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http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/swindontown/news/display.var.1939330.0.fitton_set_to_grill_his_shortlisted_managers.php

Fitton set to grill his shortlisted managers
By Nick Mashiter

Incoming chairman: Andrew Fitton
Swindon Town's search for a new manager has gathered pace with chairman designate Andrew Fitton confirming they have lined up candidates for interview.

The Robins will begin formal discussions with up to three potential managers within the next week and could have someone in place before the League One trip to Walsall on Saturday, January 12.

Colchester assistant manager Micky Adams and ex-Burnely boss Steve Cotterill are both understood to be front runners to succeed Paul Sturrock.

But former Leicester City boss Martin Allen looks to be out of the race after he confirmed yesterday he has still had no contact from the Robins.

Fitton, who would not be drawn on the names of candidates, said: "We will be having meetings with two or three people in the next seven days but we've never felt under pressure to do this with any urgency.

"Equally we do not want it dragging on because there is a transfer window.


"It will not take long from here because, once you made your mind up on what you want, things tend to move fast."

Caretaker boss David Byrne, who will take charge for Saturday's FA Cup Third Round visit of Barnet, will be given the chance to sake a permanent claim and Fitton believes it is only fair he gets the opportunity.

"David is an applicant for the job and it would be wrong of any organisation not to offer him an interview," he said.

The incoming chairman also hopes to have the transfer embargo lifted by the time a new boss is appointed but insists the Robins will not go on a signing spree in January.

He said: "We have a big squad who have proved in the last two or three games, when they are fit, they are not far away.

"I don't think we have got a long shopping list."

3 potential managers. Adams and Cotterill. So who's the third?

Byrne ?

NMH

DV

Oh yes of course DV and possibly Fatbury?  :mrgreen:

Could be but i doubt it. Fitton is basically saying thanks but no thanks to Byrne in that article looking at it.

im afraid im a bit like Martin Allen .. im still waiting to hear  :wink:

Erm... stating the obvious, Ling?

In a sense if you approach a club to speak to their manager it usually means that you want to offer him the job as obviously it unsettles that manager and his club, I get the impression that Ling is not on the list, shame really, unless Fitton is interviewing the out of work guys first and if he is not impressed enough may ask to speak to Ling with a view to offfering the job if he impresses.

I hope he speaks to Newell as well as Billy Davies as well as they both have good experience and would be good appointments.

After a long hard think about it, I have decided to back Martin Ling.  And in the end it was an easy choice.  The way I see it football is sport, and sport should be all about entertaining the crowds, make it enjoyable again.

Ling is a manager who seems to promote the beautiful passing game in the lower leagues.  He has not sacrificed style in order to get his Leyton Orient team up the league.  

I for one am fed up of turning up at the CG to witness our side grind out results.  I hope that some day in the near future our beloved Swindon Town will again be known for the free flowing football that we used to be known for.

Wise, Sturrock, Allen whoever they seem to be happy at 4.50 just as long as we held on to that one goal advantage and we collected the 3 points.  To me that is not what football should be about.  It should be about the crowd leaving the ground at ten to five thinking what a match, what skill was on show, what entertainment.

And that is why I think Mr Martin Ling is the best man for the job, because his style of football is most likely to entertain the masses.

Far too unrealistic you don't get sacked from the premiership and decide you want to accept a role down in League 1 thats a massive step down.  I think Davies will sit tight until a big championship job becomes available, possibly Sheffield Utd depending how long they give Robson.  Personally I would be happy with Adams, Cotterill or Ling.

Id personally from a selfish point of view like to see Tony Adams as the next manager

but of the candidates on offer .. id settle for Martin Allen with Cotterill as 2nd choice and Lingy 3rd

What kind of football does Adams promote?  What's his track record as manager like?  What do you base your "I want Adams" viewpoint on.  Or is it merely down t othe fact you're a gooner?

Allen, what the fuck  :shock: Adams would be quite good he's learnt a fair bit from Redknapp and feel he would be alot better prepared for management this time round although he ruled himself out in the adver when Sturrock first departed.

I dont want that fucking donkey Adams anywhere near our club.

Mickey Adams on the other hand looks a good bet as does Cotterill, Allen as well can go screw himself and probably does frequently!

Mind you Chris Hughton has been linked too who may not be a bad chance as he has 7 or 8 years experience as an assistant at Eire and Spurs...and Fitton himself said last week that experience as an assistant does count as experience and refused to rule Hughton out of the running when asked by SH on RS.

