| Worst ever Town manager 10:17 - Nov 30 with 3460 views | Herbivore |
Thought it might be interesting to revisit this topic. Back in the day it used to be, for most of us, a straight fight between Keane and Jewell, but then Hurst came along and rendered that debate somewhat pointless by being demonstrably terrible. That said, after 2 years of Lambert it's hard to not consider him a genuine challenger for this crown. Some nice words and deeds in his first 6 months in charge aside, he's proved to be an absolute car crash in every way.
So who edges it for you? It's a tough one. Hurst was clearly a catastrophe but he was only in the job a very short time and his record in the Championship was no worse than Lambert's was. Lambert's statute as a contender has been cemented by him being allowed to damage the club over a much longer period. He's overseen relegation, a midtable League 1 finish, and just over a quarter of a season of further midtable League 1 performances. That's a lengthy record of being terrible. Hurst at least was gone after 4 months and arguably we couldn't be in any worse a state now had we persevered with him. I probably still just about lean towards Hurst because he achieved so much damage in such a short space of time, but it's a tight race now and I never thought that would be possible given how poor Hurst was. |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 10:53 - Nov 30 with 1203 views | Herbivore |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:48 - Nov 30 by Dubtractor |
I remember the heady days when John Duncan was the worst, but he'd barely scrape the top 5 these days. |
He still makes the top 5 for me, just about.
1. Hurst (by a nose)
2. Lambert
3. Keane
4. Jewell
5. Duncan | |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 10:55 - Nov 30 with 1201 views | Dyland |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:53 - Nov 30 by TNBlue |
All our managerial appointments since ME took over have been disappointing.
Hurst is the worst for setting us on the unstoppable slide. Lambert a close second for not being able to stop the slide into league one and consequently keeping us stuck there. But the real damage was done by Hurst. |
A mental gymnast will be along soon to argue McCarthy set us on the unstoppable slide....
(runs away) |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 10:55 - Nov 30 with 1197 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
It's difficult because everyone post-Keane is trying to fix the mess he created. Keane also had more money to spend than everyone else - much more so compared to Mick, Hurst and Lambert.
No sure how you assert Hurst's record was no worse than Lambert's. Hurst only won one game, and that was a very flukey win. Also not sure how you conclude we've had just over a quarter of a season of further midtable League 1 performances, when we haven't been in midtable at all this season.
For me Keane still edges it as he started the current malaise, did lots of damage behind the scenes, pissed a lot of people off and pissed the most money up the wall.
Then Hurst, as he dismantled a reasonable Championship team and proceeded to only win one game (as I said, flukily) and left us in a real state adrift at the bottom. He was SO bad the usually patient Evans got rid of him after only a dozen or so games.
The longer Lambert fails at League 1 level the higher he moves up my list though, purely because it's a lower level than the rest. His only saving grace keeping him 3rd is the carp he inherited. |  |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 10:55 - Nov 30 with 1199 views | davblue |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:53 - Nov 30 by TNBlue |
All our managerial appointments since ME took over have been disappointing.
Hurst is the worst for setting us on the unstoppable slide. Lambert a close second for not being able to stop the slide into league one and consequently keeping us stuck there. But the real damage was done by Hurst. |
Harsh on Mick. Mick whatever you think of him was a really good appointment. |  | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:57 - Nov 30 with 1187 views | davblue |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:55 - Nov 30 by The_Flashing_Smile |
It's difficult because everyone post-Keane is trying to fix the mess he created. Keane also had more money to spend than everyone else - much more so compared to Mick, Hurst and Lambert.
No sure how you assert Hurst's record was no worse than Lambert's. Hurst only won one game, and that was a very flukey win. Also not sure how you conclude we've had just over a quarter of a season of further midtable League 1 performances, when we haven't been in midtable at all this season.
For me Keane still edges it as he started the current malaise, did lots of damage behind the scenes, pissed a lot of people off and pissed the most money up the wall.
Then Hurst, as he dismantled a reasonable Championship team and proceeded to only win one game (as I said, flukily) and left us in a real state adrift at the bottom. He was SO bad the usually patient Evans got rid of him after only a dozen or so games.
The longer Lambert fails at League 1 level the higher he moves up my list though, purely because it's a lower level than the rest. His only saving grace keeping him 3rd is the carp he inherited. |
Think of the budget in league 1 in relative terms when judging Lambert. | | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:57 - Nov 30 with 1189 views | Herbivore |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:53 - Nov 30 by TNBlue |
All our managerial appointments since ME took over have been disappointing.
Hurst is the worst for setting us on the unstoppable slide. Lambert a close second for not being able to stop the slide into league one and consequently keeping us stuck there. But the real damage was done by Hurst. |
Not sure Mick could be described as disappointing. He kept us up fairly comfortably from a similarly bad position to the one Lambert inherited then had us challenging for the play offs over the next three seasons, before tailing off when we lost Murphy. His last season, atmosphere aside, wasn't all bad either. We were within touching distance of the top 6 until about February before falling away. Given the constraints he was working under, he did well. | |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 10:57 - Nov 30 with 1190 views | PJH |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:55 - Nov 30 by davblue |
Harsh on Mick. Mick whatever you think of him was a really good appointment. |
I don't think you need the 'whatever you think of him' in there-the rest of your post is sufficient and correct. |  | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:57 - Nov 30 with 1188 views | hype313 |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:55 - Nov 30 by The_Flashing_Smile |
It's difficult because everyone post-Keane is trying to fix the mess he created. Keane also had more money to spend than everyone else - much more so compared to Mick, Hurst and Lambert.
