[Albion] Steve Cooper.

[Thunder Bolt]

Is Liam son to Leroy?

Yes.

 

[Swegulls]

Yes.

Oki, thanks!

 

[Southern Scouse]

He’s always seems to have worked at a lower level so perhaps with better players and staff he could spring a surprise.

 

[Left Footer]

I wouldn't be against Steve Cooper, lets be honest there isn't a great deal out there at the moment and he was always on a hiding to nothing at Forest.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Interesting people turning their noses up at Cooper when I expect they were nursing semi’s when league 1 and championship successor McKenna was linked

 

[ac gull]

I would have Cooper

Develops young players - key part of out business model

Forms a connection with fan base

Plays decent football, but also knows how to grind out a draw ( i.e. our non existent plan B under RDZ )

Suspect he would walk all the way to Amex to work for a decent, logical owner and set up after his recent experiences

Re point above, he is far more likely to appreciate grass ain't always greener elsewhere so won't clear off at 24 hours notice a month into season either

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

A massive downgrade on what we've had? In the table for the second half of the season, we were 4th or 5th from bottom. The worst six months since the six months that got Hughton sacked.

Do we really want another coach who does 18 months and then downs tools despite being heavily backed and fully aware of the limitations of the job he took?

Heavily backed = given a free transfer and a young kid to replace a £140odd million centre midfield pairing going into our first campaign in Europe, with a squad not topped up in January despite a crippling injury crisis.

Let's be clear here, the board are as culpable for the second half of last season as De Zerbi was, both had shockers.

But yeah, I'm not anti Cooper, he actually might be a good fit for us. It's just a bit 'meh'.

 

[oldboyroy]

Cooper much more proven than rosenior !!

Oh I agree but I would see Cooper as a more 'keep us up' type of manager instead of an ambitious manager.
Having said that, I think he'll do a good job and have the fans onside compared to the Potter scenario.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Okay this thread has turned me around, I am Cooper IN.

 

[ac gull]

Cooper like RDZ ain't afraid to fall out with the odd player either - see Worrall and Shelvey - my way or the high way

 

[Withdean11]

I wouldn't have been against him 2 years ago, but to go from RDZ to Steve Cooper is seriously underwhelming.

 

[Mancgull]

Interesting people turning their noses up at Cooper when I expect they were nursing semi’s when league 1 and championship successor McKenna was linked

Exactly my point earlier in the thread.
McKenna will soon find out what the challenge is at Premier League level. Not had a difficult season on his cv.
The perceptions of McKenna and Cooper are largely due to recency bias.
Cooper, on the other hand, struggled at Forest in his last few weeks but prior to that took them from bottom of the Championship after seven games ( Hughton) to promotion.
He then kept them up in his first season so has actually done more at this level than McKenna has done.
He’s also won the U17 World Cup with England.
Plus, and this is the biggest thing for me, if he really wants to be here then he’ll be far more motivated than RDZ was in his last few weeks, and probably more motivated than Potter due to the returning to your old club syndrome.

 

[sparkie]

Tactically, it has to be a massive downgrade.

RDZ threw a massive strop due to injury and recruitment issues and was unable to inspire his team to play well. He demonstrated this by refusing to play his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and tactics because he didn’t believe he had the personal to do it (he was probably right). But with the right players, we’d have done an awful lot better.

I was looking forward to an evolution of Dezerbiball with the recruitment of McKenna but if Cooper comes, it’ll surely be an evolved form of Hughton’s tactics. My hopes for a top 10 finish would be dashed and I’d be praying for a repeat of 11th (although expecting 15th).

This. Sadly.

 

[B-right-on]

A lot of people, probably including Steve Cooper, would have had us play better football than we've done in 2024 and better results than we had in 23/24 while keeping a better relation with the club than the Grumpy Italian Bloke did.

Finding a better manager is no problem. Cooper is fine. His CV is impressive and he tix a lot of boxes. He gets results, players like him (the way you like a grown-up mature person, not the way you like a crazy clown), players develop under him and he has no fears playing younger players and won't beg Tony för a bunch of 25-30-year-olds that we're not signing under any circumstances.

The huge question mark is only his style of football, but its difficult to know if it has been a case of playing according to resources or if its just the way he wants it.

