Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: Silkscarf on January 20, 2025, 08:56:42 am
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“…I didn’t make it as a football manager” was his assessment on Radio5 this morning.
What do we think of his time at Rovers in comparison to others we’ve had?
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I think he was very unlucky. We were cheated out of the Championship with him, and with a mass exodus of quality players the following season and mediocre replacements due to the budget being dramatically reduced, he was destined to fail.
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Correct BB he never stood a chance. A very approachable bloke who spoke the truth.
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Plus the club had him telling us that we had a top 6 budget despite that not being the case, as per his interview on undr the cosh. Start of the Blunt era and a sign of things to come!
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Likable guy.
Lightyears better than schofield, mcsheffrey, butler and moore.
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Don't agree with the above. I'll grant you he didn't have it easy. Being a football manager isn't an easy task however, he had some really good players at his disposal and was backed by the board when you think about the likes of Gabriel Tamas who was brought in to bolster an already good squad by our standards.
I just think he lacked some tactical prowess to keep us up when it was in our hands. After that, of course the budget was cut. It had to be.
I tend to agree with him.
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He wasn't the worst, but he was still utterly rubbish. That we got relegated that season in the Championship was a travesty. We needed 5 points from the last 9 games, we got 4. We'd got 13 from the previous 6. It was a huge collapse and wasn't a bad squad either. But ultimately the league 1 performance was far worse.
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I heard this also and laughed out load.
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Don't agree with the above. I'll grant you he didn't have it easy. Being a football manager isn't an easy task however, he had some really good players at his disposal and was backed by the board when you think about the likes of Gabriel Tamas who was brought in to bolster an already good squad by our standards.
I just think he lacked some tactical prowess to keep us up when it was in our hands. After that, of course the budget was cut. It had to be.
I tend to agree with him.
Being a football manager isn't easy, and impossible when officials cheat you throughout the season. Using an example of the three penalties awarded against us that weren't even in the penalty area merely scrapes the surface. Even Gabriel Tamas and the like can't do owt about that sort of incompetence from officials.
Rovers never stood a chance from day one.
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Don't agree with the above. I'll grant you he didn't have it easy. Being a football manager isn't an easy task however, he had some really good players at his disposal and was backed by the board when you think about the likes of Gabriel Tamas who was brought in to bolster an already good squad by our standards.
I just think he lacked some tactical prowess to keep us up when it was in our hands. After that, of course the budget was cut. It had to be.
I tend to agree with him.
Being a football manager isn't easy, even more so when officials cheat you throughout the season. Using an example of the three penalties awarded against us that weren't even in the penalty area merely scrapes the surface. Even Gabriel Tamas and the like can't do owt about that sort of incompetence from officials.
Rovers never stood a chance from day one.
The one at Leicester away on the final day was outside the box for sure.
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Very nice bloke, crap manager - the fact he admits he didn’t make it as a manager speaks volumes. I think he realises he didn’t quite have what it takes.
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Did surprisingly well in the Championship but then had a huge budget in League One and we were not good, while the signings using that budget were not good. You have to give him credit for almost - almost - keeping us in the Championship but overall it was disappointing.
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Very nice bloke, crap manager - the fact he admits he didn’t make it as a manager speaks volumes. I think he realises he didn’t quite have what it takes.
Correct. He didn't have a magic wand.
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Did surprisingly well in the Championship but then had a huge budget in League One and we were not good, while the signings using that budget were not good. You have to give him credit for almost - almost - keeping us in the Championship but overall it was disappointing.
He had a huge budget in League One? Are you sure about that?
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He was awful. Especially when we were in L1. Terrible recruitment, no discernible style or tactics. Just insipid stuff.
Will never forget the ridiculous team selection in that crucial game at home to Millwall in the Champ. We might have stayed up if he'd picked a senior pro up front in that game. And the cup defeat at home to Stevenage was abysmal as well.
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Did surprisingly well in the Championship but then had a huge budget in League One and we were not good, while the signings using that budget were not good. You have to give him credit for almost - almost - keeping us in the Championship but overall it was disappointing.
He had a huge budget in League One? Are you sure about that?
