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Uncle Spielberg
Well-known member
And don't forget 2 of those 3 defeats were 2-1 away at Forest when by all accounts we played very well and 1-0 away at Bristol City and these 2 teams went up 1st and 2nd.
Barry Izbak
U.T.A.
I completely agree. But cast your mind back to the binfest that was going on at the time; on here, in the paper, on the phone in etc. Did not DK unload MM because he'd "lost the fans"?
Does that sound familiar? perhaps to the past two or three months?
Silent Bob
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
- Dec 6, 2004
- 22,172
This season's first 7 games:
4 wins
2 draws
1 defeat
Performances were the same. Shit. I said it then and I say it now, McGhee was taking us down. The mistake was not getting rid of him in April, by doing it the way we did we essentially wasted that whole season.
crodonilson
He/Him
I was one at the time who said we should have stuck by mcghee, it was a shocking decision, but then again so was sacking wilkins. I was also behind Adams.
My point is all managers need time, and everyone thinks the grass is greener on the otherside when it isn't neccassarily.
In Slade we have a competent manager who has delivered success in all of his jobs, he will do that here as well but only if he's given time and gets the support of Dick, the board, and the supporters.
My point is all managers need time, and everyone thinks the grass is greener on the otherside when it isn't neccassarily.
In Slade we have a competent manager who has delivered success in all of his jobs, he will do that here as well but only if he's given time and gets the support of Dick, the board, and the supporters.
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,297
and because of the lack of fight shown the season before, why else would they have been discussing his future over the summer?
Its a shame that no one ever tried to poach him from us before it went wrong, (1/2 way through 2nd championship season for me) maybe if he had been sacked, we might have avoided relegation instead of going down?
It was the lack of fight for survival and the continual demeening of our players that turned fans against him, not the seven games back in div.1
The problem started when he wasn't given any money to keep us in the Championship.
Happy Seagull
Barca Cule
I'd rather relegation than Magoo still charge. The guy was a joke!!
LABHA
New member
Was he looking or selling bussiness ; )
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,267
There's some re-writing of history here. By the time he got sacked McGhee had lost the fans and was losing the players, too. The 5-1 home defeat to Stoke was in my all-time Top 5 shittest Albion performances ever, when we were tore apart by a bloke called Rooney (wher's he now?)
Look at his stats on Wikipedia and you can see he's had a history of managing clubs for 2-3 seasons before it all goes wrong for some reason.
Look at his stats on Wikipedia and you can see he's had a history of managing clubs for 2-3 seasons before it all goes wrong for some reason.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,018
while i thought McGhee was a decent manager at first and done well for a couple of seasons, there's some serious rose tinted hindsight going on here. as i remember it, it was the manner of the defeats. we'd lost the fight, and McGhee made increasingly bizarre squad selections and poor substitutions. i had the insight of a Millwall fan at work who said it was exactly what happen when he was there. i say thanks for the first 2 seasons and good luck to him at Motherwell, but he wasnt, isnt all that.
British Bulldog
The great escape
- Feb 6, 2006
- 10,974
The only thing wrong with the McGhee sacking was the timing of it, He should've gone at the end of the season he took us down from the Championship because he'd lost the plot by then. But it's all water under the bridge now along with the sackings of Wilkins & Adams, Russell Slade is our manager now and it would be nice to see everybody get behind him and the players to see if we can dig our way out of the mess we are in.
I'm with guy fawkes on this one. McGhee is not the great that people paint him as. For the reasons listed by Guy, for the added reason of his persisting with a failing goalkeeper, who's mistakes cost us enough points to have stayed up, maybe he has skills as a manager, but man-management is not one of them.
To give him credit for promotion to the championship is to ignore the fact Coppell had us coasting to an automoatic promotion, looking good for another division title, bring in mcghee and we slip down the table, and need the lottery of a shoot out and a soft penalty to get to and win the play offs.
To paint his keeping us up as some fabled achievement unmatched by any manager before not only is ridiculous since we've been kept in the second tier of english football quite a lot. And if you stick strictly to modern championship era then we've had three years in that division, Coppell was hamstrung by Hinshelwood's 12 match losing streak.
