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Did the Coppell saga 'scar' SL ?!


BS4 on Tour...

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Just thought I'd share a bit of pub debate that me and some mates had recently.

We talked about the list of managerial appointments during Mr Lansdown's reign as owner of our club. Basically, he has only gone for one 'been there, done that' manager - Steve Coppell.

Now, at the time, I was massively impressed and thought our owner was totally serious about getting us into the premier league - because, whatever you think of him now, Steve Coppell was a very successful manager at the level we were at when he joined us. 

In his 2nd season in charge of Reading he took them to 7th in the championship, and in his 3rd season they only lost two games and waltzed to the championship title on the back of a 33 game unbeaten run.

Then in their first season in the premier league Coppell took them to 8th place and he won Manager of the Year for the second year running.

So, to get to the point, Mr Lansdown appointed a proven manager and it went spectacularly wrong, as Coppell wanted out after just a few games. 

Has that experience made Mr Lansdown 'scared' to go for a 'big name' again? Is that the reason he has gone for low profile appointments since? Did he lose faith in proven managers after that saga and think they wouldn't be interested in coming to our 'little' club?

It just seems strange that he went for a 'proper' championship manager back then but has seemed so reluctant to do so again - ever since Coppell slammed the door behind him leaving Keith Millen to pick up the pieces...

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SC, let's face it, was a massive disappointment. I doubt this would have affected SL's decision making though about big managers.

I suspect that the bigger questions is; Can we attract the big names?

To add to do that, I believe we have to be a bit more established.

Should LJ pull his finger out, he might do himself out of a job.

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8 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Just thought I'd share a bit of pub debate that me and some mates had recently.

We talked about the list of managerial appointments during Mr Lansdown's reign as owner of our club. Basically, he has only gone for one 'been there, done that' manager - Steve Coppell.

Now, at the time, I was massively impressed and thought our owner was totally serious about getting us into the premier league - because, whatever you think of him now, Steve Coppell was a very successful manager at the level we were at when he joined us. 

In his 2nd season in charge of Reading he took them to 7th in the championship, and in his 3rd season they only lost two games and waltzed to the championship title on the back of a 33 game unbeaten run.

Then in their first season in the premier league Coppell took them to 8th place and he won Manager of the Year for the second year running.

So, to get to the point, Mr Lansdown appointed a proven manager and it went spectacularly wrong, as Coppell wanted out after just a few games. 

Has that experience made Mr Lansdown 'scared' to go for a 'big name' again? Is that the reason he has gone for low profile appointments since? Did he lose faith in proven managers after that saga and think they wouldn't be interested in coming to our 'little' club?

It just seems strange that he went for a 'proper' championship manager back then but has seemed so reluctant to do so again - ever since Coppell slammed the door behind him leaving Keith Millen to pick up the pieces...

Yes, I do. I think even SL made some comment to that effect. Which is probably why I think that…

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3 minutes ago, Clevedon Red said:

Didn't Coppell go because SL bought in David James against his wishes?

I think that may have been a big part of it. I think that he did not want interference, though I'm sure Steve was only trying to help.

At the time, I thought James would be worth a goal a game.  How much would it have cost for a striker to do that?

 

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12 minutes ago, wendyredredrobin said:

I think that may have been a big part of it. I think that he did not want interference, though I'm sure Steve was only trying to help.

At the time, I thought James would be worth a goal a game.  How much would it have cost for a striker to do that?

 

Yep, to be fair we signed the England World Cup 'keeper, we had Coppell in the hot seat and there were (obviously reliable!) tabloid rumours that Michael Owen was considering joining us on loan! It was surreal and then slowly turned into the usual nightmare...

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I could be way off. But at that time , both Lansdowns were active; which seemed way beyond their experience. Recalling that time, the Lansdowns were big on the 3 or 5 pillars and may have gone over Steve Coppell's head in making player decisions eg David James as another poster eluded to. Unlike others, I respect Steve Coppell. I believe he was MAN enough to decide the set up at BCFC was not going to make him successful. If you noticed, he did not even speak any negativities to the press. A truly honourable man.

We will never know, I am sure, what exactly went on, but I truly believe for Steve Coppell to walk away, while, I will add , giving the reigns to Millen for an opportunity was indeed professional. Also, the Lansdown'sd went quiet and distancved themselves from the "Pillars" ie their strategy shortly after.

