Tony Fernandes and his managers

[West London is Rss]

No they absolutely were not. There was no real substance behind JFH's record to qualify him at this level. That should have been obvious.

I've been unconvinced by all our appointments in recent times and said so at the time. Les included.

I think they were and I think most others do too.

Redknapp's last job was Spurs, did a good job there - good on paper for us.
Hughes - last job was Fulham, did a great job there, now doing a good job at Stoke proving doubters wrong - good on paper for us.

Both these had the substance behind the record to qualify them, which is what you sound like you were looking for?

Following a change of direction for the club of buying cheaper with promise and selling on - we employed a young manager who'd won League 2 and was top of League 1 with his team, who seemingly fit our new philosophy perfectly.

I'd say all this backs up my point pretty well, that on paper; good appointments for a club like us.

[hal9thou]

Feel really sorry for TF !

Once is happenstance , twice is unlucky, three times is incompetence. TF appointed Les and a lot of problems have stemmed from that call, so its hard to shed too many tears. Particularly as the situation shows no sign of being remedied.

[hal9thou]

I think they were and I think most other do too.

Redknapp's last job was Spurs, did a good job there - good on paper for us.
Hughes - last job was Fulham, did a great job there, now doing a good job at Stoke proving doubters wrong - good on paper for us.

Both these had the substance behind the record to qualify them, which is what you sound like you were looking for?

Following a change of direction for the club of buying cheaper with promise and selling on - we employed a young manager who'd won League 2 and was top of League 1 with his team, who seemingly fit our new philosophy perfectly.

I'd say all this backs up my point pretty well, that on paper; good appointments for a club like us.

No. JFH's record at the time was questionable to say the least. He didn't do particularly well at Antwerp, inherited Burton from you know who and presided over one dimensional football. And for this we give a proven Champ gaffer the heave ho.

Hughes. He was a bad call purely on financial grounds because of his questionable, not to say notorious agent - the last person you would want around you while you waved megabucks around. Kia was the guy Harry referred to re TF's trousers being pulled down. Hughes has never had that financial responsibility at Stoke - he works better on a tight rein.

Harry. I had hopes for Harry because he used to be a footballing man (ref Greenwood, WHU roots back in the day) and I thought he still had it. On paper, you could have made a case for Harry.

Then of course there was Ramsey, and Les himself. I'll give you Harry but the rest were questionable at the time.

[3London]

In a way the thing that they are most guilty of is listening to the fans too much...it seems that the sackings and appointments are almost following rather than leading...Hughes was effectively sacked by the crowd..as was JFH and Ramsey all subject to massive pressure from message boards the terraces etc etc....A stronger chairman would have come out and explained that we needed to ride the storm. But Football is a results based business and stability is something we really need but seem unable to Achieve ..changing managers every season is never going to achieve anything.

Already there is a sizeable number that want holloway gone...i am not sure how we get out of the mess we find ourselves in.

I am in my 40th season of attending games and my 30th as a season ticket holder and i fear this maybe my last ..

[West London is Rss]

No. JFH's record at the time was questionable to say the least. He didn't do particularly well at Antwerp, inherited Burton from you know who and presided over one dimensional football. And for this we give a proven Champ gaffer the heave ho.

Hughes. He was a bad call purely on financial grounds because of his questionable, not to say notorious agent - the last person you would want around you while you waved megabucks around. Kia was the guy Harry referred to re TF's trousers being pulled down. Hughes has never had that financial responsibility at Stoke - he works better on a tight rein.

Harry. I had hopes for Harry because he used to be a footballing man (ref Greenwood, WHU roots back in the day) and I thought he still had it. On paper, you could have made a case for Harry.

Then of course there was Ramsey, and Les himself. I'll give you Harry but the rest were questionable at the time.

On paper mate, Redknapp, Hughes and JFH were exciting appointments based purely on the football and not the other factors, to me and quite a few others. I think you'd find it hard to find more fans that weren't excited by any of these appointments on paper.

Sounds like you think differently, which is fair enough, but I do think my case is stronger.

