Its Megson

[davieG]

From the past?

[Blue Bob]

I appreciate the sentiment but I backed Allen to be left disappointed. I'll back the team but I'm not going to waste my time backing a manager who will be out on his ear if he disagrees with Mandaric or doesn't have us in the top six by Christmas.

A fan-friendly appointment is just that - an appointment that the fans welcome. And I don't see too many welcoming this one. It's all well and good with the benefit of hindsight but the main feeling here is that we were quite content with the Allen appointment.

I backed Mandaric whole-heartedly right up until this appointment but I'm starting to have huge reservations now. We were sick of being a laughing stock on the pitch for the last few seasons but now we're a laughing stock off it too.

The pressure is on.

There is no denying that we are in for a bumpy ride under Milan. I agree that Megson may well be a short term appointment and MM may well find a reason to get rid. But beneath all the arguements I firmly believe - Milan is a business man, he wants to make profit on his investment, the only way he can do that is to get us promoted to the premier league so he wants us to be successful. He is not getting any younger so he wants it soon. He made Portsmouth into a successful club. Keeping this in mind he is prepared to do what it takes to get that success. Remember sacking MA will have cost him thousands of pounds out of his pocket he will not have parted with that money for no reason. MM has done what no one else has done and put millions into the club.

I think it is too early to give MM too much grief over this, he deserves a bit but then lets move on. Sure people might laugh now but how many laugh at Portsmouth??

[BigGibbo]

Breaking news in the Merc

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/disp...;pNodeId=132401

ive commented the article have a look geo

[JoeyB]

ive commented the article have a look geo

Just seen these two:

What is Milan thinking???!!! At least Muzzy and Matt Elliot are set to make a return as part of the coaching team :-)

Me, Leicester

"All I have to do is say yes and i'll get paid. I havent had a job for the last 18 months so this looked ideal - why is everyone on my back?"

Gary Megson, Nottingham

Mine is further down the page!

[Geo V]

ive commented the article have a look geo

Have a look at my comment then mate

[JoeyB]

ive commented the article have a look geo

Have a look at my comment then mate

Would love it if both of them got into the mercury!

[BigGibbo]

Have a look at my comment then mate

how rude you've dissed me via the mercury

[Geo V]

how rude you've dissed me via the mercury

I have made you famous . I also tried to say the word "optimistic" as many times as I could

[Fez of Mahrez]

There is no denying that we are in for a bumpy ride under Milan. I agree that Megson may well be a short term appointment and MM may well find a reason to get rid. But beneath all the arguements I firmly believe - Milan is a business man, he wants to make profit on his investment, the only way he can do that is to get us promoted to the premier league so he wants us to be successful. He is not getting any younger so he wants it soon. He made Portsmouth into a successful club. Keeping this in mind he is prepared to do what it takes to get that success. Remember sacking MA will have cost him thousands of pounds out of his pocket he will not have parted with that money for no reason. MM has done what no one else has done and put millions into the club.

I think it is too early to give MM too much grief over this, he deserves a bit but then lets move on. Sure people might laugh now but how many laugh at Portsmouth??

We all want promotion. It's not as simple as "doing whatever it takes" because at the moment he doesn't give the impression that he knows what it's going to take.

I appreciate your sentiment and it'd be great if everyone felt like you but I'm just really disappointed.

To sum it up, I'd have been disappointed with Megson replacing Kelly under the old regime. To have to settle for him under Mandaric when Allen did nothing wrong results-wise is incredibly galling and I think it's completely reasonable that the fans who forked out money for season tickets partly due to the Milan-Martin banner reserve the right to be sceptical over his replacement. As I've said, the pressure is on and after being messed about like this I don't think the fans will settle for long-ball football unless we are winning games week in week out.

Of course, this being Leicester City, we'll just get the happy-clapping Fox Leisure families turning up regardless and banging on about how Megson got West Brom promoted twice.

[Staf]

Gary Megson i dont beleive it

[JoeyB]

Very disapointed, Megson failed to keep teams in the Premiership, and now we are supposed to embrace this decision? Leicester City fans will not like this decision one bit. This leavs us with a bitter taste to the Martin Allen departure as we thought we were going to have a good standard of manager with a proven history of succeding like Paul Jewell not Gary Megson. On the bright side if Allen stayed for 4 games maybe Megson will be out after 1.

Tom Hancock, South Kilworth

Like it!

[Stevosevic]

http://www.thebluearmy.co.uk/details.asp?b...6269754|p|536|0

Megson: I'm here to get City promoted

Exclusive by Bill Anderson

Leicester City will today name Gary Megson as their new manager with Gerry Taggart as part of his coaching staff.

