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Hope you're doing well. I occasionally write for Cardiff blogs etc.
To say we are underwhelmed with the appointment of big Mick would be an understatement. However some have been romanced by his direct Yorkshire accent.
Would love to get Town fans thoughts as you guys would know more than anyone:
> What can we expect from him? Hoof and hope?
> Is he really a dinosaur?
> What's his team setup and preferred formation/style of play?
> Is he tactically astute?
> Transfer wise, does he have a 'type'?
> Finally, how long before the Northern charm wears off?
Would love to get your thoughts and off topic, how's Emyr Huws doing? seems to have fallen off the face of the earth after a period out with injury.
All the best!
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:11 - Jan 25 with 2355 views
> What can we expect from him? Hoof and hope? A bit like his character; direct, no nonsense.
> Is he really a dinosaur? Still has the connections + is well respected in the game, to his benefit. We have somewhat of a geographical problem here in attracting players and almost always Mick's reputation seemed to play a part in getting a foot in the door.
> What's his team setup and preferred formation/style of play? 4-4-2. He'll try to buy in pacey wingers and put balls into the box for big, strong centre forwards. IMO despite relatively good form in the transfer market, the wide areas were one he never got the acquisitions quite right with us.
> Is he tactically astute? Yes, if your goal is not to lose. You need to like defending. You will never see below 90% effort.
> Transfer wise, does he have a 'type'? As above. Good value for at least one show pony premier league loan signing who invariably becomes POTS and then leaves a gaping hole the next. He loves a lower league gem, and pretty much funded our transfers by picking a Mings up for 5 figures every year or two and moving them on to better things.
> Finally, how long before the Northern charm wears off? Depends largely on how vocal your fanbase can become under pressure or sheer boredom (but he will by then have credits in the bank for turning you around and making you competitive). He had his hands tied here financially and took it very personally when fans started to show their displeasure at the overall lack of ambition around the place. In hindsight, he seems to have been doing wonders getting a tune out of us at all.
[Post edited 25 Jan 2021 14:30]
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:11 - Jan 25 with 2359 views
As indicated, you will get very varying responses,here is mine.
He is old fashioned because he still believes that scoring more goals than the opposition is more important than possession stats.
You will not get the sideways passes between your central defenders that we are blessed with here now-you may get lump down the middle,flick on,goal, 1-0 win.
His style of play is pretty direct but he tries to make the best use of what tools he has got so I think he will adapt his way of playing to the players that you have rather than try to adapt your players to a style of play.
He gives a lot of thought to trying to stop the opposition,some would say too much, but my view is that a 1-0 win is the same as a 5-4 one.
His aim in making signings is (obviously) to get good players but he seems also to put a lot of emphasis on the players character too.
His Northern charm will never wear off for me, I love the man.
Emyr Huws seemed a great capture for us but has been nothing like the same since injury. He should be one of the players that we have that dominates games at this ridiculous level that we are now at but he no longer seems capable of doing it.
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:11 - Jan 25 with 2354 views
The best manager we had here in a decade or so, and would have taken us up had our owner actually backed him. He was allowed to take the bullets for the clubs decline by the owner.
Great manager - he will do well.
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
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League Winners (1): 1980—81
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:05 - Jan 25 by Darth_Koont
But completely wrong.
McCarthy left a well-balanced, sustainable, young and even pretty valuable squad. Never going to be easy at the budget end of Championship spending for a new manager to come in and easily replicate our comfortable upper mid-table level under Mick. But in a combination of quality and football finances, he left the squad in the best place it’s been in since Prem relegation I’d say.
Who were drilled to play one way with one mindset.
I liked Mick for 3 years, but I can also see his weaknesses.
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:05 - Jan 25 by Darth_Koont
But completely wrong.
McCarthy left a well-balanced, sustainable, young and even pretty valuable squad. Never going to be easy at the budget end of Championship spending for a new manager to come in and easily replicate our comfortable upper mid-table level under Mick. But in a combination of quality and football finances, he left the squad in the best place it’s been in since Prem relegation I’d say.