[Gtleighsr3]

Is it WeAre? 18k stadium paying 75-90k a week to numerous players while in the premier league. 5 and a bit years later we find ourselves in a terrible state and accountability needs to be taken.

Bournemouth seem to be doing OK doing the same formulae

[MYU]

Very harsh. He has been let down. I mean Mark Hughes is a good manager. Like him or not, what he has achieved with Stoke is nothing short of a miracle. It didn't work out for him and wasted allot of money but he came him with a reputation. I blame the fans for wanting redchapp so another 1 I won't blame him for. Tony can't do a thing right but I am glad we've got someone that at least cares and goes to games

What a great post from you mate, I agree.

There's been a problem for years and years at this club, long before Tony came here.

The trend is we buy good players, they come here and become the worst we've ever seen, they leave and they great again.

We need to pin point the cause and sort this out once and for all.

If it was down to me, I'd go and invest in the best coaching team I can find and get a manager who will be able to work with them.

I'd also allow the manager to identify the players he wants, only he knows what he's looking for.

[Kit]

Once is happenstance , twice is unlucky, three times is incompetence. TF appointed Les and a lot of problems have stemmed from that call, so its hard to shed too many tears. Particularly as the situation shows no sign of being remedied.

So are you saying you thought Hughes and HR and JFH were poor appointments and not backed, admittedly foolishly at times !

[1973 ranger]

I think Fernandes was a hell of a lot more involved in signing these players than you realise. I know that Samba signed on the strength of Fernandes himself not Redknapp and not the mythical 100k a week wage he was supposed to be getting.

[amusant]

I can't believe that Hughes wanted Cesar with an international GK already on his books. I agree, the board were like kids in a sweet shop, buying everything that moved, but at the same time you employ a manager to stop that sort of stupidity. Hughes was either complicit or sat on the sidelines letting it all happen.

[dogsrrs]

Easy to critcise T F for his appointments ALL GOOD AT THE TIME even JFH who now in hindsight is appearing to have been doing a better job than thought in his case it's becoming apparent you can't polish a turd , yes he played Dog football but is there any other way with this Dross supplied to him , just spoke to TFs cousin who agrees he will listen to anybody does that stop him from being a nice person or make him a monster no he tried to better this club and got shafted

[rodman]

What a great post from you mate, I agree.

There's been a problem for years and years at this club, long before Tony came here.

The trend is we buy good players, they come here and become the worst we've ever seen, they leave and they great again.

We need to pin point the cause and sort this out once and for all.

If it was down to me, I'd go and invest in the best coaching team I can find and get a manager who will be able to work with them.

I'd also allow the manager to identify the players he wants, only he knows what he's looking for.

as long as that's not Olly then yes.

Needs to be someone on the up, and hopefully more long term like Mr Rowett maybe ?

[hal9thou]

So are you saying you thought Hughes and HR and JFH were poor appointments and not backed, admittedly foolishly at times !

I think post 33 pretty much covers what I thought.....

[amusant]

This is a results business as everyone always says and it's interesting to contrast our results with those of Swansea, two clubs with similar sized grounds. They appointed Martinez in 2005 and have consistently built on his success right up to this season when the consistent approach has been thrown out of the window and they look to be heading in our direction. They went through 6 managers in that period without (until this season) making a serious mistake, they also run at a profit - £35M in 2015.

As opposed to us - new ownership in 2011 - we're into our 6th manager in that time (7 if you count the brief return of Warnock), have lost circa £300M and are heading for League 1. You can make noises about support and good choices at the time, but 6 managers in 5 and a half years and eye watering losses makes this is a disaster in anyone's eyes.

I wonder sometimes if Tony reads the sort of rubbish we all post on these boards and makes his decisions based on it. In retrospect, keeping Hughes might have been a better decision than sacking him, backing Harry might have too, rather than giving him reason to walk (hobble?), Ramsay's results no longer look so bad compared to the results of his successors and suddenly we're seeing JFH in a better light now we've lost all but one match since he went. The board needs to make decisions and back them...giving in to fan pressure leads to exactly what we're seeing now, a complete train crash and money being splashed around to no great effect. In the end maybe that's why Tony is a poor owner, wants too much to be loved, no backbone.