It Will Be A Travesty

So it was with keeping him then? Despite delivering a "usual" relegation winning tally last season?

 

You can't say that with any certainty. I can say with more certainty that we would have gone down had he stayed...

 

We'd have been safe by now.

 

I thought Hill went at the right time. There wasn't really an argument to get rid of him in the summer, having the midfield ripped out of the team was a clear indicator of results and this term up until Xmas the general performances didn't warrant it either. It is becoming clear what the problem was all the time and it is more to do with dreadful man-management skills that tippy tappy football. He was the master of his own down fall, Keith.

 

Go or wit barm. We'd have been were Bristol are.

He ran out if ideas.

 

Butterfield's injury - sliding doors moment. What could've been...

 

As I just said, he went at the right time. Any manager working under those restrictions deserves a fair crack.

We would have gone down under Keith, there is no doubt about that. But that is true of SOD and Butcher too.

The Keith bashers were also up in arms over Flicker's appointment, so they shouldn't really be sounding off about it now. We are supposed to be galvanised.

 

He had one. He should have gone after Wednesday, if not earlier.

 

He did, to all intents. Nothing was going to happen until new year, it would have been a bit off to sack him at Xmas.

If by some miracle, they could have predicted the job Flicker would do it would have been an easier decision. But the argument was, is it a bigger risk to change managers and who can do the job? By Xmas, it was clear Keith was not going to turn it around so the risk became minimal.

 

Aye but got what one more game where had we had more of an idea we'd be safe now..

 

You can't say that.

I think if he'd have been sacked before then Flitcroft wouldn't be in charge.

 

We've lost far more players due to injury, suspension and being sold under Flitcroft than we ever did under Hill. Flitcroft just shrugged his shoulders and got on with it.

 

Exactly. And never once gave it woe is me

Rochdale are welcome to him

 

Don't quite get that mate, but he did go and win at Millwall with a good performance the following match. And had come within a minute of winning away at Leicester the game before. It was a slow death. I'm not one for hysterics or knee jerk reactions, so for me the Birmingham and Blackburn games were the killers. He was losing the dressing room too, as well as the fans. I think that had a lot to do with it.

 

The key difference being the style.

Whilst I enjoyed the atmosphere on Saturday and the graft (which we did under Keith - I can remember many saying they'd never seen a side work as hard as under him) the football we played was more often than not 'hit it up to O'Grady and hope'. But it works. Fair's fair.

Under Keith with Butterfield in that position he was absolutely key - a shape and a style suited around him. Then we lost him. And Vaz Te. And Perkins. And Drinkwater.

When we lost Dawson we brought in Kelvin. He wasn't brought in to create anything, just to stop the other side playing. Much easier replacing those players than those like Butterfield.

It's also worth noting that we didn't have a big squad when we lost those players. It was a lesson learned that we needed players available to come straight in rather than relying on loans this season - we've had 2 players for every position this season and we've needed it. Easier to shrug your shoulders when you've got players that can come in and do a job. Granted, not great players but they were there anyway.

Keith got the style wrong for the group of players. But it was the right thing to do to at least try. I enjoyed it.

 

I was bored shitless most of the time

 

If supporters are happy with Flicker and the position we are in, then they have to concede that things were done in the right way, at the right time. It is all quirks of fate and circumstance that have led us here and there is little sense in arguing the toss retrospectively. The cards haven't fallen too unkindly for us, it's actually a great time to be a Barnsley fan.

 

It dosent really matter what Flicker has on his CV.............because the vast majority of people that work in football will be watching everything what is happening at Barnsley regarding the fantastic job Flicker is doing.

Its a huge huge pity that the roles that Keef and Flicker had at the club couldn't have been proportioned differently

That is to say - Flicker as the manager and Keef as his assistant
No matter what people say about Keef..........its actually Keef that brought in these players...........its Flicker that has got these players playing as an excellent team

 

No - you'll have to explain that one Joan.