Preseason 23/24

[RobertT]

Morris had a much worse team than Lindsey, but then flatly refused to play in a way that maximised what he did have.  Gunning simplified it all - get the ball wide and feed Austin.  We were still not a great team, so I doubt he'd keep that record up over time, and the Gillingham first 30 minutes showed he was just as likely to fuck it all up.

[RobertT]

It's also why I wasn't as much of a panic in recent weeks, because you have to assume Flynn will realise he has been given a golden goose upfront and use him.  The lack of defenders is looking worrying though.

[Posh Red]

It's also why I wasn't as much of a panic in recent weeks, because you have to assume Flynn will realise he has been given a golden goose upfront and use him.  The lack of defenders is looking worrying though.

Spot on.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Yep, and while it was a small sample against teams that finished below us in the table at the end of the season, the football was much more enjoyable.

It just feels that the “Morris was hampered” because we had shit players is a bit over generous

I think it's the point that he inherited rather than selected said shit team. It's possible a better coach may have got more out of them...it's also possible any coach that came in would say "what the fuck have you assembled here, it's totally unbalanced and I'm going to struggle to get a tune out of this lot". So if we take it at face value - SL got to select or at least choose the majority of his squad. JM effectively had very little input into that squad. We'll never fully know if he was told he would get a Jan window to bring in his own additions, but I would suggest that if any of us were appointed into any job where a specific window of opportunity was, to close in a day or two...we too would probably struggle to bring in any more additions.

Anyway, it's gone now. DV was still being a dick to now, on the matter. Claiming folk were ecstatic about JMs appointment when it clearly wasn't the case.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Morris had a much worse team than Lindsey, but then flatly refused to play in a way that maximised what he did have.  Gunning simplified it all - get the ball wide and feed Austin.  We were still not a great team, so I doubt he'd keep that record up over time, and the Gillingham first 30 minutes showed he was just as likely to fuck it all up.

Gunning had a totally free hit bad no pressure to perform/get results. It's brings a whole different dynamic and mentality to the approach.

I don't think anyone thinks Morris is some mastermind or the next Arsène Weniger but let's also not try and convince ourselves that Gunning was a master tactician either (I know you're not). SL, well...we know his level. For soem reason I have a feeling JM will go on and do ok somewhere else eventually. I really do think he is a better Assistant Manager though. His time at a few, clubs seems to back that up. John Gorman...great Assistant but not so great as a Manager. Good Assistants are jsut as important in my book to complete the whole picture and when it clicks it's great. Allardyce & Sammy Lee is a decent example over a longish period, especially the Bolton years.

[DMC]

Lindseys team in December

Brynn
Hutton
MacDonald
Blake-Tracy
Lavinier
Darcy
Reed
Iandolo
Shade
Wakeling
Williams

Morris Team in March

Brynn
Hutton
Brewitt
Blake-Tracy
Tomlinson
Khan
McEachran
Williams
Hepburn-Murphy
Austin
Wakeling

Both weren't that great in my opinion but i am not entirely sure Morris wasn't given that many tools. Whether we like him or not Lindsey for the most part had us sat in the play offswith his hands tied too

[Nomoreheroes]

All an irrelevance, but it is a forum, and people entitled to their opinion.

I didn't think Lindsey was 'that bad'. I don't think we gave him much chance. I think he would have got us into the play offs, but I think we would have lost.

I think Morris was a disaster. He and his Chelsea sidekick can't have been cheap. I would put him in the Paul Hart, John Sheridan, Maurice Malpas category for us. The players just didn't perform for him for some reason.

[Mooneyraker]

All an irrelevance, but it is a forum, and people entitled to their opinion.

I didn't think Lindsey was 'that bad'. I don't think we gave him much chance. I think he would have got us into the play offs, but I think we would have lost.

I think Morris was a disaster. He and his Chelsea sidekick can't have been cheap. I would put him in the Paul Hart, John Sheridan, Maurice Malpas category for us. The players just didn't perform for him for some reason.

I respectfully disagree. The Hart/Sheridan category is reserved for managers who seemed to be actively working to destroy the club. Morris didn’t help himself towards the end but I always felt he was unlucky. RHM stays on at Newport for example and then his tenure was off and running.

