Would Gordon Strachan have won us promotion? (1 Viewer)

Sterling Archer said:

We should've never left Highfield Road. It just needed a lick of paint and it would've been fine for us.

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And a tad more redevelopment.
How much was the East stand reconstruction,£4-5M.?

Did'nt we get a grant of around £3M. towards that?

Houchens Head said:

You obviously didn't get to that many games under Strap-on then. He was f**kin' useless!

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I liked the fact that as he was still registered as a player he could name himself as a sub and then run up and down the touchline shouting instructions at players. Then there was the one ref who hadn't clocked he was on the teamsheet twice and just told him to go and sit down despite protestations that he was a sub. I seem to remember a discussion with the fourth official and a look at the teamsheet were needed before GS was believed.

Houchens Head said:

You obviously didn't get to that many games under Strap-on then. He was f**kin' useless!

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Really? Worse than Coleman? Boothroyd? McAllister? Reid? Thorn? Dowie? Neal? Butcher? Gould? Mackay?

No, I didn't think so.

Grendel said:

Really? Worse than Coleman? Boothroyd? McAllister? Reid? Thorn? Dowie? Neal? Butcher? Gould? Mackay?

No, I didn't think so.

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With the players and money he had at his disposal I would counter argue that yes he was.

It wasn't just the relegation but also the whole season not winning away, his failure to make substitutions until ridiculously late, his tactical naivety, playing players out of position etc. etc.

And he was, and still is, a bit of a prick.

LastGarrison said:

With the players and money he had at his disposal I would counter argue that yes he was.

It wasn't just the relegation but also the whole season not winning away, his failure to make substitutions until ridiculously late, his tactical naivety, playing players out of position etc. etc.

And he was, and still is, a bit of a prick.

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and I would counter by saying that by losing Keane and Macca, the team lost its two best players, of which he had no control over. Also in the premiership era the spend was less by most teams just more than our normal. Its funny how the season of not winning away corresponded with a great season at HR and us being called the entertainers and I seem to remember the Sheff Wed game as being a celebration of a very presentable season........funny how your mind plays tricks.

Dublin, Boetang, Keane, Macca, Froggatt.......I think that Strachan gave us a some great times, in fact the end of an era, some might say. Not his fault I say.

Strachan did undeniably bring us some great times in his tenure but he was also responsible for relegation despite spending more money than any other Coventry City manager has.

It was absolutely criminial that a side containing an in form Gary McAllister, Mustapha Hadji, Youssef Chippo and Robbie Keane didn't win an away game all season.

I still haven't forgiven him for pushing the leagues top goal scorer to Centre Back in the FA Cup Quarter Final against Sheffield United. Why break up that super partnership of Dublin and Huckerby just to accomodate your wasted £4m signing of a striker (who we didn't need)?

riyadhskyblue said:

and I would counter by saying that by losing Keane and Macca, the team lost its two best players, of which he had no control over. Also in the premiership era the spend was less by most teams just more than our normal. Its funny how the season of not winning away corresponded with a great season at HR and us being called the entertainers and I seem to remember the Sheff Wed game as being a celebration of a very presentable season........funny how your mind plays tricks.

Dublin, Boetang, Keane, Macca, Froggatt.......I think that Strachan gave us a some great times, in fact the end of an era, some might say. Not his fault I say.

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Which makes it all the more ridiculous that he couldn't work out how to grind out an away win. Surely with a side that had such an array of talent, winning one out of 19 was not unfeasible? Again, tactical naiveity and having no plan b.

He was at the helm when we had some great players but I wouldn't say he gave us the great times. Surely if he wasn't too blame for losing Keane/McAlister he also can't take the acclaim for bringing them in?

Keane and McAlister were massive losses but if he knew they were going why didn't he replace them sufficiently? He was certainly given the money too...

Strachan was dealt a bad blow in the summer of 2000, losing Keane and more importantly McCallister (who went on to have a superb season at Liverpool).
That alone was the nail in the coffin. Bellamy went on to be an excellent player but in 2000/2001 he was playing his first season after almost a year out with a bad knee injury, it was too much to ask him to replace Keane immediately. The other problem was Strachan's insistence on not changing his defence, which meant we had to endure 3-4 seasons of Paul Williams, Richard Shaw & Marcus Hall, who although triers, were simply not premiership players.
We nearly got away with it, the signing of Hartson got the momentum going again, but it was too little, too late.
We probably should of got rid of Strachan in January that season, and a new manager might of kept us up..If he had, Bellamy & Hartson would of probably stayed and we would of had a great season in 2001/2002.....It's all ifs and buts, but I remember alot of the Strachan years in fondness, the FA Cup run in 1998, the entertainers in 99/00...We still had shocking cup exits (as normal) and when we were bad, we were very bad, but compared to the Butcher, Howe and Phil Neal days it had to be better...Surely?