Eh one thing he is not a quitter He left Rotherm ham to come to us which at the time appeared a good career move He left Coventry for Huddersfield in similar circumstances - Huddersfield sacked him - he didnt quit I am not sure he quit us either - The board changed the approach which he was having success with and asked him to work to a completely different budget and philosopy. He asked for time to think about whether he could make it work - so they gave him his notice. Probably did Robins a favour as no one can accuse him of failing with us - had he stayed I doubt he would have fared any better than Hill Flicker and Danny have
The last decent atmosphere at Oakwell was under Davey. Big crowds under Robins always had ***** atmosphere.
I must remember differently to you. However, I have just seen your example of a great atmosphere and, to be honest, I'm still laughing about it.
Again personalising a disagreement just makes you look a sad case though your constant negativity is a source of amusement. I've actually seen some great atmospheres at Oakwell in the late 70s and 80s that a young whippersnapper like you can only dream of sunshine. I know you yearn for the glory days of finishing 16th under the riveting football genius that is Mark Robins now managing the European powerhouse that is S****horpe. We obviously have different ideas of what constitutes the glory days. Listen to some Girls Aloud and perk up buttercup.
You can pick out one off games under any manager, Chelsea was obviously a huge game and the 3-3 against Stoke was a volatile atmosphere for some of their players actions if I remember correct. Most atmospheres under Davey were drab to align with the **** he served up, like the 0-3 home loss to Wednesdays or the 1-3 loss to Reading if we are picking out individual games? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Agree most were drab they were the last two I remember with any sort of bounce. Can't remember any home games since.
I'd say Newcastle 2-2 is the best atmosphere I've seen at Oakwell for quite some time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The picture that you paint describes a genius. Forgive me if I remember Mark Robbins in a slightly different light. He was brought to the club from Rotherham after he had done well with not very much. All good so far. The first season he saved the club from relegation. Fits the CV perfectly. The second season he persuaded the board to invest heavily in a centre back (Shackell) in the hope of taking us to mid-table security. No problem yet. However, things did not go as well as hoped. There was dissent amongst the players because of Shackell's wages, which were well above the rest and although Shackell played well, the team as a whole under-performed. Hammill was sold because Wolves met the buy out clause in his contract, not because Robins was forced to sell. I have been a season ticket holder for 40 years, but the standard of entertainment was such that I was considering not renewing for the following season. I have more fond memories of Simon Davey's time at Oakwell. In fact I have more fond memories of Keith Hill and David Flitcroft's time at Oakwell. As for Mark Robins sticking with youth, Jacob Butterfield only got a regular starting place after Keith Hill was appointed. As for Mark Robbins doing well at S****horpe, Rochdale are in the top six under Keith Hill. Danny Wilson's career as a manager is far better than Mark Robins will ever achieve, so lets not go glorifying Mark Robins qualities until he has actually achieved something.
^^^^this^^^^ If Robins had stayed I don't think I would have renewed my season ticket. Everything had just become beige. Much better times under zzz Davey, Flitcroft and even that chap Hill.
Mark Robins walked/resigned at Huddersfield. That I do know. But, he was practically forced out of Oakwell. He had his ideas/plans etc, and they weren't at all in unison with the owner or boards. Mark didn't believe we were capable of prospering with the suggested budget cuts, the owner/board felt we could hire a manager who could work on a shoestring. I feel some sympathy with him, because it turns out he was right - Keith, try as he might couldn't make it work with such a reduced budget. Flicker got an increased budget, and he and then Danny couldn't make it work either. I liked Mark, I wouldn't have wanted him to leave when he did. I was gutted when hearing about it. I thought we'd found a long term manager at last. But he was and still is heavily reliant on funding with no concept of building. We saw that here, where upon his departure we had about 9 contracted players after waving goodbye to his myriad loan players. Loans he was allowed to recruit in order to push us on after Xmas. Only, every season after Xmas his teams drop off in performance. Powell at Huddersfield is still having to get shut of the dross Robins brought in. I can't comment so much on his tenure so far at Scunny, but if anyone thinks they're skint or summat, think again. They've a big investor there now, new stadium (again) around the corner and some very good players have been recruited. Nice bloke, Mark Robins. But the football under him was dire in the main despite the best efforts of Hammill, Anderson, Butterfield, Trippier etc. I'm not suggesting those who have followed him in the hotseat are any better (that's not the debate right now) but I don't see that we'd have fared any better had he stuck it out here, reduced budget or increased budget. He had a lot of coin spent at Town, and they still nearly went down that afternoon in Huddersfield, 4th May 2013...
18 starts. 8 of them being the final 8 games of Robins' tenure. I know Mark rated him. He just didn't think he was suited to playing centrally.
If I recall correctly, Butterfield and RNL were getting a lot of game time towards the end of that season. Robins was clearly blooding them for big parts in the next couple of seasons.
I make it 42 appearances during Mark Robins only full season including FA cup and FL cup, but I will not argue about 1 game (19 starts and 23 substitute appearances). I do not know how many games he started and also finished, do you? Keith Hill started him 25 times (0 subs) in the half season until the Leeds game when he was badly injured. He also made him captain from the start of the season. But let us not just hurl statistics back and forth as I am not really a statistics man. Robins played 4-4-2 and that required Jacob to do something that he was not very good at, that is defend. Robins gave me the impression that he did not trust Jacob in this aspect of the game and found it difficult to justify playing him as a result. I cold not really blame him to be honest given the system he preferred. On the other hand, Keith Hill built the team around Jacob and created 4-5-1 in his image. Its all about opinions, this game of ours.
I think for a player who had not long turned 20 and was an unknown quantity at the time, I'd say 41/42 appearances is more than fair on the part of the manager.