Conor on Sky

https://www.skysports.com/football/...le-playing-led-him-to-a-head-coach-role-at-34

Apologies if already posted.

 

Very level headed young man who has a clear vision of how he wants the game to be played - he has all the makings of a great coach

 

But of course it wasn’t his decision it was those useless con merchants running the club that tricked us into buying season tickets. Yeah, right….

 

With us though, or some other team ?.

 

Doesn't really paint him in a good light with regards integrity sadly.

"I came into pre-season and there wasn't really too much hunger to get fit and get firing, and there was more focus and determination around the coaching, so I probably knew from that moment that I wasn't really looking forward to coming in and training and doing the hard runs of pre-season."

Imagine if anyone else admitted "I signed a contract but to be honest, I knew from the off that I had no hunger to be fit or train"

Fortunately the club offered him a second chance as just a coach and a third chance as manager after a poor trial run as caretaker. Hopefully the excellent results he's got so far this season continue and their faith in him is repeated with promotion

 

That's not the way I interpreted it. He came in as player-coach and very quickly realised he was enjoying the coaching side of things far more than playing. It happens.

 

Don't forget we didn't sign him until June. There can't have been any playing done before he knew that he "wasn't really looking forward to coming in and training and doing the hard runs of pre-season."

I just feel he's extremely lucky that the club were so accommodating. We've seen recently that we aren't like that with other players.

 

Perhaps if the club had said no we want you to play, that he would have carried on? But they were happy for him to move on to full time coaching?

You seem to want to read the situation negatively.

 

Has to be a great coach with us first for another club to be interested

 

Yeah of course he does lol.
But I can't help think this already, when anybody does well, it gets them noticed by other clubs.
But obviously, its better than doing badly!.

 

We know the score as Barnsley fans unfortunately. As soon as anyone does well others start sniffing round. I would like to think he'd stay because of his love for the club but he's left before. Even Cryne pleading with him to stay didn't stop him. I'm not saying it's wrong - wouldn't begrudge anyone tripling their salary!

 

Yeah I know it happens, and we also poach sometimes, from teams lower than us.
And it might sound naive, but I would also hope for some extra loyalty from Conor, with what the club have done for him.

 

Enjoy him while he’s here.

 

That's why I said he's left us once - I'm under no illusions. We will always be a stepping stone unfortunately

 

Must say, do agree with this. It does sound a bit rubbish.

But to the point about second and third chances, I'd argue the club needed him more than the other way round. A popular figure, fire blanket to get ppl back on side etc. I'm just hopeful they've got lucky and he's actually Alex Ferguson mk2.

 

Can't disagree with that to be honest

 

This is the huge sadness and difficulty with supporting a club of our size in the present day. Anybody who does well for us doesn't stay long, especially managers and therefore leaders. I'm already bracing myself to let Conor go 5 games into his first season which is ridiculous!

Longevity and loyalty for legend status now means either average stalwarts or those who return after leaving for adventure at a more lucrative level that failed or ran it's course.

 

Just reading that quote, I see it as possibly a criticism of the previous regime. Fitness was often questioned last season, maybe Conor wasn’t allowed to bring his own ideas to the table, and thought it wasn’t for him to be part of the playing side that was underprepared.

The lads are certainly fit this season, and as much as he had them doing the dreaded pre season runs, I think it’s also worth noting that he monitored fitness even when they were still ‘on holiday’.

That makes more sense to me.

 

Football unfortunately- always clubs going to be bigger clubs unless you're the likes of Real Madrid.