I think I'd rather go for someone like Hughton than just pick another manager from the managerial merry go round that most clubs seem to be happy finding their new manager from.

lorry sanchez might have chucked in his name after getting the tin tack at fulham me old chinas.

God I hope not, terrible manager  :(

Agreed Enda, Sanchez is not the man for us.

Just an unemployed manager at the moment not sure if he would want to come here. depends how much he wants a job and whether hes fittons type of manager.

i don't think fitton has ruled ANY names out, so probably not worth reading between the lines.

i'm guessing nijholt's out of the running now as well :? my preferred choice would be either ling or nijholt, failing that i don't really mind so long as it's not martin allen.

As a total longshot i would try and get Gary speed. never happen but my personal choice

Highly unlikely considering he only moved to Sheffield United on the 1st Jan and wants to keep playing at a high level.

Now way I want that wanker any where near our club, I still remember when he was playing for us and it came to playing Wimbeldon he could not have had a worse game and of course it was convinient it was against 'his mates' for that I will never forgive him...and anyway what has he proved as a manager, ok he done ok with NI, but before that he didn't do anything at Wycombe and has done nothing at Fulham.

No thanks - I'd rather Martin Allen if it was a choice between the 2.

Yup Sanchez can fuck off. I don't think there are any clear cut favourites anymore. It's all ifs and buts now tbh.

Sanchez got Wycombe promoted to division 2 and kept them firmly mid table. He took them to the FAC semi final. Admittedly they went backwards from then, and he jumped ship before they were relegated. But he hasnt 'done nothing'. He hasnt expressed an interest anyway.

Cotterill. Great record with Cheltenham, established them as a solid league club. Cons, he left Stoke after 13 games which was a terrible misjudgement. Never did anything with Burnley in 3 years, but didnt get them relegated either. He'd be my second choice.

Allen. Got Brentford to the play off semis twice. Which is often overlooked on here. Thats more success than weve had in the last 10 years. He wouldnt be my choice, because who ever comes in needs to coach the current set of players. Someone as controversial as Allen might not get on with the current squad. He's got a bit of Steven McMahon hard man ego about him as well.

Ling. 1st Choice.

Nijholt. Not considered.

T Adams ruled hinself out when he visited Swindon  late Nov?early Dec?

   Didn't Chris Casper throw his hat into the ring.....its difficult to judge the job he may be doing at Bury, because  keeping them up might be a decent achievement.  

  He's a young fella, seems quite bright.....in many ways I'd prefer someone like him to an old sweat like Cotterill or M Adams

  Also we took Bert Head from Bury and Bobby Smith.  Head is legendary and Smith was decent ..

Is that ignoring that we got automatic promotion last year and got to the play offs in 2003-2004.

I call that slightly better than failing in the playoffs twice.

exactly what i thought

Allen got Franchise to the play-off's which was a slight under achievment as with the team they had and the money they spent they should have got automatic hence Ince going in with pretty much the same team and they are something like 5 pts clear.

Micky Adams has a good record, but he does seem to specialise in clubs that are having problems, goes in there improves them and then get's sacked the following season when they don't do as well.

Ling I think is a good young manager, proved himself in getting Orient to promotion as one of the un fancied teams, and kept them up last season which was no mean feat and has taken them forward this season, although they are on a losing run at the moment it was obvious they wouldn't sustain it as they are clearly over achieving with the resources that he has to hand, whereas if he comes here he will probably have better resources and a better chance of taking a team and keeping it in the championship so improving his reputation.

Wasnt ignoring that at all. I stand by what I said.

We got Automatic promotion from division 3 (average club attendance about 3500) by finnishing 3rd. We werent even runners up! Getting to the div 2 play offs once is a far greater achievement than 3rd play in division 3.

IF we had won the league last season you would have a point.

I agree last years achievements weren't really acchievements, it was what was expected.  A play off position in League 1 is far superior to a third place finish in a dreadful division.

We stumbled over the finishing line last season, nowt much to be proud of.

I have to agree with you on casper, reg. he'd be a punt but the club with some resources that does take that gamble might reap some pretty decent rewards

but in the same league allen failed last year

I know! I dont want him either!

I would rather have this casper instead
http://users.anet.com/~figbat/im/casper.jpg

is ling that good to shell out compo on?
i dont think so.if he jacks and comes here of his free will then fine but i wouldn't spend money that could bolster the squad on him.
i honestly dont know who i want to get the job?

100% agree. appointing Ling would be a waste of money when candidates with similar records are free.

I dont really know who I'd want to get it either. I'd be fairly happy with any of Mickey Adams, Cotterill, Nijholt, Newell.