No sure how you assert Hurst's record was no worse than Lambert's. Hurst only won one game, and that was a very flukey win. Also not sure how you conclude we've had just over a quarter of a season of further midtable League 1 performances, when we haven't been in midtable at all this season.
For me Keane still edges it as he started the current malaise, did lots of damage behind the scenes, pissed a lot of people off and pissed the most money up the wall.
Then Hurst, as he dismantled a reasonable Championship team and proceeded to only win one game (as I said, flukily) and left us in a real state adrift at the bottom. He was SO bad the usually patient Evans got rid of him after only a dozen or so games.
The longer Lambert fails at League 1 level the higher he moves up my list though, purely because it's a lower level than the rest. His only saving grace keeping him 3rd is the carp he inherited. |
Yep, Keane was a disaster, and having read all others responses, you could argue they're all as equally bad as eachother in one way or another.
It's slim pickings across the board.
At least with Jewell, he had the grace to know the game was up and walk away. |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:00 - Nov 30 with 1173 views | gordon |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:50 - Nov 30 by Herbivore |
That's a decent take on it. Lambert does just seem to be utterly clueless, he doesn't seem to be able to coach or set up a side at all. It seems that coming in and giving everyone a lift is literally his only tangible skill as a manager, but that never lasts and for us it didn't see a bit uptick in results either. It's worth remembering that Hurst's selections and tactics were also erratic and incomprehensible for much of his brief stint as well though. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about Donacien at left wing back against Brentford. |
Absolutely, and Hurst was streets ahead at being sh*te in the transfer market, Lambert's transfer dealings have been OK, apart from the Collin Quaner transfer window which was bizarre.
Just think that the absolute nuts and bolts of being a football manager is consistently sending players onto the pitch with some kind of coherent gameplan, and the pile of evidence showing Lambert's inability to do this is definitely bigger than for any other ITFC manager in my time supporting the club (since Duncan).
Had Hurst got two years, suspect he could have been ahead, though. |  | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:03 - Nov 30 with 1163 views | CrayonKing |
I don't think its even close now. Hurst was disastrous, but Lambert had more games than Hurst that season and did even worse, despite some fairly significant loan signings.
Lambert's first season: Bottom of the Championship by a country mile. Worst league position for over 60 years. To his credit tried to engage with the fanbase more than anyone at the club had bothered to do for the previous god-knows-how-many years.
Lamberts second season: Mid-table league one. Worst league position since 1953.
Lambert's third season: Currently 6th in league one, but nobody believes we'll stay there. Bust-ups with staff and local media. Fans in open revolt.
God knows where we'll be if he's somehow allowed to see out the rest of his contract! |  | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:03 - Nov 30 with 1163 views | Dubtractor |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:53 - Nov 30 by Herbivore |
He still makes the top 5 for me, just about.
1. Hurst (by a nose)
2. Lambert
3. Keane
4. Jewell
5. Duncan |
Yeah, that is how I'd rank it too.
Possibly Mick McGiven shades out Duncan, some of the football under him was desperate. |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:03 - Nov 30 with 1166 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:57 - Nov 30 by davblue |
Think of the budget in league 1 in relative terms when judging Lambert. |
It's quite a hard one to judge to be honest. In terms of fees, Lambert spent half a million on KVY, nothing greater than that. We possibly have the highest wage bill in League 1 but that's only because many are still on Champ contracts.
Keane spent absolute millions. He wasted more than anyone else. [Post edited 30 Nov 2020 13:11]
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| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:05 - Nov 30 with 1152 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:57 - Nov 30 by hype313 |
Yep, Keane was a disaster, and having read all others responses, you could argue they're all as equally bad as eachother in one way or another.
It's slim pickings across the board.
At least with Jewell, he had the grace to know the game was up and walk away. |
Indeed. | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:06 - Nov 30 with 1148 views | PJH |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:53 - Nov 30 by Herbivore |
He still makes the top 5 for me, just about.
1. Hurst (by a nose)
2. Lambert
3. Keane
4. Jewell
5. Duncan |
Jackie Milburn would probably be a threat to John Duncan's fifth place although he did start the youth team and he did sign a few good players in amongst some rubbish. | | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:07 - Nov 30 with 1145 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:03 - Nov 30 by Dubtractor |
Yeah, that is how I'd rank it too.
Possibly Mick McGiven shades out Duncan, some of the football under him was desperate. |
Except McGiven's was in the Prem! | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:07 - Nov 30 with 1152 views | TieDyedIn95 |
1. Lambert - We dropped like a stone, his signings to keep us up were tragic and we didn't fight an inch in what was the weakest Championship season ever. After dropping he's done nothing special to get us promoted and although he looked like someone to stand up and take Evans on in some regard to the way things were being run, he went quiet as soon as that 5 year deal arrived.
