Dean Wilkins

[wellquickwoody]

Rousing applanse for DW before kick off I hope.

Then we should pour abuse on all supporting or representing the opposition all game long.

Isn't that our job?

 

[El Presidente]

What on EARTH has that got to do with you sneering that we finished 18th under Wilkins?

What sneer, I was simply quoting a FACT. After all there are enough people pointing out we finished seventh under him the following season.

If finishing 18th under him for 40 games is not his fault, is being 20th under Slade after 12 games his (Slade's) fault either.

All I am doing is pointing out the inconsistencies of some of the comments.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Deeeaaaaaaannnnnoooooooooooo

 

[Buzzer]

What sneer, I was simply quoting a FACT. After all there are enough people pointing out we finished seventh under him the following season.

If finishing 18th under him for 40 games is not his fault, is being 20th under Slade after 12 games his (Slade's) fault either.

All I am doing is pointing out the inconsistencies of some of the comments.

That's completely disingenuous of you El Pres. Wilkins was a bloody miracle worker at this club and deserves nothing but the highest praise.

A team chocka full of local lads AND he brought in Forster. The sacking of DW and the manner in which it was conducted with smears, innuendos and downright lies is one of the blackest marks in this clubs history.

Our loss is Southampton's gain and I'm going to cheer VERY loudly when I see him on Sunday.

 

[British Bulldog]

Out of interest, the Albion finished 18th in League 1 in 2006/7, our lowest position in the league for 7 years, but who was the manager that season?

I still believe had we not lost Hammond for the last 7 games that season we would've finished higher up the league, Hammond & Bertin were really starting to look the part in midfield.

 

[Lokki 7]

All I am doing is pointing out the inconsistencies of some of the comments.

What inconsistency? Wilkins inherited a team that got McGhee sacked. The dressing room was shot to pieces. That DW was able to rebuild and keep us up in the remainder of the season was an amazing feat. To then build on that and get us to 7th the following year was a truly stunning achievement that he should have been lauded for, not sacked.

No inconsistencies there at all so yes, your comments do come across as sneering and snidey and very unpleasant. Why do you feel the need to still try and belittle DW's excellent work at the club?

 

[El Presidente]

What inconsistency? Wilkins inherited a team that got McGhee sacked. The dressing room was shot to pieces. That DW was able to rebuild and keep us up in the remainder of the season was an amazing feat. To then build on that and get us to 7th the following year was a truly stunning achievement that he should have been lauded for, not sacked.

No inconsistencies there at all so yes, your comments do come across as sneering and snidey and very unpleasant. Why do you feel the need to still try and belittle DW's excellent work at the club?

When McGhee was sacked our record was P7 W3 D1 L3, so to say that the dressing room was shot to pieces is not backed up by any results.

I have never said that he should have been sacked.

I am aware that the decision to remove him was taken in January, and the reasons why.

When Hammond left we were 12th in League one, so we actually did better without him than with him. I was disappointed to lose him, DK said we offered him the second best contract in the club's history and he wanted more money, perhaps DK is a liar on this issue.

In my opinion we replaced him with a better player in Racon, and signed better strikers in the form of Murray and Westlake, than the ones we lost (Revell, O'Callaghan and Savage).

As for the dressing room being shot to pieces under McGhee, why has a former skipper of the Albion come onto NSC and said that there were issues under DW, including his mysterious disappearance from the training ground for three weeks in April 2008, just before we finished 7th?

 

[Brovion]

What sneer, I was simply quoting a FACT. After all there are enough people pointing out we finished seventh under him the following season.

If finishing 18th under him for 40 games is not his fault, is being 20th under Slade after 12 games his (Slade's) fault either.

All I am doing is pointing out the inconsistencies of some of the comments.

Oh come off it, you WERE sneering! If not why didn't you add the caveat that "of course he didn't have a full season so it wasn't really his fault we had our lowest finish for seven years" ?

And as far as Slade is concerned you could argue that being 20th after 12 or so games was all his own work, however time will tell if we've made the right decision or not.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Wilkins was a rookie. He inherited a forward line of Revell, Hart, Robinson and Gatting. Where were the goals going to come from? Our midfield needed rebuilding and we needed some serious investment, something that the board had neglected to do during the latter months of McGhee's reign.

He was thrown in at the deep end and did an admirable job to stop the rot. Plenty of clubs struggle asfter coming down from the Championship, unless they have the right structure. We had been a team in delince since the last day survival against Ipswich.

In my humble opinion, Wilkins does not get enough praise for his work from various quarters of our support.

Always will bhe an Albion legend to me. Sad to see him wearing a Southampton jacket, when it should be a Brighton one. Maybe he will be back one day...

 

[El Presidente]

Oh come off it, you WERE sneering! If not why didn't you add the caveat that "of course he didn't have a full season so it wasn't really his fault we had our lowest finish for seven years" ?

And as far as Slade is concerned you could argue that being 20th after 12 or so games was all his own work, however time will tell if we've made the right decision or not.

I have never said that IMO DW should have been sacked.

I would also cheer him as I would nearly all former players and managers (Leon Knight would be an exception though), including Adams, Slade, Booker and White, who I think all have received dogs abuse on this site.