From memory it was over £4m the first season back in League One. That was a very good budget there a decade ago.
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He was awful. Especially when we were in L1. Terrible recruitment, no discernible style or tactics. Just insipid stuff.
Will never forget the ridiculous team selection in that crucial game at home to Millwall in the Champ. We might have stayed up if he'd picked a senior pro up front in that game. And the cup defeat at home to Stevenage was abysmal as well.
When we were relegated it seemed to me that the Heart of the club had been ripped out, not just the team.
Dickov was just a consequence of that situation.
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Did surprisingly well in the Championship but then had a huge budget in League One and we were not good, while the signings using that budget were not good. You have to give him credit for almost - almost - keeping us in the Championship but overall it was disappointing.
He had a huge budget in League One? Are you sure about that?
From memory it was over £4m the first season back in League One. That was a very good budget there a decade ago.
Was that £4m just for recruiting new players?
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He is correct with his own comment. He was another former player (a very good one) who never make the grade as a manager.
The problem seems to be more enhanced when because they play at a high level, they get jobs at an higher level than their capabilities.
Currently Wayne Rooney is a perfect example.
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Don't agree with the above. I'll grant you he didn't have it easy. Being a football manager isn't an easy task however, he had some really good players at his disposal and was backed by the board when you think about the likes of Gabriel Tamas who was brought in to bolster an already good squad by our standards.
I just think he lacked some tactical prowess to keep us up when it was in our hands. After that, of course the budget was cut. It had to be.
I tend to agree with him.
Being a football manager isn't easy, even more so when officials cheat you throughout the season. Using an example of the three penalties awarded against us that weren't even in the penalty area merely scrapes the surface. Even Gabriel Tamas and the like can't do owt about that sort of incompetence from officials.
Rovers never stood a chance from day one.
The one at Leicester away on the final day was outside the box for sure.
The one at Watford given against James Husband definitely was as well.
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He was up there as one of the worst managers (& we’ve had some!) of all time.
When he got the boot I came on here & said he’d never manage in the English league again (much to some disdain on here by some).
I rest my case.
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That team in the Championship was quality, and we got relegated.
Turnbull
Johnstone
Quinn
Khumalo
Meite
Tamas
Stevens
Jones
Wellens
Furman
Keegan
Cotterill
Coppinger
Duffy
Sharp
Brown
Macheda
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That squad was good enough to compete for a place outside the relegation zone, and it would have done on a level playing field.
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Was very lucky to get the job in the first place, but its not what you know its who you know. Championship a tad unlucky, i recall we had a horrendous last few fixtures.
League 1 however the football was awful and he brought one of the worst ever players to the club Taylor-Sinclair.
Strikes me as a honest bloke however and seems to humble as well. (Dickov that is)
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After we won impressively at Elland Road, there was 6 games left from memory and we needed 4 points thereabouts. He maintained going for wins in every subsequent game apart from the last at Leicester. He was too cavalier for our own good, he should’ve been more conservative as SOD used to say any point picked up in the Championship was a good one.
In addition we didn’t have Wellens our most dynamic, creative midfielder at the time so we were diminished so a cautionary approach would’ve been better for our survival.
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Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Maybe if we hadn't gone for a win at Leeds we might have only drawn or lost.
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If he was any good as a manager why didn’t any other club give him a chance? The dodgy penalty decisions didn’t get us relegated, it was the poor tactical decisions of the manager, nobody else to blame with that squad.
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https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/paul-dickov-opens-up-about-his-time-at-doncaster-rovers-and-makes-interesting-claim-3403546
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WE were refereed out of that division in the majority of the last six games, the worst one was at Ipswich when we should have had a free kick, their player sent off for dangerous play and the move carried on and they scored the winner.
Like Chesterfield in the semi final too many things for it not to be cheating.
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That Ipswich game was in no way evenly officiated.
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F**king atrocious. Should’ve been nowhere near that job. Total imposter. Only given it because he was Ryan’s mate. He inherited a team on the crest of a wave after winning the league at Brentford and he destroyed it. Not many inherit such a job as that. Look at where Bournemouth and Brentford have ended up and look where we are.
