Heckingbottom

[shabbagaz]

hecky should and will be given a chance next season, he's done great stuff with fuck all budget so let's see what he does when he has some. He already said if he had budget he wouldn't play a back 5.

What's that then? We played some good stuff the first few months of the season, granted but I can't see what he's done that can be classed as 'great'.

 

[bobbydavro]

Please can you enlighten me on the great stuff he’s done , players seem to have gone backwards in form especially the ones he’s signed , negative tactics, wedded to one system almost every game , doesn’t seem to know what his best team is , substitutions never seem to work, motivation in many games almost non existent. I look forward to your reply .🤔

devine, dobbin, armstrong 3 excellent signings. shipping out shite like thor and mads. We were top 6 first half of the season when everyone was wetting themselves. Yes its dwindled but that's cos we dont have any depth, we got bad injuries and bans and armstrong went back. What he brought in for fuck all was the best transfer window this club has ever had. If the budgets there he's earnt the chance for me.

 

[Lord Edgington]

What's that then? We played some good stuff the first few months of the season, granted but I can't see what he's done that can be classed as 'great'.

The bit i struggle with is how we appeared to be competing at the top to the turgid nonsense we witnessed on Saturday, is it that other managers find us out and we have no plan B, is it formation ?, players simply switching off ?
I bow to the better knowledge on here because i really am at a loss

 

[SF89]

Why can’t we move from an attitude of “not bad” to “fucking amazing”?

I refuse to believe there isn’t an outstanding manager available out there to perform much better than the dross we’ve endured over the last 5+ years.

Settling for someone like Heckingbottom, who’s had two years to achieve fuck all, is one of many things that hold us back.

The only thing keeping him here appears to be a fear that someone else might be worse.

It’s fucking maddening. Everything is “that’ll do”. How about some genuine aspiration for something better for a change.

And before anyone asks, no, I have no idea who this genius manager is and it’s not my job to find them. Look to the Chief Exec paid a small fortune in salary for that.

Because a manager can only do his best with the squad available to him. Our squad really isn’t that good and any manager capable of performing the miracles necessary to get us to play offs will have higher aspirations than a Preston North end with zero budget

 

[BPIG]

It's my youngest's birthday party on the 2nd but I've been given the wife's blessing to go to the game. Now I'm really fucked. I'm gonna have to go to Deepdale, the alternative doesn't bare thinking about.

I'm hoping Stalybridge can win their Play Off semi final on 28th cos then the final will be on the 2nd and I've got a great excuse not to go to Deepdale!

 

[SF89]

The bit i struggle with is how we appeared to be competing at the top to the turgid nonsense we witnessed on Saturday, is it that other managers find us out and we have no plan B, is it formation ?, players simply switching off ?
I bow to the better knowledge on here because i really am at a loss

My view is start of the season teams didn’t realise the strengths of Dobbin and Devine + Armstrong and gave them too much space. Now they’ve realised if they play a low block we don’t have the ball playing cb’s or creativity to unlock a tight defence hence why our home games in particular are so dead to watch

 

[Lord Edgington]

My view is start of the season teams didn’t realise the strengths of Dobbin and Devine + Armstrong and gave them too much space. Now they’ve realised if they play a low block we don’t have the ball playing cb’s or creativity to unlock a tight defence hence why our home games in particular are so dead to watch

hence being found out ?

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

I'd call it bottom half again, as well be closer to the drop than 6th after 46 games. An improvement on him nearly relegating us though. Fair play.

The final league position doesn’t really tell the full story of the season.

You could frame a lower-midtable finish as some improvement on last year, especially given the fact we were very nearly relegated. But when you take the wider context into account, sitting in the top six as recently as January, it becomes hard to view it as anything other than a disappointing end result.

Ultimately, the drop-off in the second half of the season is what really defines it, and that’s what will stick in the memory more than the final table position.

 

[bobbydavro]

The final league position doesn’t really tell the full story of the season.

You could frame a lower-midtable finish as some improvement on last year, especially given the fact we were very nearly relegated. But when you take the wider context into account, sitting in the top six as recently as January, it becomes hard to view it as anything other than a disappointing end result.

Ultimately, the drop-off in the second half of the season is what really defines it, and that’s what will stick in the memory more than the final table position.

i genuinely see it as what a good season we have had. if the poor run of form had come at the start and we were on good now noone would complain. its been a good season with unfortunately key players missing at a critical time that cost us a run at play offs.

compare it to last year and anything under lowe and we have to go back to neil to have a season as good as this. been some fabulous goals, some great highlights. I've enjoyed it, shame about the injury to iversen and dumb shit from magic or we would still be in with a sniff next week.

 

[HunterLionheart]

Why can’t we move from an attitude of “not bad” to “fucking amazing”?

I refuse to believe there isn’t an outstanding manager available out there to perform much better than the dross we’ve endured over the last 5+ years.

Settling for someone like Heckingbottom, who’s had two years to achieve fuck all, is one of many things that hold us back.

The only thing keeping him here appears to be a fear that someone else might be worse.

It’s fucking maddening. Everything is “that’ll do”. How about some genuine aspiration for something better for a change.

And before anyone asks, no, I have no idea who this genius manager is and it’s not my job to find them. Look to the Chief Exec paid a small fortune in salary for that.

Most managers are much of a muchness. Very, very few make a massive difference, and we certainly can't afford an established one who does

Only hope we ever have of outperforming our natural level, based on finances etc, is getting very lucky with player signings, or very lucky with an untested manager appointment.

