Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: TonySoprano on October 10, 2025, 10:23:38 am
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Best manager we've sacked in my opinion.
Had no support when he was here, thanks to Blunt.
Looks to be off to Luton.
Real pity we had him whilst blunt was chairman
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Maybe he has improved as a manager since he left us. He certainly alienated a player or two in his time here.
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Clearly doing well in his career.
I cannot forget however going to Rotherham with no striker on the pitch, whilst Omar Bogle was sat at home.
Strange times back then with some strange decisions.
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Clearly doing well in his career.
I cannot forget however going to Rotherham with no striker on the pitch, whilst Omar Bogle was sat at home.
Strange times back then with some strange decisions.
Absolutely this. Zero doubt the budget was poor and it was tough for any manager in an underinvested squad but that and the 6-0 home defeat to Rotherham weren't right but he did get a lot of things wrong and did talk up a lot of the players he signed who then ended up being useless by and large. Perhaps the right manager at the wrong time ultimately as he's done well elsewhere.
But this was his record here as manager, utterly abysmal;
P26 W6 D5 L15 F17 A47
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Wellens' time here was just a perfect storm of rubbish. Everyone was to blame. It's difficult to say if he was good or bad based on his time here.
Fair play to what he's done with Orient so far. The pressure at Luton might be a bit different though so it'd be interesting to see how he handles the expectation with the level of budget they have.
But I don't think you can call him 'the best manager we've sacked' when we also sacked Sean O'Driscoll.
Yeah it's a shame on the timing of his time here but maybe it just wasn't to be. Can't sit here and say 'if we didn't have Blunt' or 'if he had more money' etc because we'll never know.
Based on his record, he was crap. But of course there's more context to it than that.
As BFYP says, probably right man, wrong time.
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Also agree with both the above posts. It's never that simple to apportion blame on one man. Blunt was at the helm when Fergie, McCann and Moore were here when we faired better, signed good players and spent some cash.
The post covid period was one when we suffered. Wellens made mistakes, the club made mistakes. Both he and the club have moved on, learned from those mistakes and are better for it.
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Did you say this at the time Tony?
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A very good manager who has proved himself time and again. Even within the context of a limited budget, he made some truly appalling signings for us.
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When Wellens was appointed, we went into the summer in dreadful form. We’d already lost Whiteman in January, and then in the summer Coppinger, Halliday, Lawlor, Butler, Wright, Lokilo, James, and Madger all moved on. To make matters worse, the budget was cut, yet there was still the expectation to bring in quality for every position we needed. In reality, the funds had to be spread so thin that it was almost impossible to build the squad properly.
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Did you say this at the time Tony?
After we sacked him? Yes.
When he was here, I thought it was clear his hands were tied.
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We also ousted Peter Doherty. So that's two managers at an absolute minimum with a far, far better claim to being higher quality than Wellens.
BobG
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The club was not right at the time not only for Wellens but McSheffrey and Butler, all three had no chance with the set up with the people above them not only Blunt and the system of acquiring players that they had little input in such as Long etc.
They all hit their heads against the same problems, and had players with poor ability.
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Betting has been suspended on Leyton Orient manager Richie Wellens becoming new Luton Town manager
The O’s have asked the hatters for a £1M compensation package for their manager
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I wonder if he would be held in so high esteem if he wasn’t such an excellent ex player
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Wellens was given peanuts to spend on players throughout his time as Rovers manager.
That's why he could only attract monkeys.
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True, as was the case for Schofield and McSheffry, both of these were hounded by fans who created a toxic atmosphere around the club, in particular making it very personal for these two, despite it being very obvious what and where the problems laid.
We are lucky things have changed and we have Grant back, I do think mcsheffry would’ve had half a chance with this set up.
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I recall him "liking" my post about how crap the budget was and how being supported at Orient with a better budget helps, so obviously he had his hands tied with us in what was truly an abysmal time in our history but i still think highly of him as a player and what he did for us.
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True, as was the case for Schofield and McSheffry, both of these were hounded by fans who created a toxic atmosphere around the club, in particular making it very personal for these two, despite it being very obvious what and where the problems laid.
We are lucky things have changed and we have Grant back, I do think mcsheffry would’ve had half a chance with this set up.
All three of those managers would have had half a chance if they'd been given the resources that Grant was given. As it stood, they had no chance with the (lack of) resources they received.
Even Pep Guardiola needs sufficient resources.
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Not knocking Richie at all, & looking back now it was obvious the budget was a joke, but didn't he spend quite a bit on Ben Close? The warnings signs were there when we couldn't sign the on trial midfielder Reed I think it was. He was on a loser from there on in.
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Clearly he would have done well here if he was backed to the extent McCann has been.
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Right place wrong time, Wellens also had to try a build a squad from scratch after the previous manager (and regime) left us with a small handful of players
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Didn’t we sack Lawrie McMenemy too, who went on to much bigger things, and Sammy Chung who was building a reasonable squad?
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We also sacked Joe Kinnear, who went on to have significant success with Wimbledon, Luton, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United.
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Is it just a coincidence that the further away from Manchester he has been, the more success he has had as a manager?
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.... Certainly a case the further away from Donny!
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He didn't last long at Salford.
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He didn't last long at Salford.
Who does?