When he took over Swansea after Potter, he used his connections as a former England U17 manager and brought in a bunch of the best talent on loan: Guehi, Gallagher and Brewster were three of those who came in. While results were good, it was quite perplexing watching them play their deep defense-hoofball tactics. Future PL players put in a Championship system. But hey it worked rather well and Swansea ended up 6th which was probably slightly above what they should have with the squad.

The achivements in Nottingham Forest were fantastic of course. The squad he took over from Chris H was far from as bad Chris had it playing (which was the topic of a hot NSC debate), but it was still a massive thing to get them promoted after that start (1 point from first 7 games).
When they got up they did certainly back him up with some new signings. Too many actually. And finding the right mix of them to stay up in the end was a job well done.

Overall most things point at him being a very good coach. It could be interesting to see what he could do in a well-run club.

Long rambling posts: :

Knows everything:

Makes utter BULLSHIT sound plausible:

Anti RDZ:

Pro Potter until death:

Defends your views to your dying breath even if they're not based on facts:

Toned down political ramblings:

Hogging threads with massive posts:

Hints that you have been allowed back:


You are him aren't you?

FFS.

@Swansman is back

 

[Justice]

LOL at people trying to convince themselves Cooper would be a good choice

 

[sparkie]

Long rambling posts: :

Knows everything:

Makes utter BULLSHIT sound plausible:

Anti RDZ:

Pro Potter until death:

Defends your views to your dying breath even if they're not based on facts:

Toned down political ramblings:

Hogging threads with massive posts:

Hints that you have been allowed back:


You are him aren't you?

FFS.

@Swansman is back

Yes, but does he obsess about Connolly being "bullied" ?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Long rambling posts: :

Knows everything:

Makes utter BULLSHIT sound plausible:

Anti RDZ:

Pro Potter until death:

Defends your views to your dying breath even if they're not based on facts:

Toned down political ramblings:

Hogging threads with massive posts:

Hints that you have been allowed back:


You are him aren't you?

FFS.

@Swansman is back

Yup.

And the mods have known all along. He's promised to be on best behaviour and stick to football so he's on a second and final chance.

I'd also read this if I were you. It shows a degree of maturity and self awareness and addresses another reason we'd always re-banned in the past.

[Politics] - Labour has suspended former leader Jeremy Corbyn

Time for my daily reminder that Corbyn is an unwelcome irrelevance and distraction. The more people talk about Corbyn, the stronger it makes the Tories. I suspect some posters are fully aware of that :wink:

www.northstandchat.com

 

[Simster]

Tactically, it has to be a massive downgrade.

RDZ threw a massive strop due to injury and recruitment issues and was unable to inspire his team to play well. He demonstrated this by refusing to play his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and tactics because he didn’t believe he had the personal to do it (he was probably right). But with the right players, we’d have done an awful lot better.

I was looking forward to an evolution of Dezerbiball with the recruitment of McKenna but if Cooper comes, it’ll surely be an evolved form of Hughton’s tactics. My hopes for a top 10 finish would be dashed and I’d be praying for a repeat of 11th (although expecting 15th).

No I really don't think he is a massive downgrade at all and that it is easy to overthink these things, or focus too heavily on only one attribute that makes a manager good at his job.

There are many attributes that go to make a good manager in my view - tactical knowledge, discipline, man-management and motivation, being able to spot a player's strength and best position where it's not obvious, implementing more than one system, counteracting other manager tactics. I would contend that Cooper is good at many of these things. You don't get to transform a club like Forest (and Swansea to a lesser extent) without some or all of these skills.

Tactically, RDZ played a low block which was exciting and a progression from Potter's tactics, but when it eventually unravelled he didn't have the tactical know-how (or should that be "the will"?) to change it. So what's so clever about that? Do we really want that again?

My view is that there are dozens of competent managers available, and the football industry as a whole has lost sight of that - preferring a "steady hand" when going through a difficult time.

 

[zefarelly]

I still think they may go for Rob Edwards if we don't go for a foreign coach.

Young, has some experience in the Prem, comes across well - to me he would fit the TB mold (if there is such a thing).

Apparently TB makes jelly without a mould

 

[Reddleman]

Our last two appointments have been

Interesting people turning their noses up at Cooper when I expect they were nursing semi’s when league 1 and championship successor McKenna was linked

Thats because McKenna is one of the most admired and excited young coaches in the UK courted by Chelsea and Man United. Steve Cooper was fired by Forest and no one has looked since.