Top Cat Cooper wrote:My take on the "bigger picture" is this, I was happy with SG and didnt want him to leave/get sacked, I thought he was just the right up and coming young manager we needed and both he and the team would continue to develop and improve and we would gain promotion to the prem in two/three seasons after winning promotion to the Championship. There were ominus signs though in League 1 when we almost fucked it up after being comfortable for so long and made it by a whisker but I still expected us to go on to consolidate and improve in the Championship.
However, the reason I felt it was time for a change of manager was as has already been pointed out many times, SG's career was as a CB yet he has failed in three years to sort out the defence, not 9 games 3 years, plus despite Bates I don't think his dealings in the transfer market were very good, yes I know we were only able to bring in either cheap transfers or loanees, but how many players did we go through during his tenure and how many actually turned out to be decent or shrewd signings that in a lot of cases ended up on the bench and were hardly used, Webber is now another example under Warnock. I know your response to this will be to blame Bates, but I think this is why he stopped backing SG and even allowing for Bates cheap transfers and loanees I think SG could have been a bit shrewder in the market, assuming it was him making the signings which we may never know.
So, with results and performances deteriorating and no end in sight to our defensive problems I honestly thought SG had taken us as far as he could and it was time for a change and was pleased when Colin signed for no other reason than his track record in taking teams up from this division. Also, I quite like his no nonsense approach which if we want any chance at all of changing Bates transfer policy then he is the manager to do it but I am under no illusions about his style of football and agree with whats been said that we played better football on the ground under SG but only in patches, whether his current style will continue remains to be seen, but like I said in an earlier post West Ham fans for all their moaning will take promotion if it comes and am sure we will be no different.
As has been mentioned it's a thin line between winning and losing, we could so easily have won the Southampton and West Ham games and we almost gained a point here with 10 men so 7 points would have made all the difference but you don't always get what you deserve in football either by winning or losing. The disappointing results/performances under Colin have been Forest and Watford, apart from that at the time of playing we have played 5 out of the top 6 teams so it was always going to be a difficult period but you can put whatever spin you want on it to suit your argument. I was just pleased to see a Leeds team go out and play for the shirt which I thought was lacking under SG and no I am not saying that tackles like Pugh's and Thompsons are acceptable or that is the way I want to see my team play, just that they at least put a shift in and want to play for this great club and show it in their performances. If Colin gets us in the top two next season with boring football I will settle for that as a compromise, if he doesen't, then that is the time to judge him imo not after 9 games, in the meantime I just want to try and be as positive as a glass half full will allow and get behind the new manager and the team and see where it takes us MOT
Am sure I have a tin hat round here somewhere........
Only had a chance to checked this thread out and I haven't seen so many disagreements about the current team, manager and previous manager for...well..for years really. Are things that bad? Has the acceptance of how shit we really are affected our constructive posts on Leeds?
I think it has, and after I witnessed that terrible defeat against Watford last week, I can understand why. However, I actually agree with everything TCC has written above.
I have been to every home match this season (except 2) and a few away matches and as TC has pointed out above, we never sustained any consistency in a full 90 minute good performance under Grayson. The only match that we played well in for 90 minutes was against Hull if I can recall, so the signs were there for all to see way before he was as sacked.I will hold my opinion on Warnock (whom I am not a big fan of) until next season.
I can't really judge him until them- sorry.
As for him tearing a strip off Thompson in public, I must be the only one who thinks that he didn't. I think he said something along the lines of "You were a bit rash lad, it was a stupid tackle, but you'll learn from this, now get yourself in the shower and back out here..." Something along those lines anyway....
