Kenny Jackett

[bcfctim]

Long ball anti-football manager.

Non progressive, short termist loan merchant.

Everything that holds this country back on a wider stage.

If Pulis, Allardyce, Bothroyd etc etc could quickly follow Jackett away from our once beautiful game that would be grand.

Dinosaurs.

So short-termist he was the second longest serving manager in the football league. As others have mentioned he started off the process at Swansea.

You seem to have the very arrogant view that all football should be played the way you think is best. I for one am relieved that is not the case.

[Monkeh]

Because the style of football in this country is counter productive.

If our lower leagues are littered with long ball merchants who do not play youth players, who do not develop their teams then nothing progresses. It's exactly the same at youth level and grass roots.

English football needs to develop and change right across the board. Or we won't produce the right players who know how to play the right way at the top level.

thats what the new youth devlopment thing has been brought in for tho' so the best teams can cherry pick the best young players and pay peanuts for them,

You are comdeming a very good manager who manager to keep a side with a much smaller budget then us in this league but he is crap because his style of football doesn't suit you...

Not every team can play crisp passing football, you have to play to the best of your ability and millwalls was long ball, He never played long ball against us then Swansea hammered 7-1 at the vetch

[Monkeh]

Funny thing is though bud, he has played 104 games for us over those 4 years and as somebody quite rightly pointed out, strange how he suddenly improves when his contract is about to expire, and let us not forget the last 2 games we shipped 7 goals and he was playing in our defence, I am not convinced.

Edit:- But hey perhaps we have finally unearthed a turd polisher, because boy we've needed one.

But most of those 104 games came under Johnson the rest sub appearances so it was hard for us to see the improvement,

and Like I said if the wages suit our new model then I'm not against him staying but it has to be in the club favour not the otherway round, he's still young enough to improve

[Merrick's Marvels]

Perhaps Martyn Woolford should come with a health warning?

[Jordan Tansley]

So short-termist he was the second longest serving manager in the football league. As others have mentioned he started off the process at Swansea.

You seem to have the very arrogant view that all football should be played the way you think is best. I for one am relieved that is not the case.

Yes, Short termist in that he's been there that long and the way they play and their side is still riddled with anti-footballers like Shittu and Henderson.

At Swansea he created a team full of flair with players like Robinson and Trundle. He's had just as much, if not more time to do that at Millwall and has created one of the ugliest sides in this division.

It's not arrogant at all. It is what has always worked best. In the 70's and 80's the best team in Europe came from these shores playing possession based football. Holland, Brazil dominated the international stage too. Then what I consider German professionalism came in and it was power and fitness and pace that made the difference. Now, those attributes are being combined with skill and flair by the Dutch, Spanish, French and even German national teams and their domestic sides too.

We are yet again falling behind. Possession football has always and will always be the best way to achieve results and continue to provide fans with something worth watching. We as a country remain stuck in the physical era, like we remained in the fat flair era when physicality became important with flair players like Merson, Le Tissier, Gazza etc all losing out to fitter, stronger and faster players when they played at the top levels.

We've already fallen behind to a disgraceful level and we will never compete until the mentality changes from fan to FA chairman.

It's my opinion on how football in this country will evolve for the better. Nobody need agree with it, but I don't see how with the evidence available it can possibly be argued that Spain and Germany are not superior to England in every conceivable way when it comes to football and finally adopting their mantra's is about the only reasonable step towards rectifying it.

Thankfully the attitudes to grass roots coaching are slowly coming round to the Spanish/Dutch vision with Mini-Soccer, non-competitiveness and talent over physique becoming more important.

It will take a shift in mentality at the top of the sport for any of those measures to have any impact though.

[Cunnyfunt]

He never played long ball against us then Swansea hammered 7-1 at the vetch

The first part is true. The second part isn't. That game was at the liberty. (Sorry to be pedantic)

[Taylor10]

I have to agree with JT on this one. Whilst I am not disputing Jackett has done well at Millwall, his managerial style is of a dying breed I am afraid. I understand not every manager can play lovely free flowing football that is easy on the eye, but the fact remains the game is moving on and changing.

The likes of Warnock, Pulis, Jackett etc who have built a reputation on physical sides and being motivator's in the game are all starting to get found out. Just look at Pulis this season. Soon Stoke will get left behind if they think they can continually play Rugby in the premiership and intimated sides with a physical approach. The good teams can play around it and find a way of getting around this type of approach. Same with Warnock at Leeds, the whole getting your players to be in the ref's ear every minute, leaving a foot in here and there is really so old school it's embarrassing. I appreciate managers can only work with what they have, but these are the type of one trick ponies that get found out in the end. You have to adapt at some stage or at least try a different way, rather than just have a team of bulldozer's.

