Jump to content
IGNORED

In Conversation with ....... Danny Wilson


headhunter

Recommended Posts

This is the Forever Bristol City Podcast Easter Special episode [also available on Google Podcasts & Spotify:

https://foreverbristolcity.podbean.com/e/in-conversation-with-danny-wilson-manager-2000-04/ 

Hero or villain in the eyes of the City faithful? Never seriously backed in the transfer market. Improved year on year and won the LDV. Lansdown's first sacking [DW: "we had a chat on the Monday after the play off final loss and talked about plans for 04-05, I went away on holiday and got a call to say I had been sacked"] after which are still relatively novice Chairman [appointed 2002] said, "judge me on Tinnion" - that went well!!

An interesting hour long chat 

At age 37 and in only his third season as a manager, Danny Wilson led unfashionable Barnsley to promotion to the Premier League.

Barnsley may have only lasted one season in the top flight but Danny went on to manage his former club Sheffield Wednesday, in the Premier League themselves and a club he had served well as a player. When City went looking for a manager in the summer of 2000 after the debacle of Lennartsson, Pulis, & Fawthrop, the friendly Northern Irishman Wilson seemed an inspired choice to lead City back to the Championship.


Danny had 4 seasons at Ashton Gate with a win rate of 46% and year on year improvement but after losing to Brighton in the 2004 final he was dumped, there's no other word for it, by then rookie Chairman Steve Lansdown.


Many will surely agree that under him City played a fine attacking style, indeed in 2003 when they won the LDV Trophy they massed over 100 goals in all competitions. Perhaps if he had been given the level of financial support in the transfer market enjoyed by Lee Johnson things might have turned out differently?


In this hour long interview Danny talks about not only his time at City but his wider football career and how he feels in selecting his former Sheffield Wednesday teammate, Nigel Pearson, City have got the best man possible to secure their Premier League ambition 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

“Never seriously backed in the transfer market” I must have imagined that £600k he was given to sign Lee Peacock in 2000 then..

No one was spending anything like that sort of sum in the third division then.

Wilson also spent £300k on the completely mediocre Lee Miller.

Absolute bluffer who seemingly allowed his players to get pissed & fight in town on a regular basis.

Thank goodness for GJ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

 

Wilson also spent £300k on the completely mediocre Lee Miller.

Absolute bluffer who seemingly allowed his players to get pissed & fight in town on a regular basis.

Thank goodness for GJ.

After he had sold Scott Murray to Reading for £700k. Spent the rest on Luke Wilkshire who wasn't that bad.

You're not a fan then! OK, he failed but the football was not that bad - 100 goals in all comps 2002-3. Murray scored 18 of his 21 goals that season before Christmas IIRC. If he had maintained that form we'd have gone auto. That season included the memorable 5-4 win at Mansfield! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Danny Wilson is my favourite manager of the last 20 years. Played exciting and attractive football. It was a joy to go to AG. Pure entertainment. I looked forward to every game.

Sadly that entertainment dissolved after he was sacked and I’ve not experienced the same attacking and front foot football since.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, headhunter said:

After he had sold Scott Murray to Reading for £700k. Spent the rest on Luke Wilkshire who wasn't that bad.

You're not a fan then! OK, he failed but the football was not that bad - 100 goals in all comps 2002-3. Murray scored 18 of his 21 goals that season before Christmas IIRC. If he had maintained that form we'd have gone auto. That season included the memorable 5-4 win at Mansfield! 

He did a very good job in his first 2 seasons, by sorting out the mess of Pulis’ disastrous time in charge & making us realistic play off contenders.

After that it became a law of diminishing returns & his inability to run a professional outfit off the field was shocking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We played some good football under Danny Wilson and I’ve got fond memories of lots of players from that era, but we underachieved. He should have got us promoted with the squad he had, but we were a soft touch at times, especially away from home. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He did a very good job in his first 2 seasons, by sorting out the mess of Pulis’ disastrous time in charge & making us realistic play off contenders.

After that it became a law of diminishing returns & his inability to run a professional outfit off the field was shocking.

Yep. That squad should have achieved so much more than it did. It had a lot more natural talent than the one that GJ got promoted a couple of years later but none of the professionalism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Danny Wilson is my favourite manager of the last 20 years. Played exciting and attractive football. It was a joy to go to AG. Pure entertainment. I looked forward to every game.

