| Ranking Town's worst managers 09:42 - Jan 9 with 8533 views | Herbivore |
Thought it was worth doing an updated one of these in light of Cook's demise and departure. Given how his time here went, he has to be seen as a legit contender. I'm sticking to a list of five and I should caveat my list with the fact that I started supporting Town under John Duncan so haven't included anyone prior to his time in charge (or ultimately Duncan himself as it goes).
1. Paul Hurst - whilst Cook styled himself as demolition man, Hurst really did demolish a competent Championship squad and replaced it with dross. We've still not recovered.
2. Paul Cook - perhaps a touch controversial, but the shortness of his tenure speaks to his level of failure. To manage a worse record than Paul Lambert did in the third tier with the players at his disposal takes some doing.
3. Roy Keane - could easily have been a spot higher or indeed a spot lower, swapping with my number 4 on the list. Spunked away the only millions Evans ever really invested in fees on average players and seemed to lack almost every quality you need to be a manager.
4. Paul Lambert - frankly I'm stunned I have him this low but it speaks to the 'quality' of the opposition. After coming in and saying some nice things that led to a short term uplift in performances (though not results) he seemed to lose all desire and any clue. Famously blew an almost open goal shot at promotion off the back of 27 points from our opening 11 games by inexplicably engaging in a season long game of Lambingo.
5. Paul Jewell - what to say really? Inherited a bit of a mess from Keane and then smeared that mess around a bit for just under 2 years. Occasionally 5 game runs of looking great invariably followed by 10 game runs of looking like a pub team. By the end he looked totally lost and should have been put out of his misery much sooner.
That's my list. It's a packed field, despite all of the managers listed having managed Town within the last 12 years. [Post edited 9 Jan 2022 12:36]
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:29 - Jan 9 with 986 views | Mullet |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:26 - Jan 9 by The_Romford_Blue |
The idea of Cook worse than Lambert, Keane and Jewell is just outrageous.
I get that you didn’t like him and he probably did deserve to go when he did. But let’s not totally rewrite history with such OTT hyperbole to suggest he was worse than those three. |
Apart from the fact that by every measure he was. The only redemption he has is that he wasn't largely likeable. But he's clearly in with a shout for our worst ever manager given the only contender next to him is Hurst for destroying the club. |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:33 - Jan 9 with 970 views | footers |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:26 - Jan 9 by The_Romford_Blue |
The idea of Cook worse than Lambert, Keane and Jewell is just outrageous.
I get that you didn’t like him and he probably did deserve to go when he did. But let’s not totally rewrite history with such OTT hyperbole to suggest he was worse than those three. |
I'd agree generally but think there is a point about his performance last season, even compared to the results Lambert was able to get with the same squad.
I was one of those who was happy to start with a clean slate this season and disregard those results, but looking at his time overall here you have to say he was very poor indeed. Nice guy, loved his energy but he then went on to fail with a squad any other manager in the league would envy and that McKenna seems to have got playing the best football we've seen in years in three weeks.
That doesn't say much about Cook and his team's coaching really. |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:34 - Jan 9 with 962 views | Darth_Koont |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:29 - Jan 9 by Mullet |
Apart from the fact that by every measure he was. The only redemption he has is that he wasn't largely likeable. But he's clearly in with a shout for our worst ever manager given the only contender next to him is Hurst for destroying the club. |
“Every measure”!?
Pffft. |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:34 - Jan 9 with 957 views | southnorfolkblue |
Keane would be top of the pile for me. He spent and wasted in comparative terms large sums of cash, the result of which was Evans closing the cheque book for subsequent managers, including Mick when we were so well placed at Xmas |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:36 - Jan 9 with 953 views | Herbivore |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:26 - Jan 9 by The_Romford_Blue |
The idea of Cook worse than Lambert, Keane and Jewell is just outrageous.
I get that you didn’t like him and he probably did deserve to go when he did. But let’s not totally rewrite history with such OTT hyperbole to suggest he was worse than those three. |
I didn't dislike him, he was my first choice to replace Lambert and he seemed a decent enough bloke. However, his record here was appalling in the third tier. I don't see how he can be rated more highly than Lambert when his record here in the third tier was even worse than Lambert's. Keane and Jewell also had poor records but at a higher level at least. Keane I can see a case for rating as worse than Cook as he blew a similar war chest and took us nowhere, but not the other two. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:36 - Jan 9 with 950 views | HighgateBlue |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:26 - Jan 9 by The_Romford_Blue |
The idea of Cook worse than Lambert, Keane and Jewell is just outrageous.