The game isn't what it was, we all agree on that. I just get bored of these rough and ready type manager's. Even the Stoke fans are getting bored of Pulis and his antics. Fair enough, as I have stated before, every club can't play free flowing football but the 'Stoke approach' within the game is really not the way forward. I don't think fans expect Barcelona like passing every week, just a different approach, something new, a change of system, more forward thinking even. Only in England.

[Bob Taylor's Knob]

Jackett is a geeeeeezer!

[bcfctim]

Yes, Short termist in that he's been there that long and the way they play and their side is still riddled with anti-footballers like Shittu and Henderson.

At Swansea he created a team full of flair with players like Robinson and Trundle. He's had just as much, if not more time to do that at Millwall and has created one of the ugliest sides in this division.

It's not arrogant at all. It is what has always worked best. In the 70's and 80's the best team in Europe came from these shores playing possession based football. Holland, Brazil dominated the international stage too. Then what I consider German professionalism came in and it was power and fitness and pace that made the difference. Now, those attributes are being combined with skill and flair by the Dutch, Spanish, French and even German national teams and their domestic sides too.

We are yet again falling behind. Possession football has always and will always be the best way to achieve results and continue to provide fans with something worth watching. We as a country remain stuck in the physical era, like we remained in the fat flair era when physicality became important with flair players like Merson, Le Tissier, Gazza etc all losing out to fitter, stronger and faster players when they played at the top levels.

We've already fallen behind to a disgraceful level and we will never compete until the mentality changes from fan to FA chairman.

It's my opinion on how football in this country will evolve for the better. Nobody need agree with it, but I don't see how with the evidence available it can possibly be argued that Spain and Germany are not superior to England in every conceivable way when it comes to football and finally adopting their mantra's is about the only reasonable step towards rectifying it.

Thankfully the attitudes to grass roots coaching are slowly coming round to the Spanish/Dutch vision with Mini-Soccer, non-competitiveness and talent over physique becoming more important.

It will take a shift in mentality at the top of the sport for any of those measures to have any impact though.

I am not saying he is one of the great managers in English football or anything. He said himself in his resignation speech he'd taken Millwall as far as he could and that is probably true. There are many 'lower league' managers who are very successful up to a certain level but then reach a limit to what they can do, I'd class Jackett with the likes of Warnock and Johnson in that bracket.

However you stated yourself he created an attractive, flair side at Swansea, which would go against the idea that he is a 'dinosaur' and 'one-dimensional'. It's an art of management to be able to make the most of the resources avaliable, and that's what he's done at Millwall. They've been perrenial favourites for the drop since they came up, but never have they been in danger of relegation until the second half of this season, and in this crazy season everyone not in the play-offs could say that. The crucial thing is he has left both Millwall and Swansea in a far superior position to when he joined them. That is worthy of praise in my book.

I can't say i've noticed Millwall to be particularly bad hoof ball merchants in the mould of Stoke either. When out of form they have resorted to the long ball a lot, but that's no different to most Championship teams and i can't imagine anywhere near as bad as we were against Huddersfield. When they were in their purple patch before Christmas they were playing some decent stuff: counter-attacking, using their pace on the wings.

I do agree with your overarching point about England in general needing to adapt to compete with the Germans and Spanish. However I don't think this requires every individual team to play the same way. I bet if you took a look in the European lower leagues you would find plenty of route one football, it might not be as predominant as in England but it will be there nonetheless. It's just a given that not all players will have the quality to play slick possession football, whatever country or footballing culture you're from. The cream will rise to the top and those left behind will be off a poorer standard.

And even amongst the top teams there are stark contrasts in the style of football. Barcelona play in a completely different way to Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich play differently in turn. A team like Athletic Bilbao last year when they outclassed Man Utd, for a Spanish team they were very direct. Far from a long ball team, but they had a big, english-style No.9 in Llorente and they played to his strengths, getting the ball to wide areas and whipping it into the box.

Which is the best is and always will be up for debate, and when there is a dominating team there will always be someone else to come along and knock them off their pedastal, as Bayern did to Barca. That is the joy of sport and, quite apart from everyhting else, if everyone played the same way it would be very dull indeed.

[Jordan Tansley]

I am not saying he is one of the great managers in English football or anything. He said himself in his resignation speech he'd taken Millwall as far as he could and that is probably true. There are many 'lower league' managers who are very successful up to a certain level but then reach a limit to what they can do, I'd class Jackett with the likes of Warnock and Johnson in that bracket.

