, but apparently he wasn't committed to the cause.

From those available I went with Kennedy & McMahon. Others may have been worse but I absolutely detest both of them.

However the manager I hated more than either was King. I know I'm an outlier on that but I genuinely celebrated when he died, I hated him that much.
Couldn't even tell you any one thing in particular that stands out as to why loathed him.

Andy King could spot a player, be a good motivator and generally had a good relationship with the fans.  He could be abrasive at times, and sometimes naive, but he was decent for the most part (IMO).  Anybody not particularly like Mark Cooper?

Those who remember it has to be between Dave Mckay or the awlful and insufferable Ken Beamish

Hart for obvious reasons. The rumors of punching a gobby Oxford fan don't save him.

McMahon. A difficult one because he got us promoted. But he also ripped the heart out the club treating legends like shit.  That's why he gets my vote

You genuinely celebrated when someone you never knew died.
Wow.

The one mitigating factor that has to be taken into consideration for both Kennedy & Sheridan is that they both suffered personal loss when they were in charge.

Kennedy lost his dad & Sheridan lost both his parents (pretty sure this was at the height of Covid).

I despised Sheridan. One of the biggest cunts we've employed in the 30 + years I've been going. Some of his actions felt like sabotage at the time.

But it's quite apparent that he wasn't in the right headspace to be doing the job at that particular time. He was arguably using it as a distraction from what was going on in his personal life. When in reality, he should have taken a step back. For the good of the club &, more importantly, himself.

Andy King was a decent guy (IMO), I was sad at hearing his passing, mainly because he was relatively young and also I believe did not fulfill his potential as a manager.  As a player, he was extremely talented.

Arguably the worst thing I’ve ever read on a Swindon forum.

Sheridan for obvious reasons and Hart for his 'Im playing 3 up front' bullshit.

You need to add Di Canio for all the lefties

Already suggested Mackay. Think this poll is geared towards the younger punters!

Yeah l,I limited my choices to managers I've seen us play under

Fair enough

Danny Williams onwards for me.

Sheridactyl for me....i reckon we would of had more chance of staying up if i took charge.

Fucking hopeless...the only joy was Oxford away when we went shit or bust and the false dawn, when he said he was mulling over his future....and then he fucking stayed!!

A good 3-2 win away at Ipswich live on TV😁

  Oh yeah....that Twine strike!

Brilliant goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d270zaZGCFc&pp=ygUTSXBzd2ljaCAyIHN3aW5kb24gMw%3D%3D

That Covid 2020/21 season was so weird. Power had lost out on a 'potential sale' off the back of promotion and just gave up and ran the club into the ground.

Letting Wellens go to Salford, the poor or non existent signings, selling DJ and appointing Sheridan when Noel Hunt was worth a go.

Anyone remember how bad the pitch was with sand put on it after years of pristine pitches?

Even then we could have stayed up and were above the dotted line for ages above basket case clubs like Wigan. Sheridan wanted to walk,  but Power made him stay.

Sheridan has got to be the GOAT of cunty managers. If it wasn't for COVID the vitriol would have got so bad he wouldn't have lasted so long.

I'm the single vote for Morris because he's a cunt, a Chelsea cunt, and a miserable, arrogant cunt. The others that I was supporter during their tenures, I think I must have been away either physically or mentally for all of them. McMahon for example I liked because I'd gone to University by the time it all turned sour.

Kennedy for me. At least Sheridan gave us a win over Oxford. Kennedy gave us nothing.

Except for a win at Cheltenham.

Funny how two of the worst managers in our history, managed that most (in recent memory) couldn’t

Yeah those two outliers being them is a fucking weird thing.

I don't think there is cause for celebration when anyone dies, even if you didn't like them.  Professional help should be sought.

I don't know, there are some pretty evil people out there.......but Andy fucking King? 😂

I think i would have Phil Brown, or maybe even Flynn over Jody Morris. I feel like Morris was just a irrelevant. Here for 18 games and then gone like dust in the wind.

Can actually say that I became a friend.Behind the brash exterior was a real good bloke. Kind, funny but above all loyal. Thats how ex players from his playing days would also describe him.
Players like George Wood, Peter Reid and Jan Molby to name 3. Equally you won’t get a bad word from many Swindon players that played under him, Migs, SSP, Matty Hayward and more.

