How to assess Fergies time with us?

[colincramb]

Hard one this. After the dickov debacle I think it’s fair to say most were very pleased with his appointment; a manager who had proven exeperience of getting a similar sized club out of the division. A manager who had also signed young or unknown players and sold them on for small fortunes at this level. You could say he ticked all the boxes the board could ask for.

If you take the man at his word, what he inherited at DRFC at a structural level was a mess and an unbalanced playing squad. Needless to say, initial results did pick up until the calamitous collapse which even an England team batting on the sub-continent would struggle to pull off. How much of the damage had already been done by dickov is hard to say, however we were well placed before the cup game against stoke to make a run at the playoffs. For me, Fergie has to take the blame for that.

Obviously league 2 was a place we hoped we wouldn’t find ourselves in again but some good recruitment and obvious changes across the club from top down appeared to give us some real optimism again for the future. Some very good performances were equally marred by some horrendous outings but we got the job done, albeit in disappointing circumstances in the end, a key pattern in fergies time with us.

Last season was ok. It was again job done in terms of stabilising ourselves back in L1. Competing with clubs with much bigger budgets meant that mid table, or just below was where most would have placed us. I was hoping we could use it for a springboard on to better things this year.

To sum up, I’d give him a 5/10 during the time he’s been here. I can’t honestly say I’ve ever really enjoyed watching the style we play, except for a couple of games. It always felt like we had more to give than what we put out. I do think he’s made the club more professional after what he picked up from dickov.

[esdailles left foot]

3 wasted years for me.

[keith79]

For me and only me the club behind the first team has move forwards. The youth team appears to be the best it has ever been. Is this down to Ferguson I don't know.

[steve@dcfd]

The report given by Gavin at the end of the season.
Described looking back at the season with pride and optimism
 "As we look back on the 2017/18 season, we can do so with a sense of pride and optimism. Everyone connected with the club wants us to be challenging in the higher reaches of the table, but the progression of the team and club is evident. This has ultimately been a season of consolidation, but it has had some really high moments and there are some solid foundations for us to build from over the summer and into next season. We have a young and talented squad, all of whom have plenty of scope for further development. We can be content with how this season has gone, but it is something everyone is looking to improve upon for next season."

[GazLaz]

He replaced a lot of poor aging players with good youthful prospects. Very positive.

[RedJ]

Absolute shit show of a man manager, repeatedly hung players out to dry, took us down in disastrous circumstances, blew a certain trophy, but on the flip side he's transformed the club off the pitch, and last season (i.e. 16/17) was bloody exciting.

[dickos1]

Not sure he’s a shit man manager,
He’s got some players playing some of their best football, and a few of the players have spoken out about how good a manager he and a reasoned why they signed

[Plumbster]

He was a let down for me.  For us to succeed we need to exceed expectations, to find a way of combating teams with bigger budgets and to recruit brilliantly- all the better if we can do so playing attractive, attacking football.   We would be lucky of course if we got a manager who could deliver that once in a generation  but the Fergie years have felt like the total opposite for me- this season in particular the formation has been so safety-first its as if he had lost all ambition and vision

[Jonathan]

I’d say he’s done a decent job and leaves the club in a better position than he found it, albeit the league placing doesn’t necessarily illustrate that. But I think there have been less tangible or quantifiable improvements - scouting, youth development, average age and potential of the playing staff etc. I’d have liked him to continue the work he’s done.

But I’d counter that a little by revisiting a point I made on here at the end of the season. I would struggle to make a case for Ferguson getting more out of the team than the sum of the parts. Moreover I think confusing tactics and formations often failed to get the best out of some talented individuals that looked to me like they had more to offer in the right system.

If the budget is to stay more or less the same, but the board wants to see signs of progress on the field (and I don’t think the two conditions are quite as incompatible as people will certainly make out) then we need a manager that can squeeze more out of the team than the individuals that make it up. Often last season I felt we delivered less. Towards the end I think we wasted the likes of Houghton and Whiteman criminally at times. So maybe a change isn’t the worst thing, as long as we recruit well and give the new manager adequate backing.

[Chris Black come back]

Not sure why some folk think he has left a good squad behind - he has most certainly not.

Marquis aside there are almost quite literally no goals in the current forward line up at League One level and the midfield is both short of numbers and variety.  Defence is in better shape but only the starting 4/5 and the goalkeepers are solid but nothing more. This is a thin squad.

[Cantley Rover]

At least the defence is a 4 or 5 and not the 3 he persisted with.

[steve@dcfd]

Have to agree with Chris what was left can see why there was not an agreement between DF and the board on the way to progress.

Defence is solid
Midfield lacks skill, pace and creativity
Forwards Marquis that’s it.

Who ever comes in will have to get in 4/5 players for midfield and forwards.

Gk and Defenders

Marosi.    Lawlor

Mason.   
Anderson. Wright
Butler.     McCullough
Andrew.   Amos

Midfield

Whiteman.   
Blair.     
Rowe.      Ben Khemis
Coppinger. Beestin 

Forwards

Marquis         May.         
Striker ?         Kiwomya


Transfer listed
Lund.   
Garrett.
Mandeville.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Not sure why some folk think he has left a good squad behind - he has most certainly not.

Marquis aside there are almost quite literally no goals in the current forward line up at League One level and the midfield is both short of numbers and variety.  Defence is in better shape but only the starting 4/5 and the goalkeepers are solid but nothing more. This is a thin squad.

