Keith Hill

Sorry mate. Please forgive me for bringing him up.

 

I think we all recall the positives regard this odious #@%$.
Beating Leeds Vaztes coming off the bench to stuff Leeds (home).
I travelled to Sellurst Park mid week,stayed over as we went to game with Eagles fans,sat with them in the home end.
We had 978 passes in our own half , i can't recall one shot on goal, Palace fans were livid with the fact we had all possession,However were forgiven when the scored in the last minutes, the worst away game in a few years.
However what made me despise this ***** was the way the Fowls loved him taking the piss out of the club on the radio.
I thought it disrespected the owners the club and all the fans included.
He thought it was tongue in cheek, i felt otherwise.

 

Should never have gone back in for him after he turned us down first time round. I can't believe that Mark Robins was placed on gardening leave for him.

 

Even discounting results - which I accept weren't all down to him - he should have been sacked for the way he talked about us in the media.

 

what happened there? Im sure i recall something about it but cant remember what.

 

Told Hill he was a wa nker at Christmas do for not picking her husband.

 

I would have liked to see his face/reaction if that penalty had been the only goal

 

Thats embarrassing

 

Cryne's most divisive appointment. I thought he fitted in hand and glove with policy at the time though. Cryne couldn't bank roll the lingering expectancy levels of fans. Hill and Flitcroft quickly killed any remaining expectancy the supporters had left.

 

That's good, no?

 

More of a political appointment then?

 

I think so. It allowed Cryne to be the reluctant custodian again. When the fans expectancy became in line with his. His job became easier.

 

Don't sit on the fence mate

 

I understand why he got the job, and you're correct - we needed someone who could do it cheap and cheerful.

From that point of view, he'd done well with zero funds at Rochdale, and so he made sense.

But what you don't then do is, having presumably gone into the job with your eyes wide open about the financial realities, start talking the club down.

And nor do you lay into the people on whose support your continued employment depends.

@TonyTyke believes - and I think he is right - that Heckingbottom didn't get the sack because he's one of us, and it makes bad runs more bearable when the person in charge cares as much as a fan does. It bought him an extra six months he'd have otherwise not got. Similarly, once Hill started down the tightropes, broken legs, Aldi, obsessed-with-1997 line, his card was marked.

In my mind, some of Heckingbottom's comments - particularly after the pre-season defeat at Rotherham when he said things like: I've told them what I want and I'm not getting it, and we're a million miles away - were every bit as contentious as Hill's. One gets more time because he's a fan, and the criticisms are felt to have come from the heart. The other is perceived (by me, at least) to be deflecting, and covering his own arse.

Be nice to the fans, talk them up, give them hope, make it sound as though you're proud to manage their club, and you'll fare a lot better than if you do the opposite. It ain't complicated.

Most employees have social media policy in their contract. If you tweet about what a terrible place you're working at, how you don't have the tools to do your job, and how your customers are living in the past, you'll probably get sacked - even if there's some merit to your complaints. For me, if the manager of Barnsley goes onto the radio and starts doing those things, get rid of him.

He may be a great manager, or he may not. The fact he's in League Two, having just been relegated from League One, suggests he isn't. But even if he is Guardiola with Peter Kay's voice, you sack him for his public persona alone. Half-chips. Half-rice. All wánker.

 

Spot on Heckingbottom should have parted company pre-season.

 

Had absolutely no money to spend. But in a short space of time we were treated to some cracking football with the likes of Steele, Butterfield, Perkins, O’Brien, Drinkwater, Davies and Vaz Te all shining. Did the double over Leeds. Just completely dominated sides at Oakwell such as Palace and Burnley. That first six months or so was great as we competed in the top 10. But losing so many of those good players in early 2012 killed us and killed him.

Other than the Leicester away win and that thumping of Birmingham the next season, it became a tough old time and he was rightly sent on his way.

He was a divisive character. He said some daft things. Fans don’t want facts. They want hopes and dreams.

As a bloke though, he’s one of the best I’ve spent time with in football and is always complimentary of our club. Just a shame I couldn’t catch up with him yesterday due to the Covid protocols.

Good luck to him.

 

Similar to the 16/17 season under Hecky. In 11/12 we had the win against Derby at home when Tonge made his debut and all was temporally forgotten. In 2016/17 the wins against Villa and Rotherham away did the same. I agree with Baka. Had he kept his gob shut he'd have got more time.

 

This. That game against Leeds on New Year's Eve

 

I was there. Exceptional performance as was the one against Leicester away that put Drinkwater in the shop window.