Our defence last season was class and he couldn't get us up. He'd have no chance with the current bunch.
Because we don't have Brad Collins/Isted Thomas Mads Kitching. Our keeper and 3 centre half's are light years behind what we had last season.
There's two aspects to this. Firstly our board are incredibly stubborn and don't do the most obvious or easiest of things and to go cap in hand wouldn't happen as they wouldn't want to appear out of options. Secondly MD wouldn't come back lots of reasons choose from the following list. Worse proposition than when he left. Distance. Had it not been Swansea it would have been somebody, was looking for an exit route.
Why do you think he was looking for an exit route? I certainly didn't get that impression. I really enjoy my current job so I'm not desperate to leave. But if another company offered to double or triple my money, I'd be off like a flash.
From the moment he left, and particularly while he had the Swansea role, Duff had been the target of abuse from many of our supporters. The 'Mickey Long Haul' moniker, threads cheering Swansea defeats, etc. In his shoes, why would you even consider coming back to a club where last season's achievements were quickly forgotten once he took up a new role, even for a 3-game period? Of all the names mentioned, I suspect he's the least likely of them to be a viable option, primarily as he's been the most recent target of supporter vitriol.
I suspect that Duff - and many other managers - will be looking to spend the next couple of weeks seeing who has a vacancy and interviewing at various clubs looking for their next long-term gig. A couple of weeks work might sounds attractive to both parties but not if it costs him a 3 year deal somewhere else.
Many times he alluded to finding things out that were an eye opener several months into the Job, he followed this down the line with some rather non commital interviews. I enjoyed his time with the club just think it's water under the bridge and he wouldn't entertain coming back into an environment of how we operate.
Why would it though? Stay down and he'd still probably get a longer term offer from us that he could take or reject. Go up and he's guaranteed a 3 year deal in the Championship. If he then kept us up his stock would be sky-high again. I don't think anyone coming in at this late stage will have their future job prospects adversely affected if they fail to win the playoffs having inherited one of the most shambolic defences in the country. It's a proper free hit for whoever comes in.
You might well be right as far as coming back goes, but I still never got the impression he was desperate to leave us.
It would cost money for us and money for him, He'll still be on a severance package from Swansea which will likely terminate once he finds employment. Why would he give up that money just for a short term contract with the most out of form team in the play offs? He can sit around wait for the managerial departures in the summer and pick a club closer to home/offers more money/championship
I doubt his severance package would stop it he found other employment.Don't forget they sacked him,he didn't walk out.He will have had his contract payed up and that's that.
It wasn’t aimed at you Chef , I was just commenting generally , some people wanting Duff back when he didn’t really do anything more than Collins with better players
What did he achieve? He was blessed with ten million pound defence at the third tier and it didn't get us up.
Because I don't believe there's enough time for him to implement any changes or to even have an idea who the best 11 are. He knows some players, but not the back line and that's the area that requires the most work. He doesn't know what the problems are never mind how to fix them. He doesn't know the individuals and how to get the best out of them. I believe our best option is the current staff. I also think sacking the head coach with one game to go was the single worst decision made by anyone in charge of Barnsley since I've taken an interest in the club. It feels like our owners are playing at it and they're simply not equipped for the task. They seem like nice people but it's an omnishambles.
I don't get the obsession with Duff, he's not the Messiah, in fact after his long haul statements when he joined us,,, he's a very naughty boy!!
It could be argued that the way Duff played helped make them into multi-million pound players. That's certainly the case with Kitching.
I complete agree with Fonzie, any manager we have lined up to replace Collins if it was needed will surely have still been available to us after the play offs if we'd failed to gain promotion which is where Collins in a normal football club would've been booted. Devaney in his post match interview said he was glad he could deliver the play offs for us, i'm sorry Martin but that Was Collins who delivered the play offs for us for better or worse. He should've been given the chance to see his work through till the end of the season and then we make a decision based off that outcome.
Andersen was part of the team abjectly relegated the season before, Kitching was a liability at the start of last season and was developed into a high-value asset via Duff's coaching, Bobby Thomas was a mid-season loan following a failed loan spell with Bristol Rovers. We missed out on Championship football to a last minute goal in a game we'd played with 10 men for most of, so I'd call not getting us up as something of a fine margin. He played a big part in turning that defence into the 'so-called' 10 million pound one you refer to.
Is that a thing? Only receiving severance pay while you remain unemployed? I'm not arguing that it isn't, I don't know, just looking for clarification (I realise you'll not know inside info on this particular situation, I mean in general.)