I get that you didn’t like him and he probably did deserve to go when he did. But let’s not totally rewrite history with such OTT hyperbole to suggest he was worse than those three. |
We can all have differing views, but how is it outrageous, given that Cook objectively had worse results than Lambert with Lambert's squad, and with Cook's own squad? Because he smiled more? Because he held coffee lots? |  | | |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:40 - Jan 9 with 935 views | Darth_Koont |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:34 - Jan 9 by southnorfolkblue |
Keane would be top of the pile for me. He spent and wasted in comparative terms large sums of cash, the result of which was Evans closing the cheque book for subsequent managers, including Mick when we were so well placed at Xmas |
Jewell spent more than Keane – admittedly on expensive loanees and wages for old lags.
But it was Jewell (and Mick’s more sustainable success) who eventually convinced Evans to stop splashing the cash.
So it was incredible that Evans allowed Hurst to blow the transfer money, squad value and team spirit we’d built up over a couple of tough years. In just a matter of weeks. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:42 - Jan 9 with 926 views | Darth_Koont |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:36 - Jan 9 by HighgateBlue |
We can all have differing views, but how is it outrageous, given that Cook objectively had worse results than Lambert with Lambert's squad, and with Cook's own squad? Because he smiled more? Because he held coffee lots? |
Cook didn’t have the luxury of time. Not compared to Lambert anyway. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:45 - Jan 9 with 910 views | HighgateBlue |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 10:59 - Jan 9 by tractordownsouth |
1) Paul Hurst - just by dividing the number of days he was here divided by the amount of damage caused he comes a clear first
2) Paul Lambert - barring 2 months in Autumn 2019 it was just a bit miserable. I still blame Hurst for relegation but the endless tinkering was too much
3) Roy Keane - inherited a team just outside the play offs, spent a load of money and underperformed.
4 Paul Cook - as above, but stays out of the bottom 3 because the football was better (copyright Badger)
5) Paul Jewell - I think he’d be much higher up had we not managed to survive that season. Although unlike Hurst, when he left we had the core of a half decent team even if half of them were loans (Henderson, Chambers, Cresswell, N’Daw, Murphy) |
It was miserable in mid-October 2020 was it? When Lambert had us top of the table after half a dozen games? WIth a goal difference of plus 11? Five wins and a draw?
I think polls like this are never going to be fruitful when fans have such different priorities. Personally I want Town to win as much as possible, but I'm fast learning that for others there must be some totally random priority that I am yet to identify...
The idea of Cook winning 5 out of any 6 league games at Town at any stage, with his own players or others, is laughable. Is it because he was a cheeky chappy? Is it just that simple? | | | |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:47 - Jan 9 with 905 views | Mullet |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:42 - Jan 9 by Darth_Koont |
Cook didn’t have the luxury of time. Not compared to Lambert anyway. |
Because he performed worse with the greatest resources any manager has had relative to league spend etc. He couldn’t even win games back to back let alone get us challenging.
This idea he was hard done by is pathetic nonsense. It shows complete football illiteracy or a lack of reality at best. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:51 - Jan 9 with 879 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:34 - Jan 9 by Darth_Koont |
“Every measure”!?
Pffft. |
Manager Win percentage (League level) Total matches managed.
Keane 34.6% Championship 81 matches
Jewell 34.1% Championship 85 matches
Hurst 6.7% Championship 15 matches
Lambert 32.7% Championship and League 1 113 matches
Cook 29.5% League 1 44 matches
Statistically the only manager who could be seen as worse is Hurst. When you factor in that Cook was a level below and with the backing to have signed a squad full of players experienced at the level above (as opposed to one with no experience even in the same level for Hurst), it is arguable that Cook was worse than Hurst. It is certainly very close.
I really don't get that it is controversial that Cook's failure is so bad. |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:54 - Jan 9 with 876 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:42 - Jan 9 by Darth_Koont |
Cook didn’t have the luxury of time. Not compared to Lambert anyway. |
He had long enough and with far better backing and at a lower level than some of Lambert's tenure.
