Is it time for a 'Managerial Merry go round' thread?

[The Terminator]

Reports are that we are getting Matt Taylor and an announcement is imminent..

My first thoughts were, why do they want Shrewsburys manager for?!

Then I remembered, ah yes the Former Exeter and Rotherham one

Steady appointment if true, another club at this level was always going to take a chance on him.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

My first thoughts were, why do they want Shrewsburys manager for?!

Then I remembered, ah yes the Former Exeter and Rotherham one

Steady appointment if true, another club at this level was always going to take a chance on him.

Yeah far too many Matt Taylors knocking around in the lower leagues. At least the two managers refrain from calling themselves 'Matty' unlike a certain washed up ex striker.
I like the ex-Rotherham Matt Taylor, made a lot of sense when ive seen his interviews, although I did say the same about the other Matt Taylor when he was at Walsall....

 

[Gassy]

Official now, Taylor joins. Happy with that tbh

 

[HutchECFC]

Rovers 11/2 to finish top 6. Free money

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Rovers 11/2 to finish top 6. Free money

He is still pretty inexperienced at this level though, wasnt it something like 11 games for you before he left?

 

[Millerbri]

Good luck to MT he was very unlucky with injuries and maybe not given enough time.
Having said that, he did bring in a load of old immobile centre halves whose best days are behind them and surprise, surprise they are always injured.

I would have stuck by him and given him a year in League 1 to get us back up and hope he learned his lesson.
But then again it's not my money and Uncle Tone likes it up here in the Championship, so he gets to spin the wheel and hope for a miracle.

I wish him every success in the future, but he needs to learn to get involved with the crowd and show some passion.
I reckon he would have survived if he got any kind of rapport with the fans but I guess that's not part of his character to be pumping up the crowd.
It would help him in future if he can adapt and learn to.

He'll no doubt get his revenge next year though.

 

[SVH]

Sounds like we will be announcing Neil Harris as manager today.

I'm not sure what to make of this appointment and a little disappointed we didn't go or get Cowley. He done a good job at Millwall, almost kept Gillingham up but I'm not sure what happened at the Gills when he got the sack whilst they were in and around the Play off's.

 

[Luke Imp]

Sounds like we will be announcing Neil Harris as manager today.

I'm not sure what to make of this appointment and a little disappointed we didn't go or get Cowley. He done a good job at Millwall, almost kept Gillingham up but I'm not sure what happened at the Gills when he got the sack whilst they were in and around the Play off's.

From what I read, it seemed to be down to the style of play, lack of scoring and general boringness of a Neil Harris side that was his undoing despite their position at the time.

I suppose you can take that when you're battling to get out of trouble as they were but when you have some new money coming in then they'd probably have expected a bit of a shift in that.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Good luck to MT he was very unlucky with injuries and maybe not given enough time.
Having said that, he did bring in a load of old immobile centre halves whose best days are behind them and surprise, surprise they are always injured.

I would have stuck by him and given him a year in League 1 to get us back up and hope he learned his lesson.
But then again it's not my money and Uncle Tone likes it up here in the Championship, so he gets to spin the wheel and hope for a miracle.

I wish him every success in the future, but he needs to learn to get involved with the crowd and show some passion.
I reckon he would have survived if he got any kind of rapport with the fans but I guess that's not part of his character to be pumping up the crowd.
It would help him in future if he can adapt and learn to.

He'll no doubt get his revenge next year though.

We already have Friend and Wilson maybe thats why he came here. Both injured most of the season too

 

[Tom_CUFC]

The only positive I can muster from this is that I thought Bonner was a shite appointment too, and that ended up working out very well.

I just don't get it, we've got rid of Bonner (rightly) because of poor results, tepid football, an inability to get results away from home, and a piss poor goalscoring record. So we've appointed a guy who was sacked by a L2 team 2 months ago, was 23rd in L2 a year ago with a team just relegated from L1, and probably only avoided a relegation battle because they spunked a load of money in comparison to their competitors in January, and in L2 they scored 6 goals in their first 20 games last season, and I believe 9 in their first 11 before he got sacked this season, with fans moaning about a dull and defensive style of football that wasn't yielding acceptable results, especially away from home. Doesn't sound like either an upgrade or a change in what we're going to see to me.

What really disappoints me as well is that we haven't been in a position this good for 20 years, maybe 30, maybe ever when you factor in off the pitch, with a bunch of rich investors on board, millions sunk into a swanky new training facility, millions to come on redeveloping the stadium, and presumably after that (albeit probably beyond this manager's career with us whoever it was) increased budgets with no further infrastructure to fund and the financial benefits we start to reap from the redevelopment. By our standards we're a very attractive proposition, and the best we could do was a manager recently sacked from the division below? The fact this was seemingly done yesterday, less than a week after sacking Bonner, and without any speculation we have spoken to anyone else, indicates this was always the guy too, and I struggle to believe we couldn't have done better, either with an out of work manager or approaching someone employed elsewhere. I don't feel like we've done suitable due diligence on the manager market.

