Martin Allen Reign.... well the short spell it was.

[Leicesterpool]

Having listened back to Martin Allen's COSH interview, its interesting to hear about his time at the foxes. How Mr Manadric thought he could just use him as puppet.. bringing any old random player and trying force them into the starting XI. Be interesting to know where people think Martin would have taken us if he was given more time and was given more control of the starting XI and transfers and being able to reduce an already overloaded squad.

[shailen]

Not sure it would have made much difference to be honest. Between 2004 and 2008 we were on a downwards spiral, and it was getting worse and worse every season. Relegation was the best thing that happened to us as it allowed us to totally rebuild our squad and allow a new manager in Pearson to drive us forward. 

[onekeithweller]

[David Hankey]

The fact of the matter is we'll never know. As I recall didn't he get sacked after a 4-1 win?

 

Remember we had an owner at that time who infamously said, along the lines of, if it takes 20 managers to get us to the top flight then so be it. However because of HIS poor selection of managers we went down to the third tier!!

 

The best days work he ever did was getting Vichai and his family involved and for that I will always be thankful.

[Fox92]

He came at a strange time and inherited strange players that weren't bought for him. With that I still don't think he would have taken us anywhere though, he never seems serious enough and at the end of the day we're the biggest club he has managed by a long distance. Nobody really knows though.

 

I do like him and he is a great listen.

[nwl fox]

Look at the rest of his managerial career and I think that gives you a good indication of his level. I think he was well out of his depth tbh

[davieG]

9 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

Having listened back to Martin Allen's COSH interview, its interesting to hear about his time at the foxes. How Mr Manadric thought he could just use him as puppet.. bringing any old random player and trying force them into the starting XI. Be interesting to know where people think Martin would have taken us if he was given more time and was given more control of the starting XI and transfers and being able to reduce an already overloaded squad.

There's a video in this  thread - 

 

[ClaphamFox]

50 minutes ago, nwl fox said:

Look at the rest of his managerial career and I think that gives you a good indication of his level. I think he was well out of his depth tbh

He was - and probably remains - barking mad. That may help you to stand out from the crowd, but it's likely to ultimately prove a hindrance if you really want to progress in your chosen career.

[Spudulike]

It wasn't all bad. The Belvoir Drive flower beds and hanging baskets looked a treat. 

[Sly]

Didn’t he have Iain Hume in the call centre; and Matty Fryatt cleaning the bogs?! 

[Guest Manini]

1 minute ago, Sly said:

Didn’t he have Iain Hume in the call centre; and Matty Fryatt cleaning the bogs?! 

I think he did. Bielsa makes the Leeds players do odd jobs round the training ground too to be fair though. I’m not sure he’s ever had them cleaning toilets but I suppose the idea behind it is the same  

[LanguedocFox]

The years between O’Neill leaving and Pearson arriving was the longest continuous period that I’ve hated being a City fan in the past 64 years. We had an arrogant owner with no feeling for the club and its fans, a succession of joke managers - of whom Allen wasn’t even the worst - and players who, for the most part, didn’t seem to give a flying fvck. And, like most of us, I remained a fan. 
 

One reason that I feel some sympathy with fans of Florest, Cov and the Sheepsh*ggers is that they are still going through that hell.

[Durnerz]

Mandaric wasn't a good chairman but he sure saved us from heading the way of the Bradford City's and Coventry's. 

 

We had no money and very little hope of surviving without investment, he then of course sold to the Thai owners and the rest, as they say, is history. 

 

Allen wasn't a bad appointment for where we were at the time on paper but we'll never know how he could have managed had he been allowed to make his own signings and actually been given time to make his mark. 

Edited 17 June 2021 by Durnerz

[TrickyTrev Benjamin]

I can remember the summer of 2007 on foxestalk and everyone thought we were gonna go up. Everyday you’d wake up be a new signing and Martin Allen was seen as a great appointment. I remember when it got leaked the day after the forest abandon game that Allen was getting sacked and a poster in here called Barton fox said it was aload of crap and he if did get sacked he would never post on here again. 

[bovril]

1 hour ago, Durnerz said:

Mandaric wasn't a good chairman but he sure saved us from heading the way of the Bradford City's and Coventry's. 

 

We had no money and very little hope of surviving without investment, he then of course sold to the Thai owners and the rest, as they say, is history. 

 

Allen wasn't a bad appointment for where we were at the time on paper but we'll never know how he could have managed had he been allowed to make his own signings and actually been given time to make his mark. 

