Manager Memories

[Dindeleux]

I clicked onto the QOTS thread and noticed that around the time of Johnston moving to RP there was a fair bit of discussion about old managers who had left them for other clubs ( Connolly to St Johnstone and Chisholm to Dundee amongst the conversation ).

It got me thinking about the managers I can remember and my own thoughts on them, I thought it would be a good idea for a thread.

Here's mine briefly, feel free to add your own.

Totten - Despite going to games in the TB era I was really too young to remember a lot so Alex Totten was the first one I really remember. Even then it's not much as I got my first season ticket in 1996.

My only real memories are getting beat from Ayr in one of the first games that year. A great game against Hibs being another one.

I remember him being sacked and being really excited about Williamson taking over.......

Williamson - Bobby is my second favourite Killie manager. I was still quite young and I understand that he is not highly rated by a lot of fans in Scottish football nor by a lot of our support but I just remember winning the cup, getting up into the top 4 every year it seemed and Euroean football.

Of course he spent a lot of money during that period with some real stars coming in, Durrant being the biggest success in terms of value for money.

Bringing Burke and Bagan into the team when he first took over was a masterstroke and, in my memory, contributed to our survival and Cup win that first year.

I just remember Bobby's time being exciting and I was gutted when he went to Hibs.

A couple of real low points though at Somerset during Bobbys time at Killie.

JJ - The excitement went away.

Seriously though, I class Jeffries time at Kilmarnock as a relative success in the early years but he just stayed far far too long.

A really dour character and I just never felt like he wanted to be here. He had a very up and down record - some good seasons in the league and a cup final but also some poor years and that hammering against Hibs.

JJs time ended badly at Kilmarnock and led to old fake tan himself.......

Calderwood - Not much to say, he saved us from relegation which was what he was brought in to do.

A win over Celtic in Keane's debut for them was a highlight but I just never really wanted him at our club.

Mixu - despite only being here for 10 months Mixu's time was the most enjoyable I remember as a Killie fan and he is my favourite manager for our club.

Clearly getting Eremenko was a coup and worked really well as he pulled the strings, but the team was also worked very well by Mixu and Kenny and you could see a real purpose to our play.

He turned Conor Sammon into a Premiership striker for God sake!!!!

Shiels - dreadful start. A doing against Rangers at the end of the season. Couldn't buy a win.

The end to the Mixu season that was handled by Kenny was dreadful and gave no real reason for optimism, but he turned it round and gradually we got better.

Kenny was a great talker and really tried to get the community involved in the team again. His time was obviously topped by the League Cup win which was a fantastic display and summed up how good we could be.

However, when we were bad we were awful and we took some real hammerings during his time in charge. I wasn't happy he got sacked when he did but it was clearly coming anyway. Some of our support took the chance to be seething at MJ when a lot of them had been calling for Kennys head towards the end of that season anyway.

Although he got up peoples noses I thought KS was a breath of fresh air in our game with his openness and opinions. Sadly that probably contributed to him leaving when he did.

AJ - the jury is out for me still. To be honest pre-current season the jury had already returned a guilty verdict but I've put off delivering a verdict now as we've started ok this year.

We cannot afford another season like last year though.

[RawB93]

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Well I fecked that up.

[The OP]

Liam Brady - w**k

Lou Macari - w**k

Tommy Burns - Good guy

Wim Jansen - Good guy

Jo Venglos - Good guy

John Barnes - w**k

Kenny Dalglish - w**k

Martin O'Neill - Good guy

Gordon Strachan - Good guy

Tony Mowbray - w**k

Neil Lennon - Good guy

Ronny Deila - Don't want to judge too early, but at the moment looking like a 'w**k in progress'.

[jagfox]

Outside of Alan Archibald a rogues gallery with my most loveable being the erstwhile John Lambie.

[yoda]

Alex Smith

John Robertson

Donald Park

Gardner Speirs

Scott Leitch

Dick Campbell

Derek Adams

Craig Brewster

Willie McStay

Jimmy Calderwood

Derek Adams

Stevie Ferguson.

They've all "managed" Ross County in a competitive fixture since I started regularly going to games. Adams is about the only one to do a good job, although I'm pretty sure Speirs did alright.

Doesn't bode well for the next appointment

[BarraJag]

Terry Butcher - left us to join 'a bigger club' in Hibs, was at a lesser quality side, raved on about how the training facilities were amazing and he got better cakes in Edinburgh.

Took Hibs to the relegation play off got relegated and is now unemployed. w**k.

[Quitongo's Left Peg]

Alex Totten - Meh.