There is no dispute that he was worse than Lambert. He couldn't match Lambert's record that he got with a squad Cook stated wasn't good enough even after being allowed to build his own squad.
Give me one measure on which Cook outperforms Lambert.
EDIT: And the reason Lambert got longer was because he didn't sustain a win percentage of under 30% over 40+ League 1 matches. [Post edited 9 Jan 2022 16:56]
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:59 - Jan 9 with 859 views | Darth_Koont |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:47 - Jan 9 by Mullet |
Because he performed worse with the greatest resources any manager has had relative to league spend etc. He couldn’t even win games back to back let alone get us challenging.
This idea he was hard done by is pathetic nonsense. It shows complete football illiteracy or a lack of reality at best. |
I didn’t say he was hard done by, certainly not in accepted footballing terms.
But I would have given him more time. As I think the expectation that anyone can get a completely new team and squad working well within a few months is pretty silly, even if that seems to be the norm for expectations nowadays.
FWIW I think it has worked out well with McKenna. He’s clearly much more focused on the off the ball stuff than Cook which was probably why Cook’s team struggled most for consistency. It takes away the elusiveness of players’ form and converting chances, which we were over-reliant on. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:00 - Jan 9 with 842 views | footers |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:54 - Jan 9 by Nthsuffolkblue |
He had long enough and with far better backing and at a lower level than some of Lambert's tenure.
There is no dispute that he was worse than Lambert. He couldn't match Lambert's record that he got with a squad Cook stated wasn't good enough even after being allowed to build his own squad.
Give me one measure on which Cook outperforms Lambert.
EDIT: And the reason Lambert got longer was because he didn't sustain a win percentage of under 30% over 40+ League 1 matches. [Post edited 9 Jan 2022 16:56]
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"Give me one measure on which Cook outperforms Lambert."
He wasn't a complete knobsocket?
Just disregarding stats for a minute, I still had things like personality in mind when thinking about this as I'm sure many others did too. There's more to what can make you a 'worse manager' than just results and performance imo, especially at a club like ours where how you conduct yourself really does matter. Asking for an indepedent journalist to be banned from pressers is the action of a dictator and was beyond the pale really. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:04 - Jan 9 with 835 views | Darth_Koont |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 16:54 - Jan 9 by Nthsuffolkblue |
He had long enough and with far better backing and at a lower level than some of Lambert's tenure.
There is no dispute that he was worse than Lambert. He couldn't match Lambert's record that he got with a squad Cook stated wasn't good enough even after being allowed to build his own squad.
Give me one measure on which Cook outperforms Lambert.
EDIT: And the reason Lambert got longer was because he didn't sustain a win percentage of under 30% over 40+ League 1 matches. [Post edited 9 Jan 2022 16:56]
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Cook didn’t leave us in much of a worse position than when he took over. And I’ll give him leeway for having two short-term spells with two radically different teams.
His signings have been pretty good even though he never showed he knew how to make a team out of them. Touch wood, McKenna looks much better at that. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:05 - Jan 9 with 823 views | jeera |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 15:01 - Jan 9 by Dyland |
Jewell and Mullers in the tree... |
Like Jewell could climb a tree. |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:07 - Jan 9 with 818 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:00 - Jan 9 by footers |
"Give me one measure on which Cook outperforms Lambert."
He wasn't a complete knobsocket?
Just disregarding stats for a minute, I still had things like personality in mind when thinking about this as I'm sure many others did too. There's more to what can make you a 'worse manager' than just results and performance imo, especially at a club like ours where how you conduct yourself really does matter. Asking for an indepedent journalist to be banned from pressers is the action of a dictator and was beyond the pale really. |
I am not certain the players feel more affection for Cook than they did Lambert. Cook was forever throwing them under a bus.
Isn't it depressing that we are arguing on fine details about who was the worst and most unpleasant.
They have gone. If we are going to look to the past let's think Sir Alf, Sir Bobby and George. Otherwise, let's enjoy the present. Hopefully we can soon be at a level that allows us to forget the last decade and a half. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:08 - Jan 9 with 812 views | footers |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:05 - Jan 9 by jeera |
Like Jewell could climb a tree. |
He leads a very active life, I'll have you know...
