Poll;if Danny Wilson Had Stayed After Brighton Playoff..

[Nogbad the Bad]

For what it's worth, i didn't think Lita was anything special and never really rated him.

At the time, i had a season ticket in the Dolman and was always surprised that no one else noticed just how poor a footballer he was. Give me the Goat anytime, rather than Lita.

I think Maynard is twice the player he ever was.

No doubt about that.

At that lower level the City team Lita was in created numerous chances in complete contrast to Maynard who mostly has to create his own in a team that creates less than most.

Many seem to forget that Leroy regularly needed to squander 2 excellent chances before he eventually got his goal, had some incredibly wild misses, and there were many occasions when he was hopeless and still didn't get substituted. The fact that he often played poorly, and had already missed a couple of golden opportunities was all forgotten when he eventually scored but there was much gnashing of teeth up until then.

He came good in the end in League 1 and got his big money move but the intervening years have proved he was nothing special at all.

Maynard is in a completely different class.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I Do not wish to discredit GJ's achievments in any way.

Personally I'm not so sure. Possibly things needed freshening up at the time.Although the play off final ,dour as it was, could definitely be considered as progress on previous seasons.

I do, however ,reckon that if he manages to get swindon up this year , he would have acheived the same with City.

Totally over rated, over paid, arrogant, his teams were gutless, unfit and piss artists.

[the frampton balti]

Totally over rated, over paid, arrogant, his teams were gutless, unfit and piss artists.

overated ...maybe

overpaid... i doubt it not by gj standards

arrogance...sounds familiar!

gutless... Burnley away roll over...Ipswich away ...Last minute goals.

unfit...possibly

piss artists....Gerkin????

Harsh i think. A whisker away from success. Fat whisker admittedly!

[simon uk]

At the time of the play off final, Lita was an excellent prospect for us, and as far as I recall, had scored quite a few goals for the first team already, hence the disbelief at him not being in the squad for brighton. I dont think there was any doubt about his ability to hit the net, and I would say that for his age and size, he was pretty strong, decent in the air, was happy to work hard closing down defenders and had a rocket of a shot. The flip side is that he was already having a reputation for being a tw4t, which I think has been reconfirmed since he left. On the other hand Maynard is happy working hard, is much stronger this season than last, can challenge for headers, and obviously has a rediculous shot on him, but is every inch the model pro, and for that reason I would pick Maynard any day. Wilson should still have had Lita in the squad though for that game.

[Robbored]

Wilson had his flaws like all managers do and like Johnson he stuck with the same players for too long. Like Johnson he was very reluctant to introduce youth and like Johnson made some very 'unusual' substitutions.

Unlike Johnson, one thing Wilson did was produce teams that played football as its supposed to be played. It didn't always pay off and as happens under Johnson sometimes the team just didn't perfom.

Whether Wilson would have taken City up if he stayed is purely speculation. He would have had to have brought in some new players and at the time the purse strings at AG were very firmly closed - thats part of the reason Wilson moved on.

I'd like to think that he would have got us up but we'll never know.

He's doing a very good job at Swindon in very difficult circumstances.They are basically broke and he's had to make to do with the bare bones of a squad. Good luck to him.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

overated ...maybe.........look at his cv hardly compelling is it

overpaid... i doubt it not by gj standards............Think you might find you are wrong there mate

arrogance...sounds familiar!..................... That's your opinion, fine

gutless... Burnley away roll over...Ipswich away ...Last minute goals...................2 games in nearly 3 seasons in the championship, better than chesterfield, colchester, southend, hartlepool, tranmere about 10 times a season to really crap teams

unfit...possibly.............definately

piss artists....Gerkin????..........peacock, matthews, doherty, lita, coles, it was virtually the whole team and one of the afore mentioned fell off of a barstool a week before the season started and was out injured for 2 months

Harsh i think. A whisker away from success. Fat whisker admittedly!................yes and why?, because of probably the most gutless performance ever by a BCFC team

[Martyn Hocking]

Wilson had his flaws like all managers do and like Johnson he stuck with the same players for too long. Like Johnson he was very reluctant to introduce youth and like Johnson made some very 'unusual' substitutions.