At least the other poor managers of late have an excuse. David Blunt.
He had none.
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Blunt took over as Chairman in August 2014, the season Dickov was sacked! It was probably Blunt's frugalness that got Dickov the sack, like all the rest of the managers after him.
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He was indecisive. Before signing players he spent a great deal of time in what he described as “due diligence” yet finished up signing players at the last minute that had played for him at Oldham! More evidence of his indecision was his pretence at secrecy which seemed like cover for indecision or even a complete lack of a management strategy.
He seemed to be appointed because he was a friend/Cheshire neighbour of JR*.He was handed what a relatively inexperienced unproven manager could only have dreamed of - a newly promoted Championship team and he delivered a season of unattractive football. Yes he/the team were very unlucky on the last game of the season, but he had already ruined an excellent opportunity for the club to capitalise on that promotion. Rather like Schofield, it was impossible to understand what his management strategy was.
* I see Cramby has mentioned this too.
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Dickov took over the newly promoted Championship side facing the challenge of uncertainty due to a potential takeover, meaning he couldn't sign players because he didn't know what budget he was working with.
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Did surprisingly well in the Championship but then had a huge budget in League One and we were not good, while the signings using that budget were not good. You have to give him credit for almost - almost - keeping us in the Championship but overall it was disappointing.
He had a huge budget in League One? Are you sure about that?
From memory it was over £4m the first season back in League One. That was a very good budget there a decade ago.
Not particularly a very good budget according to this....
https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/paul-goodwins-doncaster-rovers-column-the-budget-figures-that-show-it-will-be-no-easy-ride-back-to-the-championship-474239
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I liked Dickov and I recall thinking that we were onto a special one after that Leeds win. A combination of bad luck, tactical naivety, and an unsettled club (I recall both summers being wasted pissing around with takeovers that ultimately failed) set him and us up to fail.
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F**king atrocious. Should’ve been nowhere near that job. Total imposter. Only given it because he was Ryan’s mate. He inherited a team on the crest of a wave after winning the league at Brentford and he destroyed it. Not many inherit such a job as that. Look at where Bournemouth and Brentford have ended up and look where we are.
At least the other poor managers of late have an excuse. David Blunt.
He had none.
Bournemouth and Brentford are in the Premier League because they have spent many, many millions. We have not.
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One thing that all good managers have in common is a really strong work ethic. First to arrive and last to leave the training ground. As I understand it the opposite was often the case with Dickov.
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Prior to the Millwall away game late in Dickov's season in the Championship, my mate James bumped into Dickov outside the ground.
"Are we going to do it Paul, are we going to stay up?"
"Dunno," replied Dickov with a shrug.
It wasn't exactly the rousing reassurance James or any other supporter was after at that point.
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Really good bloke though, I met him with my kids behind the scenes and him and Copps made a right fuss of my boys.
Wellens was an arrogant Kitson though.
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That team in the Championship was quality, and we got relegated.
Turnbull
Johnstone
Quinn
Khumalo
Meite
Tamas
Stevens
Jones
Wellens
Furman
Keegan
Cotterill
Coppinger
Duffy
Sharp
Brown
Macheda
I said at the time that if Rovers had got relegated on 50-55 points then fair enough, but that squad was better than the 44 points acquired.
Only 2 wins away from home all season was simply not good enough and suggests issues with the manager's ability to organize the team defensively.
After relegation his signings were poor and he took the club backwards in League 1. Rovers may not have had a top 6 budget but it was stronger than a club heading to a second relegation in 3 seasons at the point he left
The managerial appointment which sadly reversed the clubs fortunes.
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he bottled the leicester game, as soon as we went 1-0 down he should have thrown billy and forrester on but waited too late, albeit mahrez dived
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No. David Blunt reversed Rovers' fortunes.
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he bottled the leicester game, as soon as we went 1-0 down he should have thrown billy and forrester on but waited too late, albeit mahrez dived
He didn't bottle the Leicester game. We went 1-0 down in the 75th minute and as it stood then with the Birmingham score we'd have stayed up.