Sadly that entertainment dissolved after he was sacked and I’ve not experienced the same attacking and front foot football since.

 

 

I loved the football under Danny Wilson. Sad you haven’t felt the same any time since then though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, David Brent said:

I loved the football under Danny Wilson. Sad you haven’t felt the same any time since then though. 

It’s a fact. I’ve not felt that ‘buzz’ on a regular basis since those days.

I got that ‘buzz’ when City beat Palace in the pray off semi and again when City beat Manchester Utd but they were one off games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Robbored said:

It’s a fact. I’ve not felt that ‘buzz’ on a regular basis since those days.

I got that ‘buzz’ when City beat Palace in the pray off semi and again when City beat Manchester Utd but they were one off games.

Bit easier against Cambridge, Oldham, Port Vale and others of a similar ilk. The play off defeat v Brighton was one of the worst no shows I've ever seen from us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

Don't mention Leroy Lita in that final. Still don't get it. 

I did ask him about Lita and the final and he confirmed my view which formed part of my question: "was it down to lack of experience?" - Yes.

I've looked back in the records and it is strange how over the years facts get blurred by myth: firstly, that season Lita only started 5 games and came on as a sub 23 times. He scored 5 goals in total - not exactly prolific with all scored between 26/12-12/3. You could argue he was an impact sub but was only used twice after that last goal and then in the play off semi.

Back then only 3 subs were allowed. 11 days previously Lita had come on with just 10 minutes remaining of that famous 2nd leg vs. Hartlepool. Peacock was injured that night which ruled him out of the final. He and Christian Roberts had been Wilson's preferred front pairing and Lee Miller a regular on the subs bench as his goals had dried up [only 2 after the turn of the year].

Now, let's look at the line up on the day of the final. Wilson went with a front pairing of Miller and Roberts, seems logical. On the bench were Murray, Goodfellow and Wilkshire. No argument over the inclusion of Wilkshire and Murray so you are left with a Lita or Goodfellow choice. Goodfellow had scored that crucial equaliser against Hartlepool which you could say gave him the edge but there is more to it than that which I'd never looked at until now. Goodfellow had to have that 3rd sub slot - his record that season was 7 starts, 8 sub appearances and 6 goals.

Danny Wilson - I forgive you for that one after all these years!!!!

Why didn't most of the rest of the team show up that day - many were out of contract in the summer so for them it would have been turkeys voting for Christmas if they got promoted. City didn't make the same mistake in 2008 - rumour has it that all squad members that day knew they would be rewarded with at least a one year deal on Premier League money.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wilson's trouble was the huge drinking culture at the club at the time (Peacock found in a ditch- or similar - around this time IIRC). As for Tommy D, if he'd have given up the fags and cut back the booze he'd have been a hell of a player, rather than a good division 2 (League 1 now) player.

He did nothing to try and reign it in, and pretty sure he still lived up north (Chesterfield comes to mind?). That didn't help.

A squad with so much promise, that failed to do, well anything really. 

The worst bit of the Wilson era - his sacking. Not because it was not deserved - he had clearly done all he could - but the worrying nagging feeling that we were going to get an internal appointment to replace him, and that that replacement was Tinnion. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, headhunter said:

This is the Forever Bristol City Podcast Easter Special episode [also available on Google Podcasts & Spotify:

https://foreverbristolcity.podbean.com/e/in-conversation-with-danny-wilson-manager-2000-04/ 

Hero or villain in the eyes of the City faithful? Never seriously backed in the transfer market. Improved year on year and won the LDV. Lansdown's first sacking [DW: "we had a chat on the Monday after the play off final loss and talked about plans for 04-05, I went away on holiday and got a call to say I had been sacked"] after which are still relatively novice Chairman [appointed 2002] said, "judge me on Tinnion" - that went well!!

An interesting hour long chat 

At age 37 and in only his third season as a manager, Danny Wilson led unfashionable Barnsley to promotion to the Premier League.