Bobby Williamson - Trophy, good guy.

Jim Jefferies - Stayed too long, still a good guy though.

Jimmy Calderwood - Staying up completely overtaken by his utter w****r status.

Mixu Paatelainen - Great guy.

Kenny Shiels - Gave us a trophy and more than a few special days. A w**k every other day though.

AJ - Seems a really nice guy, hopefully he wins a few more over this year. Teetering on the edge of becoming a good guy.

[bhoy who invented weetabix]

David Hay . Got no backing from the board at a time when Rangers were terrible, had some dreadful luck at times. Still a Celtic legend. Treated shabbily by the board

Billy McNeil. Probably the greatest ever Celt after Stein, the centenary season was his nadir then went downhill big time, stayed at least a season too long and made some fucking awful signings like Martin Hayes. Still a Celtic legend

Liam Brady. Wrong man, wrong club , wrong time. Nice enough guy but way out of his depth

Lou Macari. Tosser, still crops up in the media to put the boot into Celtic now and again. Never a Celtic, or indeed a football manager of any sort. Fergus had his number from day one

Tommy Burns. Probably THE most unlucky Celtic manager of all time, his teams played some fanastic stuff yet up against an admittedly superb Rangers side who at the same time had some satanic luck and referreeing honest mistakes on their side. One Scottish Cup was scant reward for his time as boss. Brilliant man as well sadly missed.

Wim Jansen. A strange one to judge, yes he stopped the dreaded ten and signed king Henrik but always felt he put himself before the club

Jo Venglos. Bizzare stop gap one season appointment. Players etc spoke highly of him but never convinced me

John Barnes. Hopeless and clueless. Great players rarely make great managers

Kenny Dalglish. His trolling of the twats in the Scottish media was class, dragging them to Bairds etc for press conferences. Again only a stop gap.

Martin O'Neil. Awesome. Despite the odd last day heartbreak made Celtic firmly the best side in the country putting Rangers firmly in their place from which they never truly recovered. Made us a force in Europe again just as importantly

Gordon Strachan. Slowly won the fans over after a very dodgy start. Signings were a mixed bag, for every Nakamura there was an Adam Virgo but his trophy record and european results speak for themselves. A very popular guy still with Celtic fans and took no shit from the press either

Tony Mowbray. Nice guy, awful manager. Next

Neil Lennon. Domestic cups apart his record in the league and europe was excellent, only one howler of a performance at Inverness away from a clean sweep of titles, some great nights in europe as well and some excellent signings which made the club a few bob, mixed in with a few dodgy ones as well it has to be said. Put up with some horrendous shite he didnt have to while in the job. Left at the correct time for him and the club though in my opinion

Ronny Deila. Early days and not a great start but like Strachan may recover or like Mowbray may sink like a stone. Needs to be given the whole season at least before judging him but hoping we use the europa league in the way we did in Lennons first full season to blood players and build confidence.

[Highlandmagyar]

Dave McParland Fucking god for that league cup win.

Bertie Auld. Loved wee Bertie. Great character and was a master at keeping Thistle in the news. Pity about our defensive outlook though.

Peter Cormack. Had Thistle playing great football but took us down. In the first he was forced to sell Mo Johnston and it went to rats.

Then came our darkest period with various managers including Derek Fucking Johnstone.

John Lambie --- The Messiah. The rest is history.

Then more dark days including Dick Campbell???.

Ian McCall. Laid foundations of what we are today.

Jackie McNamara. Done a good job in the short spell he was there. Had Thistle playing wonderful stuff.

Archie. Club legend. Improved us to take us up. Kept us up. A success?? Jury still out with some Jags fans.

[Reid]

Good: Lambie, McNamara, Archibald.

Okay: McCall.

Shite: Collins, Whyte and Britton, Campbell.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Good - Mcghee, McCall

Okay - Brown, Gannon

Shite - Malpas

[killiesince1969]

Jim Clunie - Part time team was never able to compete in the Premier. Dour, depressing individual who told you straight that we were going to lose.

Eddie Morrison - Had the enthusiasm of Tigger, but took over a club on its way down and never had the ability to change it. Had one decent season where we just missed promotion and signed Ray Montgomerie.

Jim Fleeting - Greatest achievements were off the park, bringing his brother to the club as Chairman; signing two players in Tommy Burns and Bobby Williamson who would go on to be significant managers; conveying a 'can do' attitude to fans, who dared to believe that the club could return from the depths.