Unlike Johnson, one thing Wilson did was produce teams that played football as its supposed to be played. It didn't always pay off and as happens under Johnson sometimes the team just didn't perfom.

Whether Wilson would have taken City up if he stayed is purely speculation. He would have had to have brought in some new players and at the time the purse strings at AG were very firmly closed - thats part of the reason Wilson moved on.

I'd like to think that he would have got us up but we'll never know.

He's doing a very good job at Swindon in very difficult circumstances.They are basically broke and he's had to make to do with the bare bones of a squad. Good luck to him.

my understanding is that Danny was asked to trim budgets and didn't want to - not surprisingly SL decided to make a change. I'm sure Danny now regrets that decision given the non-existant budgets at Swindon.

[Martyn Hocking]

You probably sit in the Williams then. They would groan if we brought Kaka off the bench.

Made I laugh.

[BCFC_Dan]

Unlike Johnson, one thing Wilson did was produce teams that played football as its supposed to be played. It didn't always pay off and as happens under Johnson sometimes the team just didn't perfom.

I'm sorry but I can't agree with that at all. There were many, many utterly awful games under Wilson. Worse than anything I've seen from Johnson since the very early days.

Even the Reading game the other week was miles ahead of some of the dross turned out by Wilson's team.

I think you're allowing memories of the odd 4-0 win to take precedent over the scores of tedious, low-scoring games, not to mention the thrashings handed out to City by the likes of Colchester and Bournemouth.

Johnson's City have produced some fine performances too. Not so many of late I admit, and I hope that's not an indication of how things are to stay, but that first season in the Championship saw some very good football indeed, and often against teams just down from the Premier League, not just up from League Two.

[cityhead]

There is a lot of similarity between GJ and Wilson as stated alread on this thread.

My recollection of the last season of Wilson is that he cost us automatic promotion that season by bringing on defenders in the second half to protect one goal leads. Whilst at the moment we can't defend leads, Wilson invited theopposition to attack.

Regarding the type of football his teams produced, I can't remember it being any better than what we're getting at the moment.

Another way to gauge whether he would have been a success eventually is to look at what he has achieved since leaving and what GJ has achieved - there's no comparison especially as Wilson spent more in 4 yrs than GJ did in two years and yet GJ achieved promotion.

Wilson had his chance and fluffed it.

[Maesknoll Red]

I'm sorry but I can't agree with that at all. There were many, many utterly awful games under Wilson. Worse than anything I've seen from Johnson since the very early days.

Even the Reading game the other week was miles ahead of some of the dross turned out by Wilson's team.

I think you're allowing memories of the odd 4-0 win to take precedent over the scores of tedious, low-scoring games, not to mention the thrashings handed out to City by the likes of Colchester and Bournemouth.

Johnson's City have produced some fine performances too. Not so many of late I admit, and I hope that's not an indication of how things are to stay, but that first season in the Championship saw some very good football indeed, and often against teams just down from the Premier League, not just up from League Two.

I am in virtually total agreement with Dan on this one, if anyone could be arsed to trawl the archives for the end of 2002/2003 season, you'd find posts from me saying Wilson should go a year before he did. The fact that the players ruled the roost, the football was dire and we were at best treading water, whilst spending big (for the level we were at). Virtually every day there were posts on here reporting drunken players in town, reports of players seen vomiting in shop door ways and many 'flash harry' incidents in town.

I was fed up that my hard earned cash was helping to fund the extreme levels of professional behaviour, had they been top of the league by 10 points, it might not have mattered, but they often looked unfit (Tommy Doc regularly chucking up on the pitch!!).

I doubt if Wilson would have taken such a shambles up, but if he had been given the chance, I wouldn't have laid out a penny to watch it, after the final straw that was the play-off surrender.

[Lack of Action Man]

In my view the football was better under Wilson than it has been under Gary since the promotion season.

But the major flaw for me was that we were SO defensive. Not just for 10 mins or so but normally for 80/85 we would let the opposition come back at us time and time again. It was only the fact that we had a pretty reasonable defence for the time that we didn't end up conceeding in the last minute every game. For all my gripes with Tony Butlers footballing ability at least he put it in where it hurt.