In fact I've just decided I want it to be Newell due to his comedy sexism

...but...Ling has been in his job for what 7 or 8 years.

Last thing we want is another short term manager who is likely to fuck off again pretty sharpish.

And you think if he were a roaring sucess here and a top championship or premiership club offered him the job he wouldnt fuck off? pull the other one!

Dont you think the others are out of work for a reason? THEY ARE SHIT

Who knows, maybe he would but at least he doesnt have track record of doing unlike some of the others mentions.

I think Ling would be more likely to stay than say Allen would!

They all have promotions on their CV's, bad boy

i'm guessing now.but i reckon allen probably has the best record of all the mentioned managers.i know for sure nijlholt would be my last choice of the ones listed.

So your criteria is someone who is unlikley to fuck off?

Quick - call Fatbury or Andy King!

so has dennis smith your point is what biatch

Ermm that was my point.  They arnt Scummers though

Nigga whatttttt?

one of my criteria is someone who is going to be here for the long run, yes....

you cant employ managers like that though dv.sturrock had a clause and left.and any manger that is succesfull will attract bigger clubs.its a double edged sword.
the vast majority of mangers are shortish term.so we go for what we can,when we can.forget a year or two along the line.just have a clause in whoever takes charge to cash in if he fucks off

Someone who is decent and wont fuck off.

Someone who will make the club grow the club a bit.

thats what we all want. but its like finding a needle in a haystack.

IMO Ling is the most likely to be that man. Just based on the history he has with STFC.

All the others will be on the same gravy train.

You really should have called yourself Red Gloucester.  The ladies love the cheese!!

You're on a bit of a roll today Jan!

everyone knows its going to be Martin Ling, case closed, this thread can be locked now  8)

i dont

you do now

Wrong he's been in charge there for 4 years. He was appointed in September 2003. Yes i got bored and did some research on our potential new managers.

Don't think he meets Fitton's criteria but it could be a good punt as you say. I read an article about him and his long time mate who is a sports phycologist bloke and they have done a good job with storing belief in the players at Bury. Someone like that with a bit more money and a better squad could probaby do a decent job. Cheap as well.

the bottom line is, there are lots of good managers out there for us to pick from.

gone are the days where the likes of mel machin is a front runner for the top job.

(well i hope so at least)

it would seem that some people are very likely to throw their toys out the pram when their preferred choice isn't appointed.

i am actually quite looking forward to seeing that.

I was thinking along the same lines. FORUM CARNAGE!!  :D

the fact we're considering people like casper as an option depresses me slightly. talk about cheapest of the cheap.

ling will bring longevity, ambition, entertaining football, some success and he'll instantly have the respect of the fans. i don't think any of the other candidates fit that criteria.

I agree about Ling and he's my number one choice but it sounds like a non starter tbh.

why is it a non starter? ive been told its pretty much agreed

stop stirring rumours you cunt  :D

From who?

obviously not going to say the persons name but they are close to Bodin, and Bodin has been lined up to be Lings assistant here

I have heard that a few times. Believe it when i see it.

Spot on about the choice. Never had it so good.

After King it was the likes of Machin (who!?), Ray McFarland(who?), Gould (dinosaur), and of course Iffy, who we finnally got in the end. If someone like Allen had wanted the Town job when King almost got sacked in late 2002 we would have bitten their hand off.

I think there will be a bit of fallout if Allen gets the job. But no worse than what happened with Wise. I think we will get behind almost every other candidate, apart from maybe Byrne. We need another proper manager.

His daughter? She's a bit of a fox.

[/quote]


I think there will be a bit of fallout if Allen gets the job. But no worse than what happened with Wise. I think we will get behind almost every other candidate, apart from maybe Byrne. We need another proper manager.[/quote]

I think you're wrong there, there are many fans who hate allen big time and i really could see it going the way mcmahon went if we are not careful.
wise was always the player/manager to hate unless he was on your side.
Allen was hated by alot of Franchise fans and they know fuck all about football.
It has to be a appointment that brings the whole club together and i think fitton knows this.

You know for a fact that Ling will absolulutely definitely bring all that to the club :shock:

Wow! He gets my vote then!

yeah. obviously.

Steve Cotterill out of the running then? Haven't heard his name mentioned for a while

and you guarantee this how??

he is the master of the universe.

SY, not Ling.

i'm psychic. tomorrow (or todays) lottery numbers will be 1, 6, 15, 25, 39 and 41.

i'm rushing out to buy a ticket, you owe me a pound if you're wrong.