Did the Coppell saga 'scar' SL ?!

[Rossi the Robin]

Not as a coach or manager in the U.K. 

he couldn't cope with it 

[LoyalRed]

Cop out was a pathetically weak man who wasn't up to the challenge of managing us,  most managers would have been more than happy with David James at the club (massive influence) but he scarpered ... head was shot and still is 

[GoodridgeandGoater]

Lansdown approached Coppell not the other way around. Coppell seemed an honest man who wasn't feeling it for whatever reason and made a quick decision. Similar to what happened at Man City. SL now seems reluctant to go fishing in the proven manager pool so in that sense it was significant. Reading between the lines I reckon Pearson may have come to City if Lansdown had pushed a few more chips onto the table last year. 

[Monkeh]

6 hours ago, GoodridgeandGoater said:

Lansdown approached Coppell not the other way around. Coppell seemed an honest man who wasn't feeling it for whatever reason and made a quick decision. Similar to what happened at Man City. SL now seems reluctant to go fishing in the proven manager pool so in that sense it was significant. Reading between the lines I reckon Pearson may have come to City if Lansdown had pushed a few more chips onto the table last year. 

Thank **** he didn't, Derby would be bottom if Pearson was there still

[JamesBCFC]

10 hours ago, ontariored said:

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.

The 'Pillars' werent talked about until SO'D was brought in.

We have been using that strategy since.

[Phileas Fogg]

55 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

Thank **** he didn't, Derby would be bottom if Pearson was there still

Just because it didn't work at Derby doesn't make him a bad manager. He's clearly very good in the right circumstances. It's far too simplistic to look at it without context.

[Monkeh]

10 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Just because it didn't work at Derby doesn't make him a bad manager. He's clearly very good in the right circumstances. It's far too simplistic to look at it without context.

i didn't think he was that good before to be honest, don't rate him, I'd still give him a chance if he were to come here just rather he wouldn't

[shelts]

Im pretty sure our owner regrets some of the decisions he's made at bs3 and at work. The thing is he has the right dna and that BCFC is a project

[Phileas Fogg]

5 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

i didn't think he was that good before to be honest, don't rate him, I'd still give him a chance if he were to come here just rather he wouldn't

Got a 43% win record over his managerial career which is a good benchmark. Won League 1 and the Championship. Arguably helped set the wheels in motion for Leicester's league win buying a fair amount of their regular starters that season. His tenure at Derby was only for 14 competitive games which isn't really that long. 

I can't see him being an option here though, our board wouldn't want someone as unpredictable as him. He makes Cotterill seem pretty mellow and calm in comparison!

 

[Monkeh]

2 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Got a 43% win record over his managerial career which is a good benchmark. Won League 1 and the Championship. Arguably helped set the wheels in motion for Leicester's league win buying a fair amount of their regular starters that season. His tenure at Derby was only for 14 competitive games which isn't really that long. 

I can't see him being an option here though, our board wouldn't want someone as unpredictable as him. He makes Cotterill seem pretty mellow and calm in comparison!

 

and thats my problem with him mainly but as with any manager I'll give them a chance,

[ontariored]

10 hours ago, Rossi the Robin said:

Not as manager? In England 

DOF/ upstairs 

That's downstairs!!!!

[Mr Popodopolous]

10 hours 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

Dunno if I buy that- in some ways yeah, but he had managed as recently as May 2009 with Reading- hardly a lifetime or a Keeganesque/Dalgisheseque return after years away.  For whatever reason he had lost his lag but a year and a half hardly saw the game change that seismically.

[Boston Red]

After leaving City Steve Coppell gave an interview to Talk Sport. He was asked about why he left Bristol City. He paused, and said

"I was a bit disappointed with the environment I found myself in."

 

[Alessandro]

I've spoken about Coppell before and not afraid to repeat that he wanted Lee Camp and the club went over his head for David James. 

Add to the that, Coppell wasn't happy with the facilities at the time, or the available funds to improve those facilities. 

Having said that, I know he was somewhat low on managerial match fitness, hence some of his very poor out of date signings, and frankly, it was his last role of the dice and we realised he didn't have the stomach for it. 

Meet the guy and he is very quiet and shy in many ways. But he had his nice home set up in Surrey with regular trips to Thailand. Bristol didn't really fit on that and his jobs since back this idea up. 

 

[spudski]

12 hours 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...