The 48-year-old former Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest boss last night agreed terms with City chairman Milan Mandaric for a contract stretching two years after the end of the current season.

Megson brings with him Frank Burrows as his assistant manager, a role he filled with Megson at Forest, and former City favourite Taggart arrives as first-team coach.

In his first interview shortly after sealing the deal, Megson spoke exclusively to the Mercury and said: “To be able to get this opportunity is fantastic and it is one I aim to grasp with both hands.

“It has taken me longer than I expected to get back into the game but, recently, I have been coaching for my good friend Tony Pulis at Stoke and I realised just how much I had missed the game.â€

His playing career centred around Sheffield Wednesday and his major managerial efforts were with West Brom, but Megson appreciates his Nottingham Forest connection, however tenuous, might not go down too well with some City fans.

He said: “I know I am not going to be welcomed with open arms by everyone. I have to prove myself and I hope I can do the same job at Leicester that I did at West Brom.â€

What Leicester and Mandaric want as soon as possible is promotion, and it is Megson's record with the Baggies that forms a strong basis for optimism on that front.

Megson said: “We took West Brom from second bottom up into the Premiership.

“Yes ,we went down which was no surprise on an £8million wage bill, when the next lowest was £17million, but I think I am the only manager to take a team straight back up automatically.

“So my record at this level, in terms of promotion, is probably better than anyone else's in the last 10 years.

“Yet I find myself having to defend myself for what went on at Forest.

“Some will look at that and then at what I did at West Brom and form their own opinions, but I don't want to reflect on those things but look forward.

“I am the only manager to take two teams up to the Premiership automatically and I want Leicester to be the third.â€

Megson admits he finds it strange that he is viewed so much as “an ex-Forest guyâ€.

He said: “I am not. I was there for four months as a player, never got a game and moved on. As a manager I was there for 13 months, didn't have a good time, didn't enjoy it at all.

“If I am anything, I am a Sheffield Wednesday person, not a Forest person.

“Having said that, when we face Sheffield Wednesday I will want nothing better than to beat them.

“You give your best shot to the team you are working for and I am determined to deliver what Leicester want from me.â€

The appointment comes, as Mandaric wanted, in time to pick up the Championship campaign when QPR visit the Walkers Stadium on Saturday, City having steadied themselves after their opening-day setback with two draws and a win.

And the City chairman said: “I think Gary has the experience and ability to do the job for us.

“He is a straight, honest guy who impressed me in the talks we had. You can look him straight in the eye and what you see is what you get, a strong personality who can take us forward.

“I didn't want to wait too long for more of the season to pass by, and I hope the fans appreciate my decision and that they will give him their full support.â€

Burrows and Taggart, on holiday at the moment, will join up later but Megson, who was scheduled to be formally announced at lunchtime today, will go straight into action with a clear aim.

He said: “Setting up momentum in this division is important, and you do that by winning.â€

[Manwell Pablo]

This Muzzy Izzet and Matty Elliott in as coaches thing just seems like Milans way of softening the blow to me, doing something to appease the fans as he knows Megson won't be popular from the outset.

Me, I don't even see why it is such a good thing, do any of us know if those two are actually any good at coaching??

[Dobieforthefoxes]

You will have to forgive me as I don't generally post on other clubs message board, however following a rather painful episode of laughing hysterically when hearing the radio news, I have just about regained enough composure to come online and give you a few thoughts about your new hero and put a couple of misconceptions to bed...

Firstly, the reaction from people when he was announced as Forest boss was not unlike here, despite his (then much more recent) success at WBA. After a day or so a few people started to rationalise, suggesting that just because he played drab albeit successful football at a previous club doesn't mean he would at Forest. That view turned out to be correct as it happens as we didn't have any success to go with the drab football but I digress. The point is that rather than look at the Forest players and think 'how can I best deploy these resources before me', he basically walked in and squeezed the players into 'his' system, despite it meaning some were out of position and under the previous system we were playing reasonably well, if not scoring many goals.

