Lol, I wouldn't call that veiled! Duff did a good job but he should have shut his mouth about the long haul stuff. I hope Swansea struggle. One request I do have is, regardless of who the new manager is, if he's a success can we PLEASE lay off the.. Greatest manager since Wilson Club legend Tells it like it is, what a man! fawning nonsense until he's been here beyond two years and has actually achieved something significant.
Nowt like a straight talking Yorkshire man - well apart from a straight talking Yorkshire Woman,well said Redders.
tbf you can see why people said it at the time. however, fact is he left after 58 games for the first team that made an approach, and ultimately achieved nothing. just like val. heckingbottom, Stendel, struber, flitcroft, all achieved more. huge shame, but he's now just a footnote in our history. next.
All I saw was a notable kneejerk 'I'm-gonna-say-it-first' reaction to a steady start, in the hope that they could bump the thread once promotion was achieved which, as you say, never happened. He does deserve credit for bringing the club and fanbase back together, but then so do the board. And let's face it, the team couldn't be any lower or more fragmented after the Chuckle brothers so - I'm gonna say it - I don't think what Duff did personally in that respect was that remarkable. He pulled a team up off its knee and got them focusing on football again. As Roy Keane would say, 'that's your job!'
It was no easy task turning this squad into playoff contenders, and to say we choked in the final is a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened. Call him out on his loyalty, but not his record last season.
Good post. I'm guilty as charged. I actually did think he was our best manager since DW1. Didnt think I was fawning but I was certainly misguided. I invested my faith in him because of what he said. I will now apply your two year / achieve something rule before I make the same mistake!!
It wasn't aimed at you 55. In fact no one in particular. I think we all allowed ourselves to be taken in a little bit. Let's hope the next guy leaves after having got us promoted. At least once.
And so you should. He did a brilliant job with the team and l have nothing but admiration for how we performed at Wembley.
I would, but I'd have more praise for him for the notable achievement of promotion if he'd achieved it. As things stood, he'd started a job, it was unfinished. He'd started to build, he'd connected the fanbase again, and then jumped ship. Credit where it's due and all that, but I think you summarise it well. He didn't achieve anything in the end, and we're back to square one. We keep hearing that he 'left the club in a better state than he found it,' but i think many are disillusioned again by the state of football and the overpromised/underdelivered, not helped by Micky Long Haul. Tis better to have loved and lost, but the heartbreak doesn't make it any easier. I've learnt something from you in this whole process Marc: don't get attached, and take everything they say with a pinch of salt. The club is much bigger than any man (including the board and all affiliates). We go again.
if I was you I'd go slightly further and shorten that to a one year rule. we already know it's highly likely that if the next manager gets top six but misses out on promotion, they will jump ship as well. so for me the Club should apply the same rule. if they miss out on top 6 they get sacked.