It has to be remembered that SC really had no interest in coming here. SL courted him...he wanted SC. He wanted to replicate what Reading had done. He saw Reading as a Club we could copy. There were similarities in his mind.

SC wasn't convinced at all about coming here...and SC only came here when it was agreed that he would be allowed to run the Club the same way as he did at Reading. Which was to be left alone and run it how he does it without interference from other quarters. That was agreed, hence SC coming here, but still unsure about it.

What was agreed and what actually happened when he was here, was a different matter. SC's concerns came to the fore pretty quickly, all his doubts came true. It's no surprise he left so quickly.

People will bang on about the players he brought in, the wages, the length of contracts etc...but that was the type of money being thrown about in those days. SL wanted to buy his way into the Prem.

 

[Ivorguy]

10 hours ago, 1bristolcity said:

I guess we will never know,no one at the club has said a damn thing about the whole sorry affair.

And are we surprised at that ?

[Phileas Fogg]

6 minutes ago, spudski said:

It has to be remembered that SC really had no interest in coming here. SL courted him...he wanted SC. He wanted to replicate what Reading had done. He saw Reading as a Club we could copy. There were similarities in his mind.

SC wasn't convinced at all about coming here...and SC only came here when it was agreed that he would be allowed to run the Club the same way as he did at Reading. Which was to be left alone and run it how he does it without interference from other quarters. That was agreed, hence SC coming here, but still unsure about it.

What was agreed and what actually happened when he was here, was a different matter. SC's concerns came to the fore pretty quickly, all his doubts came true. It's no surprise he left so quickly.

People will bang on about the players he brought in, the wages, the length of contracts etc...but that was the type of money being thrown about in those days. SL wanted to buy his way into the Prem.

 

This post prompted me to have a look on YouTube to see if there was anything interesting.. Came across these from the Open Day of that year.. he speaks pretty candidly in this short clip and even then he was discussing weaknesses in the squad

 

[ashton_fan]

12 hours ago, Cunnyfunt said:

Maybe for some reason I don't know, top draw managers aren't attracted to Bristol City.

When we appointed Bob Houghton after Alan Dicks left it was seen as a coup, he'd taken his team to the European Cup Final the previous season with Roy Hodgson as assistant, but the football we played under him was dire even given the financial constraints we were under at the time.

[Cunnyfunt]

2 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

When we appointed Bob Houghton after Alan Dicks left it was seen as a coup, he'd taken his team to the European Cup Final the previous season with Roy Hodgson as assistant, but the football we played under him was dire even given the financial constraints we were under at the time.

Wow.. he surely did the rounds as a manager since he left City. 

[slartibartfast]

11 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

When we appointed Bob Houghton after Alan Dicks left it was seen as a coup, he'd taken his team to the European Cup Final 

He (and Stephen Kew) also took us to....the cleaners, by all accounts !

[BigTone]

14 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Has that experience made Mr Lansdown 'scared' to go for a 'big name' again?

No, Coppell is just a complete Froot Loop

[rockinredrobin]

15 hours 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...

Totally agree Mate and have posted on this issue a number of times

SL appointed what appeared to be the perfect Championship manager in Coppell and then got his fingers burnt - the key problems were the signing and funding of David James - Coppell was led to believe this was a freebie and would not effect his plans to sign midfielders and a striker - but then it appears SL reneged - either way - regardless of who was at fault - SL since and because of this episode has gone for managers that - to my mind- would never had got appointed at any other Championship Club at the point they were appointed : Millen / McInnes / L Johnson OR managers that had been out of the game for a while and were eager to get back in : O'Dismal / Cotterill

In fact rumour has it that Cotterill was Keith Dawes appt and you could argue he has been the most successful since Gary Johnson

Bottom line is that Steve Lansdown is very unlikely to appoint a manager that will come into the Club and tell him how to run it - so we can forget ever getting a manager of the ilk of : Pearson /Warnock / McCarthy / Adkins- types that are very experienced at Champ level and very rarely have their teams struggling against relegation in the Championship

I would go so far as to state that I do not believe we will ever get into the Prem with Steve L making the key decisions ( of course I hope I am wrong ) - his preferred model is mainly cheap recruitment and youth academy ( in the hope that you happen upon a Kodjia that can be bought cheap and sold for millions more OR a youth academy product that is free and can be sold for millions ) - a cheap Coach that will use the players he's been given and wont make any waves

I don't think many Teams make it to the Prem with that model unless you are very lucky