You contradict yourself there quite blatantly. It's both 'never going to be easy for a new manager to come in' yet also 'the best place the squad's been in for years'
But that's essentially my point. He's devised a system that gets him enough points to stay in a job but never to get to the next level (and since he's been managing, the standard of other clubs has meant that the next level has dropped from yo-yo club to playoff challengers)
The 'best place' you speak of is basically a group of players so ingrained in his teachings that they are completely resistant to change or progress (until they leave)
If you're looking to avoid relegation and finish about 9th-14th Mick is your man. However i assume you want to aim higher than that. I can remember 3 games fondly under mick a 4-0 home win over boro, a 4-4 away at Derby, and a 4-2 away win at Brentford (the home win was actually TC in the dugout with Mick ill). The rest of the games just all sort of blend in to one, 90% of the games you will at least be competitive but its some of the worst football ive ever seen. I remember particularly a 1-1 at Hillsborough and i dont think im exaggerating to say there was about 200 throw ins, both settling for a point after 20 minutes in. By the end of his tenure it will be an us against them mentality which wont be good for the players and fans relationship. I don't think its a coincidence the last few teams he's left have been relegated, but i dont think that's because he's a fantastic manager, the rift he creates causes a lot of damage.
> What can we expect from him? Hoof and hope? Yes and no? When he was Ipswich he always had strict budget restrictions. Unless he's got a wealth of attacking riches, he'll always assume that the best way to get results is to keep it tight, keep your shape and avoid risks. So that's how he'll set up.
> Is he really a dinosaur? A bit? He was an effective manager for us, but not sure he was much of an innovator.
> What's his team setup and preferred formation/style of play? 4-4-2/4-5-1 sometimes. His Ipswich teams were usually 9 hard workers and 1 flair player.
> Is he tactically astute? Yes, I'd say so. But always cautious. If you're 0-0 in the last 5 minutes away from home, don't expect him to be formulating plans for how to grab the winner.
> Transfer wise, does he have a 'type'? Generally no interest in foreigners, but likes to loan a flair player from the Premier League and usually picked very well (we had Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Ryan Fraser, Tom Lawrence and Bersant Celina over the years). Does well picking up good mid-career pros who have lost their way a little (Martyn Waghorn, Christophe Berra, Daryl Murphy, David McGoldrick were the highlights). Will bring in a bunch of Irish kids and non-league kids who'll turn out to have plenty of ability in the end but only occasionally made it for us (Tyrone Mings the best example, but we had Conor Hourihane and Kieffer Moore hang around a few years but never play for us).
> Finally, how long before the Northern charm wears off? His biggest flaw is that if you're a bit rubbish he'll tell you that you don't deserve any better and should be grateful. He might be right, but ultimately it'll cost him his job if your chairman is as bad at reigning it in as ours was.
> Emyr Huws, Emyr's long injury has destroyed his career and sadly he'll be released in the Summer.
It’s pragmatic don’t expect to see many playmakers in the middle as he likes his excitement to come down the wing for us it was also high quality loans ( Celina, Lawrence, Fraser and Maitland-Niles ) his record at buying them was not so good!
He will make you very very hard to beat as he was fond of saying offer him a point away from home and he wouldn’t even get on the bus. We got some bizarre teams at home against bottom of the league sides that were being thrashed by everyone else and he’d play 4-5-1 and be happy with the point the Nadir of that for us was against Rotherham with 3 Defensive midfielders, we got a2-2 draw in the 96th minute and gave Rotherham something like 50% of there points total!
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:29 - Jan 25 with 2257 views
> What can we expect from him? Hoof and hope? It will vary - depending on the type of players you have available. If you've got some flair and skillful players, you will, at times, play some very decent football. Sometimes, it will be awful, turgid and boring. But you'll get 100% every time.
> Is he really a dinosaur? Contrary to what some will say, no, far from it.
> What's his team setup and preferred formation/style of play? More often than not 4-4-2 though he will vary it. Sets up not to loose more often than not, especially away from home. In terms of style, see above. You will not be able to fault effort - players will given it everything, rarely if ever leave anything on the pitch.
> Is he tactically astute? In short, yes - again, contrary to popular belief far more aware than many give him credit for.
> Transfer wise, does he have a 'type'? 100%'ers
> Finally, how long before the Northern charm wears off? Does it matter? He'll keep you up and do well for you.
It was the right time for him to leave when he left us. A case of what might have been for him here had our owner backed him financially. That said - he did a fantastic job with a shoestring, some duck tape, PVA glue and tissue paper.
