Grant McCann

[BillyStubbsTears]

McCann was hugely fortunate with us to inherit an excellent, settled squad that Ferguson had underperformed with.

Marosi
Andrew
Anderson
Butler
Coppinger
Whiteman
Blair
May
Marquis
Mason
Rowe
Wright.

They'd all been with us for a year or more when McCann took over. He added well with Willks, Kane and Downing, but finishing 6th in those circumstances wasn't an overachievement.

Folk forget easily how our performances tailed off in the second half of the season, with some baffling selections and aimless performances.

And then he left a shambles of an inheritance for Moore.

[5minstogo]

Who then left a shambles of an inheritance for Butler, Wellens, McSheffrey.......

[pib]

McCann was hugely fortunate with us to inherit an excellent, settled squad that Ferguson had underperformed with.

Marosi
Andrew
Anderson
Butler
Coppinger
Whiteman
Blair
May
Marquis
Mason
Rowe
Wright.

They'd all been with us for a year or more when McCann took over. He added well with Willks, Kane and Downing, but finishing 6th in those circumstances wasn't an overachievement.

Folk forget easily how our performances tailed off in the second half of the season, with some baffling selections and aimless performances.

And then he left a shambles of an inheritance for Moore.

Look at it another way - we looked nowhere near being able to compete for the play-offs under Ferguson, with, as you say, a similar squad.

Also, did anyone expect us to finish in the play-offs in 2018/19? I certainly didn't, and if I had time to go back through the posts on this forum I'd bet few were predicting we would.

[Colin C No.3]

I wouldn't mind him back.

We have a manager.

[Colemans Left Hook]

New man to come in is being reported as Shota Arveladze

i could see them "chickening" out with McCann and getting a manager from Turkey   (and perhaps sign Cukar ???) but no he is a Georgian

Shota Arveladze is a Georgian former professional footballer and a manager who most recently worked at Pakhtakor Tashkent. Arveladze played at Dinamo Tbilisi, Trabzonspor, Ajax, Rangers, AZ and Levante.

Wednesday or Derby when Rooney "makes room" for him seems also a good shout

[Filo]

Wouldn't it be funny if Moore gets replaced by McCann!?

I’d sooner Wednesday to wait until we’ve played them before giving him the boot

[drfchound]

McCann was hugely fortunate with us to inherit an excellent, settled squad that Ferguson had underperformed with.

Marosi
Andrew
Anderson
Butler
Coppinger
Whiteman
Blair
May
Marquis
Mason
Rowe
Wright.

They'd all been with us for a year or more when McCann took over. He added well with Willks, Kane and Downing, but finishing 6th in those circumstances wasn't an overachievement.

Folk forget easily how our performances tailed off in the second half of the season, with some baffling selections and aimless performances.

And then he left a shambles of an inheritance for Moore.

Look at it another way - we looked nowhere near being able to compete for the play-offs under Ferguson, with, as you say, a similar squad.

Also, did anyone expect us to finish in the play-offs in 2018/19? I certainly didn't, and if I had time to go back through the posts on this forum I'd bet few were predicting we would.

Some good points there pib.   We looked nowhere near being a playoff team under Ferguson and if I recall properly, not many of us fancied McCann to do well when he was appointed.
Our second half of that season wasn’t much different to the first half really.
We were in the top six for all but one of the last sixteen games and although we lost a couple of games back to back in April, with the exception of the 4-0 battering at Luton results weren’t too bad.
In fact, our worst spell that season was from October to mid November when we picked up just three points from seven league games.
McCann galvanised the team and we were a set of longer studs away from a Wembley play off final.

[Chris Black come back]

Ferguson helped recruit a good group of players but was a terrible manager with them. McCann picked up 90pc same squad and got us in the play offs and a full 17 points better off than Ferguson the season before. McCann did very well for us as a manager.

[Alan Southstand]

You can’t under emphasise the impact that Kane and Wilkes had on that team. We went from a top 10 side to a top 6 side and then he was supported with an ‘experienced’ centre back when we needed one in January.

We’d give anything to have Wilkes and Marquis up top now, not to mention Herbie in midfield!

[TheFunk]

Although we made the play offs with such an excellent squad, we were still a million miles away from the top 5. Which shows how bloody hard to get out of this division is. Well in the right direction it is.

[colincramb]

Yes, anybody remember the debacle at Luton that season? 

[scawsby steve]

Yes, anybody remember the debacle at Luton that season?

Yes, I was there, it was dreadful. However, it was something of a one-off; and let's also recall playing 2 of the best teams off the park; Barnsley at Oakwell, and Charlton in the play-off semi-final.

[drfchound]

Yes, anybody remember the debacle at Luton that season? 

Yep, I just wrote about it a few posts back.

[Goole Rover]

Peterborough calling ?

[Jonathan]

I absolutely loved the McCann season.

We were treated to years of pure football under SO’D (the best manager in my lifetime). We had that season under Saunders / Flynn that was memorable in the way it ended but completely at the opposite end of the footballing spectrum to what we’d been used to before.

After that we floundered about for a bit lacking any real identity. The league 2 promotion season was great but I felt the way we ‘lost’ the title changed something in Ferguson and everything became a bit careful and cautious after. In fact it was pretty sedate and uninteresting back in League One.

In came McCann and I’ve never seen anyone capture the spirit of the club in that way. He seemed to just get it. We still played attractive football, but it wasn’t just nice. We attacked relentlessly and we mixed it too. I know the Peterborough home game stretched the boundaries of acceptability for some people, but I absolutely loved it. And that night away at Charlton was one of the proudest of my Rovers supporting life.