In short I think that Wilson probably would have kept us in the Championship but it's all a big question of what would he have done differently really isn't it?

One point I'd like to make, as a few people have said look at Wilsons success since leaving us, is that where would Gary be without us now? I personally don't think that if he had hypothetically left Yeovil for whatever reason, a championship club (other than ourselves) would have come in for him.

[Lack of Action Man]

No doubt about that.

At that lower level the City team Lita was in created numerous chances in complete contrast to Maynard who mostly has to create his own in a team that creates less than most.

Many seem to forget that Leroy regularly needed to squander 2 excellent chances before he eventually got his goal, had some incredibly wild misses, and there were many occasions when he was hopeless and still didn't get substituted. The fact that he often played poorly, and had already missed a couple of golden opportunities was all forgotten when he eventually scored but there was much gnashing of teeth up until then.

He came good in the end in League 1 and got his big money move but the intervening years have proved he was nothing special at all.

Maynard is in a completely different class.

Sounds a bit like Maynard at times.

[Riaz]

In my view the football was better under Wilson than it has been under Gary since the promotion season.

But the major flaw for me was that we were SO defensive. Not just for 10 mins or so but normally for 80/85 we would let the opposition come back at us time and time again. It was only the fact that we had a pretty reasonable defence for the time that we didn't end up conceeding in the last minute every game. For all my gripes with Tony Butlers footballing ability at least he put it in where it hurt.

In short I think that Wilson probably would have kept us in the Championship but it's all a big question of what would he have done differently really isn't it?

One point I'd like to make, as a few people have said look at Wilsons success since leaving us, is that where would Gary be without us now? I personally don't think that if he had hypothetically left Yeovil for whatever reason, a championship club (other than ourselves) would have come in for him.

you must surely be joking??

we were very often awful against poor league one teams and that includes the style of football

and also when Johnson joined us he was very sought after - derby & coventry wanted him... amongst others.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Sounds a bit like Maynard at times.

No it doesn't, that was my point.

[Lack of Action Man]

you must surely be joking??

we were very often awful against poor league one teams and that includes the style of football

and also when Johnson joined us he was very sought after - derby & coventry wanted him... amongst others.

Nope not joking. Football under Wilson was on the deck and smooth. The stand out for me was that I went to Port Vale twice, first under him and then when Tinnion was gaffer and the football was quitea bit apart in terms of quality. Now before you say we're not comparing Wilson to Tinnion or Johnson to Tinnion, I don't think the football has improved since 06/07 season when were promoted. It was ok the following season but very hoofball at times to adebola and again the following year and well this year has just been a bit all over the place really. You've got a point I did forget about Derby and Coventry's interest but neither club (I would believe)have available to them the financial resources like City do. And neither of them have been in as good a position on and off the field as us these previous years. My point was that had Wilson stayed on and maybe a season or so later Johnson left where would he have gone? I personally don't think it would have been towards the championship though I will conceed he wouldn't also have been likely to go to league 2.

No it doesn't, that was my point.

Err... yes it does. How many times last season did Maynard squander an absoloute sitter? He's done it a few times this season as well but its all forgotten as now he is "different class".

He's a good player for sure but don't kid yourself that he doesn't miss sitters - like Lita.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Err... yes it does. How many times last season did Maynard squander an absoloute sitter? He's done it a few times this season as well but its all forgotten as now he is "different class".

He's a good player for sure but don't kid yourself that he doesn't miss sitters - like Lita.

I didn't say Maynard never misses sitters.

He's missed a few, but only a few, both last season and this.

I said Lita often missed two easy chances for every goal he scored.

He was a serial sitter squanderer, and had the chances to be so.

No comparison in that respect, or the abilities of the two players.

[Lack of Action Man]

I didn't say Maynard never misses sitters.

He's missed a few, but only a few, both last season and this.

I said Lita often missed two easy chances for every goal he scored.

He was a serial sitter squanderer, and had the chances to be so.

No comparison in that respect, or the abilities of the two players.

All I can say is that it's definitely been more than a few.