Barnsley may have only lasted one season in the top flight but Danny went on to manage his former club Sheffield Wednesday, in the Premier League themselves and a club he had served well as a player. When City went looking for a manager in the summer of 2000 after the debacle of Lennartsson, Pulis, & Fawthrop, the friendly Northern Irishman Wilson seemed an inspired choice to lead City back to the Championship.


Danny had 4 seasons at Ashton Gate with a win rate of 46% and year on year improvement but after losing to Brighton in the 2004 final he was dumped, there's no other word for it, by then rookie Chairman Steve Lansdown.


Many will surely agree that under him City played a fine attacking style, indeed in 2003 when they won the LDV Trophy they massed over 100 goals in all competitions. Perhaps if he had been given the level of financial support in the transfer market enjoyed by Lee Johnson things might have turned out differently?


In this hour long interview Danny talks about not only his time at City but his wider football career and how he feels in selecting his former Sheffield Wednesday teammate, Nigel Pearson, City have got the best man possible to secure their Premier League ambition 

Met him and his family in a bar in Sheffield on one of our away days a couple of seasons ago. Lovely chap they were celebrating his wife's birthday. Had a good chat and even a dance and a few drinks with his family. I wonder to this day what his wife thought of us 4 drunk Bristolians :laugh:. Made for a good weekend up there tho.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Danny's time at the club can be described in one word - underachieved. A manager that oversaw some good football from good players but ultimately is responsible for the most unprofessional squad we have had in the last 30 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Taz said:

Wilson's trouble was the huge drinking culture at the club at the time (Peacock found in a ditch- or similar - around this time IIRC). As for Tommy D, if he'd have given up the fags and cut back the booze he'd have been a hell of a player, rather than a good division 2 (League 1 now) player.

He did nothing to try and reign it in, and pretty sure he still lived up north (Chesterfield comes to mind?). That didn't help.

A squad with so much promise, that failed to do, well anything really. 

The worst bit of the Wilson era - his sacking. Not because it was not deserved - he had clearly done all he could - but the worrying nagging feeling that we were going to get an internal appointment to replace him, and that that replacement was Tinnion. 

Wilson liked a drink too, so he didn’t see it as a problem 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, robin_unreliant said:

Don't mention Leroy Lita in that final. Still don't get it. 

Danny Wilson was asked why Lita wasn’t involved that day - “Lita was one for the future and we felt that experience was most important” 

Back then only two subs were allowed. 

Interesting that he and SL had met and chatted a couple of days after  the final and discussed plans for next season. Danny goes off on holiday and received a phone call from SL telling him he was sacked. That came as a massive surprise as you can imagine.

I’d really like to know why SL made that decision.

I found the podcast really interesting - it’s not often you get hear from your favourite manager all these years later,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Danny Wilson was asked why Lita wasn’t involved that day - “Lita was one for the future and we felt that experience was most important” 

Back then only two subs were allowed

Interesting that he and SL had met and chatted a couple of days after  the final and discussed plans for next season. Danny goes off on holiday and received a phone call from SL telling him he was sacked. That came as a massive surprise as you can imagine.

I’d really like to know why SL made that decision.

I found the podcast really interesting - it’s not often you get hear from your favourite manager all these years later,

Sure about that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

That’s what’s known as a leading question and , sadly, you offered an easy way out . 
 

Mr Wilson , every City fan wants to know why you left out Lita for the play offs ?

Wait for the reply.

 

:laugh:, I must improve my interview technique!!

Didn't ask him about the booze culture - some things are best left unsaid.

Tommy D was never the same after he had a bout of glandular fever IIRC; obviously the booze [alleged by some] didn't help but maybe he became frustrated at his inability to perform as he had done previously. On course to be a Gerry Gow type had that not happened?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Robbored said:

Danny Wilson is my favourite manager of the last 20 years. Played exciting and attractive football. It was a joy to go to AG. Pure entertainment. I looked forward to every game.

Sadly that entertainment dissolved after he was sacked and I’ve not experienced the same attacking and front foot football since.

 

 

Surely the promotion season under Cotts was the epitome of front foot football?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Dredd said:

Surely the promotion season under Cotts was the epitome of front foot football?

Do you reckon?

Winning the league at a canter. 99 points, 96 goals. + 58 goal difference. 

Not as good as failing 4 years on the spin, surely...??

 

 

Don't feed the troll. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...