Most likeable/dislikeable manager in the Football League

[Lady Whistledown]

Has rejected the Forest job...good chap

I like him even more now.

 

[Weststander]

Russell Slade seems like a top bloke and really hope Orient get promoted so he will (most likely) get a chance to manage at the Amex and take in the applause he would deserve.

Slade did a great job keeping us up, and unlike some managers has a sense of humour - always took the "he's fat, he's bald, his name is Russell Slade" with a laugh and a smile. Couldn't see Billy Davies, Pulis or Wenger laughing at a chant knocking their appearance even if meant in good humour.

 

[Ali_rrr]

Likeable: Rösler, Martinez, Rodgers, McCarthy and Pearson.
Dislikeable: Adkins, Wenger and Steve Evans.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

@NotAndyNaylor - I'd be fascinated to know what your experiences are of Neil Warnock (traditionally unpopular but I quite like him) and Ian Holloway (seems to be media favourite: I think he's a precious idiot).

I like Warnock, although I know a lot of managers don't. The first time I met him I told him his Notts County team had been responsible for one of my most miserable days in football (the play-off final), and he told me he'd love to manage Brighton one day because of the way we'd outsung County even when we were 3-0 down and certain to lose. A couple of years ago I was on the same quiz team as him at the Indy sports desk Christmas lunch, and I can tell you he's ultra competitive. I nearly lost it for our team by messing up a music question, and I think I'd have been doing laps of the QPR training ground if I hadn't rescued the situation with the question that forced a tie-break. We won a joke trophy the size of The Ashes and he insisted on us parading it around the restaurant. "You never know if you'll win another one, lads," he said.

Wurzel started off okay and used to come up with some hilarious stuff but I think he now thinks he has to say something off the wall all the time (which happened to Strachan too) and has become a bit of a bore.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

*lights pipe, reclines into leather chair* Do go on...there's the headbutting of course...

I think some of it is still covered by an injunction ....

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Cheers pretty much exactly how I see it, yet could also understand why a few other managers wouldn't like him. He strikes me (in interview) as being quite a laugh really, tends to have a bit of a twinkle in his eye. I don't think he's sly or self promoting like certain others are. He also walked out on Palace, which is good. I worried a while back that he might have taken the Pompey job, which would have been annoying.

Holloway bores me, and comes across as though he's trying too hard these days. His "spontaneous" quips just feel a little bit pre-rehearsed. Another one who always has an excuse for losing and loves to play the downtrodden underdog figure in life. He stirred up a whole load of crap after that play off game last season, with his mysterious "things happened" speech. The whole "Poogate" situation has been completely exaggerated & taken out of context thanks to him. I don't mind a trip to Millwall in all honesty but I'll be happy to see Holloway in League One next season.

 

[pastafarian]

As for likeable managers,Steve Bruce (funnily enough)

He is a rare breed,Mr Bruce,as a player i didnt have much time for him,as a manager he is probably the most honest and likeable of any of them.I predict great things for him

As for disliking managers not much point,their ridiculous lifespan dictates they may be with us sooner or later.

 

[Ludensian Gull]

Strange one is Mr Bruce,I also had no time for him as a player, maybe a Man United thing, but find myself warming to him as a manager. As the above post stated he comes across as an honest down to earth guy.

 

[pastafarian]

Strange one is Mr Bruce,I also had no time for him as a player, maybe a Man United thing, but find myself warming to him as a manager. As the above post stated he comes across as an honest down to earth guy.

I think the fact Mr Bruce is usually not in the press for saying something controversial against other teams or managers speaks volumes.

 

[Ludensian Gull]

I think the fact Mr Bruce is usually not in the press for saying something controversial against other teams or managers speaks volumes.

Makes a refreshing change I must admit.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I often notice some of the positive comments made by opposition managers when they visit the Amex. Given their short shelf life and the set up and ownership here, some strike me as thinly disguised 'I'd like to manage here one day sales pitches'

Point being that Steve Bruce made the most gushing comments so far this year. Bruce to the Amex anyone?