2. Paul Hurst
Absolutely awful manager. Should never been given charge of a club our size let alone one with our small budget in the middle of a total reset. Only positive much like Keane was he was not afraid to take on some of the wage claimers at the club.
3. Paul Jewell
After what he did at Derby only an idiot would have given him another job, well our owner is an idiot and he run the debt up further signing any old rubbish while nearly relegating us.
4. Roy Keane
He would be higher if he hadn't have actually got us through to the semi-finals of the League Cup. He was the wrong man for Town but did try and uproot some of the culture here where some were having too easy and weren't interested in the club winning things. Having read his book and having found out that he, Evans and Clegg never had s ingle meeting during his tenure nor was he consulted on what fees/wages we were paying for his wish list of players including Clegg refusing outright to pay the wages for some of the better ones, my opinion of his tenure changed, it just shows us even then the Evans regime wasn't up to running this club.
5. Mic McGiven
People forget that he turned a side of reasonably good footballers under Lyall into one of the worse teams the top flight ever saw. Instead of doing what clubs like Blackburn and Newcastle did after being promoted back to the top flight and make a good go of it, he tried to draw and hoof us to safety and what's sad is he had players who could play a bit in Wark, Thompson, Stockwell, Mason, Palmer, Dozzell, Kiwomya and so on and instead decided to go the negative route. He may not have been in charge of us in 1994/95 but he was the man who caused it. |  |
| Football League First Division / Premier League
Champions (1): 1961—62 - Runners-up (2): 1980—81, 1981—82
Football League Second Division / EFL Championship
Champions (3): 1960—61, 1967—68, 1991—92 - Play-off winners (1): 1999—2000
Football League Third Division / EFL League One Champions (2): 1953—54, 1956—57 - Southern League Champions (1): 1936—37
FA Cup Winners (1): 1977—78 - Texaco Cup Winners (1): 1972—73
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:10 - Nov 30 with 1141 views | davblue |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:03 - Nov 30 by The_Flashing_Smile |
It's quite a hard one to judge to be honest. In terms of fees, Lambert spent half a million on KVY, nothing greater than that. We possibly have the highest wage bill in League 1 but that's only because many are still on Champ contracts.
Keane spent absolute millions. He wasted more than anyone else. [Post edited 30 Nov 2020 13:11]
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An 11th placed finish on a top 4 budget is woeful. | | | |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:11 - Nov 30 with 1136 views | Steve_M |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:42 - Nov 30 by Keno |
true,
Was he the same as Newmarket_Blue, I never was sure |
No they were different.
Nerdy was Pundit aka Voice of Reason aka Elephant in the Room., always an element of truth to his posts but then distorted to the point of absurdity. |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:18 - Nov 30 with 1128 views | BiGDonnie |
Hate this topic, anything to remind me of recent years is sh&t, Keane, Jewell, Mick, Lambert, all sh&t.
However, the correct answer is Roy Keane. He ripped the heart out of this club on top of his sh&tty record which makes him the worst ever. |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:21 - Nov 30 with 1116 views | BiGDonnie |
| Worst ever Town manager on 10:45 - Nov 30 by wkj |
Hurst the worst, Lambert the most hated (for me) |
Hurst the worst, Mick the best, Lambert the one with the hairy chest! | |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:35 - Nov 30 with 1096 views | Herbivore |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:03 - Nov 30 by The_Flashing_Smile |
It's quite a hard one to judge to be honest. In terms of fees, Lambert spent half a million on KVY, nothing greater than that. We possibly have the highest wage bill in League 1 but that's only because many are still on Champ contracts.
Keane spent absolute millions. He wasted more than anyone else. [Post edited 30 Nov 2020 13:11]
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We were in League 1 when we signed KVY. | |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 11:37 - Nov 30 with 1094 views | Herbivore |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:18 - Nov 30 by BiGDonnie |
Hate this topic, anything to remind me of recent years is sh&t, Keane, Jewell, Mick, Lambert, all sh&t.
However, the correct answer is Roy Keane. He ripped the heart out of this club on top of his sh&tty record which makes him the worst ever. |
Mick should not be lumped in with those clowns. | |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 12:30 - Nov 30 with 1068 views | SomethingBlue |
While it's quite a list I can't really stray too far beyond Keane given the golden opportunity he was handed and the consequences that have come — largely — as a result of him squandering it. |  |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 13:10 - Nov 30 with 1032 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| Worst ever Town manager on 11:35 - Nov 30 by Herbivore |
We were in League 1 when we signed KVY. |
True, my bad. Doesn't ultimately matter to any of my points though, he's been injured for most of it. | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| Worst ever Town manager on 13:25 - Nov 30 with 1013 views | BLUEBEAT |
Will always be Roy Keane. Such a non-Town appointment. Gutting out the ‘family’ set-up. Destroying the soul of the club in rapid time. Blowing millions. All downhill since.
Hurst comes second purely due to decimating/ruining a squad with real promotion potential and replacing them with lower league cloggers.
Then Lambert. [Post edited 30 Nov 2020 13:27]
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