Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly ****?

Either Flitcroft is the best manager in the world getting a bunch of crap players to win games or Keith Hill had a good bunch of players and was the worst manager in the history of football.

Either way a great result today to go with our growing collection. Long may it continue. If we keep up the run and play well trying to win games right to the end of the season then there's no reason we won't be in this league next year and I think our attendances will grow.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

As much as I liked him I think that Hill was just a terrible manager by the end of his time with us.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Keith was just terrible. Flicker mentions prep in almost every one of the interviews he does and praises the fans. Hill just sat staring at the Barbour website when he should have been locked in a room with the team looking over footage to know what to ask of the lads.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

I think he'd gathered the right players and had persuaded them to play decent football, just not in areas where it would cause the opposition any problems whatsoever. Legend.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

No & no.

 

I reckon Micky Mellon is.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

I don't think you would find a beret big enough.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

He did well in the transfer market to say he'd got next to nowt to spend. A few failures, but you've got to expect that. Not so good in the loan market.

But the way he had us playing was awful and very often suicidal. We'd play the majority of our football in our own half, invite opposition pressure, which they duly supplied before nicking the ball off us and scoring. We'd push both fullbacks way up field but didn't provide them with any cover, giving the oppostion's wide midfielders the freedom of the flanks when we lost the ball. Flitcroft likes to get the fullbacks forward too, but he plays three at the back who can cover them. Going forward we often looked like we hadn't got a goal in us. Keith played with one up front and one behind and, Birmingham aside, we couldn't buy more than one goal. Flitcroft plays with two up front and one behind and the goals have started flowing. It's not luck, it's not a coincidence, it's a deliberate change of tactics.

Watching Barnsley under Keith Hill was like watching paint dry. And it was **** paint that peeled and cracked asa soon as it dried. He's not the worst manager we've ever had because he hasn't saddled us with a boat load of useless players on inflated contracts that we'll find impossible to shift. The squad he left behind isn't bad. He deserves credit for assembling it on a pittance. But in terms of tactics, results and performances I haven't seen a worse manager for Barnsley.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Yes, Trotsky signed only nine of the starting 11 today.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

When Hill was the manager, the gurus on here said he needed a big central defender. They said Bobby Hassell should be in the team at right full back. They said (including myself) that we needed more width. They said that if Craig Davies left we would definitely go down. They said that Harewood was useless. They said (including myself) that whilst Dagnall's work ethic was good, he just could not hit a cow's back side with a banjo. When Hill was sacked, they that Flitcroft was part of the problem. It turns out that we are all better at this football management game with the benefit of hindsight.

Just to even up the scales:

Flitcroft has said that he and Hill discussed the 3-5-2 system, and it was likely that it would have been introduced. Hill was unlucky with Dagnall's form and conversely, Flitcroft has been lucky with Scotland's form. Hill kept playing Stones at full back, when many wanted Hassell in at any cost, result £3m in the bank. In my opinion Hill is also mainly responsible for the £1m we received for Jacob Butterfield because he re-organised the team structure in order to take advantage of the players strengths and cover his weaknesses. Hill signed most of the players who are now responsible for our change in form. Not only did he sign them for no fee in most cases, but he signed them on salaries which are within the club salary structure, which is the main long term obstruction to our long term survival in this division. Of course, that is down to poor home support by the stay way fans, but do not get me started on that one.

I wish Flitcroft all the luck in the world and I sincerely hope that he keeps us up this year and goes on to even better things. However, the facts are that he is here for a maximum of three years, just like every other manager. If he goes through a bad spell, the fan will turn against him and he will be gone before that. If he goes from strength to strength, he will be snapped up by a bigger fish.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

So you still can't bring yourself to accept that Hill was bloody useless. Despite the overwhelming evidence.

 

Well said dyson. Mellon not getting enough recognition IMO.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Can we move on? Hill is the past now, Flitcroft is the future

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Yep, he'd look pretty good in a woggle and neckerchief.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

It's not as black and white as that though, as Jay points out. He assembled a very decent squad an a pittance, but was clearly not getting the best out of them. The Birmingham performance showed what we were capable of, and the current run of form with pretty much the same set of players suggests that it was not flash in the pan. Would Hill ever have been able to get us playing as we are now? Most on here would say no. I would say that bearing in mind what Flicker said about the proposed change of formation just before KH was fired, we will never know. I also suspect that Micky Mellon has played a huge part in our revival. Not based on any sort of evidence, just a hunch I have.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Interesting to know how much input Flitcroft had when Hill was manager but whatever players have stepped up as well. Craig Davies losing interest did not help. It takes time to develop a team pattern and maybe now the fruits of previous hard work are beginning to bring rewards,

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Can't agree. It is as simple as that. Hill won nine in 48. His assistant has then taken over from him and we've won seven in nine or whatever it is despite selling two of our best players. Hill his behind the budget for eighteen months. Flitcroft has blown that out of the water.

Hill was useless and he was also an obnoxious ******. A losing combination in my book.

I hope he never sets foot in Oakwell again.

 

Re: Is flitcroft the best manager in the world? Or was Keith Hill utterly utterly shi

Correct, and I'm absolutely delighted. I also think that Flicker does come across much better in the media than Hill. But to completely dismiss Hill's contribution to the current run of form is very short sighted. He built the majority of the squad, and it seemed to me from watching us on player that we were not very far away. Until the Blackburn debacle where Hill clearly seemed to have given up, the only games where we looked very poor were Brighton, Forest and Watford. Every single other one, we could have got something from.