Last season it was virtually every home game.

[BCFC Forever]

So you don't remember the groans when ever he was bought on to the pitch - I don't know what is uninformed about my post I remember a lot of supporters refereed to him as a headless chicken that just ran about a lot and never actually did anything.

From what I can remember everyone around me (including myself) got excited when he came on, even though usually it was only for 5 minutes!

But people got excited because we could all see the potential he had and this was proved right in his first full season when he banged in all those goals.

Just a shame he has wasted his great talent..........

[Ian M]

What the young bit parter that showed no signs of being a half decent striker - the player that many described as "a headless chicken".

my my my what a wonderful thing hindsight is.

Sorry Pezo, not sure many were calling him shit after he set up Roberts to score in the final moments of the Hartlepool game (albeit Robbo had a lot to do still).

Exhibit A

15/17 suggested lineups include Lita in the 16. (The other two had Peacock fit in the 16 which turned out not to be).

Exhibit B

Everyone who lists a "16" in this thread includes Lita in that 16. (Riaz has Lita on the bench in this thread.)

Exhibit C

Posted before kick off asking why no Leroy?

There's then plenty of threads post match asking why no attacker on the bench when Leroy was available. Call it hindsight, but there's Gasheads asking us why our so-called "supersub" was left out of the 16. So clearly there was supporters calling him that at the time, rather than a headless chicken.

NB Whilst researching this I saw lots of comments referring to Danny Negative & Danny Won'tson.

[arpaul]

His problem was he never had the bottle to sort out the dressing room which to there credit Tinnion & Johnson did.

Tinnion?? Remind me again, Didn't we have a few "Jail birds during his inglorious reign??

[Chappers]

As I recall, we all knew that Lita was raw, but had tremendous potential, and most of us thought that Wilson under-used him, whilst the under-performing Peacock was undroppable. At the final, most fans were very surprised that he was not on the bench, as it left us short of attacking options. as the game went on the error became even more obvious as we were so predictable, and a weak Tinnion free kick was our only shot on target.

[arpaul]

Wilson had his flaws like all managers do and like Johnson he stuck with the same players for too long. Like Johnson he was very reluctant to introduce youth and like Johnson made some very 'unusual' substitutions.

Unlike Johnson, one thing Wilson did was produce teams that played football as its supposed to be played. It didn't always pay off and as happens under Johnson sometimes the team just didn't perfom.

Whether Wilson would have taken City up if he stayed is purely speculation. He would have had to have brought in some new players and at the time the purse strings at AG were very firmly closed - thats part of the reason Wilson moved on.

I'd like to think that he would have got us up but we'll never know.

He's doing a very good job at Swindon in very difficult circumstances.They are basically broke and he's had to make to do with the bare bones of a squad. Good luck to him.

Good points well put Robbored.

Whether it was right or wrong replacing Wilson is open to debate. I was, and still am a fan of DW. And I would suggest that I am not alone in that; especially with the reception he received when returning with MK Dons a few seasons back. I can't remember too many standing ovations like that?

[City Rocker]

Good points well put Robbored.

Whether it was right or wrong replacing Wilson is open to debate. I was, and still am a fan of DW. And I would suggest that I am not alone in that; especially with the reception he received when returning with MK Dons a few seasons back. I can't remember too many standing ovations like that?

His teams played some attractive football at times, though more often than not flattered to deceive. Given the money he had to spend, he is one of our most underachieving managers IMO.

People always go on about Wilson's disasterous selection in the play off final against Brighton. Rightly so of course, but in my view he had already thrown it all away with clueless selections all season, when we had a squad capable of winning the division at a canter.

In my list of favoured City managers of the past 30 years Wilson would certainly rank below Dicks, Cooper, Jordan, Ward and Johnson.

Did OK, but we have moved on to bigger and better things, thankfully.

[bs3]

a big NO from me.

Lets not forget he had 4 years at city - in a poor league where city were big spenders compared to the rest.

A lot of teams in that league were spending big at that time, the likes of Reading, Cardiff , Wigan, Stoke, Sheff Wed, so they was bigger spenders around us at that time. When GJ took over all the big spenders had gone and when we went up it was the worst league for about 4 or 5 years. So you could say that GJ took over a the right time.

