Ranking City Managers

[054123]

Here’s something I found on Twitter.

Just a fun discussion in the absence of anything city related going on (well ‘legally’ of course!).

[CheddarReds]

How is Cotts only a 7/10 ?!?!

[Rebounder]

How can they rate John Ward as rubbish, but Wilson as good? One got us up and the other continually ****** up. Don't get me wrong Ward had his faults I'm sure, and I'm a bit young to fully remember, but it seems off to me. 

[ralphindevon]

I’ll mark Terry Cooper for you, 9/10 . 
Manager, player, director, ticket seller, groundsman, top bloke, legend. 

[Warwickshire Red]

Cotts should be 8

Would give GJ an 8/8.25 as we got so close. 
LJ a 6.

Ward got us promoted so 2 is laughable - a 7.

Cooper has to be a 9 for what he did for us including promotion and first Wembley trophy

Edited November 12, 2021 by Warwickshire Red

[Red-Robbo]

Bit unfair on Denis Smith as well. I think lots of his efforts were undermined by the board.

[Bat Fastard]

Alan Dicks - was a brilliant manager and bought the magnificent John Galley!

[054123]

8 minutes ago, CheddarReds said:

How is Cotts only a 7/10 ?!?!

:laugh:, how is John Ward an awful appointment?

The 97/98 season was as much fun as 14/15.

I know we didn’t win the league but it was ace.

[054123]

4 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Bit unfair on Denis Smith as well. I think lots of his efforts were undermined by the board.

Completely agree.

Its amazing how as a club, for every time we point to a poor spell over the last 40 years, I can also show you an inept, scared bored.

 

[redsquirrel]

benny ,coppell and pulis are the lowest for me. Sod got us jet so he gets an extra point for that. cotts and gj 9s, both brought lasting good times,i mean a seasons worth. millen was good too but shouldnt have risked the full managers job. pearson can have a 9 too,points deducted as time goes by if we dont pick up. why? because i like him

[TV Tom]

Haha, how the hell has Pearson got 6, right up there with Osman with some of the worse football ever seen at AG

[1960maaan]

13 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

I’ll mark Terry Cooper for you, 9/10 . 
Manager, player, director, ticket seller, groundsman, top bloke, legend. 

Question , how have you marked him down? The only possible mark against him can be that he was with the Squatters for a spell. Even then he was so bad for them he was cheering City fans up.

4 minutes ago, TomF said:

Danny Wilson and Gary Johnson given the same rating. 

Osman - I thought we played some good football? 

What

The

****.

Stop the world I want to get off. 

I can only assume either

1). You drank a hell of a lot during his time.

2). You were very young and couldn't see over the fence to watch properly.

3). He has incriminating photos of you.

Things I remember from his time.
That away match at WHU where he must have banned us from playing in their half.
That we went into most games hoping for a 0-0.
That he was the only City player I've known who the crowd shouted off, off, off, when he was getting a booking.
That he was the only player who when they realised it was him who scored, stopped cheering.
Hated him time in charge.

[AshtonGreat]

3 minutes ago, harrys said:

Haha, how the hell has Pearson got 6, right up there with Osman with some of the worse football ever seen at AG

Agreed. Putting Pearson level with Gary Johnson and Steve Cotterill is absurd. Also, why does Pearson get two points more than Holden? 

[chinapig]

9 minutes ago, TomF said:

Danny Wilson and Gary Johnson given the same rating. 

Osman - I thought we played some good football? 

What

The

****.

Stop the world I want to get off. 

Indeed, the same Danny Wilson who spent a fortune by third division standards (think what the equivalent of the £600k we paid for Lee Peacock would be today for instance) and failed compared to Gary Johnson, who got promoted on a relative shoestring.

Quite apart from the culture Wilson allowed that is.

Though I can think of one forum member who would disagree.

[Kid in the Riot]

And only Tony Pulis from that list went onto bigger & better things as a manager. 

[ExiledAjax]

27 managers in my lifetime (ok, some are interim). Blimey.

33 minutes ago, CheddarReds said:

How is Cotts only a 7/10 ?!?!

Wins a double. Could do better mate.

[Red-Robbo]

3 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

And only Tony Pulis from that list went onto bigger & better things as a manager. 

 

Benny's Viking FK team won the Norwegian Cup and knocked Chelsea and Sporting Lisbon out the Uefa Cup; McInnes has been successful with Aberdeen.

In English football, you're dead right.  

[richwwtk]

John Ward definitely deserves more, he built a team you could really get behind. Strangely, I also really liked Benny, the season that JW was sacked and he took over was still one of my favourite ever seasons, despite the relegation at the end of it. I think the game that relegation was confirmed was a 1-1 draw away at somewhere like Norwich, and the support from the fans was fantastic.

