Never ever forget his initial period as manager. Nor the performances he got out of the players. Just a shame he went mental and against everything he'd done and said previously and ditched most of the lads who got him the gig full time. Hero. Not a villain. Wish him well.
I really really liked Flicker as a bloke. Problem is he had no idea of how he wanted his team to play. We'd have about 5 different styles and tactics within 45 minutes. Whatever you thought about Hill, Robins, Bassett etc you knew what the idea was. It might not always work, and you might not like the style of play but the vision was there. Flicker's teams never had any coherence. Even when we went on that amazing run, it was momentum and his tremendous enthusiasm that won us games.
Flicker's amazing-ness initially, is captured here... 4 minutes 28 seconds if you wanna relive Mido's time at Oakwell. 4 minutes 56 seconds Keith's downfall. 6 minutes 40 seconds in for Flicker's magic. Or you could just watch all 15 minutes from the start. It's Sunday, you're bored, why not? [video=youtube;urMz1f3i00s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urMz1f3i00s&list=UU-jtNqaW8s16OXY66gHcOmg[/video] That season is one of the best I've ever experienced. From the elation of being mid table and seemingly onto summat again under Keith, no better emphasized than with the 5-0 mauling of Birmingham, to the horrific turn in results for two months, the total inability to defend, especially from set plays and often to the opposition's only real attacks, to Flicker coming in against all odds, recalling Hassell, signing COG, recalling Marlon, getting Daggers scoring etc etc, all without Stonesy and Davies, culminating in THAT afternoon in Huddersfield. What a campaign.
Aren't you mixing up two seasons here? The Birmingham match was at the start of Hill's first season, when we were knocking on the door of the playoffs until the whole midfield got decimated in January and we hardly won again all season. I still wonder what would have happened and whether Hill would still be our manager now if Butterfield hadn't got injured and we'd been able to hold on to Vaz Te and Drinkwater for the rest of the season. Edit - I am wrong! Blame the hangover for that one!
Gotta be worrying for the owner and fans that after all he's been given by division four standards to help them, he's using a work in progress saying.
It wasn't mate, it was the second season when we beat Birmingham. We were flying, playing really well, Blackburn interested in Hill. The optimism at Oakwell the week after the Brum game was amazing. Then we only drew that day and lost to Peterborough midweek and it all started to turn from that point.
I've recently had that transition, the same I had with Hill. Where I no longer think about the bad times, and just remember the good. No matter how it panned out last season with Flicker, ******* take a bow mate for that season above. Unreal. Just watching that back gives me enormous pride. I hope the Bury board/fans stick with him.
As much as I think hill was and is an utter bell, he walks all over flicker for football management ability.
I'd agree with that. Keith wouldn't have allowed Bury to spend what they did this summer, but if he did have that squad Bury'd be ten points clear by now. Utter bell though, as you say.