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Not a great manager. Did an ok job in the Championship although he was heavily backed, but then folded completely when the going got tough in L1. Nice bloke but management is just not for him, my main memory of his time here is the "I expect a reaction" soundbite trotted out in interviews every week.
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Heavily backed? He had the lowest budget in the league!
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Any DRFC manager would have the lowest budget in that league. By our standards, he was heavily backed. We wouldn't be signing players with the pedigree of Meite, Tamas, Turnbull and so on these days.
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It's a pity we weren't as heavily backed as all the other 23 teams!
Whether we would ever get players of that standard now is another story.
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BB is Paul Dickov.
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“…I didn’t make it as a football manager” was his assessment on Radio5 this morning.
What do we think of his time at Rovers in comparison to others we’ve had?
BB unless the OP is wrong even the man himself does not agree with you.
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BB is Paul Dickov.
I'm not bulling Dickov up, I'm just attempting to put the record straight as I understand it.
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“…I didn’t make it as a football manager” was his assessment on Radio5 this morning.
What do we think of his time at Rovers in comparison to others we’ve had?
BB unless the OP is wrong even the man himself does not agree with you.
He's just being honest. He didn't make it as a manager. The fact that the odds were massively against him making it at Rovers has been mentioned by him previously.
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I really liked him as a bloke, but he should never have been given the job in the first place. After Dean Saunders left us for Wolves, Brian Flynn and Rob Jones guiding us to the title, in my opinion, had earned the right to oversee our return to the Championship. Dickov was a John Ryan appointment, and sadly Flynn knew that regardless of what happened in that promotion race.
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I thought Flynn didn't want the job.
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I think JR was going to appoint Dickov regardless of where we ended up that season. I remember Flynn initially saying he'd love the chance to manage in the Championship, but he knew Dickov had already been earmarked. Flynn was made Director of Football but don't think he stayed long the following season. I remember talking to him at a Harrogate Town game a couple of years ago, when he was scouting for Colchester, and he wasn't too complimentary on the whole saga.
The squad that won the title had a brilliant camaraderie and with Flynn's experience we may have made a better fist of it that following season? However we shall never know.
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Any DRFC manager would have the lowest budget in that league. By our standards, he was heavily backed. We wouldn't be signing players with the pedigree of Meite, Tamas, Turnbull and so on these days.
Aside from the insane costs of The Experiment season (of which SOD was manager for about a month and a half of this) Dickov had a bigger budget in his season in the Championship than any season SOD managed in the Championship.
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I think JR was going to appoint Dickov regardless of where we ended up that season. I remember Flynn initially saying he'd love the chance to manage in the Championship, but he knew Dickov had already been earmarked. Flynn was made Director of Football but don't think he stayed long the following season. I remember talking to him at a Harrogate Town game a couple of years ago, when he was scouting for Colchester, and he wasn't too complimentary on the whole saga.
The squad that won the title had a brilliant camaraderie and with Flynn's experience we may have made a better fist of it that following season? However we shall never know.
Not sure Flynn was that much better an option. We stumbled over the line a bit from what I remember (and I don’t just mean the last minute heroics at Brentford!) and for all his experience he hadn’t managed in football for 10 years when he got the job with us.
Edit - just checked and Flynn’s league record was 34 points from 20 games, Saunders had 50 from 26 games - 1.7 points per game vs 1.92. A relatively marginal difference but Flynn’s record over the course of the full season would have been enough for only 3rd place.
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I don’t think Flynn or Dickov were the answer. Wasn’t Michael Appleton the other front runner? We’d have had a much better chance of survival with him.
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Micheal Appleton !!! His named gets banded about every we have the managerial vacancy, I’d much prefer Gary Megson
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I really liked him as a bloke, but he should never have been given the job in the first place. After Dean Saunders left us for Wolves, Brian Flynn and Rob Jones guiding us to the title, in my opinion, had earned the right to oversee our return to the Championship. Dickov was a John Ryan appointment, and sadly Flynn knew that regardless of what happened in that promotion race.
I do honestly believe we are still suffering because of such a poor appointment and we seemed to yo-yo between L1/Championship at the time.