Secondly, its a common misconception amongst many (including many Forest fans) that we were 'already down' when Megson arrived. Its simply not true. Megson came in on the 10th January, so by my calculation he had five months to turn things around. Yes, we had slipped into the bottom 3 but it wasn't all doom and gloom because caretaker manager Mick Harford had just registered a decent away win before GM came in and we had played some decent football in the season but for a variety of reasons hadn't quite got the results. A lot of Forest fans don't take this view but thats generally because its clouded by a dislike for Joe Kinnear who famously referred to certain sections of the fanbase as 'morons'. Anyway, we weren't down by any means however what happened in those five months were awful to watch. Not only did our promising football disappear to match the results, but the team seemed to become more spineless - something that surprised me with Megson in charge. Being relegated to League One with a talented squad was bad enough, going down without much of a fight was sickening. The following season was, of course, equally bad with Megson quite possibly steering us down another division. Thankfully, he was replaced and the caretaker managers made a decent fist of things with the same resources however this could partly have just been the 'thank god Megsons gone' factor helping things.

His man management is appalling. Expect him to fall out with at least one senior or popular player, quite possibly in the first few weeks. With us it was our striker David Johnson. In DJs case, it was because of an innocuous comment towards the manager on the touchline after GM had barked an instruction at him. Rather than have words after the match, GM decided to berate Johnson publically in front of the whole main stand and then suggested in the press afterwards that DJ had refused to warm-up (this wasn't true, as I was within earshot of it all but its another story). He also fell out bigtime with your favorite son Alan Rogers...not than many Forest fans lost any sleep over that one, however Megson refusing him permission to park his car in the car park was a bit too much. There was also the time at Yeovil where he invited a fan into the dressing room after the match to have a go at the players. If ever there was an incident which would turn the squad against him that was it - the most ill-thought out management decision ever. Add into this the numerous post-match interviews where he broadly rounded on his players (never his or his backroom staffs failings of course) or the time he cut off ties with the local media because of criticism. The man is a loose cannon.

Despite his touchline persona (shirt sleeves rolled up, very shouty), in the media he comes across as articulate, thoughtful and intelligent however he will not - ever - on any account - shoulder any blame for anything going wrong. At Forest it was either the players or, rather perplexingly - 'dark forces' which he could never bring himself to talk about or explain. It made some sense in the early days but when he was in his second season that excuse was wearing a bit thin. His stubborn attitude to where problems lay was partly his downfall in my opinion. He had the 'Megson way' which worked as he had proved at West Brom and he was determined to make it work at Forest. When it didn't, however - and when it was clear to everyone that a change in tactic was needed to get the best from the squad he never seemed to respond...he just kept hammering away at bringing in the 'Megson way' come what may in a belief that one day it would click. It never did and quite frankly it was plain to everyone except him. Thats why, whilst you may have a few good results initially whilst everyone is trying to get in the Managers good books, I really don't hold out much hope that he will all of a sudden ditched this approach. He has probably been sitting at home thinking 'Why are all these clubs not taking the same approach I did at West Brom? Can't wait for another managers job so I can show it works' etc etc

Strangely, he always had a good working relationship with our chairman. I say strangely because he has fallen out with all the others. Perhaps that is an area he has learnt to control himself? Or perhaps the Forest chairman doesn't interfere in team affairs...who knows.

His performance in the transfer market was poor to average. He made a few decent signings but for every good signing there was at least one dud. There also seemed to be the occasional panic-buy (Eugene Dadi) which didn't make any sense whatsoever. At Leicester I would expect him to come in for Scott Dobie, who he has worked with since his WBA days...I also have a feeling he may move for Grant Holt and/or Ian Breckin but time will tell.

To be honest though, even though I have said all the above - its quite possible that he will be a success at Leicester City. A lot depends on the psychological makeup of your team. If you have a squad who will respond to the sgt major style disciplinarian appraoch, who toe the line and are happy to operate within Megsons tactical structure then there is every chance you will see a boring but clinical shot at promotion. If you have players who don't respond to that however, or are prone to rely on flair rather than hard work then it may go the same way as Forest as Megson is unable to tailor his approach to the players, it has to be the other way around for him.

Whether I can see him lasting the course with Milan M in charge is another story however...

[Fez of Mahrez]

This Muzzy Izzet and Matty Elliott in as coaches thing just seems like Milans way of softening the blow to me, doing something to appease the fans as he knows Megson won't be popular from the outset.

Me, I don't even see why it is such a good thing, do any of us know if those two are actually any good at coaching??

They've both coached kids' teams at LCFC. I think Muzzy is still involved. I don't know what roles they will be taking though - Taggart will be first-team coach and I can't see them taking the Academy away from Rudkin and Beaglehole so I guess they'll be supplementary first team coaches?

It doesn't excite me at all. It means nothing that they used to play for us. We need people who know what they're doing. They might turn out to be good for us but there's little evidence that that will definitely be the case so I'm reserving judgment.

[Kent Fox]

We all want promotion. It's not as simple as "doing whatever it takes" because at the moment he doesn't give the impression that he knows what it's going to take.