Tommy Burns - Gave us promotion, our first win at Ibrox in 30+ years; our first cup semi-final in 20+ years. A Dad's Army team who did the job of staying in the Premier but needed rebuilt at the end of it. Maybe got out at the right time when all the memories were good.

Alex Totten - Seemed a really nice guy who worked hard. Created a really entertaining team and most significant signing was Paul Wright. Spent a lot of money, though, without moving up the league.

Bobby Williamson - Won the Cup in his first season; brought through some superb youngsters; possibly made a mistake of taking his eye off the youngsters in his quest to sign established stars: Durrant was a superb signing; McCoist was OK; least said about Tosh McKinlay or Michael Jeffrey the better. Playing in Europe nearly every year; crowds the highest they had been since the 1950s; it was a great era.

Jim Jeffries - Dull. Boring. As charismatic as cold porridge. A decent manager who brought through Boyd and Naismith, but who seemed to lose interest and the last two or three years were dreadful. Attendances plummeted during his era (including myself) because the team was clearly in decline and (especially with Michael Johnston as chairman), there were absolutely no customer-friendly voices coming from Rugby Park. No reason other than blind loyalty to hand over season ticket money. JJ seemed to be just going through the motions and he had constructed a team in his own image.

Jimmy Calderwood - Made a great start, but long before the end of the season (he was only in charge from January!) it was clear that he was not a long-term solution. Did his job in avoiding relegation and then got punted. Michael Johnston called it right.

Mixu Paatelainen - A demigod to many fans. Introduced the most entertaining style of play that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing from Killie; even with a sticky start when we went bottom of the SPL, you at least felt that Mixu knew what he was doing and could see what needed done. Turned Conor Sammon from the worst player in the known universe into one who could earn a transfer to the English Premier League within a few months. So sad that the Finland job came up before he had completed a season.

Kenny Shiels - Winning a cup makes him a hero, no doubt. He really cared about the club and his comments were often a breath of fresh air. Towards the end, though, it looked as though the controversial comments were leading to him taking his eye off the ball and the team's form suffered. Some great results and some real disasters. My overall impression is that he was a superb youth coach/assistant manager who was over-promoted. He could have continued to make a great contribution to the club in another role, but the top job was beyond him.

Allan Johnston - Really excited when he got the job. Had a wretched first season and was widely believed to be heading for the sack. Has made a good start this time - getting shot of Sandy Clark may not just be a coincidence - with a much more entertaining style of play and a much stronger and more inspiring squad than we had last year.

[Radford]

Alex Totten - Appeared a perfect fit to match the ambition of Geoff Brown in the late eighties with the move of stadium. Great success in the first three or four seasons but like the Killie fan above said about his time at Rugby Park though, he spent a lot of money with little sign of ever getting any return. Most of the signings were good but the club couldn't carry on just spending and that eventually saw his departure in December 1992.

John McClelland - Probably didn't inherit the most harmonious dressing room and although the results weren't dreadful, the style of football wasn't as pleasing on the eye as it had been under Totten and the signings didn't make the same impact. Wasn't spending the same money as Totten with more focus from the club generally being put on youth development. Quit after a year in the job and hasn't managed again.

Paul Sturrock - Couldn't save the club from relegation when three teams went down in 1994 and it took him 18 months to build a decent side but when he did, they swept the opposition aside in the First Division and finished fifth on our return to the Premier Division, beating Rangers for the first time in nearly 30 years. Think he could have taken the club further but couldn't resist the lure of the poisoned chalice at Tannadice in 1998. He was a disaster there but re-established himself in England.

Sandy Clark - Did well with Sturrock's side but was found wanting when tasked with building his own side. Never seemed much direction to his transfer policy and endured a wretched 12 months before finally getting punted after a 4-0 defeat at Easter Road. Hates Saints.

Billy Stark - A strange appointment, with him (presumably) lined up to be assistant to Tommy Burns, who turned the job down late in the day. Inherited a poor squad but never showed any sign of putting up a fight against relegation and never displayed much of a desire to take us back to the SPL. Only manager the fans have really turned against and chanted for to be sacked.

John Connolly - Disaster from the start. His transfer policy at Queen of the South had been if you sign enough players then eventually you'll find 11 good ones, which is fine if you are part-time in the lower leagues but not if you are handing out full-time contracts. Dreadful signings with a few exceptions and dreadful football, Saints looked miles behind some other clubs in the First Division. Didn't even last a season.