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I really liked him as a bloke, but he should never have been given the job in the first place. After Dean Saunders left us for Wolves, Brian Flynn and Rob Jones guiding us to the title, in my opinion, had earned the right to oversee our return to the Championship. Dickov was a John Ryan appointment, and sadly Flynn knew that regardless of what happened in that promotion race.
I do honestly believe we are still suffering because of such a poor appointment and we seemed to yo-yo between L1/Championship at the time.
I would take that scenario again.
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Not sure Flynn was that much better an option. We stumbled over the line a bit from what I remember (and I don’t just mean the last minute heroics at Brentford!) and for all his experience he hadn’t managed in football for 10 years when he got the job with us.
Edit - just checked and Flynn’s league record was 34 points from 20 games, Saunders had 50 from 26 games - 1.7 points per game vs 1.92. A relatively marginal difference but Flynn’s record over the course of the full season would have been enough for only 3rd place.
Stats only tell half the story though... Saunders had put together a strong 12 or 13 players for League One but there was no depth to the squad and so he was pretty lucky in terms of there being no significant injuries during the first five months of the season meaning he was able to play a really consistent side before he left for Wolves.
Flynn on the other hand had to put together a new central midfield during his time in charge and deserves huge credit for bringing in Furman and Lundstram to do that job and keep us challenging.
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I've spent a fair bit of time at the club and met nearly allof the recent managers and like most have said on here, Dickov was a very approachable amenable man and very engaging to talk to.
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I thought Flynn didn't want the job.
I'm not sure if it's still on youtube, but there was a video from the reunion night they had where Flynn reveals what happened. He wanted the job but JR kept moving the goalposts. In the end Dickov had already been given the job.
Didn't Dickov bring in a training ground manager because Dickov was only there two days per week.
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This is a version of the story I heard. I accept it's The Guardian so therefore, it cannot be cast in stone as the truth and nothing but the truth, but here goes...
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers
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I thought Flynn didn't want the job.
I'm not sure if it's still on youtube, but there was a video from the reunion night they had where Flynn reveals what happened. He wanted the job but JR kept moving the goalposts. In the end Dickov had already been given the job.
Didn't Dickov bring in a training ground manager because Dickov was only there two days per week.
That second part chimes with what I’d mentioned earlier in the thread, about having heard that he wasn’t particularly hard working.
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He always looked like a spiv to me. A sort of Joe Walker character from Dad’s Army.
With his ‘Brylcreamed’ down hair & dapper suits you could well imagine him walking up to you outside the ground, looking around furtively, then opening up one side of his jacket to reveal a row of wrist watches! Or is that just my furtive imagination.
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This is a version of the story I heard. I accept it's The Guardian so therefore, it cannot be cast in stone as the truth and nothing but the truth, but here goes...
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers)
Given that the Guardian article is almost entirely quotations from the club I'm struggling to understand the rationale for your snide comment BB.
No. On second thoughts, I understand completely.....
BobG
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This is a version of the story I heard. I accept it's The Guardian so therefore, it cannot be cast in stone as the truth and nothing but the truth, but here goes...
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers
To be fair, that's just a newspaper regurgitating a club statement.
I think the truth – as others have intimated – is that Brian fancied the job, but that Dickov had already been lined up and so this was put out as the solution. I contributed some lines to Flynn's biography and I've heard similar from Flynn's biographer so I'd be more inclined to believe that.
All water under the bridge now of course, and there's no guarantee Flynn would've done any better in the Championship either. I feel he was a better man-manager that Dickov who would've got more out of players, but also I don't think he'd have had the connections to bring some of the players in that Dickov did. So who knows?
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He always looked like a spiv to me. A sort of Joe Walker character from Dad’s Army.
With his ‘Brylcreamed’ down hair & dapper suits you could well imagine him walking up to you outside the ground, looking around furtively, then opening up one side of his jacket to reveal a row of wrist watches! Or is that just my furtive imagination.
In the fanzine we had similar thoughts, but Jack the Miner took them down a different route.
The secret double life of Paul Dickov (https://popularstandfanzine.com/2014/01/13/the-secret-double-life-of-paul-dickov/)
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This is a version of the story I heard. I accept it's The Guardian so therefore, it cannot be cast in stone as the truth and nothing but the truth, but here goes...
