alexukhc Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 JW once sent me a birthday card, think that was to compensate, the fact the time we got promoted to then the nationwide division one I was invited on the open bus tour, looking at our runner up medals, we was sent the wrong ones and I told him, next day he goes to press saying "he" spotted the error, dirty billy b(_)ll5h1tter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 Lets be honest Bringing Benny in was one of the worst decisions ever by this club. He was a complete joke although a nice man. Most teams when a new man takes over get a bit of a lift we then lost 6-1 and 5-0 in our next 2 games! So so wrong on many levels. Bennyn turned Brennan overnight into a £1m+ player when he'd been on the fringes for years afterwards, also massively helped the likes of Matt Hill, Steve Phillips break into the first team. I recall him saying how when he joined it was the most unprofessional and unfit squad he'd ever worked with, didnt help when certain senior players would publically hammer him to anyone willing to listen, one of who was seen as a "legend" and felt he was untouchable within the club. Ward let the squad get into that state as some senior players walked all over him. Alot of people under estimate the job Shaun Taylor did for the team on and off the field, players didnt mess with him, when he got injured we were screwed that season before a ball had been kicked For those in doubt of Benny I suggest this article http://www.theincider.com/backissues/13/features/benny.php Great Read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dolman Pragmatist Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 Funny but as I remember it, we were promoted despite having JW as manager. He was a very popular figure, as shown with his foray into the crowd. He seems to be a real nice guy and a good coach or assistant. The start of our promotion season was awful as I remember it, we played with a sweeper system and were boring to watch with poor to modest resultsl. Come the end of September or early October, we reverted to a 442 system and never looked back until the end of the season. Just when we should have been going for the title we again reverted to his preferred sweeper system, which saw us limp over the line. We then invested heavily in the striker side of things and brought the pussy Julian Watts in, to replace Shaun Taylor, a difficult job to say the least and a joke of a midfielder from Brentford. As people have said, he was quoted as saying he'd run out of Ideas and needed help. As for Benny, what a brilliant coach he was. He did a great job of bringing the team together and turning them from whipping boys to nearly avoiding the dreaded relegation. The two games at the start of his tenure were more an indication of the players being upset at the loss of their friendly manager who'd no Idea how to change things, rather than his team who he'd only been brought in as a coach anyway. Too many people look for someone to blame rather than the reason for failure, unfortunately with a name associated with a dimwit from a soap opera the blame merchants had their man and mr smiley was forever reverred. No I won't clap or boo, I save my actions for during and after the game, such as applauding at the time someone does well for our club. Sorry, but this is nonsense. Ward's managership of the club in our promotion year was inspired, and you forget the players he brought in at the start of that season for very little cost who helped us get there (Colin Cramb, Mickey Bell, Adam Locke, to name just three). You also forget how in the previous season he took a failing team (hence Joe Jordan's sacking) and astonishingly got them into the play-offs in about a dozen games. It wasn't Ward's fault that we invested so heavily in strikers in the summer after promotion. Ward already had Akinbiyi and Soren Andersen lined up and he didn't want a third one in Tony Thorpe. Scott Davidson signed Tony Thorpe without consulting John Ward, who was on holiday at the time (Davidson later admitted this), and the £1m outlay meant that Ward had almost no money for the defense. That was the beginning of the breakdown of the relationship between Ward and Davidson. I don't remember him saying he'd run out of ideas, but I do remember him saying he needed help, and why not? The club then imposed a continental coach on him, without discussing with him, and he was left with very little option but to leave. I remember seeing away matches under Lennartson at the crucial part of the season, and anyone suggesting that he was doing a brilliant job can't have been there. We were dire. Carl Hutchings was man of the match in his first appearance for us, and looked a very decent signing in the first part of the season. It was under Lennartson that he went to pieces. The club fell apart and the Board compounded their errors by bringing in Tony Pulis to clear up the mess (though, to be fair, Pulis saw exactly what Gary Johnson saw when he joined the club, but didn't have the personality to carry off the complete overhaul that was needed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 Sorry, but this is nonsense. Ward's managership of the club in our promotion year was inspired, and you forget the players he brought in at the start of that season for very little cost who helped us get there (Colin Cramb, Mickey Bell, Adam Locke, to name just three). You also forget how in the previous season he took a failing team (hence Joe Jordan's sacking) and astonishingly got them