Unfortunately, the last opportunity for that, the club and a large amount of the fanbase wanted the safety blanket appointment of Hecky over the higher risk, higher reward option of Barry-Murphy.

 

[MBcha]

You'd be better off enduring the birthday party.

You've not met my youngest.

 

[Gordon Bennett]

The bit i struggle with is how we appeared to be competing at the top to the turgid nonsense we witnessed on Saturday, is it that other managers find us out and we have no plan B, is it formation ?, players simply switching off ?
I bow to the better knowledge on here because i really am at a loss

I really don’t think we can overestimate the impact of Armstrong leaving in January, we just fell apart after that.

With Armstrong - 1.56 points per game (around the playoffs form)
Without Armstrong - 1.05 points per game (relegation form)

With Armstrong - 1.55 goals per game
Without Armstrong - 0.9 goals per game

He really was that important. Being able to receive the ball in midfield and do something positive with it made a massive difference.

Since he left, our scoring has only picked up when we haven’t had two CDMs on the field and Moran has been in the side, but he was inexplicably taken off on Saturday.

We also have to factor in things like Iversen’s injury and Osmajic’s ban, but by far the biggest influence in our collapse was the loss of Armstrong.

 

[Lord Edgington]

Most managers are much of a muchness. Very, very few make a massive difference, and we certainly can't afford an established one who does

Only hope we ever have of outperforming our natural level, based on finances etc, is getting very lucky with player signings, or very lucky with an untested manager appointment.

Unfortunately, the last opportunity for that, the club and a large amount of the fanbase wanted the safety blanket appointment of Hecky over the higher risk, higher reward option of Barry-Murphy.

pretty much where i am
The avalanche of sack him on Saturday was inevitable but frankly pointless as we would end up with yet another king is dead long live the king scenario as we have had since probably Moyes went on to greater and better things

 

[RedScarBelgrade]

I've said this before and I still believe that PH is a proper football man and a capable manager, however he appears to be completely out of ideas with this group, he doesn't appear to have complete faith in his squad and as a result he's gone cautious with selections and tactics and has got himself somewhat stuck in a rut.

Some managers are skilled at getting the best out of an unfancied group of players, others operate better at 'bigger' clubs with squads more set up for success - PH seems to me to be the latter, which is why if we were taken over and there was a radical overhaul of the squad, I'd be prepared to let him continue in post and see what he can do with a more talented group, but in truth (even though I think the takeover will go through), I'm not expecting that massive refresh of the squad straight away and it's for this reason I think it's best that the club and manager part ways at the end of the season.

He's done his best, North End is a tough gig for any manager.

spot on !

 

[jakehake]

It's my youngest's birthday party on the 2nd but I've been given the wife's blessing to go to the game. Now I'm really fucked. I'm gonna have to go to Deepdale, the alternative doesn't bare thinking about.

I'm sadly coming up for the weekend and feel obligated to go and watch and take my Dad on to suffer it because this lifetime of suffering North End is all his fault.

My eldest might have found the best solution though, he supports us but is coming up with a bunch of his workmates so he's ended up with a ticket in the away end so he might enjoy the day either way at least.

 

[Joanpne]

The bit i struggle with is how we appeared to be competing at the top to the turgid nonsense we witnessed on Saturday, is it that other managers find us out and we have no plan B, is it formation ?, players simply switching off ?
I bow to the better knowledge on here because i really am at a loss

You and me both. I just don’t get it.

 

[shabbagaz]

pretty much where i am
The avalanche of sack him on Saturday was inevitable but frankly pointless as we would end up with yet another king is dead long live the king scenario as we have had since probably Moyes went on to greater and better things

I agree this would be the case under the current ownership. It's why I've pinned all my hopes on this takeover going through as I believe we need a thorough clean sweep.

 

[monky1234]

Most managers are much of a muchness. Very, very few make a massive difference, and we certainly can't afford an established one who does

Only hope we ever have of outperforming our natural level, based on finances etc, is getting very lucky with player signings, or very lucky with an untested manager appointment.

Unfortunately, the last opportunity for that, the club and a large amount of the fanbase wanted the safety blanket appointment of Hecky over the higher risk, higher reward option of Barry-Murphy.

The sad thing is, this is basically what the crux of it is.

Player recruitment is by far and away the most important part when it comes to promotion/relegation. The final piece of the puzzle is then hiring a manager that fits in with the type of players you've got, and not going for something against it, like Leicester did with Rowett all because they were struggling so decided to go for that type of manager instead.

Unfortunately our team was boring and pretty shite, so Heckingbottom was probably one of the better fits for us, outside of a John Eustace. But Eustace wouldn't have done anywhere as well for us as he has done for Derby as they backed him well with the type of players that fit into how he wants to play. Wouldn't have got that here.

 

[Mooney magic]

Hold on, it can be both things.

Ridsdale's management of his manager over the Lang signing was piss poor. A manager whose win ratio is shit and position was really in question making a signing not in our long term benefit. Record signing too. Poor as it comes that.

My main point is that Heckingbottom seems to have a complete licence to failure. Any other manager would be out by now. But because the majority on here wanted this “safe pair of hands”, they’re reluctant to call a spade, a spade. It’s soooo easy to blame everyone else.

 

[simo]

pretty much where i am
The avalanche of sack him on Saturday was inevitable but frankly pointless as we would end up with yet another king is dead long live the king scenario as we have had since probably Moyes went on to greater and better things

Isn’t this precisely the point? Isn’t everyone sick of pragmatism by now?