And this idea that he's some great manager because he had a bit of success with motherwell overstates th strength of scottish football. One of the common arguments in football is how well celtic and rangers would do in the english league. At best people think they'd be mid premiership. At best. They are miles ahead of the other teams in Scotland, which puts the likes of motherwell maybe midtable championship. Hardly the step up from his championship tenure with brighton, is it?
The idea that he was fired simply for the seven games that season, is also ridiculous. There was the summer meeting of the board where he nearly got fired because he had failed to push on in the second season in the championship. There is an expectation, or at least a hope, that you improve on the season before, he did not, he got worse. Typically the team that is relegated is one of the stronger teams the following year. We were not.
As for the board not backing him, Dick Knight said when he fired him that one of the reasons, beyond losing the team, and the fans, was that he couldn't bring new players in, suggesting they tried but for some reason the players didn't want to come.
To give him credit for promotion to the championship is to ignore the fact Coppell had us coasting to an automoatic promotion, looking good for another division title, bring in mcghee and we slip down the table, and need the lottery of a shoot out and a soft penalty to get to and win the play offs.
To paint his keeping us up as some fabled achievement unmatched by any manager before not only is ridiculous since we've been kept in the second tier of english football quite a lot. And if you stick strictly to modern championship era then we've had three years in that division, Coppell was hamstrung by Hinshelwood's 12 match losing streak.
And this idea that he's some great manager because he had a bit of success with motherwell overstates th strength of scottish football. One of the common arguments in football is how well celtic and rangers would do in the english league. At best people think they'd be mid premiership. At best. They are miles ahead of the other teams in Scotland, which puts the likes of motherwell maybe midtable championship. Hardly the step up from his championship tenure with brighton, is it?
The idea that he was fired simply for the seven games that season, is also ridiculous. There was the summer meeting of the board where he nearly got fired because he had failed to push on in the second season in the championship. There is an expectation, or at least a hope, that you improve on the season before, he did not, he got worse. Typically the team that is relegated is one of the stronger teams the following year. We were not.
As for the board not backing him, Dick Knight said when he fired him that one of the reasons, beyond losing the team, and the fans, was that he couldn't bring new players in, suggesting they tried but for some reason the players didn't want to come.
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Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
We did not slip down the table once McGhee arrived, we had done that under Booker's stewardship. I'm pretty certain we were in the playoff positions when McGhee arrived and he got us up via them. Try giving some credit eh?
I personally don't believe there was ever the money touted as being available for the three years McGhee was here as we didn't actually get to spend it even though we sold our best players having survived in the Championship on a shoe shoestring and had to wait until we signed Murray. McGhee didn't seem to have trouble getting players to go to Motherwell so this bullshit spouted about no one wanting to play for him here is a little retarded imo, and conveniently fits in with the anti McGhee'ers agendas
I also believe we would now be in the Championship if the board had held their nerve.
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According to wikipedia, McGhee joined us on October 28th 2003. Looking at the seagulls website we had a match on the 25th of october, and one on 1st of november. The table for after the 25th october match puts us 2nd in the table, automatic promotion spot.
Brighton and Hove Albion | Match | Table
After the match on 1st of november, 5 days (28th,29th,30th,31st,1st) into McGhee's stewardship we were 4th, 3 points from the top. At the end of the season we were 4th, 13 points from the top.
Also according to wikipedia, Coppell joined Reading on 9th october. At which point we were one point clear at the top of the table (accoring to the seagulls site - after our last match on october 4th Brighton and Hove Albion | Match | Table)
I'm just quoting the reasons given by Dick Knight. If you think it's BS take it up with him. We haven't had much trouble bringing in players since he's gone.
Oh, how wonderful rose-tinted spectacles are! I seem to remember a lot of discontent from fans towards the end of McGhee's days with the Albion. Rumours that he'd lost the dressing room and fall-outs with players, mistakes made (putting Trolley off the bus, playing him in the first team, buying him in the first place), all the fuss with Leon Shight (though I'd be well and truly on McGhee's side in that matter!)
I'm not saqying he was a bad manager - far from it - but there was a definite feeling at the time that it was time for him to go.
I'm not saqying he was a bad manager - far from it - but there was a definite feeling at the time that it was time for him to go.