Of course it’s a thin squad. We have summer rebuilding to do like anyone.

We have the bones of a play off squad with the defence, Rowe, bits of Coppinger, Whiteman a year older, Marquis. Some able support in McCullough, Beestin, Mandeville if the new manager could get him firing, Blair. Certainly we need to add another 4-5 to be strong contenders but it’s not as though we are starting from scratch.

[hoolahoop]

Because the Board wants the club to be sustainable and to do that we have to yo- yo between levels 3/4
 
He presumably wanted to strengthen with a view to looking at promotion to level 2 , the Championship. Something we would all want again surely and we would certainly want a manager with ambition.
Personally I'm a little disappointed by our results under his stewardship but not sure how much is down to the Board whilst he was the manager.

Good luck to the next manager - no doubt he will have similar problems....most of the previous one's have !

Most supporters you speak to agree we need 4/5 1st team players NOT just young  squad players

[RoversAlias]

Because the Board wants the club to be sustainable and to do that we have to yo- yo between levels 3/4

That just isn't true at all is it.

[Bristol Red Rover]

... and we would certainly want a manager with ambition....

Ambition based on ability. I think Fergie's ambition took off beyond his ability. I had thought he had been simply pushing for as much as he could get but given his jumping ship, I think his ego got in the way with seeing himself as a Championship manager, and more.

[Mr1Croft]

Fergie's defining moment was the final game vs Hartlepool in 2016/17.

Hartlepool 1-1 Rovers and a Rovers goal would gift us the title.

So Fergie decides to bring off James Coppinger for Aaron Taylor Sinclair (a player who had played over 50 times for the club but had just 4 of those games).

We would go on to lose 2-1 And Fergie's reasoning was "We needed some height".

[GazLaz]

Fergie's defining moment was the final game vs Hartlepool in 2016/17.

Hartlepool 1-1 Rovers and a Rovers goal would gift us the title.

So Fergie decides to bring off James Coppinger for Aaron Taylor Sinclair (a player who had played over 50 times for the club but had just 4 of those games).

We would go on to lose 2-1 And Fergie's reasoning was "We needed some height".

I said at the time, all wee needed to do was keep it tight till the 85th minute, they were desperate for a win and would have thrown everyone forward (including the keeper more than likely at set pieces) and we could have picked them off. We panicked and conceded again. Coppinger came off due to injury though I’ll say that.

[RoversAlias]

Fergie admitted getting it wrong in that game. Copps was injured and he played McCullough when he was nowhere near fit enough for the game.

[drfchound]

Fergie admitting he was wrong was the biggest surprise for me.

[ravenrover]

Well most managers have some ups and downs but Fergie was different his were down and up.............. then out

[FNB]

3 years wasted.  For sure. A

[Chris Black come back]

Not sure why some folk think he has left a good squad behind - he has most certainly not.

Marquis aside there are almost quite literally no goals in the current forward line up at League One level and the midfield is both short of numbers and variety.  Defence is in better shape but only the starting 4/5 and the goalkeepers are solid but nothing more. This is a thin squad.

Of course it’s a thin squad. We have summer rebuilding to do like anyone.

We have the bones of a play off squad with the defence, Rowe, bits of Coppinger, Whiteman a year older, Marquis. Some able support in McCullough, Beestin, Mandeville if the new manager could get him firing, Blair. Certainly we need to add another 4-5 to be strong contenders but it’s not as though we are starting from scratch.

Add back in the lads that are leaving and it is still thin BST. Certainly defence looked good last season but midfield was absolutely criminal. Some of the poor buggers were messed around being made to play all over shop but as a group of players it does not strike fear into opponents. Up front we all cite potential of Beestin or Kiwomya but there are painfully few goals at League One level in those folks.

Maybe moving midfield back to a more sensible formation might help but Ferguson bought players for the diamond and they might not easily fit back into a new midfield set up.

[BillyStubbsTears]

3-2-3-1-1, we’ll play next season.

We’ve got 8 1/2 players to fit into that formation already
Marosi
Wright
Anderson
Butler
Blair
Andrew
Rowe
Marquis
1/2 of Coppinger.

You can praise my insight this August.

[bobjimwilly]

he got us a bit of stability, but the way we got relegated to L2 in the first place was completely down to him, and I was surprised he lasted this long tbh

[dickos1]

Not sure how you can say relegation was completely down to him.
He took over a side 2nd bottom and inherited a squad full of ageing players that had been performing poorly for a long time.
Ferguson’s problem was he did very well to start with and got us into the top half, if we’d stayed in and around the relegation zone from him taking over until the end of this season he wouldn’t have got the stick he did

[drfchound]

He had the team for around three quarters of the season so had plenty of time to do things his way.
Come to think of it, that IS why we got relegated.

[dickos1]

I never said he wasn’t blameless but it certainly wasn’t completly down to him

[dickos1]

The last two season have been purely down to him and we got promotion comfortably, probably the most comfortable promotion in our history. And last year we finished midtable which most people suggested before the season started would be a decent season.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

We've all chewed over the reasons we didn't see matches out so many times and had we have been more mentally resilient then those outcomes could have been so much better. The Jeckyl and Hyde performances suggested it was down to the manager.

10 or more points during the season, nobody would have been giving the budget too much scrutiny.