Let's imagine that there's a manager who took over someone like Norwich, Fulham, West Brom, or Burnley after one of their relegations to the Championship. They're in disarray on the field, and he manages to lead them to 4th with a very high points total, and they are extremely unfortunate to lose in the playoff final. My question is, would a similar sized mid-table Premier League club then come in for the said manager? My suspicion is probably not, or it would at least raise some eyebrows. Let me be clear, I really rate Michael Duff as a coach. I think he did an absolutely tremendous job for all sorts of reasons. But being realistic, getting into the playoffs with Barnsley in the 3rd tier isn't any sort of monumental achievement. It's actually par for the course. With the situation surrounding the club a year ago, it could be seen as a slight over-achievement given the circumstances, but certainly nothing miraculous. Discuss.
It depends if their first 2 or 3 preferences turn them down. Which is what has happened here if the rumour mill is to be believed.
He was taken on to win promotion so technically he failed in that but so was the other managers. Add to that if 12 highest budget and in such a mess on the playing side you could argue he over achieved in his first season. Personally I think he did OK all things considered. In terms of the OP I think you have to factor in the other clubs position, Swansea have no parachute money, the Academy had to be downgraded due to financial issues and are currently relying on money being plowed in (last season £1 million extra) to survive. In other words they are in a similar position to where we were just at a different level (money & football). When you look at it in that context you can see why they went for him, don’t also forget the other rumoured options weren’t high profile (including Martin) or going to be costly either.
As I've said before I don't think he's the only manager capable of doing it. He's only had success so far on his CV though in that he got Cheltenham promoted and then us to the play off final in the league above. So I can see why Swansea would think he could do a job for them and i wouldn’t be surprised if he got them near the play offs. I think the disarray bit is over egged too tbh. If he'd achieved this under the same board as we had for the relegation then that would have been a lot harder. But the whole club was shifting, he got older players and loans and could manage the team with less interference. And we were in a lower league where wins are easier to come by. He did a good, solid job. I was happy with his appointment because I actually thought we'd have him for a few years but I don't think he's irreplaceable
I agree with the disarray part too Helen, I think Khalid was largely behind the shifting of the club in general with the support of the board and all members of staff.
It's a fair point I don't think a Premier league team would at all in those circumstances. He has managed to cash in while his stock is very high and give himself a huge opportunity. Though he's just as likely to be sacked by Christmas.
He took a club and united it, managed supporters better than any manager I've maybe ever seen. Laid down the gauntlet, celebrated when they turned up & used it to galvanise us towards the Play Offs that nobody genuinely thought probable at the start of the season. He communicated extremely well & made the team and ultimately club better. He coached players to be better, set standards and made things clear to a group who were in dissaray. He's a bloody good manager and we're gonna miss him. The reason that wouldn't happen in PL is because the risk is much greater. A mid table PL club will always be worried about the impact of a bad appointment so the stakes are higher and the same names go round and round again.
Duff was an excellent manager / coach for us and did a really good job. However we did have a good group of players and I think anything less than top 6 would have been a major disappointment. He did well but I also don’t think it’s some major water into wine story / underdog story that some have made out. He did about what he should have done
The thing is, there are several differences between Norwich falling out of the Premier League, and us dropping to league 1. The main one being the parachute money. A team like Norwich would have been expected to finish at least in the play-offs after being relegated from the Premier League as automatically, they become one of the 3 wealthiest teams in the league. Having watched what happened to us the season we were relegated from the championship, it was I think was statistically our worst ever season as a football club, getting us to 4th in League 1 the following season is a colossal achievement. You've to factor in that there was great upheaval at boardroom level too. Although it always looked like a positive change on paper, that sort of unrest could have prevented us from appointing a good coach, and building a good squad. We dropped into league 1, and probably weren't even one of the 6 biggest clubs in that league. According to Khaled, we only had the 12th biggest budget too. Again, at odds with your comparison to Burnley/Norwich etc. We also lost our top scorer, his reliable long term strike partner, our rock of a centre half and our only cash cow so to speak went out on loan. We were unable to go and cherry pick the divisions best talent to replace them either, settling for largely free transfers and loans. Don't get me wrong, compared to some teams in our division, we're in a more fortuitous place financially. Cheltenham, who we poached the aforementioned head coach from, they weren't able to do any of these things either. However, when you consider dropping out of the Premier League automatically makes you favourites for the championship, and we were already playing catch up to a good half dozen teams upon our relegation, I think you start to see how good a job Duff did. We would have been favourites for promotion this year had he stayed though, that's for sure.
Definitely think we'd have got automatic promotion if he'd stayed. However, if we keep our squad together I still think we can do it. T
Only a few of us on here expected a promotion push, so to many he overachieved even though he failed to get us promoted out of this league like others have.
If consolidation was the aim. Why was Khalid referring to promotion all season? We'd never have been relegation fodder. That last season in the Championship was the under achievement. A good part of that squad was still here this season. Why do Barnsley fans downplay any ambition? In League 1 the aim has been and always will be promotion otherwise we might as well pack in. I've never known a set of fans accept second best as much as us. Duff failed.
I must admit I thought and still think Micheal Duff is a very good manager and last year he along with the board galvanised the club together after an terrible year before where I just even stopped caring as we had become an absolute laughing stock. Anything better than that would be seen as an improvement. I must admit I cautiously liked the mood music and what Micheal duff said about been loyal and been staying with his clubs a long time. So I was dissatisfied by his move but not surprised as the only true loyal people are the fans. What the next move by the board is going to be crucial and whilst what has happened will be seen as a gift to our competitors as they are rebuilding their squads we look like we are sitting on our hands and letting our team lose players. We must start turning the corner and starting on the front foot. COYR
This day and age there seems to be a rush to better things all the time. They do it till they reach their level of incompetence and that’s when it all comes tumbling down. The faster you get there the quicker it’s all over.
Also had a core of players that were signed for the championship and a fanbase with no expectations whatsoever, it was a great opportunity for him and he took it but like you say the ingredients were there for a competent coach to do well.
Be interesting to see last summer's predictions for the season, mid table or avoiding relegation was a dream for many . Things were set up for Duff to exceed expectations.