I don't think you would of had to be the beat manager in the country to get BCFC promoted that year from leauge 1.

[Whites]

Just a few good memories of what i rated as a bloody good striker at the time who would still do a job in our team now..............................................Coming off the bench at Brentford on Boxing Day when we were 0-1 down and scoring twice and scoring a hatrick at Torquay including a 40 yarder that we couldnt see because of the fog!!! Yeah i know it was only Torquay and Brentford but still a quality player than and now IMO.

[Ron]

Tinnion?? Remind me again, Didn't we have a few "Jail birds during his inglorious reign??

That was in fact under Johnson... Poor choice of misinformation certainly.

[Mr Mosquito]

I Do not wish to discredit GJ's achievments in any way.

Personally I'm not so sure. Possibly things needed freshening up at the time.Although the play off final ,dour as it was, could definitely be considered as progress on previous seasons.

I do, however ,reckon that if he manages to get swindon up this year , he would have acheived the same with City.

Excellent post, but I know how to recognize a work minimalist - being one myself. Danny Wilson did the minimum while at BCFC - how many Tuesday night midweek games did he attend ???!!!! It takes one to recognize one but Danny Wilson really did do the minimum while here in my considered opinion.

[Luke_Ciderhead]

I think we were unfortunate in a way under Wilson, because I think his team peaked at the wrong time.

The team we had in 2002-03 was far stronger than the team that Gary Johnson got us promoted with in my opinion. That season was fantastic... over 100 goals scored in all competitions, Murray on fire.. many a time I left a game with opposition fans commenting what a superb football side we were!

But at the time, the division was so strong.. We were up against moneybags Cardiff who contained the likes of Earnshaw, Gabbidon and Kavanagh..... Crewe with a strike partnership of Rob Hulse and Dean Ashton.... and Wigan who amassed a record points total that season. All three were light years ahead of anyone else thats been in that division since, and i've no doubt that Wilsons team would have romped to the league title a couple of years later.

The team Johnson put together in 2007 wasnt at the same level imho... the division was a lot poorer, and we won promotion through consistancy and hard work, rather than good football.. But the difference is, they were winners. We gained a habbit of winning games whilst playing poory, keeping clean sheets and not bottling the big occasions (paint pot trophy crap at the minimal ground excluded) This was the magic ingredient that Wilson simply didnt have imho.

[Robbored]

I think we were unfortunate in a way under Wilson, because I think his team peaked at the wrong time.

The team we had in 2002-03 was far stronger than the team that Gary Johnson got us promoted with in my opinion. That season was fantastic... over 100 goals scored in all competitions, Murray on fire.. many a time I left a game with opposition fans commenting what a superb football side we were!

But at the time, the division was so strong.. We were up against moneybags Cardiff who contained the likes of Earnshaw, Gabbidon and Kavanagh..... Crewe with a strike partnership of Rob Hulse and Dean Ashton.... and Wigan who amassed a record points total that season. All three were light years ahead of anyone else thats been in that division since, and i've no doubt that Wilsons team would have romped to the league title a couple of years later.

The team Johnson put together in 2007 wasnt at the same level imho... the division was a lot poorer, and we won promotion through consistancy and hard work, rather than good football.. But the difference is, they were winners. We gained a habbit of winning games whilst playing poory, keeping clean sheets and not bottling the big occasions (paint pot trophy crap at the minimal ground excluded) This was the magic ingredient that Wilson simply didnt have imho.

Good post that sums up then and now and the differences between the two era's.

Wilson's team selection at the play-off final was out of character for him. He usually went for an attacking set-up and when City were 0-1 to H'pool at AG he brought on Freezer who headed the equaliser. Fans often forget that.

Wilson must have froze at the thought of such a big game and decided to change his usual attack minded attitude into a more conservative style which as we know backfired. Either that or he read a page out of Gary Johnson's coaching manual. One game blighted Danny Wilson's reign as City manager. Shame I hope he can doesn't make the same mistake if he gets Swindon into the play-off final.