James McPake Interview (4 Viewers)

DundeeFan

New Member
Sorry if this has been posted already! Unsure what your opinion on him as a footballer was, but thought this was worth sharing:


If you're only interested in the Coventry stuff, skip to the 22 minute mark. He talks about a moment where you were 2-0 down and at half-time Chris Coleman unzipped his trousers and grabbed his balls and asked McPake if he had any of these - so fair worth listening to!
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
He was okay I thought. He scored his only goal for us against Leicester on BBC with an acrobatic effort. Not watched yet but think it might be the game he’s referring to. Is he still playing?
 

DundeeFan

New Member
He was okay I thought. He scored his only goal for us against Leicester on BBC with an acrobatic effort. Is he still playing?

No, an injury (No surprise) ended his career. This injury to be precise:

He's now our manager. He's had a dodgy first season - fans were bordering on turning on him - but he's well liked by the support in general.
 

christonabike

Well-Known Member
Liked him but as we were in free fall and every player we bought was a massive gamble. Christ think of shyte we suffered with a quick fix to get back to the prem!
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
I think he or another player from the Coleman years would be a decent interview for one of the Cov podcasts. That team we had is recognised by some supporters, personally I don’t, as one which should have competed for the play offs but was spent looking over their shoulders
 

Magwitch

Well-Known Member
Thought McPake was decent and with better players around him could have been a lot better imo, unfortunately he had Chris Coleman as his boss, ‘nuff said plus he spent too much time on the treatment table.
 

DundeeFan

New Member
Thought McPake was decent and with better players around him could have been a lot better imo, unfortunately he had Chris Coleman as his boss, ‘nuff said plus he spent too much time on the treatment table.
Funnily enough, he rates Coleman as his best manager. He doesn't seem much of a fan of Boothroyd due to the fact the players weren't allowed to pass the ball even in training - but admits that style suited him more and he says he performed better for him.
 

Magwitch

Well-Known Member
Funnily enough, he rates Coleman as his best manager. He doesn't seem much of a fan of Boothroyd due to the fact the players weren't allowed to pass the ball even in training - but admits that style suited him more and he says he performed better for him.
Bloody hell if Coleman was his best manager he’s had a crap career poor bugger.
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
Sorry if this has been posted already! Unsure what your opinion on him as a footballer was, but thought this was worth sharing:


If you're only interested in the Coventry stuff, skip to the 22 minute mark. He talks about a moment where you were 2-0 down and at half-time Chris Coleman unzipped his trousers and grabbed his balls and asked McPake if he had any of these - so fair worth listening to!


If you see the highlights of the game in question against Leicester you can see Coleman looking like a psycho for most of the first half. Unrelated but used to go to Dens quite often in my uni days-do they still do lukewarm bridies?
 

skybluegod

Well-Known Member
I think a lot of them liked him because he was one of the lads, rather than because of his managerial skills. The Sunderland netflix documentary showed up these limitations perfectly, especially an interview with Aiden McGeady which was really damning.

Don't think Aiden McGeady is one to go off, considering he has an appalling attitude himself. Hence being bombed out by Phil Parkinson.

Don't massively rate Coleman myself. Just find it interesting that players that have worked with him seem to think he is a decent manager, whether that's because he is one of the lads I don't know.

But trusting a Netflix documentary that is about entertainment and will portray people how the director wants them be portrayed is not something I am inclined to base my opinion on although the series was a fantastic insight.
 

Legia Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
Don't think Aiden McGeady is one to go off, considering he has an appalling attitude himself. Hence being bombed out by Phil Parkinson.

Don't massively rate Coleman myself. Just find it interesting that players that have worked with him seem to think he is a decent manager, whether that's because he is one of the lads I don't know.

But trusting a Netflix documentary that is about entertainment and will portray people how the director wants them be portrayed is not something I am inclined to base my opinion on although the series was a fantastic insight.

I base my opinion on him through our finishing 17th and 19th during his seasons in charge, despite being able to call on the likes of Westwood, Cranie, Dann, Turner, Fox, Gunnarsson, Tabb, Mifsud and Best . Not forgetting loan players like Henderson, Cork and Van Aanholt too. All of these players bar Mifsud went onto play in the Premier League, so expecting his team to challenge for the play offs was not too unreasonable. The Netflix documentary simply reaffirmed my opinion. He was also a disastrous appointment for our brightest youth player at the time in Kevin Thornton. Having a manager who liked a drink himself was not a great example to a young lad in desperate need of some mature guidance.
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
I base my opinion on him through our finishing 17th and 19th during his seasons in charge, despite being able to call on the likes of Westwood, Cranie, Dann, Turner, Fox, Gunnarsson, Tabb, Mifsud and Best . Not forgetting loan players like Henderson, Cork and Van Aanholt too. All of these players bar Mifsud went onto play in the Premier League, so expecting his team to challenge for the play offs was not too unreasonable. The Netflix documentary simply reaffirmed my opinion. He was also a disastrous appointment for our brightest youth player at the time in Kevin Thornton. Having a manager who liked a drink himself was not a great example to a young lad in desperate need of some mature guidance.