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34 minutes ago, Rossi the Robin said:

Not at Championship level, L1 

good post

SO'D kept Donny up in his two full championship seasons with them.

Cotts did well with Burnley & Forest, but seemed out of his league with us though.

Both are more experienced than Rowett who many fans want to replace LJ.

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Have put this on the forum before, that SL was seriously affected by the Coppell episode. Although in part Coppell never seemed particularly enthused about taking up the post and was still fairly unprepared at the beginning of the season, hence the late acquisitions of Nicky Hunt & Damian Stewart. 

I am not sure that it was David James per se that was the problem but it was the way that it was done, in that SL did the deal himself without Coppell it seemed. Plus Coppell was having to work with Millen rather than his usual coaching team of Wally Downes, and finally our scouting network was very weak having basically been Pete Johnson until GJ departed. So behind the scenes it all looked a bit amateurish.

Some of those issues are better now than they were, but we still have yet to have an established manager bring in his whole coaching set-up, which is what many of them want to do, such as Harry Redknapp with Joe Jordan and others. They appreciate the importance of their coaching team as well as what they do.

Would SL ever accept that kind of change? I am not sure, because they will have to accept the current club set-up, which seems very important to SL.

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It's always hinted at by the club , some interesting names/ you'd be surprised by the Calibre of applicants, however always appoint a wrong un.   All i want is a boss with experience of this league to give us the best chance of staying up.   Then push for promotion.    If we were a penniless club like Swindon.  Then we could risk a big name in his first job.  

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53 minutes ago, Selred said:

SO'D kept Donny up in his two full championship seasons with them.

Cotts did well with Burnley & Forest, but seemed out of his league with us though.

Both are more experienced than Rowett who many fans want to replace LJ.

Cotts 'did well with Burnley & Forest' - ok, he took Forest from 23rd to 19th in his time there, and with Burnley he finished 13th and 17th in his full seasons...then Owen Coyle took over and got them promoted to the premier league in his first season as a manager in England...

SO'D did keep Donny up, just...in his last full season they won just one of their last 19 games...

None of this makes me think they were 'proven' like Coppell was...incidentally.....Keith Millen kept us in the championship in his first season as manager, is he 'proven'?

 

 

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39 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

If SC didn't like the signing of James, maybe...just maybe he should have been around pre-season and not swanning off to Thailand or where ever !

Didn't he go off to Florida or something visiting his son? Think it was arranged long before the appointment, or something along those lines. At the time, thought it was a great appointment. But remember at the time thinking he didn't exactly seem thrilled to be here during interviews etc. 

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15 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Cotts 'did well with Burnley & Forest' - ok, he took Forest from 23rd to 19th in his time there, and with Burnley he finished 13th and 17th in his full seasons...then Owen Coyle took over and got them promoted to the premier league in his first season as a manager in England...

SO'D did keep Donny up, just...in his last full season they won just one of their last 19 games...

None of this makes me think they were 'proven' like Coppell was...incidentally.....Keith Millen kept us in the championship in his first season as manager, is he 'proven'?

 

 

Millen also had an eye for a decent player. Stead was a great purchase plus we can thank him for the Bolasie windfall. But a proven manager? No way!

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1 hour ago, Selred said:

SO'D kept Donny up in his two full championship seasons with them.

Cotts did well with Burnley & Forest, but seemed out of his league with us though.

Both are more experienced than Rowett who many fans want to replace LJ.

I agree SOD kept them up, that's what level LJ is trying to achieve with us on a bigger budget 

Coppell is the only proven promotion manager from the champ we have appointed 

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30 minutes ago, Simon79 said:

Didn't he go off to Florida or something visiting his son? Think it was arranged long before the appointment, or something along those lines. At the time, thought it was a great appointment. But remember at the time thinking he didn't exactly seem thrilled to be here during interviews etc. 

Family wedding or 'Family commitment' definitely

Would love to know what happened

As for the OP - definitely think it has swayed/ influenced  SLs appointments ever since 

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3 minutes ago, Rossi the Robin said:

I don't think anything happened 

SCOP couldn't cope with the fact football had changed, with players attitudes, transfers agents etc

Hence he never managed again

Crawley town, Portsmouth, kerala Blasters indian league where he made his fortune??????

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