into the play-offs in about a dozen games. It wasn't Ward's fault that we invested so heavily in strikers in the summer after promotion. Ward already had Akinbiyi and Soren Andersen lined up and he didn't want a third one in Tony Thorpe. Scott Davidson signed Tony Thorpe without consulting John Ward, who was on holiday at the time (Davidson later admitted this), and the £1m outlay meant that Ward had almost no money for the defense. That was the beginning of the breakdown of the relationship between Ward and Davidson. I don't remember him saying he'd run out of ideas, but I do remember him saying he needed help, and why not? The club then imposed a continental coach on him, without discussing with him, and he was left with very little option but to leave. I remember seeing away matches under Lennartson at the crucial part of the season, and anyone suggesting that he was doing a brilliant job can't have been there. We were dire. Carl Hutchings was man of the match in his first appearance for us, and looked a very decent signing in the first part of the season. It was under Lennartson that he went to pieces. The club fell apart and the Board compounded their errors by bringing in Tony Pulis to clear up the mess (though, to be fair, Pulis saw exactly what Gary Johnson saw when he joined the club, but didn't have the personality to carry off the complete overhaul that was needed). You are obviously a John Ward supporter who has fallen for the smile. I haven't said that he did not do good things for this club. What I believe and I'm entitled to believe is that he's not a good manager. I referred to a specific sequence of events in our promotion year, where he started with a sweeper system which did not work, changed it to a 442 system, which did work and got us to the top of the table and very serious contenders for the title, he then reverted to the sweeper system which had previously failed and we were nearly cought for the second promotion spot. Now if your telling me that sequence of events did not happen and I'm talking nonsense, which you appear to be saying, then you are deluded. If he was that good a manager, why has he been confined to the lower leagues or as an assistant? I have said that I think he is a good coach but feel he's out of his depth as a manager at the higher levels. Carl hutchings was a decent third tier footballer who's limitations were shown up, even if he did have a good debut appearance under his belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 Sorry, but this is nonsense. Ward's managership of the club in our promotion year was inspired, and you forget the players he brought in at the start of that season for very little cost who helped us get there (Colin Cramb, Mickey Bell, Adam Locke, to name just three). You also forget how in the previous season he took a failing team (hence Joe Jordan's sacking) and astonishingly got them into the play-offs in about a dozen games. It wasn't Ward's fault that we invested so heavily in strikers in the summer after promotion. Ward already had Akinbiyi and Soren Andersen lined up and he didn't want a third one in Tony Thorpe. Scott Davidson signed Tony Thorpe without consulting John Ward, who was on holiday at the time (Davidson later admitted this), and the £1m outlay meant that Ward had almost no money for the defense. That was the beginning of the breakdown of the relationship between Ward and Davidson. I don't remember him saying he'd run out of ideas, but I do remember him saying he needed help, and why not? The club then imposed a continental coach on him, without discussing with him, and he was left with very little option but to leave. I remember seeing away matches under Lennartson at the crucial part of the season, and anyone suggesting that he was doing a brilliant job can't have been there. We were dire. Carl Hutchings was man of the match in his first appearance for us, and looked a very decent signing in the first part of the season. It was under Lennartson that he went to pieces. The club fell apart and the Board compounded their errors by bringing in Tony Pulis to clear up the mess (though, to be fair, Pulis saw exactly what Gary Johnson saw when he joined the club, but didn't have the personality to carry off the complete overhaul that was needed). Exactly what i watched mate. Performances under Benny were shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 The club fell apart and the Board compounded their errors by bringing in Tony Pulis to clear up the mess (though, to be fair, Pulis saw exactly what Gary Johnson saw when he joined the club, but didn't have the personality to carry off the complete overhaul that was needed). Pulis compounded the error that is for sure, not a lack of personality to carry it off!! Also if you cast your mind back one of the first things Benny did when he came in was begin the dumping of players who were drinking and bad apples. As far as possible he pulled them out of the team, stuck the kids in and bought players in where and when he could bearing in mind the amount of money we threw around that summer prior to his arrival. Benny was set out to carry out the complete overhaul that we needed - in squad, in set up and in training methods. He was screaming for improvements in facilities and he focused his efforts on improving players technically rather than training for brute force and pace... Aren't these all things that we have been crying for since... he left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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