Let's Look At The Coaching.

[graham b]

[Maesknoll Red]

Something is undoubtedly wrong, we looked like a team on the up in the 89/90 promotion season, losing Jordan to Hearts was a blow, the succession of poor managers, Jimmy Lumsden ( never to be forgiven for selling Superbob ), Dennis Smith and another Player converted to Manager - Russell Osman. The return of Jordan saw another promotion team built, although Ward took the credit for taking them up.

Ever since then there has been the continual rumours of player power,underachieving, comfy club accusations and the general feeling that all is not well.

Perhaps its time for a big shake up of coaching and playing staff and in the process reinstill some belief and pride in the club.

[shire_redz]

The coaching to me is the main reason for our continuous underachievement. If I had my way we would all badger SL about this until something changes. All of our young and academy players reach a certain standard but then do not improve at all. Is it any wonder that Hill wishes to go off and better himself where he might develop into a good championship player? Look at Danny Coles' potential - how good would he now be with some decent coaching behind him?

IMO this needs to be addressed before anything else, 'cause the sooner this is improved, the sooner we will go forward.

[elko]

I'm not sure any of us is fit to comment on the training or coaching at City, as we don't know what goes on there. It's possible that the Academy just hasn;t had the players, although I don't think it's underachieved too badly, although Hill is leaving, a large proportion of the squad come from the academy.

As for the first team, again, no-one knows whether coaching really is the problem, but over the last few years we've had a caoches with very good repuations. I think perhaps we could do with bringing in a coach, as most of the staff at City now are pretty inexperienced in terms of coaching and management (Tinnion, Millen, Taylor, etc).

[BCFC_Dan]

I'm not sure any of us is fit to comment on the training or coaching at City, as we don't know what goes on there.

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No, we're not, but we can comment on the evidence we see on the pitch, and can you honestly say you've seen much improvement over the past few years? We have the same frailty at set pieces, the same inability to move at throw ins, and the same lack of midfield impeteus that have plagued us for the past goodness knows how long? How many players have you seen really improve at City, and compare that to the number who seem to get worse over time.

I know pretty much nothing about football coaching, so I couldn't watch a training session and say if they were doing things correctly or not, but I can say that I'm seeing little evidence of any coaching on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon.

As for the first team, again, no-one knows whether coaching really is the problem, but over the last few years we've had a caoches with very good repuations.

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Have we? Terry Connor was pretty good, but not exactly well-known, I rated Benny Lennartsen but plenty would argue that he has achieved very little in his career, and Leroy Rosenior was good. At a pinch I'll grant you Dave Burnside as well, but I'm not sure what his pedigree is.

I know we're not going to get José Mourinho coaching at City, but it would be nice to have someone who has a decent reputation at the club. Taylor, Tinnion and Walsh may have been great players for the club, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll be good coaching, and the evidence is strongly suggesting that they are not.

[richieb]

Yep,some interesting well made points & even now,I am not sure which direction we are going?

Is it two steps back to make one forward??

I think that the cross -over from player to manager is difficult with the same players that were team mates only month before?

And Tinnion obviously said the right things & has around him people HE trusts rather than what is BEST for the club.

The jury is out longer than expected.

[zookeeper]

No, we're not, but we can comment on the evidence we see on the pitch, and can you honestly say you've seen much improvement over the past few years? We have the same frailty at set pieces, the same inability to move at throw ins, and the same lack of midfield impeteus that have plagued us for the past goodness knows how long? How many players have you seen really improve at City, and compare that to the number who seem to get worse over time.

I know pretty much nothing about football coaching, so I couldn't watch a training session and say if they were doing things correctly or not, but I can say that I'm seeing little evidence of any coaching on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon.

Have we? Terry Connor was pretty good, but not exactly well-known, I rated Benny Lennartsen but plenty would argue that he has achieved very little in his career, and Leroy Rosenior was good. At a pinch I'll grant you Dave Burnside as well, but I'm not sure what his pedigree is.

I know we're not going to get José Mourinho coaching at City, but it would be nice to have someone who has a decent reputation at the club. Taylor, Tinnion and Walsh may have been great players for the club, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll be good coaching, and the evidence is strongly suggesting that they are not.

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Dave Burnside is a very well respected coach in the footballing world but I would also like to see some of bigger names down here to help out. We have a young management team so I think it would greatly benefit them to have some input from other areas. Can't we get guest caoches to come in for a week to introduce some different techniques?

[Franklin CITY]

A very well put post. Too many youngsters come in with potential only to fail after a couple of years. Whilst I do not put Hill in this category he got better for 2 years then for the past 2-3 has remained static.

Bringing in an inexperienced manager and assistants will only make matters worse. So we got 8 points from the xmas games but look at who we played. I cant see very much coming from the next 6 games. Stand up now SL and admit your very serious error.

[spectator]

A very well put post. Too many youngsters come in with potential only to fail after a couple of years. Whilst I do not put Hill in this category he got better for 2 years then for the past 2-3 has remained static.

Bringing in an inexperienced manager and assistants will only make matters worse. So we got 8 points from the xmas games but look at who we played. I cant see very much coming from the next 6 games. Stand up now SL and admit your very serious error.

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I think Harry Redknapp brought in Luther Blissett for a few weeks when he felt his strikers were getting a little stale.

Apparently the strikers were grateful for a different face and style of coaching, and performances improved immediately.

[bobby]

Interesting post Graham, I agree with the majority of what you say. Like others I am certainly not qualified to comment on coaching ability as I have only been involved at a minor level whilst at University, but a number of questions spring to my mind when it comes to what is it that has held city back?

How come clubs with smaller squads, limited budgets and no academy manage to gain promotion out of this division when in recent years we haven't?

Is it down to them having brilliant managers who do all the hard work and get their tactics spot on?

Is it because they have a good team of coaches working behind the scenes to learn the lessons from each game and improve the players they purchase or who join them as youngsters?

With our academy, coaching staff and behind the scenes set up (oh as well as cash to splash on new players) surely we should be able to do the same.

So yes to me that raises the question of the quality and experience of our coaching staff compared to other teams who have made the jump.

It is equally baffling to watch quality youngsters seemingly go backwards in ability the longer they spend at city and to see promising youngsters leave to go to conference sides as they don't make the step up here (Hawkins, M.Brown etc).

I don't know the answer and we can only speculate about what might be the problem and I am sure coaching quality isn't the only option, but surely it needs to be looked at?