Gave me so many laughs and memories. In front of reporters a bloody nightmare.
RIP.

Wasn’t it Ipswich away where the players had to take their own packed lunch!

Unbelievable absolutely unbelievable.
Lost for words.

Same here Duke.

Todd for me. He came in on a wave of optimism and, if I remember correctly, was given a fair bit of money to spend.
He bought some utter crap (including 300k for Gary Alexander who was garbage for us), then pissed off as soon as he saw what he'd let himself into, leaving Andy King to try to mop up the mess, just avoiding relegation to the 4th Division. The only bright spot with Todd was that, having landed the Derby job shortly leaving, after was sacked after a few months.

Although not strictly a manager (Director of football?) Sherwood could be added to the list. i'm sure he was picking the team at one point. Utter wanker.

More money than you could shake a stick at, wasn't it?

Some shite about blow your socks off signings was another saying I vaguely recollect from that time too.

Sorry what?

Kingy was an approachable guy - me and my mate were 15 years old, went into the club shop and in he came. Made a few jokes and was genuinely a friendly fun person to be around. Not to mention we were 10 seconds away from a play off final v Bristol City under his leadership.

Going to have to go with Sheridan, shamed players publicly for not wanting to play, got Baudry to play with tears in his muscle even when he didn’t want to I believe. I did read a story that he was even found watching deal or no deal rather than doing training, but that could have been a satirical one  8)

Treated Dion Conroy very badly, the winner against Oldham scored by Conroy, when soon after Oldham were relegated from the EFL, was poetic justice as was Sheridan's angry reaction to some of the home fans.  

Yeah, not a nice thing to see at all.

I voted Morris and Sheridan.  I have always thought Morris is a prick, long back to his breakthrough Chelsea days, I let my usual stance of 'see how they with us' evade me with his arrival, I really couldn't get behind it at all.  Think this one is just that I genuinely really don't like the guy, Swindon connections or not.

Sheridan has to be my 2nd vote, not much to say really.

McMahon sold JAF, big red flag, we'd have stayed up I think and he was worth more.  But... He got us promoted and was actually a good player for us too, I lived too far away before social media and was still a bit too young etc. to be in the hatred camp with him.

Sheridan. As a manager, and while he was dislikable as a person, I wouldn’t be happy to hear that he was dead.

I don't know if it's just me and I'm being overly sensitive but I'm not really comfortable with the thread title 'most hated' Town manager. A more appropriate title would be 'most disliked' or 'least favourite'. Hate is such a strong, emotive word and I would hesitate to use it in any context and certainly not when discussing the merits or otherwise of a football manager.

As for the quote about celebrating when Andy King died...please take a step back and try and get some perspective for your own sanity...

Was thinking the same.

Went for Morris.

Flitcroft might also have been a candidate for the list.
Although he won half of his games here, there was a lot of rubbish played at home plus the timing of his departure.
No warm inner glow for him.

McMahon all day long. Detestable Scouse twat.

I only had one vote.

Was beautiful that. I was in the corner of the arkells near town end about to leave, loads ran straight over to give him abuse. Sour faced cunts reaction was priceless.

Its fine to hate something or someone in a footballing sense.

Celebrating someone died wasn't something I expected, much less one that wasn't even on the list.

Wasn’t a fan of Kingy as a manager.
In theory would have been well worth a wage at STFC in a different capacity.

McMahon was well hated but at least he got us a promotion.

Sheridan was just a vile person.

Hahaha fucking hell

Paul Hart for me. I really got into football and supporting the town during the Danny Wilson era, and my god, turgid crap on the field with Calvin Andrew as a lone striker (not 3 up top) was an absolute nightmare.

I understand how you meant it and that you wouldn't have expected the extreme Kingy reaction. I just think that dislike is a more appropriate and accurate word for 'football hate'...

Football language is full of hyperbole though. Or are we to sing "We dislike Oxford, and dislike Oxford"?

There will always be some who take things too far. Such is life.

Build a metaphorical bonfire, build a metaphorical bonfire!

...An Oxford fan on a piece of string, told me to have a quiet word with him...

The referee's doing a difficult job sub-optimally!



I think this could catch on.