Ade Akinbiyi couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo...
> What can we expect from him? Hoof and hope? First thing he'll do is make you solid. Expect low scoring games. 0-0 or 1-0 either way.
> Is he really a dinosaur? He is extremely rigid. He has his way and he won't change for anyone. The best example is when we were already safe and had an outside chance of the play offs. We had two home games in a week and he refused to go for it saying that wasn't his style. He will grind out points which is great if you're trying to survive. Very boring and annoying if you're mid table and wanting a bit more ambition.
> What's his team setup and preferred formation/style of play? 442 mostly, players had to "put a shift in" and tended to keep their place if they did this.
> Is he tactically astute? Yes but makes little difference going forward. Always defence first, hard to beat etc. He has a very frustrating mentality of thinking narrow losses to superior teams is a good result. If we were away to a team top of the table who had spent a fortune where 'par' might have been a 3-0 loss he seemed perfectly fine with us losing 1-0 and not creating a single chance as if this was some sort of moral victory.
> Transfer wise, does he have a 'type'? British and Irish grafters. Nothing more important than effort. Got some criticism for leaving creative players out for defensive grafters, especially at home.
> Finally, how long before the Northern charm wears off? For us it was quite a long time because he saved us from relegation and got a lot of credit in the bank for that. You're 15th...I give it less than a season after fans return for you to be incredibly frustrated by his grind out a point style.
Overall: If you were battling relegation you couldn't have done better. If you have any hope of going up this season then you can give up on that. If you're booking holidays, don't worry about looking up the dates of the play offs first, you won't need to.
I remember us asking wolves fans this years ago and i agree still with everything they said. Basically he might give you a shot at promotion for a year or two with a physical/workmanlike side, particularly if he gets a bit of financial backing but thereafter if that's not successful forget it and get rid. Fiercely and commendably loyal to his players but doesn't give a flying one for the fans or club, and i don't mean that just because of what happened towards the end - he was always indifferent in that relationship, it just took a nastier turn towards the end which was by no means all his fault. Overall Cardiff will just be another entry on his legacy record (although Cyprus probably won't!)
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:42 - Jan 25 with 2184 views
Let's turn this around... Do you have players capable of delivering a cross? Do you have a big target man?
As you have Keiffer Moore, previously purchased by MM, if you have the players to deliver a cross...I
Will Tam back him?
> Is he really a dinosaur?
He's not exactly imprinted in rock
> What's his team setup and preferred formation/style of play?
4-4-2 I guess...
> Is he tactically astute?
Reasonably
> Transfer wise, does he have a 'type'?
Most will be players who put in a shift, proper blokes, but he will also out faith in people who won't ultimately repay him. Oh and he sometimes uncovers gold - Mings
> Finally, how long before the Northern charm wears off?I
Depends on success doesn't it?
He was loyal to an owner who abused his abilities, then he was verbally abused crudely and unnecessarily by a section of support (see also Wolves), is surprisingly thin skinned and it goes to pot from there.
As for Huws, from appearing to be perfect for for the jigsaw... Injury has, sadly, bent that piece out of shape
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:23 - Jan 25 by Wacko
You contradict yourself there quite blatantly. It's both 'never going to be easy for a new manager to come in' yet also 'the best place the squad's been in for years'
But that's essentially my point. He's devised a system that gets him enough points to stay in a job but never to get to the next level (and since he's been managing, the standard of other clubs has meant that the next level has dropped from yo-yo club to playoff challengers)
The 'best place' you speak of is basically a group of players so ingrained in his teachings that they are completely resistant to change or progress (until they leave)
Sorry, but that’s nonsense. The only thing that was ingrained was hard work on and off the ball.
One of the reasons he got more out of the team was letting players play their own game. If they were no-nonsense that’s the way he expected them to play. If they liked to get on the ball and try things ditto.
It’s a simple approach to the game when people are a bit too used to Prem players that can do a bit of everything. But at Championship level it got the players knowing their jobs and performing.
I think this is one of the areas where managers with a narrow view on how they want the team to play aren’t all that suited to the Championship and lower leagues.