 

[Paris]

I often notice some of the positive comments made by opposition managers when they visit the Amex. Given their short shelf life and the set up and ownership here, some strike me as thinly disguised 'I'd like to manage here one day sales pitches'

Point being that Steve Bruce made the most gushing comments so far this year. Bruce to the Amex anyone?

Bruce has certainly shut up the majority of Sunderland fans who gave him hell when he was their manager. He's done them three times this season.

I would agree about Holloway being added to the list for his annoying 'banter' over the years. Though after hearing about the troubles in his private life I'd place him much further down the list, below "I'm the next big thing! I play football the way it should be played!" Karl Robinson. He's done bugger all to support the hype. Adkins is annoying, but he knows how to get a team over the line, which might be bad news for us.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I think the fact Mr Bruce is usually not in the press for saying something controversial against other teams or managers speaks volumes.

The single most annoying thing about Bruce is that, every time one of his players is sent off for scything through an opponent, leaving his foot barely attached to his leg, you know exactly what he's going to say: "Why has the referee got to ruin the game by overreacting and showing an unnecessary red card ...?" Although funnily enough I don't recall him ever saying that when one of the opposition is dismissed.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Like: Mourinho, Hodgson, Sven, Russell Slade, Jol, Wenger, Rodgers, Mick McCarthy, Steve Bruce, Alan Pardew, Nigel Adkins, Roberto Martinez, Mark McGhee, Warnock

Dislike: Holloway

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Just listened to Warnock's interview on TalkSport this morning.

Always good to listen to (Warnock, not TalkSport), and seems pretty honest too. It would have been easy for him to take that job, walk straight in & get started with tonight's game, but he says he just felt it wasn't the right one for him so turned them down. And not, I suspect, for the reasons other managers might reject jobs (ie not paid enough or not enough money to spank on players).

He seems to have a fair degree of integrity, and I like that.

And also that he's left Forest in the lurch, I like that too.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Dislikeable: James Beattie - be nice to people on the way up, mate, we don't forget; .

From local mates, I've heard a few tales from the days when BEATTS was a young star player at Southampton - of what he and his partners in crime, Kevin Davies and Wayne Bridge were like on a night out.

You wouldn't want Beattie dating your sister.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

The single most annoying thing about Bruce is that, every time one of his players is sent off for scything through an opponent, leaving his foot barely attached to his leg, you know exactly what he's going to say: "Why has the referee got to ruin the game by overreacting and showing an unnecessary red card ...?" Although funnily enough I don't recall him ever saying that when one of the opposition is dismissed.

Bruce, in my experience, tends to start his interviews with "Now look, I'm not one to moan about referees but..." before going on to do exactly that, if not quite in such scathing terms as others might. With Bruce, it's usually just something like "He's got to spot that, you know & he's not done & it's cost us", because obviously referees aren't ever allowed to make human errors. He's rarely out & out unpleasant but he manages to get his excuses in, just in a quieter voice than others tend to.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Just listened to Warnock's interview on TalkSport this morning.

Always good to listen to (Warnock, not TalkSport), and seems pretty honest too. It would have been easy for him to take that job, walk straight in & get started with tonight's game, but he says he just felt it wasn't the right one for him so turned them down. And not, I suspect, for the reasons other managers might reject jobs (ie not paid enough or not enough money to spank on players).

He seems to have a fair degree of integrity, and I like that.

And also that he's left Forest in the lurch, I like that too.

I wonder though what he wasn't happy with ...the owners seems desperate lot to get into the prem..but you get the impression that they might not be an easy lot to work for.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I wonder though what he wasn't happy with ...

The suggestion in one of the papers this morning, was that Al Fawaz (sp) wanted a say in team selection, and specifically was dictating that their two recently signed Algerian players get more playing time.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I wonder though what he wasn't happy with ...the owners seems desperate lot to get into the prem..but you get the impression that they might be an easy lot to work for.

The gist of his interview was that he felt there would be too much interference from board level, I believe. He seems very much one to do things his own way and he made it quite clear that he didn't think he'd get to make all the decisions at Forest with Fawaz in charge of the club.