They thought they had it easy, they thought they’d won the cup,
Along came Swindon Town FC and ruined their afternoon out

  :)

You're going home in the same way that you came.

Run, run, run, run, Reading(it's good for your health)

I wasn’t a fan of Andy King, after our mascot experience, but couldn’t imagine celebrating his passing, the same was true of Paul Bradshaw after his assault on Alan Mayes.
Heck, I’m not sure I even celebrated the passing of Mrs Thatch.

All are valid votes, but 2 of my faves aren't even on the list in Flynn and Mackay.

Mackay is slightly before my time but my old dad despised him and that's good enough for me.

We had some great games under Flynn but the 4-7 home defeat is THE worst result in the clubs long history and for that he makes my list.

If you had asked me 10 years ago I would say Beamish by a country mile, far worse than Hart IMO. But, fucking hell we have had some shit in the last 10 years.

MacMahon got us playing some good football but at the end he was a weasel.

As an aside I had some very bad experiences personally with Andy King as did my Bro in law whos son was an apprentice under King, I reserve my right to judge him poorly, you can only judge by how you have experienced people. I know many loved him, I didnt hate him but didnt like him much.

Sheridan was utterly useless and Kennedy no better. Hart was just dull and boring.

I think to be hated they have to be arseholes as well. Flynn was a bad manager but always seemed to be a reasonable nice fella (as seems to be playing out at Cheltenham currently).

Hart had a 9% win rate, statistically our worst ever. He absolutely was useless, but probably wasn't here long enough to be a true villain.

https://townenders.com/managers.php

On win % alone:

Hart 9.09
Kennedy 18.75
L Allen 20.31
Gorman 20.83
Morrris and Todd 22.22
Quinn 22.35
Sheridan 24.24
Onuora 25.00

A few of those were nice guys with their hands tied (Gorman, Onuora, Quinn). A few were awful and wankers too.

Surprised some are saying Flynn.

Especially when you consider he only had around 14 capable footballers to work with. Also rumours of late wages and all the nonsense behind the scenes.

The first 8-10 games of the season was some of the best football I've seen Swindon play in a while. Perhaps not sustainable but I still think if he had 4-5 extra bodies we'd of been ok that year.

I suspect Sheridan gets a lot of votes because at times it genuinely felt like he was deliberately making decisions to negatively affect the team.

One of my votes would have gone to Malpas if he was on the list

I had forgotten that personalityless fool. Thanks for the reminder....not.

Only for THAT result in the FA cup, he should have walked after it.

I was hoping we’d get Flynn at the time we ended up with Garner, so was pleased when he eventually joined. As others have mentioned he was lumbered with a piss poor squad. I can’t really remember if he went wrong tactically or said stupid stuff but I know I never disliked him.

 :D

Agree. And he started well and then Clem fucked him over.

 :nod:

I didn't hate or dislike Flynn but like Venks, I can't forgive him for the Aldershot debacle...

Exactly that mate. Cant forgive that result. If he had walked after that for me he would have saved face but to be 6-0 down after 60 mins to a non league club at home. Unforgivable.

Agree that Aldershot was horrific and one of the worst day i’ll ever have following Town, but he was better than most names mentioned. I genuinely think our 2nd x11 this season is just as good if not better than Flynn’s 14 man squad. By October we had a league bench of Ward, Young, Genesini, Minturn alongside 2nd year scholar Hart and 1st year scholars Obodo and Alston.

Went for the Jurassic era. Not his doing obviously but was during the Covid debacle and everything just seemed to be miserable.

Like others, I certainly don't hate him, and wouldn't really hate any manager, unless he deliberately took the club under or whatever. But he did an awful job, don't think that can be argued.

With sheridactyl it was his attitude towards fans and his refusal to do the right thing and leave. Loathsome.

😂 Love that. You'll have to revert to your previous "handle"

Mackay completely dismantled a very good squad so he could play himself and he was utter shite. Sacrificed Stan Harland and sold Don Rogers. He was a shitbag

I was at the Belfry last year and Bournemouth were there ahead of playing Villa. Mark Travers and another player were out for a morning stroll. I mentioned Sheridan and he just laughed and laughed. Big fan of Kilkenny as well, he said he’d be unreal for us

I agree about Mackay - moving Harland on to play himself when his legs had gone was criminal.
I also didn’t like  Les Allen - assembled a poor team and the football was dire. Clueless.