I appreciate your sentiment and it'd be great if everyone felt like you but I'm just really disappointed.

To sum it up, I'd have been disappointed with Megson replacing Kelly under the old regime. To have to settle for him under Mandaric when Allen did nothing wrong results-wise is incredibly galling and I think it's completely reasonable that the fans who forked out money for season tickets partly due to the Milan-Martin banner reserve the right to be sceptical over his replacement. As I've said, the pressure is on and after being messed about like this I don't think the fans will settle for long-ball football unless we are winning games week in week out.

Of course, this being Leicester City, we'll just get the happy-clapping Fox Leisure families turning up regardless and banging on about how Megson got West Brom promoted twice.

Does that mean you won't be turning up regardless??

ANd why not bang on about West Brom? It was his best achievement - from 2nd bottom to Premiership ain't bad in this league.

I understand what you're saying, Fez, but I think you're being a bit hard on the "happy-clapping families".

[JoeyB]

For Geo

Geo, Why should we trust his judgement, we did that when he appointed Allen and were badly let down. Make no mistake whatever the reason for Allen's departure Mandaric is as culpable as anyone. If he feels the need to go through 20 managers to find ONE that he can work with then it demonstrates his inability to recruit and to work with people.

Dave, Gee

[BigGibbo]

I have made you famous . I also tried to say the word "optimistic" as many times as I could

Free promotion for the bus very clever

[Fez of Mahrez]

Does that mean you won't be turning up regardless??

ANd why not bang on about West Brom? It was his best achievement - from 2nd bottom to Premiership ain't bad in this league.

I understand what you're saying, Fez, but I think you're being a bit hard on the "happy-clapping families".

I am probably going to cancel my pre-order for a lot of away games this season. As I've said before, I've not got much choice with the season ticket.

I probably am being too hard on them, people should be able to support the club however they choose. I'm just really frustrated at the moment!

[BigGibbo]

I am probably going to cancel my pre-order for a lot of away games this season. As I've said before, I've not got much choice with the season ticket.

I probably am being too hard on them, people should be able to support the club however they choose. I'm just really frustrated at the moment!

Yeah im still optimistic despite a minor slip up but i can't help feeling like Mandys fobbed us off with the cheap option now he's already got our money

[Strokes]

We all want promotion. It's not as simple as "doing whatever it takes" because at the moment he doesn't give the impression that he knows what it's going to take.

I appreciate your sentiment and it'd be great if everyone felt like you but I'm just really disappointed.

To sum it up, I'd have been disappointed with Megson replacing Kelly under the old regime. To have to settle for him under Mandaric when Allen did nothing wrong results-wise is incredibly galling and I think it's completely reasonable that the fans who forked out money for season tickets partly due to the Milan-Martin banner reserve the right to be sceptical over his replacement. As I've said, the pressure is on and after being messed about like this I don't think the fans will settle for long-ball football unless we are winning games week in week out.

Of course, this being Leicester City, we'll just get the happy-clapping Fox Leisure families turning up regardless and banging on about how Megson got West Brom promoted twice.

Sums up my feelings, i'm also not impressed with all this bollocks about Matt Elliot and Muzzy Izzet, how fu cking stupid does he think we are?

[Lillehamring]

He won't last 5 minutes. A snippet form wikipedia "However, the club was barely prepared for the financial challenges of life in the top flight and a bitter quarrel soon developed between Megson and the club's chairman Paul Thompson over the latter's perceived interference in footballing matters. An undignified public showdown resulted in Thompson resigning from the board in order to forestall Megson's departure."

a - unlike mandaric

b - obviously they must have been desparate to keep him there...

ok, he wasn't my first choice, but he has achieved promotion, and he's not a complete retard... i'll give him a go... don't know what WBA squad was like but maybe he played hoofball there, cause that what the players did best, hopefully he'll get here and see that we are better playing the ball on the ground and adopt that style of play here.

he's not gonna p!ss off mandaric, cause he knows he's lucky to be here...

if all else fails, just chant slowly to yourselves:

...at least it's not roeder, at least it's not roeder, at least it's not roeder, at least it's not roeder, at least it's not roeder

[Dobieforthefoxes]

hopefully he'll get here and see that we are better playing the ball on the ground and adopt that style of play here.

thats what I thought when he came to Forest however Megson made sure any decent 'on the ground' football was beaten out of them fairly quickly

[Fez of Mahrez]

Carl Cort will be loving this appointment.

[BigGibbo]

Carl Cort will be loving this appointment.

I don't know if i can endure a season of hoofball to be honest