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers)
Given that the Guardian article is almost entirely quotations from the club I'm struggling to understand the rationale for your snide comment BB.
No. On second thoughts, I understand completely.....
BobG
So The Guardian has never misquoted quotes?
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Have you never heard of the Guardian's Corrections column BB? Why don't you write in pointing out the errors, falsehoods and misrepresentations in that piece? If you paste your letter on here then we'll all be in a much better position to understand what you think is wrong with it and why you wrote that really rather peculiar remark.
BobG
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The Guardian has misquoted quotes in the past, therefore I was quite right to point out it cannot be cast in stone as the truth and nothing but the truth.
Regarding that piece about Flynn, I didn't see any reason for it to be untrue, as although it was The Guardian, and susceptible to the odd misquote, I didn't feel such a non-political article would require the usual political bias. However, expecting comments about the article claiming it is untrue, I added the "cannot be cast in stone" bit as a personal disclaimer!
If I'd quoted from The Mail I'd have said the same thing.
Anyway, BobG, it took 67 posts, and your first contribution to the thread to be the first person to be offensive to a fellow poster.
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Offensive? There is absolutely nothing offensive in any of my posts on this thread. Unless you're thin skinned and have a guilty conscience? All I've done is ask you a question and suggested a way forwards for you to air your grievance. Both of which, strangely, you seem to have ignored preferring to play the man rather than the ball.
BobG
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This is a version of the story I heard. I accept it's The Guardian so therefore, it cannot be cast in stone as the truth and nothing but the truth, but here goes...
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/03/bryan-flynn-doncaster-rovers
To be fair, that's just a newspaper regurgitating a club statement.
I think the truth %u2013 as others have intimated %u2013 is that Brian fancied the job, but that Dickov had already been lined up and so this was put out as the solution. I contributed some lines to Flynn's biography and I've heard similar from Flynn's biographer so I'd be more inclined to believe that.
All water under the bridge now of course, and there's no guarantee Flynn would've done any better in the Championship either. I feel he was a better man-manager that Dickov who would've got more out of players, but also I don't think he'd have had the connections to bring some of the players in that Dickov did. So who knows?
That was my reading of the situation when I spoke to Brian. Been back in the dug out coupled with the great team spirit had wetted his appetite, but Dickov was present at Rovers last five home games so Brian knew he wasn't going to be manager regardless of where we finished in the league. I got the impression from him that JR wanted a say on who should be playing in the first team, Flynn was having none of that whereas Dickov was probably easier for JR to 'control'.
He also said Dickov had undone a lot of the good work that he and Dean Saunders did regarding the players, and that the togetherness of that 12/13 squad was among the best he'd witnessed in all his years in football.
He seemed to slip away quietly the following season and, in my opinion was never really acknowledged for the contribution he'd made to our club.
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That team in the Championship was quality, and we got relegated.
Turnbull
Johnstone
Quinn
Khumalo
Meite
Tamas
Stevens
Jones
Wellens
Furman
Keegan
Cotterill
Coppinger
Duffy
Sharp
Brown
Macheda
Issue was, of that lot, only Wellens and Brown started more than 75% of the matches that season. And in both their cases, that included games where they were palpably unfit.
I've never known a season like that one forr injuries. Anything like a reasonable bit of luck and we'd have stayed up by 10 points.
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Offensive? There is absolutely nothing offensive in any of my posts on this thread. Unless you're thin skinned and have a guilty conscience? All I've done is ask you a question and suggested a way forwards for you to air your grievance. Both of which, strangely, you seem to have ignored preferring to play the man rather than the ball.
BobG
https://www.google.com/search?q=is+calling+someone+snide+offensive&rlz=1C1YTUH_en-GBGB1045GB1045&oq=is+calling+someone+snide+offensive&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigAdIBCTE1ODQwajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
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I have always thought him sending turnbull forward for a corner against Blackpool on the first game of the season, us conceding in the process and then us eventually being relegated on goal difference by one goal summed up his time with us pretty well.