Pronouns: He/Him
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:47 - Jan 25 with 2169 views
Depends if competing and getting points on the board are the only thing you're interested in. Or whether you go to football matches to also enjoy the spectacle. If the latter, buckle up and prepared to be bored sh*tless.
It also depends on the players he has. His team here was set up to defend and be hard to break down. When we had a decent attacking player(s), e.g. Murphy or Waghorn that was not too bad, as those players could provide the decent football at times and the attacking threat to make games ok to watch in part. When we had the likes of Conor Sammon leading the line it was bloody tragic.
He can certainly spot and attract a player though. We had a few excellent loans (Ryan Fraser and Tom Lawrence were excellent, Celina not too bad). He brought in David McGoldrick, Christophe Berra, Bart Białkowski and Martyn Waghorn to name a few. He also plucked Tyrone Mings and Kieffer Moore from the lower leagues.
In answer to your questions: > yes, hoof and hope. Or long passes out of defence, if you're feeling generous. > old school I'd say > messed around with wingers but it never really clicked. I'd say the defining feature was the lack of adventure, deep defending and looking to get the ball into the channels and target man asap. His midfield was only there to defend. > Not especially. Knows what he wants and concentrates on his own team's shape. Doesn't mix things up much. > Cheap when he was here, but that says more about our owner's refusal to back him with transfer fees. > 12 months if you have a honeymoon period. You'll get used to him pretty quickly as you had Warnock - there are a lot of similarities.
Edit - although to be clear, he was still the best manager we've had in the last 13 years or so.
You'll give him the benefit of the doubt for a while as he will shore you up and get results. Problem is, the football he plays is just about forgivable if you're getting results, but results are really the only positive because generally the style isn't enjoyable to watch. As soon as the results stop, or begin to dwindle, it's the beginning of the end for him because the style without results is unforgivable and it just spirals from there.
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:51 - Jan 25 with 2159 views
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:47 - Jan 25 by Darth_Koont
Sorry, but that’s nonsense. The only thing that was ingrained was hard work on and off the ball.
One of the reasons he got more out of the team was letting players play their own game. If they were no-nonsense that’s the way he expected them to play. If they liked to get on the ball and try things ditto.
It’s a simple approach to the game when people are a bit too used to Prem players that can do a bit of everything. But at Championship level it got the players knowing their jobs and performing.
I think this is one of the areas where managers with a narrow view on how they want the team to play aren’t all that suited to the Championship and lower leagues.
And a huge part of the job is man management, and you struggle to find any players with a bad word to say about him.
Even those who barely played under him, recently listened to a podcast with Anthony Wordsworth and Frank Nouble, have total respect for him and appreciate his honesty.
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:50 - Jan 25 by The_Realist_09
You'll give him the benefit of the doubt for a while as he will shore you up and get results. Problem is, the football he plays is just about forgivable if you're getting results, but results are really the only positive because generally the style isn't enjoyable to watch. As soon as the results stop, or begin to dwindle, it's the beginning of the end for him because the style without results is unforgivable and it just spirals from there.
Ae you still routinely downvoting people calling for Lambert to get the sack, speaking of managers playing bad football?
I'm one of the people who was blamed for getting Paul Cook sacked. PM for the full post.
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:15 - Jan 25 by Marshalls_Mullet
Who were drilled to play one way with one mindset.
I liked Mick for 3 years, but I can also see his weaknesses.
See above.
The mindset may have always been to worry about points before performances. But there was no one way of playing - we mixed it up a fair bit and as Herbs pointed out the performances and variations were often purely dependent on the players available.
Pronouns: He/Him
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Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:55 - Jan 25 with 2134 views
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:48 - Jan 25 by Pendejo
Someone on an earlier post claimed only 3 games stick in the memory for Mick - they can't be regular away followers because that season was as good as we've had it since I was about 18/19 which was a long time ago.
The London away days that year were all special for different reasons - the 2 1-0 away wins at Watford and Charlton, the 2-1 at Fulham, the 4-2 at Brentford. A fantastic year to be a fan then as we travelled in great numbers and great voice, and were rewarded for it.
Cardiff Fan looking for the lowdown on 14:48 - Jan 25 by Pendejo
Both clips show his 'style' perfectly. Long balls out of defence, one a delicious diagonal from Tyrone and the other just a hoof and hope and then try to win the second ball or pick up the pieces.
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