I think the pro-Black brigade fail to look at the whole picture when he was in charge. Admittedly he had some spectacular results big wins home and away and our fortunes improved, but he lost a lot too and changed the team after winning 6-1 i think it was to play in the FA Cup against lower league opposition and got beat and that is the game i think that cost him his job in the eyes of McGinnity and co. Probably was harsh sacking him at the time and why not have given him a stab at it BUT he was no messiah.
Personally, I find the opposite to be true - namely that many fans now write off Black as being overrated without carefully scrutinising what he achieved in comparison to other managers (the big picture, so to speak).
McGinnity didn't sack Black because CCFC got knocked out of a cup; he sacked Black because he was an utter fool, blinded by the Premiership bling of Peter Reid. Just like the attempted changing of the badge and legal action against the GMK webmaster, it was another moronic action by one of the poorest, most ill-equipped chairmen we have ever had.
It's worth noting, btw, that fans DID realise at the time what they had in Black - there was the famous 'Black Sunday' where fans protested the insane sacking by wearing black.
It's been nearly eight years since he was sacked. Time has moved on. There's a ton of baggage between CCFC and Black. It's a non-starter to suggest he should/could return. But I'll always be happy to defend what he achieved. Here's a post I wrote a few days ago which I think does assess the big picture...
'1. the average points per game went from 1.2 under McAllister to 1.6 under Black
2. the league win percentage went from 26% under McAllister to 50% under Black
3. the average goals scored per game went from 1.1 to 1.88
4. we scored three goals or more in a third of all Black's games
5. the average point total under Black is playoff calibre the majority of years
6. the average goal difference would have resulted in +33 over the course of a season
And he did all this with a less-than-stellar squad playing some really exciting football. I wouldn't bet on us finding another manager who has that kind of impact on the side anytime soon.
I understand some will say it was the 'new manager effect', but this wasn't merely scraping out a few extra initial wins because of added gut-busting effort to impress the new gaffer. This was a total turnaround over a period of 18 league game where we were really giving a hiding to other teams.
We go from manager to manager looking for that magic touch, and when we finally found the guy he was sacked for being 'inconsistent'. We do need to move on from Black, but it's a huge mistake to dismiss what he achieved and what we lost.'
