No . The point I'm making is he knew the clubs policy therefore when he was unable to persuade them to stay he cant ( and hasn't).whinge about them leaving. Hes doing a cracking job but he too is having to learn about the championship alongside his players.
Some people blame Hecky for us going down. This ranges from he picked the players we signed to, the team was good enough/a lot better than the one we have now. Others say it was our transfer policy and that ultimately why he left. So if we have given Stendel a worse team than the one that was relegated a couple of seasons ago that's very poor. So if you blamed Hecky for our demise last time will Stendel be to blame if this form continues?
Barely anyone said Heckingbottom was doing a bad job when he was here. It was only when he left a few started saying it because they let a personal dislike effect their judgement. It’s the same with Stendel, he’s doing his best with the tools available but I can guarantee if he’d left to take the Wednesday or Huddersfield job a lot of people would do the same again. Both have been dealt a really bad set of cards. It’s as simple as that. Both times we were one of the 3 favourites for the drop & it showed / is showing. There was bad luck involved with Hecky in that the McBurnie deal fell through but Bradshaw, Ugbo & Thiam was not a suitable strikeforce for championship level. And Stendel’s had it tough because Woodrow, Schmidt & Chaplin with games up front from Wilks & Thiam is not a suitable strikeforce for championship level. This wasn’t bad luck, this is a result of our own incompetence in the transfer window. It’s the most important area of the pitch & it’s the hardest area to make quick improvements through coaching. You see these managers like Redknapp, Allardyce & Pulis & they take on jobs where the clubs have decent strikers already but need organising defensively because they know they can coach that & make quick improvements whereas it’s a lot tougher to add goals to a team.
We'd won one in 16 under Heckingbottom and I remember very disgruntled threads on here questioning him at the time. The last game I missed was QPR away which I believe was his final game in charge and my brother was there and he said the away end was booing and some were shouting for him to go. Which he did shortly after to Leeds. Might be fun to check the old posts on here from that timeframe, I definitely remember plenty of grief towards him even though I wasn't posting myself back then.
I was at QPR. What actually happened was some of our lot started singing 'he's one of our own' and some told them to give it a rest.
The squad wasn’t very good though & most people think it was even worse than I did as when I’ve defended some of the better players from it like Potts, Lindsay, Bradshaw & Joe Williams I’ve been told they weren’t any good anyway. In fact from that season I think the only 4 that the majority on here seem to rate are McBurnie & Barnes who only had half a season each & Yiadom & Pinnock who through a combination of injury & been a new signing didn’t play the majority of games either.
Pinnock didnt get a look in was 4th choice under hecky when he did he then got a few motm performances a couple of vital goal and then got injured. I rated lindsay aswell that season tbh. Looks like hecky could be out of another job he has just lost the Edinburgh derby to bottom of the table hearts and is really under pressure now.
Hecky persisted week in week out with Bradshaw as lone striker and wouldnt change even though it was the most mind numbingly dull football id ever seen. His stubborness was not down to lack of options but point proving to the board. Stendel saw that Bahre Woodrow wasnt working and changed even though he had made Bahre captain, he tried chaplin and realised that wasnt wotrking but at least he his trying to find awayvand will.
I thought Potts was pretty good and Gardner came on strong under Morais. Lindsay was dreadful as were our striking options barring McBurnie. Just seen that Hibs are losing to Hearts at home. Not good for Heckingbottom.
I've just told you what I heard. The booing was towards those singing his praises. Some had had enough. Very few people gave hecky grief. He was given more rope than any manager I can remember.
He didn’t. He tried Ugbo alongside him various times as well as Thiam up top but neither were any good. Any combination of them 3 wasn’t much cop at that level anyway
Agreed hoofing long balls to Bradshaw was mind numbing. And people were slagging that off while hecky was manager. Least were still playing nice stuff this season so far.
I too was at QPR that day.It was the most spineless performance of the season.I said at full time although he'd signed a new contract his days must be numbered considering the way we played and the bad run we were on.I think he went to Leeds the week after.It makes me think he jumped before he was pushed.
Hecky led a charmed life at Barnsley. He inherited a fantastic team from Johnson and Danny Wilson. They were already well into their stride and were comfortable in the championship. He was afforded plenty of praise from all of us, and given plenty of patience when it all started to go wrong. He even avoided the inevitability of the sack by getting a dream job at Leeds. You know you won't last there, but a life changing pay out is nailed on. He's now holding on by a thread at Hibs. His team has just been booed off and the message boards will be demanding his departure. He's fecking useless.
I knew I shouldn’t have got involved in this post, always a divisive subject. My view is both Heckingbottom & Stendel were / are good Barnsley managers who made / make far more decisions I agree with than I disagree with & that due to a lack of attacking options both were put in a position whereby anything other than relegation is a successful season. Now I’m going to avoid going through the same old debates & nurse my hangover on the sofa watching the second half of the Chelsea-Liverpool game.