BIG VAL Poll

Yes I would 100% have him back. Under Val at least we had a clear playing style, teams hated playing us and the players knew what was expected of them and would run through walls for him.

The owners will never get him back though, not after making such a big deal about this change in style, passing out from the back etc. etc. once he had left.

 

I don't think many wouldn't take Val back, but the fact is, it isn't going to happen in a million years.

 

It’s a shame for sure, and ironic that a successful season position wise wasn’t witnessed live, we’ll never know if the style would have grated more, or have even been minimised because of crowds and noise.

And I don’t want to confuse you with what I’m saying, I’m certainly not enjoying this season either.

 

Well, I've given my reasoning above, so can the percentage of posters voting "yes" please give your reasoning?
By the way, I do get the "shouting from the touchline and being animated" bit

I'm genuinely interested in how you think Val would get us a minimum of 12 wins before the end of the season

 

I understand your opinion about the style of play, and I did last season. I was very close to stopping going under Mark Robins as I thought I wasn't entertained in the slightest. I found it much more enjoyable under Val, as I always thought we were going to win every game, and it was a matter of when, not if, the goal was going to come.

I honestly can't understand why you'd take our style of play this season over last though. If we played like we did last night, I can kinda see it, but the way we've played all season isn't enjoyable in the slightest.

 

Of course I will, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I don't think he'd get us to 12 wins. I don't think there's a single manager who would. What I want to see is the players fired up like they were, literally, as soon as Val came in last season - the transformation was immediate and obvious. I want us to be hard to beat, go down fighting and get some confidence back before what will likely be a long hard slog in League 1 next season. I don't want us to be the worst team in history in this division. I think Ismael would help with that.

I get your points about empty stadiums and 5 subs. I think the latter made more of a difference than the former, but we often dominated games and got the lead well before the famous triple sub - we don't do either now.

Finally - Helik, Styles, Brittain, Palmer, Williams, Mads, all big successes last season - none of these have performed remotely close to how they did under Ismael. They aren't bad players. But they're playing very badly this season. The main reason for that, I believe, is the head coaches we've had since.

 

I’d take neither though. It shouldn’t be a binary choice. There must be plenty of coaches who could form a mid table team out of us if given some license to choose who to mould a team from and have some sway on incomings and outgoings.

 

I wasn’t a massive fan of Valball but this season makes it look like 1970s Holland.

 

Regards playing styles. I'm certain if you ask any of the current team who played under Val which team/style they'd rather play in I'd be suprised if they'd choose the current one.

Stalwarts of last season (Styles Brittain Helik Mads etc) have all gone massively backwards from August onwards.

The Valball approach had us all buzzing because of the accompanying results. Since then we have 100s upon 100s of seasoned, staunch and previously loyal fans not even turning up to watch the Reds. Granted the off field scenario hasn't helped but it didnt really effect us in 20-21.

 

A win would be a start. He played simplistic football, all the players knew their job. The annoying thing is that this season the Championship as a whole is not very good, two clubs have been docked points there's no reason for us to be in this mess other than blind stupidity in our ownership who fail to learn lessons time and time again.

 

Thanks for the reply Jamo. I can't think that anyone believes that Val would keep us up, there simply aren't enough games left and we already need snookers, though some may believe that.
I am thinking further down the line, we are in League 1 next season, no doubt in my mind.
There will be a fire sale of some sort and players will leave, loanees will depart, and we will be down to bare bones and academy kids.
League 1 already plays the type of game Val likes so it won't be the same impact we had on a surprised Championship last year.
The current coaching staff have proved they are not up to the job, and should all leave.
I believe the club should be looking at appointing a manager for next season with the nous to get us promoted back, but unfortunately the owner's business model will no doubt either keep the coaches we have, or go for another cheap and inexperienced option.
I agree the point about several players going backwards this year, but the rest of the team just aren't up to it and not even Val could alter that.

 

We're still only 8 points adrift. Beat Peterborough, Reading and Derby and we have 9. And I think Val could achieve that. Then the rest is down to matching the other teams, I can't see the total we need as being 50 points this season.

 

Absolutely no. He would have kept us up this season if he'd stayed but it's way too late for that to happen at this stage of proceedings. There's also been plenty of managers who have got us promoted out of the third tier playing something that resembles football so it would be a no for next season too.
He's just had a supposedly superior group of players to ours, one of the best squads in the league, at West Brom and couldn't succeed so I'm not sure that his tactics would actually work with us next season regardless of the players he would have.
What he did last season was astounding but I doubt he'll ever repeat that now that every other manager is ready for him.

 

Prefer to have Steve Bruce, if I'm honest.

 

Yes, yes and thrice yes. Sadly, it won't happen.

 

Agreed, manager 'sales' has been productive in the last year or two. But the reason for that is that we specifically target managers based on the potential resale value. Why would the managers we've had under these owners come to a relatively small English club they've probably never heard of? Because it's purely an opportunity to get into English football and a stepping stone to something better. It's part of their strategy. The fact that they have a release clause in their contract illustrates that it's discussed with them very early on. Do we want to see a change of manager every season? I definitely don't, we're desperate for some continuity in my view. Seemingly every person at the club is just an asset to be sold and it's one of the main reasons we're in the sh*t this season.

Amd yes, we've always lost managers who go on to bigger and better things but not with the regularity we are doing under these owners. But we haven't recruited them as an asset to be sold in the first place.

 

He's got the strength of personality to get players to play for him and give their all. The managers we've had since then have had the strength of a wet paper bag.