Who Has Been Your Teams Greatest Manager?
Permalink
Permalink
This question is asked not for just the current, but for the past. as I totally believe that a club should at every opportunity honour the players and managers that made there club great.
For me being an Arsenal fan, Im going to start of with who I believe was Arsenal's greatest manager, and my selection is Bertie Mee. My reasoning is that Bertie wasnt blessed with the greatest team on paper, but it was skill as a man manager, and his unfaltering belief in his players that took him to something that not even Herbert Chapman could do, and win the double.
Mee was lucky that had a great coach in Don Howe, and some decent leaders in McLintock, McNabb, Ball and Radford, but he blended young players like Charlie George, Ray Kennedy and of course the still there Pat Rice into a team which surpased the readl dominant team of the period that great Leeds side that evryone knows.
So thats my choice for Arsenal's greatest manager. Tell us yourss and the resons why you would pick them over anone else.
Enjoy
Permalink
Permalink
I'll go for Herbert Chapman. My reasoning behind this decision is the fact that he truly was the man who made Arsenal and created a legacy. Bertie Mee's achievements are fantastic, as are George Graham's and of course Arsene Wenger's. But the reason i have gone for Chapman is the fact that he was a true visionary and innovator.
He introduced plenty into the English game including the advocation of numbers on shirts, new formations, new training methods and even helping in the design of Highbury and one of the old Arsenal crests.
Whilst the game is about the present and future, we must pay respect to the past, and what those before our time did to help pave the way for the world we live in today. Herbert Chapman was one of these men, and even the most biased fan must appreciate what he has done for Arsenal Football Club to make them the institution they are today.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
Being an Ipswich Town supporter makes this an easy and obvious one - John Duncan.
He was the least successful Town manager of the modern era, specialised in buying only below-average players, was despised by the fans, and abandoned the traditional passing game.
Yet I bumped into him in the carpark at Portman Road on the day he was sacked - he was coming back to clear out his desk - and he stopped and had a chat. That's quality.
Permalink
Permalink
Dave Sexton 1975/77, Terry Venables 1981/83, Gerry Francis in his first spell 92/93. At QPR although back in 1980 the gaffer was Tommy Docherty. It's hard not to like the guy, he made it fun being at Loftus Road. I felt sorry for him a Man united. He had the players, the style yet won nothing. The team that lost to Southampton in the cup final would have ripped the saints to shreds any other day.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
Permalink
Permalink
John Lambie.
Not only our greatest manager but also provider of some of the best, and stupidest, quotes ever.
One example;
After a Thistle player got knocked out after a clash of heads;
Team Doctor: " He's out of it boss. He doesn't know who or where he is"
Lambie: "Tell him he's Pele and f**king get him back out there"
Quality 
Jag2008-04-21 08:11:51
Apparently I'm apathetic, but I couldn't care less.
"Being a Partick Thistle fan sets you apart. It means youre a free thinker. It also means your team has no money." Tim Luckhurst, The Independent, 4th December 2003
Permalink
Permalink
Robson... or Ramsey... but probably Robson.
Permalink
Permalink
Yeah, same as cheeps and jinky said
Big jock.. even though not in my time.
ive got a song that wont take long, Adelaide are rubbish.. the second verse is same as the first.. ADELAIDE ARE RUBBISH
Permalink
Permalink
Shanks without doubt. Greatest of all, ever...
Permalink
Permalink
I think there'd be a fair case for Paisley if it was based solely on trophies....
...but Shankly was/is the spiritual father of the club, so he gets it.
Permalink
Permalink
I think there'd be a fair case for Paisley if it was based solely on trophies....
...but Shankly was/is the spiritual father of the club, so he gets it.
Yeah, I briefly considered that point but when you consider that Shanks built the team that Paisley inherited and Paisley learned the managerial ropes in Shanks' boot room then that decides it for me.
Permalink
Permalink
Herbert Chapman for me and for all the reasons that Buffon II mentioned.
Permalink
Permalink
Being an Ipswich Town supporter makes this an easy and obvious one - John Duncan.
He was the least successful Town manager of the modern era, specialised in buying only below-average players, was despised by the fans, and abandoned the traditional passing game.
Yet I bumped into him in the carpark at Portman Road on the day he was sacked - he was coming back to clear out his desk - and he stopped and had a chat. That's quality.
The real answer is of course Sir Bobby Robson. I have never met him but a friend of a friend has and calls him "Bobby Hundreds". Why is that? Well...
Bobby was signing copies of his autobiography and he had attracted a big crowd in the book shop. This friend of a friend was in the queue and when he got to his turn he said :
"you must have signed quite a few books today, Bobby!"
to which the great man replied, while signing the book, "Hundreds lad, Hundreds!"
When he left the shop he had a look at Sir Bobby's scrawl in the front - where it said
"All the best
Bobby Hundreds"
Permalink
Permalink
[QUOTE=Jag]John Lambie.
Not only our greatest manager but also provider of some of the best, and stupidest, quotes ever.
One example;
After a Thistle player got knocked out after a clash of heads;
Team Doctor: " He's out of it boss. He doesn't know who or where he is"
Lambie: "Tell him he's Pele and f**king get him back out there"
Quality
Thats one of the funniest things that I have ever heard. Sounds something like Cloughie would say. Classic
Permalink
Permalink
Yeah, a guy called Colin McGlashan was the player involved and it's the nearest he would ever have got to being compared to Pele. The great Lambino was a bit Cloughie-esque. The club made a collection of 6 t-shirts with some of his sayings on them, apart from the Pele one, there's:
"We've shot ourselves in the elbow"
"Our first goal was pure textile"
"See these three...they're a pair of lazy b******s"
"Ma heid's buzzled" (You have to be Scottish to get that one, I think)
"My blood pressure is through the moon"
Apparently I'm apathetic, but I couldn't care less.
"Being a Partick Thistle fan sets you apart. It means youre a free thinker. It also means your team has no money." Tim Luckhurst, The Independent, 4th December 2003
Permalink
Permalink
cliff britton - he bought Waggy, Butler and Houghton 40,000 pounds each - big money in the early/mid sixties - provided the basis for our best team before the current lot
peter taylor - the recent rises
but i really hope that they will be eclipsed by Phil Brown
Permalink
Permalink
Most Chelsea fans would say Jose, or possibly Dave Sexton. However, I have a sneaking regard for Tommy Docherty in the sixties. He took Chelsea from an ageing rabble, a music hall joke, into a stylish, competititve team and laid the foundations that Sexton built on. In short, he made Chelsea fashionable and put his faith in youth - pretty much unheard of at the time - Osgood, Bonetti, Hollins, Venables, Harris, Cooke etc. all brought through by the Doc. We won promotion, a league cup, got into Europe, lost an FA Cup Final and played exciting swashbuckling football. He deserved more.
Permalink
Permalink
Most Chelsea fans would say Jose, or possibly Dave Sexton. However, I have a sneaking regard for Tommy Docherty in the sixties. He took Chelsea from an ageing rabble, a music hall joke, into a stylish, competititve team and laid the foundations that Sexton built on. In short, he made Chelsea fashionable and put his faith in youth - pretty much unheard of at the time - Osgood, Bonetti, Hollins, Venables, Harris, Cooke etc. all brought through by the Doc. We won promotion, a league cup, got into Europe, lost an FA Cup Final and played exciting swashbuckling football. He deserved more.
Don't leave out Dave Webb, the awesome CD who was also great in goal on occassion!
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
Permalink
Permalink