The defence was okay and as you say went onto achieve better things than CCFC but the midfield was weak. This was a team looking to get into the Premier League and it featured Doyle who never got another Championship club after us and played in League 1 and 2 for the rest of his career, Buzelin who went to SPL played 4 games and that was his career over and Osbourne who went to SPL
 
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SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
What's your opinion of Pressley? He's a bit of a laughing stock in Scotland.

He’s like marmite. He did better in his first season when we were playing away from home in Northampton. We returned to the Ricoh and lost key players in Callum Wilson, Leon Clarke, Franck Moussa, Carl Baker and Cyrus Christie - he wasn’t given any money to spend but the players he did bring in were not very good. We lost to Worcester City in the FA Cup, he talked about banishing players then the next week they were in the team when he realised he had to play them. After that the writing was on the wall for him and he hasn’t gone on to any success after leaving us. I think most of our fans appreciate the job he did in the first season anyway
 

Legia Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
What's your opinion of Pressley? He's a bit of a laughing stock in Scotland.

Started ok and had difficult task of managing us through our time spent in Northampton and a points deduction. That season he had an exciting forward line, which he had to break up in the mid season transfer window and from then on things gradually unravelled. Once we moved back to Cov the team had changed for the worse and he couldn't turn it round. I always thought he came across ok, and to be fair he probably managed us during the period that our owners were at their least supportive, but his subsequent career doesn't suggest it was wrong to sack him.

Oh..... and as a player he gave away too many penalties :)
 

Offhegoes

Well-Known Member
Coleman was awful. Had the best budget out of all the managers post relegation from Premiership, but the team failed to improve. He talked a good game, and used to ramble on pre and post match, but most of it was bollocks. I thought we looked decent under Boothroyd early on, and he made us a tougher team, but the results started to nosedive, and then it was Andy Thorn...
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
Coleman was awful. Had the best budget out of all the managers post relegation from Premiership, but the team failed to improve. He talked a good game, and used to ramble on pre and post match, but most of it was bollocks. I thought we looked decent under Boothroyd early on, and he made us a tougher team, but the results started to nosedive, and then it was Andy Thorn...

Under Boothroyd we were 4th or 5th with about a third of the season played, Turner got injured against Leeds and it all unravelled there to our customary 18th but I don’t think the squad was good enough anyway to maintain it
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
What’s happening to your league @DundeeFan? I am not familiar with the Scottish Championship but looking at the table you finished third and in a play off position?
 

wingy

Well-Known Member
Under Boothroyd we were 4th or 5th with about a third of the season played, Turner got injured against Leeds and it all unravelled there to our customary 18th but I don’t think the squad was good enough anyway to maintain it
Combination of Turner and then the signing of King saga .
Ultimately exposing the chasm in the boardroom .
Hardly a surprise it all imploded with that background .
Who knows though certain managers may have revelled in the adversity.

Edit:- Just think it must be very difficult when the dynamic changes when you're within it.
 

DundeeFan

New Member
What’s happening to your league @DundeeFan? I am not familiar with the Scottish Championship but looking at the table you finished third and in a play off position?
Clubs voted to end the league and our rivals Dundee United will go up. Play-offs scrapped with a promise of league reconstruction to be discussed.

This is all being held up due to Rangers having some 'evidence' that clubs were 'bullied' into voting a certain way which they've so far refused to release. Drama, drama, drama.
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
Under Boothroyd we were 4th or 5th with about a third of the season played, Turner got injured against Leeds and it all unravelled there to our customary 18th but I don’t think the squad was good enough anyway to maintain it

Like Mowbray he only had one approach and when it was found out he couldn't adjust
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
What's your opinion of Pressley? He's a bit of a laughing stock in Scotland.

Very committed and clearly cared a lot for the club but just a crap manager. His 'banished' press conference probably lost him the dressing room but having just lost at home to non league garbage I think he was completely justified in doing it.
 

wingy

Well-Known Member
Very committed and clearly cared a lot for the club but just a crap manager. His 'banished' press conference probably lost him the dressing room but having just lost at home to non league garbage I think he was completely justified in doing it.
For half a season he managed to motivate a bunch of talented players .
Maybe with the benefit of one or two playing below their level .
To be exposed once they became unavailable to him .
Wouldn't be the first in the game to come a cropper that way.
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
For half a season he managed to motivate a bunch of talented players .
Maybe with the benefit of one or two playing below their level .
To be exposed once they became unavailable to him .
Wouldn't be the first in the game to come a cropper that way.

Think the 'incident' he referred to was a few players laughing after the Worcester game and not giving much of a shit.
 

gspotgaz

Well-Known Member
What was the proper backstory about the incident in changing room after Worcester game? Any insight from anyone?

Christ that was a real low point.
 

Tartan Specials

Well-Known Member
Sorry if this has been posted already! Unsure what your opinion on him as a footballer was, but thought this was worth sharing:


If you're only interested in the Coventry stuff, skip to the 22 minute mark. He talks about a moment where you were 2-0 down and at half-time Chris Coleman unzipped his trousers and grabbed his balls and asked McPake if he had any of these - so fair worth listening to!
 

Tartan Specials

Well-Known Member
Slightly similar topic - Jordan Turnbull played for Thistle in the SPL for half a season and was a superb player. Where did it go wrong after he returned to Cov? Saw that he was capped for England at U19 & 20, so bit of a fall from grace to end up at Northampton.
 

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