However you stated yourself he created an attractive, flair side at Swansea, which would go against the idea that he is a 'dinosaur' and 'one-dimensional'. It's an art of management to be able to make the most of the resources avaliable, and that's what he's done at Millwall. They've been perrenial favourites for the drop since they came up, but never have they been in danger of relegation until the second half of this season, and in this crazy season everyone not in the play-offs could say that. The crucial thing is he has left both Millwall and Swansea in a far superior position to when he joined them. That is worthy of praise in my book.

I can't say i've noticed Millwall to be particularly bad hoof ball merchants in the mould of Stoke either. When out of form they have resorted to the long ball a lot, but that's no different to most Championship teams and i can't imagine anywhere near as bad as we were against Huddersfield. When they were in their purple patch before Christmas they were playing some decent stuff: counter-attacking, using their pace on the wings.

I do agree with your overarching point about England in general needing to adapt to compete with the Germans and Spanish. However I don't think this requires every individual team to play the same way. I bet if you took a look in the European lower leagues you would find plenty of route one football, it might not be as predominant as in England but it will be there nonetheless. It's just a given that not all players will have the quality to play slick possession football, whatever country or footballing culture you're from. The cream will rise to the top and those left behind will be off a poorer standard.

And even amongst the top teams there are stark contrasts in the style of football. Barcelona play in a completely different way to Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich play differently in turn. A team like Athletic Bilbao last year when they outclassed Man Utd, for a Spanish team they were very direct. Far from a long ball team, but they had a big, english-style No.9 in Llorente and they played to his strengths, getting the ball to wide areas and whipping it into the box.

Which is the best is and always will be up for debate, and when there is a dominating team there will always be someone else to come along and knock them off their pedastal, as Bayern did to Barca. That is the joy of sport and, quite apart from everyhting else, if everyone played the same way it would be very dull indeed.

Thank you for the reply Tim, a very good post.

I would stand by my point about Millwall being one of the ugliest sides the top two divisions of English football though, they are much worse than Stoke who have at least evolved the way they play by adding a bit of class to their midfield over the years. Danny Shittu got praise heaped on him after we played Millwall at AG this season, for instance. I thought his performance was everything that is wrong with football in this country. Yes, he won most things in the air, but what I saw was every header or clearance fly clean out of play. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but there must be a point where you say enough is enough, You're a professional, try find a fudging team mate!!!

I won't come here and say I watch a lot of European football, I don't! But I do take in a game every so often via BET365 if I've put some wedge on a game, and I usually watch the lower leagues if anything. I would say the standard of footballer, particularly in defence is scarily better than here. Most players can pass a ball and are comfortable enough to try to do that from the back. That's the biggest problem, I would never say everyone should play Tika-Taka, but playing out from the back is essential in the modern game and it's something this countries players cannot do for some reason.

So, I agree with you on the point about playing the same way, I thought Bayern's performance against Barca in the first leg was one of the best I've seen in years, they beat Barca at their own game. Closing all over the pitch, fast paced passing and finding the runs of the wingers with sliding passes through the channels. Fact is though, none of our top teams can play that way, United don't, Arsenal struggle with it now, Chelsea are getting there but have a vulgar strike force and Man City only do it when Silva is on song...

I firmly believe that every player, no matter the level, should either be capable or confident enough to try passing a football and moving. That's my gripe, or dislike with these sorts of managers. Thankfully they're falling by the wayside at the top level.

[bcfctim]

Fair points, can't argue with anything you say there

[Timbo7]

It's not arrogant at all. It is what has always worked best. In the 70's and 80's the best team in Europe came from these shores playing possession based football. Holland, Brazil dominated the international stage too. Then what I consider German professionalism came in and it was power and fitness and pace that made the difference. Now, those attributes are being combined with skill and flair by the Dutch, Spanish, French and even German national teams and their domestic sides too.

Sorry, but are you seriously suggesting that the success of English clubs in Europe in the late 70's and early 80's was founded on superior purist football?

I seem to recall that at the time the explanation was usually that these lily-livered foreigners didn't like it up em!

That, and and uncanny ability to defend a one-nil lead from the home leg through ample use of the back-pass (sorry my prejudice showing there) among other negative tactics. It was all about work-rate, physical presence and tempo I'm afraid. Liverpool and Forest may have played an attractive style when compared with Wimbledon and Watford but Ajax or Barcelona they were not.

Furthermore, although probably irrelevant to the point you're trying to argue, Brazil did not dominate the international stage over this period - more West Germany and Argentina I'm afraid.