He's got more out of the players at the club than other managers have, and is working with a massively weakened squad. Agree that avoiding relegation will be tough, but that would be a near certainty with most other managers-and certainly anyone else we could afford. Bring in who you like, unless they bring 3 experienced senior pro's with them it will make little positive impact-and indeed most likely destroy what we do have.
So...would you say that Nigel Adkins is a useless manager, because he's a physio-even less football knowledge required in that role than a scout! Where are Sothampton in the league? Hmm, logic looking a bit shaky now, isn't it? And ask Tranmere fans about their physio-manager, Les Parry: they'll tell you he's got them playing decent football on a minuscule budget through fostering a strong team-spirit and bringing through the youngsters. He loves his club, is a down-to-earth working class football man and displays a sense of humour in most interviews brought about by constantly battling against adversity-sound familiar?
I think you've bought into some mythical idea of what a manager actually is. We're the only nation to put so much power into the hands of one man: across Europe the Director of Football/First Team Manager model prevails. At most big British clubs, if there isn't such a structure then you'll find the manager has a huge team of staff with him that do much of his work-certainly the coaching. Big Sam has as many coaches as players! So to point to Thorn and say "he's not a manager" is missing the point: he has a vast football knowledge from scouting, and superb leadership qualities. He also has massive experience of a long and successful playing career, much of it spent at clubs with no money. He doesn't have a large team of coaches to help him-just SH and Oggy. He's also still our scout-and a man whose judgement of ability would have reaped dividends if backed during the summer. He knows exactly what he needs to give the side what it's missing-he hasn't been given the resources to get the key ingredients. But this is well documented.
He's not a SISU puppet at all. He was actually appointed by Ranson, and Hoffman has revealed that he had long ago discussed with Ranson the idea of Thorn as manager with Ranson in a Director of Football role. To tar him with the same brush as SISU shows how misguided or ill-informed you are. But then ignorance can often lead to such ill-founded sentiments.
It's clear to listen to him what he thinks, but if he comes out and blatantly slags off his bosses he'll be fired. He's also aware that constantly moaning about a lack of resources won't change the situation-indeed it would just give his players an "excuse". And seeing as he's clearly very clever as was as funny, he uses humour to get out little quips that do enough to reveal what he thinks-but nothing that SISU's cronies would pick up on. I guess you missed them too? :laugh:
Thorny is a battler, a passionate man, someone most fans can identify with, NORMAL, a believer in passing football, a leader and the best man-manager we've had in years. He'll learn more tactical tricks as he gains experience, and he's our best chance of avoiding relegation. I just pray that his plan to play the long-game in hope of a Hoffman takeover pays off. After what he's had, even a couple of million to spend would feel like 30m.