Owen Coyle - Much like Totten, the right man at the right time. Within what seemed like days of getting the job he'd signed the captain of the team that had just won the league and quickly put together a good squad. Some great football and brilliant cup runs but couldn't find the right consistency in the league. Appeared to lose a bit of heart after missing out to Gretna and was probably looking for a way out from that point onwards, which he got to Burnley a few months later.

Derek McInnes - Not the same infectious personality as Coyle but knew what it took to see out games and pick up points. Almost drew our way to the title in 2009 but kept the club safely in the SPL for two, what would have been three, seasons. Don't think he could have taken us to the level that his successors have though as he always struggled to strike the balance between attack and defence. Maybe the Aberdeen fans are starting to feel the same?

Steve Lomas - Didn't endear himself to many during his time in Scotland but it's hard to argue with what he achieved with the resources at his disposal. The fact that as a former West Ham captain he took the Millwall job showed he didn't have faith in maintaining his success and he never got the club or the fans at all. Case that he will make a decent coach but possibly never a manager in the long-term.

Tommy Wright - Opposite of Lomas in terms of getting the club and the people involved, he's pretty much untouchable at the moment with the European results and of course lifting the Scottish Cup. The three managers before him all saw Saints as a stepping stone whereas Wright seems more keen to build something, with a refocusing on the development of young players.

[2Becks]

Alex Ferguson – Took us to the top flight with great football. Career faded badly after we sacked him.
Jim Clunie –Took us to our highest ever league position
Rikki McFarlane – No great memories, kept us in the top flight.
Alex Miller – Dour boring defensive, but successful.
Alex Smith – Cup win, legend
Tony Fitzpatrick – God and always will be.
David Hay – Grade A c**t. Hateful man, I would spit in his face even now given the chance.
Jimmy Bone – Top guy, worked with a shattered club after it was wrecked by Hay, as he once told me “You can only piss with the dick you’ve got.”
Iain Munro – 100% record as manager, that was a great morning when he ran the club.
Tony Fitzpatrick - God and always will be.
Tom Hendrie – Won promotion playing exciting football good guy
John Coughlin - Clueless
Gus MacPherson – Boring, defensive but won promotion (and diddy cup) and kept us up.
Danny Lennon – Legend. League cup for the first time ever, badly treated by the club.

[Mr Gandosaur]

Jocky Scott (98-2000) - Done well in getting us over the line to promotion after Mckormack was punted. First season back in the SPL was fantastic and we finished 5. Some great days that season including 2 wins at Tannadice and then a win at Ibrox the following season. All achieved on a modest budget. Harshly sacked to make way for Bonetti.

Ivano Bonetti - A shite manager. Signed some fantastic players but had no idea how to manage them. Was often going AWOL and leaving brother Dario to coach the side. Also signed a fair amount of foreign dross. For every Caniggia, Nemsadze and Cabalerro there was a Beghetto, Romano or Traverso. Left after a disappointing 2nd season which saw us finish outside the top 6.

Jim Duffy - Done a far bettter job with the quality players Bonetti had signed. Shipped our the dross and complemented Caballero, Nemsadze etc with good young Scottish players like Mair, Milne, Mackay etc. Got us to the Cup final and finished in the top 6. Next season disaster struck with admin pt.1 but he done a good job of steadying the ship and done well despite a lot of players being made redundant. Obviously the next season was his big downfall. We weren't great for most of the season but seemed to have done enough to stay up. When the season started to unravell with about 6 weeks to go when we had a comfortable lead over the relegation zone Duffy didn't have a plan B and as confidence drained we were ultimately relegated with a whimper. Sacked a month into the following season following a league cup defeat at Stranraer and allegations of a spat with the Marrs.

Alan Kernaghan - An awful manager. Took over from Duffy with the team near the top of the league and we ultimately finished 7th. Brought in some of the worst players I have ever seen play for Dundee such as Colin Marshall and Stuart Mcklusky. Gave some young players such as Mcdonald, Robertson and Deasley a chance which is his only saving grace. Reached the Scottish cup semi after some kind draws but were hammered 3-0 by Gretna. A 1-0 defeat by Brechin at Dens was a particular low point.

Alex Rae - I liked Rae. He done a decent job rebuilding the mess left by those who had gone before and his side played some decent stuff. Helped Robertson, Mcdonald and Dixon develop further and we were quite consistent. Was unlucky to lose out to the title to a quality Hamilton side who were just too good for us. Struggled badly in his 3rd season when challenged with replacing the 3 mentioned above who had moved on. Appeared to lose the dressing room and was apparently disliked by a few players and was sacked a couple of months into the season.

