Blame lies with the club for his appointment. Aldo sought him out - he didn’t apply for it. So there had to be some convincing on Aldo’s part not only to Edwards but also to the board. Between the lot of them they came to the conclusion that we had the personnel to build from the back and rely on Cooper to stand up 1v1 to wingers when we got caught on the counter. Shocking.
Interesting Interview
- Thread starter tony_dolby
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Blame lies with the club for his appointment. Aldo sought him out - he didn’t apply for it. So there had to be some convincing on Aldo’s part not only to Edwards but also to the board. Between the lot of them they came to the conclusion that we had the personnel to build from the back and rely on Cooper to stand up 1v1 to wingers when we got caught on the counter. Shocking.
Kryan Bing
Well-known member
It kind of looks that way. Before he came to 'Wall, it seems his coaching ability was not in question with the players he had worked with in the past. Well, not what was available publicly. So you can see why, in the current trend of young coaches he may of looked like an attractable option (probably cheaper as well) for moving forward. But it now certainly looks like his man management was very questionable and that lack of experience at the top as a leader became very questionable.
new cross wall
Well-known member
with the championship you have to have a manager who knows the ropes someone who knows the team who has been around a bit
especially with a team like us who relies on loans and a few cheap signing
to ask Edwards to change a team who had all of per-season playing one way was to bigger ask of the players we have here
i think as a first job maybe as number two to a manager who had been around a bit but all the keyboard worries new best all i kept reading was how much better the players are and how rowett was a shit manager but i don't see the same energy to admit they were wrong and Edwards was a total failure
especially with a team like us who relies on loans and a few cheap signing
to ask Edwards to change a team who had all of per-season playing one way was to bigger ask of the players we have here
i think as a first job maybe as number two to a manager who had been around a bit but all the keyboard worries new best all i kept reading was how much better the players are and how rowett was a shit manager but i don't see the same energy to admit they were wrong and Edwards was a total failure
robbo555
Well-known member
I think you are right in that we seemed to suddenly want to follow the trend of hiring a young coach instead of a proven manager at this level like Jones or Eustace. Jones was set to be appointed until he wanted a clause and that made us change tack. A lot of clubs have done this and for every one that has worked, another has failed miserably.
The leadership I think was definitely an issue with Edwards. The amount of times Harris said "leadership" or "leading" in his first interview back was telling.
robbo555
Well-known member
I agree about Aldo, but even if he had a hand in it, the appointment ultimately came down to a decision by James Berylson and Kavanagh.
But to their credit, they recognised the mistake and rectified it. I think James will be a better chairman as a result.
Aldo should’ve walked when they sacked Edwards. He’s responsible for the appointment directly.
The manager wanted to play a style that he didn’t have the players for. I think if he had been given a full pre season it would have been a very different story, but he wasn’t afforded the luxury. Naive on everyone’s part.
Everyone would’ve got on board with a stop gap interim manager if it meant getting someone like Edwards in in the summer. It was an exciting appointment, he came with good pedigree & we’ve seen many young English coaches have success lately.
Ilderton Wanderer
Well-known member
Why do you think it might have been better if we had appointed Edwards in the preseason? A shit manager is a shit manager, I can’t see what difference a few weeks in the summer would make.
robbo555
Well-known member
You are not wrong.
He would have needed a huge budget to bring in at least eleven players that were capable of playing his style. He knew what the budget was and the capabilities of the players he was taking on. I don't think it was ever going to be a different story. He was arrogant and stupid enough to think differently and how fucking naive was that!
Showoff
Well-known member
The board were the ones to bring him in. There must have been a selection process and then interviews. They thought it would work out, it didn't. At least they then made the decision to cut their losses and bring back Harris at the right time. Personally I don't blame Edwards or the board, they tried they failed but they tried.
Edwards must have promised and impressed the board with something for them to employ him. I very much doubt he promised them a relegation battle so he failed and the board are responsible for buying into his guff. I disagree that neither are to blame. They are both responsible for the mess that he left behind.
I don’t think it would have taken too much money - none more than what Harris is going to have to spend thanks to Rowett’s shitty recruitment over the years.
The more time passes, my opinion of him is changing. He left us in a mess.
HappyLion
Well-known member
It became predictable and one dimentional. Once they realised we were light in the middle when going forward they just punched right through. JE did not adapt and our defenders looked like they had never played together. I think JE will become a better coach in time.
He had to replace ageing players that were taking us down. He had us 45 minutes from the play offs. I disagree that his recruitment was shit. It was certainly good enough to give us top half finishes although i know that isn't enough for some fans.
He failed to bolster our defence when it was crying out for reinforcement/freshening up. Cresswell was our best defender come the end of last season and we replaced him with Wes Harding.
We got rid of Burke, Voglsammer, Bennett and Burey & signed Nisbet. Whatever you think of those players, we weakened ourselves by letting them go and not making additions.
Recruited solely for a 5-3-2, which meant he was forced to push Honeyman out wide as we had not a single winger in our squad. Longman was used as a wing back until Harris came in, bear in mind.
To me it ended up a bit of a mess.
What about Flemming, De Norre and Emakhu and Sarkic? Rowett took over a team in 19th place and had the likes of Williams, Bod, Smith, Thompson, Ferguson, Skalak etc. We finished 8th the same season.
When Rowett left we were a point better off than at the same stage as the season before, got the age of the squad down and left us with sellable assets and bigger crowds. Far from a mess- in my opinion of course.
Cresswell was a loan as was Ballard and Tango. If we dumped our transfer budget on defenders we wouldn't have been able to buy Flemming, De Norre or Sarkic. Add Emaku to that and can you honestly say we have a worse squad now than when he took over? Williams or De Norre, Burke or Emakhu/ Flemming?
Showoff
Well-known member
Ok, yes they are both to blame in the end as it was them that made the decisions. I don't blame them for trying is my point. Unless someone takes the risk nothing will change. They took the risk of bringing back Harris, that could have gone wrong but no one knew that he would make such an impact in such a short space of time. Will he take us to the Premier League? Most people will say no, which means that at some point they'll have to take a risk again, hopefully they will pull a rabbit out of the hat and not a monkey.
A much lesser risk than employing a bloke that had never managed at senior level before.
Is that what he's being employed for?
We could employ Arsene Wenger but if you can't or don't back a manager with the right amount of finances it matters not a jot how good they are. If the board expect our managers to get us promoted and deem them as a failure if they don't then we'll be going through quite a few managers in the near future. I'd imagine the managers first remit is to keep us in this division.
Showoff
Well-known member
All good points. No NH wasn't employed to get us to the PL, he was employed to save our arses, which he did in spades. What is our objective? With the money we have, stay up, maybe playoffs? Could we do a Sheffield Utd, Luton etc? I'd like to think so.