[DiV]

Lindseys team in December

Brynn
Hutton
MacDonald
Blake-Tracy
Lavinier
Darcy
Reed
Iandolo
Shade
Wakeling
Williams

Morris Team in March

Brynn
Hutton
Brewitt
Blake-Tracy
Tomlinson
Khan
McEachran
Williams
Hepburn-Murphy
Austin
Wakeling

Both weren't that great in my opinion but i am not entirely sure Morris wasn't given that many tools. Whether we like him or not Lindsey for the most part had us sat in the play offswith his hands tied too

Now do the team Mad Gav had in between those two…

[Bob's Orange]

It's all pretty much been summed up on here already but my personal take on last season was;

The manner in which Lindsay was appointed was a fuck up that took way longer than it needed. The whole process just dragged and dragged and then when we finally took the plunge, appointing Ben Garner's assistant was underwhelming. The malady never really went away, we were questioning a lot of what Lindsay was doing, the now infamous fatigue pre-season was pretty much laughed at. I had to revisit last season's fixtures and after the dismal 3-0 defeat at Harrogate actually got some handy results between 6th August and 29th October. P16 W8 D6 L2. After that it was pretty dismal and many had had enough of the dull football, perpetuated with Scott Lindsay's fascination with 'box entries'. We were trending downwards and I think it was the best for all that he went to Crawley.

I have to say, I was pretty excited about Jody Morris and (eventually Ed Brand). We have historically had success with these types of managers and on paper it seemed a good appointment. But as with the Lindsay appointment, sorting out Ed Brand took forever and there was never anything that felt cohesive. The way he wanted to play did not utilise our best and dangerous player - Rochdale away aside - and the season petered out boringly. I guess Morris had the tougher task in that he wasn't able to bring in the players he needed, although Mceachran was a good signing. Sandro Di Michele clearly didn't help, he was a massive downgrade on Ben Chorley.   

[Batch]

I didn't think Lindsey was 'that bad'. I don't think we gave him much chance. I think he would have got us into the play offs, but I think we would have lost.

I personally don't agree simply because we were already on the slide when he left. But we'll never know.

I will acknowledge though that things might have got very very worrying indeed at the end of the season had he not had his golden patch up to Mansfield away

[Peter Venkman]

I didn't think Lindsey was 'that bad'. I don't think we gave him much chance. I think he would have got us into the play offs, but I think we would have lost.

I thought the football under Lyndsey was almost as bad as under Williams TBF and for me the only worse manager in our history was Sheridan, all 3 even worse than Beamish.

The number of games under Lyndsey we dominted possession yet created nothing at all, we took no risks, no shots we just kept possession with sideways passing, it was utterly awful to watch and so boring, yet I can accept boring if it got us results, which it didn't.

Tht was evident early on in Lyndseys career vs Gills, we had nearly 80% of the possession after we were against 10 men from the 10th minute yet we created zero good chances tried walking the ball into the box rather than shooting, took no risks at all looking for that goal.

That pattern carried on in almost every game under Lyndsey bar Mansfield away.

[Berniman]

All of this Lyndsey vs Morris discussion is pretty much irrelevant though when you take into account that Lyndsey left for a better offer, he wasn't sacked - people seem to conveniently forget that.  When Wellens did that lots of fans did, and still do hold it agaisnt him.

We would have had to replace Lyndsey anyway - on paper Morris was a shrewd replacement, the reality was different.  If we would have replaced with a Sheridan/Brown type manager, everyone would have been snapping your hands off for Morris and arming themselves with pitchforks and tiki lamps.

Let's focus on the manager that actually is in charge.

[Peter Venkman]

All of this Lyndsey vs Morris discussion is pretty much irrelevant though when you take into account that Lyndsey left for a better offer, he wasn't sacked - people seem to conveniently forget that.  When Wellens did that lots of fans did, and still do hold it agaisnt him.

We would have had to replace Lyndsey anyway - on paper Morris was a shrewd replacement, the reality was different.  If we would have replaced with a Sheridan/Brown type manager, everyone would have been snapping your hands off for Morris and arming themselves with pitchforks and tiki lamps.

Let's focus on the manager that actually is in charge.

100%.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Morris had a much worse team than Lindsey, but then flatly refused to play in a way that maximised what he did have.  Gunning simplified it all - get the ball wide and feed Austin.  We were still not a great team, so I doubt he'd keep that record up over time, and the Gillingham first 30 minutes showed he was just as likely to fuck it all up.

Exactly this. You can be dealt a 7/2 off suit and still play it like an absolute cunt, which is what he did.