Managers Reviewed

This is usually a fairly short section but in a season with a fair amount of turmoil no less than three men have sat in the dugout in 2015/6. Here is my view of how they got on.

Garry Monk

It all started to well for our former skipper. Eight points from four games to start the season which included outplaying Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, the fall afterwards was surprising and spectacular. A run of a paltry six points from eleven games after that which included many gutless displays saw a managerial reign that promised so much come to a premature end. In truth he did himself no favours sticking with players that weren’t performing for him but it wasn’t all his fault. Many of those players let him down and some have continued to do so after he left. I still think Monk has the potential to be a good manager but sadly we had no alternative but to sack him.

Verdict – D

Alan Curtis

There’s only one man to turn to in a crisis and as ever he didn’t let us down. Performances improved considerably under his stewardship which included a three game run of clean sheets and two wins from his eight league games in charge. Results wise two wins in eight games may not be spectacular but it’s an improvement on one win the previous eleven. He also took us for three games with Francesco Guidolin was ill in March and played a big part in helping us to two vital victories. On the negative side though he did oversee the humiliation at Oxford in the Cup and the decision to make Kyle Bartley captain that day was particularly baffling but all in all Curtis has played a huge part in keeping us up.

Verdict  – A

Francesco Guidolin

Many of us hadn’t heard of the Italian when out of blue he was appointed on a short term deal in January but most were in agreement that we needed a manager rather than continuing with Curtis. His remit was to keep us up and to be fair he has done that but I wouldn’t have kept him on full time. Our set piece woes have got worse under him, his cautious tactics and love for the diamond even though it doesn’t work has been immensely frustrating and some of the performances like Villa, Newcastle and Leicester were woeful. You could even argue that some of the crucial wins we had were more because of the changes made by Curtis than Guidolin. His record overall though was good

Verdict – B