Brought in Pearson, sold us to the Srivaddhanaprabhas. Not bad going really. 

[Durnerz]

10 minutes ago, bovril said:

Brought in Pearson, sold us to the Srivaddhanaprabhas. Not bad going really. 

 

Not bad at all. If I remember rightly some of our fans had written to Mandaric to ask for his investment into the club in the days when we were on our backside financially.

[Heathrow fox]

20 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

Having listened back to Martin Allen's COSH interview, its interesting to hear about his time at the foxes. How Mr Manadric thought he could just use him as puppet.. bringing any old random player and trying force them into the starting XI. Be interesting to know where people think Martin would have taken us if he was given more time and was given more control of the starting XI and transfers and being able to reduce an already overloaded squad.

I used to watch his Brentford side quite regularly and he turned a relegation threatened outfit into promotion challengers.All on a fairly limited budget.I thought he would’ve been an excellent choice to take over from Craig Levein before Mandy bought the club.A sort of Brian Little type character we needed at the time.He left anyway to go to MK Dons after the Brentford board couldn’t keep certain promises.Didn’t pull up any trees during his year there,but I was still delighted when he rocked up at Leicester.(We were no great shakes ourselves)It seems that things rapidly went downhill very quickly.Of the players bought in,I think it’s quite easy to work out who were his signings and who weren’t.

DJ Campbell would’ve been one.I think his time at Leicester would’ve been a lot more fruitful if Allen had hung around.He was even getting a tune out of De Vries.
Without constant meddling,I think we could’ve got top half.
I’ve heard he was a bully and could be a bit of a knob.I do think a lot of criticism has been uncalled for though.Like getting the players to do jobs around the stadium.Clearly a bit of a club bonding stunt.Annoying that some fans still seem to think he was behind all the signings.

Pretty much hit and miss for the rest of his managerial career.Some great stints.Some truly awful.

 

[ScrumpyJack]

9 hours ago, TrickyTrev Benjamin said:

I can remember the summer of 2007 on foxestalk and everyone thought we were gonna go up. Everyday you’d wake up be a new signing and Martin Allen was seen as a great appointment. I remember when it got leaked the day after the forest abandon game that Allen was getting sacked and a poster in here called Barton fox said it was aload of crap and he if did get sacked he would never post on here again. 

Ahh, the summer of DJ Campbell. Never has such a cool name been so disappointing.

[BoyJones]

As we in that era, saw a fan walking down Queens Road today sporting a City T-Shirt I’ve not seen for years.

 

Grey coloured with the circular badge dominating the front with CHAMPIONS at the top and 2008-2009 around the lower part of the badge. Well impressed. Made me wonder if he had all three T-Shirts, 2014 and 2016. Good collection to have!

[Leicesterpool]

Do wonder if it was the players got Allen sacked, complaining to the owner about to do odd jobs around the club... perhaps the players overacted maybe. To be honest any manager to be sacked after a 4-1 win! just shows how much was wrong at our club at that time. Manadric wanted instant Premier League promotion and blew money on pretty crap players. I think if Allen had been given full control of the signing's and the squad things would have been so different, maybe not promotion but at least push in the right direction, but maybe it safe to say Manadric over ambition got us relegated. However I wouldn't say he's the bad guy at all, saved the club and maybe put us on the right road despite big mistakes early on.

[Corky]

Didn't he bring in Chelsea Dagger as goal music?

 

Hated that. So glad when we binned it.

[Lesterlad]

It didn’t help his career prospects at City when he called Manderic f***** tight or words to that affect during the open training day at the ground. Manderic did not look impressed 

[Dr The Singh]

Legend

[Super_horns]

I remember you beat us 4-1 at the start of the season but he didn’t last too long !

[ajthefox]

On 17/06/2021 at 08:27, David Hankey said:

The fact of the matter is we'll never know. As I recall didn't he get sacked after a 4-1 win?

 

Remember we had an owner at that time who infamously said, along the lines of, if it takes 20 managers to get us to the top flight then so be it. However because of HIS poor selection of managers we went down to the third tier!!

 

The best days work he ever did was getting Vichai and his family involved and for that I will always be thankful.

Without any doubt. I've wondered whether that was good judgement or pure fluke for a long time though, particularly given his hit rate on the big decisions.

 

What happened with Portsmouth after he left was the polar opposite of what happened with us. I suspect it's probably difficult to attribute Portsmouth's decline to any single factor though.