Our record under him is 36 wins in 95 games. It is a fair record, but no more.

 

[Napper]

Wilkins is a decent enough bloke and a good servant. Was a powder puff as a player but could take a great free kick and of course will forever be a hero of sorts due to the Ipswich goal to get us into the play offs.
As a manager he went missing when things got hard and persisted with some shit tatics. We did rally under him when we had nothing to play for and although finished 7th were in the next class of teams after the top 6. In reality we were a long long way off being a play off team in what was a weak division that year.

By all means the guy deserves a round of applause but lets not get to wanky and over emotional. He did some good some bad both as a player and a manager. He was no legend that some are suggesting.

Clap him then forget him.

 

[bhadebenhams]

perhaps DK is a liar on this issue.

Dick Knight (LIAR!!!!!!) is a liar on EVERY ISSUE. Dean Wilkins (SCORER OF OUR LAST EVER GOAL UNDER THE TWIN TOWERS!!!!!) knew all about what DK had done with the money from the Cup Final, and was going to SPILL THE BEANS when we were promoted in 2008-9 from the open top bus parade down Madeira Drive so Knight sacked him.

 

[Lokki 7]

When McGhee was sacked our record was P7 W3 D1 L3, so to say that the dressing room was shot to pieces is not backed up by any results.

Did you go actually to the capitulation at home to Stoke at the end of the previous season, or indeed any of the games where we waved the white flag before kick off?

I have never said that he should have been sacked.

Just belittled his achievements and sniped from the sidelines.

In my opinion we replaced him with a better player in Racon, and signed better strikers in the form of Murray and Westlake, than the ones we lost (Revell, O'Callaghan and Savage).

So dean Wilkins improved the squad that he inherited from McGhee?

As for the dressing room being shot to pieces under McGhee, why has a former skipper of the Albion come onto NSC and said that there were issues under DW, including his mysterious disappearance from the training ground for three weeks in April 2008, just before we finished 7th?

Or, you could ask why are you still trying to smear the guy with gossip and inuendo? You talk about results under McGhee yet somehow the 7th place finish under Wilkins is not a worthy achievement because an ex player he pissed off has moaned about him. Quite frankly I couldn't give a toss who our manager pisses off as long as we get results, that is what he is paid to do.

 

[Spider]

As a manager he went missing when things got hard and persisted with some shit tatics. We did rally under him when we had nothing to play for and although finished 7th were in the next class of teams after the top 6. In reality we were a long long way off being a play off team in what was a weak division that year.

What does this even mean? Didn't we have some of our best performances of the season against the supposedly best teams in the division (Donny at home, Forest away etc.)? Or are you referring to off the field nonsense?

As for it being a weak division, it's probably true that it has got harder in the 2 years since, but to finish 7th with the squad we had was a great achievement and this is borne out by the results since then. I just can't understand anyone who can't see this!

 

[El Presidente]

Did you go actually to the capitulation at home to Stoke at the end of the previous season, or indeed any of the games where we waved the white flag before kick off?
.

As for the Stoke game, we were already relegated, and the board reneged on their commitment to advise the players about the retained list. The players were totally disillusioned and didn't bother to turn up as they felt that they had been betrayed by DK.

 

[El Presidente]

Quite frankly I couldn't give a toss who our manager pisses off as long as we get results, that is what he is paid to do.

I agree with you entirely.

 

[Lokki 7]

I agree with you entirely.

So why snipe? I have heard time and again now that DW was sacked because he pissed people off from the players, to board members to office workers to the mums of the youth players. Who gives a toss? Why smear him with this? He sorted out a mess and got us up the table on meagre resources whilst attracting decent players in. He did a bloody good job and had put many years of work in previously as a player, captain and youth coach. He deserved a better deal from the club and more respect from a minority of our supporters.

 

[Superphil]

I thought he demanded that the club show more ambition and invest in some decent players.

My pennyworth. We were talking to DK right at the start of that season, might even have been at KMs testimonial, several months before he left. It was only a conversation I know, but DK told us that Hammond had made the ultimatum that he wanted to be the highest paid player in the club, and that he thought he was the best player in the club. DK told him to prove it, and that he felt it would be impossible to give him the money he was demanding. Also, he told us he did not think he was the best player at the club. I reckon Hammond made a rod for his own back, perhaps his agent was partly to blame, but greediness and an over inflated opinion of yourself won't often get you where you want to be.

 

[El Presidente]

He deserved a better deal from the club and more respect from a minority of our supporters.

I agree, I'm not sniping, just don't think he was the second coming of Jesus Christ and there were no footballing grounds to sack him..

I thought McGhee deserved better too, got us promoted, kept us up in the Championship on a fraction of the budget that we had the previous time we were promoted, and turned in a transfer surplus of £3m too. He was sacked after 6 games of the season.

Similarly Slade kept us up last season, has had Barry Lloyd interfering in the background, and was sacked after 12 games.

 

[Lokki 7]

I'm not sniping,

As for the dressing room being shot to pieces under McGhee, why has a former skipper of the Albion come onto NSC and said that there were issues under DW, including his mysterious disappearance from the training ground for three weeks in April 2008, just before we finished 7th?

Anyway. I'm bored of this now so in the words of Duncan Bannantyne, "I'm OUT!".