Just look at the big clubs in the Championship - some of whom spend very big ( Sheff Weds / Derby etc ) and they have no guarantee of promotion

Problem that fans have to suck up is that BCFC is very much Steve Lansdown's Club - his money is far more important to the club's survival and development than that of 15k fans - so he will do what he wants to do even if that involves sticking with LJ and relegation

[View from the Dolman]

3 minutes ago, rockinredrobin said:

OR managers that had been out of the game for a while and were eager to get back in : O'Dismal

Sean O'Driscoll was sacked from Nottingham Forest on December 26th, 2012 and appointed by us on January 14th, 2013. If 3 weeks is "a while", Steve Cotterill is surely now football ancient history.

[Monkeh]

6 minutes ago, rockinredrobin said:

Totally agree Mate and have posted on this issue a number of times

SL appointed what appeared to be the perfect Championship manager in Coppell and then got his fingers burnt - the key problems were the signing and funding of David James - Coppell was led to believe this was a freebie and would not effect his plans to sign midfielders and a striker - but then it appears SL reneged - either way - regardless of who was at fault - SL since and because of this episode has gone for managers that - to my mind- would never had got appointed at any other Championship Club at the point they were appointed : Millen / McInnes / L Johnson OR managers that had been out of the game for a while and were eager to get back in : O'Dismal / Cotterill

In fact rumour has it that Cotterill was Keith Dawes appt and you could argue he has been the most successful since Gary Johnson

Bottom line is that Steve Lansdown is very unlikely to appoint a manager that will come into the Club and tell him how to run it - so we can forget ever getting a manager of the ilk of : Pearson /Warnock / McCarthy / Adkins- types that are very experienced at Champ level and very rarely have their teams struggling against relegation in the Championship

I would go so far as to state that I do not believe we will ever get into the Prem with Steve L making the key decisions ( of course I hope I am wrong ) - his preferred model is mainly cheap recruitment and youth academy ( in the hope that you happen upon a Kodjia that can be bought cheap and sold for millions more OR a youth academy product that is free and can be sold for millions ) - a cheap Coach that will use the players he's been given and wont make any waves

I don't think many Teams make it to the Prem with that model unless you are very lucky

Just look at the big clubs in the Championship - some of whom spend very big ( Sheff Weds / Derby etc ) and they have no guarantee of promotion

Problem that fans have to suck up is that BCFC is very much Steve Lansdown's Club - his money is far more important to the club's survival and development than that of 15k fans - so he will do what he wants to do even if that involves sticking with LJ and relegation

when the **** did spending 15 million become cheap recruitment? 

[Red-Robbo]

Coppell has put his own spin on his exit, but the truth is it had nothing whatsoever to do with David James's arrival.

Don't forget, we were the second club he'd left in the lurch.

Hence, as has been noted, he has not managed in England since.

[spudski]

9 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

when the **** did spending 15 million become cheap recruitment? 

We are only in our second season up, and playing catch up with teams who have been in this division for years, and have spent many millions more. Our expenditure is very small by comparison to what others have spent.

Take a look at these figures, to give you some idea of expenditure...and then think that's just this season. The seasons before, established clubs were spending similar again.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/championship/transfers/wettbewerb/GB2

[Phileas Fogg]

11 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

when the **** did spending 15 million become cheap recruitment? 

It could be argued that it is cheap recruitment in a way. With the exception of Tomlin (who was a fan favourite and would've been viewed as a ST selling player) and O'Neil (who was a free) - I doubt we're paying any of the new arrivals this season enormous wages. Lots of clubs in this league are paying £20,000+ for more experienced players rather than speculate on transfer fees but pay smaller wages for players with potential.

 

[Red-Robbo]

5 minutes ago, spudski said:

We are only in our second season up, and playing catch up with teams who have been in this division for years, and have spent many millions more. Our expenditure is very small by comparison to what others have spent.

Take a look at these figures, to give you some idea of expenditure...and then think that's just this season. The seasons before, established clubs were spending similar again.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/championship/transfers/wettbewerb/GB2

Thank God someone puts some context on this oft-bandied about figure. 

To put more context on it, the expenditure came after we sold the goal machine who kept us afloat last season for £11m, and in response to having - under Cotterill - the smallest first team squad in the Championship.

 

[RaspberryRed]

36 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

when the **** did spending 15 million become cheap recruitment? 

Exactly!! Constant mixed messages and then we wonder why we don't know our arse from our elbow every few years