Sheridan probably tops the list though - in addition to the stuff mentioned already, his foul mouthed touchline rantings which we endured on iFollow as the soundtrack to the awful football,  the 5 subs in 1 go at Gillingham (Taylor Curran being one, unless he started tag game) being among the things I recall of his dire tenure. The cathartic joy from Conroy after his last minute winner in the following season’s Oldham game, and Sheridan’s subsequent graceless “salute” to the fans as he stormed down the tunnel are the clincher.

Like, it seems, most others, Sheridan was a shoe-in for one of my votes.

Would certainly have gone for Mackay as my second choice. Maybe coming from being an impressionable young-un at the time but I've always considered that he oversaw the decline that led to the dire team of 1974, although Les Allen was in place after he left I've always pointed the blame at Mackay's door.

As it was I went for Hart as 2nd choice, simply down to the uninspiring football that brought no joy to watch and his dour public persona.

No Mackay option, so didn't vote.

Sheridan for the silver, Hart for the bronze.

Hart and Sheridan were the two main contenders for me. Hart was passively abysmal, so Sheridan's active antagonism helped him take the crown.

I fully understand why some would put McMahon over those two... I remember watching him play but I'm just a tad too young to have understood all that was going on back then.

I went for Sheridan, for obvious reasons & McMahon because he and Rikki Kunt are they only manager/owner combination that stopped me from going to games.

Sheridan

Plenty of other incompetent managers, but he was the only one who I thought was genuinely sabotaging us and intentionally sending us down.

Mackay added lads.

You're an absolute gent.

Now able to vote.

Sheridan a very worthy recipient of my "second" vote. 

Hart for me.  We were completely beneath him...except we weren't.  Because he was shit.  Worst case of a misplaced superiority complex you'll ever see.

Sheridan just had a rough time (losing parents etc.) and a few demons that sucked all the warmth from him.

Strangely, I have no real view on Sheridan. It was the COVID season though wasn't it? I think I've just blocked that season out of my mind. Even if though I watched plenty of games, I remember next to nothing about it...God it was horrible 😣

On reflection, should have voted for Paul Hart, came over as a bit of an obnoxious twat. Not a good quality when coupled with an inability to win football matches.

A mistake on my part, but not as big as Fitton's in appoining him.
Brought in as a firefighter after successfully keeping Crystal Palace up.
Who was caretaker after Hart got the boot?
Was it Bodin? If so why not take a punt on him in the first place.

Sheridan was set up to fail to a degree plus a difficult environment & circumstances to work in.

Maybe for a future thread but matching up assistants with managers would be fun.
Would never have remembered who Hart's was without looking it up.

Was it morph?

Nah, Chas was better suited to the job.

"Zippy", Paul Bodin, took over as caretaker for the last two games of the season.  Sheana Easton may have been a strong rumour, beforehand, but had to take the morning train.........., but probably knew how to operate the hairdryer. Hart's banner signing for Swindon was Squad Goal's very own Calvin Andrew.  If you can catch it, there's an account of loanee, Mike Grella, missing a penalty after telling Hart to chill after Hart was critical of Grella's warm-up.  It is hilarious, with Grella being immediately sent back to Leeds United, leaving the squad with few attacking options.  IIRC, the Town looked decent in the two games of the season that Zippy was manager for.

I love listening to Zippy talking about football. Talks so much sense and would love it if he rejoined the coaching staff at STFC at some point...

Looking back at what had happened, Grella going back to Leeds was his own decision after being left out as a starter in favour of Elliott Benyon: https://www.townenders.com/profile.php?person_code=GRELLAMI

Grella went on to play in the MLS and is currently a soccer analyst for CBS Sports Network and Paramount+.

Blimey Mike Grella is a name that I had 100% forgotten, probably rightly so TBH.

One or two more conciliatory posts about Sheridan.  Sure, it was the wrong time for him and he was dealt a poor hand.  

I struggled to cope with my rose-tinted memories of the gifted, creative midfielder rocking up with such anti-footballing principles and a hateful contempt for we fans.

I ended up chanting for Kingy's head :-[, an equally talented ex-baller. He had his own personal challenges and contemptible support from the club, but he rightly remains a much loved character here.