Yeah I was gutted he left so soon. But I’ll always hold McCann in high regard for that season.

[Monkcaster_Rover]

Away at Charlton is probably my best night following us. Unreal.

[Branton Red]

The season under McCann was the most entertaining and exciting year in a long time. Yes he inherited an excellent set of players from Ferguson but he got the best out of them whilst playing exciting, attacking football.

I was gutted when he left and maybe a bit bitter at the manner of his departure. Contrast that to Moore's departure which I was delighted with - in comparison his footballing philosophy was boring dross.

No schadenfraude from me on him being sacked by Hull - he was there longer than I expected especially after overseeing a relegation, will enjoy a nice pay off and get another job fairly quickly.

[Chris Black come back]

That Charlton game goes down as one of our greats and I think almost uniquely, joins that list as a defeat. It had absolutely everything. Perhaps because right at the end we were cheated, is why it doesn't feel like a defeat after all.

[RoversAlias]

Charlton night was incredible. Somehow made all the better by our coach arriving after kick-off and with us already a goal down, running through the streets to get there and getting in just in time to see Rowe smash in the equaliser.

Grant McCann gave us the best football since Sean O'Driscoll. I don't think that is even a debate to be had.

[drfchound]

We got in the ground five minutes before kick off and didn’t even get the chance to get a beer.
The game gave some almost out of body experiences that night.
I had palpitations when Marquis headed that third goal in and will never forget those two Scots who piled onto me and my bro in law when it went in.
They were former school mates of Ali Crawford and had come down specially to support him.
I remember RA saying “what just happened”.

[Jonathan]

I think it’s really harsh to reflect on McCann’s tenure by pointing out that we had a bad run that season. Goodness me who do we think we are? Yes he inherited some good players from Ferguson but it was hardly a complete squad, and it’s impossible to go though a season without hitting a sticky patch unless you have the kind of riches that the very elite do. Players get tired. Let’s not forget we had one of our best ever FA Cup runs that season too.

Basically he took on some good players that Ferguson left, recruited smartly, lost two key members of the Ferguson squad in Houghton and later Mason, and took a team that was nowhere near the play offs to a cheated penalty shoot out from Wembley.

The way we poured forward in games like the Charlton second leg (and as someone else has mentioned further up, Barnsley away) was quite simply a joy to watch. I don’t think anyone could feel short changed by that season.

McSheffrey’s initial focus on work rate and intensity gives me hope that, in time, we can see more like that.

[BillyStubbsTears]

It wasn't just a "sticky patch" Jonathon. We underperformed for most of the second half of the season. We picked up 28 points from the final 20 matches and we often looked out of ideas against ordinary opponents.

We carried that into the playoffs - we were dreadful for the first 80 mins of the home leg.


The second leg was an all time great night for sure, but overall, I'll stick with my take. We didn't overachieve.

[Chris Black come back]

Although of the sides that finished above us, in that run we drew with three of them and lost two of them, so only a minority got the better of us. Games like Luton were dreadful but more often than not they couldn’t get the better of us when it mattered.

[Drover]

Wouldn't it be funny if Moore gets replaced by McCann!?

I’d sooner Wednesday to wait until we’ve played them before giving him the boot

Sacking him straight after we beat them,would be really sweet.

[pib]

It wasn't just a "sticky patch" Jonathon. We underperformed for most of the second half of the season. We picked up 28 points from the final 20 matches and we often looked out of ideas against ordinary opponents.

We carried that into the playoffs - we were dreadful for the first 80 mins of the home leg.


The second leg was an all time great night for sure, but overall, I'll stick with my take. We didn't overachieve.

Do you think we would've got in the play-offs had Ferguson remained in charge?

[BillyStubbsTears]

No. Ferguson consistently put together good squads then failed to get the best out of them.

It's a low bar to set as a comparison.

A better one is what Moore managed in the COVID-hit season the year after. He inherited a disaster from McCann, with the squad shorn of key players not replaced, but by the time the season finished early, the patched up squad was within 1 point of where McCann' side had been at the same point the year before.

[since-1969]

Rumoured to have been sacked by Hulls new owners.

Absolutely disgusted at this , I hope get straight back into club worthy of his talents .

[pib]

No. Ferguson consistently put together good squads then failed to get the best out of them.

It's a low bar to set as a comparison.

A better one is what Moore managed in the COVID-hit season the year after. He inherited a disaster from McCann, with the squad shorn of key players not replaced, but by the time the season finished early, the patched up squad was within 1 point of where McCann' side had been at the same point the year before.

Fair point on Ferguson. But still not having that the McCann side didn't overachieve. Especially when you factor in the FA Cup as well.

There was plenty of quality in the McCann team (mostly laid on by DF), but it still lacked in depth. If he didn't overachieve with a play-off finish and the 5th round of the FA Cup, what would the season have had to look like for him to have overachieved? Top two?

Bear in mind the top 5 in that season had some insane quality in it. Sides with some really good players and managers who have gone on to better things, and in most cases better resources/budgets than we had. Sunderland in 5th finished on 85 points. Charlton and Pompey missed out on autos with 88. We also finished above Peterborough, Blackpool and Coventry, all of who are sides building towards the Championship and have since got there.

If's buts and maybe's around Moore, but McCann remains the only manager to get us into that sort of position in L1 in the past 10 years. The previous time to that, the owners were ploughing in a lot more money.

[dijit8]

We had a good season under McCann and he made some loan signings that fitted in well with what he inherited. I feel if he had stayed and built his own squad the following season replacing the players who left then that would have been a better way to have judged him.

We really would have seen how good a manger he was or if he was a one season wonder.

[Pside]

Just been sacked