(Another) New Manager Discussion

[RedWeb]

Think this thread is approaching the last rites. Father Hornby, please put this wretched sole out of it's mortal agony.

[Holkerbird]

It saddens me when people on here keep racking up things from the past rightly or wrongly there's no one on here who hasn't done things they regret can we move on and support our board on whoever they appoint "warts and all ".
as someone once said 'we're all barrow aren't we "!

Explanations of misconceptions acceptable I hope.

[Jonty]

Interesting comments from FGR Chair on announcing their new manager to replace Mark Cooper


Forest Green Rovers have appointed England Under-16s boss Rob Edwards as their new head coach.

The 38-year-old former Wales defender, who had also been assisting the England Under-20s, replaces Mark Cooper, who was sacked by the club in April.

Caretaker boss Jimmy Ball led them to a top-seven finish in League Two but they lost to Newport in the play-offs.

Edwards left his job as Wolves Under-23s coach to join the national team set-up in October 2019.

The former Aston Villa, Wolves and Blackpool centre-back told the club website: "This is a club that feels really different from others - and actually does things another way.

"My conversations with the chairman were incredibly positive, and showed we'll get the time and support we need to go on a winning journey."

Forest Green said they received more than 100 applications for the vacancy and chairman Dale Vince said the appointment of Edwards and assistant Richie Kyle, who has been coaching with the Canada women's national team, was "the start of a new era".

"We wanted to move away from the recruitment merry-go-round of been-there-and-done-it league managers to focus on coaches at the cutting edge of the game," Vince added.

"Rob and Richie Kyle bring an understanding and openness to all aspects of coaching - like sports science and analytics."

I admire this approach, the shortlisting is a list of candidates who have been there, had some success at some clubs, not so good the next, so how much of this is down to just being a good fit for the club. I am also certain that the aspects of sports science and analytics are appealing to the way our board would like to embed in the footballing appraoch at Barrow. Maybe Cooper is not so big on this side if the game and hence they (FGR) decided they wanted to start with fresh ideas in these areas.

[Bingo]

Wasnt jolley big on the science side of the game that didnt work out too well

[Jonty]

I just think we got it wrong there and Jolley wasn't a good fit. However, analytics and sports science is a big part of the modern game.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

I just think we got it wrong there and Jolley wasn't a good fit. However, analytics and sports science is a big part of the modern game.

Jolley was a charlatan who managed to pull the wool over the eyes of our board at the inter view process. I would be surprised to see him managing at EFL level again any time soon.

[RedWeb]

Dale Vince is an arse. He'd appoint a scarecrow as manager if he got his mug in the papers. Rubbishing former managers is a bad look. No class.

[Jonty]

He hasn't rubbished his previous manager, he has decided he wanted to have a fresh managerial outlook? Hence he went for someone outside the list of the usual candidates.

There are risks in any appointment. And why does everyone criticise this FGR chairman / owner?. He has done loads there and built that club up into a solid competitive side.

[RedWeb]

He hasn't rubbished his previous manager

The bit in bold is clearly a pop at Cooper.

Let a manager manager the team i.e. tactics, subs, motivation, man management. Yes there is input from some kid with a laptop, but football is played on grass, not an iPad. Leave sports science to the physio.

[Suffolk Blue]

Dale Vince is an arse. He'd appoint a scarecrow as manager if he got his mug in the papers. Rubbishing former managers is a bad look. No class.

FGR have no real historical status or community. It wouldn't exist if it weren't for Dale Vince. So what you see at FGR is a reflection mainly of his own personality. Not all of his ideas are bad and in 50 years time football clubs will probably look more like FGR does today than look like us. They are an experiment in progress. But f you dont like the sorts of things that he stands for then you wont like FGR.

A more direct challenge to him would be to suggest that much of this "new age" thinking might actually be detracting from FGRs development as a football team. A lot of money has been spent on FGR in the last few years and they still dont look good enough on the pitch for a sustained campaign outside of L2. Having ditched Cooper they've now gone for youth and a totally different "experience". But Cooper did bring solidarity and consistency to FGR and you get the impression it could be quite a wacky and volatile place to be without some form of perpetual grounding. I tend to think of FGR as some form of DeLorean club who's finer points may only be recognised historically once the product has long disappeared. But I might be wrong.

However it does suggest that if Cooper could work with Vince for 5 years then he might be more of a diplomat than some are giving him credit for.

[Jonty]

He hasn't rubbished his previous manager

The bit in bold is clearly a pop at Cooper.

Let a manager manager the team i.e. tactics, subs, motivation, man management. Yes there is input from some kid with a laptop, but football is played on grass, not an iPad. Leave sports science to the physio.

There is no pop at anyone there he is just saying he wants to try a different approach. As for “the kid with the laptop” thing, you are perhaps perceiving it to be some sort of secondary add on to the job in hand when the reality is every single top manager will take analytics and sports science seriously to get that competitive edge. Yes man management is the number one, but the modern game is much more than that.

[RedWeb]

Yes man management is the number one, but the modern game is much more than that.

Yup, sadly so. Back in the day the subs would do a few stretches and run on. Now it takes 10 minutes of reviewing photos, flipcharts etc - by which time the sub could already have been on and scored the winner.

To be clear, I'm not against using tech and science, but at times it can become more important than the football basics. Can also lead to gobshites like Jolley getting employed.

[McMark]

Think the sports science aspect is being well and truly adopted within our club especially under Evatt and those since.

[Hadrian]

Agree. IIRC, Evatt's first appointment was the analyst.

[PRR]

Given his vegan credentials, the fact that Dale Vince is yet to develop and launch a product called Dale Vince Kale Mince, would make me question any of his decision making.