Also genuinely curious as to examples where appointing someone who was last sacked from the division below has worked out. Taylor at Shrewsbury is the only active one I can think of, and that seems to have been a step back for them, if not really terrible. It feels like something dysfunctional teams do though.

TL;DR, I think it's a shit appointment and I can only hope I'm spectacularly wrong yet again.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Also genuinely curious as to examples where appointing someone who was last sacked from the division below has worked out. Taylor at Shrewsbury is the only active one I can think of, and that seems to have been a step back for them, if not really terrible. It feels like something dysfunctional teams do though.

Gary Johnson got sacked by Northampton for being bottom of L2 in 2011 and 18 months later he got Yeovil promoted to the Championship!

All the other examples I can think of though have been a disaster and I'm not sure Harris is the right man for Cambridge too!

 

[SVH]

Neil Harris confirmed on an 18 month contract.

 

[YEO YEO YEO]

Seems quite a short contract compared to others!

 

[thewwfc]

Seems quite a short contract compared to others!

For me I’m surprised he got that long actually, but it’s fair that anyone wants at least a modicum of security in such a volatile business.

The reason I say I think it’s quite long is that it reeks of a relegation dogfight appointment - scrap for those draws, play counterattacking football and occasionally bag a 1-0 or two.

But that said, the last time I saw CUFC (this season), they were already playing really negative grindball, so I wonder what the difference will be.

That said Harris did *nearly* keep the Gills up in this division, so it’s not inconceivable he could do it with Cambridge. I’m assuming he won’t have much leeway in the transfer market in Jan, but maybe the odd decent loan could make a difference?

 

[LordJord]

Neil Harris confirmed on an 18 month contract.

I just dont get it. Does not have a proven record at this level or getting a team out of L2. Also known for his dire football. This makes zero sense to me as an outsider.

 

[The Terminator]

I just dont get it. Does not have a proven record at this level or getting a team out of L2. Also known for his dire football. This makes zero sense to me as an outsider.

Really? He got Millwall promoted out of this league - Albeit a few years back now.

 

[LordJord]

Really? He got Millwall promoted out of this league - Albeit a few years back now.

Ah my mistake, guess I was not paying attention. Im more aware of his record at Gillingham, their lack of goals before the takeover was staggering.

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

If the football is to be as people have suggested, this appointment is a bit curious.

Trying not to be too down on it though, comes across well enough (3rd person nonsense aside) and like BBBC sticking around too.

 

[SVH]

Ah my mistake, guess I was not paying attention. I'm more aware of his record at Gillingham, their lack of goals before the takeover was staggering.

Yeah he got Millwall promoted from league one, took Cardiff to the Championship play off's in his first season and almost kept a Gillingham side up when they were dead and buried. He won 4 out of 7 with Gillingham in league two (four points off the top) before he got the chop due to their style of play and new owners wanting to go in a different direction.

Gillingham was a very tough gig with the state of the club when he arrived on 31st Jan, transfer embargo's and 9 points adrift of safety but almost kept them in league one going down on goal difference.

Due to the nature of Gillingham, the late arrival and everything going on off the pitch I'm willing to put a line through it and focus more on his job done at Millwall and Cardiff. His win % below isn't too shabby.

Millwall - 41.6%
Cardiff - 38.7%
Gillingham - 34.4%

And for context see more info on Bonner and others linked in the goals for/against.

Mark Bonner: 197 Games, PPM 1.40, GF 1.30, GA 1.39
Neil Harris: 397 Games, PPM 1.45, GF 1.29, GA 1.27
Danny Cowley: 313 Games, PPM 1.51, GF 1.49, GA 1.27
Nathan Jones: 355 Games, PPM 1.18, GF 1.30, GA 1.38

 

[Laker]

I’m reasonably content with Harris, never had a problem with him as a manager and has always been pretty solid if not spectacular. Definitely one who will buy in to the culture of the club too and his appointment doesn’t up end the back room setup either. He seems like a nice bloke and it seemed inevitable he’d manage us one day.

As svh says, his track record at Gillingham can be discounted/ignored to a degree as the off field turbulence would definitely have had an effect.

I guess I’m a bit nervous of the lack of goals as that’s been a poor spot for us so far this season. But I quite liked his comments about making us more difficult to play against as that’s not been the case for a while to be honest. Nice nod to Bonner in his interview last night too.

Now looking forward to a good second half of the season and hopefully securing comfortable League 1 finish (something around 17th would be a reasonable expectation). There might be a bit of movement in January but probably not much. We have a chunk of players out of contract in the summer so that will give him more room to shape his own team for next season.

 

[LordJord]

Yeah he got Millwall promoted from league one, took Cardiff to the Championship play off's in his first season and almost kept a Gillingham side up when they were dead and buried. He won 4 out of 7 with Gillingham in league two (four points off the top) before he got the chop due to their style of play and new owners wanting to go in a different direction.