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:09 - Jan 9 with 809 views | BLUEBEAT |
No.1 Should be Hurst due to the deconstruction and subsequent decimation he caused, but c’mon… we had that absolute b@stard Keane too, so…
1 - Keane
2 - Hurst
3 - Lambert
4 - Jewell
5 - Cook |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:19 - Jan 9 with 785 views | positivity |
given that evans was ultimately responsible for the signings (or lack of), my list of the last 10 would be
1. evans
2. evans
3. evans
4. evans
5. evans
6. evans
7. evans
8. sheepy
9. sheepy
10. gamechanger (maybe unfair to place them after 2 games!) | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:27 - Jan 9 with 779 views | Kropotkin123 |
1. Hurst - Inherited a lower-end championship squad with some good players to build upon. 6.7% win rate after he gutted a team of it's better players and brought in rubbish players
2. Lambert - Inherited a League One standard side. Spent 113 games and two seasons in League One building a largely useless side that was unfit and unable to find the back of the net regularly. Couldn't win again top six in league one.
3. Keane - Inherited a mid to play-off standard Championship side and took us backwards, spending millions in the process. Alienated our better players.
4. Jewell - inherited a mid level championship squad and took us to the brink of relegation. Poor judge of character, leaving us with a bunch of overpaid and under committed players
5. Cook - Inherited an aging squad that was largely uncompetitive at league one. Had to gut entire team and bought in largely quality players for this level. Poorly trained and too often underwhelming on the pitch, but first manager since MM to leave us with a better playing squad than he found. |  |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:33 - Jan 9 with 768 views | Mullet |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:27 - Jan 9 by Kropotkin123 |
1. Hurst - Inherited a lower-end championship squad with some good players to build upon. 6.7% win rate after he gutted a team of it's better players and brought in rubbish players
2. Lambert - Inherited a League One standard side. Spent 113 games and two seasons in League One building a largely useless side that was unfit and unable to find the back of the net regularly. Couldn't win again top six in league one.
3. Keane - Inherited a mid to play-off standard Championship side and took us backwards, spending millions in the process. Alienated our better players.
4. Jewell - inherited a mid level championship squad and took us to the brink of relegation. Poor judge of character, leaving us with a bunch of overpaid and under committed players
5. Cook - Inherited an aging squad that was largely uncompetitive at league one. Had to gut entire team and bought in largely quality players for this level. Poorly trained and too often underwhelming on the pitch, but first manager since MM to leave us with a better playing squad than he found. |
Apparently that’s down to Ashton though when it suits certain people……. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:46 - Jan 9 with 743 views | Kropotkin123 |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:33 - Jan 9 by Mullet |
Apparently that’s down to Ashton though when it suits certain people……. |
What is? Sorry for being thick, time difference means I miss more discussion points on here now. | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:49 - Jan 9 with 735 views | Mullet |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:46 - Jan 9 by Kropotkin123 |
What is? Sorry for being thick, time difference means I miss more discussion points on here now. |
When it wasn’t Cooks fault for failure it was Ashton doing all the recruiting and undermining him apparently.
Regardless he had opulence beyond any of his predecessors in terms of the squad and made them worse. It’s simply a nonsense to suggest he had anything but ultimate backing and incorporated that into his failure somehow.
When we did win games it was largely because we had so many better players who could do a Celina etc | |
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| Ranking Town's worst managers on 18:20 - Jan 9 with 693 views | Kropotkin123 |
| Ranking Town's worst managers on 17:49 - Jan 9 by Mullet |
When it wasn’t Cooks fault for failure it was Ashton doing all the recruiting and undermining him apparently.
Regardless he had opulence beyond any of his predecessors in terms of the squad and made them worse. It’s simply a nonsense to suggest he had anything but ultimate backing and incorporated that into his failure somehow.
When we did win games it was largely because we had so many better players who could do a Celina etc |
I don't have much to go on, but my personal view on Ashton is that he has been good for the club so far and I don't blame him for anything. I don't believe he has undermined PC in any significant way.
I'm glad we have addressed structural voids at the club and if PC couldn't fit into that, then that is his issue.
In regards to PCs interview, I think he was just shopping for new clubs and part of that, in his case, is deflecting blame.
I said coaching was poor and PC left us with a good squad. So I'm naturally in agreement that better players won games, but I'm in Canada now, so I'm not seeing games regularly. So feel free to factor that into the weight of my opinion. [Post edited 9 Jan 2022 18:29]
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