If Rod Dowling told me it was chucking it down outside I'd have to check. Right dodgy bleeder he was. At a time when we had the chance to establish ourselves as a solid Championship club with Robins and a squad of good quality, we had him at the boardroom wheel acting like we were 2 divisions below
Absolutely not joking. The only time I've considered jacking in going to Oakwell was under Robins, because the football at the end of that season was so bad. I don't think it's that popular of an opinion I have, I very rarely read any negatives about Robins. The facts are though, he had a lot more money to spend than a lot of the other managers we had at that time, and he's often lauded as some sort of genius even though his win percentage was only 0.4% better than Dave Flitcrofts.
Didn't we sign him from a garden centre, or summat like that. I know games like the 5-2 against Leeds were few and far between, and at times it was hard going. But I think he was in it for the long haul and must have felt let down by Cryne & co. I haven't seen anybody though lauding him up as some sort of genius, have you ?.
I think the crack with Robins, and the fact so many liked him as manager, was because it felt like a properly run club again compared to his predecessor. Robins is a footballing man, unlike Davey who was a horrible man
My point when starting this discussion was the following: make a sensible head coach appointment, someone who understands the EFL and has some kind of a track record. The CEO and Board concentrate on providing the right environment in which the coach operates - along with sensible and transparent financial constraints. They don’t interfere in things they do not understand, but leave the footballing decisions to the expert (the head coach). They should not expect instant success but need to be patient. OK to ask the head coach to take responsibility for his decisions but in the longer rather than short term. Don’t try to create a unique extreme model such as the current one at BFC because it won’t work; by definition it is unstable - it is naive to think that no one has thought of it before. very boring I know but much more likely to attract a quality head coach than the current modus operandi.
I don't think penalty shoot outs are a toss of a coin or a lottery. Those that are mentally tough, coached well and technically confident (Germany) usually win more than they lose. Those that are not (England) do not.