Jocky Scott (2008-2010) - This spell was a bit of a disaster for Jocky. Done okay at recovering the bad start made under Rae and ultimately finished 3rd in his first season. However when the Melville money come along and he was allowed to spend big he seemed unable to use it wisely. We signed Griffiths and Harkins but at the same time also had boys like Klimpl and Casement. His success in his previous spells had come from picking up bargains. We made a good start to the season and won the challenge cup but and built a decent lead at the top but after a defeat to Airdrie just after new year our season fell to bits. The next 2-3 months were literred with inconsistency and a 2-1 Scottish Cup Quarter final defeat to Raith and a 3-0 defeat at Airdrie saw the back of hm.

Gordon Chisolm - Come in from QOS with Billy Dodds. Took over when we were already in a downward spiral and was unable to pick us back up after we had allowed Inverness to close the gap. Signed some players which turned out to be decent for us in the long term like O Donnell, Riley, Irvine, Lockwood and Weston but seemed unable to get the best out them. Losing 4-1 to Stenhousemuir and to Cowdenbeath in the league saw fans turn on him and administration saw him paid off. Not entirely sure we would have sacked him without admin happening but we will never know.

Barry Smith - Thrown in at the deep end after Chisolm was paid off. Worked miracles after the 25 point deduction and managed to get the players playing for him which Chisolm was unable to do. Led the club to it's record unbeaten run which was remarkable in the circumstances and that season will go down in our history. When tasked with building his own squad he didn't do as well but he was still on a tight budget after we emerged from administration but still done okay in finishing 2nd. Was a victim of circumtance when we were promoted via the Sevco situation. Was chucked in to the SPL at the last minute with a squad built for division 1. The signings we made were rushed and although a couple like Toshney and Mcallister turned out to be decent, most like Stewart, Nish etc were stinking. He was sacked after an awful run of results from Christmas into February. It was a very depressing period. At the time I wanted Barry sacked but when results were going the way they were it was easy to feel that way. With a bit of hindsight it was maybe unfair the way the fans turned on him

John Brown - Come in with us rooted to the bottom of the SPL and despite making a decent fight of it and improving performances and results we inevitably went down. Done an okay job last season by getting us to the top of the league but some of the performances were dire. 3 homes games without a win against Cowdenbeath, Livi and Alloa cost him dearly. A lot of our fans never took to him and you can see why - our support was 50-50 on him for all of his time here. He signed some decent players like Peaso, Letheren and Dyer but the fact Rae, Hughes, Nade, Beattie, Bonnett-Johnson, Monti and a few more are no longer with us all of whom he signed says a lot. Considering his poor reputation and record with Clyde I think he done better than many expected but I dont think he would have led us to promotion last season.

Paul Hartley - Got Bomber's lop-sided and unbalanced side over the line and done a good job in doing so. That was always the task for Hartley last season and he succeeded although performances weren't improved by a great deal. Once we got up though he had a mass cull which was always expected and has tried to implement a new passing game. Think we have done well so far in the Premiership and remain unbeaten. Plenty optimism amongst our support and Hartley has 100% of our support on his side which for our fans, is a rarity. Time will tell to see how far he can lead us but so far the signs are good.

[ICTChris]

Sergei Baltacha - Difficult circumstances but very boring. 5-3-2 with Highland League players? No thanks.

Steve Paterson - Greatest human being in history. Made our club, played brilliant football (leading goalscorers in the league every season he was boss), signed fantastic players (Wilson, Stewart, Teasdale, Tokely, Thomson, Wyness, Robson, Mann). The squad he built was the basis of our side for nearly a decade after he left.

John Robertson - Tightened us up and won the First Division and promotion. He did well in a tough period when we were playing at Pittodrie and signed a few good players - Darren Dods, Juanjo.

Craig Brewster (1) - First time round Brewster did a good job, we were tight, fit and dangerous. Really he was a far better player than manager, an excellent footballer.

Charlie Christie - Some famous wins (Rankin ping v Rangers being the best) but I don't think he was ever really a manager, he was a reluctant boss.

Craig Brewster (2) - Aside from a spell around Christmas when we won five in a row and beat Celtic he was awful. We lost about forty games in a row before he got sacked.

Terry Butcher - The way he left has really tainted his legacy but Butcher was a great manager for us - the damage was done. The First Division title season was fantastic, a gem of a campaign, overturning a huge deficit against a moneybags Dundee side. We then had a great run in the SPL, culminating in the top six and really should've got into Europe. He also built a side after the last of the Paterson era left, no mean feat.

John Hughes - Poor last season, peerless this season. Hopefully more of the latter to come.