Do we need to get rid of some "big players" in the dressing room?

[Bluetintedspecs]

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[suffolk fox]

11 hours ago, Bluetintedspecs said:

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Sign him up pronto just what we need.

[suffolk fox]

On ‎01‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 02:51, Albert said:

All this player power talk that was created from the media when Ranieri left is total crap! Don’t be fooled by what you read in the papers 

It certainly is not total crap.  I don't care how much of an itk you may or may not be.  My experience in Seville proves to me anyway we have some bad eggs at our club.

[Albert]

10 hours ago, suffolk fox said:

It certainly is not total crap.  I don't care how much of an itk you may or may not be.  My experience in Seville proves to me anyway we have some bad eggs at our club.

What experience was that then? Please enlighten us why it’s not total crap 

[mozartfox]

21 hours ago, Bluetintedspecs said:

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Gerimin Rudders. 10 year contract same as Wes.

[1972 Fox]

On 01/05/2018 at 13:50, Gerbold said:

In my peregrinations around the web I found this extract from an interview with Gordon Milne from The FOX Summer Special 2007. It appears appropriate to this current situation.

 

GM:Leicester were interviewing for a new manager then and Terry Shipman rang me, so I went along. Three or four days later I got a phone call saying I had got the job.

FOX: What were your first impressions?

GM: Well, obviously I knew plenty about Leicester, living in Barwell and it being the local derby. They had quite a good squad at the time.

Coventry had a lot of promising young kids then, but at Leicester they were moved on that little bit, a bit more mature and experienced. When I first went to Coventry there was a bit of a heavy mob there, Willie Carr, Roy Barry, Ernie Hunt… a lot of old soldiers that had to be sorted out! There was a little bit of that at Leicester when I arrived. Obviously Jock Wallace had been very popular and there were a lot of his own men in there who were in the ’Jock Mould’. Which is all credit to him, but I needed to do things differently. There was a bit to go at there.

FOX: Which players did you need to ‘go at’?

GM: ...Eddie Kelly, he was a good midfielder, but definitely his own man. I thought his legs were going, but as a player that is very hard to admit. There was Alan Young the big centre-forward. Bobby Smith, who actually turned out good for me.

I can’t remember the details but there was a group there and something had to change. Sometimes it is necessary when a new manager arrives. Big Sam has just gone to Newcastle and some players, their feet haven’t touched the ground on the way out.

 

There are things that have to be done. But you can’t do it all straight away and you have to be careful. There was a group of experience there that you couldn’t just cast aside.  

FOX: Obviously it was a big change from Jock Wallace, how would you describe your own style of management?

GM: I’m certainly not a tea cup thrower. I did my work during the week, I liked to be out there on the pitch with Gerry Summers when I could. I tried to get a collective team spirit going and I liked players to balance each other so that they felt comfortable in what they were doing. I liked to put square pegs in square holes. Without me shouting and screaming I think they knew when to tow the line and when they could get away with a bit. I wanted them to believe in what we were doing, and I think in the end we had a pretty good side there.

 

It seems to be a situation that some incoming managers find themselves embroiled in. There are players who have been 'moulded' by a strong personality - Milne talks about 'The Wallace' whose rep. was that of a histrionic disciplinarian. The sand hills of Wanlip resembled some punishment from the 'Bridge Over The River Kwai'! Pearson struck me as being very much a dominant and domineering personality. I suspect the players he gathered together as a squad were well aware of what he wanted and were secure in the knowledge that, if they did what he wanted, they'd be valued. It's simple for players in that situation - obey orders, work hard, show commitment and results will surely follow. City didn't need a change of manager in the return-to-Premier season - because Pearson had the strength of will to turn the season round. Unfortunately Srivaddhanaprabha saw fit to fire him as a 'diplomatic' face-saving act.

 

This is what all the subsequent managers post-Pearson have (apparently) had to cope with - the 'old guard's' reluctance to adapt to new ideas. Does Puel (if he is allowed to stay) sell on Vardy, Morgan, Simpson and Schmeichel or does he give it best and wait for the axe to fall? They appear to be the main suspects in this battle of wills. Most of the fans recognise Morgan and Simpson's limitations but neither Schmeichel and Vardy can really be isolated in that way. Moreover Vardy occupies a position that no other City player in my memory has come close to. Unknown to all-time hero in four seasons. He is the totemic player of our time. He doesn't apparently want to leave. So, if (and this is a big if) he's proving to be an obstacle in the course of progression/transition/evolution - whatever it's called - then how do you solve a problem like Jamie.

 

Brilliant post.

 

Interesting to hear GM's recollections of his time/arrival here as manager.

 

I think he was not too popular with the fans initially. I can remember being on the away terrace at Grimsby in early 1983 chanting Milne out with many others as our promotion challenge was faltering. After losing that match we then went 15 games unbeaten to the end of the season and pipped Fulham to promotion.

 

Still not sure myself if Puel is the right man for us but every manager needs time. Also any manager will not succeed unless there is unity at the club and particularly in the dressing room.

[Vince Vega]

14 minutes ago, Gerbold said:

Thank you for your response.The interview seemed to be appropriate to a situation that's repeated time and again. Milne was a likeable guy but, as he said, he had a difficult situation to overcome.

Away match at Grimsby - no wonder you were pissed off. Apparently it's just about the coldest stadium in the country!

Went there a couple of times to see City when my brother lived in Cleethorpes (where the ground actually is).  Bloody cold in the winter, with the wind coming in from the North Sea!  Some good watering holes though.  Happy days. 

[john ridley]

Milne did a good steady job , only thing that pissed me off was swapping  Jim Melrose  for bloody Tommy English , also could never work out why Gerry Daly wasn't signed when we went up .

[JP the Fox]

IMO for about 12 months now I have thought one outcome that would (in the short-term) be shite but in the long-term helpful would be for us to go down and properly rebuild. 

 

Kasper has for a long time believed he belongs at a top 6 club...he can pull off the incredible but then can try and jump for a ball only for a 5ft player to out-jump im (Can anyone say Pedro?)

 

Simpson has been average ever since we signed him. We've all known we need a replacement right back for what? 3 years?

 

Fuchs seems far too interested in his instagram and business ventures than playing football anymore and will inevitably move on the the US at the end of the season.

 

Morgan is past it and was last year too we all know that and would love Dragovic to stay and take his place.

 

Mahrez going no debate there.

 

Sharky has always put in 100% and he would be a player that I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed if we went down because he recently his end product has been too rushed and he's started to panic a bit especially when he's had to defend (Zaha for example)

 

Vardy has to stay but if we do go down he will leave and that would be fair because of all he has done for us.

 

So there's an opinion at our "leaders" in the dressing room. If we go down then we go down. BUT WE WON THE ****ING PREMIER LEAGUE! And I would love nothing more than for us to truly solidify ourselves as a premier league club but not if that means we become a rich mans Watford and sack our manager every 6 months. We as fans have to decide what we want our club to be. Full of mercenaries like when we were in the premier league before (early noughties) or a team of honest-hard working players who truly live to our motto and never quit (Pearson-era). I love my club, we all do, but we have to think of the long-term and be realistic on what we want. Too many fans wanted us to reclaim the title, sadly that won't happen again (not saying ever).

 

So it is just one possibility that I would never celebrate but I would personally be realistic about and would welcome it as an opportunity to restructure and address the toxicity in the dressing room. It's last resort but something we have to see as a possibility, just look at Stoke and Southhampton two clubs that became premier league stalwarts but tried to change too much on a regular basis and in-turn lost their identity.

 

I just don't want the club I love to do the same.

 

Keep the faith!