Provocative comment by Naylor about Wilkins!!!

[Spider]

You trusted Wilkins ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Blimey, there's something I never thought I'd here.

I suppose it's because I had the unfortunate job of watching him play for Brighton. He was never honest with the fans as a player so I see no reason for him to change as a manager, he spent his entire Brighton career trying to hoodwink the fans into believing he was a decent midfielder. Thankfully the fans weren't that stupid and saw through it.

What a bizarre thing to say - you are questioning his integrity because you didn't rate him as a midfielder? I can't quite work out what you're talking about, perhaps you could explain! If it's what I think it is it's an extremely odd stick to beat a footballer with!

As for the transfers thing - there seems to be a lot around about how Wilkins didn't have the dressing room, or caused players to request transfers. To me, though, none of this matters when you consider he had a squad of players which he helped over achieve (as we've seen by their relative failure this season). To be honest I don't believe half the speculation anyway, but it's stupid to make up reasons when really it's whats on the pitch that matters.

 

[cjd]

Pretty sure McFaul was told almost immediately by Wilkins that he wasn't wanted so asked to leave.

...........and if the other one was Dixon.....Wilkins has just gone up in my estimation.

Were Dixon and McFaul two of the famous five that DK said "we would be surprised at the quality.."..........?

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Personally I think he is a very good journalist

He really isn't. Henry Winter is a good journalist. Andy Naylor is a hack.

 

[severnside gull]

Desperate to get some copy in isn't he?
just resurrecting the same pro-Dick/anti-Dean stuff as before

 

[Don Tmatter]

McFaul was only on loan though, weren't he?

 

[El Presidente]

Naylor is a journo and Wilkins was a footballer i know who i would rather back and trust.

I think Micky Thomas is outside your house and wants to know if you can change a twenty pound note for two tens for him.

 

[El Presidente]

You trusted Wilkins ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Blimey, there's something I never thought I'd here.

I suppose it's because I had the unfortunate job of watching him play for Brighton. He was never honest with the fans as a player so I see no reason for him to change as a manager, he spent his entire Brighton career trying to hoodwink the fans into believing he was a decent midfielder. Thankfully the fans weren't that stupid and saw through it.

I thought he had one of the best left foots seen at the Albion. His tackling made Jake Robinson look like Rambo, but it never bothered me.

 

[El Presidente]

blatant bias isnt really considered a good thing in a journo.

You clearly have never read the Mail, Express, Sun, Telegraph, Mirror or Guardian

 

[chez]

Bloody hell............""never honest as a player"....?

He was far from a tough-tackling midfielder, but he had a lot of ability..........and I don't ever recall him being dishonest...!

Are you bored with slating FDM (as you have done...consistently for last 2-3 years) and ready to pick another futile and lost cause argument...?

Oh don't get me wrong he had an excellent left foot but if you saw him play you would remember the times when he pretended to go in for tackles but actually never tried to get anywhere near the ball for fear of getting touched. He wasn't called Wendy for nothing you know.

 

[beorhthelm]

You clearly have never read the ...

fair point, though dont we complain about that too? anyway, i was think rather personal bias than political. its always felt like Naylor had an agenda with Wilkins.

 

[cjd]

Oh don't get me wrong he had an excellent left foot but if you saw him play you would remember the times when he pretended to go in for tackles but actually never tried to get anywhere near the ball for fear of getting touched. He wasn't called Wendy for nothing you know.

I agree that he wasn't exactly rambo, but I saw him play throughout his Albion career........and I could never say he was dishonest.

You seem to forget, that when Wilkins played, the tackles that went unpunished (brutal tackles from behind etc etc etc) and the generally thuggish attitude of at least 2-3 members of each team, you had to be pretty good not to have your leg broken.

You often say you played football in your youth............so you will know full well that the way to get hurt is to put a half-hearted challenge in. I don't recall Wilkins spending his career in the physios room.

The likes of El Abd wouldn,t have lasted 5 minutes in Wilkins time of playing.

 

[itszamora]

Read the article. He is not justifying Adams appointment at all. All you people that slag off Naylor just because you're still up Wilkins arse are the ones that are being pathetic.

The quote is an attack on Wilkins' management, not the first one Naylor has made. His constant pro-Adams spiel (remember 'on behalf of all Albion fans, welcome back Micky' where a few lines earlier he'd mentioned his 'beloved Stoke City'?) was bad enough when he was in charge, but now he's gone it seems unbelievably pointless.

 

[bhadeb]

Dixon and Mcfaul - because Dick was the one that dealt with these signings - Dean wasn't the one that asked for them

 

[Mr Blunt]

People moaning about Naylor, has anyone actually thought that he might know a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes than the average fan.

 

[Spider]

People moaning about Naylor, has anyone actually thought that he might know a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes than the average fan.

Not a question of what goes on behind the scenes - it's the way he portrays the situation and uses selective truth to satisfy his own agenda. The fact that he has a better knowledge of the inner workings of the club that most of us is the reason why he should be far more balanced than he is.

 

[bright1064]

Can't believe Naylor is STILL banging on about Wilkins! It really angers me, as he obviously has an agenda when writing about him. He was negative towards Wilkins when he was at the club, and he is STILL negative about him even after Micky has gone! I don't get it?

f***ing glad Adams has gone to be honest, because when he was here all we ever got was a 1 dimensional version of events from Naylor. I wonder how he will treat the next manager? Probably by writing UMPTEEN articles where he tries to get in some kind of tenuous dig in at Wilkins.

 

[chez]

I agree that he wasn't exactly rambo, but I saw him play throughout his Albion career........and I could never say he was dishonest.

You seem to forget, that when Wilkins played, the tackles that went unpunished (brutal tackles from behind etc etc etc) and the generally thuggish attitude of at least 2-3 members of each team, you had to be pretty good not to have your leg broken.

You often say you played football in your youth............so you will know full well that the way to get hurt is to put a half-hearted challenge in. I don't recall Wilkins spending his career in the physios room.

The likes of El Abd wouldn,t have lasted 5 minutes in Wilkins time of playing.

Fair point. There's always a place for skill in a teams midfield, and to be honest if we had someone with his passing ability in the squad at the moment I doubt we'd be where we are.

 

[Bish Bosh]

Problem was we had Wilikns and Codner as our first choice central midfielders for seemingly ages and neither of them were tacklers. Al about balance innit? What haapened was that we conceded midfield and played balls from further back to Garry Nelson. It actaually worked for a while...but "get stuck in Wilkins/Codner"...take your choice.

 

[Trigger]

Stir your shit somewhere else Naylor, go on, do one, cock.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Hardly surprising but annoying nevertheless.

You could almost start playing 'Andy Naylor Bingo' with those stories...

- Random criticism of Dean Wilkins? Got it.
- Lament over McGhee's sacking? Yes.
- Still seeming to randomly defend Adams? Brilliant.

BINGO.