Gillingham was a very tough gig with the state of the club when he arrived on 31st Jan, transfer embargo's and 9 points adrift of safety but almost kept them in league one going down on goal difference.

Due to the nature of Gillingham, the late arrival and everything going on off the pitch I'm willing to put a line through it and focus more on his job done at Millwall and Cardiff. His win % below isn't too shabby.

Millwall - 41.6%
Cardiff - 38.7%
Gillingham - 34.4%

And for context see more info on Bonner and others linked in the goals for/against.

Mark Bonner: 197 Games, PPM 1.40, GF 1.30, GA 1.39
Neil Harris: 397 Games, PPM 1.45, GF 1.29, GA 1.27
Danny Cowley: 313 Games, PPM 1.51, GF 1.49, GA 1.27
Nathan Jones: 355 Games, PPM 1.18, GF 1.30, GA 1.38

Thats me told then. Its funny how you can have different perceptions of people in football. I always thought of Harris as someone who just played direct lump it football to a big man with football and had a fairly poor record. Will be interesting to see how it gets on as essentially everyone in the bottom half is a potential relegation candidate. At least he has plenty of time and a transfer window to make changes.

 

[SVH]

I'm sure there are lots of negatives from fans of all the above teams, like with all managers really but we can't shy away from his success in a short period of time managing. He's only 46 and still learning, but I think our squad set up is bang on for his type of play and style.

Our squad is much better then it's currently showing and their were rumours of unrest in the dressing which clearly showed on the pitch.

We weren't scoring many goals anyways and Bonner had 1 win in 13. For me, it's a no brainer to go in a different direction and we may go in another in 18 months time as I agree it's a odd contract time.

 

[Luke Imp]

Does seem from the outside to be a very short term and short sighted appointment, almost a fire fighting type of one (not suggesting Harris is that kind of manager but it hardly screams long term thinking). If the squad suits Harris as SVH says, and most of the squad are out of contract in the summer, then surely that's got to be worth more than 18 months?

Don't get me wrong, we sacked Kennedy 18 months into a 4-year deal so it's not the be all and end all but you've got to give off the impression of some sort of belief in a manager and I'm not sure that does.

 

[Arbury]

I think 18 months gives both parties good options, gets Harris back in the shop window and if he does well then we’re almost a stepping stone and if he does crap then we haven’t got to give him a huge pay off.

Personally I’m happy with the contract and in the market out there with the managers available he’s probably got as good a cv as anyone, also think it suits our investors.

KTF

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

The more I think about it the more this does seem to make sense for everyone.

And I'm warming to the idea of Harris. Think recency bias is a bastard and all, but let's see what happens.

 

[AmberRich]

Does seem from the outside to be a very short term and short sighted appointment, almost a fire fighting type of one (not suggesting Harris is that kind of manager but it hardly screams long term thinking). If the squad suits Harris as SVH says, and most of the squad are out of contract in the summer, then surely that's got to be worth more than 18 months?

Don't get me wrong, we sacked Kennedy 18 months into a 4-year deal so it's not the be all and end all but you've got to give off the impression of some sort of belief in a manager and I'm not sure that does.

The focus for the club right now, probably until the infrastructure projects are nearly all completed and we can start putting more resources towards the playing budget and looking upward, is simply to keep our League 1 status.

The fan base is split on whether Bonner was the man for that. For the last year and a half it had felt like we were slowly sliding backwards.

Harris, even if you look at his Gillingham spell unfavourably, has still got a decent résumé for this level. I doubt we've appointed him thinking he'll be here for the next 5-10 years, think Paul Barry purely wants him in to steady the ship and keep us around mid table for a couple seasons.

Bonner definitely seemed a little surprised by his sacking, but judging from comments from Harris and others, and his links to the club and city it's been suggested that Harris has been in the running for the job for quite a while. He knows three of the coaching staff, one of our directors, and has attended a number of games before and after he left Gillingham. A couple months ago Harris's mates in the city had even told a number of Cambridge fans to expect him to be the next manager. So seems like Paul Barry may have been thinking things through for a while.

 

[The Terminator]

IMO looks to be like the Cambridge board have decided to go with an experienced name to try and help stabilise the club at this level, after completing their new trainning ground - with the redevelopment of the Abbey Stadium to come too, an experienced manager may be the way to hold things together and to avoid last seasons last day heroics.

Harris a very steady appointment for this level, once Gillingham got their ownership issues sorted and he was given a proper budget he did move them up the league.

 

[The Terminator]

Dino Maamria sacked at Burton.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Dino Maamria sacked at Burton.

Imagine sacking a manager

 

[Bartonyellow]

Thank god for that. Today was the worst it’s been, fans turning on the board and one guy tried to get to Dino - probably to twat him.
He had to go.

Dino Maamria sacked at Burton