[Tinmans Love Child]

3 minutes ago, chinapig said:

Indeed, the same Danny Wilson who spent a fortune by third division standards (think what the equivalent of the £600k we paid for Lee Peacock would be today for instance) and failed compared to Gary Johnson, who got promoted on a relative shoestring.

Quite apart from the culture Wilson allowed that is.

Though I can think of one forum member who would disagree.

But for me as a fan I enjoyed the Danny Wilson years, football was entertaining, some legendary City players in that era too, great times even if we never got over that playoff finish line.

For what it’s worth, my top 5 managers since supporting city from 1990 are:

1) GJ

2) Joe Jordan

3) SC

4) John Ward

5) Danny Wilson

 

Worst 5 managers:

1) Steve Coppell

2) Tony Pulis

3) Big Fat Benny

4) Tinnion (sorry Brian!)

5) SOD (the football was awful but he did lay some ground work for SC)

Crazy that Pulis and Coppell were successful at the top level elsewhere but couldn’t do it here.

[Mendip City]

7 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

Agreed. Putting Pearson level with Gary Johnson and Steve Cotterill is absurd. Also, why does Pearson get two points more than Holden? 

I got as far as the Johnsons…. The one with a promotion and play-off appearance scoring lower than the one with successive mid-upper-mid table finishes (and had full access to Steve’s wallet!). What nonsense! 
 

Also agree, I can’t think of any measure of his City performance that, at present, puts Pearson ahead of Holden. 

[ralphindevon]

14 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Question , how have you marked him down? The only possible mark against him can be that he was with the Squatters for a spell. Even then he was so bad for them he was cheering City fans up.

I can only assume either

1). You drank a hell of a lot during his time.

2). You were very young and couldn't see over the fence to watch properly.

3). He has incriminating photos of you.

I'm very happy to award him 10 but thought someone would pipe up that a 10 should only be given for perfection. 

What if he'd done even better at the end and Jo Jordan hadn't been able to take over because Terry couldn't stop winning? 

[Greedo]

Could do worse than bringing im Joe Jordan in some capacity right now. 

[Super]

Ward the same as Pulis?!

[GrahamC]

58 minutes ago, Rebounder said:

How can they rate John Ward as rubbish, but Wilson as good? One got us up and the other continually ****** up. Don't get me wrong Ward had his faults I'm sure, and I'm a bit young to fully remember, but it seems off to me. 

Absolutely, just ridiculous.

I get it is subjective but Gary Johnson 6? He got us promoted in his first full season & in the playoff final the year after, at least an 8.

[beaverface]

Joe Jordan's 2nd spell also laid the foundations of the team that John Ward got promoted with, so I'd mark him a little higher.

[TonyTonyTony]

Highly subjective this, but to give the manager who bought Andy Cole in a 3 out of 10 is bizarre.

[Mendip City]

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Absolutely, just ridiculous.

I get it is subjective but Gary Johnson 6? He got us promoted in his first full season & in the playoff final the year after, at least an 8.

Agree about GJ (as above). 
John Ward seems to get increasingly underrated by City fans. Ge was, ultimately, undermined by the board… he got us promoted playing good football and, it’s not really relevant to this debate, he is a really good bloke. 

[GrahamC]

9 minutes ago, Greedo said:

Could do worse than bringing im Joe Jordan in some capacity right now. 

People say this a lot & I loved Joe’s first spell, but that was over 30 years ago now, so apart from the fact that he still lives in BS8, what exactly are people basing this on?

I have seen Director of Football, even Chairman suggested yesterday, 2 posts that he has never held anywhere in his life.

Gary Johnson lives in Portishead & actually got us nearest to The Prem, so why not him then?

It just seems like an exercise in nostalgia to me & that’s as someone who has a lot of time for his first spell (the second one was pretty crap though).

[GrahamC]

5 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Highly subjective this, but to give the manager who bought Andy Cole in a 3 out of 10 is bizarre.

Just to argue that point he did also swap the absolutely dog shit centre half Dave Thompson for the excellent Andy May, sign Brian Mitchell (the go to awful RB prior to Nicky Hunt) & a lad from Glasgow Rangers (Sean Rouse) who ended up playing for Weston-Super-Mare a year later.

Plus of course the disaster that was Ray Atteveld..

[054123]

2 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Just to argue that point he did also swap the absolutely dog shit centre half Dave Thompson for the excellent Andy May, sign Brian Mitchell (the go to awful RB prior to Nicky Hunt) & a lad from Glasgow Rangers (Sean Rouse) who ended up playing for Weston-Super-Mare a year later.

Plus of course the disaster that was Ray Atteveld..

One man’s dog shit……