IMHO Biggest mistake the club made in recent times letting him go... We looked organised, and played with passion and purpose... He left because the board wouldn't back him with funds. Yet when he left they loosened the purse strings. He has made instant impact at Scunny. They completely out played us, looked organised and dissaplined all the things we aren't! That said i thought DW was the man to turn things around and bring back the good times
We didn't let him go, he quit because he didn't want to do as he was told. He was employed to do what his employers asked for him. He had no right to complain about the budget. At some point he will add Scunny to his quit list of Rotherham, Barnsley, Coventry and Huddersfield.
To be fair, he left Rotherham to manager two leagues higher, left coventry to manager a league higher and got sacked at huddersfield
He didn't get sacked at Huddersfield. It was all over the Huddersfield Examiner with comments from Dean Hoyle how he came to see him after the defeat and said he'd taken them as far as he could and the chairman didn't want the manager to leave after just one match (no manager gets sacked one game into a season) but he could see his heart wasn't in it, so he was allowed to go.
********. We drastically changed the terms of his employment and when he complained about it (hadn't quit at all by this point) he was suspended and handed his notice. It was only AFTER this that he quit. In other industries he'd have a pretty good case for constructive dismissal in my opinion. Oh and then the club bought a new guy in and gave him shitloads of money completely the opposite of what they had tried forcing robins to work with.
****ing twaddle He wasn't given a opportunity to re-asses where the changes left him in terms of recruitment, given he'd already named his targets in line with previous expectations of progressing.
The start of the real decline. Over reliant on ageing loan players. Dull one dimensional football that turned Oakwell into the morgue it is today.
Too true. I remember in his first season, we played Newcastle at home in front of 20,000 then two weeks later we played Boro in front 18,000 and I remember thinking to myself at the time "It's like a morgue in here". Give me 8,000 against Port Vale every day of the week.
Bull##%t Keith had money to spend... The difference was he signed former Rochdale players and lower league players on low wages... We paid money for Wiseman, Perkins, Dagnall, Done and Dawson... To name a few. Robins signed alot of loanees but they were difference... Carl Dickinson and Ryan Shotton absolute class signings in key areas.
Can I just point out that Jason Shackell was sold before Keith Hill was given any money to spend in the same way that Chris O'Grady had to be sold before Danny Wilson had any money. The issue for Mark Robins, Keith Hill and for Danny Wilson was that the club could not afford the proposed wages budget for the following season and that meant that it had to be reduced and Shackell/O'Grady had to be sold.
I can remember reading that we paid 50k for Wiseman and I cant imagine Done being much more either, Perkins was a free transfer has he was out of contract and Dagnall, Dawson and Goldbourne were all signed in January after we sold Vaz Te for 500k!
Post Robins we have sold some key players Stones, Vaz Te, Butterfield, O'Grady, Shackell... and shortly before he left he was forced to sell Hammill. All match winners for us, apart from possibly Winnal. Who falls into that category now? DW is know for passing style game. At present he appears to be a tinker man both with player selections/formation. As a result the team is unsettled and confidence is low. I wonder if Robbo were at the helm would Lita, Digby, Jennings and Treacy have been on the bench? and would he have dropped Winnall after scoring? would Bailey have played as many games? Would RNL have been sold on a free? Not a chance. Simple counter attacking 4-4-2, everyone knows positions, Treacy and Jennings flair players and IMHO Robbo would have em fired up on the flanks. Digby and RNL both ready made to step up from academy and with drops in form and injuries they would have played and made impact this year. Not Frozen out or sold. And if player gets his chance and scores don't drop him to the bench the following game. DW needs to apply some consistency to squad and formations, start motivating players otherwise he will lose the dressing room (if he hasn't already).