Big Vals Blackburn

Having a bad time. No wins in 5 and now 2 nil down to Middlesbrough after 8 mins.

Bring him home?

 

He's as one dimensional as Collins or Clarke.

 

Another club he's failing at. Taking them from a play off contender, to mid table mediocrity.

 

Their twitter if fun right now.

 

Shows how well the previous boss did with the same group of players.

Woodrow was a very weird loan signing.

 

Twatter is never fun

 

But he still gave us an amazing season in the Championship, whether it was just a one-off season or not.
Now look at the state of the club, when will we reach that level again ?. Let alone be competitive in it, and actually reaching the Play offs.

 

They were on the slide long before Val arrived.





I went the other week. Club is in turmoil. Protests galore. All stems from them flogging their best players and not spending anything, apparently.

 

We were never in the game v Swansea, he's a limited coach.

 

So getting to the Championship Play offs, is still not good enough then ?.
It doesn't change what an amazing season it was with him. Especially after the relegation struggles under Struber.
And it was a real pick me up as well for us all at the time, because of the lockdown.

 

Can see big Val being out of work again come the summer. No way would we be getting him though. His salary demands will be far out of our reach.

 

Yeah and I will admit though Mick, he's not exactly done that well since leaving us.
Maybe a spell with a top Lg One team (not us!) will get his career back on track.

 

After the last few seasons I’d quite happily piggyback him across the Lancs Yorks border to Oakwell

 

Not going all conspiracy theorist but it’s true that without crowds referees were much less bias towards bigger teams at home- effectively we had a level playing field from officials for a season. Just goes to show.

 

give over, why ? we had one good season and he's failed every where since!

 

Arguably the best season in terms of results and performances since Bassett and some fans still want to find fault. And that’s against the backdrop of the last couple of seasons. I’d argue that he’d at least get the team organised and pressing/ attacking more than we have seen at oakwell for the two years.

 

I agree with the idea that it was maybe just a one-off season etc.
However I always wonder, if you've done something like that once, it shows it can be done again, maybe!.
But we're so far away from reaching that level these days, its unbelievable.
It could be said that Val and our team got found out a bit towards the end of the season, and Steve Cooper at Swansea definitely had him sussed.
But that does not take credit away from what a great season it was, actually being a good team who were hard to beat at that level. For the first time in over 20 years.

 

The thing about that team was that it outworked EVERY team we played. Each and every one. I absolutely loved that.

I think the success was due to a few things:

1. A very clear and simple game plan
2. An inspirational leader in Val
3. A young team who were willing to buy into his ideas
4. A young and fit team who could execute the level of press that was required
5. An excellent keeper on Brad Collins who was able to sweep up, which was critical to the game plan
6. Effective set pieces


FWIW, I would love to see Val back at Oakwell.

he was one dimensional but to get out of this league, one dimensional would work.


That said it does seem pretty clear that the owners don’t wish to invest a penny more than they have to and so CH will get the job.

 

Proves it's not science picking gaffers. So many variables that makes it pretty random if people will be successful - the only thing that increases liklihood of success is time...