Brendan Rogers

[Pseud O'Nym]

He always reminds me of Malcolm Allison - without the hat of course - for some reason.

The fly-on-the-wall documentary "City" that covered Allison's second season of failure there, followed by the arrival of Bond, was available on YouTube recently, it's an interesting watch.

[Royal Lady]

Malcolm Allison was a "character" - I can think of a few words beginning with c to describe Rodgers, but character isn't one of them.

[Snowball]

At the time I didn't want Rodgers to go, and for a few games I thought it was a mistake.

I now think we would have been relegated had we gone another 5-6 games
with around a point a game. He may have been losing the dressing room
but I think he definitely would have by game 26/27.

I think we'd've lost 0-3 at home to Liverpool, too.

A good general looks first at his soldiers, what they can do and what they can be taught to do.

In his case if he REALLY thought he would be flirting with 20th for a season he should have said so,
said that it would take 2-3 years, got the right sound-bytes in support.

Can anyone remember whether he bigged up how we would do? I can't recall.

[westongeezer]

I think he will be found out next season, he'll make changes to the sqaud and he'll be struggling......

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

I agree

[Hoop Blah]

Can anyone remember whether he bigged up how we would do? I can't recall.

Pretty sure he did a bit of both!

He couldn't help giving it the big PR hyperbole (which he had to do to a certain extent as nobody is going to rally around a manager who comes in with a doom and gloom story) but at the same time did emphasise that it was a long term project and he was buidling for the future.

His style in interviews was the bit I liked least about him and can understand why people were put off because of it. The odd thing is that Dellor always used to say how impressive and inspirational/convincing he was when they chatted. That never really came across on air though.

[Great Knolly]

He got the idealism/realism balance wrong . He says he was promised time , but we were 21st when he was sacked. In retrospect, a decisive brilliant move - have to give the board credit. If we were even 17th he would have been given time.
He's a perfect fit for Swansea. As said above, we still don't know if he's a manager who can adapt.

[Wimb]

Posted a lot on this over the last year so decided to just lump it down in one big chunk on TTE

http://thetilehurstend.co.uk/2011/06/09 ... eading-fc/

[peterroyal76]

I think he will be found out next season, he'll make changes to the sqaud and he'll be struggling......

I'm not sure whether he will be 'found out' or perhaps just struggle like a lot of promoted teams. He will have to change personnel slightly anyway. They may take time to fit in, which is part of a managers problem. Lets not forget how long it took players like Kebe to really fit in.
I hope he succeeds.

[SCIAG]

Can anyone remember whether he bigged up how we would do? I can't recall.

Pretty sure he did a bit of both!

He couldn't help giving it the big PR hyperbole (which he had to do to a certain extent as nobody is going to rally around a manager who comes in with a doom and gloom story) but at the same time did emphasise that it was a long term project and he was buidling for the future.

He liked comparing our young players to Chelsea players. I remember Pearce being "our Terry" and Karacan being (bizarrely) "our Makelele".

[Franchise FC]

There seems to be a strange atmosphere developing at Swansea.

Three of the Wembley starters seem to be on their way with another three baulking at new deals.

I genuinely thought they'd have no trouble holding on to them but, for example, if Ashley Williams goes off to QPR what the hell are they going to do to replace him for £2.5m.

Oh, wait a minute - Matt Mills

[Svlad Cjelli]

.....

Oh, wait a minute - Matt Mills

See the post elsewhere about the falling out between MM & BR. Can't see them building enough bridges for that to happen, and I'm also not sure that Emma's TV career would be helped by a move to the far end of the M4.

[Terminal Boardom]

She could always make a guest appearance on Pobol y Cwm which for the uninitiated translates to People of the Valley - a long running S4C soap.

[swansea jack]

There seems to be a strange atmosphere developing at Swansea.

Three of the Wembley starters seem to be on their way with another three baulking at new deals.

I genuinely thought they'd have no trouble holding on to them but, for example, if Ashley Williams goes off to QPR what the hell are they going to do to replace him for £2.5m.

Oh, wait a minute - Matt Mills

Not really. Lots of players out of contract for some unknown reason. Not likely to have been BWs fault. Pratley almost went at Xmas, think De Vries will resign. Bodde has signed an extension and unless the Geordies up their offer I doubt we'd let Taylor go for GBP1m.

Can't see Williams going to QPR. Either way, Mills would fit in nicely.

[glass half full]

There seems to be a strange atmosphere developing at Swansea.

Three of the Wembley starters seem to be on their way with another three baulking at new deals.

I genuinely thought they'd have no trouble holding on to them but, for example, if Ashley Williams goes off to QPR what the hell are they going to do to replace him for £2.5m.

Oh, wait a minute - Matt Mills

Not really. Lots of players out of contract for some unknown reason. Not likely to have been BWs fault. Pratley almost went at Xmas, think De Vries will resign. Bodde has signed an extension and unless the Geordies up their offer I doubt we'd let Taylor go for GBP1m.

Can't see Williams going to QPR. Either way, Mills would fit in nicely.

My concerns for Brendan and the Swansea team are that they do seem to have that much-talked-about 'soft underbelly' and if teams go at them, as Reading did in the second half (who knows what would have happened if Jem's shot had gone in?) they could be found wanting.

[swansea jack]

My concerns for Brendan and the Swansea team are that they do seem to have that much-talked-about 'soft underbelly' and if teams go at them, as Reading did in the second half (who knows what would have happened if Jem's shot had gone in?) they could be found wanting.[/quote]

^greed as per some of my other postings here.

Ideally need a strong DMC and another CB to partner Williams, preferably both experienced. Apparently been taking to Marcus Senna (on a free) but wages likely to be a problem.

[Vision]

My concerns for Brendan and the Swansea team are that they do seem to have that much-talked-about 'soft underbelly' and if teams go at them, as Reading did in the second half (who knows what would have happened if Jem's shot had gone in?) they could be found wanting.

^greed as per some of my other postings here.

Ideally need a strong DMC and another CB to partner Williams, preferably both experienced. Apparently been taking to Marcus Senna (on a free) but wages likely to be a problem.[/quote]

The worry for me would be that your excellent defensive record last season was more a result of having superior possession in games and thus having to do less actual defending. I assume Rodgers wont change the style of play so you will definitely need superior defensive players to the ones you currently have in my opinion.Either that or a better defensive system than you currently have. Its the same issue that Di Matteo had with West Brom this season and in the end it took a more defensively aware manager in Hodgson to partially fix it.

[handbags_harris]

To be fair to Swansea, they do have players that can, at least, defend. West Brom had Zuiverloon, Mattock, and that big lanky goon who got sent off within 15 minutes of coming on at half time in in the FA Cup in January. West Brom went up because they attacked relentlessly and scored goals. But their defending was awful, absolutely horrid at times.

[The Goat was fed]

One thing that people have just missed is rule number one of impressing your clientele (in a football manager's case - the supporters and board)...manage expectations.

After the Coppell era, I would have been happy for Brendan to have said "look, it's going to take a couple of seasons, but I'm going to build my team slowly, establish a style of play and then we will have the results this club deserves".

Instead he said "we'll be in Europe in two years".

[Wimb]

One thing that people have just missed is rule number one of impressing your clientele (in a football manager's case - the supporters and board)...manage expectations.

After the Coppell era, I would have been happy for Brendan to have said "look, it's going to take a couple of seasons, but I'm going to build my team slowly, establish a style of play and then we will have the results this club deserves".

Instead he said "we'll be in Europe in two years".

Urrrrr no he didnt